Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[DilEmma]

Sorry....I know I've asked before about AM car rental. I've finally booked a flight and we are going to WDW mid August. We will probably be staying offsite so a car is needed. I'm going to use my AM to rent the car....I'm not at all concerned about the $ to mile value, I need to keep my OOP cost down. I've searched the AM site and can't seem to find a cancelation policy. Can I cancel and get my AM back or what happens? I want to continue to search for a traditional rental that I would pay for....the taxes on the AM rental are around $100, if I could find a cash rental that wasn't too much more I would go that route and save my miles.

As I recall for car rentals, you get the option to ‘insure’ your reservation to protect the Air Miles in the event of cancellation. To me, that said they were not refundable. That said, I thought the Air Miles car rental deals in Orlando were unbeatable last I booked. I did notice that Air Miles has ‘special offers’ on the first page of results by default (in red IIRC). They didn’t seem to be good value at all.

Costco often has good car rental deals for cash rates.

Edited to add... see bolded bullet five... non-findable... (damn auto-correct)

https://www.airmiles.ca/arrow/TravelAssistanceDetail?selectedCategoryId=cat670036&sectionId=1900068

AIR MILES® Car Program Terms & Conditions - Redemption

• All car rentals offered are subject to the Terms and Conditions of the AIR MILES Reward Program and its participating Sponsors and Suppliers. Car rental availability is subject to change and may be withdrawn without notice. Some restrictions may apply.

• All rentals may be subject to advance booking restrictions and availability.

• One-way rentals can be booked where permitted and subject to availability. Some restrictions may apply. Additional drop-off charges may apply.

• When using AIR MILES reward miles to redeem for a car rental, Collector must pay taxes, fees and other applicable charges in local currency at the car rental pick-up location.

• All Car rental redemptions are non-refundable at time of booking.

• Collector must have sufficient reward miles in their AIR MILES Collector Account to redeem for any car rental.

• The number of reward miles required for redemption is subject to verification at time of booking and is not guaranteed until reservation is confirmed.

• Car rental redemptions must be made online at www.airmiles.ca.

• All travel services are arranged by LoyaltyOne Travel Services Inc., which may impose its own service fees for arranging travel services.

• A booking fee (plus applicable taxes) will apply on all redemption and cash tickets. Handling fees may also apply.

• There are no cancellations or refunds permitted once booked.

• Changes may be permitted, and are subject to a fee (plus applicable taxes).

• Changes may require the redemption of additional AIR MILES reward miles in the event of a change of supplier, location, date (s), car type, or length of rental. Collector will be responsible for and must pay any additional taxes, fees and/or surcharges, local currency at the car rental pick-up location in the event of a change. Any changes are subject to availability.

• The Terms and Conditions of the AIR MILES Reward Program may be more restrictive and may supersede the car rental Sponsor/Supplier Terms and Conditions.

• Travel Insurance is available and highly recommended for reservations. For complete details, please visit the Travel Insurance page

 

[DilEmma]

Wow, 2500 Air Miles for one week Orlando car rental. Economy. And $40 some USD on top of that.
The end of an era I guess. All these changes make me sad.

 

[dancin Disney style]

As I recall for car rentals, you get the option to ‘insure’ your reservation to protect the Air Miles in the event of cancellation. To me, that said they were not refundable. That said, I thought the Air Miles car rental deals in Orlando were unbeatable last I booked. I did notice that Air Miles has ‘special offers’ on the first page of results by default (in red IIRC). They didn’t seem to be good value at all.

Costco often has good car rental deals for cash rates.

Edited to add... see bolded bullet five... non-findable...

https://www.airmiles.ca/arrow/TravelAssistanceDetail?selectedCategoryId=cat670036&sectionId=1900068

AIR MILES® Car Program Terms & Conditions - Redemption

• All car rentals offered are subject to the Terms and Conditions of the AIR MILES Reward Program and its participating Sponsors and Suppliers. Car rental availability is subject to change and may be withdrawn without notice. Some restrictions may apply.

• All rentals may be subject to advance booking restrictions and availability.

• One-way rentals can be booked where permitted and subject to availability. Some restrictions may apply. Additional drop-off charges may apply.

