bob04619

If you view the HTML source on the Aeroplan homepage they two "news" articles commented out (hidden):

- Etihad Airways joins Aeroplan as a new airline partner
- More value for your Aeroplan Miles

https://www.aeroplan.com/whats_new/n...190_2019_05_01

ETIHAD AIRWAYS JOINS AEROPLAN AS A NEW AIRLINE PARTNER

As of May 1, 2019, Aeroplan Members can earn Aeroplan Miles with Etihad Airways.

Founded in 2003, Etihad Airways is the national carrier of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, based at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The airline flies to over 110 destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas with their fleet of over 120 aircraft. As a global carrier, it has expanded its network at a rapid pace, and won acclaim for its exceptional service.

Aeroplan Miles earned on all eligible Etihad Airways flights do not count toward Air Canada Altitude™ status.

Star Alliance™ Gold and Silver Benefits are not extended by Etihad Airways.

To learn more, consult the Etihad Airways accumulation structure right now.

https://www.aeroplan.com/whats_new/n...259_2019_05_01

Back in January, we shared the news that Air Canada had completed its acquisition of Aeroplan, delivering on our promise to keep your Aeroplan Miles safe, and bringing us a big step closer to launching a more rewarding loyalty program for our customers.

Building a more rewarding Aeroplan program that provides unbeatable value for members remains our first priority.

This starts now, with more value for your Aeroplan Miles. Since the acquisition, and compared to last year, we've already started making improvements to Aeroplan:

• Go where you want – for fewer Miles. We've introduced exclusive Market Fare Flight Reward promotions to our most popular destinations. For example, Florida, certain destinations in Southwest U.S., and Hawaii are all on sale right now. Keep an eye out for many more promotions like this one.

• A better deal on Market Fare Flight Rewards. You can redeem Market Fare Flight Rewards for 15% fewer Miles on average. On North American routes, we've also increased by 45% the number of "Great Deals" (bookings requiring fewer Miles for Market Fare than for Fixed Mileage).

• More Air Canada Gift Cards, for less. You can now redeem Air Canada gift cards for 25% fewer Miles than before. Air Canada Vacations® gift cards are a better deal now, too, and for Air Canada Vacation packages, you can now use $100 to $5000 worth of Miles to pay for your package.

• Still the best value on Air Canada. Aeroplan has the lowest fixed fare redemption options among Canadian loyalty travel programs, with only 7,500 Miles needed for a one-way, short haul flight with no advance purchase or roundtrip required.

This is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more updates and surprises (the good kind) as we celebrate Aeroplan's 35thanniversary this year and move closer to launching a more rewarding program in 2020.

canopus27

This is a little bizarre. If Aeroplan was still an entirely separate company, then it would make lots of sense ... they were just continuing to sign up new partners.

However, now that Aeroplan is just a part of Air Canada, it seems odd to enable flights on other airlines, that are not part of the Air Canada partner network. It also sounds as though the deal is only about non-status mileage accumulation - by my read of this text, you won't even be able to spend your AP miles on reward flights on Etihad.

LondonElite

It's not that uncommon earn miles but not status on 'lesser' or non-alliance partners.

Smiley90

That's bizarre. What's the point of not having it count towards status?

Do Etihad and AC interline currently?

I would assume it's a similar situation to what AA is doing with Westjet where you can only earn miles, not redeem. Though Westjet miles DO count for status there. (though of course AA allows earning AND redeeming in their partnership with Etihad... so go figure)

rankourabu

AC fares to AUH all allow travel on Etihad via London/Frankfurt/Munich, etc.

Redeeming Aeroplan on Etihad would be unreal. The Apartments are amazing, way above any Star Alliance F.

splicer100

Update from One Mile At A Time where Air Canada provided a comment "Clearly our content team is excited about new earning opportunities for Aeroplan! While Air Canada is in discussions with Etihad Airways, we will not be launching a frequent flyer partnership tomorrow. We look forward to sharing more details with you as they become available."

https://onemileatatime.com/etihad-aeroplan-partnership/

tcook052

While this topic was originally posted in the "Update: Aimia accepts Air Canada, TD, CIBC & Visa revised $450-million Aeroplan bid" thread it's a significant enough development to warrant its own thread.

tcook052
AC forum moderator

yyzgigi

vroom

WS's partnership with AA ended last year.

cooleddie

It would be cooler if we could redeem

lcohen999

They do this with Cathay as well. It is a pain to even get the millage and does not seem to hold a lot of purpose

canopus27

Yeah, but I can marginally understand why Aeroplan (an entirely separate company focused on loyalty based points accumulation) would do that.

Now that they are owned by Air Canada, I would have expected them to have a much more airline centric behavior .... not just accumulating points for usage, but also allowing use of those points for reward travel. To have an Air Canada owned entity continue to establish new partnerships in the same way that the old Aeroplan was doing while it was trying to prevent the acquisition by Air Canada .... that's what seem odd to me.

canadiancow

CX was much more AC than Aeroplan.

ChrisA330

AC and EY have had codeshares on each others flights since 2013.

lcohen999

That may be but you cannot get AQD/AQM credited . Only aeroplan miles.