Badenoch

AP really doesn't have a choice in the matter. They have to deny an exception otherwise every single person who has lost points in the past will be seeking the same consideration.

On a couple of occasions I've helped informed infrequent travelers of the rule and helped them keep their AP points. I suggest an AP credit card. It's not bad for a reward card and always ensures you keep your points providing you use it once a year.

rankourabu

There go Bell Media's execs free upgrades!

gabbai

• the reward program closes accounts when a member is inactive (does not earn or redeem any points) for a long period of time and this is stated in the membership agreement.

Well the member was inactive, and it was stated in the membership agreement that 12 months of inactivity would result in the points being lost. The only item up for discussion is whether 12 months is "a long period of time".

SFO777

Typically yes. My wife received this one on November 27th with a 60 day warning....

rankourabu

All my Aeroplan miles expired at the end of February because of the upcoming devaluation, I only transfer AMEX for immediate redeeming.

All 20 of them. There were at least 4 warning emails from what I remember.

if this guy gets his miles back, I want my sizeable stash back too!

eastcoastcan

I did this with United miles. I had been a CO platinum and then GS for many years, had 400k miles. Switched to AC/AE and then came back 14 months later to book a YYZ-EWR united flight with points and, poof, they were all gone.

That really really sucked. UA redemptions on short haul were easy and saver points made them super cheap back then.

Symmetre

Outstanding miles represent an enormous cost to all loyalty programs. They're considered currency, so program operators are legally required to maintain sizable cash reserves against them. The more miles in circulation, the higher the reserve they need. In the case of Aeroplan, that's likely billions of dollars locked up in reserve funds.

No question Aeroplan is hoping to *poof* as many of these outstanding miles as possible to lower the reserve requirement, especially with AC's new FF program coming down the pipe. As the date draws near I almost wonder if they will begin offering incentives for people to redeem. Depending on their cash situation, it could be possible, I suppose. Had AC and the banks not bought Aeroplan, I think it would have been a virtual certainty.

ffsim

It's not any more abusive than a store credit with an expiry date or an unused airline ticket with an expiry date.

We're looking at this one instance of someone who lost 370,000. Meanwhile, how many millions of members does Aeroplan need to consider? If 370 other members had 1,000 miles each expire, that's the same value of "lost" miles as Mr. French... you can see how the size of the user base affects the financials which forces the introduction of these kinds of expiry clauses.

+1

Badenoch

Although it probably doesn't apply to anyone here, should someone be looking for a free method to avoid AP point expiry you can earn them by participating in on-line polls from Leger Opinion. Sign up, specify AP points as your reward and make sure you redeem your points every few months. They don't offer that many points for survey participation but it is free and doesn't take much of your time.

https://www.legeropinion.com/en/

(Disclaimer: I am not associated with Leger in any fashion.)

Often1

FFP's in general, do their pricing making assumptions about the miles/points left on the table. There is a cost to everything and thus, if one wants a longer redemption period, something else has to give.

canadiancow

They can't expire based on the date you EARNED them, but that's not the same as expiring based on account activity.

yyznomad

Well, the article only mentions that the person "likely" flew a million with AC... over decades of flying with them, this could mean being a 25K on average for all those years... so maybe he's still a FOTSG after all that.

Academic

EK has a 3 yr expiry limit which seems to be based on earn dates, and is independent of activity. Right now, I have over 100K with them and my profile shows that 86K will expire on a specific date, even though the additional miles were earned much more recently. But they're pretty good about sending reminders. I think I'd rather have the AC system where I can keep the miles as long as have some minimal activity.

Jagboi

Didn't for me and I lost the few that were left in my account.

pitz

"legally"? I'm not a lawyer, but this is the first I've heard of any such 'requirement'. Sure, they have to report such points as a liability when they do their financials, and lenders/investors may view such liability (even though theoretically de-valuable on demand) as being negative for the potential return on their investment in debt or equity securities issued, but I'm not aware of any legislation that requires holding cash reserves against an unsecured liability that effectively can be cancelled at will.

These points have basically, to many Canadians, become currency, a savings plan. They no longer have much of any relationship with loyalty to a specific organization. And businesses have mostly cracked down on any ability for their staff to game the system, fares, etc., for such programs to even be effective in influencing travel decisions as a subtle form of (otherwise prohibited) bribery.