Air Miles changes the rules in midflight

i was going to use them for RESPs for my kids, but when i emailed the company that these would come from they were non-responsive when asked for a little transparency on what i would be putting my money into.

What a rip-off! Flight (and I'm assuming greater mileage needed for products) mileage increases are a joke. Airmiles never has good flights and they charge you an arm and a leg for taxes/fees.

Long live Aeroplan!!!

I prefer to use my air miles for groceries at christmas time ,I get the certificates and then shop and give to a family in need

I quit using the "air miles program" about 5 years ago and have never looked back. Whenever I tried to book a flight out of our town (3 times), I was told that there were no available seats (because air miles only gets 4 seats on the plane to book) or I could drive 250 miles to the next airport get on a plane. I've since switched to a mastercard rewards program and have booked 2 flights with no issues whatsoever. Good bye airmiles program. You made it hard on this customer, and so this customer will never be back .

We have collected airmiles for years and fly at least once a year. We have never had a problem getting decent flights and/or five seats for all of us together. Yes, we still have to pay taxes etc but when you add up regular flights for five of us at at $2000+, the $800 we pay on airmiles is a deal for us. Also, have bought gift cards and this year was able to buy our disneyland passes. Even though there is an increase I still feel it is a good deal for us.

I used some of my air miles to travel to Alberta ( Edmonton) .
That was back in 2006 and I had to pay the taxes then .
So doing it now will be no different. Does that also mean that
it will take more points to travel also ?

Yes, I guess I collect air miles, although for our family, it's a joke. We get asked for the card at the liquor store, that's about it. We've supposedly been collecting for years now, however, I haven't figured out how to redeem them. I collect PC points at Zehrs...and find that VERY easy to redeem...so I don't think much at all about "air miles." (Again, "air miles" is a joke to our family.)

I saved up mine and got 2 hunderd bucks off my new glasses!

800 airmiles for a $100 bus ticket? That's a lousy deal!

For 800 airmiles I have to spend 800 x $20 = $ 16,000. My CAA Mastercard gives back 1% in travel money, or $160 in this case, i.e. 60% more.

A well-researched article should make this kind of comparison.

I've been collecting Air Miles for at least 20 years and I completely agree with those here who have said that it's practically impossible to get a flight and if they do have something, I must stay overnight in a connecting city, which means pay for a hotel room or use more Air Miles to pay for it (and by the way, it takes about the same number of miles for a hotel stay as for a flight within Canada!). I have almost completely stopped collecting them and have even cancelled my credit card that enabled me to collect more miles and have switched over to Aeroplan. The BIG advantage to collecting Aeroplan miles is that you can book a flight online via their website, so no long wait times on the phone, and secondly, they have a LOT more availability...sadly, I've been completely disappointed and fed up with the Air Miles program.

Years ago, I redeemed Air Miles for a flight or two. After paying all the fees and taxes, I think the result was that I could book a flight on-sale using "real" money for a comparable, or possible lesser, amount to what it cost me in cash with Air Miles. Since then, I only use Air Miles for merchandise and gift cards. While the number of points charged can be high, at least these don't cost me anything in cash.

It was a great deal when you could fly with WestJet for 50% off the Airmiles if you had the AirMiles Mastercard. I haven't bought (with cash) a plane ticket in about 5 years, always flew with Air Miles. With the WestJet deal no longer in place with Mastercard, and now with the amount of miles going up, I forsee my crazy AirMiles collecting coming to an end. As soon as RBC releases their new WestJet Mastercard, I will be switching.

I have been an airmiles collector since 1998 and I have never been more disappointed with Airmiles. First, BMO and Westjet cancel the relationship between each other where they would offer flights at a discounted rate or airmiles required. I rememeber a flight from west to east in canada taking about 1400 airmiles... well its like double now and thats even for a gold collector. I collect well over 1500 airmiles per year but its becoming unreasonable. I just used over 6000 airmiles this christmas as it didnt make sense anymore to use them for flights. The whole point for collection in the first place was to use them for flights. I will be reviewing the process again shortly and making my decision. I am thinking that many people are in the same boat and will re-evaluate why they use airmiles.

The gift card selection seems to be the best alternative these days and they do come in handy as well. Anyway, just me two cents worth... Wise up Airmiles, otherwise you could be left out in the cold if you dont remain competitive and provide customer value.

