I have been a Aeroplan Card holder since 1993. At that time I was using Air Canada for business trips and the point system seemed like a great way to save up for free trips.

I had hoped to save enough points so that when I retired I would be able to go on a nice Holiday. It is now 2007, I am now retired. I hadn't used my Aeroplan card since 2002. I phoned the 800# to see how many points I had... they said 0. I found my 2002 statement and it showed 36,835 points. I phoned them back and they said if your card was unused for 3 years that the points were canceled and the only way to get the points back is by buying them. A starting fee of $30. Plus 1 cent for each point I wanted back... that would be $398.35 (Ca). I was shocked to say the least. I asked why they hadn't notified me of this cancellation. They said it was posted on their website. So much for my retirement holiday. The decision is do I pay the money or has anyone found a better way to deal with this problem?

Plz advise smb!