Air Canada Aeroplan Pauses Transformation To Revenue Based Program

Air Canada announced in the summer of 2020 (read more here) that Aeroplan would move to revenue-based earnings in late 2021, but this transformation has now been paused at least for a year.

The airline states that the reason behind this delay (which could be permanent) is due to “evolving’ customer needs and preferences. Also, the airline has other higher priority projects to tackle first.

You can access Air Canada here.

Here’s the note we received from Air Canada:

As you may remember, when we shared the details of the transformed Aeroplan program last summer, we announced that we would moving to a revenue-based accrual structure for Air Canada flights, as well as partner flights ticketed by Air Canada, beginning in late 2021.

We have decided to pause this transition, in large part due to a myriad of factors centered around the impacts of COVID-19 – more specifically:

• Evolving customer needs and preferences as we exit the pandemic.
• New, high-priority projects to ensure a simplified travel experience for customers as a result of COVID-related travel restrictions and requirements.

As a result, Aeroplan’s current distance-based earn structure will remain in place until at least the end of 2022, and we will reach back out as soon as we have a more finalized timeline. Rest assured that, similar to other carriers which have moved to a revenue-based accrual structure, our intention remains to provide our members with a reasonable advance notice of this change.

Here’s the current earning chart:

Here’s what the revenue-based chart was supposed to be:

Conclusion

Revenue-based programs are only good for travelers that fly on short but very expensive flights, of which there must be many in Canada. Everyone else is essentially a loser.

These programs also incentivize crediting flights to partners instead. For example, I earned more than twice the number of miles with Aegean for my discounted Lufthansa first-class ticket last year than if I had credited it to Miles&More. Likewise, my numerous AeroMexico flights this year have all gone to Flying Blue instead of Club Premier.

Air Canada already brought the Aeroplan program back in-house from Aimia. Perhaps they need to reassess whether the revenue-based program decreases value for the airline and Aeroplan members.