Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[hdrolfe]

I use Dream miles but when there is a big promotion I will switch to Cash miles so I can participate in that. I save up for flights, hotels, movie passes, I got a cute suitcase, there is other stuff too, I'm just not sure what I want next

 

[ottawamom]

My card (s) are set exclusively to Dream. I just switched them to Cash yesterday to collect 300AM in Cash for the upcoming November promotion. There is usually one or two offers of spend 95 Cash miles get X AM and it counts as one coupon used. I will switch back to 100% Dream as soon as I have enough Cash to take advantage of these potential offers.

When you switch over you do it today (say) and it will switch at 3am tomorrow. This is important because if you were to shop today those AM would go to Dream. AM earned tomorrow would go to Cash. Similarly, there is the delay when you switch back.

Some people here use the Cash miles to collect Starbucks e-cards and the like. This helps to offset food costs at Disney as your Starbucks card can be used there.

You don't need to wait to use up what you currently have. Think of the two different "Miles" accounts as two bank accounts. You put some into one and then some more into the other.

The only thing I would caution you to do is to make sure you "Lock" your cash account if you are going to do any serious collecting of Cash miles. Anyone with your card can redeem Cash miles at a sponsor if your account is unlocked. If you have data on your cell phone this Lock/unlock can be done on the app at the store.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Mark us down as another 100% dream miles family except when we need some cash miles for the big promos. Currently one account has enough for 2 redemptions of 95 miles and the other will have the same after my trip to rexall tomorrow. Once the Shop the Block promo becomes active (typically mid November) and I can see how many coupons are set for that I decide if I need more or not. Until the breach in the system you could redeem cash miles for anything, including gift cards but now that isn't possible unless you toss in a gift card with a grocery order and tell yourself that your miles paid for gift card not the groceries.

We've used our miles for flights, hotel stays, rental cars, tickets for Disney, the aquarium and movies and some merchandise - love my sound bar under the tv and Max the mighty mixer is helping me save a ton on our groceries since we no longer buy any bread products or cookies.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

In terms of uses of Cash miles, when I have a trip coming up, I will use those for my groceries and then take that money I would have spent and I put in my trip saving account. It's like free money for me. I do the same with PC Plus points too. But I always top up my Dream miles first for passes, flights, hotels. Once I have enough saved for those things, THEN I switch over to Cash miles.

 

[ottawamom]

ilovetotravel1977, did your AM show up for the Loaded items that were/weren't loaded (Sobeys). I called about mine they said they sent them along and I haven't seen them yet (as usual). It's 8AM so I'll write it off. One of these days I'll make a huge stink about it (likely when it's 3AM and I'm really upset about something else completely unrelated).

 

[tinkerone]

Help.. lol I’ve always gotten dream miles and used for stocking stuffers zoo passes, movie passes, Calgary stampede passes etc..

Looks like most of you here use cash rewards?? Am I right? Why?

How does this help your Disney trips bc gift cards can’t be bought ? Correct

Help Convince me lol would I need to use what I already have then change?

Thanks . You guys are the best

I like to have a good supply on hand of the cash miles for offers that come along. One example of this is an offer I received recently where if I redeemed 95 AM's at Shell they gave me 20 AM each time I used this offer. It was unlimited per day so I would stop the fill at $10 then do another $10 then another. It was a really good deal. I did this 12 times in the few weeks it was a available so 240 free AM's. The money it would have cost me to do this, $120, I put into my travel account as I would have paid it OOP anyways. Big bonus which I would not have been able to take advantage of if I didn't have a good supply in my cash account. Right now I have 2079 AM sitting there and when that gets low I will switch back to cash miles and build it back up. Its very easy to change your settings.

 

[Disney Addicted]

I'm another who has her Air Miles set to Dreams. When the kids were younger we redeemed them for attraction tickets (African Lion Safari, Ontario Place, movie passes, etc). Then I started saving for a trip and used them for a cruise. My last redemption was in November - a gaming desktop for our son. Now I have enough for 4 Universal Studio and 4 Blue Man Group tickets. I'm just waiting for the expiry date to go past August.

My husband's card is also set to Dreams. Saving up for another desktop, this time for me.

After Universal and a computer, we'll start saving up again. My husband has wanted to go to Ireland for years. I'm hoping after a couple of years of saving he and I can go ourselves.

 

[Disney Addicted]

Earlier this morning while I was entering all my daily contests, I "won" a 5X airmilesshop good for today. I feel like I'm wasting it as there is nothing I need to purchase.

There's a couple of scrapbooking templates I'd like to get on Etsy, only they won't add up to $20. Hmm... I can't figure out what to do with it.

 

[BLAZEY]

Help.. lol I’ve always gotten dream miles and used for stocking stuffers zoo passes, movie passes, Calgary stampede passes etc..

Looks like most of you here use cash rewards?? Am I right? Why?

