Aeroplan Improves Miles Expiration Policy and Adds Flexibility

It’s always a breath of fresh air when airlines make customer-friendly policy changes. I get too used to the opposite, expecting devaluations, basic economy restrictions, and the like. But this Aeroplan miles expiration policy change is definitely welcome.

Aeroplan Miles Expiration Policy

Aeroplan used to have one of the more annoying miles expiration policies among airline loyalty programs. Your miles would expire after just 12 months. As I don’t find myself flying Air Canada all that often (actually, I don’t think I’ve ever flown a paid AC flight), I had to track this carefully. Luckily, AwardWallet could do that magic for me. Every time my points got a couple months from expiring, I either transferred over 1,000 American Express points to Aeroplan miles or found some other way to credit miles to the program.

The Aeroplan miles expiration policy has improved: miles now expire after 18 months of inactivity. This gives you 50% more time. All you need to do to keep your account active is to earn or redeem a single mile. It’s that simple.

If you’re an Aeroplan co-branded credit cardholder, your miles never expire. The same goes for Altitude members. Unfortunately, I don’t believe there is a co-branded Aeroplan card offered in the U.S. any longer.

And Even If Your Miles Do Expire…

The last part of the updated Aeroplan miles expiration policy is interesting (language from the email):

“Should your miles expire – not to worry. Within six months of your account becoming inactive, just fly on an eligible Air Canada ticket or get any Aeroplan credit card. We’ll then reactivate all of those recently-expired Aeroplan Miles.”

While not a fantastic option, this is at least an option if you do accidentally let your miles expire. Aeroplan is still also willing to reinstate your miles for a fee, which is part of their current policy.

Finally, Aeroplan is willing to reinstate miles for people who had them expire this year due to canceled travel plans. If you canceled travel with Air Canada anytime after January 2020 and your miles have since expired, reach out to Air Canada to have them reinstated.

Final Thoughts

These are welcome changes from Aeroplan. After adding Etihad earlier this year as a partner (with low fuel surcharges!), I’ve been more interested than ever in the program. They are one of the better options among American Express Membership Rewards transfer partners. There are some great uses for Aeroplan miles.