There have been a few changes to the American Express Membership Rewards program, since my last post when comparing the Canadian and U.S. versions. So let’s do another rundown.
One of my readers helped me point out that potential termination of the Shoppers Optimum program. Is the program going to terminate? I really hope not.Below is the official wording under the Terms and Conditions of the program.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Air Miles. CBC wrote up an article on the matter. But here is a quick summary.
The claim is against LoyaltyOne (owner of Air Miles) to “remedy harm caused by the Air Miles program to its users.” The main points are:
This Air Miles expiry policy coming into effect on December 31, 2016 is really damaging their reputation. Basically, effective December 31, 2016, Air Miles reward miles that are more than 5 years old will begin to expire on a quarterly basis (March 31, June 30, September 30 and December 31). The program started back in 1992, and if people haven’t redeemed since then, they are probably panicking to redeem them now.
Looks like Scotiabank has taken over the relationship with More Rewards MBNA, which discontinued its co-branded credit card. We also have posts talking about Top Ways to Redeem More Rewards and Ways to Earn More “More Rewards”. Scotiabank is now offering a More Rewards Visa Card with the following highlights:
CBC has been on a tear this month of July, writing one article after another about the Air Miles program: … I am probably missing some article links. Anyway, I thought I’d share some thoughts about this matter, as it seems that according to CBC, lots of people are frustrated with Air Miles.
I was recently asked on TV what my favourite loyalty program was. I realize that I did not give a direct answer. In my About Us section, I do list a few current favourite programs, such as Aeroplan, American Express Membership Rewards, Best Western Rewards, RBC Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest.
I was on CBC the other day talking about the expiry of the Air Miles program. The main topic is about the upcoming December 31, 2016 change to the expiry policy.
The 30% RBC conversion bonus to British Airways Avios is back. Not as the 50% that has been offered in the past, but those days may be long gone at this point.
It was only a matter of time before this credit card gets discontinued, since the Shoppers Drug Mart buyout by Loblaws, which runs the PC Plus program.