Air Miles Rewards Program is Canada’s largest loyalty program – Air Miles can be earned at more than 100 participating sponsor companies across Canada.
Air Miles is one of the best reward programs in Canada but many Canadians do not know what the secrets are on the Air Miles program and I wanted to share 20 ways Canadians can collect Air Miles faster with Air Miles secrets:
1. Avoid “Cash Back” Air Miles rewards
If you haven’t heard Air Miles has released two HUGE news announcements in 2012. The first was that Air Miles will now expire after 5 years and the second is that Air Miles is introducing an Air Miles Cash Reward option.
Air Miles Cash
Air Miles has basically created two reward streams: Cash Rewards and Dream Rewards. Dream Rewards are what everyone was and is collecting by default. Cash Rewards, the new system, are accumulated at the same rate as regular Air Miles. The only difference is that once you have 95 Air Miles you can trade these in at participating merchants for $10.
This means that each Air Mile using the cash rewards option is now worth 10.5 cents. However, if you use your Air Miles for a gift card you will receive a rate of 11.4 cents on average.
We recommend that you don’t collect the Air Miles Cash Rewards. The “regular” Air Miles are collected by default so if you have done nothing you are good.
If you’ve changed your account to start collecting Cash Rewards, change back to only collect Dream Rewards ASAP.
2. Shop online
Did you know you can earn Air Miles by shopping online?
You basically login to http://www.Air Milesshops.ca/ and select “Shop Now” for any sponsor, and sign in with your Collector Number. You will be taken to the partner’s site and shop as you normally would and you would earn Air Miles rewards.
They have popular retailers like Sears, Chapters, Dell, and eBay. This is an added bonus because you will earn Air Miles rewards just for making purchases you would normally would.
3. Buy gas gift cards during promotions
Sometimes Shell has promotions for in-store purchases. A recent promotion was for 10x the points for in-store purchases. Simply purchase a gift card and this lets you fill up at Shell with future purchases.
4. Wait for Mondays to book Air Miles Air rewards.
On Mondays, Gold Collectors save up to 40% on select flights. Redeem as soon as possible because the value of the rewards always changes.
5. Look for the highest value rewards.
A Best Western Travel Card $150 gift card is equal to 1125 Air Miles is 13.3 cents per mile. for something you are likely to use (if you travel) and that doesn’t expire.
6. Buy your gas at Shell
I always buy gas at Shell to get Air Miles. Where I live gas prices do not differentiate among retailers (Esso, Petro Canada, Husky). They are one of the top Air Miles sponsors and you earn 1 Air Miles reward mile on your first $20 purchase. They always seem to have bonus coupons to earn extra Air Miles.
My thoughts are that if you purchase gas and have the chance to earn reward miles you should stick with Shell. In saying that, always look for the cheapest price (use gasbuddy.com)
7. Shop during Safeway’s Customer Appreciation day.
Safeway gives 10 times the base reward miles on Customer Appreciation Day (1st Tuesday of each month).
Customer Appreciation Day Safeway
Only buy items with a decent discount or Air Miles bonus and then do your other shopping at a competitor if they are cheaper. You must purchase at least $35 worth of products.
8. Convert from other programs
Hbc Rewards points will be redeemed at a rate of 2,000 points for 1 Air Miles reward mile. These Air Miles reward miles will be displayed on your Air Miles Summary Statement.
9. Volunteer
When I’m shopping with a friend who answers “No” when the check out person asks if he/she has an Air Miles card I always volunteer my card and say, “Use mine!”.
10. Gift card bonuses
Here is a great way to collect a few bonus Air Miles reward miles on stores where you wouldn’t normally collect air miles! This is a simple trick that inexperienced Air Miles collectors might miss.
Here are some sample deals from a recent Safeway gift card promotion:
- Earn 25 bonus Air Miles when you purchase a Golf Town, Winners or Empire Theatres $25 gift card
- Earn 50 bonus Air Miles when you purchase one of the follwing $50 gift cards: HBC, Home Depot, Moxies, Future Shop
11. Sign up for Safeway Email Direct Newsletter for 100 FREE miles
This is THE EASIEST and CHEAPEST 100 Air Miles Reward Miles you will ever receive and definitely worth doing!
Safeway Email Direct
You will need a Safeway Club Card number which can be obtained by completing the form on the Safeway website. Get 100 completely FREE air miles reward miles when you sign up for the Safeway Email Direct newsletter.
To sign up visit here.
