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*** As of August 2023, the creation of new Aeroplan Family Shareaccounts has been temporarily suspended, due to service abuse problems. Some Aeroplan members may also have problems adding a member to an existing family share. Please book your flights from each Aeroplan account and call Aeroplan Customer Service to link the reservations. The return date should be around fall 2024. ***
With Aeroplan, Air Canada has paid particular attention to families with the introduction of Aeroplan Family Sharing.
After noting that most loyalty programs are aimed only at individuals, the Canadian airline wanted to add to its new program the concept of family:
Here is the part of my video on this topic:
The concept of Aeroplan Family Sharing is simple: members earn and redeem Aeroplan points together. While each Aeroplan member keeps their Aeroplan points in their account, the goal is to be able to use them as a group.
Thus, redemptions will be deducted from all members’ accounts proportionally.
Take this example of a Family Account with a balance of 250,000 Aeroplan Points. Within this Family Account, four people want to book a flight for 25,000 Aeroplan points per person, or 100,000 Aeroplan points for Family Sharing members.
The total cost of the trip (100,000 points) represents 40% of the total number of Aeroplan points in the Family Sharing account (250,000 points).
Each member will, therefore, see his/her Aeroplan points balance be reduced by 40% for this booking:
Think of it as a joint chequing account: it is about a trust relationship between all Aeroplan Family Sharing members.
In the past, each member had an individual account, and it was costly to transfer points between members’ accounts. Often, there was a member who earned a lot (whether through business trips or expenses), and other members (usually children) who earned fewer points. In any case, not enough to use those points for a reward.
Aeroplan Family Sharing solves that problem with a shared balance of points.
On the other hand, each time a member will book a flight reward, whether he is travelling alone or with all the members of the Family Sharing Account, Aeroplan points will be deducted proportionately of each Aeroplan account.
Air Canada also brings another benefit to being part of an Aeroplan Family Sharing account: all Family Sharing members will benefit from preferred pricing.
Indeed, if a Family Sharing member has an Aeroplan Elite status or an Aeroplan credit card, all Family Sharing members will benefit from preferred pricing.
Future Aeroplan Family Sharing members:
Different terms and conditions to note with Aeroplan Family Sharing:
As you can see, there is no need to share the same address or name unlike other programs. Air Canada insists that this is not a household account, but a Family Account: based on a trust relationship between members.
The introduction of Aeroplan Family Sharing is undoubtedly one of the most significant novelties of Air Canada’s Aeroplan program and one that will interest a lot of members.
Each Aeroplan member will always be able to earn Aeroplan points on their own (by travelling, shopping with partners, applying for Aeroplan credit cardsetc.). But from now on, if he wishes, he can join a Family Sharing in order to use the points earned by the whole group!
Now check out our post on the new Aeroplan credit cards.
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