Today, Air Canada and Parkland Corporation have officially launched their loyalty partnership, and we now have details on how this collaboration is going to work.
As previously announced in April, Canada’s national airline and its largest fuel retailing company planned to launch a partnership between their respective loyalty programs: Aeroplan and Journie Rewards.
For members of both programs, this represents new ways to earn and redeem points, and access benefits. Let’s take a look at the details.
What Is Parkland & Journie Rewards?
Parkland Corporation is Canada’s largest supplier and marketer of fuel and petroleum products, as well as a leading convenience store operator.
You might not be familiar with Parkland itself, but you’ll certainly know its consumer-facing brands quite well: Ultramar, Chevron, Pioneer, Fas Gas, ON the RUN, and Marché Express. The brands you’ll see per province or territory may vary, however, as Parkland’s brands are geographically distributed as follows:
- Chevron: Alberta and British Columbia
- Fas Gas: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Yukon
- Ultramar: Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Québec
- Pioneer: Ontario
Parkland operates a loyalty program called Journie Rewards, which can be used across 1,100 participating gas stations and convenience stores.
The program’s most compelling perk is known as Gas Discount, which offers members a 7-cent (CAD) rebate per litre for up to 100 litres. You can get one fill-up discount for every 300 Journie Rewards points earned (1 litre of gas purchased = 1 point; $1 of merchandise purchased = 2 points).
Journie Rewards also has a partnership with CIBC: with a CIBC credit and debit card, members get to save a higher amount of up to 10 cents (CAD) per litre.
Aside from gas discounts, Journie Rewards also allows members to redeem points for merchandise at the gas station’s attached convenience store, including drinks and snacks.
What Does the Aeroplan and Journie Rewards Partnership Entail?
The new partnership between Aeroplan and Journie Rewards allows Aeroplan members to earn and redeem points on gas purchases at Parkland locations across Canada, including Ultramar, Chevron, Pioneer, and Fas Gas.
At participating locations, Aeroplan members may earn points as follows:
- Earn 1 Aeroplan point per 3 litres of fuel purchased
- Earn 1 Aeroplan point per dollar spent at convenience stores
Furthermore, Aeroplan members who link their Aeroplan account with their Journie Rewards account will earn up to 3x more Aeroplan points, which increases the earning rates as follows:
- Earn 1 point per 1 litre of fuel purchased
- Earn 2 points per dollar spent at convenience stores
In addition, after linking your Aeroplan account with your Journie Rewards account, you’ll be able to redeem Aeroplan points as follows:
- Redeem 300 points for a 7-cent discount per litre voucher for a single fill-up of up to 50 litres – up to five vouchers may be stacked for a maximum 35-cent discount per litre
- Redeem 500 points for a $5 in-store purchase voucher
- Redeem 1,100 points for a premium car wash
From here on forward, you’ll also be able to purchase a $25 Parkland-branded gift card by redeeming 3,500 points at the Aeroplan eStore.
This new partnership expands Aeroplan’s roster of “everyday earning” partners to another core element of Canadians’ daily lives, following the program’s partnerships with Starbucks, LCBO, and Uber, amongst others, in previous years.
Conclusion
Air Canada and Parkland Corporation have officially launched the partnership between their respective loyalty programs, Aeroplan and Journie Rewards.
With this new collaboration, Aeroplan members may earn and redeem points at Parkland’s Ultramar, Chevron, Pioneer, Fas Gas, On the Run, and Marché Express locations. By linking your Aeroplan and Journie Rewards accounts, you’ll earn up to 3x more Aeroplan points on eligible purchases, and you can choose to redeem Aeroplan points for gas discounts, car washes, and convenience store vouchers.
This new collaboration affords Aeroplan members another way to engage with the program on a day-to-day basis en route to unlocking outsized travel rewards.
