Protecting your privacy

The AIR MILES^® Reward Program (or the “Program”) is a loyalty reward program owned and operated by AIR MILES Loyalty Inc. and its affiliates ("AIR MILES"). At the Program, we focus on rewarding Canadians every day.

When Collectors of the Program (“Collectors” or “you”) transact with Partners and Suppliers and participate in the Program, they can receive AIR MILES^® Reward Miles (“Miles”), offers, and other benefits. 

Any reference to AIR MILES includes our affiliates such as BMO Financial Group.

Partners are businesses and organizations that give Collectors Miles or benefits, or both. Examples may include retail stores that issue Miles, a service provider that offers an exclusive offer, or a consumer packaged goods manufacturer that provides coupons or samples.

Suppliers are businesses that provide the Program with products and services that help make it work, like reward fulfillment (by companies also referred to as rewards Partners), marketing, promotions, data processing, analytics, data storage, or research.

By participating in the Program, you understand and acknowledge that we and our affiliates collect, use and disclose your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy.

The Program’s Privacy Office is led by the Chief Privacy Officer, who is responsible for the establishment of the Program’s privacy management program, including policies and practices for collecting, using, disclosing, and protecting Personal Information, and responding to requests for Personal Information.

The Program’s Data Governance Office is responsible for the implementation and management of policies, practices, and procedures for collecting, using, and disclosing Personal Information, including data usage and controls. 

The Program’s Information Security Team is responsible for the implementation and management of technological, physical and organizational safeguards that protect Personal Information.

We collect your Personal Information so that you can participate in the Program and benefit from all that we, our affiliates, our Partners, and our Suppliers have to offer. Personal Information is information about an identifiable individual (“Personal Information”).

The purposes for which we collect Personal Information include:

  i.         Administering and operating the Program

Examples of administering the Program include:        

• Processing your enrollment in the Program
• Managing and updating your Collector account to accurately reflect Program activities in your Collector account, including the Miles you have collected and the rewards and benefits you have received
• Marketing, managing, processing and fulfilling Collector reward redemptions and benefits
• Detecting and suppressing fraud within and related to the Program

ii.        Enabling Collectors to participate in marketing and promotional opportunities

Examples of marketing and promotional opportunities that are available to Collectors from time to time include:

• Online and offline marketing, advertising, and promotional activities of products and services that may be of interest to you, including those of our affiliates and third parties we select
• Contests
• Events

iii.       Communicating administrative information to Collectors

Examples of communicating information and offers to Collectors include:

• Confirming reward orders
• Sending administrative notifications
• Responding to inquiries made via telephone, chat, email, SMS/text or direct mail

iv.       Delivering marketing and promotional content about products, services, rewards, and offers to Collectors on behalf of the Program, its affiliates, its Partners, its Suppliers, and third parties we select.

Examples of how marketing and promotional content is delivered to Collectors include through:

• Email
• SMS or text messages
• Promotional updates during an inbound call to the Customer Care Centre
• Banner or interstitial notifications on the Program’s websites or the AIR MILES App
• Social media and advertising platform advertisements, for example, advertisements on Facebook or Google

v.        Analyzing and developing insights from (i) a Collector’s participation in the Program, (ii) transactions with Partners, affiliates and Suppliers, and/or (iii) a Collector’s digital interaction with the Program, its Partners, its affiliates and its Suppliers 

Examples of how the Program analyzes and develops insights include:

• Conducting market research to understand the needs, preferences, interests of Collectors and the development of tailored offers, products, services, programs, and events to meet those needs, interests and preferences
• Measuring the effectiveness of marketing and promotional content presented to Collectors on behalf of the Program, its Partners, its affiliates and its Suppliers
• Improving offline and digital experiences based on how Collectors interact with the Program, including through online and app activity. For more information, please see our Interest-Based Marketing and Advertising Policy. Specific terms apply when you use the Program’s websites, including airmiles.ca and airmilesshops.ca, and the AIR MILES App.

The Program obtains your consent to use your Personal Information for participation in the Program and for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.  When you enroll in the Program, we obtain your consent to use your Personal Information for the purposes described in the Privacy Policy. Information about this is also found in our Terms & Conditions. The amount and the type of Personal Information we collect is limited to what is necessary to fulfill the purposes of the Program and this Privacy Policy. We will obtain your consent before we use your Personal Information for any new purpose.

What happens if I want to withdraw my consent?

• Withdrawing your consent for the Program to use or disclose any of your Personal Information for marketing and promotional communications entirely or through a specific channel, like email, does not affect your ability to get Miles or benefits, or redeem Miles for rewards or other benefits. It may impact the kind of marketing communications you receive, the channels that the Program uses to communicate with you, and offers that may be made available to you.
• Withdrawing your consent from the Program to use or disclose any of your Personal Information for any purpose whatsoever means that you will not be able to participate in the Program, including getting Miles and redeeming Miles for rewards and benefits. If you choose to withdraw your consent for the Program to use any of your Personal Information for any purpose whatsoever, you can:
  • use your Miles for rewards or benefits before withdrawing your consent;
  • donate your Miles to one of the charitable organizations that the Program supports; or
  • transfer your Miles to another Collector in accordance with the Terms & Conditions of the Program.

To withdraw consent for the use of your Personal Information for marketing , you can email the Privacy Office, call the Program’s Customer Care Centre (1-888-AIR-MILES) or chat online with a Customer Care Specialist.

You can withdraw your consent for the use of your Personal Information for certain purposes; however, if you withdraw consent to use your Personal Information for all purposes, you will not be able to participate in the Program.

