Recently, The Globe and Mail interviewed Kevin O’Brien, Aeroplan’s chief commercial officer, and the following is one question and answer.

Question: “Why is it so hard to actually use the points you have to book the flights?”

Answer: “There’s somewhat of a false perception that a bunch of [Aeroplan] seats get loaded [added to the pool of available seats] 365 days ahead of the travel date, and that’s the availability for the ClassicFlight inventory we get from Air Canada. The reality is that these seats get loaded throughout the course of the year. There are often a number of seats that get loaded within the last month before a travel date. If someone checks 200 days out and there isn’t anything, it doesn’t mean there is never anything. It just means they might have hit that window where stuff hasn’t been loaded yet. There’s definitely a benefit if you keep checking back.”