If you were to take a poll of Aeroplan members as to what they thought would happen to their Aeroplan miles upon their death, most of them would assume that their miles die with them. This is not the case – and given the value of these miles to frequent fliers, consideration should be given as to who will inherit the miles upon the death of the member.
The person inheriting the miles currently has two options:
- Pay a one-time fee of $30 to have the miles transferred to an “estate account”. The miles then must be used within 12 months.
- Transfer the miles to their own Aeroplan account for a fee of $0.01 per mile transferred.
(Aeroplan members with minor children may also be interested to know that children are entitled to have an Aeroplan number, and are not subject to the requirements to have one transaction every 12 months and to use (or lose) their miles within 7 years. Once a child turns 18, they must meet the “transaction per year” requirement, but they have until age 25 to use all of the miles they accumulated during their minority.)
Air Miles (the blue card) can also be transferred to a beneficiary of an estate upon the executor writing a letter to Air Miles giving the requisite information and enclosing a copy of the death certificate. In fact, many points programs have special “estate” policies permitting the points of a deceased member to be used in some way after death – another consideration for testators and estate administrators!