• When using AIR MILES reward miles to redeem for a car rental, Collector must pay taxes, fees and other applicable charges in local currency at the car rental pick-up location.

• All Car rental redemptions are non-refundable at time of booking.

• Collector must have sufficient reward miles in their AIR MILES Collector Account to redeem for any car rental.

• The number of reward miles required for redemption is subject to verification at time of booking and is not guaranteed until reservation is confirmed.

• Car rental redemptions must be made online at www.airmiles.ca.

• All travel services are arranged by LoyaltyOne Travel Services Inc., which may impose its own service fees for arranging travel services.

• A booking fee (plus applicable taxes) will apply on all redemption and cash tickets. Handling fees may also apply.

• There are no cancellations or refunds permitted once booked.

• Changes may be permitted, and are subject to a fee (plus applicable taxes).

• Changes may require the redemption of additional AIR MILES reward miles in the event of a change of supplier, location, date (s), car type, or length of rental. Collector will be responsible for and must pay any additional taxes, fees and/or surcharges, local currency at the car rental pick-up location in the event of a change. Any changes are subject to availability.

• The Terms and Conditions of the AIR MILES Reward Program may be more restrictive and may supersede the car rental Sponsor/Supplier Terms and Conditions.

• Travel Insurance is available and highly recommended for reservations. For complete details, please visit the Travel Insurance page

Thank you!!! I didn't even find the page you included above.

I've actually got much better prices booking on the Alamo site using a Costco code than what the Costco site is showing. It's $244 compared to $303 on the Costco site. The AM for my rental period is 3100. I still have not locked down accommodation and plans but once I do I might be able to reduce the car rental days by 2-3 which will reduce the AM to only 2000.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Glad I don't shop at Rexall... y'all have had some serious struggles for those miles!

Finally all my June shopping trips posted... I have updated my signature and I am feeling excited for the next shopping trip as we have been eating solely from our freezer meals on a dedicated basis before we hit the "too many months of freezer" flavor. Now I have a TON of meal planning to make and freeze, so hopefully I can earn some AM in the process!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Glad I don't shop at Rexall... y'all have had some serious struggles for those miles!

Finally all my June shopping trips posted... I have updated my signature and I am feeling excited for the next shopping trip as we have been eating solely from our freezer meals on a dedicated basis before we hit the "too many months of freezer" flavor. Now I have a TON of meal planning to make and freeze, so hopefully I can earn some AM in the process!

Rexall is usually my gold mine! I will rarely walk out of there with anything less than 2:1 ratio.

Oh yes, the dreaded freezer flavour and texture of all those well-intended planned leftovers We try to avoid ending up with a bunch of unidentifiable frozen blocks but it never fails that when you reach for what you HOPE is the last of the meals you uncover one more fuzzy mystery meal. Luckily hubby will eat just about whatever i toss in his direction

 

[Donald - my hero]

About the insurance that AM offers you for any of your travel bookings ... hotels, flights & car rentals ... I've only ever looked ONCE and the cost they quoted was stupid high!

@dancin Disney style : Using miles for car rentals has always been one of our favourite ways to use our miles because of the way we collect our miles - rarely, if ever, are any purchases driven strictly by the AM potential so we look at things we get as free, and the only cost involved is the tax & booking fees. So if i can find a rental car for less than it would cost outright I'm happy. I've found it takes a bit of playing around with the site to get the best deal, changing dates & times, pick up locations can have a big difference. Go with the understanding that your rental period is 24 hour based on when you actually pick the car up -- NOT when you booked it for. Also look closely at how long you really need the car, and where you're staying plays a roll in that. The last several stays we've found it worth our while to book the cheapest on-site room we can find so we can use MDE to get WDW without worrying about the luggage and then the next day we'll pick up the car and move to our actual accommodations. In your case, even if the rest of your stay is off-site, this will give you free magic bands and one morning of early entry to a park if that's of interest.

 

[damo]

Rexall is usually my gold mine! I will rarely walk out of there with anything less that 2:1 ratio.

Oh yes, the dreaded freezer flavour and texture of all those well-intended planned leftovers We try to avoid ending up with a bunch of unidentifiable frozen blocks but it never fails that when you reach for what you HOPE is the last of the meals you uncover one more fuzzy mystery meal. Luckily hubby will eat just about whatever i toss in his direction

I totally agree. Without Rexall I wouldn't have enough for anything.

