Chase Ultimate Rewards is running a promotion for a 20% bonus on point transfers to Air Canada Aeroplan. The offer is available to those with an Ultimate Rewards card that charges an annual fee (Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Ink Plus, Ink Business Preferred, Chase Corporate Flex, and JPMorgan Reserve.) The 20% bonus is coded in the Ultimate Rewards website and runs through July 31, 2023.
If you have a Chase Aeroplan co-brand credit card, this stacks with the 10% bonus when transferring 50,000 or more Ultimate Rewards points in a single transaction from an eligible Chase credit card to Aeroplan by December 31, 2023. If you have both cards (Chase Aeroplan & an Ultimate Rewards earning card with an annual fee), you’ll get a 30% bonus when converting at least 50K Chase Ultimate Rewards points with this promotion.
This is a great deal if you have an upcoming flight that you were planning on booking by using Aeroplan points. But is it a good idea to speculatively transfer points to Aeroplan?
I’m Not A Fan Of Speculative Transferring of Points
I need to get this out of the way. I think it’s a bad idea to transfer points to a program without knowing how you’re going to use them. The reason to earn transferrable points is the flexibility they provide. Once you transfer the points to a loyalty program, you’ve eliminated the flexibility to use those points in a different program. It’s up to you to decide if the bonus you’re getting is worth losing that flexibility.
If you burn through Aeroplan points regularly, it’s OK to transfer without a specific redemption in mind but I wouldn’t transfer points just because they’re on sale.
Reasons Why You Should Transfer to Aeroplan
Regarding airline loyalty programs, Aeroplan is one of the best. You can use points to book flights on Air Canada, Star Alliance partners and many non-alliance partners.
Aeroplan partners with 47 airlines at the time of writing this post.
They allow you to combine flights with multiple carriers on the same award ticket, making it possible to visit some unique destinations. If you’re unable to book online, Aeroplan’s phone representatives are knowledgeable and can help resolve problems. I had to call Aeroplan for a booking and the rep walked me through the process, even holding a reservation until I could transfer points to our account.
One extra perk with Aeroplan is that they allow stopovers for 5,000 additional miles, even on a one-way award ticket.
With so many reasons to like Aeroplan, why shouldn’t you transfer Chase points with a 20% bonus?
Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Transfer to Aeroplan
If you do not have a current use for Aeroplan points, you have to be careful because points in the program will expire with no activity for 18 months. Aeroplan has extended point expiration until September 30, 2024. After that, you’ll need to have some account activity to keep your points from expiring.
Another reason not to transfer Chase points is that Aeroplan is also a transfer partner with American Express, Capital One, Bilt Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.
You need to consider how many points you have in each program and how else you can use those points. For example, I transferred Capital One points to Aeroplan to book this flight because I think they are one of the best uses of those points.
When it comes to Chase Ultimate Rewards, I’ll typically transfer points to World of Hyatt or United because the only other transfer partner for those programs is Bilt.
Final Thought
If I were booking an award flight on Aeroplan today, I’d seriously consider transferring Chase points with a 20% bonus. Spending 150,000 miles is better than 180,000.
But since I don’t know how soon it will be before I need to book a flight on one of Aeroplan’s many partners, I will keep my points with Chase until I know where I will need them. For me, that’s worth 20%.
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