If you're anything like me, then you've been collecting Air Miles since you first got your card, but have never redeemed them for anything. Like me, you're probably sitting on a very small fortune (I might even have enough employee testimonials of cruise line jobs to get a movie ticket and a small popcorn).
It seems Air Miles has very recently changed their rules. If you're a collector, as of December 31 st , 2011, you have 5 years to use your existing points. After that, unfortunately, they'll expire (bye-bye free movie). As of New Year's Day, reward miles are only valid for 5 years after they're first posted.
When you make a purchase at participating stores (like the LCBO), you gather points on the money you spend. The points, in turn, can be redeemed for merchandise, including plane tickets and holiday getaway packages, gift cards, subscriptions and electronic goods. You can even donate your rewards to a good cause.
Up until this year, Air Miles didn't have an expiration date, so collectors could save up for something really big without worrying about losing them. Not so anymore. Other changes to Air Miles programs include a new instant-redemption feature called Air Miles Cash . Now, instead of accumulating points, you can redeem your Air Miles at the till and use them in place of cash.
Not long after I got my Air Miles card, I remember checking out their website. I was excited to see what I could get for all my points. To my dismay, I found that I'd have to spend a LOT of money to accumulate employee testimonials of cruise line jobs enough points for even the smallest items. To be honest, I haven't employee testimonials of cruise line jobs been back to their site since, yet I still collect my miles. Let's see what I can get now.
After cruising around their website, I've found that not much has changed, including the number of points I have accumulated. After being with the program since October of 2008 I have collected a whopping 287 points. Merchandise that I would otherwise not be interested in can be 'purchased' for a ridiculous number of Air Miles – most for well over 1,000 miles.
Air Miles can be redeemed for just about anything employee testimonials of cruise line jobs you can think of. I found travel certificates for car rentals, hotel stays and travel costs. The kitchen and home section employee testimonials of cruise line jobs offered employee testimonials of cruise line jobs items for your bedroom and bathroom, the kitchen, and even the laundry room. Heck, if you could save up 24,100 points, you could get yourself a General Electric 22.1 cubic foot Energy Star refrigerator, but at this rate, it would take me 335 years to accumulate that amount of points.
So what can I get with my 287 rewards points? Not a heck of a lot. For 220 points, I can get a $25 iTunes card, for 175 miles, I can get a $20 grocery card for Metro, and a Via Rail pass worth $25 will set me back 175 miles. I guess we're back to the movie package. For 190 points, I can take a friend to the movies. Along with our admission, we'll get a regular-sized popcorn to share and 2 regular soft drinks.
If you haven't done it already, you'll need to create an Air Miles account. Once your account has been created, check out the products and services available for purchase. Once you've found something that you want, click 'Add to Cart'. You will likely be asked to agree to the Terms of Service first, though. Continue to the 'Checkout' where the final total will be deducted from the number of Air Miles you have accumulated. Shipping costs are included in the total; shipping will take anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks. So, it looks like my boyfriend and I will be heading to the movies in a few weeks, courtesy of Air Miles.
If you bank with BMO, your MC is linked to Air Miles and you can accumulate A LOT more points per month...I have had over 20,000 employee testimonials of cruise line jobs points many times and have redeemed over 3 flights overseas and/or to the U.S. To accumulate points, you just have to shop in the right places! Bank w/ BMO, get gas at Shell/Beaver, buy groceries at Metro, shop online at Expedia/Amazon/etc.etc.etccc...You in turn can redeem points for great items!
At an average earning rate of 1 mile per $15.00 spent, Josie Secada (above) would have spent $300,000.00 several times over to earn the points she claims. In fact, if you invest in a BMO GIC you will earn only 1 mile per $1000.00 invested, in which case Josie would have to invest 20 million dollars several employee testimonials of cruise line jobs times over to earn the amount she claims. Josie s income seems to be a bit higher than most. She also claims she has redeemed over 3 flights... but does not mention if that was 4 flights or 5 flights or 6 flights...an odd claim.
The program has been a waste of time for many years. After at least a dozen years as a collector I have earned four grocery coupons worth $20.00 each and a gas coupon given to my son in college who then couldn t find a Shell station to redeem it. I finally found one in Cambridge.
I fill up at shell every day as I work on the road a lot. I put $100 worth of fuel into my truck daily and put it on my mastercard employee testimonials of cruise line jobs and use my airmiles card. I shop almost exclusively at Safeway and use my airmiles card whenever i can for other items.
