Aeroplan seeks to appease grumpy members

The Aeroplan customer loyalty program has quietly been making changes that may soothe members who went ballistic over new rules and restrictions introduced last fall.

Pick up a carton of Tropicana orange juice or a box of Quaker Life cereal and you'll get a sense of what's going on. Aeroplan has worked out a deal with Pepsico, parent of both companies, whereby you get 10 Aeroplan miles for purchasing eligible products.

Aeroplan has been steadily adding partners like Pepsico recently, which is a good thing. As a result of widely criticized changes announced last October, Aeroplan members must keep their accounts current by earning or redeeming points each year. If they don't, the points they've earned are cancelled and can only be reinstated for a fee.

One way to make this rule irrelevant is to give people plenty of opportunities to earn points. Aeroplan is getting there, although it still doesn't offer as many day-to-day opportunities to earn points as its larger rival, Air Miles.

Aeroplan began 23 years ago as a frequent-flier program for Air Canada and then branched out in travel rewards such as hotels and vacations. Now, it seems to be evolving into a broader customer loyalty program along the lines of Air Miles. It's an opportune time, then, to compare both programs on the basis of how easy it is to rack up points.

Air Miles has 130 sponsors, or partners, while Aeroplan has more than 60 partners representing about 100 different brands. Aeroplan's partners are primarily in the travel area, including about 25 different airline partners (Air Canada among them) and dozens of hotels and vacation packages.

There are about 18 retail and service partners in the Aeroplan fold now, including Pepsico, Home Hardware and the Quebec drugstore chain Uniprix. Some good options for Aeroplan members to earn regular points are through Esso gas stations, Bell Canada (you can earn points on your monthly phone bill) and Rogers Magazine Service, which offers discounted subscriptions to dozens of magazines.

You're bound to encounter more Air Miles partners on a daily basis because they include grocery chains such as Safeway, Dominion and Sobeys, Shell gas stations, The Sports Experts sporting goods stores, Pharma Plus, Pharmasave, Rexall, Jean Coutu and Lawton drugstores, the Bay, RONA home improvement stores and liquor stores in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta.

The way to add some serious torque into your points-earning power with both Aeroplan and Air Miles is to hook up with their financial partners. For example, you can earn a whack of Aeroplan points each year if you have your life insurance with Sun Life or your car insurance with ING Insurance. Air Miles has Manulife Financial and Royal & SunAlliance as partners, which puts it on an even footing with Aeroplan.

Both loyalty programs are pretty much even again on their credit card partners, which is a key consideration because this is the way to achieve your maximum potential to earn points.

You can get an Aeroplan card from both Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce or American Express, and both offer a choice of cards with varying fees and formulas for earning points. Air Miles cards are available from Amex and Bank of Montreal, which also gives customers additional chances to earn points by using their BMO debit cards and by purchasing the bank's financial products.

Serious points collectors know that special promotions are a good way to earn extra miles, and Aeroplan is increasingly getting into this game. Its Miles to the Max promotion, which ended on June 15, offered 200 bonus miles to members who used three Aeroplan partners, and 100 bonus points for each subsequent partner used.

Air Miles partners often have promotions going, so keep your eyes open when shopping in their stores. For example, you can earn triple Air Miles at SportChek stores, and at Shell stations if you buy premium gas.

Loyalty programs are a lucrative business in Canada, so expect to see Air Miles and Aeroplan competing vigorously by signing up new partners and adding opportunities to earn points. The media relations people for both programs were exceedingly efficient and helpful in answering questions for this column, and you generally see that when a company is hyper-conscious of the need to look its best.

If you're waiting for a declaration of a winner between the two on the basis of points-earning power, forget it. The best approach, if you're into collecting reward points, is to use both. Pick a primary program and get a credit card that goes with it. For your second-choice program, carry the plastic cards they hand out to members and use them to collect points where possible.

Your loyalty as a consumer in this country is for sale. It's your duty to get the highest price possible.

rcarrick@globeandmail.com

TWO WAYS TO FLY