If you are an Aeroplan account holder, keep your account current by making at least one transaction every year. Even if you don’t fly frequently, you can collect Aeroplan points at Esso gas stations by swiping the orange card with a magnetic stripe. If you don’t have the newer cards (don’t forget to call Aeroplan and request a new card), you can earn points by buying specially marked Tropicana or Quaker products and entering a code on this website.
It sounds silly to jump through these hoops but if you have a significant number of points, you may not want to lose them. For instance, if you have accumulated $100,000 points, the cash value is about $800. Since Aeroplan made changes to the loyalty program requiring members to make at least one transaction in a 12-month period to avoid expiry of all points in the account, a number of members have commented that they lost their accumulated points due to inactivity (check the comments in this post). If the miles did expire, it may not be worthwhile to get them reinstated as the economic value of the points (about 0.80¢) is roughly the same as the fee (Aeroplan charges $30 plus 1¢ per mile).
