Airmiles Armchair Chatter

I completed 3 partners for the Round-up contest. That's all I'm going to do and only because these were purchases I was going to do anyways.

1) Foodland: $200 gift card
2) Sobey's: $200 gift carde
3) Shell: $50 Amazon gift card

The three items we needed from Amazon put me just over $50 but there's no way I wanted to spend another $50. Ebates is offering 6% cash-back which is better than AM's 2 base miles so I went through Ebates Canada.
 


A question for those that got invited to the Shell GO+ this year - do you have any idea how many AM you actually earned last year at Shell to get the invite? i didn't start really collecting till September last year, so I was out for this year for sure, just wondering if I'll have any shot at it next year! So far my spreadsheet tells me I've gotten 1230AM at shell.
No idea how many I earned in total but I know it was over 1000. I bought a large number of gift cards that earned me 1000 miles but then there were however many I earned from gas and instore purchases.
 
I'm doing a AM's survey right now and they are looking at changing flight AM's. Here's something I find interesting....

The AIR MILES Reward Program is considering updating the way in which Flight Rewards are offered to Collectors. Please read the description below and answer the questions that follow. If you do not currently collect Dream Miles (which are used for flight redemptions), we are still interested in your opinion.

How it works:

  • The number of Dream Miles needed for a flight will reflect what is available in the market directly with airlines
  • 10 Dream Miles = $1
  • You will have access to all available seats, including all fare classes (e.g. economy, business class, etc.), on most airlines
  • The AIR MILES Reward Program will provide additional savings through frequent seat sales (on top of any seat sales offered directly from airlines)

Terms & Conditions

  • Flight Rewards will be available to redeem using Dream Miles, but you have the option of purchasing Dream Miles if you do not have enough for your redemption.
  • Taxes and fees will be paid separately using any credit card
 
More questions from the survey pertained to how I would feel if they took the discounts that gold and onyx get away. If it would change my opinion of AM's.....ummm yes! They asked if it would be a benefit to use AM's to book seat selection, pay for luggage or pay taxes but the way they worded it it sounded like that question was just to appease for the fact they were changing the program. Time will tell and I'm sure it will be a while before anything like this happens.
 


Fellow Onyx Collectors...

You may remember last year me asking for help in purchasing tickets for the Festival of Wines here in Halifax. The 2 tickets were 1 mile, with collectors allowed to make 2 purchases.

The show tickets are going to be on sale starting this Friday morning at 10am. If you could log onto the air miles website around that time, I would really appreciate if you could try to get tickets for me again this year for the Friday and Saturday night shows (7pm).

I was able to take a few friends last year, give some to my folks, etc and everyone had a great time.

Thank you!
 
I'm doing a AM's survey right now and they are looking at changing flight AM's. Here's something I find interesting....

The AIR MILES Reward Program is considering updating the way in which Flight Rewards are offered to Collectors. Please read the description below and answer the questions that follow. If you do not currently collect Dream Miles (which are used for flight redemptions), we are still interested in your opinion.

How it works:

  • The number of Dream Miles needed for a flight will reflect what is available in the market directly with airlines
  • 10 Dream Miles = $1
  • You will have access to all available seats, including all fare classes (e.g. economy, business class, etc.), on most airlines
  • The AIR MILES Reward Program will provide additional savings through frequent seat sales (on top of any seat sales offered directly from airlines)

Terms & Conditions

  • Flight Rewards will be available to redeem using Dream Miles, but you have the option of purchasing Dream Miles if you do not have enough for your redemption.
  • Taxes and fees will be paid separately using any credit card
I don't know exactly how I feel about these potential changes.

One of the reasons I like to use Airmiles for flights is that I am able to save money over booking direct with the airline. I get a discount with the CC I have and I am often able to find a "deal" on flights.

If they go to market rates I don't know why I would bother to use the AM for flights. (Why tie up all those funds with the AM program and then pay market rates) I could just shop the sales (for groceries etc) and put the cash aside then pay market rates with the airlines directly and get points with them for future travel.

