Airmiles vs. Aeroplan vs. Avion

[mickeywho?]

With all our discussions re these programs I would love to see who uses what for flights etc and how long it tends to take to save up their points.

Whose program do you use the most (to accumulate points/miles)?
Airmiles - 14
Aeroplan - 10
Avion - 6
Other - 1 (First Calgary MC Platinum), 1 (TD Gold Travel Visa)


Whose program have you used for flights?
Airmiles - 4
Airmiles w/WestJet - 2
Aeroplan - 4
Avion - 3
Other - 1 (First Calgary MC Platinum)

How long does it take you to accumulate enough miles?
Airmiles -2 responded little more than 1 flight per year
1 responded 4 tickets every other year
With Airmiles WestJet - less time but must be very flexible
Aeroplan - 1-2 flights per year
Avion - 3 responded few flights a year, 1 responded 1 flight per year
Other - 1 (First Calgary MC Platinum) 2-3 flights per year

Which program will you never use for flights?
Airmiles - 10 responded -too long to accumulate/too many black out dates/fees very high
Aeroplan - 2 responded -too many black out dates "pain in the butt to redeem", have to book very far in advance
Avion - 0
Which one would you be more likely to cash in for gift cards/merchandise/tickets for events etc.?
Airmiles - 8
Aeroplan - 1
Avion - 0

Best experience with a program? Worst experience with a program?


I'll tally everyones answers here. Interested to see how this actually works out! Are any of these programs really worth the trouble and annual fees?

[mickeywho?]

Whose program do you use the most (to accumulate points/miles)?
Airmiles or Aeroplan or Avion

We've used airmiles for years, never aeroplan, and have just signed up for avion with our business account.

Whose program do you use for flights? How long does it take you to accumulate enough miles?
Airmiles or Aeroplan or Avion

Cashed in airmiles 6 years ago for two tickets to orlando - had to purchase our third ticket for that flight. We had two years worth of miles plus a few large purchases (appliances etc. with a new house) that helped it add up to enough miles. Have not cashed in for flights since as it takes too long.


Which program will you never use for flights? Cash in for gift cards/merchandise/tickets for events etc.?
Airmiles or Aeroplan or Avion

We cash in our airmiles now for attractions (ie African Lion Safari) every summer, and this winter we'll have enought for my dh and 2ds base disney tickets.


What are your experiences?

[almacdonald]

We only have airmiles.

Airmiles are super easy to collect, you can earn them for money spent as well as at Safeway, Sportchek, Boston Pizza etc...

Airmiles, however, are not super easy to redeem. We've had nothing but problems trying to get flights. We haven't tried to redeem for items/gift cards yet but it looks like we may end up doing that since we can't book a flight - EVER!

[bbangel]

We collect AirMiles. The fastest way to get points is the bonus times at places like Safeway. My mom also has the WestJet credit card, which means we need fewer AirMiles to fly on WJ. My mom has done a LA/Mexico cruise. We went to Anaheim for a week in April (flight, hotel and park tickets) and we are going to Florida (flight only) soon. You have to be a little flexible on your dates, but we've never had a problem booking travel.

[SplashMom]

We use Airmiles. We have aeroplan but have never accummulated enough miles to do much. We use airmiles at the grocery store, pharmacy, restaurants, etc. and they accumulate quite quickly. We are flying to Orlando in April (4 tickets) and we have enough for 4 more tickets. We also have the Mastercard so we fly with only 1400 miles on Westjet. As someone else said, we had no problem getting tickets but you must be flexible with your dates. :thumbsup2

[MikeyNS]

We use all 3. We primarily use Avion points to fly on AC to earn Aeroplan points. Airmiles I find quite useless since I can't get any decent tickets out of them, even at almost a year out! Avion has been WONDEFUL and love the option of any airline. I usually pick AC since I can earn Aeroplan points. ;) We just cashed in some aeroplan points for our most recent flight.. 2 executive class tickets which was a good experience other than AC changing our flight times so we had a 4 hour layover in TO. Luckily I like the Maple Leaf Lounges. ;)

We charge everything to our Avion card. Gives us a few flights each year and we pay it off every month so we don't get dinged with interest.

