According to reader Chris earlier today the Chase Aeroplan waitlist showed details of the new Chase Aeroplan card. They were as follows:
- Enjoy two Welcome Flight Rewards worth up to 100,000 points.
- Earn two Flight Reward Certificates valued at up to 50,000 Aeroplan points each, when you spend $4,000 in the first three months of account opening! Certificate can be used for partial payment (e.g a flight costing 65,000 miles you can use the certificate + 15,000 miles)
- Card earns at the following rates:
- 3x grocery and dining including delivery services and with air Canada directly.
- 1x on all other purchases.
- 500 point bonus every 2k spend up to 1500 a month.
- Aeroplan 25k status for the remainder of this year and next after that 15k spend per year to maintain the status.
- Free 1st checked bag up to 8 companions on air Canada.
- No annual fee details were shown
The sign up bonus is interesting, doesn’t look like it’s flat miles but two certificates good up to 50,000 points. The earning structure is also very interesting due to the 3x on grocery, you also get the extra 500 points for every $2,000 in spend as well. I have no idea how reliable this is as I didn’t see the page showing these myself Seems reliable based on the screenshots sent. I can’t see 3x grocery being sustainable long term. Remember you can get 10,000 bonus points and some upgrade certificates when you join the waitlist.
This card launches tomorrow at 8AM.
It’s already been launched as of 4 pm EST today:
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/Aeroplan/aep
The AF is $95 as I had expected (on par with other airline CCs that offer a free checked bag). AF *not* waived during the first year.
The rumor/leak was pretty much spot-on about everything. The 3x grocery category is uncapped.
Some other benefits that weren’t mentioned in the initial leak are:
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS Fee Credit
Receive a statement credit of up to $100 every 4 years as a reimbursement for the application fee charged to your Aeroplan Card.
Preferred Pricing
Receive access to preferred pricing on flight rewards. As the Primary Cardmember, you can often book flight rewards for even fewer points.
You, as the primary cardmember will often require fewer Aeroplan points to redeem for flight rewards through the Aeroplan program than Aeroplan Members who do not hold an Aeroplan co-branded Credit Card. Preferred pricing for flight rewards applies only to flight rewards with Air Canada, not on other airlines.
The NEXUS credit is nice. Finally a card that doesn’t simply offer only GE/TSA Pre.
Given that this is Air Canada, it would be neat if this card had $50 Nexus credit.
Looks like your wish was granted…
This will not be the only card that Chase and Aeroplan will offer. There must be a premium card too. I don’t know whether it will be released at the same, or a later, time. I am more excited to see the offer for the premium card.
Do you know if there will be a premium card or is that just speculation?
@William Charles Some of the paid shill bloggers(aka advertisers) have confirmed (in record time might I add) that the 50k certs from the bonus “…can be applied towards a single-passenger Aeroplan redemption in any cabin and for any redemption amount.” You *might* consider updating the post as this indicates to me that the two cannot be combined into one award, just a suggestion.
I’m guessing there will be a cap on the 3x grocery. Chase has always been skittish with the grocery category.
Any business class flight across the ocean starts at 60k, how convenient for them to limit it to 50k…..
I hope the certificates are actually useful. I have been postponing other applications for this card since I am 4/24.
They lost me at “certificates”
What does a “flight reward certificate” get you? What do 50,000 Aeroplan points get you?
Until there’s some sense of what those things can be traded for, this is completely meaningless — no?
I know how little most hotel “certificates” are worth (great for a free night at the Motel 6 in Akron on a Wednesday in February, should I ever need that — but completely worthless if I want beachfront on some tropical beach, pretty much ever). So I am yet to be convinced that “flight reward certificates” are exciting and awesome. Maybe good for a one-way in basic economy from Toronto to Cleveland, but you might need to bring a wheelbarrow full of them for that business class flight to Athens.
Perhaps I am too cynical.
If you can’t do the research and decide what 50K Aeroplan miles get you, this card isn’t probably for you.
Oh, I can easily see how far 50K Aeroplan miles have been able to get me (at least in the past) — that’s not the issue. They are NOT giving a sign-up bonus of 100,000 points. They’re promising Certificates. This is a new program, with new currency.
Note the weasel words: two certificates “valued at up to 50,00 points each.” So in some theoretical case, one Certificate = 50,000 points? OK. But in the Real World, you may find they’re worth something else. I guess we’ll see how awesome this is eventually, but the terminology being used is very, very slippery and highly prone to spin.
I’m sure when they officially announce the card they will have more details, but without seeing the fine print, it sounds like it works similarly to the IHG/Marriott certs: Redeem for a flight (TBD whether must be one-way, but I’d assume r/t counts) that costs up to 50k points. Probably also similar to hotel certs in that there is a hard-ish expiration date.
Would I take this over 100k points? No way. Is there a chance we’d have a lower amount of points if they offered straight points for the signup bonus? Probably. Are you making too many assumptions based on leaked screenshots that don’t include fine print? Definitely.
Exactly… certs will be a lot more useful if you can use them as partial payment toward a ticket costing more than 50k. Otherwise, meh…
According to other blogs (all one day late to report on this so hattip to DOC…) you can use a cert as partial payment, so that’s good news. Looking forward to seeing all the Fine Print.
Thank you for sharing this! I held off another application waiting for this. Now I know it sucks and can move forward.