Airmiles extra fees--are they kidding?

[maxie]

That is why we NEVER use our Airmiles for flights. So many of the neighbors have done that, and I've told them that I have flown out of Minneapolis for less than you paid in fees to use your Airmiles and I used those airmiles for my Disney passes. The flights do not usually make much $ sense.

I only paid about $450 for 3 flights with Airmiles between Winnipeg and Orlando this past winter. There is no way you could buy flights cheaper than that. I also redeemed for 3 PHs.

Sure you can drive to Minneapolis but than you have to waste 8 hours in the car either way on icy highways. And therefore waste 2 extra vacation days where you could be relaxing.

I love my Airmiles! In the last 6 months I've saved enough for another trip. They add up so quickly.

 

[dhluvsDisney]

I only paid about $450 for 3 flights with Airmiles between Winnipeg and Orlando this past winter. There is no way you could buy flights cheaper than that. I also redeemed for 3 PHs.

Sure you can drive to Minneapolis but than you have to waste 8 hours in the car either way on icy highways. And therefore waste 2 extra vacation days where you could be relaxing.

I love my Airmiles! In the last 6 months I've saved enough for another trip. They add up so quickly.

I think that's great that you were able to secure a rate like that! congrats! Many of my friends had fees WELL over that! Our upcoming flight for MSP to MCO is $138 pp return Canadian. Our family absolutely loves the drive down and enjoys stopping in Fargo or Albertville somewhere along the way. We fly direct out of MSP so the flight is quite short without any lengthy layovers.

 

[Jewel99]

My hubby is actually a bit of an AirMiles obsessor. He collects them wherever we can. When we went to Disney in May 2005, we looked into buying the tickets with our Airmiles, but the additional fees/taxes would have cost us more than the SW flight we got out of Buffalo, so we used the AirMiles for our Disney park tickets.

Since then, we've cashed in our AirMiles for other things - but I've found you get the most 'bang for your buck' if you use them for gift cards/certificates versus the actual items you can get on the program.

For example, we wanted a new BBQ. They had a few options available, but when I checked into the retail price of the BBQs they had in the program, it was more cost effective to convert our Airmiles to Rona gift certificates, and buy a new BBQ at Rona. Not only did we have tons more to select from, but we also bought the BBQ when they had a scratch and save day, plus didn't have to wait a long time for delivery.

At other times, we've converted our Airmiles to gift cards for grocery stores as the per point value was highest that way.

 

[dhluvsDisney]

Since then, we've cashed in our AirMiles for other things - but I've found you get the most 'bang for your buck' if you use them for gift cards/certificates versus the actual items you can get on the program.


At other times, we've converted our Airmiles to gift cards for grocery stores as the per point value was highest that way.

I whole heartedly agree. Gift certificates are definately a great option.

 

[eeyore_is#1]

We quickly learned that the best value of the air miles program is not in the "air"!

Really? We've always found it the opposite.

"Hmm, for 1500 air miles, I can fly to LA, or, let me check the catalogue, ok, here it is, or I can buy a ticket to a movie".

Slight exaggeration, but basically the truth.

 

[daver]

Really? We've always found it the opposite.

"Hmm, for 1500 air miles, I can fly to LA, or, let me check the catalogue, ok, here it is, or I can buy a ticket to a movie".

Slight exaggeration, but basically the truth.

I really think it depends on where you are and where you are going. If I could hop over the border in say 3 hrs and get a flight for 5 for 1000.00... I'd do it too. I think Airmiles wins for those ppl. Otherwise there are better deals for other things for sure.

 

[CJ]

Really? We've always found it the opposite.

"Hmm, for 1500 air miles, I can fly to LA, or, let me check the catalogue, ok, here it is, or I can buy a ticket to a movie".

Slight exaggeration, but basically the truth.

If you can fly from Ottawa to L.A. on 1500 Air Miles..... good for you!!
Personally, I've never seen that offer!

 

[tinkerone]

i to am an avid collector. i have recently booked two flights from ottawa to orlando for 2800 air miles with the fees being 330.00 for the two. i could cross the border and fly out of syracuse for a little more than that however, most of the flights i have looked into flying from the us have layovers and i wold prefer to get there now, not in 8 hours.
last january we went to orlando with friends. they went through the us and it took them 9 hours just to get from airport to airport then 3 hrs to get home. we were home in 2.5 hours for flight and 2.5 hrs dr.
to me its worth some extra cash and really, the airmiles are free so i'm not lossing anything, i'm gaining time.

 

[bunnyfoo]

I don't mind paying the fees because if I booked the tickets, I'd have to pay them anyway. The thing I don't like about Air Miles is that it's difficult to book a ticket unless you do it months ahead of time. I like the Diner's Club tickets because they can book you a seat as long as one is available.

 

[tinkerone]

I don't mind paying the fees because if I booked the tickets, I'd have to pay them anyway. The thing I don't like about Air Miles is that it's difficult to book a ticket unless you do it months ahead of time. I like the Diner's Club tickets because they can book you a seat as long as one is available.

i'll agree with that cause when i went to book for may the agent told me they only had 3 seats 'left' for the flight down and 7 seats 'left' for the flight back. i thought if there was a seat avalible it was yours but guess not. oh well, got mine anyway.