[drag n' fly]

We use all three except ours is not an Avion. We use the First Calgary Mastercard Platinum points program. It is the same as Avion as the points have a cash value and credit towards any booking. We can get 2-3 flights per year on that. It is by far the easiest as it is simply cash credit. The only drawback to our plan is that you cannot collect more than 100,000 points in one year.

[jeffd101]

We never have enough Airmiles for flights (I did try last year, found our flights blacked out, so redeemed for my DD's park ticket). Same with Aeroplan, so we redeemed those points for my DS's park ticket.

We use the Avion exclusively for our everyday purchases, and usually accumulate enough points for 1-1/2 to 2 flights per year. Like Mikey, we avoid interest by paying off the balance monthly.

[marty Jay]

We use Avion. love that you can choose to go at anytime or with any airline. Only draw back is the maximum ticket price. We are going on one of the Med cruises next summer with Disney, and my plan is to convert the Avion points to British Airway points. British Airways has no max on their ticket price, and being part of the "One Member Group", will allow us to fly from Vancouver to Paris, and fly back to Vancouver from Orlando, using American Airlines after having cruised back from Europe. All with only 50,000 points per person. Not a bad deal I thought.

Marty Jay

[Fellowship9798]

My replies:

Whose program do you use the most (to accumulate points/miles)?
Aeroplan

Whose program have you used for flights?
Airmiles & Aeroplan
but not really satisfied with the results of either. If I would have to give a preference I would go with Aeroplan but I was not pleased with the customer service at all.

How long does it take you to accumulate enough miles?
Aeroplan - about 1.5-2 flights per year, but I travel to China for work multiple times a year so the points add up quickly from that.

Which program will you never use for flights?
Airmiles - Much better redeeming Airmiles for merchandise rewards.

[iluvwesties]

I collect Airmiles :sunny:

I have redeemed Airmiles for at least 5 flights to Florida (for 4 of us) over the last 10 years :thumbsup2

I usually have enough miles to cash in every other year :cheer2:

I also have an Aeroplan card, but have yet to redeem anything.
I had 2000+ aeroplan miles on it and then they expired! :rolleyes:
So now I only have 64 miles! :confused3

Never tried the Avion card :crazy:

iluvwesties aka Carol :wave2:

[Best_Vacation_EVER!]

We collect Airmiles but have only used them for flights once -- we mostly just get merchandise with them. Airmiles are so easy to collect that we've actually got quite a few things with them. When we order items they usually arrive within about a week to 10 days.

When we fly I usually like to go online beforehand and figure out which flights I want (time of day, non-stop versus connecting, city they connect in, etc....) and then call to see if they are available. A lot of times there just isn't availability using Airmiles on the flights we'd prefer --- although I guess if you can book well in advance you'll have better luck getting better flights.

[tone.def]

Whose program do you use the most (to accumulate points/miles)?
I'v had an airmiles card sincce '96 or '97 or something like that.
I just got Aeroplan this year because I realized you could collect points with Bell and Esso too, so I figured it was worth a shot and just last month I upgraded my Visa to RBC Avion.

Whose program have you used for flights?
None. I tried to use Air Miles about 4 years ago to go to B.C. when I had an unexpected week off and there was hassles with black out dates/flight availability, etc.... I just said to the customer service rep "okay, do me a favour and send me grocery gift certificates redeeming my air miles instead please." So I ate 'free' for about 5 months and the money I saved by not buying food paid my way to B.C. and back.

How long does it take you to accumulate enough miles?
Takes me about 1 year to get 1500 air miles, not enought to fly somewhere oce a year... I'll let have to see with avion and Aeroplan...

Which program will you never use for flights?
Airmiles - I'll never try again.

Best experience with a program? Worst experience with a program?
I've become quite used to eating once a year for free... especially before Chrstmas. Around this time of year I cash in Air Miles for Dominion gift certificates and then I buy presents with the money I'm not feeding myself with...

[tone.def]

Ironically, CBC online has an "indepth" feature about travel reward cards:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/loyalty-programs/

[princess pooh]

We've had an Avion card for two years and I'm really happy with it. We put everything on there and pay it off every month. So far we've gotten two flights and two nights at the Chateau lake Louise :cheer2:

I've been accumulating Aeroplan miles since I was a kid but they are a pain in the butt to redeem :rolleyes:

[F4disneyfan]

With all our discussions re these programs I would love to see who uses what for flights etc and how long it tends to take to save up their points.

