Aeroplan Award Chart Changes June 1: Winners & Losers

If you have been sitting on a pile of Air Canada Aeroplan points hoping to use them on a partner business class flight to Europe, you have until the end of today to lock in the old rates. Aeroplan published its updated flight reward chart on 25 April with an effective date of 1 June 2026, and the new pricing applies to every new booking made from tomorrow morning onward. Existing tickets are not affected, so a flight already on hold or ticketed stays at the price you paid. But that London–Toronto Lufthansa first class fantasy, or the Tokyo–Frankfurt ANA business class run you have been mapping on seats.aero? Tomorrow it costs more. Or, in a few quiet corners of the chart, it actually costs less.

The headline number from Aeroplan: roughly 85% of pricing bands are going up, and around 15% are going down. That is a devaluation by any honest accounting, but it is not the chainsaw-massacre that Hyatt's owners just lived through. There are some genuinely useful redemptions that survive intact, a handful that become noticeably cheaper, and a small number of premium cabin awards that go up by 25%. The point of this guide is to cut through the press-release framing and tell you exactly where your points still buy a great flight on 1 June, and where you would be far better off transferring elsewhere.

What is actually changing on 1 June

Aeroplan publishes a distance-and-zone-based partner award chart, which means the price for a partner airline ticket is fixed by the great-circle distance flown and the regions involved. Five region pairings see meaningful pricing shifts: between North America and the Atlantic zone (which Aeroplan defines to include Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent), between North America and the Pacific zone, within the Atlantic zone, within the Pacific zone, and between the Atlantic and Pacific zones.

The most painful change for most readers sits in the 4,001–6,000 mile band between North America and the Atlantic. That covers the bread-and-butter routes from the US East Coast to most of Western Europe, including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam. Partner business class on this band rises from 70,000 points to 75,000 points — a 7% bump, which is mild. Partner first class on the same band jumps from 100,000 to 120,000 — a 20% increase that is anything but mild. Longer flights take a bigger hit: business class in the 8,001+ mile band climbs from 100,000 to 110,000 points, and first class in that band goes from 140,000 to 165,000.

Pacific routes are not spared. Business class on partner airlines in the 7,501–11,000 mile band — which covers most US-to-Asia routes flown on ANA, EVA, Singapore, Asiana or Thai — moves from 87,500 to 102,500 points. That is an extra 15,000 points one-way, or 30,000 round-trip for a single passenger.

The worst single change in the entire chart is between the Atlantic and Pacific zones at 2,501–5,000 miles. Partner business class on that band goes from 60,000 to 75,000 points, a 25% jump. If you were planning to use Aeroplan for Bangkok–Frankfurt on Thai Airways or Doha–London on Qatar, the numbers no longer work as well.

Where the new chart actually helps you

This is the part most coverage glosses over. A small but useful set of awards becomes cheaper on 1 June, and one of them is genuinely a sweet spot for European travel.

Short-haul partner business class within the Atlantic region, covering distances up to 1,000 miles, drops from 15,000 points to 12,500 points one-way. That is the cheapest partner business class seat available through any major Star Alliance currency for intra-Europe flights, and it covers a huge volume of useful routes — London–Frankfurt on Lufthansa, London–Zurich on SWISS, Madrid–Vienna on Austrian, Amsterdam–Copenhagen on KLM partners on Star routings, and so on. For a UK reader transferring Amex Membership Rewards to Aeroplan, that puts a transatlantic positioning leg plus a European business hop within reach for under 95,000 points combined, even after the longer leg's increase.

The 1,001–2,000 mile intra-Atlantic business class band also drops, from 25,000 to 22,500 points. That covers most of the longer intra-Europe routes such as London–Athens on Aegean or Frankfurt–Tel Aviv on LOT. Even the 2,001–4,000 mile intra-Atlantic business band gets cheaper on Aeroplan metal and select partners, falling from 45,000 to 40,000 points.

Economy redemptions on the shortest transatlantic band, up to 4,000 miles, fall from 35,000 to 32,500 points. That covers New York to London, Boston to Dublin, Washington to Reykjavik and similar. It is not a flashy sweet spot, but if you fly economy and your home airport is on the US East Coast, the new chart is fractionally better for you.

A handful of ultra-long-haul economy partner awards also see modest drops. Partner economy in the 11,001+ mile North America–Pacific band falls from 75,000 to 70,000 points. Within the Pacific, 7,001+ mile economy and business both drop by 5,000 points (to 50,000 and 85,000 respectively).

