TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card Review

One of the most popular travel rewards credit cards in Canada, the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card was reviewed by Rewards Canada in 2014 when it was first introduced. For the better part of six years the card didn't change very much but then we saw the entire Air Canada Aeroplan saga transpire for numerous years which culminated in Air Canada buying Aeroplan back from Aimia and launching a whole new Aeroplan in November of 2020 along with refreshed credit card offerings. This mainstay Aeroplan card from TD underwent many changes for the new program and thus the need for this updated review.

The review of the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card is broken down into the following sections:

Overview

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card hit the market on January 1st, 2014 when TD took over as the primary issuer of Aeroplan co-brand cards in Canada from CIBC. The current version of the card was revealed on November 8, 2020 to coincide with the launch of the new Aeroplan program. The new card saw quite a few changes take place that ultimately made the card even better than version 1.0. Also with the launch of the new Aeroplan program we decided to re-classify its co-brand cards as airline cards once again in our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings as we dissolved the coalition program category. Hence this card returned to top spot in the Airline category, a position it held from 2014 to 2017 and yes it continues to be the best airline credit card in Canada.

Recommended reading: The New Air Canada Aeroplan Program All the resources you need

Costs & Sign up Features

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card comes with a $139 primary card annual fee. The annual fee is higher than the old card's $120 charge however the card does come with more benefits and in fact we are starting to see more of these premium cards bump up their annual fees from that $120 we have all become accustomed to. Supplementary cards are now $75 each up from the previous $50 however again these additional cards do come with additional benefits.   If you have a TD All Inclusive Bank account you can have the annual fees rebated on the cards.

ENHANCED OFFER! Right now the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card sees a welcome bonus of up to 50,000 Aeroplan Points and no Annual Fee for the first year. We value the 50,000 Aeroplan Points at no less than $750 but they are typically worth much more than that. The 50,000 points offer ends January 6, 2025. This offer is not available for residents of Quebec. For Quebec residents, please click here.

Here is how you can earn the current welcome bonus points:

• Earn a welcome bonus of 10,000 Aeroplan points when you make your first purchase with your new card†
  
• Earn 15,000 Aeroplan points when you spend $7,500 within 180 days of Account opening†
  
• Plus, earn a one-time anniversary bonus of 25,000 Aeroplan points when you spend $12,000 within 12 months of Account opening†

The interest rate on the card is 20.99% on purchases. 22.99% on cash advances and balance transfers. These rates are equivalent to or below many cards at this level. The minimum annual income requirements for the card are $60,000 personal or $100,000 household.

Earning Points

The card earns Aeroplan points and earns those points as follows

• 1.5 points per eligible dollar spent Air Canada Purchases (includes Air Canada Vacations), Grocery purchases and Gas Station purchases†
• 1 point per dollar spent on all other spending†

These earn rate are similar to the old TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card albeit you'll notice the card no longer earns the higher point rate at drug stores.

New to the card (and most other new Aeroplan cards) is the ability to earn status points and segments with the card. You'll earn 1,000 Status Qualifying Miles and 1 Status Qualifying Segment for every $10,000 spent on the card.

Point Valuation Chart

Spending Category	Points earned per dollar spent	Effective Rate of return (Travel) *
Air Canada, Groceries, Gas, Starbucks	1.5	2.25% to 7.5+%
All other spending	1	1.5% to 5+%
* This is a very low minimum valuation. In most cases you should be able to easily pull more value than this especially if you redeem for business class or first class flights.

Redeeming

This is where the strength of the Air Canada Aeroplan program comes through and makes the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card shine. Aeroplan offers numerous redemption options but being a frequent flyer program the primary redemption option is reward flights on Air Canada and Aeroplan partner airlines. Overall you can redeem Aeroplan points to well over 1,300 destinations Worldwide which is one of the reasons Aeroplan is so popular.

The new Aeroplan program has done away with their standard award charts (Classic Flights) that were the norm with the program since its inception in the 1980s. That being said, for travel on Air Canada, they do provide a range of points you could expect to redeem for flights on Air Canada with the claim that approximately 80% of redemptions will fall in that range but 20% could end up being less or more than what is published. Essentially what Air Canada has done is made the old Market Fare awards (any available seat at any time for a dynamic range of points) as their standard redemption model now for Air Canada flights. Flights on partner airlines will still follow a fixed price reward chart model. You can see all the redemption values in this PDF here.

What hasn't changed in the Aeroplan program is the ability to redeem for Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First Class flights. With the latter three tending to provide outsized value when you compare to any other loyalty program in the market. Speaking of premium flights, just in case you didn't know you can redeem Aeroplan points to fly in Etihad's ultra luxurious Apartment first class seats. And the great news with the TD Aeroplan card (or any Aeroplan co-brand card) is that you receive preferred award pricing when you redeem points for flights. This discount varies by route, date, time etc. but we have seen it in the 10 to 30% range. The discount gets slightly bigger if you have Air Canada elite status but that only adds a few percentage points to the overall discount - the biggest portion does come from having the credit card.

On top of all this the new Aeroplan program no longer has to those dreaded carrier surcharges that could run into hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. While the surcharges have been done away on all airlines Aeroplan does charge a reasonable $39 fee for booking flights on partner airlines. The removal of the surcharges does however translate into an average higher cost in points for a lot of the redemption options albeit in many of our searches the increase in points is much less than what you used to have to pay for those surcharges.

We didn't want to make this review go on forever so we have kept the redemption section to a very top level description however it you want to learn more about redeeming for flights with the Aeroplan program we recommend reading the following articles:

• The New Air Canada Aeroplan program is now live
• A guide to the new Air Canada Aeroplan program flight reward redemption process
• The new Air Canada Aeroplan reward flight pricing compared: no status no credit card pricing versus elite status + credit card Preferred pricing

Finally you are also able to redeem Aeroplan points for non-flight rewards including hotels, car rentals, Air Canada Vacations packages, gift cards (soon to be electronic only so you'll get them right away!), merchandise (the catalog is being expanded greatly thanks to partnerships with new retailers) and more.