Whose program do you use the most (to accumulate points/miles)?
Airmiles - 10
Aeroplan - 8
Avion - 5
Other - 1 (First Calgary MC Platinum)

Whose program have you used for flights?
Airmiles - 3
Airmiles w/WestJet - 2
Aeroplan - 2
Avion - 3
Other - 1 (First Calgary MC Platinum)

How long does it take you to accumulate enough miles?
Airmiles -1 responded little more than 1 flight per year
1 responded 4 tickets every other year
With Airmiles WestJet - less time but must be very flexible
Aeroplan - 2 flights per year
Avion - 2 responded few flights a year, 1 responded 1 flight per year
Other - 1 (First Calgary MC Platinum) 2-3 flights per year

Which program will you never use for flights?
Airmiles - 7 responded -too long to accumulate/too many black out dates
Aeroplan - 2 responded -too many black out dates "pain in the butt to redeem"
Avion - 0
Cash in for gift cards/merchandise/tickets for events etc.?
Airmiles - 7
Aeroplan - 1
Avion - 0

Best experience with a program? Worst experience with a program?


I'll tally everyones answers here. Interested to see how this actually works out! Are any of these programs really worth the trouble and annual fees?

Well we don't fly but if we did I would use my TD Gold Travel points I can fly with any carrier out of any airport so I could use the points to get tickets via SWA out of Buffalo or Detroit or anyplace for that matter. I really think the no blackouts and no specific airline deal works great with the Gold Travel Visa from TD. I can also use the points for passes and hotels and car rentals and cruises etc.

[CanadaMel]

We use Airmiles to get the gate passes (got for WDW and Seaworld this time), and Aeroplan for the flights. Airmiles is a rip off for flights because they charge so much. They call it "taxes", but it's really taxes plus fees. I compared the same taxes Airmiles vs Aeroplan and Aeroplan was about $100 per ticket LESS!! So, we get into the parks for free instead. We collect Aeroplan by flights (hubbie travels on business) and Amex (Membership rewards points for both personal and corporate cards are combined and can be put into Aeroplan). My complaint about Aeroplan is that you have to book pretty far ahead. However they are changing their rules (it was in the news yesterday) so we'll see if it gets better or worse. Hopefully they won't increase the points levels.

Mel

[NARM Forever]

[QUOTE=mickeywho?]

How long does it take you to accumulate enough miles?
Airmiles -1 responded little more than 1 flight per year
1 responded 4 tickets every other year
With Airmiles WestJet - less time but must be very flexible
Aeroplan - 2 flights per year
Avion - 2 responded few flights a year, 1 responded 1 flight per year
Other - 1 (First Calgary MC Platinum) 2-3 flights per year

Which program will you never use for flights?
Airmiles - 7 responded -too long to accumulate/too many black out dates
Aeroplan - 2 responded -too many black out dates "pain in the butt to redeem"
Avion - 0
Cash in for gift cards/merchandise/tickets for events etc.?
Airmiles - 7
Aeroplan - 1
Avion - 0

QUOTE]

We have Airmiles and Aeroplan. The Airmile plan is not worth talking about, its sooooooooo low. We have used Aeroplan for flights within Canada, bringing a relative from the UK and flights to WDW :thumbsup2 . We accumulate enough miles for at least 1 flight per year, and I've been saving my miles to use Xmas time next year to take my DM to WDW. Hopefully, booking 12 months in advance will mean that we get availability. I still haven't decided with the fees if its as good a deal to buy flights or just hotels for weekend trips (no tax, no admin charge). Looking forward to seeing the results of this.

[Demon Llama]

I've got Avion and Airmiles (Westjet Mosaik MC too). While I have enough Airmiles for two flights down to Orlando, I've yet to actually be able to redeem them. They sure make redeeming points difficult.

Avion is AWESOME. I've had the card for a couple of years and already have 4 flights on it. Sometimes they offer specials where if you apply for or upgrade your existing card to the Avion, you get 10,000 bonus points and another 5,000 upon first renewal. That's actually their current offer. You only need 30,000 for a round-trip to Orlando.

I keep my card as an RBC Classic II card so I don't have to pay the high annual fee. You can convert your Classic II points to Avion points if you upgrade.