 

[DilEmma]

I totally agree. Without Rexall I wouldn't have enough for anything.

Same here. That and Sobeys gift cards. Rexall is certainly the most lucrative.

 

[Days In the Sun]

Speaking of Rexall, 60am wus $40 for today until Thursday, emailed coupon:

http://images.rexall.ca/newsletter/2018/Jul9/July9_COUPON_6040-ONMB.html

Great matchup for our house with 40am/$40 offers, I'm in!

 

[ottawamom]

Thanks for the link. I didn't get one in my email, yet. DH is 700AM away from making ONYX this year (he's such a dedicated AM hunter ). This coupon combined with his L&G will bring him that much closer. I'm still not getting a threshold spend in my L&G.

I agree with others Rexall and Sobeys are my two best AM sponsors.

 

[mab2012]

Hey mab2012, I believe they have been posted. My Offers "Goodwill" 75 miles I see in my account for June 30.

Thanks! Looks like I got my 25, also listed as "Goodwill", which I take mild exception to since it's no more than I was owed. But I didn't have to hound them for it, so I'm happy. Thanks for following up!

 

[Aladora]

Same here. That and Sobeys gift cards. Rexall is certainly the most lucrative.

I wish we had Sobeys out here on the island! I can't remember the last time Thrifty Foods had a gift card deal and I know for sure that whenever it was, the deal was limited to one per collector account!

I've got a S$25, G50AM in my L&G this week but I really don't need anything! I leave for Ottawa Thursday morning so I may pop in to Rexall Wednesday and see.

 

[dancin Disney style]

About the insurance that AM offers you for any of your travel bookings ... hotels, flights & car rentals ... I've only ever looked ONCE and the cost they quoted was stupid high!

@dancin Disney style : Using miles for car rentals has always been one of our favourite ways to use our miles because of the way we collect our miles - rarely, if ever, are any purchases driven strictly by the AM potential so we look at things we get as free, and the only cost involved is the tax & booking fees. So if i can find a rental car for less than it would cost outright I'm happy. I've found it takes a bit of playing around with the site to get the best deal, changing dates & times, pick up locations can have a big difference. Go with the understanding that your rental period is 24 hour based on when you actually pick the car up -- NOT when you booked it for. Also look closely at how long you really need the car, and where you're staying plays a roll in that. The last several stays we've found it worth our while to book the cheapest on-site room we can find so we can use MDE to get WDW without worrying about the luggage and then the next day we'll pick up the car and move to our actual accommodations. In your case, even if the rest of your stay is off-site, this will give you free magic bands and one morning of early entry to a park if that's of interest.

I'm actually getting really frustrated with the accommodation side of things. We are totally happy with value resorts at WDW but the rates have gone so high that it's just stupid. The lowest price room available at the room only discounted rate is $129USD. I have the Springhill Suites in the Marriott Village booked($79/night plus $10 parking) but to be honest I don't really want to stay there. I much prefer more of a resort vibe.


Don't suppose that anyone here has an Interval membership?

 

[Donald - my hero]

I'm actually getting really frustrated with the accommodation side of things. We are totally happy with value resorts at WDW but the rates have gone so high that it's just stupid. The lowest price room available at the room only discounted rate is $129USD. I have the Springhill Suites in the Marriott Village booked($79/night plus $10 parking) but to be honest I don't really want to stay there. I much prefer more of a resort vibe.


Don't suppose that anyone here has an Interval membership?

Since i LOVE planning pretend Disney trips I've plugged in some dates but I'm not 100% sure of your dates -- you mentioned mid-August so i picked August 18th - 25th and found a standard room at Allstars Music for an average of $110 USD -- now if you stayed there you could avoid a car completely unless you have off-site plans & even then you could rent a car for the minimum time you actually NEED the car. Does it work out to less that the off-site option you have booked? No -- looks like it comes in around an extra $250 USD.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Speaking of Rexall, 60am wus $40 for today until Thursday, emailed coupon:

http://images.rexall.ca/newsletter/2018/Jul9/July9_COUPON_6040-ONMB.html

Great matchup for our house with 40am/$40 offers, I'm in!

