Why You Should Be Aging Your Loyalty Accounts

Getting into award travel is exciting; you start to feel like you’ve unlocked a new lifestyle, and travel becomes significantly more comfortable. 

However, in all that excitement, it’s easy to overlook some very important details, like which accounts to open and let “age” rather than leave it to a “just in time” approach. Taking the latter could lead to some disappointment after finding the perfect award flight, and we’re here to help you avoid that. 

Why Should You Age a Loyalty Account?

There are several reasons you might need to age your loyalty program accounts, such as transferring points to another member, purchasing points, or moving points between the partnered Avios loyalty programs. Not all of these features might be available as soon as you create the account, so creating the account and letting it sit is often the right play so it is ready to use when you require it.

Regardless of why you’re aging the account, creating loyalty accounts and immediately expecting to be able to use them to their full extent is a common mistake that many people make. Even veterans of the hobby are guilty of this, which is why I included it in my Top 10 Miles & Points Mistakes article that I previously wrote.

Below I’ll highlight the most important loyalty accounts, including hotel loyalty and frequent flyer programs, to open ASAP once you fall in love with the world of points and miles, so you don’t have any restrictions when you find the perfect award. 

Loyalty Program Accounts You Must Age To Unlock All Features

Club Iberia Plus

Club Iberia Plus is one of the strangest and hardest-to-use airline loyalty programs in the oneworld alliance. Not only is their website terrible and glitchy, but you also have at least a 30-day waiting period before you can transfer Avios from any program into Iberia Avios. 

You can get around this by transferring directly into the program from Chase Bank Ultimate Rewards and US Amex Membership Rewards, but those points have far better uses. Especially since you can transfer to British Airways Avios from RBC Avion points and American Express Canada Membership Rewards points, and RBC often offers a 30% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios at least once a year.

You’ll want an Iberia account because there are genuinely great uses of Iberia miles, and they’re even more relevant now that there are direct flights from Toronto to Spain on their luxurious A321 XLR.

Finnair Plus

You’ll see a theme here: oneworld airlines are the most finicky with their loyalty accounts, partly because their miles are so flexible; mileage brokers often exploit loopholes. But with Finnair, they offer the easiest and least expensive way to get two people’s Avios points into one large pot for redemption. 

The only trick is that your Finnair Plus account needs to be open for at least 30 days before you can share points with another member. Not only do they allow the easiest transfers, but they also have a very unique no-recline business class I’m looking forward to flying at the end of 2026.

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is becoming more mainstream if you’re into the US credit card game. You’ll need to have an account for at least 30 days before you can make any redemptions, or if you transfer points from a program like BILT, Rove, Capital One, or Citi, there’s a 7-day hold on your points.

It’s best to have the account and not need it, versus needing it and not having it. Japan Airlines miles are also super useful for booking Air France business class tickets without the hefty surcharges, and of course accessing the exclusive Japan Airlines first class cabin.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club

Qatar Qsuites is one of the best business class products out there, even if the seats are nearly a decade old now. If you want to book a ticket for anyone but yourself, you’ll need a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account that’s at least 30 days old.

While you may find availability through British Airways Avios for the same flight, Qatar often has more seats available for its own loyalty program. Also, if you’re flying business class and want to pay to upgrade to the amazing Al Safwa First Class Lounge in Doha, you’ll need to have booked your ticket with Qatar Avios. 

Sandman RSVP Rewards

This is a bit more niche, but RSVP Rewards, the loyalty program for Sandman and Sutton Place hotels, gives you 500 free points (worth $5) every year on your birthday. So while it’ll take 4-6 years to redeem those points if you don’t otherwise stay at an RSVP property with the 3,000-point minimum, it’s worth letting it marinate! 

I find Sandman hotels to be excellent most of the time, and Sutton Place properties are very nice. Vancouver has two Sandman properties with airport shuttles, so you may find yourself staying at a Sandman after a positioning flight.

World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt became much more accessible to Canadians in 2026 after they launched a deep partnership with Aeroplan, allowing points transfers. You’ll need to have a Hyatt account that’s at least 30 days old before you can transfer points to another member or purchase points.

While you may not want to transfer a huge amount of Aeroplan points to Hyatt, as the ratio is 2:1, there’s something to be said for buying half of the points you need for a redemption while they’re on sale, and then transferring the other half from Aeroplan. Listen to the full details on our special podcast episode about the World of Hyatt and Aeroplan partnership.

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy is the most commonly used hotel loyalty program in Canada, so you’ll likely end up with an account sooner rather than later.

It’s worth signing up your immediate family members in advance, since your account must be 90 days old to send points to another account. This matters because the transfers are limited to 100,000 points per calendar year. So, if you want to earn points with two people across a few credit card welcome bonuses, it’s advantageous to get all those points in one account.

Theoretically, you can transfer 200,000 Bonvoy points from one account to another in about 10 days by transferring 100,000 at the end of December and then 100,000 at the start of January.

Any Loyalty Account You May Want to Purchase Points In

Most of the time, to purchase points, you’ll need an account active for at least 30 days. If it’s not an official part of the terms and conditions, you may face an account hold if you create an account and then immediately try to purchase points. 

Some honorable mentions for accounts you should consider opening would be:

Ultimately, if you think you might potentially utilize a frequent flyer or hotel program in the future, it is absolutely worth setting up an account sooner rather than later to avoid any potential issues.

Conclusion

Many loyalty accounts require you to have them open for quite some time in order to avoid misuse of the program. While it’s good to put a stop to abusers, oftentimes it ends in frustration for the everyday consumer. You can avoid that frustration by opening the above accounts for yourself and anyone else in your points universe, so they are aged and ready for use when you might need them.