Then when they offer the bonus points, I upgrade my card. Then I switch it back again. That's my trick for accumulating points super fast :smooth:

[calgarygary]

I use airmiles. I have redeemed for 7 flights to Orlando in the past year and I'm already back up to 2 flights. I have experienced some unique challenges in booking. Last year I couldn't book our 5 flights out of Calgary but was told by airmiles that they had 5 seats available out of Edmonton to Orlando. I said great, book me. The flights connected out of Calgary! I then called Westjet to see if I had to be on the Edmonton portion and they said no just show up in Calgary and get off there on the return. This year I had to extend our trip by a day for the return flight but I was trying to travel on Labour Day.

[Lizziejane]

I think I'm the lone person in Canada who is happy with Aeroplan miles! I have a CIBC aeroplan card and put everything on there (paying it off each month). I also travel a lot for work, and usually fly Air Canada, so it makes sense to collect as many miles as possible under one plan. I have to rent cars when I travel too, and Avis has a tie-in with Air Canada, so I get to rack up the miles pretty easily.

I can see how it might be a pain in the butt to redeem the miles for some people, but it's kind of hard to believe that I've just been lucky every time I go to book. In a 12 month period, I've booked 2 flights within Canada (only 3-4 weeks out); 2 seats to Vegas (had to book about 6 months out); and our big "score" was 4 seats to Orlando in January (booked that back in June).

Right now I rack up 75,000 to 100,000 miles per year. When my work travel cuts back, I will likely switch to Avion, as it won't make sense then to be obligated to one carrier only.

[shaycamp21]

We use Avion and we had enough points (30 000) last year to redeem and get one ticket (that's the catch even though 4 of us could fly for $750 on SW we could only redeem it for one ticket up to a $750 value). What we did to get around this loophole was to book the most expensive flight we could find on SW (I think it was a flight to Vegas around New Years) using our Avion points and then cancelled the flight and SW gave us a credit for the amount, which we were able to use to purchase roundtrip tickets for four of us out of Buffalo to Orlando. We now have accumulated enough points again so are looking forward to another free flight.

[Fellowship9798]

We use Avion and we had enough points (30 000) last year to redeem and get one ticket (that's the catch even though 4 of us could fly for $750 on SW we could only redeem it for one ticket up to a $750 value). What we did to get around this loophole was to book the most expensive flight we could find on SW (I think it was a flight to Vegas around New Years) using our Avion points and then cancelled the flight and SW gave us a credit for the amount, which we were able to use to purchase roundtrip tickets for four of us out of Buffalo to Orlando. We now have accumulated enough points again so are looking forward to another free flight.

Wow, very clever. I like it!

(I hate short, one line posts like I just wrote but just had to comment on the creative thinking)

[mkmommy]

I have had good luck with Aeroplan. I just got back from Hawaii and I booked an Aeroplan flight only 4 months before I wanted to go, and I got the exact days I wanted. I guess it depends when you want to travel.

[nflder]

We use Aeroplan Each of our three trips to Orlando have been on Aeroplan points (3 tickets the first time/2 tics 2nd time/3 tics 3rd time). We usually accumulate enough points for 1 flight per year each. We also book about 10-12 months out to try to get the best flights but sometimes even that doesn't work for us. My only real complaint about aeroplan is that you can't book online when you are using two aeroplan numbers. You have to call aeroplan and then get charged an additional $30 per ticket.

[tmli]

This has been very informative as Bf and I are trying to decide about rewards programs etc and the best way to use points.

One thing that I am confused about is the taxes/fees charged when redeeming points for flights. So to further compare....what are the costs associated with exchanging reward points for a flight? If any.

[jeffd101]

This has been very informative as Bf and I are trying to decide about rewards programs etc and the best way to use points.

One thing that I am confused about is the taxes/fees charged when redeeming points for flights. So to further compare....what are the costs associated with exchanging reward points for a flight? If any.

I'm not sure how the Airmiles and Aeroplan charges work, but with our Avion redemption this past spring our bill was for the full flight charges less the quoted "bare bones' flight cost. So, in our case, a full fare all-in ticket was $459 - base fare was $360 - so we paid $99.

HTH!

