Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[ottawamom]

I was wondering how that whole issue was getting resolved. Keep us up to date with the progress. I've given up even trying to get AM from some sources that haven't automatically come through (BMO, Shell to name two). Your case is definitely worth pursuing. Keep at it. You go girl!

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I finally made it into a Safeway today and got out as soon as I could... $135.80 spent, 246 AM earned...

 

[bababear_50]

I was going to go and do this offer one more time but then I thought better of it. I was only going to go and get 5 of the items (100AM). While the drive would be good for the car I'm holding out hope for a "Blue Week" next flyer (we had a Blue Friday Jan 17, 2020).

This is what I love about you Airmiles spreadsheet collectors,,, you know just when the specials are coming up!!
Thanks Hon
Hugs
Mel

 

[tinkerone]

Not AM related but I know there are going to be few on here interested in this.

Disney's Magical Express, Extra Magic Hours to be Discontinued (wdwinfo.com)

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I actually only like taking it from the airport. Having to add X amount of time going TO the airport to pick up other resort guests doesn't appeal to me. We just grab and cab or transportation service (Tony Hinds).

 

[dancin Disney style]

So today keeps getting better. I’m off work again, DD just found out that her convocation in April is definitely canceled and now no more DME. What more could happen ?

I’m actually not that upset about DME. We have used it many, many times happily but I’m happier to rent a car and get around on my own time. The real downside I see is all the parking fees will add up to a hefty sum.

 

[AngelDisney]

To feel better for not having DME, I will plan to go to the dark side for the Harry Potter land first then go to WDW. I usually only take it for the return trip back to MCO as I always visit USF first. However, I still hope that the service will come back as crowds pick up and the economy improves. There are less and less perks to stay onsite and that doesn’t sit right with me!

 

[AngelDisney]

So today keeps getting better. I’m off work again, DD just found out that her convocation in April is definitely canceled and now no more DME. What more could happen ?

I’m actually not that upset about DME. We have used it many, many times happily but I’m happier to rent a car and get around on my own time. The real downside I see is all the parking fees will add up to a hefty sum.

Maybe I can think about renting a car and driving. Do hotel guests get free parking?

 

[Donald - my hero]

I don't want to get involved in the threads that are talking about the removal of DME, I don't have much reserve at the moment BUT here's my thoughts because they are AM related and you're my peeps!

We never had the advantage of our bags magically appearing in our room because we always take the last flight out of Pearson and even before they stopped the 24hr pickup we still wanted access to our stuff as soon as we got to the resort. We did like the fact that we rarely had more than 5 other couples on the bus FROM the airport for the same reason. We HATED taking the danged thing back to MCO for a couple of reasons - we have always ended up being the last resort the bus stops at and several times didn't get to sit together, the last flight out of MCO is several hours after any other Westjet flights and we would often be stuck standing in line to check in for eons waiting for staff to appear. The biggest plus once they added the perk (started in 2005) was not needing to bring the car back to MCO, always seemed to be a huge hassle.

OK, here's the AM related part: The year we stayed at the Dolphin (one of our best trips BTW, booked on Cyber Monday and paid about $1500 all in for a full week) we rented a car for 1 day to get to the hotel and 1 day to get back. Rentals are for a 24 hr period, doesn't matter when you pick it up and you can drop it off and/or pick it up at either the Dolphin (great for us) or the Car Care Centre or any other rental place for that matter. It was CHEAP, like crazy cheap in both miles & taxes, from the airport was something like $7 US and around 700 miles, thought it was a great use of miles.

ETA, just looking now for a current rate to give as an idea and apparently

We’re always working to provide better experiences to you in the future. As a result of work needed to upgrade and improve our offerings, our online car rental reservation tool will be temporarily unavailable. During this time, AIR MILES® Collectors will be unable to use Dream Miles towards new car rental bookings online.

 

[hdrolfe]

I am disappointed about the ME, but I can use AM to book Universal resorts... which makes them "free" and I can use the saved money for transfers/uber/lyft. Or rent a car, which makes me nervous. I do hope to go back to Disney still but perhaps not as soon as I once did. They are chipping away at things, and delays in Tron. Yup, we love coasters! So perhaps time to try Universal instead. We ate at Swan or Dolphin once and it was big and looked really nice, can also use AM to stay there... not sure about getting to/from parks but the money saved on a room would probably pay for a few uber/lyfts. I guess I do still need some AM earnings!

