Aeroplan Expiry Rules

As a follow up to our recent appearances in the Globe and Mail and on Global Vancouver we want to give our readers some insight on the Aeroplan expiry rules that are making waves in the news right now:

The news revolves around the 7 year shelf life of Aeroplan miles that the company announced in late 2006 and became effective January 1, 2007. Basically what this means is that any miles earned prior to January 1, 2007 will expire on January 1, 2014. Miles earned after January 1, 2007 will expire  at the end of the month they were earned in seven years later. So if you are still collecting and redeeming miles with Aeroplan then you still have some time to start worrying about losing those miles prior to 2007.  The reason this news is surfacing now is that Aeroplan is slowly getting to work on systems to notify members on when their miles will expire starting in 2014 on a monthly basis and word is it that it will be started sometime in 2011.

This is a separate rule then the one that has made the news the past few years and that is the inactivity rule whereby if you do not earn or redeem at least 1 Aeroplan mile every 12 months then you lose all your miles regardless of how long you have had them. Many members have complained about this rule and not being notified about it. Aeroplan states they make all attempts to notify its members but the communications may get lost in all the emails received from Aeroplan.

One question posed to me is when you redeem miles which go first? Aeroplan runs on a first in first out basis which means your oldest miles are redeemed first on any Aeroplan redemption.

Other criticisms I have seen and been noted of is why is Aeroplan doing this but truth be told they were not the first frequent flyer program to do this and in fact their Canadian competitor, WestJet, has a 5 year shelf life for their WestJet dolllars earned in the WestJet Frequent Guest Program.

Please feel free to pose any questions, comments or concerns below.