Aeroplan Updates General Terms & Conditions

This week, Aeroplan members have been receiving an email notification of new General Terms and Conditions for the program. These changes will take effect on December 19, 2022.

These changes mainly address earning points for yourself and not on behalf of someone else, prohibited activities, and Aeroplan’s remedies against members who are deemed to be engaging in said activities.

The bulk of these changes explicitly impact credit card usage, so it would be wise to brush up. Let’s take a look at what’s happening, and what it might mean for Canadians who hold Aeroplan co-branded credit cards.

New Aeroplan Terms & Conditions

With these upcoming changes, the key areas of interest are Sections 6, 10, and 11 of Aeroplan’s terms and conditions.

Section 6 has been amended to clarify that Aeroplan points earned via partners will only be credited to the Aeroplan account of the Aeroplan member transacting with the partner.

In the case of an Aeroplan credit card, Aeroplan Points will only be credited to the Account of the Member who is the primary card holder of that Aeroplan credit card Aeroplan Points will not be credited to the membership number or Account of any other Member.

This means, among other things, that you can’t, say, put your own Aeroplan account number on your partner’s Aeroplan credit card. This has always been frowned upon if ever one did slip through the cracks, but now it’s expressly forbidden.

The account of the Member with [a] Conversion Program must be in the Member’s name so that the name on the Account with Aeroplan and the account under such Conversion Program are the same person.  Under the Aeroplan Program, the intention of permitting conversions from a Conversion Program into Aeroplan Points is so that the resulting Aeroplan Points under any such conversion arrangement are thereafter used by the Member for redemptions within the Aeroplan Program and Aeroplan reserves the right, at any time, to impose limitations on the ability of a Member to engage in conversions from a Conversion Program into Aeroplan Points and on the use of such Aeroplan Points upon conversion.

Similarly, this paragraph means that you can’t, say, transfer Membership Rewards points from your own American Express credit card to a friend’s Aeroplan account. Likewise, this wasn’t condoned before, but now it’s much more clear that it isn’t permitted.

Section 10 is where things…