Chase Air Canada Aeroplan Card Refresh: Ongoing Elite Status, Earning Changes, and Higher Annual Fee

Chase and Air Canada rolled out a substantial refresh of the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan^® Credit Card today, September 10, 2026, and there’s plenty to unpack.

The card first launched in 2021, and this update reworks how you earn points, adds a handful of new perks, retires a few familiar benefits, and pushes the annual fee $100 higher.

It also debuts what Chase is calling the best welcome bonus offer the card has ever offered.

Let’s walk through the changes to the card, plus when the updates take effect for existing cardholders.

What’s Changing on the Aeroplan Card?

Executives from Chase and Aeroplan say this update creates a simpler, more elevated travel experience, and the earning structure is where you’ll see it first.

The Aeroplan card now earns 3x points on Air Canada purchases, which stacks with the 2x Aeroplan benefit for up to 5x total when you’re buying Air Canada flights. You’ll also earn 3x on all other travel, including rideshare and hotels, and 2x on dining, gas, and groceries.

The other significant change relates to Aeroplan elite status. Cardholders still get 25K Aeroplan Elite Status automatically, but it no longer expires as long as you hold the card in good standing. Previously, cardholders received elite status for the year they opened their account and the full following year. Now, the 25K status sticks around.

There are also more day-of-travel perks and more ways to save on Air Canada flights baked into the refresh, which are discussed below.

What’s Not Changing?

Plenty of the reasons people picked up this card in the first place are still here. You still get:

• Pay Yourself Back on select categories
• Aeroplan family sharing
• No foreign transaction fees
• A free first checked bag for you and up to 8 companions on the same reservation
• A 5,000 Status Qualifying Credit bonus toward Aeroplan Elite Status
• A statement credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS
• Status Qualifying Credit bonus tiers tied to your spending

That last perk is worth flagging for anyone chasing status: You can still earn your way to 35K status in a calendar year by hitting $75,000 in spending on the card, and the tiered SQC boosts from the January 2026 refresh remain in place.

New Perks Worth Knowing About

The most notable new benefit is a 15% discount on flight rewards booked through Aeroplan. It applies as long as at least 1 segment of your itinerary is on Air Canada, and it stacks with the Priority Reward benefit. This is a nice touch if you frequently book awards using Aeroplan points. The one caveat: If your entire trip is on partner flights, such as United or Lufthansa, the discount doesn’t kick in.

This is more flexible than Delta’s TakeOff 15 perk, which requires the entire trip to be flown on Delta flights to get the 15% award discount.

Cardholders also get up to $100 in annual Air Canada purchase credits, split into 2 statement credits of $50, one for each half of the year. Chase is giving new and existing cardholders a $50 credit that runs from today through December 31, 2026, so you won’t miss out on that piece of the benefit just because we’re already past July 1.

Cardholders get a fourth-night-free perk on hotels booked with points, and starting in January 2027, cardholders will get a fourth-day-free benefit on rental car point redemptions.

Perks That Are Ending or Changing

A few things are going away, and they’re worth flagging so you can plan around them.

The 500 monthly bonus points earned for every $2,000 spent in a calendar month (up to 1,500 points per month) are being retired. The 10% Ultimate Rewards transfer bonus to Aeroplan is sticking around through the end of December 2026, and then it’s gone. Dining and grocery spending, which used to earn 3x, drops to 2x under the new structure.

The New Annual Fee

The annual fee is going from $95 to $195. That’s a real jump, and whether it makes sense for you depends on how much you fly Air Canada, how often you use Aeroplan for award bookings, and how much value you pull from perks like the $100 in annual credits, the new 15% award discount, ongoing 25K status, and the checked bag benefit for you and up to 8 companions.

For existing cardholders, the current perks run through December 31, 2026, and the new $195 fee kicks in with account renewals dated December 1, 2026, or later. That gives you a little runway to decide whether the refreshed version fits your travel patterns.

New Welcome Offer

The refreshed Aeroplan card comes with the best welcome bonus offer this card has ever seen. You can earn up to 115,000 bonus Aeroplan points, earning 75,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months and another 40,000 points after spending $20,000 in the first 12 months.

Final Thoughts

The refreshed Aeroplan card is a more expensive product, but it’s also a more useful one for people who fly Air Canada or lean on Aeroplan as a redemption strategy.

Ongoing 25K status, a 15% award discount that stacks with Priority Reward perks, and up to 5x combined earnings on Air Canada purchases provide real value. If you rarely use Aeroplan and were holding the card mostly for the monthly bonus points and the transfer boost from Ultimate Rewards, this may be a good moment to reassess.

However, the elite status and award-booking discount may make this card worth keeping even if you don’t fly Air Canada frequently.