12. Use all bonus coupons.
Use ALL Safeway Spend $100 Get 100 bonus Air Miles coupons – you can find one version in the flyer, another via email or online at Air Miles.ca.
Here is an example from an online PDF and another coupon from AirMiles.ca.
Safeway $100 bonus coupon
They have different PLU codes so although technically you shouldn’t be able to use both at the same time, the computer will accept them. Use the self-checkout to get this to work.
13. Don’t bother buying any “merchandise rewards” with Air Miles.
Their merchandise rewards are not competitive, even the gold “specials”. You will save more money with a purchase at Future Shop, The Bay, or Canadian Tire.
Here is an example: A SONY Reader WiFi, is available for 1,675 reward miles on the Air Miles rewards store. This sounds like a good deal, but if you were to purchase this item on Sony.ca it would be available for $129.99.
This means that when you divide the price by the number of miles you get a return of only 7.7 cents per Air Mile, a lot less than a cash reward.
14. Calculate the dollar value of an Air Mile when shopping
I recommend to look for rewards that give me the best dollar value (ie: divide the dollar value of the reward by the number of Air Miles required — higher value is best).
Here is an example:
One trick I always do is to figure out the “net price” I am paying. I attach a dollar value of $.114 per Air Mile and subtract this from the price being charged to get the “net price”.
i.e. Pampers $29.99 (Buy 2 Boxes get 100 Bonus Air Miles).
I would earn 101 Air miles (100 bonus Air Miles and 1 for a purchase of $20).
This is a value of $11.51 in Air Miles.
This brings the price down to $18.48 for 2 large boxes of diapers.
Bottom line — don’t buy anything just to get Air Miles.
Calculate the Air Miles as a discount and if it makes it cheaper and it’s a product you need anyway, then buy it.
If the price with the Air Miles discount comes to about the same as the competitor’s price, buy from the competitor and save yourself the stress of waiting for the Air Miles to be credited and hoping you can still redeem them for the same value two or three months later.
15. Collect Air Miles on your next house purchase.
Did you know that you can earn 2 AIR MILES reward miles for every $1,000 property value bought or sold through a participating CENTURY 21 office in Canada. This is a nice bonus if you were planning to use a particular agent.
However, if you sold your house for $500,000 and bought another one for the same price you would earn a tidy 2,000 Air Miles. This is a great non-taxable benefit from selling/buying a home.
16. Get an Air Miles Credit Card.
Get the American Express Air Miles Credit Card and earn a welcome bonus of 150 reward miles the first time you use the Card.
One of the best no-annual fee Air Miles rewards credit cards is the BMO AIR MILES MasterCard. They offer 1 Air Mile for every $20 in spending with no annual fee. As well, they have a respectable insurance benefits package.
BMO Air Miles Credit Card
Rewards
- 1 Air Mile for every $20 in spending.
- 1.5x Miles at Shell, National Car Rental and Alamo
Bonuses
- Theft Insurance (90 days)
- Extended Warranty (up to 1 year)
17. Get your Raincheck.
If you are buying any Air Miles specials at Safeways (example is Buy 5 Get 50 Air Miles) and they no longer have any quantity get a rain check. When you get your rain check ask for multiples of the rain check so that instead of buying just 5 to get 50 Air miles if you bought 50 you would get 500 Air miles.
All Safeway rainchecks are good for 90 days. A great tip is to save these for their monthly Buy $100 Get 100 bonus Air Miles.
18. Hang onto receipts.
A good idea is to hang onto your receipts so you can verify that when Air Miles.ca updates your balance you can check that your account was credited correctly.
19.Use the Air Miles app to find new sponsors
The AIR MILES App is available for iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices only. The AIR MILES App is free to download.
One of the most exciting new features of the re-designed AIR MILES Application is the Check-in Challenge on now until April 30, 2012.
The Check-in Challenge is the first ever Air Miles rewards mobile game that ranks the number of Check-ins Collectors do at Air Miles Sponsor locations against other Collectors each month. At the end of the month, the top 50 Collectors with the highest number of Check-ins will get a Check-in Bonus, 2x the reward miles they earned that month at the Sponsors they Checked in at. Collectors can compete against each other to earn more reward miles faster.
20. Sign up with Grocery Alerts.ca to get the latest Air Miles matchups and bonus Air Miles coupons
Each week we share the top Air Miles specials from the Metro flyer and Safeway flyer. Each week we share the best deals from the flyer and show coupon matchups and show Air Miles bonus coupons from Safeway to use. We even share the “Air Miles” value with the major deals to show you the rock-bottom price you are paying with the Air Miles included.
