Air Miles secrets

[smashing]

I notice several people are using Air Miles and/or Aeroplan plan miles for Disney/Universal/sea world tickets. I love this idea but seem to struggle to build my points

What sort of things are you doing to build up enough Air Miles points? I have been collecting forever and haven't redeemed in a few years. I only have 300 points, so I have a LONG way to go! I use it mainly when getting gas at shell. Other places I use it when asked but seldom seem to get points...not reaching the min purchases.

I have enough Areoplan tickets to get half of the family in . I find that easier to build. More Esso gas stations, etc. But Still have a long way to go to build more to get us all in

Thanks!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Well as someone who just cashed in enough for 2 return flights to Orlando, car rental for 2 weeks AND 2 adult 2day park-park tickets to Universal I think i'm fairly qualified to answer this question

Get your credit cards switched to ones that let you collect Airmiles -- our MC and AMEX do this

Shop places where you can "double dip" this means shopping in stores that give Airmiles as rewards AND pay for the purchase with you Airmile credit card! SO when we shop at Metro we get 1 mile for every 20.00 purchase PLUS 1 mile for every 10.00 we charge on our AMEX -- 1 for every 20.00 with our MC.

Watch flyers for "bonus shopping days" For example last weekend we earned over 250 miles at Rexall just for buying vitamins, Imodium (hubby has IBS so we use a lot) and kleenex. We got 100 miles for every 50.00 we spent.

Sign up for e-mails from Metro if you have that as a local grocery store. They ALWAYS have bonus points on stuff EVERY week, AND if you fill out your profile every Friday they will send you personalized coupons for bonus miles based on your previous purchases.

Pay attention to e-mails airmiles sends out regarding specials they offer if you buy products on-line THRU their site --Sears give you airmiles but ONLY if you shop via the Airmiles site.

We have set up our HBC (bay/homeoutfitters) points to be switched to Airmiles.

Following these steps we earned almost 4,500 in the last 12 months, not bad when you figure we didn't change our shopping habits, just the way we pay for stuff. I redeemed just under 9,800 AIrmiles for our upcoming trip -- not bad considering that only took about 2 years eh?

 

[Misha72683]

I don't have an air miles credit card, but I still manage to accumulate a lot of points each month.

Grocery shopping is the big one. I only shop at Metro if it's worth it points wise, but when it is I can cash in on bonus points. A few weeks ago I managed 262 airmiles for $127 worth of groceries. There was a bonus offer of 100 miles for $100 spent, plus I meal-planned around the bonus offers, so almost everything I bought that week gave me air miles.

I use an app on my iPad to let me look through the flyers and I circle all air miles deals (Metro, Michaels, etc.) and then go through them and see if there are any good ones.

When I buy alcohol (not all that often, but more in the summer), I try to buy stuff with bonus miles (I'm in Ontario). I'm not that picky brand wise, though.

I tend to buy my kids clothes at Old Navy or Children's Place, so I can earn miles.

I try to remember to use airmilesshops.ca to get bonus points on online purchases and last week I got double miles at Toys R Us that way.

It takes some work, but I can several hundred airmiles a month, while still sticking to a fairly tight budget. We're hoping to pay for our tickets to Disney this way and we're making serious headway already.

 

[PrincessKimmy]

I agree credit card is the best way to do it.
I am also on the airmiles opinion panel.... not sure how I got selected for that but they send me surveys every few days and I can get between 1-20 miles per survey, even if I don't qualify for a survey, they give me 1 for trying. I get 60-100 miles a month from that.

 

[smashing]

Thanks for the tips!! I admit I hardly ever look at the Metro flyer...guess I need to start paying more attention .

I'm going to dig out my HBC card and see if I can convert the points. I never use it anymore since Zellers closed. That would at least be a way to put those points to use

 

[smashing]

Boo!!! Just went to transfer my HBC points and they zeroed out my points balance in Jan this year . It says for inactivity. I haven't used it since Zellers closed just over a year ago

 

[alohamom]

Boo!!! Just went to transfer my HBC points and they zeroed out my points balance in Jan this year . It says for inactivity. I haven't used it since Zellers closed just over a year ago

Call them, they may re-instate them if you fuss enough, tell them you didnt know they expired etc and that you think it negative association for their company blah blah blah. I had this happen once a few years ago with an airline, I forget which one maybe USAir and they gave them back to me-I was adamant that I didnt know they would expire otherwise I would have used or transferred them (which is actually true)

 

[PensFan]

I agree credit card is the best way to do it.
I am also on the airmiles opinion panel.... not sure how I got selected for that but they send me surveys every few days and I can get between 1-20 miles per survey, even if I don't qualify for a survey, they give me 1 for trying. I get 60-100 miles a month from that.

Same here ... the survays are easy and worst case you dont fit the bill and you still get a few airmiles just for a few clicks!

 

[dancin Disney style]

I accumulate between 3000 - 5000 AM per year. The credit card is the easiest way and there are often deals attached to them. Last summer I got 1200 bonus miles from Amex for spending $900 in one month. As luck would have it the bonus period was while I was on vacation in Florida....so it was super easy to spend $900. I spent $700 just in the mall

Right now if you open a new Amex account you can earn 1500 miles....not sure what the strings are but it's never that hard to do. Usually, something like spend $1000 over a 3 month period. There is a pop up on the Airmiles home page that you can click to link through to the promo. I have the platinum card and the annual fee is only $69.

There are also often promos with BMO that can get you a good chunk of miles. A couple of years ago I opened a savings account with them and had to deposit $10,000. It only had to sit there for 4 months before I got 1500 miles and then I removed my money and closed the account.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I accumulate between 15,000-20,000 a year.

-use a BMO mastercard (1 AM for every $15) and put EVERYTHING on it including automated payments - car/home insurance, child care, food, cell phone, utilities, charity donations, etc
-Safeway - we do many of the bonus offers. Tonight was spend $100 get 150 AM. DH and I both went and we got around 500 AM
-do all your online shopping via the AirMiles toolbar - Amazon, Expedia, etc
-download the AM app and do the monthly check in challenge
-see if any pharmacies in your city give AM - here Safeway pharmacies do
-book travel with Marlin Travel and earn Air Miles
-and the surveys plus Shell. Shell often sends out bonus coupons.

 

[cab0899]

I was going to post an almost identical to post it the one that CdnCarrie posted. We get an average of 25,000/ year. Airmiles pays for the majority of our annual family vacation. We have used it for Florida, Mexico, and Hawaii.

 

[smashing]

Wow, I'm in awe! I was happy at the thought of earning a few hundred a year. Thanks for all the tips to step up my game

 

[Carina]

Not one single safeway left on Vancouver Island, I could cry!

 

[sechelt]

Not one single safeway left on Vancouver Island, I could cry!

Thrifty's is offering Airmiles now too. Still accumulate points but have the option to convert them to airmiles. For every 14 points, you get 1 airmile. There are a few locations on the island.