Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[tinkerone]

I'm trying to decide if I go and get a coffee or head back to bed for an hour.
View attachment 1055249

If I go to a Pharmasave out of my area I can do it .... but my local one is more a
perscriptions only kind of place.
Hugs Mel

Our Pharmasave is the same. I think we have a couple around but they are more just hole in the wall shops for perscrriptions. Haven't been able to do one of their offers as yet.

 

[ottawamom]

I have been trying to log into my Airmiles account this morning (laptop and phone app) I keep getting an error 500 (not available) on the laptop version. Anyone else having issues?

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Same. 500 error

 

[bababear_50]

same error for me.
Hugs Mel

 

[juniorbugman]

But funnily that the Airmiles Shoppes page is working fine but I too got the error 500 on the Airmiles site.

 

[ottawamom]

Site is still down!

3:30pm: It is back up and running now. Not sure when it came back but it's now working as usual.

 

[bababear_50]

Heads Up
Every single receipt offer now says ( maximum one per receipt) .
I am going to get a stock up of Laundry detergent today.
i guess it's 4 individual purchases ......................
Hugs Mel

 

[tinkerone]

You still have to pay to get in the lounges with Dragon Pass. Depending on the lounge location it’s $35-75. Dragon Pass is such a scam, it’s just membership that allows you to pre book lounge entrance.

I just received this in an email. Looks like there will be free passes going forward with the AMs World Elite MC. I'm pretty happy about that.

[td] New: 10x the Blue Points for every $1 spent at participating Blue Rewards Partners. That’s over three times the rewards compared to the existing 3x the Miles benefit. For a list of current participating Partners, please visit bmo.com/bluerewards10x.2 Stay tuned for new partners! ​

[td] New: 2x the Points for every $1 spent on eligible gas and electric vehicle charging purchases. You’ll also get 2x the Points for every $1 spent on eligible grocery, wholesale clubs and alcohol purchases. Enjoy the only retail credit cards in Canada to offer built-in accelerated earn on gas, EV charging, groceries and wholesale purchases, helping you earn more, every day, everywhere.3 ​

[td] New: Your base earn rate will be simplified - earning 1 Point for every $1 spent. ​

[td] New: Powered by the Dominion Automobile Association, you will also have access to basic Roadside Assistance coverage. Please visit bmo.com/roadsideassistancebasic to view the Terms and Conditions. ​

[td width="51.7754%"] New: To enhance your travel experience, we are also adding 4 free airport lounge passes per year with Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass.4 ​

 

[bababear_50]

My son just sent this to me.
He won it in a raffle at work and already has a few TVs.
My new 50 inch T.V.
Nice!

 

[ottawamom]

Heads Up
Every single receipt offer now says ( maximum one per receipt) .
I am going to get a stock up of Laundry detergent today.
i guess it's 4 individual purchases ......................
Hugs Mel

Just make sure to add one or two different items with each purchase or purchase on separate days. They kept telling me they had already seen the receipt when I tried purchases just minutes apaprt.

I just received this in an email. Looks like there will be free passes going forward with the AMs World Elite MC. I'm pretty happy about that.

[td] New: 10x the Blue Points for every $1 spent at participating Blue Rewards Partners. That’s over three times the rewards compared to the existing 3x the Miles benefit. For a list of current participating Partners, please visit bmo.com/bluerewards10x.2 Stay tuned for new partners!​

[td] New: 2x the Points for every $1 spent on eligible gas and electric vehicle charging purchases. You’ll also get 2x the Points for every $1 spent on eligible grocery, wholesale clubs and alcohol purchases. Enjoy the only retail credit cards in Canada to offer built-in accelerated earn on gas, EV charging, groceries and wholesale purchases, helping you earn more, every day, everywhere.3​

[td] New: Your base earn rate will be simplified - earning 1 Point for every $1 spent.​

[td] New: Powered by the Dominion Automobile Association, you will also have access to basic Roadside Assistance coverage. Please visit bmo.com/roadsideassistancebasic to view the Terms and Conditions.​

[td width="51.7754%"] New: To enhance your travel experience, we are also adding 4 free airport lounge passes per year with Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass.4​

My question is, are they going to continue with the 25% discount on flights as well as these new additions?

 

[tinkerone]

Just make sure to add one or two different items with each purchase or purchase on separate days. They kept telling me they had already seen the receipt when I tried purchases just minutes apaprt.

My question is, are they going to continue with the 25% discount on flights as well as these new additions?

Oh, that's a very good question. I think just the switch is going to be a learning curve, they better not take that perk away.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Just make sure to add one or two different items with each purchase or purchase on separate days. They kept telling me they had already seen the receipt when I tried purchases just minutes apaprt.

My question is, are they going to continue with the 25% discount on flights as well as these new additions?