Thanks for the link. I didn't get one in my email, yet. DH is 700AM away from making ONYX this year (he's such a dedicated AM hunter ). This coupon combined with his L&G will bring him that much closer. I'm still not getting a threshold spend in my L&G.

I agree with others Rexall and Sobeys are my two best AM sponsors.

I've got a S$25, G50AM in my L&G this week but I really don't need anything! I leave for Ottawa Thursday morning so I may pop in to Rexall Wednesday and see.

Love this community! I got the email while i was tidying up the kitchen and immediately checked to see if it had been shared so i could decide if i needed to stop what i was doing to get to an actual keyboard or finish my chores .. DANG had to keep washing the dishes

Our loaded threshold spends are 60AM/$60 on the card i rarely use (not happening) and 50AM/$25 on the main card so I'm probably gonna jump on this one. I need a new mouth guard (all the extra stress related to the current state of affairs is taking a bit of a toll on the Duck who lives in an area of our province that is woefully understaffed for mental health care ) and hubby can always use more anti-stinkies that costs around $25/bottle. Spend $40 get 110 AM is a pretty decent haul. I'm happy that they've extended the length of time that the threshold spends are valid for now, full week on the LnG and full business week on the email is so much easier to catch than the Wed & Thurs we were seeing previously.

 

[hdrolfe]

I have spend $60 get 60 as my threshold spend, but sadly can't afford to spend that much this week. So I'll have to wait and hope for something good this weekend, or maybe next week. I haven't shopped at Rexall in awhile, money has been super tight and I've been shopping at FreshCo for cheaper groceries. I do need some vitamins, and Claritin, and I think a few other things, but not until Friday at the earliest. Oh well! I'm sure something will pop up.

 

[tinkerone]

Mine are spend $60 get 60 and spend $25 get 25. I have to wonder how they come up with these numbers, so random.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Since i LOVE planning pretend Disney trips I've plugged in some dates but I'm not 100% sure of your dates -- you mentioned mid-August so i picked August 18th - 25th and found a standard room at Allstars Music for an average of $110 USD -- now if you stayed there you could avoid a car completely unless you have off-site plans & even then you could rent a car for the minimum time you actually NEED the car. Does it work out to less that the off-site option you have booked? No -- looks like it comes in around an extra $250 USD.

On any normal day I too love to plan other peoples WDW trips. Plan away my friend....we fly in to MCO at 7pm Aug 17th and depart for home on the 27th at 8am. If the last flight of the night on the 26th becomes available at a decent price I'm going to switch and go home then. I would be happy doing only one park day but my DD will probably want 2 or 3. We want to spent a fair bit of time hanging out at a nice pool. We want to do some shopping and go to some of our fav restaurants outside of WDW. The budget needs to be kept as low as possible.....the added exchange rate is such a buzz kill. Whatever I book needs to be refundable/cancel because I've got work issues and if I can't go I don't want to be on the hook for too much. Airfare I will lose but it's pretty low.

 

[kuhltiffany]

We're going August 20 to Sept. 1, have you checked into free dining to see if there is anything left? We got a great deal so are staying onsite with free transfers and no car required...

Sorry....I know I've asked before about AM car rental. I've finally booked a flight and we are going to WDW mid August. We will probably be staying offsite so a car is needed. I'm going to use my AM to rent the car....I'm not at all concerned about the $ to mile value, I need to keep my OOP cost down. I've searched the AM site and can't seem to find a cancelation policy. Can I cancel and get my AM back or what happens? I want to continue to search for a traditional rental that I would pay for....the taxes on the AM rental are around $100, if I could find a cash rental that wasn't too much more I would go that route and save my miles.

 

[dancin Disney style]

We're going August 20 to Sept. 1, have you checked into free dining to see if there is anything left? We got a great deal so are staying onsite with free transfers and no car required...

I did actually price it out but the cost of the minimum required ticket is just too much. We typically only spend about $600 on food and I have several park tickets sitting at home. I would really love to partake in FD again but for us it just doesn't work any more....I miss the days of only having to purchase a 1 day ticket. We did two 14 day trips back in those days....boy that was a bargain. I can recall our total cost for 2 weeks being right around $2000 and that was when we traveled as a family of four.