How to transfer Amex Membership Rewards Canada points to Aeroplan

How the transfer is set up

American Express describes the transfer in a fixed order. Eligible Membership Rewards customers can move points to participating frequent flyer or hotel loyalty programmes, but only after the Rewards Account has been linked to the partner account. [3] The help page cited here is American Express's United States Membership Rewards page; it does not list which partners participate and it is not a Canada-specific page, so check that Aeroplan appears as a transfer option inside your own Membership Rewards account before planning a redemption around it. [3]

Names must match. The name on the card and the name on the chosen loyalty programme account must be the same for the accounts to link and for the transfer to succeed. [3]

Additional Card Members. The partner account that receives the points must be held by you or by an Additional Card Member linked to your Rewards Account, and that Additional Card must have been issued at least 90 days before the Membership Rewards account is linked to the Additional Card Member's partner account. [3]

After the points arrive. Transferred points become subject to the partner programme's terms and conditions, and American Express tells customers to confirm the points in the partner account and then redeem them directly with the airline or hotel. [3] Air Canada lists converting points from another loyalty programme into Aeroplan points among the activities that keep an Aeroplan account active. [4]

Step by step

1. Check that you are an eligible Membership Rewards customer with points available to transfer. [3]
2. Check that the name on your card matches the name on the Aeroplan account exactly, since a mismatch stops the accounts being linked. [3]
3. If the Aeroplan account belongs to an Additional Card Member, confirm that the Additional Card was issued at least 90 days before you link the accounts. [3]
4. Link your Rewards Account to the Aeroplan account from inside your Membership Rewards account. [3]
5. Find the Aeroplan award you want and note how many points it needs before you transfer anything, because the transfer is final. [3]
6. Complete the transfer, then check the Aeroplan account to confirm the points have arrived. [3]
7. Redeem the Aeroplan points directly with the airline for the booking. [3]

The order matters rather than the clicks: the linking step comes first, and the availability check comes before the irreversible step. [3] A general pre-transfer routine is set out in the points transfer checklist.

Timing and account activity

Plan around the possibility that the points are not available instantly.

On the Aeroplan side, points expire only if the account has been inactive for 18 months, and staying active means earning or redeeming at least one Aeroplan point within an 18-month period. [4] Air Canada lists earning, redeeming, donating, transferring and converting points as the activities that keep an account active. [4] Air Canada says it will email a member up to 60 days before points expire, and that the inactivity date can be checked on the Activity tab of the Aeroplan dashboard. [4]

The expiry pause. Air Canada has paused the expiry of Aeroplan points until 30 November 2026, so points that would have expired between the date of that notice and 29 November 2026 will not expire. [6] From 30 November 2026 the normal expiration policy applies again, and points will expire if an eligible transaction has not been completed before that date. [6]

What a transfer does not do

• It does not build Aeroplan status. Aeroplan's status page says points converted from other programmes into Aeroplan points are excluded from the base points used to calculate Status Qualifying Credits from partner activity, where members get 1 SQC for every 5 Aeroplan base points up to 25,000 SQC per calendar year. [5]
• It cannot be undone. Once points have been transferred they are final, and the partner programme's terms then govern them. [3]
• It is not the same as holding an Aeroplan card. Air Canada says points can be prevented from expiring altogether for primary TD Aeroplan Credit Cardholders, American Express Aeroplan Cardmembers, CIBC Aeroplan Credit Cardholders, and members who hold Aeroplan Elite Status. [4]

Exceptions and limits

• The name-match rule blocks the link rather than the transfer itself, so an account opened under a different spelling or a nickname cannot be used until the details agree. [3]
• The 90-day rule applies specifically to an Additional Card Member's partner account, not to the primary cardholder's own Aeroplan account. [3]
• Expired Aeroplan points can be recovered within 6 months of expiry by buying them back for a fee, by flying with Air Canada within that 6-month period (booking may happen after expiry, but travel must fall inside the period), or by getting an Aeroplan credit card. [4]
• The expiry pause is a dated exception: it covers points that would have expired up to 29 November 2026, and the normal policy resumes on 30 November 2026. [6]

Related pages

Programmes: Amex Membership Rewards Canada, Aeroplan. Guides and terms: points transfer checklist, transfer ratio, transfer time, glossary of terms.

Sources

Sources checked on 18 October 2026. It covers transfers from American Express Membership Rewards into Aeroplan only; other Canadian card issuers' transfer programmes, other American Express transfer partners, and other ways of earning Aeroplan points are not covered here.

1. American Express help centre: how do I transfer Membership Rewards points?, checked 18 October 2026
2. Air Canada Aeroplan: keeping your points active, checked 18 October 2026
3. Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Status, checked 18 October 2026
4. Air Canada Aeroplan: points expiry suspended, checked 18 October 2026