Looks like they won't be. From the email I received yesterday it says:
Additionally, starting June ‍2, ‍2026, you will receive 4 free airport lounge passes per year with Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass. This benefit will replace your 25% flight discount benefit with AIR MILES expiring May ‍31, ‍2026

 

[ottawamom]

Dollar for dollar the passes are worth more than the AM discount. Guess that firms up my decision of how to book my flight to Fort Lauderdale. I'll book using AM and apply the 25% discount before I lose it.

I find it interesting that you got that clarification yesterday. I haven't received that email yet. It will probably show up today. The loss of the discount I think helps to solidify my decision to cancel my W/E Airmiles card. The other benefits aren't really of interest and I've recently acquired the Porter card which has perks that will work better for my current life choices.

Now I just need to wait for Monday for the new Expedia travel to start (an hopefully my dates have opened up) to book that flight.

 

[bababear_50]

I am looking forward to seeing what Expedia has available for accomodations.

AIR MILES sent out an email yesterday to collectors advising them of a change coming to AIR MILES Travel. As of March 16 the program will close down AIR MILES Travel which is their own internal travel agency (one of the largest in Canada BTW!) and move to having Expedia power their travel bookings. This follows the trend of most other Canadian loyalty programs who also use Expedia - whether it's Avion Rewards, CIBC Rewards, Scene+, TD Rewards and others, they all utilize Expedia.

Here's the breakdown of what this means (as provided by AIR MILES)

This change will allow us to offer you access to a broader range of travel options.
You can continue to book travel via app and web as you are accustomed.
You’ll be able to use Miles to cover the entire cost of your travel booking, including fees and taxes (excluding cruise bookings and pay-at-property fees). Flexpay will no longer be available.
There will no longer be a minimum Miles threshold required to redeem towards your booking (excluding cruise bookings).
Bookings made through AIR MILES Travel prior to March 16, 2026 will continue to be serviced via AIR MILES Customer Care and will be governed by AIR MILES travel terms and conditions.
Bookings made through AIR MILES Travel on or after March 16, 2026 will be serviced through Expedia’s platform and will be subject to Expedia’s terms and conditions (including, without limitation, its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy).

I've bolded the two key details! You will now be able to use miles for fees and taxes! This is something the program has lagged behind on compared to other programs and we even discussed in our last podcast interview with Jason from AIR MILES. He said they were working on it and here it is! This is great news especially for those flights that were low on base fares and heavy fees (namely to Europe).

And no longer having a minimum miles threshold to use miles for travel? That's a big move too, without looking back at past articles of mine I believe this was only available to Onyx collectors previously while Gold and Blue needed 50% of the miles to do cash+miles redemptions.

The only issue with Expedia that I also mention in all my posts about other programs who use them is that you cannot book travel to Cuba as Expedia is US based.

Overall though those changes in how you can use miles for travel make this change a positive for collectors!

Happy Friday!

Hugs Mel

 

[ottawamom]

Trying to think things through for Monday. If I can book my flight to FLL and use my 25% AM discount, great, I will do that. I will get AM back as part of the 20% redemption event and that will be great.

If my preferred flight isn't available or I can't use the 25% discount (I should be able to) then I will need to book direct with Porter.

Here's my thought. I could redeem for Porter E-vouchers and use those to pay for my flight when I book direct. I will miss out on the 25% AM M/C discount but the 20% back on e-vouchers is more lucrative. Are there restrictions that anyone knows about as to how many E-vouchers I can use per booking... Flight (for 2) will likely be $550-600 taxes included.

Has anyone used Porter e-vouchers before. I know others have reported only being able to use 2 methods of payment with Air Canada (ie one gift card, one credit card for balance).

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I hope air miles (or whatever it becomes) ups the Air Canada voucher amounts. The $250 value is too low. I'd like them to up it to $500.

 

[bababear_50]

This snow needs to let up so I can go get some gas......

Hugs Mel

 

[hdrolfe]

Trying to think things through for Monday. If I can book my flight to FLL and use my 25% AM discount, great, I will do that. I will get AM back as part of the 20% redemption event and that will be great.

If my preferred flight isn't available or I can't use the 25% discount (I should be able to) then I will need to book direct with Porter.

Here's my thought. I could redeem for Porter E-vouchers and use those to pay for my flight when I book direct. I will miss out on the 25% AM M/C discount but the 20% back on e-vouchers is more lucrative. Are there restrictions that anyone knows about as to how many E-vouchers I can use per booking... Flight (for 2) will likely be $550-600 taxes included.

Has anyone used Porter e-vouchers before. I know others have reported only being able to use 2 methods of payment with Air Canada (ie one gift card, one credit card for balance).

I bought an e-Voucher from Costco so not quite the same but it was $450 for $500, and that covered my whole flight. I believe you can use two methods of payment, so two vouchers or one plus a CC, similar to AC. There was no way I could see to combine them onto one card. Which is why I did that rather than redeeming for a couple smaller ones thru AM.