Talk about missing the point...

Don't spank the consumer for ignoring the impending deadline for points expiry, or blame the provider for poor PR, this is a breach of contract issue.

No, the company has no right to change the terms, as if it were giving something for nothing, therefore the plan's benefits are not wholly discretionary.

AirMiles gets valuable purchase history, today's most sought after advertiser goal, as witnessed by the crazy social media valuations where ad revenue props the share prices. Data mining is golden, and so AirMiles makes a contract with the client in exchange for travel & reward bonuses.

It's bad enough that the provider has raked in totally undeserved profits by counting on never having to redeem a high percentage of the AirMiles granted. Allowing expiry means they get to crystallize those unearned profits. And now they complain that eliminating the deadline means revenue loss, and therefore redemption values must be lowered to offset.