Airmiles best use (for value)

[martin33]

Hi guys,
We have accumulated 3300 airmiles and I'm going to use them for one final time before essentially scaling back our airmiles collection as I find the whole program to offer less and less value over time.
So my question is...do you think its better value to use them for Universal studios passes or Disney childrens passes (we go to both) in terms of a VALUE (per mile used) purchase , and is there an expiry on the passes at either park when bought through airmiles?
Thanks for any input!
Martin

 

[ngm]

Finding out value is pretty easy if you take the price of what you would be spending out-of-pocket divided by how many miles. I was going to spend my miles on Universal tickets, but found car rental to be a much better value. Both would have cost me $200, but the Universal ticket was 2000 miles but the car rental was 1200 miles.

 

[mort1331]

The 5 day Adult park pass is the best value for WDW. Its 3350 at last look. Which for dollar value is approx $340. Therefore the Adult is better than the child. There is no expiry and once in the park they can be upgraded for more days or even hoppers.

 

[DilEmma]

Hi martin33,

Reconsider giving up on Air Miles. Especially if you shop at places that earn them regardless of your involvement. Earning free Disney tickets just for showing your Air Miles card ... why opt out of that?

Of interest to you ... earning Air Miles can really be amped up with very little effort. Check out the Air Miles Alert thread here on disboards.

I'm a frugal shopper and I earn at least 300 Air Miles per month just by buying my grocery staples at Rexall (spend $30 get 50 Air Miles Mon-Thurs, combined with spend $25 save $5 coupon). Milk, bread, eggs and cheese are comparable to the best deals around). When I pay attention and expend a bit of effort, I earn just under 1,000 Air Miles in a month. Still, I'm buying only best priced items.

If you opt for the Adult Dis tickets, it looks like you'll need a quick 50 Air Miles. Sobeys has great Air Miles deals for a recipe combo each week. They're on the back 2-3 pages of the flyer. Sometimes the prices are outrageous but most often they're great. Generally, there are two 25 Air Miles recipe offers and one 50 Air Miles recipe offers.

So if you have a Rexall or Sobeys nearby, those are two easy options for earning 50 Air Miles.

Today is the last day for Rexall's flyer offer of 'Buy $50 Ultimate Dining gift card and get 40 bonus Air Miles'. That doesn't quite hit your 50 AM requirement. But it just shows how easy AM are to collect. The Ultimate Dining card is good for Harvey's, Milestones, Swiss Chalet, BierMarkt, Kelsey's, etc etc. I just bought two gift cards for a dinner out at Milestones for my family of five. We don't eat out often but these promos come up often enough for us.

Last week, Sobeys had an LCBO offer - get 30 bonus Air Miles when you buy a $100 LCBO gift card. I spend money at the LCBO anyway, so why not?

Air Miles get ditzed alot. But you can earn them quickly with very little effort. They are great for car and hotel rentals. And Disney tickets. I guess too for flights if you can find them.

Cheers!

 

[DilEmma]

Oh right! And Sobeys has $50 The Keg gift cards starting tomorrow - 70 bonus Air Miles!! What's not to love about Air Miles.

 

[martin33]

Thanks for the replies from all of you. You're right about passive accumulation. I will continue to do so - esp when you lay out such a good argument (rexall for example). I think my resentment stems from a toys r us midnight madness/airmiles bonanza a couple of years ago- I spent a couple hundred dollars , and it took over six months for the bonus airmiles to show up!! In a modern world of instant electronic updating (aeroplan esso miles,, starbucks stars, etc) I find it ridiculous that the transactions can't be real (or near) real time. This obviously has implications for when you can cash rewards, and it seems like complete disregard for the consumers loyalty. Maybe its just toys r us but that one really tainted me.
Again I appreciate everyones input
Cheers
Martin

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

The 5 day Adult park pass is the best value for WDW. Its 3350 at last look. Which for dollar value is approx $340. Therefore the Adult is better than the child. There is no expiry and once in the park they can be upgraded for more days or even hoppers.

And in fact, that $340 US, so when converted to CDN is like $440-450 right now.

I am planning on saving for the passes versus the flights. We can get 3 fights for $500 (or less). If I use my AM for the flights (2325 x 3 =6975), I still have to pay $480 in taxes and fees. The passes would be 3550x2 + 3325x1 = 10,425. So yes, more air miles are needed, but I'm not out of pocket any money. In CDN, those passes would cost $1400 or so!

 

[DilEmma]

Thanks for the replies from all of you. You're right about passive accumulation. I will continue to do so - esp when you lay out such a good argument (rexall for example). I think my resentment stems from a toys r us midnight madness/airmiles bonanza a couple of years ago- I spent a couple hundred dollars , and it took over six months for the bonus airmiles to show up!! In a modern world of instant electronic updating (aeroplan esso miles,, starbucks stars, etc) I find it ridiculous that the transactions can't be real (or near) real time. This obviously has implications for when you can cash rewards, and it seems like complete disregard for the consumers loyalty. Maybe its just toys r us but that one really tainted me.
Again I appreciate everyones input
Cheers
Martin

That would be a Toys R Us decision on how/when they post Air Miles. It is ridiculous though. Rexall is next day. Same with LCBO. Sobeys can take up to two weeks depending on the day you shop. Metro takes awhile. Each merchant has its own rationale - return of merchandise maybe.

Certainly frustrating (and unnecessary with modern IT) having to wait but not necessarily due to Air Miles reward program itself.

 

[pigletto]

That would be a Toys R Us decision on how/when they post Air Miles. It is ridiculous though. Rexall is next day. Same with LCBO. Sobeys can take up to two weeks depending on the day you shop. Metro takes awhile. Each merchant has its own rationale - return of merchandise maybe.

Certainly frustrating (and unnecessary with modern IT) having to wait but not necessarily due to Air Miles reward program itself.

And I'm pretty sure Toys R Us just stopped participating in the program at all. Good riddance if they were taking 6 months to post their miles.

 

[martin33]

In fact Toys R us did stop- just there today- the cashier was saying that airmiles told them they didn't meet a "quota" of airmile users to be able to continue the affiliation with the airmiles program- I felt like saying something about my experience but my inside voice said there was no point- its done now anyways

 

[Misha72683]

I had issues with Toys R Us taking months to show up too. I'm just getting back into Airmiles after not bothering for a few months. Last year we cashed in a ton though: we paid for 3 Wonderland tickets, 2 zoo passes, 4 passes to the CNE, our hotel on our way down to Disney and one of our son's Christmas gifts with AM. After that I switched to 50/50 cash and dream and have redeemed maybe $30 cash, but am now sitting at $100 cash and over 1000 dream miles and that's really from this month.

I'm not buying stuff I don't need, but I am shopping smart.

 

[mkmommy]

Has anyone used AM towards an Air Transat package? I was just pricing and it appears that my 12,000 AM would save me $2000 off a 2017 March break package. I will have to check what the rules are for deposits and change fees, just wondering if there are any down side to using them. Have aways used AM for flights but nothing available for less than 7000 AM per flight so looking at other options to reduce March Break trip.