You’re right but I can’t edit the original comment. “Earn 3X Avion points for every $1 spent on groceries, gas, dining, food delivery, rides, streaming, subscriptions, digital gaming and more.” It seems there is a monthly 4 CAD fee which students can get waived. (3x 1.20) = 4.14 Avion pts x 60 CAD = 216 Avion points x 1.15 for Avios transfer bonus = 248 Avios = 6.21 value + 1.20 fuel discount + 0.72 Petro Points value = 8.13 CAD per fill up. That’s pretty good even if you make 1 fill-up a month and subtract the 4 CAD monthly fees you’re still pulling ahead of Esso, Canadian Tire and Shell for the regular fill-ups. I could see this on par with the Ultramar fill-up option. CIBC Infinite yearly fees can easily be waived by anyone whereas RBC fees can only be waived for students or a slight discount for having multiple RBC products not sure if it would apply to the RBC ION+ there is also the regular RBC ION which would pretty much be 5.03 CAD which is still really high return value and pretty much on par with the CIBC Ultramar & Aeroplan. If I calculated everything properly it seems the CIBC Aeroplan Infinite at Ultramar and the RBC ION at Petro Canada are the best fill-up options. Unless there is a special 1-time bonus at Shell, Esso or Canadian Tire. I think I’ll give the RBC ION & ION+ a try. Thanks for bringing them to my attention Steven. You would still have to fill with the RBC ION or ION+ at Petro Canada otherwise you would lose first of all the 0.03 cent discount which is 1.20 CAD as well as the 20% bonus on 3 or 1.5 Avion points as well as the 20% bonus on the Petro-Canada points lowering the value overall which would for sure make the Ultramar, Aeroplan, & CIBC option better. You’re losing a ton of value if you use the RBC ION & ION+ if you use it at any gas station that isn’t a Petro-Canada or on or near a Native Reserve.
The 300 points is now for 50 litres so they halved the reward…
I feel like there has always been a lack of understanding between the Journie and CIBC partnership and it’s shown in that article. You always get 3 cents off when using a CIBC Aeroplan card if they are linked. Once you get to 300 litres filled you can get one fill up of up to 100 litres with an additional 7 cent off. That’s how it’s always been. Now one can get the 300 Aeroplan points for the 300 litres instead of the 7 additional cents off on 1 fill up of up to 100 litres. The nice part of this new change is if you have a small car you can just opt for the Aeroplan points. I would never be able to use my full 100 litre discount unless I also brought extra red cans and filled those up too. If you have a truck the extra 7 cents off on 100 litres is still pretty decent. This new link up further increases the value between CIBC Journie and Aeroplan putting this overall 3 way partnership as the best gas filling option in Canada putting it above Petro Canada and RBC’s avion or Shell and BMO’s Air Miles.
I find it a bit tricky to see which option is the best return on spend. All the discounts are generally equal (3 cents/liter) but in terms of points CAA discount at Shell and giving you airmiles I think is the worst option, Petrocanada and avion if it’s linked you get petrocanada points plus 20% and 20% extra on avion points is a very strong option, and now this you get 1 aeroplan point per dollar spent plus an extra 300 aeroplan points every 300 liters. I honestly cannot do the math and figure out if the avion/petrocanada option is more strong or journie with CIBC infinite/aeroplan combination gives a better return overall.
I forgot about the CAA discount. I don’t use the CAA since I use the TD Cashback Visa and Canadian Tire WE MC which also both have included roadside assistance. If Shell and BMO are your main bank the CAA could make sense. Some BMO CC’s also offer roadside assistance but as an add-on for what seems to be less than what CAA membership is costing.
Good question and I was curious and wanting to analyze and compare. I am pretty sure the Ultramar, CIBC & Aeroplan have the overall better daily return even if you don’t link your accounts, but let’s go through it and see.
Let’s say all gas stations are the same prices at 1.53 CAD – 0.03 cents = 1.50 CAD x by 40 L is 60 CAD instead of 61.20 CAD. Also, we will value 1 Aeroplan point to 1 Avios point because they can both be converted from 1 AMX point. I often get similar outsized values from both Aeroplan and Avios so I will put to 0.025 value per point to make the calculation more straightforward for both.