[FayeW]

I am forced to collect aeroplan as that is the incentive offered through one of our suppliers at work. I have accumulated 24000 miles since May, so I should be able to get a free trip for the 4 of us within a couple of years. I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, but I really hate this program. They had a great incentive program that they scrapped in favour of this, and I'm still bitter.

[nflder]

This has been very informative as Bf and I are trying to decide about rewards programs etc and the best way to use points.

One thing that I am confused about is the taxes/fees charged when redeeming points for flights. So to further compare....what are the costs associated with exchanging reward points for a flight? If any.
For our flights we had to pay airport taxes for each of the airports we were going to be landing in, fuel surcharge, security surcharge and going into the states charge. It totalled $122 per ticket.

[tmli]

thank you both for the info. That is in line with what I would have expected.

[bev r.]

We've been collecting Aeroplan points since 1998. Since then we have redeemed for tickets 4 times.
Twice to Florida (5 tickets)
1 time to Norway (4 tickets)
1 time to England (4 tickets)

We also collect airmiles, but collect slowly on this. I might have enough points for 1 short haul flight, for 2 people.

[nflder_in_ottawa]

Hi everyone,

I have had a CIBC Visa for quite some time and I was thinking about moving to the Aeroplan Visa - but I've been reading good things about the Avion card... are there any drawbacks to the Avion that haven't been mentioned?

I'd like to keep it to one card, and now seems like the time to make the choice. Any suggestions?

[F4disneyfan]

Airmiles was a joke so we used our miles to get some memory cards for our oldest daughters digital camera wenow use our TD Gold Travel Visa for everything. We have used it for our hotel stay for our 5 year old daughters hockey tournament in Burlington in March and we have hotels booked for our drive in Dec to Disney. We have enough miles to fly the 2 of us down in Dec but I decided driving would be more fun so we are driving. Our GTV has been nothing short of stellar for us and we can use it for anything travel related even rental cars etc.

[PreciousSadies]

I started collecting airmiles about 14 years ago. We also have aeroplan, too.
The last 5 years, or whenever the westjet mastercard, I switched to westjet airmiles where I get 1 mile for every $15 spent. Huge Difference! Before switching. We redeemed 1 flight to Calgary to Salt Lake City via airmiles. Now having gold west jet. We flew 4 From Calgary to Orlando, no problems getting flights! (cash in the difference towards 2 other flights...we are here now! YAHOO!). A year ago, flew to Calgary to Vancouver, 1 flight.
Summer of 2005, flew 6 to Calgary to LA, (to Disneyland) within 2 weeks prior to going, no problems getting 6 free flights!!
March 2004, flew 4 to Calgary, to Orlando!

Aeroplan, redeem 2 flights to Calgary to Phoenix. BUT, it was such a hassle to get a flight, and then once we did the crazy connections we had to put up with!...we had to go to Denver, to Phoenix, and then onthe way back, Phoenix, to San Fran, to Van,to Calgary....Now have enough for 2 flights to Hawaii...or elsewhere still collecting as DH travels...

[PreciousSadies]

Remember the westjet airmiles are only good for where westjet flys. I only needed 1400 or 1600 airmiles depending on the non/peak season to Orlando!
And I don't put everything on my mastercard, and have done fairly well.

[mamatojade]

We collect Airmiles and also recommend the gold Mosaik Mastercard that gives 1 miles for $15. I put everything on it and so far this year I have already earned enough miles on it to get one ticket on WestJet anywhere in North America.

[Momrow]

Hi everyone,

I have had a CIBC Visa for quite some time and I was thinking about moving to the Aeroplan Visa - but I've been reading good things about the Avion card... are there any drawbacks to the Avion that haven't been mentioned?

I'd like to keep it to one card, and now seems like the time to make the choice. Any suggestions?

If you travel for business on Air Canada, I would get he Aeroplan Visa, as you'd be getting points on both. If not, I've heard lots of good things about the Avion, I would go for that.

[BraMax]

I have both Airmiles and Aeroplan reward programs. I use my Airmiles more so because it is more common where I shop and such. I've never used mine for flights but I used it Nov '05 for ticketes into DL and then this past Feb I used my points for our admission into Seaworld. Now I'm saving them for our trip to WDW next Feb.

[mbb]

Great thread:goodvibes

Primarily, we use CIBC Visa Gold to collect Aeroplan..