How does this help your Disney trips bc gift cards can’t be bought ? Correct

Help Convince me lol would I need to use what I already have then change?

Thanks . You guys are the best

Right now I have about 50/50. I have recently switched to 100% dream miles as I have enough for some Starbucks e-giftcards but I am saving for Universal Hollywood tickets for our upcoming trip to California. When I get enough for my tickets and order them, I will switch back to cash as I can redeem those much faster. I haven't used air miles for flights since 2000, when 2 plane tickets cost about 100 for all taxes and fees which is much cheaper than paying cash. Been using them for Disney Tickets since plus starbucks cards for treats in the airport or inside Disney.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

ilovetotravel1977, did your AM show up for the Loaded items that were/weren't loaded (Sobeys).

Yes, I got them.

 

[CanadianKrista]

My planned Rexall trip this morning was derailed by a flat tire. Hopefully I can get there this afternoon.

I only have 95 cash miles I got from some promotion - I am 100% dream, should I flip over for a bit to get some more? How likely is it I will need them for shop the block?

 

[Donald - my hero]

My planned Rexall trip this morning was derailed by a flat tire. Hopefully I can get there this afternoon.

I only have 95 cash miles I got from some promotion - I am 100% dream, should I flip over for a bit to get some more? How likely is it I will need them for shop the block?

I can say it's almost guaranteed that there will be at least 3 coupons for cash miles .. Rexall, Sobey's and Metro typically have one and most times Foodland does as well. Rexall is usually the best way to get them easily since they post 24 hours later, even on the weekends. Switch your account over the day before you plan to shop since it changes at 3 a.m. and then once they post you can switch it back. If you wait for others to post you might get caught short.

When I get home I'll check the past promos and see what the usual number of coupons has been

 

[Disney Addicted]

Did anyone get their 55 "Excellent to be Onyx" air miles?

My husband received his "Gold Gets Your More" on Oct 14 at an incorrect amount, which was fixed with a phone call. But I have yet to see my 55 Onyx miles.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

If I earn miles today from Sobeys, when will they post? I typically shop on Saturdays and then get them on Wed/Thurs of the following week. I just need to get a bunch more miles for October so I can meet my earning threshold of 400 miles (to earn 200 bonus miles).

 

[hdrolfe]

If I earn miles today from Sobeys, when will they post? I typically shop on Saturdays and then get them on Wed/Thurs of the following week. I just need to get a bunch more miles for October so I can meet my earning threshold of 400 miles (to earn 200 bonus miles).

Sobeys post once a week, so whenever you would get them for Saturday is when you'd get them on Friday. But Sunday would be a week later. Does that make sense?

 

[marchingstar]

i’m 100% dream too. I have a couple hundred cash miles for the promotion reason everyone’s describing, but otherwise I’m building up my dream miles as much as possible.

In the past I’ve primarily used miles for theme park tickets. A couple years ago, right before Disney went to tickets with expiry dates, there were discounted canadian tickets. I would have to go back and confirm but I believe a pair of 7-day adult base tickets cost 6500 dream miles. I bought as many sets as I could and still have some waiting to be used. my latest goal is a cruise, which will be paid for with dream miles.

 

[juniorbugman]

Did anyone get their 55 "Excellent to be Onyx" air miles?

My husband received his "Gold Gets Your More" on Oct 14 at an incorrect amount, which was fixed with a phone call. But I have yet to see my 55 Onyx miles.

No and when I called yesterday about my missing bonus back to school points the person couldn't figure out what I was missing and how to fix it so said I could try one of the other ways of chatting to get my points but I was busy yesterday and couldn't try. Guess I will try again later.

 

[Disney Addicted]

No and when I called yesterday about my missing bonus back to school points the person couldn't figure out what I was missing and how to fix it so said I could try one of the other ways of chatting to get my points but I was busy yesterday and couldn't try. Guess I will try again later.

90 days is not until Saturday, November 24th but I was thinking if other people received theirs that I might call about it today as well.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Got my AirMiles in my account for the last 2 weeks of shopping! Woohoo, have updated my signature!

 

[ottawamom]

Did anyone get their 55 "Excellent to be Onyx" air miles?

My husband received his "Gold Gets Your More" on Oct 14 at an incorrect amount, which was fixed with a phone call. But I have yet to see my 55 Onyx miles.

Lots have reported receiving theirs. This is where I think the issue is. The T&C did not differentiate between Reward miles and Bonus miles. The people who seem to have received their Bonus for the offer seem to have shopped and received Reward miles (1 mile/$20 purchase). That would have made the offer a >$100 spend for 55AM. Not gonna happen here.

My interpretation of the offer (and others here too) was that a "Mile" was a mile (reward or bonus). My shops were exclusively using Bonus miles. With all the running around you had to do to get this offer done it seemed reasonable. I haven't received any Bonus for the offer yet. I will have to wait until November 26 to challenge the offer.