After the border between Canada and the United States was closed to non-essential travel on Friday, March 20, 2020 because of the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic, the border was reopened on Monday, August 9, 2021 — and citizens of the United States are encouraged to visit Canada once again…
Elite Status Match to Air Canada Aeroplan 2021 at No Cost
…and as an intriguing incentive, Destination Canada — which is the official tourism association of Canada — launched a partnership with Air Canada and StatusMatch which invites passengers from the United States to match the elite status tiers which they have earned with the frequent flier loyalty programs of six participating airlines which are based in the United States with that of the Air Canada Aeroplan frequent flier loyalty program.
All that is required to be matched to elite status with Aeroplan free of charge is to complete an application process which should only take approximately two minutes of your time. Then — to keep that elite status level throughout 2022 — you must book and complete one round-trip flight which is operated by either Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, or Air Canada Express by midnight Pacific Standard Time on Saturday, January 15, 2022. If you do not complete the return trip before Friday, December 31, 2021, you will lose your elite status for the period between January 1, 2022 and January 15, 2022 — but your elite status will be returned as soon as the flight is processed. Please allow for five business days after the flight for change to be processed.
To retain elite status for 2022, you must book a new ticket and complete the trip within the required timeframe.
- Two flight segments flown on any flight operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, or Air Canada Express with an Air Canada AC# flight number.
- Flights must be credited to Aeroplan, and the flight must qualify for points earning — for example, no points or miles redemption tickets; and no private fares
- Your ticket can be ticketed by any carrier, as the ticket does not need to be an 014 ticket
If you qualify to have your current elite status matched with Aeroplan, you will be notified through StatusMatch — which is operating the process — within three days of your application; and you should expect to see your upgrade elite status in your Air Canada Aeroplan membership account after an additional five days. At that point, you will be able to use all the benefits — including priority seat selection, waitlist reservations, and front-of-line call center access, as well as access to priority check-in, boarding, and standby seats. Depending on the exact elite status tier, the complimentary baggage allowance varies from two to three bags, weighing 23 kilograms to 32 kilograms — or approximately 50 pounds to 70 pounds — each; and access to Maple Leaf airport lounges varies for both the elite status holder and his or her guests.
The following table provides the mapping of eligible elite status levels based on the model of Air Canada Aeroplan for all elite status match requests from Thursday, September 30, 2021:
| Air Canada Aeroplan |
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan |
American Airlines AAdvantage |
Delta Air Lines SkyMiles |
Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Miles |
JetBlue True Blue |
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25K | MVP | Gold | Silver | Gold or Platinum | Mosaic | A-List |
| 35K | MVP Gold | Platinum | Gold |
Not Applicable | Not Applicable | A-List Preferred |
| 50K | MVP Gold 75K | Platinum Pro | Platinum | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | Companion Pass |
| 75K | Not Applicable | Executive Platinum | Diamond |
Not Applicable | Not Applicable | Not Applicable |
| Super Elite | Not Applicable | Concierge Key | 360° | Not Applicable | Not Applicable | Not Applicable |
The United Airlines MileagePlus frequent flier loyalty program is participating in this status match program, as United Airlines and Air Canada are both members of Star Alliance.
Canada has been anxious to welcome back travelers from the United States — who are the largest source of travelers to Canada with 15 million arrivals which brought in $11 billion in 2019 — and this program is designed as an incentive to lure back some of those travelers to Canada. Visitors to Canada from the United States dropped by approximately 87 percent to only 1.9 million arrivals in 2020 due to the aforementioned closing of the border between the United States and Canada.
Final Boarding Call
If you are a current resident of the United States who is interested in Air Canada Aeroplan matching the elite status you have with the frequent flier loyalty programs of six participating airlines which are based in the United States, do so as soon as possible, as you must apply to this program by Friday, December 31, 2021…
…and in this case, you should apply for an elite status match with Aeroplan — which rarely offers elite status matches from other frequent flier loyalty programs — as one simple return flight is all you need to keep elite status through 2022.
Just be aware that if your status match is indeed successful, you will not be eligible to apply for another status match with Air Canada for at least two years.
All photographs ©2013 and ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
