aeroplan adds "distinction" to its program, and TD may become aeroplan's credit card partner

so lots of news is happening in the aeroplan program. aeroplan is the spun off frequent flyer program for air canada, although to make things just that much more difficult, they are considered separate companies. their mutual contract runs until 2020, after which case, they can re-negotiate their terms or even part ways completely.

so it's with that in mind that i think aeroplan is adding a parallel status program called "distinction". there's some buzz on flyertalk about this new status program. instead of flight miles (as per air canada's altitude program), they have different tiers based on total earnings in a year from all coalition partners. it is unclear which partners count as coalition partners, although i'm sure it includes things like credit card spending.

• dSilver = 25,000 miles across all coalition partners in a calendar year
• dBlack = 50,000 miles across all coalition partners in a calendar year
• dDiamond = 100,000 miles across all coalition partners in a calendar year

different tiers offer different awards, according to the press release. their awards are also on the aeroplan website. 

what is probably the most important perk of this status is the air canada getaway bonus. receiving an extra 500-1500 points per eligible roundtrip flight finally puts air canada closer to par with westjet. remember that with westjet, you get 100% non-status miles on aadvantage, whereas previously, you would only get 25% non-status miles on air canada with aeroplan. but now a roundtrip YVR-YYC, if eligible, will give you 25% non status in addition to 500 bonus points for a total of roughly 712 miles roundtrip if you were a dSilver member (compared to westjet providing 852 aadvantage miles).

other major changes:

• replacing classic+ flights with "market fare" flights
• classic+ flights are based on the actual fare of the flight. using an unknown conversion rate, a certain amount of aeroplan points will be needed to redeem them. they are guaranteed to be at least 15% higher than classic rewards, although more is generally the norm (e.g., 800,000 points to fly to LHR in business ... plus taxes). they are now renaming it to "market fare" flights. in the benefits, when they say "up to 20% off" for dSilver members, it doesn't really mean anything to me.
• one way awards
• a big development is that one-way awards are now priced at half of round trip awards, which makes sense. it used to be 70% of a round trip price, but finally, that has changed. this is a great thing for which aeroplan should be given credit for.
• increase in classic rewards pricing
• they had just increased the prices of major awards a few years back, and they're doing it again. in the end, i suppose this makes up for the 50% one-way award change above. back when i first started with aeroplan back in about 1996, canada to asia (all of it) was 75,000 points in economy and 100,000 points in business. this was an almost free ticket -- no fuel surcharges to pay. now, with this increase, going to "asia 2"is 155,000 points -- an increase of over 50%. oh, and i forgot about the fuel surcharges.
• removal of the 7-year expiration policy
• while the 12-month expiration policy still holds (i.e., accounts with no activity in any 12-month period will be cancelled with all miles forfeited), not being forced to spend all the miles within that 7-year period is a nice touch. not that the value of those miles will stay constant, but at least you won't lose them due to time alone.

in summary, aeroplan distinction kind of reminds me of the airmiles gold program, except stronger as it offers additional benefits that members can actually use.

TD vs. CIBC for credit card partners
on an unrelated note from distinction, aeroplan and CIBC have been trying to renegotiate their current contract that is set to expire at the end of this year. CIBC had threatened to change things up if there were no significant concessions made by aeroplan. however, in a news release today, it looks like TD has put in a potential agreement with aeroplan. therefore, unless CIBC is willing to match, aeroplan may agree to partner with TD instead. from the news release, TD is willing to pay 15% more per mile, and a 100M upfront fee, as well as up to 400M to jointly market the card. TD really wants to play with aeroplan.

as with all new cards, i'm hoping for improvements above and beyond what is currently already offered. large sign up bonuses? baggage fee waivers? comprehensive and complimentary insurance packages (that exist with TD's existing credit cards)? mileage multipliers for gas/grocery/dining/entertainment (as per scotia bank's gold amex)? possibilities are endless.