It's been a strange few days for Air Canada and members of its Aeroplan loyalty program. Early last week, it appeared as though everything was on schedule for Air Canada to split from Aeroplan and launch its own, separate loyalty program in 2020. Aeroplan had even come out with a new landing page and interview with its CEO making the case for flyers to stick around after Air Canada's departure.
On Wednesday, though, everything got turned on its head when the news came that Air Canada was planning to make a hostile takeover bid for Aeroplan – the program that it abandoned less than a year earlier.
It's not really clear why this is happening. Air Canada and Aimia, the company that oversees Aeroplan, initially couldn't come to terms on the joint operation of the program – that's what triggered this initial path. But now with Aimia's stock in the dumpster and Air Canada realizing the complexity of starting a new program, it may make more sense for the airline to reinvest.
Loyalty program members are clearly being taken for a ride. And something tells us that the ride is going to get even stranger before it's over.
