GREAT NEWS: According to an interview with Air Canada Aeroplan execs that Anshul at Points, Miles & Bling had over this past weekend the buddy pass conversion option is based on the date you apply not the date the buddy pass posts to your account. Then Aeroplan confirmed with Rewards Canada that there is no set end date for this buddy pass conversion. Ultimately it comes down to the TD end date of this offer on May 30. We feel that after that date the buddy pass will not be offered on the card (pure speculation on our part however!)
this means you can apply for this card by April 30 and be able to convert the buddy pass to Aeroplan points once it posts to your account.
Please note there are mentions on other sites the conversion
option is being extended. There is no confirmation of this just yet – we
have reached out to Air Canada and should know by April 23 if this will
be happening
MAJOR UPDATE: We have been notified The Buddy Pass can only be
converted by April 30th which means it is very unlikely any new
applicants for the TD card will be able to get the pass in time to
convert. This is likely to keep the card from having an influx of new
applicants just to convert the Buddy Pass over to points.
Earlier on the Rewards Canada blog we detailed how you can now convert the Buddy Pass portion of the welcome offer on half a dozen Aeroplan co-brand credits to 30,000 Aeroplan points. This is a huge deal! To be able to get an extra 30,000 points out of a welcome bonus is unprecedented. Yes – the buddy pass can have huge value in its own right but by converting it to points you do take out some uncertainty over shorter term travel (think less than 2 years). Plus the buddy pass is meant for North America travel including Hawaii and only in economy class. By taking the points you can use them to build up your balance for travel to anywhere in the world that you can redeem Aeroplan points for (and that’s a lot of places) in any fare class you like including First Class.
Image via Dat N.
Now I do say it is time to grab an Aeroplan card and I stand by that. Come May when the next round of offers come out on most of these cards who knows what the bonus will be but there may not be a Buddy Pass, there may not be a first year annual free offer and more than likely the bonus points won’t be near the points you can get right now with the buddy pass. And while all six cards (4 personal & 2 business) are super worthy right now with the extra 30,000 points there are three offers that make the most sense for the vast majority of Canadians:
The best offer
The best offer in our minds here at Rewards Canada is from the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card This card is offering 20,000 Aeroplan points when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first 90 days (10,000 on first purchase and 10,000 more when you hit that $1,000) Also when you reach the $1,000 level in that first 90 days you’ll receive the Buddy Pass. Convert that pass for 30,000 Aeroplan points and you have your 50,000 Aeroplan points. The icing on top of all of this is the card has a first year annual fee rebate on the primary card and additional cardholders. That means you have just earned 50,000 Aeroplan points for only $1,000 in spending that you most likely would doing anyways! That’s pretty much unheard of in our market to score at least $600 in points value! This offer on the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card ends on May 31, 2021.
Learn more about and apply for the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card here.
The second best offer
The second best offer is for the CIBC Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card and that’s because its the same offer that we see on the TD card! The reason it comes in second however is the TD version of the card has a few extra benefits like a 50% bonus on Starbucks spend until this November and the TD Card has the NEXUS fee rebate as well. This card offers 20,000 Aeroplan points and a bonus Buddy Pass
for an eligible round-trip flight within North America after spending
$1,000 in purchases within the first four months of Cardmembership (10,000 points on first purchase and 10,000 more when you hit that $1,000). This card also has an annual fee rebate in the first year so again you have 50,000 points in total if you convert that Buddy Pass – all for $1,000 in spending.
Learn more about and apply for the CIBC Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card here
The third best offer
The third best offer in our minds is from the American Express® Aeroplan®* Card. This card offers a welcome bonus of up to 15,000 Aeroplan Points that is broken up as 9,000 points when you spend $1,500 in the first three months and then 1,000 Aeroplan points for each monthly billing period in which you spend
$500 in purchases on your Card for the first six months of
Cardmembership.The Buddy Pass is awarded as well when you hit that $1,500 in spending in the first three months. As you can see you do have to spend more on this card to come up with 45,000 points and you also have to pay the $120 annual fee hence the reason for this card being in third spot. That being said however you may already have the TD or CIBC card and are looking to gain more Aeroplan points so you could for this card to supplement your other Aeroplan card.
Learn more about and apply for the American Express® Aeroplan®* Card
Convert your pass as soon as you can
I would also recommend that once you get your card, meet the spending requirements for the Buddy Pass and that Buddy Pass posts to your Aeroplan account call them right away to convert it. Don’t wait as this conversion option is not a publicly published offer which means it can be withdrawn at any time and you don’t want to be stuck with a Buddy Pass you will not use (I’m mainly looking at the solo travellers here!)
Wrapping it up
If you want to get in on this amazing option to earn a ton of Aeroplan points I would do it sooner than later. As mentioned above we don’t know if and when Aeroplan will keep this in effect until but I imagine it will be for a few months, at least until there is a better idea of what is happening in the world in regards to travel and how the Government of Canada will have things play out. So get one of these cards now, hit your minimum spending and call Aeroplan as soon as that Buddy Pass shows up in your account.
Remember as well there are Buddy Pass offers on several the Aeroplan co-branded small business cards – so that is another option that you can look at as well.