40 L Ultramar with CIBC Aeroplan Infinite card 3 cents off per litre. 1.5 Aeroplan points x 60 CAD = 90 Aeroplan points. For those with Aeroplan & Ultramar not linked it would be 1 Aeroplan point earned per 3-litre fuel purchase so on this 60 CAD purchase 13.33 additional Aeroplan points. (it would be optimal to fill 39 L or 42 L instead of 40 L) Journie points on the other hand can get free snacks and drinks from the service station every few levels and an additional 0.07 discount which is good for 100 L of fuel once you’ve reached 300 Journie points so after 8 fill-ups of 40 L one could get 2.80 CAD on there next 40 L fill up or potentially up to 7 CAD in savings on a fill-up of 100 L. This value changes depending on the size of the vehicle’s gas tank. Instead of going for a 0.07 cent discount at 300 points one could choose to get the 300 Aeroplan points instead by linking their account. It’s unknown if once linked an account will continue to earn 1 Aeroplan point per 3-litre. If you divide the 300 Journie points by the Aeroplan points that’s 1 to 1 so in our example the 40 L would get us 40 more Aeroplan points for that fill-up and this may or may not be added to the 13.33 additional Aeroplan points from earlier. In my time using the Journie program I have not seen too many promotions related to getting free Journie points but there have been some promotions. There are the 75, 150, etc levels which award snacks, drinks and sometimes additional Journie points (getting one closer to 300) but not like the random bonuses that Air Miles, PC Optimum, Canadian Tire or Petro-Canada occasionally have. Overall that’s 90 Aeroplan points, + 13 Aeroplan points and/or + 40 Aeroplan points which is (143×0.025) + 1.20 = 4.77 CAD plus any extras from level rewards. If there are no promotions at any other gas station then I believe Ultramar, CIBC & Aeroplan give the best overall value. It’s a minimum 4-5 CAD value for each 40 L fill-up. Also, every point earned is 1 EDQ for Air Canada which can make the difference for some people getting to 25K in a year. More testing is needed since the partnership is new but we shall see if the value is as it is here or higher.
40 L Petro Canada with RBC Avion Infinite card is 3 cents off per litre. 1 Avion point with 20% Petro-Canada-RBC link bonus is 1.2 x 60 CAD is 72 Avion points which is 72 Avios (or 83 Avios with the current transfer bonus) + 10 Petro points per $1 or 12 Petro points with Petro-Canada-RBC link bonus x 60 CAD = 720 Petro points which is a minimum value of 0.72 cents. CF appreciation monthly 0.03 cent discount which stacked with RBC for a total of 0.06 cent discount unfortunately was discontinued 2 years ago due to a technology upgrade issue… and no word on what the replacement program will be or when/if it will be reimplemented. Occasionally on top of the above calculations, there are fill X amount of litres promotions and receive 1000 – 10000 points or redemption promotions which increase the value of Petro-Points. Gas station prices being the same it’s during those times that it makes the most sense to fill up at Petro Canada when you can combine. 72 Avios x 0.025 = 1.80 CAD + 720 Petro-Canada points 0.72 CAD on top of the 0.03 cent per L / 1.20 CAD savings it’s 3.72 CAD a minimum 3-4 CAD value for each 40 L fill-up. If there is a 1 time Petro Canada promotion for 1000 Petro-Canada points or more combined with all of the above then Petro Canada, RBC & Avios are the better deal but otherwise, it’s the Ultramar, CIBC & Aeroplan.