 

[Donald - my hero]

To feel better for not having DME, I will plan to go to the dark side for the Harry Potter land first then go to WDW. I usually only take it for the return trip back to MCO as I always visit USF first. However, I still hope that the service will come back as crowds pick up and the economy improves. There are less and less perks to stay onsite and that doesn’t sit right with me!

Maybe I can think about renting a car and driving. Do hotel guests get free parking?

I highly doubt they'll bring it back, the added cost for them has got to be high, and once it's gone they rarely bring stuff like that back.

Yes, if you are staying on site and have a car you will pay at the resort BUT you get free parking at the PARKS (and other resorts if you have dining reservation *usually*)

OH and the "early entry" to parks?? Uhm yeah that's a big fat You've got to be KIDDING ME RIGHT? It's only 30 minutes?!?!?! Even post COVID I've seen reports of people still doing "rope drop" what good is 30 minutes? And as someone mentioned, do they still let everyone onto Main Street an hour before??

 

[dancin Disney style]

I don't want to get involved in the threads that are talking about the removal of DME, I don't have much reserve at the moment BUT here's my thoughts because they are AM related and you're my peeps!

We never had the advantage of our bags magically appearing in our room because we always take the last flight out of Pearson and even before they stopped the 24hr pickup we still wanted access to our stuff as soon as we got to the resort. We did like the fact that we rarely had more than 5 other couples on the bus FROM the airport for the same reason. We HATED taking the danged thing back to MCO for a couple of reasons - we have always ended up being the last resort the bus stops at and several times didn't get to sit together, the last flight out of MCO is several hours after any other Westjet flights and we would often be stuck standing in line to check in for eons waiting for staff to appear. The biggest plus once they added the perk (started in 2005) was not needing to bring the car back to MCO, always seemed to be a huge hassle.

OK, here's the AM related part: The year we stayed at the Dolphin (one of our best trips BTW, booked on Cyber Monday and paid about $1500 all in for a full week) we rented a car for 1 day to get to the hotel and 1 day to get back. Rentals are for a 24 hr period, doesn't matter when you pick it up and you can drop it off and/or pick it up at either the Dolphin (great for us) or the Car Care Centre or any other rental place for that matter. It was CHEAP, like crazy cheap in both miles & taxes, from the airport was something like $7 US and around 700 miles, thought it was a great use of miles.

ETA, just looking now for a current rate to give as an idea and apparently

We’re always working to provide better experiences to you in the future. As a result of work needed to upgrade and improve our offerings, our online car rental reservation tool will be temporarily unavailable. During this time, AIR MILES® Collectors will be unable to use Dream Miles towards new car rental bookings online.

We stopped using the baggage service a while back after a few so-so experiences and then 1 really bad experience. I can't remember the exact timeline but our bags disappeared for something like 8 hours. and all I got was conflicting info as to what was happening. So after that I decided I would never again let them deliver my bags unless my flight arrived at MCO no later than 3pm.

I have not seen any talk yet about RAC but that I would really be disappointed if that disappeared. I think about 6 years ago we started flying home on the last flight of the night....usually after 9pm. We would check our bags at RAC around 7am and head off to MK for the day. LOL.....I remember doing this one time and it was the coldest day I've ever experienced in FL. I think it was around 4-5 C at 7am and only went up to around 10 or 12....we were not dressed for it.

 

[bababear_50]

"My offers' account has a
have a buy 3 recyclable bags get 10 Airmiles.
Other than that not much in the way of things I need or usually buy, they seem to be pushing the *compliments * products.

Hugs
Mel

 

[tinkerone]

I have not seen any talk yet about RAC but that I would really be disappointed if that disappeared. I think about 6 years ago we started flying home on the last flight of the night....usually after 9pm. We would check our bags at RAC around 7am and head off to MK for the day. LOL.....I remember doing this one time and it was the coldest day I've ever experienced in FL. I think it was around 4-5 C at 7am and only went up to around 10 or 12....we were not dressed for it.

This is only my thought so grain of salt and all that but they stopped collecting the luggage for airport to hotel a few months ago. I would be really surprised if they still collected it to go hotel to airport. Again, just a thought. I'm not holding my breath.

