Air Canada's Aeroplan Credit Card just got significantly more expensive. The annual fee jumped to $195, more than doubling from the previous $95 charge. This shift affects cardholders immediately and forces a straightforward question: does the value justify the cost?
The fee increase alone represents a $100 annual penalty for existing cardholders. That's $100 in extra spending that cardholders must generate through rewards to break even on the new pricing structure. For casual travelers or people who use the card primarily for everyday purchases, this becomes harder to justify.
Air Canada paired the fee hike with revamped rewards rates and adjusted perks. The card now offers updated earning rates across different spending categories, though the specifics of which categories improved and which declined remain crucial details for cardholders evaluating whether to keep the card. Rewards programs often shuffle categories around during fee increases, sometimes adding valuable earning rates in popular spending areas while reducing them elsewhere.
The card also trimmed some longtime benefits. This is standard practice when issuers increase annual fees. They rarely eliminate every perk. Instead, they typically cut lower-value benefits that fewer cardholders actually use while keeping headline perks that appeal to the card's target audience. Travel cards like this typically maintain protections such as trip cancellation insurance, emergency medical coverage, and lounge access. The removed perks likely included things like gift cards or standalone bonuses that cost the issuer more to maintain than the appeal they generated.
New features arriving with the redesign include what Air Canada describes as "several new features." Without specifics, cardholders should review the full terms on Air Canada's website before deciding whether to accept the changes. The card targets frequent travelers to Canada and beyond who earn and redeem Aeroplan points. For someone taking four or five paid business trips annually and converting that into premium cabin upgrades or free flights, a $195 annual fee becomes more palatable when the points earned offset the cost.
The timing matters here too. Travel rewards card issuers frequently adjust fees during economic cycles when they anticipate lower usage or when they're repositioning cards to attract wealthier customers. Air Canada raising the Aeroplan card's annual fee positions it as a premium product rather than an entry-level travel card.
Existing cardholders now face a choice. They can accept the higher fee and new benefits, downgrade to a lower-tier Air Canada card if one exists, or switch to a competitor's travel card entirely. Citi Prestige, Chase Sapphire Reserve, and American Express Gold all compete in this space with their own annual fees and reward structures.
For people considering applying for this card fresh, the $195 annual fee sits at the top of the travel rewards card tier. That places it alongside other premium cards. Applicants should calculate their expected points earnings over a full year based on their actual spending patterns. If that math doesn't exceed $195 in value, the card doesn't make financial sense regardless of perks.