What’s the deal with Air Miles and why your parents have been doing it wrong all along
And how to do it right… By not flying with Air Miles.
It seems like almost every parent in the country owns an Air Miles collector card; Most oblige and present their blue and white collector cards whenever asked for at the gas station, liquor store and supermarket. However, after years and years they seem to only be able to redeem for the odd toaster or microwave, contrary to the name of the program :“Air Miles”. This is without mentioning the ridiculous lack of availability when booking with Air Miles.
The truth is, unless you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars there, you’ll almost never collect enough for a vacation. Competitor loyalty programs such as Aeroplan and RBC’s Avion program, boast much more availability and flexibility with booking and provide a plethora of value in comparison.
So… How can Air Miles provide value?
The answer is… Cash Miles! The Air Miles program has two redemption options available: Dream Miles and Cash Miles. Dream Miles are used for flight purchases and vacation packages, whereas Cash Miles works similar to cash ; By using 95 cash miles, you can reduce your bill at any participating retailer by $10. By earning your Air Miles as Cash Miles, you can take advantage of everyday savings at the grocery store and gas stations (Which can eventually amount to a plane ticket), and won’t need to worry about flight availability and saving up a bunch of Dream Miles for the purpose. In order to accumulate Air Miles as Cash Miles, you’d need to log onto their website and change your preferences there.
Why does it take forever to collect Air Miles?
Unfortunately, spending lots of money at Air Miles affiliated retailers is often not the best way to collect Miles; Generally when you swipe your Air Miles card at a retailer, you earn 1 Air Mile per $20 spent. Assuming the 95 Cash Miles / $10 ratio, you get a return of 0.5%. This is why nobody seems to be able to redeem anything of value for Air Miles; For $500 in value, you would literally need to swipe your card for $100,000 in purchases!
How do I collect more Cash Miles?
The quickest way to rack up Cash Miles are twofold:
- Signup bonuses for Air Miles Credit Cards (BMO, AMEX)
- Participating in Air Miles events (Shop the Block, Mega Miles, etc)
Credit card bonuses such as the BMO Air Miles World Elite and the American Express Air Miles Platinum cards have signup bonuses of 3,000/2,000 Air Miles after spending $3,000/$1,500 respectively. BMO generally offers a first year fee waiver on the Air Miles card and GCR offers a generous rebate on the American Express Card. After spending on these two cards, you would have about 5,500 Cash Miles, which would equate to roughly $580. I personally use most of my Cash Miles at the gas station, as it’s a compulsory expense.
For individuals who are more diligent, completing offers during Air Miles events also provides a lot of value. The requirements for these events are simple: Complete offers at several of their partner retailers and be awarded handsomely with a sum of Air Miles. In the Shop the Block event that happened in late 2018, seven offers had to be completed. Despite it sounding difficult, some of these events require no money or effort at all! Offers at Shell and Metro stated only a 25L gas fill up and spending 95 Cash Miles at the supermarket, and others included completing a 15 minute survey or buying certain inexpensive items. After completing the 7 offers, collectors were awarded $210, or 2,000 Air Miles for their efforts. During these events, I usually shop with my parents and complete each offer multiple times on each of our cards. Although this may take an afternoon, collecting 6,000 Air Miles, or $630 for 3 people is a pretty good payday.
Conclusion
For me, Cash Miles is just a way to supplement my everyday spending, primarily through saving in gas money. There are other programs that will grant much better value when saving up for a plane ticket, but months of gas expenses can be written off with just a few credit card applications and an afternoon of time in completing Air Miles challenges whenever they occur. Happy hunting!
