The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that thousands of Aeroplan members received an unpleasant surprise when checking their accounts recently: a clawback of up to 10,000 points. Guest columnist Barry Choi writes that the deduction, which hit TD and CIBC Aeroplan credit card holders, caused outrage among the loyalty program's members, but most affected people were knowingly gaming the system by signing up for multiple Aeroplan credit cards each year and getting repeated bonuses. This act of churning credit cards is not new, but Aeroplan has finally started enforcing its rules -- and it is well within its rights to do so. The abuse of welcome bonuses became so problematic that in October, 2022, Aeroplan changed its terms and conditions and clearly outlined in numerous e-mails that members were not entitled to repeat offers. The program further clarified things in 2023 by stating the one-time bonus applied to each card type (entry, core, premium, core small business and premium small business), regardless of the issuer (TD, CIBC and AmEx). Despite this clear language and the repeated warnings, some members who recently lost their points are calling the action a theft and have sworn off Air Canada forever.
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