Over the last few years we have been doing one night at WDW from the airport just so they would take care of our luggage and we could spend the day/night at Disney Springs. Next morning we would Uber to Universal.
Cost for Uber from Pop to Universal has ranged from $14.72 to $27.15 depending on the size of car we order. Cost from Universal to airport has ranged from $27.01 to$33.22. The cost from airport to WDW would be higher as WDW is further. That can add up for a family. We have never taken Uber from the airport, not sure where the pick up would be.

My thoughts are that something will come up. If not a free service than a pay service like what they offer for DCL. There is no way they won't loss some business because of this. I would think that the DVC people will be annoyed, not like they can just say oh well, we just won't go back. There sales may suffer just from this, it's another perk taken away.

Our next trip is planned for 2022, it's for DGS 5th birthday celebration. We have DCL booked already and I had thought that 4 or 5 days in WDW first would be nice. Now I just have to rethink that one. The logistics of getting 7 people and luggage from the airport to resort seems overwhelming at the moment. Maybe a limo service? Since thousands of people each day will need to get alternate transportation to, those services may be hard to get. I don't know, time will tell.

Anyways, lets all get AM hunting so we can then worry about how we can't use them, lol. Have a good day everyone.

 

[bababear_50]

Luggage:
I switched to picking my own luggage up after a luggage pick up at AKV and finding someone had spilt a coffee all over my luggage. It was not a nice way to start a holiday ,but concierge services did have my stuff cleaned for me.
I also now only travel with a carryon. Well I do have a BIG Mickey canvas bag for shopping/souvenirs.


Hugs
Mel

 

[dancin Disney style]

Sobeys flyer.....Max-A-Miles week
Sobeys (ON, select areas) January 14-20 (smartcanucks.ca)

 

[hdrolfe]

if I was closer to Sobeys I might go pick up a few things, but I don't want to go that far, so I'll just do a Walmart pick up this week and be sad about no airmiles. I think I'm going to have a hard time this year! I currently have enough AM for a couple hotel nights, we'll see when I can use them lol. I don't think I'll be using them for flights until things have calmed down a lot more. Between Rexall leaving and Sobeys moving from my neighbourhood, this year is going to be a lot slower than last year! What to do... switch to full on PC points? Earn nothing with Walmart? Continue with Metro and feel like I'm spending too much to earn too little? I guess I'll just be happy I can get something for my everyday spending.

 

[AngelDisney]

if I was closer to Sobeys I might go pick up a few things, but I don't want to go that far, so I'll just do a Walmart pick up this week and be sad about no airmiles. I think I'm going to have a hard time this year! I currently have enough AM for a couple hotel nights, we'll see when I can use them lol. I don't think I'll be using them for flights until things have calmed down a lot more. Between Rexall leaving and Sobeys moving from my neighbourhood, this year is going to be a lot slower than last year! What to do... switch to full on PC points? Earn nothing with Walmart? Continue with Metro and feel like I'm spending too much to earn too little? I guess I'll just be happy I can get something for my everyday spending.

Walmart is an Airmilesshop partner now if you can order online.

 

[hdrolfe]

Walmart is an Airmilesshop partner now if you can order online.

Yes, but they won't give AM on groceries unfortunately.

 

[marchingstar]

if I was closer to Sobeys I might go pick up a few things, but I don't want to go that far, so I'll just do a Walmart pick up this week and be sad about no airmiles. I think I'm going to have a hard time this year! I currently have enough AM for a couple hotel nights, we'll see when I can use them lol. I don't think I'll be using them for flights until things have calmed down a lot more. Between Rexall leaving and Sobeys moving from my neighbourhood, this year is going to be a lot slower than last year! What to do... switch to full on PC points? Earn nothing with Walmart? Continue with Metro and feel like I'm spending too much to earn too little? I guess I'll just be happy I can get something for my everyday spending.

how are your grocery bills right now? do you save money shopping at walmart?

you could always play the shell game with yourself—set up a “rewards” account and transfer a little each shop that’s sort of what you’d get in miles or what you’re saving?

especially since you said you’re hoping to move this year, i would just leave the air miles account because maybe it’ll start building again after you move