Needless to say, the good folks at Air Miles have taken a bit of a lickin’ recently. First, they decided that they were going to put a “best before date” on older points/reward miles held by users declaring that these unused points would simply disappear on December 31, 2016. At the end of November, under pressure from governments and users alike, they decided to revoke the policy and reassured everyone that unused older air miles would not expire. Huh?
Both strategies have infuriated their customers to the point that what many now think about the nice people at Air Miles probably cannot be restated in polite company. Users are annoyed that they were forced to use reward miles they were saving for bigger purchases, such as a long planned trip. Travel dreams were shattered. Secondly, they are upset that they ended up having to use their points to purchase goods they probably didn’t want or need. It will be interesting to see how all these shakes down, as many users are crying for their points to be reinstated after what they considered to be a waste by using them to acquire unwanted products.
I have to admit that I was one of those individuals who used miles, that I had planned to use for international travel purposes, to purchase a couple of items that I may or may not have really needed. One of these items I ended up selling to friends for cash.
But, It Was the Less Than Stellar Travel Option, Not the Need to Spend
However, my decision to to not use them for airfares had more to do with the Air Miles air travel refund system as it currently exists, not the expiry threat. I recently posted a CBC Marketplace article about the use of Air Miles to book international travel in my Past Week’s Favourite Reads (http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-air-miles-points-flights-value-1.3875034). The article references an Ottawa man who decided to buy flights to Europe for himself and his wife with his soon-to-be expired points. To his surprise, using 15,700 miles would only have netted him a saving of $198. Huh? again. Follow the link above to the article if you would like to read about the specifics.
I mention this, because again, this is exactly what happened to me. The Love-Goddess and I are off to spend some time in southern Europe during the winter months, and we decided that our first stop would be Dublin … having never been there before. When I checked into booking the flights using our Air Miles reward miles I discovered that it would have cost each of us 5400 reward miles and $624.77 in taxes and fees, i.e. 10,800 miles and $1249.54 total. At the same time, Air Canada was offering a seat sale to Dublin, all taxes and fees included, for $756.76 per person, i.e. $1513.52 for two people. Using up a large bunch of reward miles would have only saved us $263.98. Not good value as far as we were concerned, so we bought the Air Canada tickets.
So, did we use our “expiring” miles and others to help purchase something else? You betcha! For 8500 reward miles we received a DSLR camera that was selling at various online retailers for $699.95. We were so happy with the value we ordered a second one, which we resold for below the retail value. This sale more than covered the $263.98 extra we had spent on our airfares. While doing this, I noticed that a number of folks were offering the exact same camera, brand new in the box, for sale on Kijiji. It appeared I was not the only one who thought it would be a good idea to try and monetize some reward miles.
What About Aeroplan?
You’re thinking , now that you’ve finished “reviewing” Air Miles, what about the other major Canadian travel miles plan, Aeroplan? How do they compare when it comes to using their reward points for international travel?
I did use some of my Aeroplan miles to help cover the cost of an airfare to Florida last winter, and was thinking about doing it again this year. If I were to use 25,000 Aeroplan reward miles I could save about $150 on my Air Canada flight to Orlando, and could get there for just under $200. Keep in mind that these two organizations’ air miles are handled very differently and cannot be directly compared, i.e. 8500 Air Miles reward miles cannot be compared with 25,000 Aeroplane reward miles.
But, I didn’t go with the Aeroplan option either. Digging deeper into the rewards offered by Aeroplan I discovered that you can use their miles to purchase Air Canada gift cards. As I write this they are currently offering a $250 Air Canada card for 29,500 reward miles, and a $500 card for 58,500 reward miles. I have enough miles to buy a $500 gift card. With lots of travel still in our future I’m going with that choice. For us, this appears to be the most cost-effective choice, and should provide more options when booking future flights.
Which is Better, Is Either Any Good?
I am somewhat ambivalent about stating a preference for either of the two major Canadian travel mile plans. In all likelihood, I will continue to use both, but not in the way that I thought I would. I will probably never use Air Miles rewards for international travel. They might prove to have better value for internal flights in Canada, which, in all fairness I have not checked out … will let you know when the need arises. But, we have decided to have all our future Air Miles points attributed to us in their “cash’ form so that they can be redeemed for gas and groceries.
I will probably be posting links to articles related to the Air Miles expiry plan, and subsequent reversal, in next week’s version of my Past Week’s Favourite Reads. You know, if you’re still interested in reading about it, and not just totally exhausted by the whole affair.
Aeroplan? We’ll probably continue to use it and redeem their reward miles for Air Canada gift cards, for the reasons already stated. One of the great benefits of being retired is that you can patiently wait for seat sales, and have some flexibility in when you travel. Having the gift cards allows us to pounce on good buys when they appear, knowing that a good chunk of the cost will be covered.
BUT before you get too excited about the gift card scenario, their redemption is not quite as simple as it may seem. And that is what why I will be writing about them next!
