Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[mort1331]

Still no Foodland gift card Airmiles. I don't have the receipt, so I'm starting to lose hope about my 800AM.

They will come sometimes a month or two later. I have never missed my bonus points. I am still waiting for half my foodland. But i am in no rush

 

[mort1331]

Hi everyone!

First, I just want to say that I LOVE this board!!! I am so glad I found it.

I am considering switching strategies for redemption and am interested in feedback. Bear with me as I go through this....

1) I was initially keen to try and save 14,000 miles to purchase 5-day WDW passes for my family of four (2 adults, 2 kids).

2) Our trip to WDW is planned ahead of a cruise we would like to do in 2018 (with OBB).

3) I am now feeling mom guilt on being out of school for two weeks and decided that going January 2018 during Christmas closure would be better and then the kids only need to miss one week of school, so the trip would be:

Jan 1 - travel day from YEG to MCO, stay at WDW
Jan 2 - 5 - 3 parks days + 1 at the WDW resort (thinking Poly)
Jan 6 - 13 - cruise

4) When I look at miles required for 4 3-Day passes, it is about 13,000 miles, not a huge difference at all.

5) I think it would be more cost effective to use miles for flights, although we would need 5,100ish because it is high season.

So, now my questions...

- In your experience, what is the best window for booking flights using miles (how many months ahead in order to secure availability)? In other words, when do you think my goal of getting 20,400 miles would have to be in order to use them on flights?

- I should hit Onyx this year (first time!) - does this mean I am Onyx in 2017 and my redemption for flights is less because supposedly Onyx members require 40% fewer miles for flights? Is that for flights redeemed that year or for travel within that year?

- Or should I just stick with my plan and get my WDW passes?

Thanks for getting through this post and sorry to be obsessive!

Brandy

CONGRATS on Onyx. But as pp said it doesnt automatically get discount flights. Best is BMO MC as pp said for 25%off. Next week is he first time using my points for flights. The Big negative is if you try to move flights or name change its almost better to book a whole new flight. Cost is crazy and difficult.
If this is the way you still want to go. Then do the flights and work on getting a few parkpasses covered as well.
I like to redeem for parkpass as soon as I have enough points because you never know when they will increase the amount needed. There is no warning.
Good luck

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Still no Foodland gift card Airmiles. I don't have the receipt, so I'm starting to lose hope about my 800AM.

If they are bonus miles, they have up to 120 days to be posted, so keep a record of the date you did the transaction in your phone or something trusted. After 120 days, fill out a missing miles form on airmiles.ca. I'm currently waiting for some to post now and have filled out the form.

 

[star72232]

Still no Foodland gift card Airmiles. I don't have the receipt, so I'm starting to lose hope about my 800AM.

Mine just posted this morning.

 

[brandyleeann]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback! This is a great community

 

[Debbie]

Woo-hoo! The second part of my Foodland gc posted! Getting closer!

 

[Donald - my hero]

I haven't had any miles post from Metro since August 17th ... they "owe" me a truckload!!

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

So, my DH has his own AM account. He has around 700 air miles. Should I just pay the 0.15 cents per air mile to transfer them to my account? Or just leave them for now? It would be $122 for me to move them to mine.

Thoughts?

 

[mort1331]

So, my DH has his own AM account. He has around 700 air miles. Should I just pay the 0.15 cents per air mile to transfer them to my account? Or just leave them for now? It would be $122 for me to move them to mine.

Thoughts?

I would find out when they expire. If not for a year or two, then rack up his points until you have enough to cash out for something your saving up for. Then get a second card with your number on it and just rack them up together.
This is what we did, my wife's account has 10AM in it and for us its not worth the transfer.

 

[ottawamom]

I haven't had any miles post from Metro since August 17th ... they "owe" me a truckload!!

I would be tempted to ask your local store how often they upload the AM info to Airmiles. My understanding is that it is done each Saturday for the previous week. My Metro points have been posting as usual. This must be something specific to the way your store handles it.

So, my DH has his own AM account. He has around 700 air miles. Should I just pay the 0.15 cents per air mile to transfer them to my account? Or just leave them for now? It would be $122 for me to move them to mine.

Thoughts?

I would find out when they expire. If not for a year or two, then rack up his points until you have enough to cash out for something your saving up for. Then get a second card with your number on it and just rack them up together.
This is what we did, my wife's account has 10AM in it and for us its not worth the transfer.

Ditto what Mort said. The 700AM if they were cash would be worth $75 (700/95*10). It's not worth spending $122 to get $75 in value. My DH got his own card when we signed up for the Amex in June. I used his card when I did my shopping. Saved up enough to get a park pass. He now has 10AM in his account which we will use on movies. My suggestion is to use his card and save up then redeem away.

Mort I just reread what you wrote. What a coincidence that both our spouses have 10AM in their accounts.

