Trevor Lee has been saving up his Aeroplan points for years, hoping to go back to Alaska on a retirement cruise. He and his wife accumulated them using an Aeroplan credit card, but cancelled it because they say the annual fee was too expensive. “Well, at least we’ve got (the Aeroplan points). We’ll keep them until we retire, and then if we can do a trip, fair enough.”
In January, he called Aeroplan to update his address and ask when his points would expire. “The girl I talked to then said ‘Oh, you’re good for at least another six months.’ She says they’re not going to steal them that fast.”
Last month, they booked the cruise and planned to use their Aeroplan miles to get them to the ship. However, all 45,000 points were gone. “It annoys me more than anything… I asked her what happened and she said ‘Oh you were notified.’ She was real snotty about it, I thought. I said, ‘No, I wasn’t notified.”
Aeroplan says for your account to remain active, you must earn or redeem at least one Aeroplan mile in the last 36 months. Trevor says he didn’t know that, and confronted Aeroplan. “She’d have a representative, a supervisor call me. I’m still waiting for that phone call. That was two months (ago).”
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As of July 1, 2007, you must use or accumulate one mile every year. That can be as simple as one purchase at a participating business.
Air Miles and the RBC Avion program don’t advertise it, but they have expiry policies too. You have to read through their website to find them.
If no miles are recorded in your Air Miles account for two years, the company can “terminate your enrollment and/or cancel your reward miles.”
For RBC Avion, points that are “unredeemed 90 days after you close your account, will be cancelled,” and you will lose them if you fail to earn any points for three years.
Trevor isn’t impressed. He says customers pay for those points and should be able to use them whenever they want. Now he’s starting from scratch with only 18 miles. His advice? “Phone Aeroplan and see if your miles are there.”
Starting January 1, 2014, Aeroplan members will have to redeem the miles they’ve earned every seven years. The company says if your miles do expire, you have the option of buying them back for one cent per mile.
Aeroplan refused to do an interview with Global News Edmonton.
© June 11, 2007: Global News Edmonton
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