Aeroplan reactivates Family Sharing and is now (almost) scam-proof
The pooling of miles between family and friends is a cross and a delight for the FF world, the reason being [...]
Air Canada
Mileage pooling among family and friends is a cross and a delight for the FF world, the reason is simple: it is loved by travelers because. allows accounts to be merged and avoid wasting piles of miles here and there, but it's a problem for loyalty programs because is often the backdoor used by those who want to cheat systems.
In this article:
After 18 months, Air Canada's loyalty program, considered one of the best in the world, reactivated the function a few days ago, and so it is once again possible to merge accounts and use miles from a single piggy bank.
What are the rules of Aeroplan's new Family program
- Family Members' points are combined together, allowing for faster rewards.
- All your Aeroplan points will be shared in a single balance managed by the Head of Household.
Management of the pool by the head of household
- The head of the household manages the collection rights of the pool members and is responsible for the activities of the group.
- The Head of Household decides whether you can redeem Aeroplan points by granting you redemption rights. If you are not granted them, you will not be able to redeem Aeroplan points while in the pool, but your points will still be included in the shared balance.
- Aeroplan is not responsible for the behavior of Family Members, including individual accumulation and redemption transactions.
Redemption of points
- Family Members with redemption rights can redeem points at any time, regardless of who earned them.
- Any Family Member who has been granted redemption rights can use the total balance in the pool, including your Aeroplan points, without limitations related to how many points they personally have accumulated.
Visibility of personal information
- Once you join a pool, certain details of your Aeroplan account will be visible to other Family Members in the pool.
- Other members will be able to see: first name, last name, Aeroplan number, point balance, and date of joining the pool. In addition, potential new members will be able to see your last name and first initial before joining the pool.
Permanency requirements
- Members must remain in the Aeroplan Family Sharing pool for at least 3 months.
- If you leave the pool, you have to wait at least 6 months before you can enter another pool.
Verification procedure (almost) from bank
The real novelty, however, is the way in which this feature can be activated; one must absolutely go through account validation and activate dual authentication via SMS.
While SMS is now a standard system that many loyalty programs have adopted, and one of the many reasons why it makes no sense to use local SIM cards when traveling since then you don't receive them, what is surprising is the second mandatory step: document validation and facial recognition.
You have to go through all the steps until you get to the biometric recognition part, which is done using the camera on your cell phone (or tablet).
Only when you have a verified profile can you proceed to invite other members to join the program and decide at the same time whether and who will have power to use the points.
In conclusion
One of the functions I had been waiting for almost 2 years, I had missed the chance to do it in 2023, but now I have caught up and merged our family accounts, In the Star Alliance is one of the few active since Miles&More has been suspended for months, Singapore Airlines does not have it, and Turkish Airlines does not allow it either.