 

[mort1331]

gr

I would be tempted to ask your local store how often they upload the AM info to Airmiles. My understanding is that it is done each Saturday for the previous week. My Metro points have been posting as usual. This must be something specific to the way your store handles it.






Ditto what Mort said. The 700AM if they were cash would be worth $75 (700/95*10). It's not worth spending $122 to get $75 in value. My DH got his own card when we signed up for the Amex in June. I used his card when I did my shopping. Saved up enough to get a park pass. He now has 10AM in his account which we will use on movies. My suggestion is to use his card and save up then redeem away.

Mort I just reread what you wrote. What a coincidence that both our spouses have 10AM in their accounts.

great minds think alike.

 

[pigletto]

gr

great minds think alike.

No, airmiles obsessed spouses think alike.

So the preview of the Ontario Rexall flyer is up on Saveland. Nothing too exciting. It looks like a Spend $40 get 40 Airmiles promotion, and there are a bunch of products with bonus miles. I don't really need much and have a sneaking suspicion that the targeted coupon will be better for me, so I will wait for that.
Looking forward to the Sobey's flyer

 

[DizzyDis]

I would be tempted to ask your local store how often they upload the AM info to Airmiles. My understanding is that it is done each Saturday for the previous week. My Metro points have been posting as usual. This must be something specific to the way your store handles it.






Ditto what Mort said. The 700AM if they were cash would be worth $75 (700/95*10). It's not worth spending $122 to get $75 in value. My DH got his own card when we signed up for the Amex in June. I used his card when I did my shopping. Saved up enough to get a park pass. He now has 10AM in his account which we will use on movies. My suggestion is to use his card and save up then redeem away.

Mort I just reread what you wrote. What a coincidence that both our spouses have 10AM in their accounts.

And same again for me, except it was that my parents had an account with about 2000AM, so I took their spare card and brought it to park pass level. I looked into transferring and seeing if there were ever any deals on the cost, but even those made it prohibitively expensive.

Incidentally, I still keep both cards, primarily using mine, but when I am in major push-mode, I still load their offers through Sobeys and use it if either they have a great offer on there, or if there are some offers where you can only get one per account. It is a long-term plan, but this combined with my parents regular use keeps that one moving at a slower pace, but at least still moving.

 

[DizzyDis]

Oh and one other thought, we are looking at pushing back our next Disney trip until next year and maybe doing a quick Las Vegas getaway between now and then (adults only, 4 days), does anyone have recommendations, either generally on places to hit or any AM offers/redemptions they have used for Vegas?

 

[ottawamom]

No, airmiles obsessed spouses think alike.

Shall we coin that as our new acronym AOS or AOSA (aimiles obsessed spouses anonymouse) (yes I added the "e" on purpose)

 

[pigletto]

Hahaha.. I like the AOSA for my case. I know my husband would agree!

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Oh and one other thought, we are looking at pushing back our next Disney trip until next year and maybe doing a quick Las Vegas getaway between now and then (adults only, 4 days), does anyone have recommendations, either generally on places to hit or any AM offers/redemptions they have used for Vegas?

Did you look into the Air Miles Hotel Hub? They have las vegas hotels on there, which you can earn additional bonus air miles per stay.

 

[Donald - my hero]

OK come on Metro!! Post the miles, i went to Rexall last night at 8:30 and those 143 have already shown up. The car had an uncanny pull to the left on my way home and i HAD to go to Metro to buy more ice cream, cause, you know ... take one for the team ... yup another 4 treats and walked out with 40 AM. Hubby is teaching at the university this afternoon and the campus is directly behind the store so he grabbed the freezer bag on his way out ... apparently i didn't get the kind he wanted so he'll snag another containers. (yeah, he shouldn't have dairy but he's as obsessed with the mile hunt as I am and just uses more of the Imodium that we had a coupon for last month )

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Heads up for BC people - Thrifty's is having a HUGE AM collector's week going on and this weekend if you spend $100, you get 100AM! Turns out if I play my cards (and coupons) right, I will spend $220 and get 464AM! - just have to stop the till at $100 the first time through and get the first 100AM, then do it again for the second $100. Make sure you have the coupon from the flyer though. Plus there are some really good deals for 50AM by only spending $16 or $13, so that's good too!

 

[Aladora]

Heads up for BC people - Thrifty's is having a HUGE AM collector's week going on and this weekend if you spend $100, you get 100AM! Turns out if I play my cards (and coupons) right, I will spend $220 and get 464AM! - just have to stop the till at $100 the first time through and get the first 100AM, then do it again for the second $100. Make sure you have the coupon from the flyer though. Plus there are some really good deals for 50AM by only spending $16 or $13, so that's good too!

Amazing Airmiles this week but in the small print in the Thrifty's flyer it says that the spend $100, get 100AM can only be used once per collector account.