Air Canada has an interesting status match opportunity for those who are US residents and have eligible elite status. If you fly one flight on Air Canada (paid flight) during this time as well, you can even secure your matched Air Canada status through the end of 2022! Here is what you need to know.
Air Canada Status Match Opportunity
This is pretty straightforward – Air Canada is offering US residents with eligible elite status in US airline award programs the opportunity to get free elite status with Air Canada. This can be very valuable, depending on what status you will be matched to and that presents a really great opportunity for Southwest Companion Pass holders!
How to Status Match to Air Canada
Here is how this works – first, you need to sign-up for an Air Canada Aeroplan account if you do not yet have one. Next, you click on this link to sign up for the status match offer.
That’s it! Some members have been getting positive responses in a matter of hours! Now, once you get it, you will have this matched status through December 31, 2021. If you want to extend it, you can do that by buying (and flying) one roundtrip ticket on Air Canada. The return ticket must be completed by January 15, 2022.
How To Retain Air Canada Status Through 2022
This is a bit odd of a thing though – if you do fly between December 31, 2021 and January 15, 2022, you will have lost your matched status during this time. But, after flying your roundtrip by January 15, you will get the status back again. This happens after the flight is processed (takes about 5 business days).
Which Air Canada Status Do You Get?
Here is the table for the airline statuses this offer works with. The big one to note is that Air Canada views the Southwest Companion Pass as a “higher” ranked “status” than Southwest’s actual elite status, A-List Preferred. This is great news if you have been able to snag the Southwest Companion Pass somehow this year. If not, stay tuned tomorrow for a way to help get you there!
Which Air Canada Status Is Great?
While elite status is nice to have, the real goal to go for (if you are not able to achieve the nice Super Elite status) is the Aeroplan 50K status or 75K status. The reason for that is that those both give you Star Alliance Gold status. This is the status that opens up lounge access worldwide, including in the US when flying United!
See, United does not let their own Gold members access lounges on domestic tickets but foreign partners (like Air Canada) do have access to United lounges when flying domestic flights – as long as you have your Air Canada number on the ticket.
Plus, you get access to the Star Alliance Gold lanes for check-in and boarding, which is typically the same lane used by those flying business or first class on Star Alliance airlines. Also, you get an extra bag, which can definitely be a cost saver!
Bottom Line
This is a nice move by Air Canada to get some more customers from their souther neighbors, especially since they know many may want to keep this status through 2022. This means that many Americans may think about paying and flying Air Canada, after a long year of many Americans not flying them.
If you have the Southwest Companion Pass, you are the real winner here! If you do not have it, there is still time to try and get it and earn a nice status on a Star Alliance carrier!
My Aeroplan Frequent flyer number has 9 digits. When I followed the link to apply the Canadian web site does not allow type in the space for the Aeroplan number more that 7 digits.
Is the offer over?
You have to remove the spaces between the 3 sets of 3 numbers if you are copy/pasting. Then all 9 digits fit.
I had a status confirmation in about 6 hours.