Sign up for our free newsletter and join over 21,000 other Canadian readers that are informed of the latest Safeways coupons and Canadian coupons.
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56 Comments
The airmilesshop.ca sometimes have bonus offers. I bought a hard drive from Dell and went through website for the points (and 5th vendor for gold status) but I was surprised to receive 15% off bonus coupon. This was a dell daily special so 15% was a really good price.
Does signing up for Safeway e-mail direct still earns you 100 miles?
Ben, unfortunately, they have a contest to win 10,000 miles. The automatic 100 is now gone.
I bought two iPads during December and I did not receive 20x the points or any points a all? Can someone help me? I have my receipts for the both purchases.
Jill – stop being helpless. Call airmiles and sort it out yourself
umm what the phone number?
the 20x you’re talking about was offered through airmilesshops.ca which is a way to earn air miles when you shop online, you would have had to come through this site, sign-in with your collector number, click through to apple and shop as u normally would and u would have earned 20x on your iPad purchases
the 20x you’re talking about was offered through airmilesshops.ca which is a way to earn air miles when you shop online, you would have had to come through this site, sign-in with your collector number, click through to apple and shop as u normally would and u would have earned 20x on your iPad purchases
I used around 5000 points to buy a Kitchenaid Mixer with dough hook About a year and a half ago. The machine came with a one year warranty and just over a year later it was worn out. The repair cost is over half the price of a new machine. I would have been better off trading in the air miles for cash and using my credit card to buy the machine. That would’ve doubled my warranty up to the one additional year that BMO Mastercard offers and I would still have a machine that works. I thought Kitchenaid machines were built to last but I was wrong.
if i purchase something a rona for example and return it, will i lose those points?
thanks
Yes, the air miles are also returned.
Yes, I did.
I did what was asked what happened to my 20 air mile points??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
So if Airmiles will expire in 5 years, how will we know (how many are left)? Also, you suggested not using the miles for merchandise, if not, then for what? Thanks!
Kelly, did you try to login to your account?
The easiest way to keep it active is to make a small purchase at the store or gas fillup at Shell.
One option is the cash-rewards. Each Air Mile using the cash rewards option is now worth 10.5 cents but at least it is better than nothing.
In Ontario all Metro grocery stores give airmiles.I only use Shell gas because their airmiles offers are the best -look for their coupons at the cashier counter as well. The LCBO is also good for airmiles, but we don’t drink much.But with two cars and gas the miles add up quickly.
Judy,
You are lucky to have the LCBO award miles as well!
We don’t have much price difference between gas stations in Victoria – but we also go to Shell for the Air Miles (it is something at least).
NOT EVERY Metro in Thunder Bay Ontario they DO NOT accept airmiles :(
Great tips – especially the one about the multiple 100 bonus miles coupons having different PLU’s!
The only one I would questionis the Raincheck suggestion – have you ever confirmed that the raincheck will also net you the bonus miles? My understanding is that the raincheck will indeed honour the price of the items, but since the bonus miles are tied into the computer for that week only, I am curious to know how you would get the bonus miles when you used your raincheck. Do they offer an airmiles specific raincheck that has to be processed at customer service similar to when miles are missed by the computer right at the checkout?
As well, a suggestion that might be somewhat region specific, but using Airmiles to get to remote Manitoba locations (Churchill, Thompson etc) from Winnipeg is AMAZING value as those tickets could often set you back $1000+ but need minimal miles.
Kali,
I recommend using these on expensive flights like you mentioned. Those remote locations are expensive without a seat sale.
On Rainchecks there is an area where they say where bonus Air Miles are given.
Hi, lots of interesting comments about Airmiles which I’ve been collecting since 1997, fifteen years now. I have never redeemed and I have just 1800 points. I use a Visa that gives me a cash dividend at the end of each year and while I like the cash reward, I wish it was accumulating seperately for a special gift for myself. It’s paid in December so that’s a good time to get a bonus but it just disapears into my own cash flow. What I like about Airmiles is that eventually I will get myself a present that I wouldn’t likly buy for myself otherwise. Obviously I’m disappointed to learn that AM now expire after five years. I started collecting Sobey’s points earlier this year and was surprised how quickly I earned a $10 off credit that I can use anytime. Since I follow a strict budget I will save them until some month when I run out of money before I run out of month. What i really like is the keychain tag, much like Waramps tag, so I don’t need to carry a points card in my wallet. I may join Presidents choice points since I do most of my food shop there. At other stores I must sound pretty cranky when they ask me… “Do you have/want a points cards sir?”…. my answer is usually…. No I don’t and I would just prefer to get the best possible price everyday rather than see part of the cost of my purchase go toward paying for your companies points program. (it drives me crazy when the cashier tells me that the points program is free, that’s an argument I’ve learned to walk away from, LOL, or… grrrrr) I don’t want a wallet full of points cards.
