petzpanz

Hi everyone,

I would like to transfer US Amex Membership Rewards points into Aeroplan for an LX J reward flight from BOS to ZRH. Now I just realized that after logging into my Aeroplan account, it says
I vaguely recall that I signed up when they offered 500 miles for signing up, and that these miles then expired. I also believe that I had to re-activate the account in some way.

My question is: is it safe to transfer the 45,000 Amex points into that account? I hope they won't expire right away or something..?

Best,
petzpanz

Hello again

I would be careful moving points and expecting to book the flight of your choice when you have no status on AC. A friend of mine with no status, but lots of points, recently tried to book YYZ/TLV and the flights came up at 465,000 points plus over $1000 in surcharges.

You can call them and probably reinstate the account or simply open a new one since you have no points in the old one.

24left

Just recently, in another thread, someone posted that they transferred Amex points into their active Aeroplan account to book a flight and were unable to do so even with Aeroplan agents (IIRC). And now, they can't transfer the miles back to Amex.

Your Aeroplan account has expired. I highly recommend you find another use for your points.

By the way, did you actually check Aeroplan's site for # miles required for BOS-ZRH for when you want to travel?

canadiancow

My understanding was that Aeroplan "accounts" don't expire. The miles expire.

24left

I was focused on the exact wording in original post:



Either way, I suggest OP consider alternatives.

petzpanz

Thanks everyone!

Huh. Do you remember what the problem was here? What goes wrong once they're in an active account? Did the mileage prices change or was the account closed down for fear of fraud..?

I did check the exact flight times and it comes out as 45,000 plus $30ish in taxes and fees, which really is excellent value for Swiss business class from the US to Europe. The flight is also in less than 2 weeks, so Aeroplan not having last-minute-booking fees is very nice, too. And most importantly, I'm moving, and the baggage allowance is the most generous for my situation: 2+1 = 3x 32kg bags due to business and Star Gold plus one piece of ski equipment that flies for free on Swiss. (I called Swiss and confirmed.)

So it really only hinges on Aeroplan. Do you guys think it's safer to create a new account and transfer my Amex points there?

Thanks in advance!
petzpanz

24left

petzpanz

I've just search through 6 pages of threads and can't find the post. I know I read in the past 2 weeks. Perhaps someone else or the OP knows which thread it was in.

Their Aeroplan account was active. There was no fraud. IIRC, they saw an available routing, moved the points, then went to book and it was gone.

As for the second question about setting up a new Aeroplan account where you can transfer the Amex points, I have no idea what Aeroplan rules are on the subject of 1 person with 2 accounts.

Others have posted here on FT that there are some easy/quick ways to keep an account active (easier if one lives in Canada), but not impossible.

The thing is - you want to move these points sooner rather than later and get your ticket. So perhaps in addition to any advice to get here, call Aeroplan and make sure your account is active. Make sure to get name etc of person you spoke to and if it seems they can't answer your question and confirm, you might want to HUCA.

chx1975

That's a market fare. It's not like that just comes up, you need to select it if a fixed point award is not available.

Twickenham

I can confirm that this is true. I have had an AE account for probably over 20 years; at one point a few years ago, I let my points expire (all 86 of them ), as I was focusing on other programs. When I started to collect AE points again, my account was still open and I was able to credit/transfer to it without any issue.

BTW, last time I transferred from AMEX to AE, it took about 2 minutes for the miles to show up in my AE account (YMMV, of course).

I remember that thread - it was SPG points that they transferred, not AMEX, which has a longer lag time for their transfers (I usually allow a week). It was also a more complicated flight booking than a straight BOS-ZRH.

JJonahJ

The recent thread is this one:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...-aeroplan.html

Starting at post #3...transferred SPG points to Aeroplan, but then found out that the desired redemption on Asiana was not bookable.

petzpanz

Thanks a lot, everyone!

After I read this, I went ahead and risked it. Except for a few aeroplan.com time outs, it went through without problems, and I booked BOS-ZRH for 45,000 miles + $27.xx in taxes/fees.

To obtain the Swiss PNR after the booking, I had to call Aeroplan, which meant being on hold for what felt like eternity. But once the agent answered, everything was done in no time.

This was the same for me. It pretty much immediately showed the transfer as a transaction, but it took a couple of minutes until it showed up in the account balance. Also, for the record: linking Aeroplan to my Amex account took about 10 minutes until it showed up.

Thanks for everyone's help again! I'm good to go!

Best,
petzpanz

Hello again

Agreed