[UPDATE 22/10] 2026 Aeroplan Elite status qualifying & Aeroplan earning changes
 

Live now

Earning

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/.../acearn.html#/

Status

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...n/elite.html#/

SQC confirmed

1000 SQC per $5000 spend on AE cards, max 25000 SQC

2027 SE needs 125,000 SQC

No more SQM rollover, 10% carry through SQC the following year

Multipliers for each level, bunch of other things to go through.

At least nothing changes for this year

Big changes. Will be a win for some and a loss for others. Wonder if the US Chase AP card will be affected (spend $15k to earn 25k status), I can't find any language about it

Edit: Based on my preliminary look the earn rates are pretty low compared to competitors at least at the lower tiers

Overall I think the biggest devaluation I see is for high spend credit card users, which is interesting given a lot of the predictions were that the opposite would happen and credit card spend would be rewarded. The maximum 25,000 SDC and 10% rollover from credit cards is a huge nerf.

At 1,000 SQC per $5,000 spend on premium cards, benefits max out at $125,000 in spending. This will decrease the amount I spend on these cards significantly.

So I guess a common path to SE for high CC spend people will be:

$125,000 CC spend = 25,000 SDC
12,500+ SDC rollover (10% of SE threshold)
= 87,500 SDC needed = $21,875 in qualifying spend.

Their example of George “the premium flyer” most fits me and is unsurprisingly disingenuous.

This guy is 75K but spends $24,000 in fares and spends $125,000 on the CC… which gets him “an upgrade” to SE.

Except George in the current system would already have been SE easily by passing $20K spending and having no problems with SQM based on the credit card. There’s no improvement here from a status point of view.

And in the current system 75K was pretty trivial since it took just $9,000 SQD and the CC took care of the necessary SQM easily (no max, bunch of multipliers, roll over). The new system this becomes much harder.

It feels like lower status is much easier with CC and mid/top status are much harder.

Not as bad a change as I was fearing, sad that I missed in on banking a lot of rollover years. Interesting to see the Prince of Travel partnership in the communication. Seems like a first partnership of that type.

For anyone where SQM was trivial with big CC spend and you were limited by SQD this is definitely a negative change for achieving mid/top status.

No opinions on if this is good or bad but I think it does mean for me to switch CC spend once I hit 50K (which is probably a bit easier in this new system).

Just having a Quick Look at the changes, wow extensive. I’m on mobile though and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to build out quite a spreadsheet to figure out how I will or won’t do.

There’s flexibility in the thresholds which might be nice for some, but it appears that the rollover game is dramatically reduced (10%?).

Oh well I need some people who have time to convert and forecast things to wake up and help me decide how I feel about this. There isn’t likely much upside or new benefit though from a first glance.

The new thresholds including a choice of eUps and PRs is interesting. I quite liked getting some of each naturally before.

That cap on credit card spend SDC is interesting. It will definitely significantly reduce my credit card spend on Aeroplan cards since why bother.

Edit: No more significant gift cards/points thresholds (at 300k/350s). That will slow a few people I know down from pushing to accumulate SQMs when they are close.

Marriot Bonvoy seems to do this (stay credits at least).

The blogger involvement is interesting. Just part of corporate comms.

There are no comments on the MM program so I will assume no changes?
Does the average Canadian even spend anywhere close to 125K/year on a credit card? Even if you could pay all your life expenses with it, that's more than double the mean wage?
At quick glance it just seems most levels got harder to qualify more, with my estimate of SE requirement going up 30-50% depending on how you calculate it

Current segment qualifier here.

Positives: The new elite qualification system fits my travel pattern better. I'd be already requalified as SE. Theold way I still have to worry about earning the necessary segments until the end of the year.

Disappointments: The MM qualification is not changing. SQC=LQM would give me a chance of earning MM status. This way I don't have a chance.

The big credit card value is usually people funnelling business expense through credit card and has nothing to do with their wages.

Haven't got the time to fully comprehend the changes, but mileage run will become a thing of the past. (Unless you are going for MM status)

No more silly connections to milk SQS or Singapore day tripper.

I think the people willing to pay the premium card annual fee and travelling some-what regularly have much closer to $125k/year spend then the average person. Particularly when you consider that CC spend can often be business spend (either your own business or expenses that get reimbursed).

But you’re right, I assume it’s not particularly common.

Definitely not. Not even close.

But there is a tiny segment of very high spend CC users - people with businesses and the like. A lot of the recent chatter around frequent flyer programs has been about how credit card programs are extremely lucrative for airlines, and this spend is being rewarded in status programs in the US for example.