Features and Benefits

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card is chock full of benefits and additional features that complement and go beyond the Aeroplan program. Some have already been mentioned - the preferred pricing on Aeroplan reward flights is one such benefit. As well as the elite status earning portion of the card and now will take a look at more of the benefits.

First Checked Bag Free on Air Canada flights

Probably the most popular benefit that has been added to all Aeroplan co-brand cards is the first checked bag free benefit. It is provided for the cardholder and up to 8 companions on the same reservation and it waives the fee associated with basic and standard economy class fares. This saves the cardholder $35 per bag on flights in Canada, to the U.S., Mexico & Caribbean. It will also save $75 per bag if you buy the cheapest economy basic fares to Europe. (Pricing was current as of October 2, 2024)

Share Air Canada Travel Benefits with additional cardholders

Air Canada benefits are also extended to additional cardholders which for this card is primarily the first checked bag free. This means additional cardholders don't have to be travelling with the primary cardholder to enjoy the benefit.

NEXUS Statement Credit

With the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card you can receive up to $100 CAD in statement credits every four years when NEXUS application or renewal fees are charged to your Card.

Insurance

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card comes with a very strong insurance package that includes the following:

• Out of Province/Country Emergency Medical Insurance: $2 million - 21 days under 65, 4 days 65+
• Trip Cancellation Insurance: $1,500 per person up to $5,000 maximum per account
• Trip Interruption Insurance: $2,500 per person up to $25,000 maximum per account
• Flight Delay Insurance: 4 hours up to $500 per person
• Baggage Delay Insurance: 6 hours up to $1,000 per person
• Lost or Stolen Baggage Insurance: up to $1,000 per person
• Car Rental Theft and Damage Insurance: 48 days Up to $65,000 MSRP
• Hotel Burglary Insurance: Up to $2,500 per occurence
• $500,000 Travel Accident Insurance
• Purchase Protection Plan: 90 Days Max $60,000 in a lifetime
• Buyer's Assurance Protection Plan: Up to 1 year Max $60,000 in a lifetime
• Mobile Device Insurance: Up to $1,000

Recommended reading: The New Aeroplan credit cards compared

What is good about this card

By far the best thing about this card is the value that the Aeroplan points earned can be worth. As with most frequent flyer programs there is the potential for some outsized value when you redeem for flights. This is especially true for when you redeem for business class or first class flights on Air Canada or Air Canada's partner airlines. Rarely will a premium class redemption fall below 2 cents per point in value and in fact many economy class redemptions run up to that 2% value.

The next great thing about the card is it's direct attack on the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard by offering the first checked bag free. This benefit alone is why so many people got the WestJet card as it can provide huge savings and now Air Canada has it. A single round trip vacation for family of four would see first checked bag fees of $280+tax which alone makes it worth paying the $139 annual fee!

Then you have your additional Aeroplan benefits of Elite Status earning which really helps right now since there is a lot less flying going on and then when you are ready to fly the preferred pricing for award flights is major plus for this card.

Add in the NEXUS rebate and the decent insurance coverage and you have a pretty amazing card.

What is not so good about this card

There isn't too much that is bad about this card outside of your traditional frequent flyer program issues. In fact the issues lie more with Aeroplan than the card itself. There is less flexibility when it comes to economy class flights when you compare Aeroplan to many of the proprietary credit card reward programs. Some of the other top programs allow you to book flights on any airline at anytime including low cost airlines such as Flair Airlines. You are strictly limited to redeeming on Air Canada and their partner airlines.

Although you have access to any available seat at any time you are still competing for a more finite amount of seats and routes when compared to any airline any flight credit card programs. Want to redeem for travel during Christmas season? You'll be up against a lot of other Aeroplan members and regular revenue ticket buyers which will most likely bump up the cost in points for those flights. That's the one downfall there is the potential to have to spend a lot of Aeroplan points for the redemption you want due to the dynamic pricing of reward flights (but on the flip side it can be the opposite)

One could also say the annual fees aren't so good - yes you get a lot of benefits but for someone shopping around even having those benefits at $139 for the primary card and $75 for additional cards may sway them to getting a card that is only $120 and $50 respectively.

Who should get this card

• People who have Aeroplan as the primary reward program but don't need or don't want the benefits of the higher end ultra premium cards
• Individuals, couples or families who fly Air Canada and check luggage on those flights to take advantage of the first bag free benefit
• Aeroplan Elite Status members who may come up shy of reaching the next elite level from their flying alone
• People who bank with TD and have the All Inclusive banking plan as that will pay for the annual fee on the card

Conclusion

It's no wonder the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card continues to be crowned as the Top Airline Credit Card in Canada. When you take the complete package of what the card offers and the value that the Aeroplan programs brings there isn't too much bad to say about it. Yes it is Aeroplan specific and you have to want to use the Aeroplan program to make the most of this card.

If Aeroplan isn't your primary program or you don't fly Air Canada often (think less than once a year) there are other more flexible options out there for you. If you are an Aeroplan utilizer, fly Air Canada at least once per year with checked baggage and/or you want access to some of those amazing business class or first class experiences then this card should definitely be on your radar.

Latest card details:

Other cards to consider if you are looking at this card:

• American Express® Aeroplan®* Card
  
• American Express Cobalt Card
• American Express Gold Rewards Card
  
• CIBC Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card
• RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card
• WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard

The review was first posted on February 26, 2014 and is updated frequently

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