I used the points.com chat line to talk about these unbelievable exchange rates. Here is the conversation:

<Christian>: Thank you for contacting points.com. How may I help you?

<You>:Hi, I just tried calculating how many ClickReward points I would get for cashing in 12,000 AA points and the result was 744 -- can this be right???

<Christian>: Yes it is right, our loyalty program partners set the xchange values, and as we get new partners, our exchange rates between programs will improve

<You>: Second Question: When will I be able to exchange Air Canada points into anything?

<Christian>: With most of our pointsxchange partners you can xchange both to and from your account. Some of our partners will phase in their participation in pointsxchange to most efficiently manage the resources required to complete the set-up.

<Christian>: These partners will start with the ability to xchange to your account followed by the ability to xchange from your account. Please continue to check our about partners section for updates to their status.

<Christian>: Currently you can into air canada

<You>: Thanks for the answers. Some feedback: Check out the Frequent Flyer bulletin board at www.flyertalk.com -- you guys are getting pretty bad press re: the points exchange rates and fees.

<Christian>: Thanks for the feedback. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

<You>: Err, no.