Air Canada has announced that it will launch it’s own loyalty program in 2020. In 2002 Air Canada spun off their Aeroplan loyalty program as a separate corporate entity (and eventually sold to Aimia). Air Canada & Aeroplan/Aimia have had an exclusive contract since Aeroplan was spun off, this contract will expire after June 29th, 2020.
- Until June 30th it will be business as usual and Aeroplan members will be able to earn and redeem Aeroplan miles on Air Canada (or Star alliance partners).
- After June 30th miles earned from Air Canada (or Star alliance partners) will be credited to Air Canada’s new loyalty program
- After June 30th Aeroplan miles will stay be able to be redeemed for Air Canada flights with with Air Canada stating that pricing will be competitive with other third-party rewards programs
My advice? If you have Aeroplan miles, try to use them sooner rather than later. I suspect this will be easier said than done as everybody will be looking to do the same. I’ve always thought that spinning off loyalty programs was a mistake and I think this cements that opinion, I don’t think it’s good for consumers or the airline themselves.
So far it’s also disappointing how Air Canada plans to implement these charges. It would be nice for either Aeroplan miles to be transferable to the new currency (and Aeroplan would be unlikely to agree to this) or for both programs to run side by side for several years. That way consumers could continue to earn Aeroplan miles towards a redemption they had planned or start earning the new currency if they had recently made a redemption. I’m sure there will be lots of promotions for both companies to acquire customers, but I don’t see Aimia’s Aeroplan surviving long term.
Hat tip to VFTW
