Airmiles has been in the news as of late and not in a good way. If you’ve been following along, you will know that Airmiles quietly announced 5 years ago that your Airmile would expire after 5 years if you did not spend them. This was regardless of whether or not there was account activity or not, it was simply a rolling arbitrary deadline that was imposed.
When this news was announced 5 years ago, nobody really paid any attention to it but now that we face the deadline, collectors are in an uproar.
CBC’s Marketplace just did a story on how Airmiles Collectors fought for their points and in a surprisingly won. Airmiles removed the 5 year expiry policy but the story doesn’t end there as many long time collectors, faced with their points expiring, cashed in their points for items they didn’t really want.
I have never been a fan of Airmiles and I don’t collect them personally. Furthermore, I would not recommend my reader to collect them because of the complex nature of Airmiles redemption but the story is worth a watch as a cautionary tale if nothing else.
