AIR MILES Cancels Expiry
Seriously Air Miles? They decided to take a page out of Aeroplan’s book. Remember when Aeroplan introduced a 7 year hard expiry on its points? Basically, your miles would have expired 7 years from the day they were deposited, regardless of activity. But just before the expiry was about to kick in, they backed out. The same thing is happening now with Air Miles, they were going to introduce a hard expiry of 5 years after miles were deposited, to be effective on December 31, 2016.
What Happened?
However, Air Miles decided to back off on the hard expiry policy as well. What happened? Did they cave to public pressures? Was this their plan all along? Did too many people already start giving up their accounts. So now they can’t brag that they have X number of members anymore? Is it no longer a profitable initiative?
We may never know the “honest” answer. They will probably issue some statement, but there is never going to be a way to know whether it is the truth. So just read their statement (if they issue one) with a grain of salt.
Bill-47
It will be curious to see what happens with Bill-47, which is a law being introduced by the Ontario government, set for a final vote on Monday December 5, 2016. The new law was going to ban all loyalty companies, operating in Ontario, from having a hard expiry policy.
If the government actually backs off on this legislation, then we will know for sure that they were specifically targeting Air Miles.
At this point, I can’t see the Ontario government backing off, as they are so deep into it. They will probably make this move to prevent future companies from implementing this hard expiry policy. I saw hard expiry, because a company like Aeroplan, who allows you to keep your points active with activity every 12 months would not fall under the legislation. As long as you give customers an opportunity to keep your miles or points activity some way, they will be compliant with the law.
Questions for you
I am sure that many of you were planning on retaining your membership anyway, and just work with what they throw at us. However, many others were planning on giving up on Air Miles.
For those of you who left, my question to you is whether this was enough to win you back?
For those of you who hung on, are you happy with this move?
I’m not happy…while I used my points to purchase something I wanted, I still feel like I was forced to do it.
Almost seems like forced redemption was their goal…
In my opinion the damage to Air Miles is two fold… First is the appearance of being manipulated into redeem our points prematurely and the inadequate facilities within Air Miles to service the redemption by members. Secondly, is the damage to the Air Miles brand and those business that are associated wit it.
In the past I would have looked for Air Miles as an encouragement to shop at a vendor. Now I see little value in the Air Miles brand and the vendor association. I now look to other rewards options and the vendor’s association with those programs.
Yes, definitely a damage to their credibility. I find their lack of transparency also an issue.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I was never a fan of the program. I did use the expiring balance just 2 weekends ago, on a hotel stay. I’m not surprised by the cancelled policy and there is no incentive to go forth and collect more miles from this program.
Love live Aeroplan!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Glad you got a decent hotel redemption at least.