Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[dancin Disney style]

I've always been 100% Dream. My miles are always going to be predominantly for travel so I'm fine with leaving it this way. I do like the idea of using cash miles and transferring the money to a savings account but I do the vast majority of my groceries at RCSS.

 

[ottawamom]

I've got a long game plan. I need enough AM for 8 flights to Orlando in 2023 so my account is set to Dream to ensure I have enough of those. I will also need 8 park tickets so Dream for DS and DH accounts until I have enough for those. When I've reached that goal I will change over to Cash and take the cash out (paying for groceries) and transfer it to a Vacation fund for all the other expenses.

 

[tinkerone]

I've got a long game plan. I need enough AM for 8 flights to Orlando in 2023 so my account is set to Dream to ensure I have enough of those. I will also need 8 park tickets so Dream for DS and DH accounts until I have enough for those. When I've reached that goal I will change over to Cash and take the cash out (paying for groceries) and transfer it to a Vacation fund for all the other expenses.

That’s a good plan. You have it figured out nicely. By 2023 we will all need a good vacation so see you there.

 

[hdrolfe]

Mine are set to dream, to save for a trip or flights or tickets. I am using some for a night near Toronto zoo, I use them occasionally for stuff as well. If I used them as cash I would never be disciplined enough to put the money aside.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Our earning ratio is no different than it's ever been or will be. Dream all the way unless a big promo includes needing to use cash miles -- and without Rexall to quickly add some of those I'm not sure how i'll handle that going forward -- in which case i switch just long enough to earn those. With our banking being one big account lumped under our mortgage, i can't simply put money into our vacation fund because it only exists on paper. We never buy things we don't need strictly for airmiles (or pc points for that matter), might adjust our purchasing patterns on dry goods & cleaning supplies, and we strive for a 1:1 ratio (still can't figure out the other programme ) Because of that we treat our miles as free and use them for things we would rarely buy .. I mean, come on, who willingly spends $800 on a vacuum?!?! And we wouldn't have bought an 8 day park hopper without using miles either.

After watching all the troubles that people have had with travel arrangements made thru any 3rd party I will only book big tickets items direct. No flights except direct with the company (hate getting stuck with the stupid basic fares!!), no Disney except direct with them either. Will still probably use the miles for car rentals and one or 2 nights at hotels but those don't take as many miles and aren't deal breakers. But mainly my miles will be for "stuff"!!

 

[cari12]

My account is set to 100% Dream miles as well. We normally use the miles for flights, hotels and park tickets so it's decent value doing it this way. We'll see how I feel after we try to use the flight credits we have for our cancelled March trip and if that turns out not in our favour somehow. At this point we're not sure when we will be able to re-book and Disneyland has only extended the park tickets (also bought with AM) to Dec 16, 2021.

 

[bababear_50]

Airmiles cash/dream selection.
Well when there is a *big, easy, and cheap Blue Bonus I switch to Cash airmiles.
I just finished buying a bunch of Ubereats vouchers & Ultimate Dining Vouchers for Birthdays and Christmas using cash airmiles.
I have now switched over to Dream airmiles because in the past 6 months I've depleted my stockpile.
I would like to plan a big 2022 /2023 get away to Universal Orlando Studios (Royal Pacific Resort) and will use the dream miles for a hotel stay. If I can't get out of Canada I will use them for hotel/resort stay here.


Hugs
Mel

 

[Raimiette]

I do 100% dream but I do keep a small amount of cash miles around to use in case of promos. I primarily use it for flights/tickets but I have bought some merchandise when vastly discounted. lol

 

[marchingstar]

I don't want to flood the thread with responses, so I'll just say a general thanks to everyone who is sharing their approach I really like hearing how everyone is thinking about their points what feels like the best use of these points that we work for!

One thing I'm realizing is that I've spent a lot of time saving my miles, and it's been a super long time since I actually redeemed them. I feel like it might be as far back as the great discounted ticket run of 2015ish? The Canadian discount tickets right before they introduced expiry dates? Whoa!

 

[marchingstar]

Airmiles cash/dream selection.
Well when there is a *big, easy, and cheap Blue Bonus I switch to Cash airmiles.
I just finished buy a bunch of Ubereats vouchers & Ultimate Dining Vouchers for Birthdays and Christmas using cash airmiles.
I have now switched over to Dream airmiles because in the past 6 months I've depleted my stockpile.
I would like to plan a big 2022 /2023 get away to Universal Orlando Studios (Royal Pacific Resort) and will use the dream miles for a hotel stay. If I can't get out of Canada I will use them for hotel/resort stay here.
View attachment 522924

Hugs
Mel

RPR is so beautiful! and there's something really cool about getting to walk from your hotel to the parks. I hope you're able to make it, and if not I bet you'll find somewhere really nice to stay closer to home.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

I have mine set for 98% dream 2% cash. That way when any promos like the mega miles or Safeway where you cash in 95 cash miles get 25 AM comes around I am always prepared! It has worked best for me. That way, I don't have to worry about do I have enough Cash miles?

I am still hopeful for a late 2021 Disney/Universal trip. So I am just holding onto my miles for that trip. I will either use them for park tickets or hotels.

The last stash of miles I used for the the DD wedding to Mexico last year. My miles paid for 1.5 out of the 4 of use for our all inclusive ( before when you could use AM with Transat Travel ) It was great to save that money to put towards other things for the wedding/ trip!