Thanks for reading my rant…. I have a question…. Can anyone tell me where to look to find out what happens to the airmiles I’ve accumulated since 1997, do they expire sometime this year if I don’t use them? do they expire in five years? I didn’t notice an expiry date in my AirMiles account when I signed in. I should have bought a bunch of gift cards earlier this year, because now I would have to use the cash option as they are phasing out gift cards. Which is dumb because I can’t use them as gifts for friends. They really are just trying to make more money on this so called loyalty program. It makes me angry… like I said… I would really just prefer to get the best possible price everyday, rather than all this stress. It’s a funny way to show appreciation for loyalty. I don’t think I’ll be collecting Air Miles for much longer. I think the cash dividend makes more sense for me, maybe if I was weathly and spent a lot more money than i do I’d like the points. Don’t kid yourself though, anything a retailer does is to make more money for the store, and take more money from the shopper, that would be me and you. Points/loyalty is just a big ad campaign. Thanks again, take care….
Air Miles are a waste of time. Presidents Choice and Walmart give you back 1 percent on every dollar spent. If you spend 1000 dollars you get back 100 but with airmiles in order to get 100 dollars you must first get 950 miles @ $20 a mile (950×20=1850). Who does Air Miles think they are fooling; my guess is quite a few, based on the comments in this blog.
Cheers…
Bill
Can you tell me more about the 1% back on every dollar spent at Walmart and Loblaws?
Air Miles have some positive and negatives. My thought is that you are already paying for these promotions in the prices so you should get some good return on these.
Umm…1% of $1000 is equal to $10, not $100!!!
Hi Steven, In #14 above you use a dollar value of $.114 per Air Mile. Is it complicated to explain why this amount?
Thanks.
How can i use my reward airmiles at Safeway, Penticton, B.C. Canada?
You can use the cash reward portion of Air Miles at your Safeway ($9 cash back after 100 mile redemption at your store).
They are also date-stamping Air Miles now, so you have to use them within 5 years of narnieg them. This means people who accumulate slowly will be penalized.
great article. i have been collecting for many years. we use the gold mastercard from bmo, yes there is a fee but we get 1 mile per 15 dollars. Also use air mile american express at costco. we put all our farm and personal expenses on one of these cards, transfer our HBC points and shop coupons at safeway. most of our airmiles are used for air flights for holidays or moving the kids to university. cant say i like the new expiration…lost a lot of air canada aeromiles when thdy did that. time goes fast!
Marg,
Thanks for the compliment. The AMEX Costco card is great but there is a fee attached.
As long as you make a small transaction your points do not expire but the new expiration dates are not good for consumers.
Any system such as Airmiles must pay for itself, and we are paying a hidden price – either through merchandise or through reduced redemption value. Reward plans need to be transparent and easy to use; and so when we read comments above about complicated cents discount per air miles – stand back – reassess the real value of purchasing merchandise or whatever, just to redeem points. Its useless. Its a pity we can’t opt for cash in lieu of redeeming points for things we don’t need or want.
13. Don’t bother buying any “merchandise rewards” with Air Miles.
I’m not sure about this one.
I’m looking at the Canon EOS Rebel T3i with 18-55 IS II kit. Airmiles wants 7400 air miles. Henry’s website has that camera on sale for $829 plus tax (13% in Ontario) for a total of $936.77 or about 12.6 cents per airmile.
I considered going to London England in May. Luftansa has a flight for $1109 with all taxes in. In May I would have to give up 5425 Airmiles or about 20.4 cents per airmile. However if I go through airmiles, I can go on the Luftansa flight but must pay $641 in taxes and other fees. So the 5425 airmiles are now worth only 8.6 cents per airmile.
In this case, getting the merchandise is a better deal.
Al,
You bring up a great point. I am sure in the catalog that there are some deals using the Air Miles (great find on the camera).
You always need to break down the value of the Air Miles per dollar.
Sometimes flying is not the best option when using your Air Miles.