I think some people will be happy with this change as they really focus on the "frequent flyer" aspect of the program. But for me it means I'll be diverting large amounts of business spend to other cards starting next year.

(Originally posted in the other thread. Removing that one and moving here.)

Surprisingly low earn IMO.

It's also the only program (?) where a dollar spent on lower fares is worth less than a dollar spent on premium fares. That is brutal.

Partner earnings also terrible...

I think it is pretty telling that the very first example on that page has $9k spent but only achieves 25K.

This is a massive devaluation dressed up in a needlessly complex suit. At least BA was honest about it, and also didnt punish Y flyers extra.

(EDIT: Also as someone who lives in Europe (i.e. Not Canada/US) this is extra terrible for me. I mainly only use my Canadian AC card for hotels/flights, and e.g. Uber only earns in Canada.)

If I’m calculating it correctly, year 1 will have comparatively low fare requirements for those of us who max out rollover miles.

200k rollover -> 40k SQC
+25k SQC for credit card spending
= 60k SQC needed through fares
= 15k spending

Or if you max out travel partners like Uber and *A it could get as low as 8.75k spending?

Is this right?

From my first read, as an SE who holds a super premium card, the program was just completely nerfed for me. Basically a complete removal of rollover benefits, fewer eupgrades, milestone “gifts” basically non-existent and are now bundled together with others and given a choice ie priority reward vs eupgrade.

I have no idea who advised them to do this but this is Porter and Westjet’s dream come true. High probability of some nice status match programs popping up.

Cap on CC Spend
 

Well I am disappointed but maybe not shocked they capped CC spend. I guess high CC spend isn't seen as valuable. But now I will just spend one month on my Aeroplan card and put the rest on Amex MR.

Regular points earning gutted for low fare flex travellers….i used to earn 5,842 for a return YEG-YYZ with base fare of $350…..now as a 75 k I would earn 1,750. Not sure this game is worth playing. If you buy super $$ tickets with OPM then maybe.

50K status without even getting on a plane
 

Am I reading this right?
$125,000 spend on the premium credit card will earn you 25,000 SQC (the max for credit cards).
One could also earn 25,000 SQC earned with other partners at 1 SQC for every 5 Aeroplan points (also maxed at 25,000 SQC). Lots of Uber rides, I guess!
This will get you 50,000 SQC and 50K Status without even stepping onto an aircraft.

Interesting…

And the 10% rollover makes it a bit easier too. So if you get 50K one year, the next you’ll be able to do $125 CC spend to be at 30K SQC needing only $20K of partner spend.

Agreed. As someone who holds both the Amex reserve and the TD VIP, I will definitely not need both cards next year. Now to pick which one to cancel.

That eUpgrade change is actually huge for me. Makes eupgrades actually relevant when travelling with the family.

That’s definitely one part of- but that has always existed. The SQM part for 5/1 just added an aspect and value. But there are people I know with personal expenses on the high side.

Looks like select benefits are disappearing and they’re giving you fewer eupgrade points to start with, you’ll now have to earn them with your spend throughout the year

But there are rarely that many open J seats anyway…

Biz cabins will be emptier! As a 75k my Eupgrade base amount is down almost 50% in the new model.

From reading this, do I understand that SQCs are only awarded when purchasing on AC stock? So no more earning on *A flights purchased elsewhere, or AC metal purchased on different stock?

Get 4 SQC per $1 spent on the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges (Y, YQ and YR), excluding applicable taxes, fees, and third-party charges, when booking an Air Canada flight in Economy Flex, Comfort or Latitude, as well as Premium Economy or Business Class. This includes flights operated by Air Canada, as well as Star Alliance member airline flights ticketed with Air Canada (ticket numbers beginning with '014').

It's interesting you can earn SQC from non-014 ticketed Star Alliance flights.

I don't quite understand how to earn SQC from partners. Is the idea basically that if you spend with partners, as long as it's not at the e-store, then you earn AP points (sometimes at a miserly rate) and then 1/5th of that is SQC?

E.g. I spent $40 at the LCBO and get 10 AP points, so 2 SQC?

Or I buy 60 litres of Journie gas so get 60 AP (if accounts are linked), so 15 SQC?

$50 loaded onto the Starbucks app = 25 points = 5 SQC?

I think this is the idea, although the fact there's so much variation in the points earning rate by partner makes it a bit complicated.

