Air Miles setting an expiration date for unused points
Posted December 30, 2011 10:59 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Use it or lose it! That appears to be one of the messages from several upcoming Air Miles reward program changes.
Air Miles has announced that beginning Dec. 31, all reward miles will be given a date-stamp of five years to be used. This means all reward miles accumulated on or before Dec. 31, 2011 will have to be redeemed by Dec. 31, 2016.
Any Air Miles accumulated after this date will have five years to be used from the date they are earned.
Air Miles says the changes are to encourage people to become more involved in the loyalty program, noting some people have not redeemed any points in more than 20 years. The average accumulation time is about two-and-half-years, according to the company.
Brad Davies with Virtually There Travel says he’s not surpised at the change. “Why did it take them so long? Comparable programs such as Aeroplan [and] American Airlines Advantage… all put in expiry dates on existing point levels.”
“It’s just to get some heightened awareness that people have their program. A lot of people have them and just forget about it. The fact that there’s an expiry date, it’s a reason for [those] who have Air Miles programs to have a look and say ‘You know what? We’re really close to making a redemption here,'” he explains.
Air Miles has also introduced an instant redemption program, meaning once you have 95 points, you can instantly get a $10 refund at participating retailers. This program is set to begin in March, 2012.
There are 10 million of the blue-and-white Air Miles cards now in use around Canada.
