Shenanigans at Air Canada

Air Canada

Looks like Air Canada has been tinkering again, and this time, the occasional traveler will not be happy.

carreyOn the heels of US Airways cutting their mileage expiration time from 3 years to 18 months, Air Canada has gone much deeper than that. Upgrade: Travel Better points out that not only will you now have to earn miles once every twelve months to keep them active, they now have an ultimate expiration date of 7 years from the date of accrual. This starts January 1, 2007 with all previous mileage being given an accrual date of December 31, 2006.

In other words, any mile you earn on January 1, 2007 will expire for good on January 1, 2014 assuming you’ve earned at least one mile in each twelve month period in between to keep the account active.
This is a tough one to swallow for the casual traveler who may really not earn enough miles for that dream trip in that period of time. Then again, Air Canada has been really targeting the more frequent traveler, like most airlines.

For frequent travelers, this is a non-event, but Air Canada has made some more positive changes for that group. The airline has been big on selling passes for travel during a certain time, and now they have an all-North America pass. Basically, plunk down a flat fee and you can fly as much as you want in the area you purchase during that time. It’s a pretty cool idea for the frequent flier, but this doesn’t work for the lonely casual traveler.

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