points.com
 

Any idea why Aeroplan would splash an advert for points.com all over this month's Aeroplan & You flyer?

This service is a total rip-off (as has been discussed on several other forums) and, worse still, there is very little you can do with Aeroplan points on this service:

AC --> Alaska Air: Not allowed
AC --> American West: Not allowed
AC --> AA: Not allowed
AC --> Beenz.com: Not allowed
AC --> Clickrewards: Not allowed
AC --> Esso : Not allowed
AC --> Midwest Express: Not allowed
AC --> Phonehog: Not allowed
Alaska Air --> AC: 10000 Alaska buys 1191 AC
American West --> AC: 10000 American West buys 1276 AC
AA --> AC: Not allowed
Beenz.com --> AC: 10000 Beenz buys 850 AC
Clickrewards --> AC: Not allowed
Esso --> AC: 10000 Esso buys 1361 AC
Midwest Express --> AC: 10000 Midwest buys 1488 AC
Phonehog --> AC: 10000 Phonehog buys 8509 AC

Why would Air Canada promote what appears to be such as lousy service????

Think of it as currency exchange...

Why are there so many currency exchange shops in city downtown?

Same reason... profit.

I think ACORD's point is that this particular currency shop doesn't allow certain types of currency transfers. It would be something like your example of a bureau de change which won't exchange French francs for British pounds.

FewMiles..

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I e-mailed them weeks ago with a simple question...Still have heard nothing !

Another dot com doomed to fail !!

Not only are numerous "currencies" not exchangeable, but the exchange rates are the biggest ripoff I've ever seen. If you consider that an America West point is roughly equal in value to an Aeroplan point (since 25,000 of either will get you anywhere in N. America), this service is charging an 80% or more premium for exchanges. If this really was currency, these guys would be sht down by consumer protection laws! Unbelievable!

Not to mention that with HP FlightFund, you can claim a free North America ticket with as little as 20,000 miles - making the HP/AC conversion even more of a ripoff!

Notwithstanding the flaws in points.com -- my issue is why is Air Canada is promoting the service so prominantly (front cover of Aeroplan & You) -- doesn't make sense (it might make sense if you could actually offload Aeroplan points using this service as it might reduce Aeroplan's points liability cheaply).