Yahoo Finance Why Air Canada is shaking up your Aeroplan points, starting with Starbucks
Aeroplan's new deal with Starbucks is the first of many new partnerships to come, says an Air Canada executive, as the airline looks to provide more chances for members to collect and redeem points through everyday purchases.
Air Canada announced Monday that its loyalty program users will be able to link their Aeroplan accounts to the Starbucks Rewards program, allowing members to simultaneously collect Aeroplan points and Starbucks stars. Aeroplan users will earn points when they upload cash onto their Starbucks cards and make at least four transactions in a week. Members will also be able to purchase Starbucks gift cards with their Aeroplan points.
The partnership is part of an ongoing focus at Aeroplan to provide its members – many being leisure travellers that only fly one or twice a year – more opportunities to collect and redeem points, says Mark Nasr, Air Canada's senior vice president of products, marketing and eCommerce.
"For the program to make sense, we're going to need more opportunities for our members to engage outside of travelling," he said in an interview.
"Most members of Aeroplan aren't frequent travellers. So to be relevant everyday, there needs to be non-travel, non-airline partnerships to earn points, redeem points and get benefits."
What's changing at Aeroplan
The shift towards offering more everyday rewards is part of a redesign at Aeroplan that began when Air Canada took over the loyalty program from Aimia Inc. in January 2019. The company relaunched the program last November, in an effort to boost membership while grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the global travel industry. Under the revamped program, members are allowed to book seats on any Air Canada flight using Aeroplan points, with no restrictions. The company also eliminated carrier surcharges, and allows members to share points with friends and family members.
"A big driver of redesigning the program was taking a look at all of those areas of Aeroplan, and of other loyalty programs that were popular, and to do our best to undo or introduce new features," Nasr said, adding that it became even more important when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and travellers stayed home.
"The pandemic has reinforced the importance of everyday-type partnerships," Nasr said. More similar deals will be unveiled in the coming weeks and months.
"Stay tuned because over the course of the next couple of months, we'll launch a number of additional partnerships with other top brands that allow customers, even those that still aren't traveling, to earn and redeem points and get value from the Aeroplan program."
With files from the Canadian Press
Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.
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