What Chase Aeroplan Card unlocks

Most cards that confer airline status do it just for holding the card; this one asks you to spend for it. As a US Chase Aeroplan Card holder, putting $75,000 in purchases on the card within a calendar year gets you Air Canada Aeroplan Elite 35K status for the rest of that year and all of the next one. There's no separate application and no matching fee — the spend itself is the trigger.

That's the only route this card opens into Aeroplan status, and it's a real commitment: $75,000 a year is a high bar, so this path mainly makes sense if you're already routing that much spend through the card for other reasons. If Elite 35K isn't reachable through your spending pattern, this card won't get you there any other way.