Air Canada Further Pauses Aeroplan Miles Expiry Through September 30, 2022

Air Canada on Wednesday decided to further pause Aeroplan miles expiration through September 30, 2022.

Aeroplan members who haven’t had any eligible transactions for the prior 18 months will see their miles expire on that date.

You can access Air Canada Aeroplan’s Covid-19 policies here.

Here’s the announcement from Air Canada:

In order to further support members as travel resumes, we have further extended our pause on expiry of points until September 30, 2022 – meaning that between now and September 29, 2022, any Aeroplan points which would have expired will not. Effective September 30, 2022, our normal expiration policy will once again apply meaning points will expire if an eligible transaction has not been completed within the previous 18 months prior to this date.

We want our members to remain active in the Aeroplan program and have several ways to check to make sure they’re not at risk of having their points expire:

• At any time, members can view the date their points may expire by logging into their account dashboard. Note that this further extension will reflect in member accounts by mid-December.
• Aeroplan sends members reminders to customers at risk of their points expiring to encourage members to make a qualifying transaction. such as: linking their Aeroplan account to their Starbucks account and making a qualifying purchase, being approved for an Aeroplan credit card, shopping online via the Aeroplan eStore with one of 150+ retail partners, donating miles to a participating charity, or buying miles to get to their next reward.

I wanted to point out for members who do end up expiring (after September 30, 2022), as part of our new policy, Aeroplan will reinstate all of their points automatically if they fly with Air Canada within 6 months of expiry or if they are approved for an Aeroplan co-brand credit card via one of our partners TD, CIBC or American Express, as well Chase beginning later this year.

For more information, please visit: aircanada.com/aeroplan-inactivitypolicy

Flexible change policy for Flight Rewards

As a reminder, Aeroplan members continue to enjoy flexibility if their plans change. We’ll waive all change fees on Aeroplan flight rewards through December 31, 2021. Starting January 1, 2022, flight rewards will be eligible for a one-time change fee waiver if booked prior to this date.

• For changes, members will pay the difference in points or receive a partial refund if your new itinerary requires fewer points. In addition, a difference in taxes, fees and charges may apply when changing your itinerary.
• To make a change to a flight reward call the Aeroplan Contact Centre at 1-800-361-5373. All flight rewards must be changed at least 2 hours prior to departure.

Booking date	Date of change	Change fee
Through December 31, 2021	Through December 31, 2021	Waived – unlimited
Through December 31, 2021	January 1, 2022 onwards	Waived – first change
January 1, 2022 onwards	January 1, 2022 onwards	Applicable – per fare option purchased

Economy Latitude, Premium Economy Flexible, Business Class Flexible and First-Class Flexible reward fare options offer waived change and cancellation fees for all members.

Conclusion

Loyalty programs should move away from expiring member points or miles. I understand why they do this because it allows these programs to lower the outstanding liability on their books, but it is not customer-friendly. I am glad, however, that Air Canada has further decided to pause the expiry through the end of September 2022.