I don t understand why so many people complain about this. If you are going to buy gas anyway, buy it at a Shell it is usually the same price as its competition. You might pay more for groceries at Safeway but you get a bigger store, cleaner and friendlier service (at least in my town).
If you do a home removation project at the right time, both Rona and Timbermart have some nice Air Miles bonus programs employee testimonials of cruise line jobs where you can collect several hundred employee testimonials of cruise line jobs points in short order, employee testimonials of cruise line jobs Metro also has programs where you buy 2 or 3 of some item and collect 5 or 10 bonus points, and these are all in addition to the points that you will earn anyway. There are also several credit cards out there where you can earn extra points by using the card in addition to the points that you would earn anyway.
You need to revisit your math. A smart and dedicated Air Miles shopper should have no problem cranking up 20,000 points while spending less than $50,000, including using the right credit card for groceries, gas and other expenses. A $50 dollar purchase, along with a 50 point bonus and the right credit card will net 56 points. At that rate you only need to spend $17,858 to earn 20,000 points. Well within the average persons income for 2 years of collecting.
There are ways to earn points...lots of them. You just have to be a smart shopper. employee testimonials of cruise line jobs In one shopping endevor I spent $120 and earned 450 AirMiles. With bonus points, and out west in Safeway they have times where you can get 100 airmiles for a $100 spent. In one year I earned 4000 airmiles. I buy movie tickets, I got a GPS..etc. I don t have a CC linked to Airmiles so this was just using my card at the store...mostly Shell Gas Stations and Safeway Grocery Store. And then the site often has bonus offers, coupons etc. Must say I don t like the expire thing..but my airmiles has saved me lots of money...and they points were earned with just everyday purchases.
Knowing that Air Miles charges the retailer for use of their system and points collected. The reason behind this is to use airmiles to drive more sales to your business because people want the points.
Also this means that they have collected money from the retailer for the points they then hand over to the consumer that doesn t take it. Wanna bet there will be a class action law suite to force airmiles to either cash out peoples points and sent them a cheque or properly refund the money they charged the retailer for those points.
I am an Airmiles collector and have nothing against employee testimonials of cruise line jobs the program, employee testimonials of cruise line jobs however it is not a free program. employee testimonials of cruise line jobs When you sign up you agree to allow Airmiles to gather your purchasing information (sent electronically to airmiles when you give the retailer your card) and it is then sold to third party companies. You pay for the Airmiles program with your own personal shopping history. Which allows employee testimonials of cruise line jobs companies to target you more directly with advertising.
I redeemed 6400 points which were accumulated over a period of just under 2 years and received $800 worth of Marlin Travel employee testimonials of cruise line jobs gift certificates which are being applied towards for my vacation in St.Lucia later this month.
Even thou my son has an excellant medical plan, he pays all his bills with his card. Then he collects it back from the insurance. Last year he used his airmiles to bring his 2 sisters across Canada for a family event. In one year he has earned enough miles to take his family (4) out west for a vacation.
To Ray Golding above - I LOVED your post and it s so true. After reading Josie s post at the top I figured she s probably a BMO employee. I think twice we got tickets to the Blue Jays in Toronto a long long time ago, but they don t offer those anymore so we haven t really investigated what else is on offer. As far as I m concerned, the majority of these free programs are focused on the rich getting more perks because they are the ones spending the big bucks to get big points.
I don t like the expiration on air miles either. I said on the their face book page when they announced the airmiles expiration that they were following in the footsteps of aeroplan. I had aeroplan, and there were too many blackouts, had to book a year in advance in most cases and never got to use my points for flights.
I do like airmiles much better. I usually employee testimonials of cruise line jobs collect between 12000-20000 miles per year. I have taken trips for flights many times and never had any problems employee testimonials of cruise line jobs because there are NO blackout periods. If they change that like aeroplan..they are finished because the no blackout is a definite perk. I have a BMO GOLD mastercard and that enables me to automatically get 25% off the air miles needed for a flight. For example employee testimonials of cruise line jobs I just finished booking a trip to Florida..normally it would take 2675 miles from Newfoundland, but because I m a BMO gold MC holder it was 2006 miles. No, I didn t spend $30,000.00 to get 2006 miles because a lot of mine are by double dipping or taking advantage of promotions like bonus miles. What I mean by double dipping is using my airmiles card at Foodland and the payin
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