Aeroplan has rolled out the next round of updates to its Flight Reward Chart, with a new version taking effect for any booking made on or after June 1, 2026. This is the first meaningful adjustment to the partner chart since last year’s broader overhaul, which moved several partner airlines onto dynamic pricing.
Most of the partner award columns are moving up, with the largest jumps showing up on long-haul premium cabins between North America and Europe, intra-Asia business class, and the routes that connect Asia and Europe.
The good news is that the structure of the chart stays intact. Partner awards remain on a fixed chart, several zones come through completely untouched, and a handful of bands actually moved in the right direction.
Below, the changes broken down by zone, with before-and-after pricing for Canadians redeeming on partner airlines.
What Stays the Same
If most of your redemptions sit in the bottom half of Aeroplan’s zone map, you can largely ignore this update.
The following zones see no changes to either the fixed partner pricing or the “Starting at” floors for Air Canada and Select Partners:
- Within North America: all distance bands, all cabins
- Between North America and South America: all distance bands, all cabins
- Within South America: all distance bands, all cabins
- Between Atlantic and South America: all distance bands, all cabins
- Between Pacific and South America: all distance bands, all cabins
Domestic Canadian flights, the Caribbean and Florida, Latin America, and South America to Europe or Asia all stay exactly where they were on paper. That covers a lot of typical Canadian redemption patterns.
One caveat: Air Canada and Select Partners flights stay on dynamic pricing, so the actual cost of any specific booking can drift well above (or below) the floor. The “Starting at” numbers are floors, not what most members pay. The honest read on real-world pricing comes from the median values Aeroplan publishes quarterly, and we’ll only see how the new chart actually performs once the next median snapshot lands a few months from now.
Between North America and Atlantic
This is where most Canadians feel the change. Trips to and from Europe make up a huge share of partner redemptions, and the new chart raises premium cabin pricing across nearly every distance band.
| Distance (miles) | Cabin | Old | New | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–4,000 | Economy | 35,000 | 32,500 | −7% |
| Business | 60,000 | 60,000 | No change | |
| First | 90,000 | 90,000 | No change | |
| 4,001–6,000 | Economy | 40,000 | 42,500 | +6% |
| Business | 70,000 | 75,000 | +7% | |
| First | 100,000 | 120,000 | +20% | |
| 6,001–8,000 | Economy | 55,000 | 60,000 | +9% |
| Business | 90,000 | 90,000 | No change | |
| First | 130,000 | 150,000 | +15% | |
| 8,001+ | Economy | 70,000 | 75,000 | +7% |
| Business | 110,000 | 110,000 | No change | |
| First | 140,000 | 165,000 | +18% |
Business class survives in three of the four bands, which softens the blow somewhat. The 4,001–6,000-mile band, where Toronto–London or Montreal–Frankfurt typically lives, picks up an extra 5,000 points one-way in business class.
First class is the bigger story. The 100,000-point first class price for short-haul Atlantic flights now sits at 120,000 points, and ultra-long-haul first class climbs to 165,000 points. If you’ve been holding points for a Lufthansa first class redemption, that $5,000 (CAD) ticket just got a bit more expensive in points.
Between North America and Pacific
Asia redemptions are the next biggest pain point, and this is where the eye-catching +17% business class bump shows up.
| Distance (miles) | Cabin | Old | New | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–5,000 | Economy | 35,000 | 32,500 | −7% |
| Business | 55,000 | 55,000 | No change | |
| First | 90,000 | 90,000 | No change | |
| 5,001–7,500 | Economy | 50,000 | 50,000 | No change |
| Business | 75,000 | 75,000 | No change | |
| First | 110,000 | 120,000 | +9% | |
| 7,501–11,000 | Economy | 60,000 | 65,000 | +8% |
| Business | 87,500 | 102,500 | +17% | |
| First | 130,000 | 140,000 | +8% | |
| 11,001+ | Economy | 75,000 | 70,000 | −7% |
| Business | 115,000 | 115,000 | No change | |
| First | 150,000 | 150,000 | No change |
The 7,501–11,000-mile band covers the bulk of Toronto- or Vancouver-to-Asia bookings on partners like ANA, Singapore Airlines, EVA Air, or Asiana Airlines. Partner business class one-way moves from 87,500 to 102,500 points, an extra 15,000 points each way for a return trip in business class to Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, or Singapore.
That’s the headline change of this round, and it’s worth flagging for anyone sitting on a balance earmarked for an Asia trip.
The bright spots in this zone are the short-haul economy decrease (Vancouver to Hawaii, for example, drops to 32,500 points) and the ultra-long-haul economy decrease for routes over 11,000 miles, like Toronto to Bangkok or Montreal to Singapore via Europe.
