Air Miles Devalued

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Jo Anne
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by Jo Anne »

Insomniac wrote:
adrian2 wrote:Just emptied my Air Miles account for 85 $20 Shell gift certificates @ 175 miles each = 14,875 miles.
:thumbsup:
Followed your lead, but went for Rona gift certificates instead. I have some projects to do around the house and garden.
I empty my air miles account regularly. Today, I cashed in 175 of my 178 points for $20 of groceries.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by Shine »

Insomniac wrote:
adrian2 wrote:Just emptied my Air Miles account for 85 $20 Shell gift certificates @ 175 miles each = 14,875 miles.
:thumbsup:
Followed your lead, but went for Rona gift certificates instead. I have some projects to do around the house and garden.
InSom...did you do that directly on line or did you have to call an agent at AM's to transfer the "miles" to gas certificates?

Good idea by the way, thanks for the twist


regards
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

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I noticed HBC was back up so I decided to cash in 440 miles for a $50 HBC card and 220 for a $25 Rexall card. That brings me down to 7 miles before they devalue it even further.

Oops! I did not notice until after placing the order that the Rexall card is only valid in Ontario. DAMN you. Now I'm going to have to figure out how to cancel the order before they send me a useless gift card. Otherwise I'd have to hold on to it until my next Ontario visit (probably June).

I went for the liquidation route because it is clear that I don't care to be devoted enough to this program to ever earn enough miles for a flight I would actually take. So if they are just going to keep devaluing, better jump on it quickly.
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Insomniac
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

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Shine wrote:InSom...did you do that directly on line or did you have to call an agent at AM's to transfer the "miles" to gas certificates?
I didn't have to talk to anyone; did it all online using their website. The certs arrived in the mail about 3 weeks later. It was really easy to do.

Time to go to Rona and get some lime for the lawns. The snow drops are up - Spring is coming.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

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The toll-free number was busy when I called today at 9 AM PT, but I managed to get through on the 416 number (yay unlimited LD). The order hadn't processed yet, so I was able to cancel the Rexall card and get the points back. She also gave me an extra 10 points for the fact that I'd waited 15 minutes on hold.

From someone located in BC, the gift cards are a sad state of affairs. None of the grocery or drugstore rewards work out here - the only food one is Boston Pizza (meh).

Let's see, what else is left for me at 237 miles... I suppose it's a bit of a reach but I could get a gas card and use it to fuel up the next time I take out a co-op car, which gives me a bill credit. GAP is possible too. RONA is not really of any use to me, nor is iTunes or VIA Rail.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by Shine »

Insomniac wrote:
Shine wrote:InSom...did you do that directly on line or did you have to call an agent at AM's to transfer the "miles" to gas certificates?
I didn't have to talk to anyone; did it all online using their website. The certs arrived in the mail about 3 weeks later. It was really easy to do.

Time to go to Rona and get some lime for the lawns. The snow drops are up - Spring is coming.
Couldn't find the link on their web site...could you add some additional advice? Thanks

Haven't seen any crocuses here yet...are snow drops really up where you are? You must be in Victoria.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

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No problem.

Go to the airmiles.ca website and enter your card number. The site will tell you how many points you have.

Click on "Dream Rewards"
Click on "Gift Cards & Subscriptions"
Click on "Home, Reading and Renovations"
Click on the icon that looks like a Rona store
You can now select as many gift cards as you would like and add them to your "cart".

Home is Mill Bay, so not far from Victoria. (yes, the snow drops are out - very cheering after the cold snap we had two weeks ago)
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by Shine »

Thank you Insommniac for the instructions,

A good friend of mine lived in Mill Bay but sadly passed away a few years ago. He lived on a boat there during his final days.

I will be looking in the back yard for crocuses soon here in Vancouver.

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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by pmj »

Another ~5% devaluation in the exchange rate for reward cards - I guess to soften us up for the new cash rewards :shock:. Now it's $20 for 190 miles / $25 for 240 miles / $50 for 475 miles.

I was closing in on 700 miles = 4 x $20 cards at the old $20/175 rate. Just made it, went on-line to redeem - but now I need 720 miles to get 3 x $25 cards :evil: :evil:.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by flywaysuzy »

This reminds me to find my Rona and the other gift certificates I cashed in for last year...must be in a file somewhere.
Mill Bay-I used to live at Durrance Lake years ago when I was at university. I remember I had to stop every night in the spring and help the little rough-skinned newts across the road. They were so cute.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by IdOp »

flywaysuzy wrote:I remember I had to stop every night in the spring and help the little rough-skinned newts across the road. They were so cute.
Hope you didn't touch them, as they're apparently quite poisonous. The minimalist in me will stick with nematode newts, lol.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

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Newts are common around here. Didn't know that they were poisonous - one day I saw the cat grab one and quickly spit it out again - guess that's why!

Have to smile when I hear Newt Gingrich's name in the news. He does kind of look like one...
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by queerasmoi »

Now that I have a car, I figured I'd get the fuel card but now that's been converted into AM Cash as well. So few rewards left that are useful and I only had 237 points left. Lots of items only 3 points out of reach but I don't feel inclined to go shopping just to gain those extra points. So I got one more movie certificate.

The only merchants in BC that do AM Cash are Rona (never shop there) and Shell (well I do have a car, but it's very fuel efficient and I only need to fill up once a month) so I'm not seeing any value. After this, might just cut up the AM card. They really don't care anymore.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by adrian2 »

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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by queerasmoi »

That'd be nice if there were any places to redeem AM Cash in BC! My choices are still limited to a renovation store and one chain of gas stations. Oh and an optometrist chain.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by Insomniac »

queerasmoi wrote: Oh and an optometrist chain.
An overpriced optometrist chain.

Do you know that you can get everyday stuff at Rona? Stuff even an apartment dweller can use like cleaning supplies, light bulbs, extension cords, computer cables ...
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by queerasmoi »

Insomniac wrote:
queerasmoi wrote: Oh and an optometrist chain.
An overpriced optometrist chain.

Do you know that you can get everyday stuff at Rona? Stuff even an apartment dweller can use like cleaning supplies, light bulbs, extension cords, computer cables ...
Still it seems silly to go out of my way to a store that is largely incongruous with my day-to-day activities.
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Re: Air Miles Devalued

Post by Zipper »

Thanks Adrian. 20 airmiles is about $2.

The Zippers never did go the cash route. The way they flog it you know the cash option is not a good deal so we use the miles to fly my son back from Vancouver each year on WestJet.

BMO World Mastercard has Westjet discounts and offer 1 mile for every $15 put on the card.

We get some gift cards too but the options are limited since they started the cash programme.
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