• To opt-out of marketing emails, you can unsubscribe from a marketing email you have received or you can contact us
• To opt-out of direct mail, please contact us
• To opt-out of digital interest-based advertising, please see our Interest-Based Marketing and Advertising Policy
• To withdraw from the Program completely or to delete your account, please contact us

To change your contact information, please log-in to your Collector account to update your profile. If you are concerned that your Personal Information held by us is inaccurate, please contact us. If your concern is not resolved, please contact the Privacy Office.

If you withdraw your consent, there may be a short time between the withdrawal of your consent and when the change takes effect as a result of internal operational processes.

Both the amount and the type of your Personal Information that is collected is limited to what is necessary to fulfill the purposes of the Program that are identified in this Privacy Policy. Examples of instances where we collect Personal Information from you and the kind of information we collect include:

• When you enroll in the Program
  • When you enroll in the Program, we collect information that you provide when completing the enrollment form, like first name, last name, date of birth, email address, address, city, province and postal code.
• When you make a purchase from, receive a benefit from, or use the services of a Partner and use your Collector card or number
  • When you make a purchase, receive a benefit from, or use the services of a Partners and you use your Collector card or number, we may collect information about the transaction, including the transaction date and time, the products and/or services purchased, and number of Miles earned. This type of information is also generated by your use of airmilesshops.ca, and may include information about your purchases.
• When you use Miles
  • When you use your Miles, we collect information about the reward you have selected. In some cases, we collect address and contact information required for fulfillment, and any other information required to fulfil the redemption.
• When you interact with the Program, its Partners, its affiliates or its Suppliers in person, online, in Apps, or through other electronic or digital Program features
  • We collect information when you interact with our websites, the AIR MILES App, emails from us and our Partners, our social media accounts and online ads, and through the use of tracking technology. Tracking technology includes cookies, beacons, pixels and the use of Data Management Platforms (DMPs). The information collected from these sources allows us to better understand how you interact with the Program online and on the AIR MILES App. Examples of information collected includes the date and time of your visits, the devices you use while browsing, content you have viewed, and, if applicable, transactions you complete.
  • If you use the AIR MILES App and your geolocation settings are on, we collect geolocation data from your device. You can change the geolocation settings on your device; however, certain personalized features of the AIR MILES App may no longer work.
  • Specific terms apply when you use the Program’s websites, including airmiles.ca, airmilesshops.ca, microsites created by or for the Program, and the AIR MILES App.
  • For more information, please see our Interest-Based Marketing and Advertising Policy.
• When you provide your Personal Information to a Partner or a Supplier in connection with the Program
• When you call our Customer Care Centre or chat online with a Customer Care Specialist
  • When you contact us with a comment, question or concern through telephone or chat, you may be asked for information that identifies you, such as your name, Collector number, and date of birth, along with any additional information we need to help us promptly answer your question, respond to your comment, or resolve your concern.
• When you complete an optional survey sponsored by the Program, a Partner, an affiliate or a Supplier
• When you participate in marketing and promotional activities, opportunities and events.
  • An example of participating in a promotional opportunity includes entering a contest that is sponsored by the Program by completing and submitting the information required in the contest entry form.

We use your Personal Information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. This includes:

• the use of your Personal Information in combination with other information collected from affiliates, Partners and Suppliers. For example, by understanding which goods and services you purchase from Partners, we are better able to personalize offers for goods and services that may be of interest to you.
• The use and sharing of your personal information to improve our Program and provide you with relevant offers through analytics, and to serve you advertisements. For example, we may share your hashed email address with social media providers to make relevant offers to you on their platforms.

We do not use or disclose your Personal Information for purposes other than those for which it is collected without your consent, except as set out below or as required or permitted by law.

We retain your Personal Information only for as long as it is needed to fulfil the Program’s purposes or as otherwise required to meet legal or business requirements.

We do not disclose, rent or sell Collector Personal Information to any organization or individual other than the Program and its affiliates, or Partners and Suppliers of the Program, to fulfill the Program’s specified purposes, or as otherwise set out in this Privacy Policy. Collectors should consult the privacy policies of Partners directly for information on how Partners collect, use, and disclose Personal Information and transactional information. A Collector’s specific transaction information from one Partner is not disclosed to another Partner with any of the Collector’s Personal Information.

We may transfer any Personal Information we have about you as an asset in connection with a proposed or completed merger, acquisition or sale (including transfers made as part of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings) involving all or part of AIR MILES Loyalty Inc. or as part of a corporate reorganization or other change in corporate control.

We and our Suppliers are primarily based in Canada and the US. From time to time, there may be circumstances where your Personal Information could be processed or stored outside of your home province or Canada. For example, a Supplier may have a support function that is operated in another province or country, or a Supplier may move its support function to another province or country. Safeguards and technical measures are applied in these circumstances.

We have contracts in place holding these Suppliers to the same standards of confidentiality by which we are governed. There may also be legal reasons that Personal Information is disclosed to law enforcement or other organizations.

Your Personal Information may be provided by us or a Supplier in response to a search warrant to other legally valid inquiry or order, or to another organization for the purposes of investigating a breach of an agreement or contravention of law or detecting, suppressing or preventing fraud, or as otherwise may be required or permitted by applicable Canadian, U.S. or other law or legal process, which may include lawful access by US or foreign courts, law enforcement or other government authorities. Your Personal Information may also be disclosed where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims and to investigate or prevent actual or suspected loss or harm to persons or property.