How to think about Aeroplan now if you live in the UK

A common misconception is that Aeroplan is a "US program" — useful only if you bank with Chase and live in the lower 48. That is half true. American Express UK members can transfer Membership Rewards to Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio in the UK, and Aeroplan continues to be the best published award chart for Star Alliance partner premium cabins out of London. British Airways Avios is fine for short-haul, Virgin Flying Club is fine for Virgin and Delta metal, but for a Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian or LOT business class seat from Heathrow, Aeroplan is often your most economical published-chart option.

Under the new chart, London to most of Western Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Halifax) is in the 4,001–6,000 mile band, putting partner business class at 75,000 points one-way. London to most of the US East Coast sits in the same band. London to North American West Coast cities crosses into 6,001–8,000 miles, which means 90,000 points partner business class. Routes from London to the US South or Caribbean via European hubs add stopover potential — and Aeroplan still allows a stopover anywhere on an award itinerary for a flat 5,000 points, which is one of the most generous stopover policies in the industry.

The catch, and it is a real one, is partner availability. Several Star Alliance carriers — including Turkish, Ethiopian and parts of Lufthansa's premium inventory — are heavily restricted or invisible to Aeroplan compared with what you might see on United MileagePlus or Avianca LifeMiles. That is not new, but it matters more when the headline prices are higher. Before you transfer Amex points, check availability on Aeroplan's own website rather than relying on third-party award search tools, which are unreliable for Aeroplan partner inventory.

You can cross-check the cash value of any Aeroplan redemption with Pointsbot's flight insights tool before pulling the trigger on a transfer — useful for working out whether 75,000 points plus surcharges actually beats the cash fare on the day you want to fly.

What to book tonight before the chart changes

If you have an immediate trip in mind, today is the day to lock in old pricing. Aeroplan has confirmed that any ticket booked before 1 June stays at the old rate, regardless of when the actual travel takes place. The Aeroplan booking engine allows speculative date searches up to 350 days out, so even travel into May 2027 can be priced at the current chart if you book today.

The single highest-value bookings to make tonight are partner first class redemptions in the 6,001–8,000 mile band (saving 20,000 points per passenger by booking before midnight) and partner first class in the 8,001+ band (saving 25,000 points per passenger). Lufthansa first class on the new Allegris cabin from Frankfurt to Los Angeles, San Francisco or Vancouver falls into one of those two bands depending on routing. If you have ever wanted to book Lufthansa first class on points, today is a good day to spend an hour searching.

The second tier is partner business class in the 5,001–7,500 mile North America–Pacific band, where a 10,000-point saving applies per passenger. Honolulu to Tokyo on ANA, San Francisco to Seoul on Asiana, and Los Angeles to Taipei on EVA all live here under the current chart.

Pro tip: If you find availability tonight but cannot commit, Aeroplan tickets are fully refundable to your points balance for a CAD$150 (about £88) fee within 24 hours of booking, and partner award tickets can be cancelled for the same fee any time before departure. Lock in the price first; finalise plans later.

Should you transfer Amex points to Aeroplan right now?

This is the practical question for most UK readers, since Membership Rewards is the only major transferable currency with a direct UK link to Aeroplan. The case for transferring tonight is straightforward only if you have a specific booking lined up at the current chart. Speculative transfers are harder to justify. Aeroplan has historically run periodic transfer bonuses (most recently a 90% bonus on points purchases earlier in May, valuing each point at around 1.44 cents), and a transfer bonus from a credit card programme would shift the maths again. Frequent Miler's view is that Aeroplan transfer bonuses tend to follow chart changes rather than precede them, so waiting may pay off.

If you do not have a specific redemption in mind and you are unsure whether you will use the points within six months, hold off. Membership Rewards points sit safely in your Amex account and can be moved to any of the airline's other transfer partners (including Virgin Flying Club, where the new June award calendar has not yet been adjusted) when a better opportunity appears.

The bottom line

Aeroplan's 1 June 2026 chart is a real devaluation, but it is a precision-engineered one rather than a chainsaw job. Premium cabin transatlantic and trans-Pacific awards take the biggest hits, with first class up 18-20% across most bands. Short-haul European partner business class actually gets cheaper, dropping to 12,500 points for flights up to 1,000 miles — a sweet spot that should be more widely known. Stopovers at 5,000 points and a published partner chart still make Aeroplan one of the most usable Star Alliance currencies out there.

For tonight, the action items are simple: search for a specific premium cabin partner award you would actually book, lock it in before midnight, and reserve any speculative transfers until Aeroplan's first post-devaluation bonus appears. The chart is changing, but the programme remains a real tool — just a slightly blunter one from tomorrow morning.