MONTREAL, April 17, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - Aeroplan today announced that it will match all miles donated by members to each of its eight Beyond Miles charitable partners as part of the 2012 Aeroplan Match Days.  Miles will be matched on a 1 for 1 basis up to 500,000 Aeroplan Miles for each partner organization.  Each organization has chosen its own match day and Aeroplan will match miles on that day.

To donate miles, members simply visit www.aeroplan.com/donate where they can choose to donate to: The Air Canada Foundation, 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 eight Canadian organizations is committed to improving lives and enriching communities across Canada and abroad.

"We have been overwhelmed by the generosity our members have shown during our Mile Matching Days over the last couple of years," said Geneviève Bich, Vice President, People and Culture in Canada, Aimia.  "In 2011, a total of more than 10.9 million miles were donated to our Beyond Miles partners on Miles Matching Days.  We hope our members continue to support the incredible work our charitable partners do each and every day and donate miles to them."

The miles members donate to our Beyond Miles partners go towards offsetting travel costs and supporting these organizations and their projects in Canada and across the world.

"Earth Day Canada is very grateful to Aeroplan for initiating a matching day for us every year," said Jed Goldberg, President, Earth Day Canada. "The support we receive from Aeroplan Members provides us with a tremendous opportunity to defray travel and other associated costs so that we can continue to provide Canadians from kindergarten to adulthood with free educational resources and practical information they can use to lessen their impact on the environment."

Mile Matching Days will be held on:

• Earth Day Canada - April 20, 2012
• The Air Canada Foundation - May 3, 2012
• Stephen Lewis Foundation - May 14, 2012
• Engineers Without Borders - September 6, 2012
• War Child Canada - September 21, 2012
• Veterinarians Without Borders - October 18, 2012
• Médecins Sans Frontières - November 6, 2012
• Schools Without Borders - December 12, 2012

Since the program was launched in 2006, more than 237 million Aeroplan Miles have been donated by members.   Beyond Miles partners use Aeroplan Miles to offset costs related to travel by air as well as hotel accommodations and car rentals.  Aeroplan offsets 100 per cent of all carbon emissions from flights taken by Beyond Miles partners using donated miles.  In 2012, Aeroplan donated 1 million miles to each of its partner organizations.  Aeroplan Members can also automatically donate two per cent of all miles accumulated to any Beyond Miles partner of the member's choice.  Members interested in donating two 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 charities in need.  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., doing business as Aimia, 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 2011, approximately 2.3 million rewards were issued to members including more than 1.5 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 1,000 exciting specialty, merchandise, hotel, car rental and experiential rewards. 

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