The Chase Aeroplan card after the refresh: who should pay $195

Chase refreshed its Air Canada card on September 10, 2026. The fee went from $95 to $195, the name changed to the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan Card, and the earn rates were rearranged in a way that helps people who fly Air Canada and hurts people who held the card for groceries.

What changed

The fee is the headline: $100 more a year.

Earning moved toward travel. Air Canada purchases still earn 3x, and all other travel now earns 3x as well. Dining and groceries dropped from 3x to 2x, and gas stations earn 2x. Everything else earns 1x.

Aeroplan 25K status is now automatic with no spending requirement. Before the refresh you got it for the rest of the calendar year you opened the card and the year after, then had to spend $15,000 a year to keep it. The card also adds 5 eUpgrade credits each year.

Two new money benefits arrived. You get up to $100 a year in Air Canada statement credits, paid as two $50 credits, one in each half of the year. And eligible Air Canada flights booked with points cost 15% less.

The Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS credit stayed. Chase also lists a fourth night free on hotel bookings made with points, and a fourth day free on car rentals booked with points starts in January 2027.

Existing cardholders get a softer landing. The $195 fee first applies at a renewal on or after December 1, 2026. Some reports say the old 3x dining and grocery rates also run through the end of 2026 for accounts opened before the refresh, so check your own account before you assume the cut has reached you.

The welcome offer is the highest we have recorded

New cardholders earn 75,000 points after $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months, and another 40,000 after $20,000 in the first 12 months. That is up to 115,000 points.

Over the past year the first tier has been as low as 60,000 points, and the full tiered offer topped out at 100,000. Today’s version is the highest in our Offer History Tracker.

Judge it on the first tier. At our valuation of 1.4 cents a point, 75,000 points is worth about $1,050 for $4,000 in spending. The second tier pays 40,000 points for another $16,000, which works out to 2.5 extra points per dollar. Take it if that spending was going on a card anyway. Do not stretch your budget to reach it.

The math on the higher fee

The $100 Air Canada credit cancels the $100 increase, but only if you buy from Air Canada in both halves of the year. One trip a year gets you $50 back, which leaves you $50 worse off than before.

For some households the cut to dining and groceries costs more. Put $1,000 a month on those two categories and you now earn 12,000 fewer points a year. At 1.4 cents each that is $168 gone, on top of the fee.

Award bookings pull the other way. The 15% discount applies every time you book an eligible Air Canada flight with points. On a 60,000-point award that is 9,000 points saved, about $126. Two awards like that in a year more than pay for the increase.

Who should get it, and who should move on

Get or keep the card if you fly Air Canada at least twice a year. You will use both $50 credits, the 15% award discount applies to your own bookings, and 25K status no longer depends on how much you spend. For this traveler the refresh is an improvement even at $195.

Move on if you held the card as a 3x grocery and dining earner and rarely fly Air Canada. It now pays 2x in those categories and costs twice as much.

There is a cheaper way to keep earning Aeroplan points on restaurants. The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 3x on dining for $95 a year, and its points transfer to Aeroplan at 1:1. You also keep the option to send those points to a different airline or hotel later.

Before you apply

This is a Chase card, so the 5/24 rule applies. If you have opened five or more personal cards in the past 24 months, expect a denial regardless of your credit score.