Today, Aeroplan has announced an extension to its pandemic-related pause on points expiration. Let’s take a look at the details.
Aeroplan’s No-Expiry Policy Through September 2024
In an effort to keep members engaged, many loyalty programs put a pause on their regular expiration policies as travellers changed their earning and redeeming habits during the pandemic.
Aeroplan was no exception to this, and for the past three years, points that would have otherwise expired have remained valid indefinitely.
This means that its regular policy, where you’d have to do some sort of earning or redeeming activity within a rolling 18-month period, has been put on hold. Account holders didn’t have to do any sort of earning or redeeming to keep their points active.
Aeroplan has now announced that this non-expiry policy will be extended through September 30, 2024. Before that date, any Aeroplan points which should have expired will not expire.
Aeroplan’s Regular Expiration Policy
As of September 30, 2024, the regular expiration policy resumes.
The policy is quite simple: if there has not been any eligible earning or redeeming activity in an account for 18 months, your points will expire.
To keep track of your account’s expiration date, simply log-in to your Aeroplan account, click on “My Aeroplan”, and then head over to the “Activity” tab. Your account’s expiration date, if any, will be listed on this page.
How to Prevent Aeroplan Points from Expiring
Fortunately, keeping your account active with earning or redeeming activity is quite asy.
There are a host of ways to prevent your account from expiring through earning, including:
You can also get qualifying Aeroplan activity through a number of redemption options, including:
- Making a flight booking using your Aeroplan points
- Transferring your points to another Aeroplan member (at a cost)
- Donating your points to a charity through Aeroplan
- Redeeming your points for a car rental, hotel, or merchandise
- Buying Wi-Fi on board a flight with Air Canada using your Aeroplan points
- Using your points to bid for an upgrade
Furthermore, if you belong to a Family Sharing group and someone in the group makes a redemption, it counts as a qualifying activity for all members in the group. As long as someone in your Family Sharing group makes a booking every 18 months, everybody’s accounts will remain active.
If you have Aeroplan Elite Status, or if you are less than 18 years old, your Aeroplan points will not expire under any circumstances.
Perhaps the easiest way to keep your Aeroplan points active is to simply hold any of the Aeroplan co-branded credit cards. As long as you hold one of these credit cards, your points won’t expire.
Note that you must be the primary cardholder to be exempted from points expiration. Any supplementary cardholders will not benefit from this policy in their individual accounts.
| Credit Card | Best Offer | Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
Up to 90,000 Aeroplan points $599 annual fee |
Up to 90,000 Aeroplan points | $1,921 |
Apply Now |
90,000 Aeroplan points $599 annual fee |
90,000 Aeroplan points | $1,449 |
Apply Now |
115,000 Aeroplan points $599 annual fee |
115,000 Aeroplan points | $1,278 |
Apply Now |
55,000 Aeroplan points $120 annual fee |
55,000 Aeroplan points | $1,114 |
Apply Now |
50,000 Aeroplan points First Year Free |
50,000 Aeroplan points | $1,071 |
Apply Now |
Up to 55,000 Aeroplan points First Year Free |
Up to 55,000 Aeroplan points | $945 |
Apply Now |
Up to 60,000 Aeroplan points First Year Free |
Up to 60,000 Aeroplan points | $735 |
Apply Now |
90,000 Aeroplan points $599 annual fee |
90,000 Aeroplan points | $676 |
Apply Now |
60,000 Aeroplan points First Year Free |
60,000 Aeroplan points | $661 |
Apply Now |
20,000 Aeroplan points First Year Free |
20,000 Aeroplan points | $441 |
Apply Now |
10,000 Aeroplan points $0 annual fee |
10,000 Aeroplan points | $210 |
Apply Now |
How Does Aeroplan’s Expiry Policy Compare?
Most of the world’s loyalty programs also operate on a similar expiration policy to Aeroplan’s. Among the major programs we frequently discuss, the expiration policies are as follows:
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Alaska Mileage Plan: Miles will be deactivated after 24 months of inactivity, and can be reactivated at no cost within one year of their expiration.
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British Airways Avios: Miles will expire after 36 months of inactivity.
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Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: Miles will expire after 18 months of inactivity.
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Marriott Bonvoy: Points will expire after 24 months of inactivity.
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Hilton Honors: Points will expire after 12 months of inactivity.
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WestJet Rewards: WestJet Dollars will not expire.
Meanwhile, bank rewards or transferrable rewards (like Amex MR, RBC Avion, CIBC Aventura, or Scene+) are generally kept alive as long as you continue to hold the associated credit card, or apply for a different credit card within the same family to keep the points alive before cancelling your current one.
Conclusion
Aeroplan has announced the extension of its non-expiry policy through September 30, 2024. As of that date, the regular expiration policy resumes, in which points will expire if there has been no activity on the account for a rolling 18-month period.
The extension comes as good news to Aeroplan members with fairly inactive accounts; however, it’s quite easy to prevent your points from expiring in the first place through one of the many simple ways to generate activity on your account – or better yet, by regularly earning and redeeming Aeroplan points for travel.
