Update 7/3/23: Looks like at least one person has had their account Aeroplan reinstated with a warning:
Subject: Update regarding your recent Aeroplan Points Conversion
You have recently converted a significant number of points from a third party rewards program into the Aeroplan® Program and then subsequently redeemed those Aeroplan Points for Pay Yourself Back® on your Chase Aeroplan® Card. Section 6 of the Aeroplan Terms and Conditions provides that “Aeroplan reserves the right, at any time, to impose limitations on the ability of a Member to engage in conversions from a Conversion Program into Aeroplan Points and on the use of such Aeroplan Points upon conversion.”
In accordance with Section 6, Aeroplan has established limitations on the ability of a Member to engage in conversions from a Conversion Program into Aeroplan Points and on the use of such Aeroplan Points for Pay Yourself Back on your Chase Aeroplan Card. Only Aeroplan Points earned under the Aeroplan Program, the Chase Aeroplan Card, and Chase Ultimate Rewards can be used for Chase Pay Yourself Back. All other conversion programs are not allowed to be converted into Aeroplan Points for use with the Chase Pay Yourself Back program.
This email is being sent to inform you that a recent transaction activity performed by you fits the above description. This will be your only warning and if this type of transaction happens again, Aeroplan will take action up to and including closing your Aeroplan account.
Original post: There is at least one report of Chase shutting down all of the accounts of a Chase Aeroplan cardholder that ‘abused’ the PYB feature of the card. For those unfamiliar Chase Aeroplan cardholders can redeem Aeroplan miles for 1.25¢ against travel charges on the card. You’re not limited to using Aeroplan miles that are earned on this card and there is also no cap for this calendar year (from 2024 onwards there will be a cap of 50,000 miles). The cardholders whose account was shut down did redeem 5,000,000 miles not earned on the card towards Chase travel purchases so not a huge surprise but worth mentioning for those using this card feature.
Recently redeem about 250k points from amex for PYB. Booked travel then refunded on card, got warning letter from Aeroplan, not chase. Threshold is definitely much lower than expected.
This is likely something Aeroplan instigated rather than Chase. Aeroplan has a long history of coming up with idiotic ideas to save a few bucks. Canadians will be Canadians.
Uncle Sam, remember the time we burned everything down in 1814? Happy Independence Day!
Enjoy your ice box.
We?
You consider yourself British?
I’m just shocked that the issue they are referencing is using PYB with points from Amex, and not the massive amount of fake travel spend (I’m assuming flights booked, PYB initiated, then flights cancelled). Maybe it’s because it’s Aeroplan that’s complaining, and not Chase that would have that data.
So the problem was the non-Chase points and not the refund?
I think you’re confusing between chase shutdown and aeroplan shutdown here
Just for clarification, if you click on the source that email came from Aeroplan, not Chase.
i want to know whether points purchased directly from aeroplan website (i know it is operated by points.com) would be qualified for PYB
DOC- thanks for posting this. Very interesting to see the actual notice. However the notice above seems to be a notice form Aeroplan, not Chase. So maybe both are after the offenders (Aeroplan giving warnings and Chase shutting down)?
This is kind of wrong of Chase. If people convert a bunch of points from chase and Amex to Aeroplan how does Chase even know which pile was used to pay yourself back all the points are mixed into a pile
wouldn’t be too difficult to implement, just keep track of aeroplan card earned points and set those are usable for pyb, don’t add to the pyb bucket when other points transferred in
How? You converted points from Amex and chase and bought some Aeroplan and bought a plane ticket – what is the rest of the points when redeeming? Also the notice above is from Aeroplan which is a shitty program not Chase the Canadians are just a dumb group of people
I’m guessing they normally wouldn’t know, but redeeming 5,000,000 miles might be a big red flag and it’s not too difficult to tell if someone has earned anywhere near that many points with their card.
Right – It’s probably some intern doing a manual review on these accounts otherwise all these points are fungible, how would anyone be able to keep track of “oh this pile i redeemed was Chase and I kept the remaining pile as Amex”
Would transferring points from Sapphire cards with the added bonus and then using PYB also be abuse by this logic?
To answer my own question, from TnC:
REMINDER: Only Aeroplan Points earned under the Aeroplan Program, the Chase Aeroplan Card, and Chase Ultimate Rewards can be used for Chase Pay Yourself Back. Points converted from other programs are not eligible. If you proceed contrary to these terms, the Aeroplan Program and Chase Aeroplan Card reserves the right to reverse your point redemption or freeze your Aeroplan Membership account.