Great news for those of you who are holding on to Buddy Passes or have been considering applying for an Aeroplan co-brand card that offers a Buddy Pass. Those booking window for passes have been extended by Aeroplan to December 31, 2022 for travel into December 2023. Rewards Canada reader Josef H. alerted us to this news this past Friday afternoon and are happy to pass it along to all of our readers.
Chances are if you currently hold a Buddy Pass from an Aeroplan co-brand card you would have received this email from Air Canada as well. However if you missed the email or perhaps you have already used your buddy pass you may not have seen the news.
This is huge news as it literally provides up to three years to use the pass if you happened to apply for one or more of the cards when they relaunched in November of 2020. And still great news if you have applied recently or are just considering it right now as you basically would have two and half years until you actually have to travel with the pass.
Buddy Pass Recap
A quick recap on what the Buddy Pass is - once you are approved for an Aeroplan co-brand card that offers a Buddy Pass (see the list below) and meet the card spending requirements you'll be issued the buddy pass. Some cards like CIBC issue them quickly while TD can take up to 90 days after you complete that spending requirement. The Buddy Pass then saves you the base fare on any Air Canada economy class ticket for travel in Canada, the U.S. including Hawaii and also for travel to Mexico. While you cannot use it for Premium Economy or Business Class fares you can book Economy Class Latitude fares which can then be upgraded to a higher class by using Air Canada eUpgrade credits.
Recommended reading: The Air Canada Buddy Pass explained and evaluated
You can also earn more than one buddy pass if you like but only by applying for card from separate tiers. That is, if you get yourself a card like the CIBC Visa Infinite Card you would not be able to get the Buddy Pass from the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card since those two cards are in the same tier. You could however grab yourself the higher up TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege and get an additional pass.
Convert the Buddy Pass to Aeroplan Points
You can also choose to convert the Buddy Pass you receive into Aeroplan points. Once you have the pass in your Aeroplan account you can call up Aeroplan and ask to have it converted. They'll give you 30,000 points in exchange for the pass! This is great for solo travelers who never be able to make use of the pass or even for couples and families who wouldn't be traveling on Air Canada to the regions the pass covers.
Recommended reading: Confirmed! Air Canada removes the April 30th end date for the Buddy Pass to Aeroplan Points conversion option (no set expiry for now)
Aeroplan co-brand cards currently offering Buddy Passes
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card -
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite Privilege* Card
- American Express® Aeroplan®* Card
- CIBC Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card
- TD® Aeroplan® Visa* Business Card
- CIBC Aeroplan® Visa* Business Card -
Wrapping it up
This is great news for Air Canada travellers holding Buddy Passes at this time or are considering getting an Aeroplan co-brand card that offers a Buddy Pass. This extension is perfect for those who are still holding off on travel just yet and may be hesitant to even book something in the next year or so because of the uncertainty if everything will remain open or if the pandemic strikes hard again. Kudos to Aeroplan for being very customer-centric during this time!
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