This might be a game changer for me with the Airmiles program. Given the drought we find ourselves enduring I might need to change the way I shop and save for travel. Recently I have been saving cash miles and using them towards groceries, then transferring the cash saved to my travel account. This might be an easier thing to do in the long run if they are going to mess with things. If they make things too difficult (collecting and redeeming) I may just shop elsewhere (non Airmiles stores) and manually put my savings aside for travel.
 
You could check with Onyx shopper and see if they can quote on the Supershuttle??
,
That never crossed my mind and I will certainly check into that. Thank you!
Hi All. Needing some assistance please with Airmiles as well as ideas on options. I neglected to read the fine print on using Westjet dollars for flights. Hadn’t realized that you can’t use them for taxes and fees, and now find myself looking for ways to make up a $550 out of pocket when I was banking on an entire itinerary being covered with WJ$. It throws my whole budget off and I refuse to proceed with booking until I can “feel better” about the out of pocket expense.

The plan was Disneyland this Sept (already have Halloween party tickets) and I was using my AM to redeem for park tickets. My initial thought was to use the leftover AM on my account to redeem for WJ travel vouchers though I don’t see them offered. Live chat said the same. I’m Onyx, so maybe I’ll send an email tomorrow for a final answer unless any of you know for sure. My excess AM are in dream, and I don’t have any in cash right now.

I use the PC Optimum points system as well and have cleared my account for Disney GC’s to cover our food and souvenirs for the 6 day trip. Our out of pocket was going to be the hotel and transportation only. For reasons I won’t explain, the $550 places us to question going at all. It’s not our first trip but the family time is very much needed.

Of course I prefer to have the cash prior to the trip, though I would certainly entertain any ideas that would help to pay off the credit card debt soon after. The only other option I see for savings is to reduce the trip by one day, which I estimate will save $325. We’ve done a trip in 5 days before and can definitely make it work this time too.

Thanks in advance. Any and all replies to my plea are welcomed.

For anyone curious, I did end up booking our Disneyland trip yesterday. After my initial post, I listed and sold two large items and “made” $400 in 24 hours. With that quick cash and shaving a day off, I felt much better. Hopefully a couple of the other items sell soon and I’ll be able to pay my flight tax and fees of $550 in no time. Very excited to be “going home” :banana:. Thank you to those with suggestions and words of support. I appreciate it.
 
A question for those that got invited to the Shell GO+ this year - do you have any idea how many AM you actually earned last year at Shell to get the invite? i didn't start really collecting till September last year, so I was out for this year for sure, just wondering if I'll have any shot at it next year! So far my spreadsheet tells me I've gotten 1230AM at shell.

I'd say maybe 1200-1500 airmiles, I was surprised I was one of their "top" customers. I wasn't buying an excessive amount of gift cards (when gas stations started the no credit cards to buy gift cards during the GTA promotion last year in May, I stopped buying and haven't bought since) but I was also getting monthly 100 airmiles gas offers which I was using. The year before likely more though due to gift cards.

Since Shell GO+, I haven't received any monthly Shell offers, 2 go+ offers were for V-Power that I don't use and one was 25 airmiles during my birthday month with one fillup. The one day offer coming up this week I will use. So far I was way ahead last year not being GO+.
 
Wow on the survey regarding flights. It would definately push me to use my airmiles for things other than flights if their redemption is going to be that low/based on market rates. I get why it benefits them though...
I do wonder if this is the direction they plan to go with all rewards (that ratio of dollars to miles) In a way it make it easier since all rewards would have the same "value". Just will lose on some of the discounted flights etc that make using airmiles for certain things more worth it.
 
Thought i should post SOMETHING or I'll get kicked out of my own thread for truancy 🤪 I'm slowly working thru a very restrictive elimination diet, made it all the way up to 7 safe foods (and that's only because I'm counting milk butter and cheese as 3 separate items!) and I'm exhausted & overwhelmed by the process. Doesn't leave me much head space to do more than read thru the posts and comment if someone else hasn't already answered -- THANKS to everyone for stepping up and helping each other out.