Hi Steven, I also live on the island. I’m attaching a copy of Al’s post .. Math wasn’t my strongest subject :( Can you please document in long hand calculating the cost in cents per airmile with more detail? I cannot figure it out, but I think being able to do so would be valuable. I know you gave an earlier example with the pampers but it didn’t click for me.
If I’m looking for example to calculate the airmile value for 1100 point item where do I start?
Thanks, Leslie
Al Lukachko
March 7, 2012 at 2:35 pm
13. Don’t bother buying any “merchandise rewards” with Air Miles.
I’m not sure about this one.
I’m looking at the Canon EOS Rebel T3i with 18-55 IS II kit. Airmiles wants 7400 air miles. Henry’s website has that camera on sale for $829 plus tax (13% in Ontario) for a total of $936.77 or about 12.6 cents per airmile.
I considered going to London England in May. Luftansa has a flight for $1109 with all taxes in. In May I would have to give up 5425 Airmiles or about 20.4 cents per airmile. However if I go through airmiles, I can go on the Luftansa flight but must pay $641 in taxes and other fees. So the 5425 airmiles are now worth only 8.6 cents per airmile.
In this case, getting the merchandise is a better deal.
Signed up for the newsletter.
I did also but did not receive confirmation of extra 100 Airmiles, just that I had been entered in a contest for extra miles. Does anyone know how long before the airmiles shows up on the statement? (Maybe I missed this part and I apologize if I did). Also, yes, I agree that purchasing an airline ticket on airmiles is not the way to go. Because of the taxes not included, this is not a good way to spend the miles.
I think the link to the 100 bonus air miles to sign up for the Safeway email alert is no longer valid.
Got 200 air miles today at Safeway :)
I earn quite a few Air Miles by using up my FPC’s at Metro together with bonus Air Mile coupons.
We collect airmiles EVERYWHERE with our cards amd with our AirMiles mastercard. We use the miles to fly out friends and family.
Sharing on facebook, and I get the safeway.ca newsletter… they always have coupons for bonus airmiles and even extra item discounts. I also like to redeem for items. Usually around christmas when money can be tight buying for everyone on your list.
I collect at Sobeys here in New Brunswick and also at Jean Coutu
Look for in store airmiles bonuses
ex. if you are going to buy 2 frozen dinners, but there is a special, buy 4 get 30 airmiles, just buy 4, and put extra items in your freezer or pantry!
What do you suggest us to buy with our airmiles, rather than merchandise? Gift cards? I find there aren’t a lot of options for gift cards these days – other than movie passes and some attraction tickets. I just used my airmiles to get something for the first time a few months ago – an underwater camera, which was great because it wasn’t something I would have bought on my own – just an extra bonus present to myself, before a tropical vacation:)
Desiree, have you considered the Rexall gift card or a Shell car wash gift card?
That is great that you used the the miles to buy something you typically wouldn’t purchase!
Love airmiles and they have a great selection to choose from when you want to spend them.
Get extra airmiles,at the bank and LCBO !! would luv to win the coupons thanks
Great idea with the LCBO – we don’t have this option in BC (would be nice though).
I’m in Ontario and we don’t have Safeway. You get way more air miles with groceries than with alcohol.
You are a little off with this comment. Ontario is a very big province, and you are focussed on your area only. From Thunder Bay west, Safeway has the Airmiles franchise, and there are three Safeway stores here in Thunder Bay, plus Dryden, Fort Frances, and Kenora. I originally signed up for AirMiles in 1996 at Safeway, in Kenora. BTW, Metro in T.Bay has “ThunderPoints” to more-or-less match airmiles specials; 125 points collected electronically = $20 gift certificate mailed to you.
I concur with Duncan being a former Thunder Bay resident. I also have an AirMiles card from 1996!
The farthest store east is in Thunder Bay (unless there are some in Sault Ste Marie?
There are lots of ways to earn points in Sault Ste Marie. But for groceries it would be Metro. We have Rexall, LCBO, Shell and the best way now to earn points is BMO Mastercard 1 for every $15 or Amex when your shopping at Costco
I always check to see if I can get airmiles for shopping online before I go out to shop.
wait they must have upgraded since I got it–just read your article a little slower and noticed there’s not fee for the 1 airmile/$20! Guess I’ll be giving them a call!!!
I got an airmiles credit card which gives me 1 airmile per $40 spent (cumulative)…if you pay a small fee, you can get the “gold” card and get 1 airmile per $20 spent. I also “liked” their page on facebook–they often have contests for airmiles!
shared on facebook…. thanks for the tips!