 

[sheilag]

HI there,

I tried to use my Avion points for a Sept.07 flight, and had the same issue - they'd charge me over $100 in taxes to use a lot of points (can't remember now whether their point total was 30K or 50K) - but I could get the same flight with Delta with taxes in for $375 Cdn. So, $100 plus in taxes plus 30 or 50K points (whatever it was) vs. $375.... I paid the bucks, and saved the points.

I'm hoping to use the points on another "more expensive" flight - trying to maximize the usage of the value. Avion uses short-haul and long-haul, like aeroplan, and charges for a long-haul flight from Ottawa to MCO. Ridiculous amount of points required, esp. since flight could be had for just a little over dollar value of what short-haul max value would be.

I've long ago given up on aeroplan, and cancelled my cibc gold visa (I had just for points accumulation with aeroplan) - I always racked up scads of points, just couldn't use them when and where I wanted. And now, they'll charge you double or more points to fly on a flight if their designated seat count doesn't work. The only time I had good service with aeroplan is when I was flying with work 2 or 3 times a week, and was in elite - they let you book flights all the time, even exceeding the normal seat count. But my value as a customer to them has gone down since I work from home - and their value to me as a provider has gone way way down.

Let me give you an example from last week - I was helping my dear MIL book a flight with her scads of aeroplan flights - logged in on website, brought up scads of flights - all with a ridiculous number of points required to fly Ottawa to Las Vegas (we're talking they'd charge 140K!!! instead of normal, what, 25K in points) for the dates I'd requested. I called in, and was able to get a travel agent at aeroplan to find different flights - but had to pay $40 service fee (I think) to speak to agent. That agent was able to access different flights than I could see online, but I couldn't get her to waive service fee - I'd tried to book online, but couldn't get the flights. But, calling in, there were more flights available - if you paid to talk to someone. They wouldn't waive the fee because it wasn't a "technical problem" with the site - flights were brought up that I could book (at 140K points each) - just not the flights I wanted. That's bad customer service to me.

 

[tgropp]

If you can fly from Ottawa to L.A. on 1500 Air Miles..... good for you!!
Personally, I've never seen that offer!

If you pay $70.00 / year for a Mosiac WestJet CC you can fly anywhere in North America for 1600 Airmiles

 

[daver]

If you pay $70.00 / year for a Mosiac WestJet CC you can fly anywhere in North America for 1600 Airmiles

1400 A/M during off peak..... We fly 5 anywhere for 7000 A/M, so Hfx to LA is a real deal!

 

[mom_rules]

Ick! That's why I use my RBC Avion card for points.. it was only ~$90/person for extra fees, which isn't that bad. We're going to try out of Bangor someday. Apparently Allegiant Air flies direct from Bangor for about that.. needless to say a 6 hour drive to save a lot of money is definitely worth it. I'll be using my airmiles for basic passes and upgrade them to non-expiry at the parks! (I hope...)

How hard is it to use the Avion points-we have a ton but I was leary about using them-they don't give a lot of info on their site. If you don't mind, can you give a quick explanation of the procedure to book a flight?

 

[sheilag]

you have to deal with RBC Rewards directly - they have a 1-800 number posted on the website - call them and request flight reward.

 

[MikeyNS]

How hard is it to use the Avion points-we have a ton but I was leary about using them-they don't give a lot of info on their site. If you don't mind, can you give a quick explanation of the procedure to book a flight?

Simple. Call the 1800# they'll ask you for your credit card info and tell them where you want to go. It's basically calling a travel agency. I usually research flights before and tell them the flight numbers I want and they'll look them up. They'll pay $750/ticket (not including taxes/fees).. so the extra cash you lay out is for the taxes/fees on the ticket.
If the price of the flight is around $500/person with taxes and fees I'll just pay for the tickets.. I use Avion when the prices are higher.

 

[mom_rules]

Sounds easy enough!
Thanks.

 

[yxe dad]

I just saved over $1100 using airmiles for 2 flights. I booked 2 flights from Saskatoon to Orlando for a WDW trip in Oct. It only cost 2800 airmiles as I have the Westjet Mastercard. The same flights would have cost me $1528 of which taxes and fees were $301.50. It is expensive to fly out of Saskatoon even with a seat sale so Airmiles works great for us who don't have the option of driving a few hours to Buffalo, Detroit or any major US city.

 

[Eveningsong]

I dropped our CIBC Aerogold Visa once I realized the annual fees alone ($170 for two cards) almost covered the entire airfare cost out of Buffalo to Florida. Then once you include Aeroplan's service charges + airport fees......

I find MBNA's Starwood Card a much better offering -- free hotel rooms with no user fees.

I have that credit card too, and it is my favourite. I have the Platinum so I don't have to buy the extra insurance when I rent a car.

If you rent a Avis rental car you get 50 starwood points a day during your rental period. Avis is one of their partners.

It is nice to be able to stay at the Dophin and Swan for free. 10000 Starwood points a night, no black out periods.

 

[Eveningsong]

If you pay $70.00 / year for a Mosiac WestJet CC you can fly anywhere in North America for 1600 Airmiles

You get free banking too at Bank of Montreal too with this credit card.