A few things i wanted to comment on:
The ticket exchange to AP, all i can say is wow, just WOW! A lot of drama that might come back to bite someone else who tries to do something similar and isn't able to find a CM who's willing to let them combine multiple tickets and apply them to whatever upgrade they want to accomplish!! I would hate to find out that someone has cashed in a truck load of Airmiles to get several tickets and then get told no, they don't combine :(

Shell? I haven't got the foggiest idea what the deal is, but we don't get gas there and only go in when they have a promo/coupon that needs to be used. You would think that would be a good time for them to throw an offer in my direction to encourage me? Guess they didn't think to ask me did they :P

Possible changes to the redemption process? Oh COME ON! Don't mess with my head like that, already messy inside there! But let me see, what happens if i try to book a hypothetical flight for our dates in January

  • Direct from the Westjet site it would cost 278 + 139.55 in taxes & fees AND minus 20.45 for a code i have total cost of 397.10 Using the math the survey provided that would be 2780 miles plus taxes (and i wouldn't get my discount)
  • Currently on the AM site those same flights would be 2380 miles and 141.40 in taxes & fees
SO based on the above, they'll be charging more than currently offered flights. And remove my ONYX discount on merchandise???? Uhm how about a big fat NO!

It's flyer eve, fingers crossed there's something good. OH yeah, and if it's Blue Friday I better have my e-voucher by then!!!
 
Thought i should post SOMETHING or I'll get kicked out of my own thread for truancy 🤪 I'm slowly working thru a very restrictive elimination diet, made it all the way up to 7 safe foods (and that's only because I'm counting milk butter and cheese as 3 separate items!) and I'm exhausted & overwhelmed by the process. Doesn't leave me much head space to do more than read thru the posts and comment if someone else hasn't already answered -- THANKS to everyone for stepping up and helping each other out.

A few things i wanted to comment on:
The ticket exchange to AP, all i can say is wow, just WOW! A lot of drama that might come back to bite someone else who tries to do something similar and isn't able to find a CM who's willing to let them combine multiple tickets and apply them to whatever upgrade they want to accomplish!! I would hate to find out that someone has cashed in a truck load of Airmiles to get several tickets and then get told no, they don't combine :(

Shell? I haven't got the foggiest idea what the deal is, but we don't get gas there and only go in when they have a promo/coupon that needs to be used. You would think that would be a good time for them to throw an offer in my direction to encourage me? Guess they didn't think to ask me did they :P

Possible changes to the redemption process? Oh COME ON! Don't mess with my head like that, already messy inside there! But let me see, what happens if i try to book a hypothetical flight for our dates in January

  • Direct from the Westjet site it would cost 278 + 139.55 in taxes & fees AND minus 20.45 for a code i have total cost of 397.10 Using the math the survey provided that would be 2780 miles plus taxes (and i wouldn't get my discount)
  • Currently on the AM site those same flights would be 2380 miles and 141.40 in taxes & fees
SO based on the above, they'll be charging more than currently offered flights. And remove my ONYX discount on merchandise???? Uhm how about a big fat NO!

It's flyer eve, fingers crossed there's something good. OH yeah, and if it's Blue Friday I better have my e-voucher by then!!!

I really hate when these programs revamp the entire thing only so they can give you less value but hope no one does the math to figure it out. Not in favor of this kind of change.
 
Here's hoping, if it is Blue Friday this week, that there are some good dairy deals for you Jacqueline. I would love a Blue Friday that doesn't contain a lot of frozen food. :worship:

I hope Airmiles surveys their "engaged" collectors more before they make any major change to the way the rewards are handled.
 
New I assume?

3day flex 4650 airmiles
5day flex 5900 airmiles
7day flex 6050 airmiles
Expiry December 31, 2019 (I was surprised).
I imagine these ones are worth full value that is posted on Disney's website. The 4750 7day flex tickets are also still in stock, December 31, 2019 expiry.

425510
 
New I assume?

3day flex 4650 airmiles
5day flex 5900 airmiles
7day flex 6050 airmiles
Expiry December 31, 2019 (I was surprised).
I imagine these ones are worth full value that is posted on Disney's website. The 4750 7day flex tickets are also still in stock, December 31, 2019 expiry.

View attachment 425510
YES....3 day tickets are back!!!!! Much better for us. Two trips in a row we wasted the 5th day and only used the 4th because we didn't want to waste 2 days. One of those 4th days was used for about 3 hours and the other one we used to get into Epcot just to eat.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top