'Like' Aeroplan on Facebook and Aeroplan will donate 50 miles to its charitable partners

MONTREAL, May 2 /CNW Telbec/ - Aeroplan today announced a new Facebook initiative in celebration of the fifth anniversary of its Beyond Miles Program.  Starting today until May 31^st, Aeroplan will donate 50 Aeroplan Miles to its nine Beyond Miles Program charitable partners for each 'Like' that Aeroplan receives on Facebook up to a total of 1.5 million Aeroplan Miles.  To 'Like' Aeroplan on Facebook, please visit: www.facebook.com/aeroplan.

All miles donated for this initiative will be split equally amongst all of Aeroplan's charitable partners including: Air Canada's Kids' Horizons, Athletes for Africa, Earth Day Canada, Engineers Without Borders, Médecins Sans Frontières, Schools Without Borders, The Stephen Lewis Foundation, Veterinarians Without Borders and War Child Canada.  Each of these nine Canadian organizations is committed to improving lives and enriching communities across Canada and abroad.

"Our Beyond Miles partners use Aeroplan Miles to offset travel costs including flights, hotel accommodation and car rentals for projects they work on in Canada and abroad," said geneviève bich, Vice President, People and Culture, Groupe Aeroplan Canada.  "We couldn't be more proud of our members as we recently reached the milestone of 200 million miles donated by members to our Beyond Miles partners.  We hope our members and the general public will 'like' us on Facebook so that together we can support the incredible work each organization is doing."

"Aeroplan's support with Beyond Miles has been incredibly important to Engineers Without Borders. Aeroplan has enabled us to save money on hundreds of flights, allowing us to send many talented young Canadian engineers overseas," said George Roter, Chief Executive Officer, Engineers Without Borders.  "Because of their support and that of thousands of Aeroplan Members, we've been able to send more volunteers overseas. Our volunteers provide support to increase prosperity for African farmers and work with African organizations that are providing access to infrastructure and delivering crucial services, such as improved access to clean water."

Community Investment at Aeroplan
Aeroplan's Beyond Miles program invites Aeroplan Members to join us in supporting nine Canadian charitable organizations through the donation of Aeroplan Miles.  To donate miles, members simply visit www.aeroplan.com/donate.  Since the program was launched in 2006, more than 200 million Aeroplan Miles have been donated by members. Aeroplan offsets 100 per cent of all carbon emissions from flights taken by Beyond Miles partners using donated miles.  In 2011, Aeroplan donated 1.25 million miles to each of its partner organizations.  Aeroplan also announced recently that members can now automatically donate 2 per cent of all miles accumulated to any Beyond Miles partner of their choice.  Members interested in donating 2 per cent of their Aeroplan Miles simply visit their profile page on aeroplan.com, select the donation opt-in and the Beyond Miles partner they would like their miles to go to.  More information is available at www.aeroplan.com/donate.

In addition, Aeroplan also has a Charitable Pooling program that allows members to use miles to support individuals, families or local grass roots community charities in need.  Since inception, members have pooled more than 57 million miles into over 430 pooling accounts across the country.

Aeroplan's Beyond Miles program and other community investment initiatives can now be found on Twitter.  Follow us at: http://twitter.com/BeyondMiles.

About Aeroplan
Aeroplan, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, is owned by Groupe Aeroplan Inc., a global leader in loyalty management.

Aeroplan's millions of members earn Aeroplan Miles with its growing network of over 75 world-class partners, representing more than 150 brands in the financial, retail, and travel sectors.

In 2010, over 2 million rewards were issued to members including more than 1.3 million flights on Air Canada and Star Alliance carriers which offer travel to more than 1,000 destinations worldwide. In addition to flights, members also have access to over 800 exciting specialty, merchandise, hotel, car rental and experiential rewards. 

For more information about Aeroplan, please visit www.aeroplan.com or www.groupeaeroplan.com.