40 L Shell with CAA discount is 3 cents off per litre or IGA 3, 6, 9 cent discount depending on grocery purchase amount. BMO Air Miles WE gives free Shell+ so I will include that also. If you buy regular fuel exactly 40L it’s 8 Air Miles if you buy the premium V fuel it’s 16 Air Miles and both these values include the base plus the Shell+ and the BMO Air Miles WE bonus. Now occasionally there are additional offers which can be 1 Air Mile for each L of fuel up to 100 L in this case 40 L so we can 40 to 8 to get 48 Air Miles or 56 Air Miles if you brought V fuel + (60 / 12) x 3 for 15 Air Miles for buying 60 CAD of fuel with the BMO Air Miles WE. Occasionally there are other offers such as 50 – 100 bonus Air Miles for a purchase of fuel on a specific week or month etc and other offers combined with BMO that could potentially bring in more Air Miles. I have gotten 215 Air Miles for just 1 fuel purchase of 40 L for example which is quite a lot of miles it’s at least a value of 22.63 CAD even if you subtract the 0.03 cent value for 40 L which is a 1.20 CAD it’s still a good deal and will it can come up to a 21.43 CAD value for filling 40 L and if you can manage to combine multiple deals with BMO, Shell & Air Miles then filling up at Shell at least once is worthwhile but then either go back to Ultramar or Petro Canada because Shell with 40 L with the BMO Air Miles WE and Shell+ is only 2.42 CAD a 2 – 3 CAD value for each 40 L fill-up.
Canadian Tire is probably the simplest and easiest to calculate of all the programs with the Canadian Tire MC it’s 0.05 cents per L x 40 L it’s 2 CAD but occasionally they have Triangle activated or system-wide offers that give 2 – 5 CAD value of Canadian Tire money. Overall you could get about 7 CAD on a 40 L fill but if the offer requires less L then just fill the bare minimum required for the Triangle-activated and/or system-wide offer.
Esso has no regular discount but occasionally they have a 0.01 to 0.03 cent promotion which can be loaded into the Speedpass app. The PC MasterCard gives 10 PC Optimum pts per L, 10 PC optimum pts per CAD and 10 PC Optimum points for Optimum members that’s 10 pts x 40 L = 400 pts = 0.40 CAD + 10 pts x 61.20 = 612 pts = 0.61 CAD. Together it’s either 1.01 CAD to 1.20 CAD for the 40 L fill-up. There is an occasional promotion to fill at a certain amount it can add 5000 to 10000 PC Optimum points depending on the offers which is an extra 5 – 10 CAD. Only during those special offers is it worthwhile to fill up at Esso. Esso is not making it clear and only explains in the fine print that the 30 pts per L advertised is combining everything in that number advertised. Overall it is a pretty poor value at just over 1 CAD with the occasional 0.02 cent discount it is just barely getting to 2 CAD. Even if you keep the special redemption days at Shoppers / Pharamprix in mind you could get additional value for your PC Optimum points bringing the value to equal to or just above the Canadian Tire value.
Native Reserve gas stations often sell gas for 0.10 cents less than the stations off reserve. Some even have their own points systems. This is about 3 – 5 CAD savings on a 40 L fill-up so 57 CAD spent instead of 60 CAD, this is where I would recommend any card that gives bonuses at any gas station regardless of brand. Best to find an Ultramar on or near a Native Reserve for the most savings.
Irving Rewards with Irvine is another program that may have some value since you can combine gas and other purchases for 0.03 cents or high discounts but the savings are dependent on how much you are buying and because I haven’t used it myself so I am unsure of the value. The program is only in ON / QC while the Atlantic provinces seem to use Air Miles similar to Shell.
What would I recommend after this analysis? I would fill Ultramar first if possible, then Petro Canada unless there is an offer or unusual pricing in that case Petro Canada. The other brand stations I would only fill when there are additional offers available and fill just enough to maximize those offers or meet the offer requirements. I would go from offer to offer between the different brands and if there is no offer at any brand at all and a fill-up is needed ASAP, default to Ultramar for the savings, Aeroplan points and EDQ.
I agree, ultramar and pioneer tends to be fewer cents cheaper anyways so it’s a win regardless.
Don’t forget the RBC ION+ earns 3x at gas stations (regardless of brand), and pairs well with an Avion card – well worth $4/month.