Has anyone seem confirmation of how supplementary AP cards will be treated? Presumably the same as SQM earning, with the spend going to the primary card holders SQC?


PLeblond see this screenshot:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3510a87c97.png

It looks like while there are no changes to the MM program benefits it will be harder to get to MM if you are a premium traveller. Currently, all miles earned, including the bonus for the premium fares count towards the MM qualification; now it looks like only the actual miles flown count, regardless of which cabin you are in. I'll hit MM next month, but going for 2MM is going to now require a lot more BIS miles as I'm usually doing 4-5 TPAC per year in business.

Overall, I'm really disappointed with this change. I'll still make SE based on AC spend alone, but the nerfing of the AE VIP benefits with the rollover in particular is painful. 10% rollover doesn't come close to making up for the benefits lost and there really isn't an incentive to book business class vs. flex from a points earning perspective.

For many of my trips, there are better schedule options with other airlines, but the loyalty factor and extra benefits with Aeroplan, combined with the credit card, were enough on the margin to make me route through YYZ, YVR or YUL when a direct flight or shorter layover was available. Now it's going to be who offers the better connections, since it's all about the spend.

Partner flights (not on 014 ticket stock) are now in the 'Aeroplan Partner' bucket where you earn 1 SQC for every 5 Aeroplan points earned. Points earned is still based on distance.

These changes entirely eliminate the need for mileage runs... which makes me a bit sad for purely nostalgic reasons.

Sure, if I need to "purchase" some SQC it will be easier and take less time now to simply buy an expensive latitude round-trip between YYZ & YUL ... but that won't be nearly as fun as the trips to EZE, or HKG, or VIE

Thats a huge hit to the MM earning. I wonder if that’s (no premium cabin boost) unique to programs offering MM benefits. I guess it really is bis miles only with the change.

Overall though it seems really odd there’s no cabin boost to the earning. Or even fare category. Ie I often buy comfort somewhat for the refundability but also for the little 15% boost.

If you are worried about MM earning, just buy an unlimited flight pass or two.

What is the calculation on priority rewards? Seems like a SE earns less under the new system.

While like many others, I’m disappointed in the changes. I’m equally more concerned about whether the changes will actually enhance my experience with AC. If SE now costs over $30K in spending to achieve (assuming no CC or partner earning), I’d expect better service from concierge and the ground crew. Otherwise it’s a 50% increase in spending for effectively the same spotty service.

I just did the math and this change just nuked me.....

I am ending this year with around 7K spend... 5/7 is spent on flex or higher fares.. so that's 22K SQC...... with about 35K Spend on Amex.. that gets me to 27K.... this means I need to spend atleast 12K a year on SQD now.. it's pretty much doubling from where the requirement previously..

Interestingly the MLL you can get from the flexible benefits seem to be expanding to worldwide as opposed to Domestic/TB. Interesting given the "crowding" issues.

To achieve SE for 2027, I will need 125,000 SQC. I can get 25,000 SQC from credit cards, etc, plus a premium card 10% bonus on SQC earned in 2026, so assume 125,000 SQC (min required), would be 12,500 SQC from 10% bonus. Result is I would need 87,500 SQC from paying for AC Airfares. Which would be at 4SQC per $1 AC spend, means $21,875 spent on AC flights. Do I have this right? I am thinking I need to find a course on Air Canada program, it keeps getting more and more complex, maybe soon a University will offer a degree in AC Points program. They are getting stupid. I am think about how to do you explain the program to somebody who does not have status, god it is complex.

Then I have been rolling over 200,000 SQM for years, so those 200,000 rollover SQM will become a onetime 40,000 SQC , so my need just drops from 87,500 SQC to 47,500 SQC = $11,875 spend on AC in 2026. This get easier in the short term for me. I know my 4 years of Banked SE and 6 Million Aeropoints will come into play at some point in the next few years.

The earning rates for points will be excellent for business class or other high spend flyers, but even the examples they give on their website show how many fewer points you'll get.

Take their YYZ-YYT example on their website, with a $500 round trip ticket, as a base user you get 500 points (before, assuming that was flex, you'd have received around 2,400 points). Even as 50k,you're now getting 2,000 points (before with 50k you'd have received 3,600).

Just looking at my own spend last year, I'd have received 30,000 miles (including my 4x multiplier), but with 50k and the 50% bonus, I received 40,000 miles.

I'm sure AC has done the modelling, but I'm betting this means they give out a lot fewer miles a year than their current program, rewarding high spend business travellers a lot more, and leisure travellers a lot fewer