Between Atlantic and Pacific
The biggest broad-based premium cabin increases sit in this zone, which covers Europe to Asia connections like London to Tokyo or Frankfurt to Bangkok on partner airlines.
| Distance (miles) | Cabin | Old | New | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0–2,500 | Economy | 25,000 | 25,000 | No change |
| Business | 40,000 | 47,500 | +19% | |
| First | 50,000 | 55,000 | +10% | |
| 2,501–5,000 | Economy | 40,000 | 40,000 | No change |
| Business | 60,000 | 75,000 | +25% | |
| First | 80,000 | 95,000 | +19% | |
| 5,001–7,000 | Economy | 50,000 | 60,000 | +20% |
| Business | 80,000 | 92,500 | +16% | |
| First | 100,000 | 120,000 | +20% | |
| 7,001+ | Economy | 65,000 | 75,000 | +15% |
| Business | 110,000 | 130,000 | +18% | |
| First | 140,000 | 150,000 | +7% |
If you’ve been planning to use Aeroplan points for an open-jaw routing (say, fly to Europe, position over to Asia, and return home), the Europe-to-Asia segment now costs more than it did. The 2,501–5,000-mile band, which covers a lot of Europe-to-Middle East and Europe-to-South Asia routings on partners like Lufthansa or Turkish Airlines, picks up 15,000 points in business class.
Within Atlantic and Within Pacific
Both intra-region charts are mixed, with notable increases on premium cabins in the middle distance bands and some surprising decreases at the extremes.
Within Atlantic (intra-Europe), short-haul business class actually drops, while medium and long-haul premium cabins move up:
- Short-haul (0–2,000 miles): business class drops to 12,500–22,500 points, down from 15,000–25,000
- Medium-haul (2,001–6,000 miles): economy and first class up roughly 11–20%
- Long-haul (6,001+ miles): business class up 19% to 95,000 points
Within Pacific (intra-Asia), the pattern flips. Short and medium-haul economy and business class rise, while ultra-long-haul economy and business class come down a touch:
- 2,001–5,000 miles: business class rises to 52,500 points, up from 45,000 (a popular Australia–Asia or Japan–Southeast Asia band)
- 5,001–7,000 miles: business class rises to 72,500 points, up from 60,000
- 7,001+ miles: business class drops to 85,000 points, from 90,000
Where Prices Came Down
Not every band moved against you. A few partner-chart prices actually dropped, which is worth calling out:
- North America to Europe, 0–4,000 miles in economy: 35,000 → 32,500 points
- North America to Asia, 0–5,000 miles in economy: 35,000 → 32,500 points (Vancouver–Honolulu range)
- North America to Asia, 11,001+ miles in economy: 75,000 → 70,000 points (the longest one-way redemptions)
- Within Europe, short-haul business class: drops by 2,500–5,000 points across the first three bands
- Intra-Asia long-haul economy and business class: down by 5,000 points each in the 7,001+ band
None of these are large enough to offset the increases for most travellers, but they’re real, and they map nicely onto a few common Canadian itineraries.
My Opinion on This Update
Honestly, this round of changes lands somewhere in the middle for me. The North America to Europe partner business class bands picking up 5,000 points one-way is a bearable change. At 75,000 points one-way to London or Frankfurt, business class to Europe still anchors the program for me, and that’s not enough of a bump to shake my confidence in Aeroplan as a transfer destination.
The change that hits closest to home is the transpacific business class jump in the 7,501–11,000-mile band. South Korea, Japan, and Thailand are my favorite destinations, and the partner business class redemption (especially when you route via Europe to keep the same distance band) has been my favorite use of Aeroplan points for years. Watching the price climb from 87,500 to 102,500 points isn’t a deal-breaker, but it’s the change I’ll feel the most.
If you have a specific Asia or Europe trip in mind, my advice is to lock it in before May 31, 2026. Aeroplan flight rewards can be cancelled for a fee, and you can change dates within the same routing without repricing in many cases, so booking a tentative itinerary today is a low-risk move. That extra 15,000 points each way on a transpacific business class redemption adds up to 30,000 points over a return trip, and even more once you start multiplying that across a family booking.
Conclusion
The bigger question is whether June 2026 is the last partner-chart adjustment for a while, or the start of more frequent ones. Aeroplan committed to keeping the partner chart fixed when it relaunched the program in 2020, and that commitment has held. Even through this round, the partner column is still printed at fixed prices, and the structure is still readable. Whether it stays that way is the thing worth watching next.
This story originally appeared on princeoftravel
