Thunderroad

Thanks again for the useful feedback I received here. I'm happy to report that the transfer was indeed reversed. My Membership Rewards points were placed back in my MR account (and my Aeroplan mileage account accordingly emptied) at some point from two to five days ago.

Now, I'm not certain which mechanism resulted in this happening - whether it was a result of my contacting Aeroplan, Amex or both. What I'll add to the information I already posted is:

1. Not long after my initial calls to Aeroplan and resulting requests to get the miles converted back to MR points, I called one more time to check on a TAP award availability for a route I hadn't tried before and that ANA was also showing as available. Again, this was just phantom availability. But as soon as I mentioned that I'd transferred MR points into Aeroplan, the Aeroplan CSR volunteered to help me get the miles converted back into MR points. I informed her I'd already initiated this process. Based on my very limited experience, then, it seems that such requests and reversals are not that unusual for Aeroplan.

2. About six days ago, I received a call from Amex MR. When I called back the number on the back of my credit card, the first CSR I spoke with firmly but politely said that Amex does not reconvert airline miles into MR points, but that she would connect me to MR. The MR rep with whom I then spoke didn't commit to anything, but said she'd pursue the inquiry further.

Bottom line: Such reversals are possible under the right circumstances. And happy holidays to all!