crimsona

I had family friends that were sad around December 10 because they were around 25k off 2 business class awards to Asia and rates were going up in Jan. I got them to sign up for the Amex Gold Rewards, they charged $500 ASAP, transferred the points to Aeroplan (the transfer was placed on hold by Amex but called in and had it released)

Booked and ticketed by December 28 under 2013 rates. An Aeroplan Amex would need to wait until the next statement date

markandrew

As advised, Gold Rewards. To further answer your Qs:

Provided that your Aeroplan account has been linked to your amex account, the transfer would be immediate, literally the time from hitting submit to go to AP website, your miles will be waiting for you. Therefore it is important to link your AP account to the Amex card the day your receive the Amex. We can guide you on doing that, takes one minute.

If you need the miles in double quick time, you can "manufacture" spend, either by getting gift cards, pre-loading a utility account or just book a fully flexible Latitude fare that will get 100% refund down the line once you have really met your spend target.

If you were able to refer the card onwards to a spouse or family/friend to boost your mile count, then you would also get the referral points the day after their application were approved as opposed to other cards which only post once per billing cycle.

CC1972

I don't think that's exactly how it works. One's Aeroplan account will be linked the first time one wants to transfer points from Amex to Aeroplan. There is no special procedure to follow to enable one to transfer Amex points to Aeroplan prior to the first time one wants to make a transfer.

erik19283

That's how it worked for me as well. Although, I haven't transferred anything in a while, so the rules may have changed.

markandrew

In your case, as in most cases, it just happened to be that the first time you wanted to transfer points was when you linked the accounts. However you can do the linking process with the AP account validating without proceeding to transfer. If you log in, you can see for yourself by linking o dummy linking other programmes such as Etihad and Alitalia. Pre-validating the Aeroplan account has the advantage of avoiding the risk of delay if Amex needs to make any checks before linking them, my account auto-validated when entered but not all will.

JJonahJ

Mark is right.

When I first setup my MR account to convert to Aeroplan, it was during the last (really, really LAST??) Aeroplan conversion bonus back in mid-2012. It's not totally clear in my memory, but I think the process to link the MR to Aero was instant ("auto-validated", as Mark puts it), and I was able to transfer on the spot.

But this past November, my wife setup her MR account for the first time to do an Aeroplan transfer, and at the end of the registration of her AP#, the screen said:
"Thank you for your request. Please note that all enrollment requests are subject to processing time which can take 3-5 days. Enrollment, linking and transfer requests to Aeroplan and Delta Skymiles are instant."

Contrary to the above text about enrollment being "instant", she had to wait until the next day to get a confirmation email from AMEX that said:
"We are pleased to confirm we have successfully completed your request to register your Membership Rewards account with Aeroplan.
Now that your account is registered, you can transfer Membership Rewards points to Aeroplan."

Btw, transferring of points at this point is indeed nearly "instant".

So, as per Mark's advice, and in response to Michael888's need for the "quickest turnaround", if you are in IMMEDIATE need of the conversion to Aeroplan, then be pro-active and register your AP# at AMEX.ca ahead of time, and do NOT wait until you actually want to transfer the points.

Eternity000

I'm trying to confirm if my Amex account is linked to AP, I can't seem to find where on the Amex website I can check this though.

infinite

it should stay in your previous statement the link to your AP - under where they list the points you received in the last page

infinite

does AMEX usually hold your points? i got a substantial number of points from referrals and purchases and bonuses (300k) and received the statement yesterday but still doesn't show the points in aeroplan?

apples23

Strange thing here.....I signed for the 30k Aeroplan gold. They credited my account 10k...I called customer service and they said that i should have the balance shortly, but 5 weeks later still haven't received.

JJonahJ

They should post to your Aero account in a day or two AFTER your AMEX statement has generated. Look for them at Aeroplan.com during the 10:30a or 9:30p (Eastern Time) points sweep.

JJonahJ

That's not strange at all, considering it's happened to MANY other people who signed up for the 30K promo during Sep/Oct. AMEX seems to have fixed their bonus awarding system some time in Nov, so the more recent signups are getting the full 30K on the first statement after reaching $500 spent.

Just keep calling them, or using the AMEX.ca online "Secured-Message" system. After getting only 5K after my first statement, it took until my 3rd statement (8-10 weeks after signup) to get my final 25K. Squeak, squeak, squeak!

Good luck.

infinite

Thanks! was afraid they had my account flagged b/c of the number of points

mikeycanuk

My account linked to AP in 2 days and man is that transfer instantaneous! I'm closing all my Amex accounts except my Gold which I will once my wife applies for her card via my referral. My spending is going 100% on my Aspire card, until I reapply all over again for the bonuses. If one looks rationally there is no reason to do otherwise! Spending just isn't going to come close to those bonus+ referral offers. Even if the fee applies down the line and no refferal the bonus miles are still 1/3 of the value of 1 Aeroplan mile that I get on flights. I have too many AP miles and my wife found a villa for next year that is pricey, time to load up the Aspire!

Cana2013

Nice! The Aspire card you are talking about is the Capital one Aspire travel?