Toe-Knee

this program is definatly lossing its lustre, use my miles for movie passes cause to plane rides are no longer a deal 1600 miles and the small fee was what i joined for... even buying shell gas means you need to by high octane to collect the miles ...time to cash in eh

One friend tried to redeem a men's watch and he was sent a women's model instead. When asked to replace it with a men's model, Airmiles refused, and cited their terms and conditions. The least they could have done was replace the out of stock men's model with anoter MEN's watch. The programme to me is a total waste of time, and I've been collecting for over 10 years, never once redeeming anything due to blackouts and unavailable flights, and a ridiculous risk of getting something i didn't want at redemption time.

Put it this way, if I redeem the Jamie Oliver professional series cook set, I don't want to be sent Starfrit junk. To be effectively told I've wasted my miles.

I plan on redeeming my airmiles in one shot and never using it again. There are too many options offered by credit card companies to bother with this trap ever again.

We collect Airmiles big time. Using them on flights is a joke. We earn well over 4000 miles a year buying buying everything with our Airmiles Mastercard. We pay the balance eachmonth so no interest charges. Use the HBC Mastercard to shop at HBC stores then convert the point to Airmiles and get 50% extra miles. Use Rogers for magazines and get 100 miles each year. we redeem our point for Metro certificates (just redeemed $600 worth) and put the money against plane tickets. Far more efficient. We buy our concert tickets, sports tickets and vacation on the card. We even pay for food at Bulk Barn with it. We live near the US so we fly on their airlines resulting in a tremendous savings over Canadian international flights.

As for people who are complaining about how awful the program is, you clearly haven't done your homework. The miles are not good for flights, but use them for certifcates for things you normally shop for. Keep the normal money you would have used aside in a TFSA and let it earn interest in a mutal fund or other investment vehicle tax free. Cash in the money and the extra from the return and you'll come out much farther ahead. Whining will get you nowhere except point out that you don't plan well.

Maybe I'll cash in some miles to get sympathy cards for all the complainers - just kidding. Do what works for you and share your success ideas.

Just reading other comments and can't say I've ever tried to book a flight using the program but have used miles collected to book car rentals numerous times and have been very happy.

I have been a member of BMO mastercard since inception. Since M/C has severed their recent relationship with Westjet, it no longer is an incentive and what you require in airmiles for certain products is a joke!! I can pull of better deals on air travel than what the Airmiles can offer, even with their 40% discount offered by Airmiles as a cash transaction! I use my mastercard for everything and of course pay my balance in full at the end of each month. Yes, you are right, the taxes and admin. fees that Air Miles charges is outrageous!!! What used to be somewhat of a good incentive to be a BMO mastercard holder is no longer! I plan on cashing in on my accumulated air miles for whatever because there is DEFINITELY better credit card incentives out there. GOOD BYE BMO MASTERCARD!!!!!

Air Miles has not only become a bad joke its a practical joke played on its customers. I've been collecting airmiles for over a decade and wanted to buy a hybrid scooter when I got to around 19000 air miles. They then discontinued offering the scooters.
In the mean time I've been collecting air miles mostly through AMEX and Safeway. Safeway is now so expensive because of airmiles it has become prohibitive to shop there for me. For example, a six pack of 710ml pepsi bottles costs $2.50 at Walmart, the same six pack costs $4.50 at Safeway. Safeway in a time limited offer is giving 75 air miles if you buy 4 six packs. This is rediculous, you pay $8.00 more at Safeway for the same product which is the same amount of money you get back in air miles. You get no benefit from the airmiles or shopping at Safeway and you are forces to use what air miles you do have or have purchased at one of their sponsors.
I am basing the value of the airmiles on 175 air miles equaling a $20.00 gas certifcate at Shell.
Thus, air miles is just a scam now to get you to use their sponsors for nothing in return. You spend more money then you otherwise would and it benefits only air miles who get huge sums of money from the sponsors.
I urge everyone not to use air miles anymore. I'm looking into aeroplan.

I completely understand why AirMiles is raising the number of miles required to fly. It is reasonable to expect that costs go up over time and we are in a very tough economy. What I've done with my Airmiles is stop using them for flights since you still have to pay the taxes, and purchase gas gift cards instead. You can purchase $400 of Shell gas cards with 3500 Airmiles. This is a way better deal than spending 3500 miles on a flight. In 2009 all but five of my gas purchases were paid for with Shell Gas cards as I was able to cash for $400 four times. Check it out!