Aeroplan was recently awarded the acquisition innovation award at Global Flight’s annual FFP Conference in Istanbul. The program was singled out for the honor for its creative recruitment campaign in the retail sector, which helped the program’s administrator gain greater access to a valuable market segment — in this case, the infrequent leisure traveler. And the honor was bestowed because the program enrolled nearly 300,000 new members in one year through distributing “ghost cards” enabling new members to begin collecting miles immediately with a partner retail purchase. Good news for Aeroplan, but not such good news for longtime Aeroplan members who feel that their frequent flyer program is now just another retail loyalty program.