I'll use our points for trips planned well in advance - generally 2 on points, 2 cash, or for flying out west to visit family.

We do use our Airmiles card to collect points...but still not enough to redeem WDW tix!! LOL!

...but y'all have me convinced to stop in at our RBC Branch for some Avion info:teeth:

:sunny:

[nelljay1973]

Just so that everyone is well informed..CIBC also has a travel reward card...Aventura...think Avion but for CIBC!

[BraMax]

I forgot to say we use our AMEX to get our Airmiles. We use it for most big purchases:banana:

[murcor]

avion sounds tempting. Currently I have aeroplan, have had it for maybe 15years and each year it seems more difficult to book good flights. for the past few years we have learned that you have to book a year in advance to get the seats to orlando or you are out of luck.

I accumulate most points with the cibc aerogold. 1 pt for each $1 spent. We put everything on it, groceries, resp, insurance, utilities.....everything. (just make sure you pay it off each month)

We have done:

2 economy Boston
2 business class to Alberta
4 economy to Alberta
4 economy to orlando x 2 trips
5 ecocomy to orlando x 1 trip

[F4disneyfan]

avion sounds tempting. Currently I have aeroplan, have had it for maybe 15years and each year it seems more difficult to book good flights. for the past few years we have learned that you have to book a year in advance to get the seats to orlando or you are out of luck.

I accumulate most points with the cibc aerogold. 1 pt for each $1 spent. We put everything on it, groceries, resp, insurance, utilities.....everything. (just make sure you pay it off each month)

We have done:

2 economy Boston
2 business class to Alberta
4 economy to Alberta
4 economy to orlando x 2 trips
5 ecocomy to orlando x 1 trip

If Avion sounds good you should look into the TD gold travel I looed into both cards before deciding and I went with the TD GTV it served our purpose much better and I like how the rewards work and how easy it is to redeem them for anything including flights on any carrier out of any airoport no black out dates.

[mkmommy]

Is there any fees to book the travel with the Avion Card, or just the taxes. I was going to use PC points to book a flight but there was a $25 fee per ticket, so I just paid for the flight with my credit card and used the points for free groceries.

I also have an Aerogold visa and find it it is good if you are going to book only 1 flight (did Hawaii 3 months prior no problem), but had a really hard time trying to get 2 flights to BC and pay for a 3rd 9 months out.

[calliemom]

We travel to Orlando using our Aeroplan points (25,000 p/p per ticket).
It takes us about a year to accumulate these points but have enjoyed traveling free for 3 years in a row!

[wakica]

We will be redeaming Airmiles for our next trip to WDW in October. Didn't have much trouble booking the seats b/c we were really on the ball and called in as SOON as WestJet had their times listed. Hope it's just as easy when it comes to going.
As far as other gifts with Airmiles, we've never had any trouble getting things. We've gotten many items and park passes for places across Canada.

I'm very happy with them.

[lisaviolet]

We use Avion and we had enough points (30 000) last year to redeem and get one ticket (that's the catch even though 4 of us could fly for $750 on SW we could only redeem it for one ticket up to a $750 value). What we did to get around this loophole was to book the most expensive flight we could find on SW (I think it was a flight to Vegas around New Years) using our Avion points and then cancelled the flight and SW gave us a credit for the amount, which we were able to use to purchase roundtrip tickets for four of us out of Buffalo to Orlando. We now have accumulated enough points again so are looking forward to another free flight.

Too clever. Boy, does this post bring a smile to my face. I think I'll be rethinking my aeroplan card. Thanks so much for being so brilliant and sharing shaycamp21.

[edhardy]

airmiles is bad, apparently airmiles has decided to make people, in 2009, who are not a Gold collector, wait even longer to have there calls answers. That is fact. Gold collectors get to come first, even if a non-gold collector called in way before the Gold collector. Unfair isn't it??

I should know, I work there. If you want to have your say, it is better to write to us, or fax, as oppose to call, we can't doing anything at the call centre, but if they read your personal letters and emails, they will listen. Makes you wonder if airmiles has the power to do that what do you think their employees are going through?? Let me tell you, HELL all for a billion dollars

Mailing Address :
AIR MILES Customer Care, PO Box 130, Station B,
Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2T3

Fax :
(416) 733-3965