 

[Disney Addicted]

i also like the flexibility of transferring $$ to a separate account. especially since dream rewards have roughly the same value as cash. thanks for sharing

I just wanted to add something here. When cashing in dream miles for items on Air Mile's dream reward website, the value is good! Especially the park tickets. I believe it's because Air Miles purchases the items in bulk and are able to offer them at a discount.

However, I discovered when going through the Personal Shopper Program, everything is marked UP. Also, if an item goes on sale, Air Miles will NOT give you a quote on the sale price - only the regular price. My computer retailed $2,000. It went on sale for $1,600 which is when I discovered no quotes on sale prices. I worked out the math afterwards and discovered if I had been cashing out my miles and putting them aside at $10 for every 95 miles, I would have "spent" way less miles on my computer and could have gotten it at the $1,600 price. Then I could have used the extra money to purchase additional hard drives, which I did anyways using survey money.

So now for me Dream Miles are for Dream Rewards only, not the Personal Shopper program, and Cash Miles tucked away to use for rewards I cannot get through Dream or to spend on vacation in the manner that I want.

Ohh and a friend ran into an issue, that I'm sure is quite rare to happen, but I thought I'd mention. She went through the Personal Shopper Program for a quote on a laptop. She agreed and Air Miles took the miles out of her account. You know how Air Miles says the quote is good for 2 weeks? Well, if the price goes up your quote is no good. Tt turns out Best Buy increased the price of the laptop by $100 the very same day Air Miles took the miles out of her account. My friend waited about 2 weeks and finally e-mailed Air Miles back to ask about the laptop. At that point she was informed the price went up and it would cost more miles. Air Miles did not contact her to explain this and tell her how many more miles she would need. At any rate, she was able to get the extra miles so Air Miles would finally order the laptop for her.

 

[marchingstar]

I just wanted to add something here. When cashing in dream miles for items on Air Mile's dream reward website, the value is good! Especially the park tickets. I believe it's because Air Miles purchases the items in bulk and are able to offer them at a discount.

However, I discovered when going through the Personal Shopper Program, everything is marked UP. Also, if an item goes on sale, Air Miles will NOT give you a quote on the sale price - only the regular price. My computer retailed $2,000. It went on sale for $1,600 which is when I discovered no quotes on sale prices. I worked out the math afterwards and discovered if I had been cashing out my miles and putting them aside at $10 for every 95 miles, I would have "spent" way less miles on my computer and could have gotten it at the $1,600 price. Then I could have used the extra money to purchase additional hard drives, which I did anyways using survey money.

So now for me Dream Miles are for Dream Rewards only, not the Personal Shopper program, and Cash Miles tucked away to use for rewards I cannot get through Dream or to spend on vacation in the manner that I want.

Ohh and a friend ran into an issue, that I'm sure is quite rare to happen, but I thought I'd mention. She went through the Personal Shopper Program for a quote on a laptop. She agreed and Air Miles took the miles out of her account. You know how Air Miles says the quote is good for 2 weeks? Well, if the price goes up your quote is no good. Tt turns out Best Buy increased the price of the laptop by $100 the very same day Air Miles took the miles out of her account. My friend waited about 2 weeks and finally e-mailed Air Miles back to ask about the laptop. At that point she was informed the price went up and it would cost more miles. Air Miles did not contact her to explain this and tell her how many more miles she would need. At any rate, she was able to get the extra miles so Air Miles would finally order the laptop for her.

super good point! we’re all pretty good shoppers, we could probably get better prices than AM does. though like @Donald - my hero , sometimes I like to put my miles towards things I like but wouldn’t necessarily buy.

the personal shopper is definitely never a good value though! one time i looked into it, the prices were bananas.

so are you still collecting both kinds, even after your experiences? or have you switched totally to cash?

 

[Disney Addicted]

so are you still collecting both kinds, even after your experiences? or have you switched totally to cash?

I have just over 3,100 in Dream. But I switched my card and my husband's card to 100% cash miles back in September. We want to either take an Alaska cruise; spending time in BC afterwards; and drive home OR visit Ireland, England and maybe Scotland. Originally I was checking Red Tag for vacation packages to Ireland (to scope out potential cost) and I could not find anything that really suited... What we'd really like to do is spend 2 or 3 weeks in the U.K. Fly into Dublin, rent a car and drive around to different places, spending a night or two here-and-there. Maybe do the same in Scotland. Then travel into England. Since we would be so close, I'd love to take the train into Paris for a night. Honestly, I cannot figure out how Red Tag would be able to help us do this. It seems to make more sense to cash out our miles and plan our own trip.

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

I hear you..im in the same boat..but go buy a 1$ chocolate bar and get 20$ worth of AM..but only if foodland is close.
We just did this twice with Sobeys fot 95AM each time..ok ours was kawartha ice cream.but yumm.

Looks like I may just get my Foodland AM...I found out the Disney Store in Limeridge Mall in Hamilton got a shipment of the Disney face masks, so I am going to brave the mall (I mean it is Disney) tomorrow and Foodland is on the way home...

 

[bgula]

Has anyone received the 95 AM from Bonus Boom from June?

 

[ottawamom]

Has anyone received the 95 AM from Bonus Boom from June?

I received mine August 11. Might be time to call.

 

[bgula]

I received mine August 11. Might be time to call.

I have it written down though that they have 120 days to award the miles, which would be ~Oct. 30.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I usually have enough dream miles for at least 3 flights to a cruise port. Right now I have over 12,000 as we were going to cruise this spring.

I have been doing Cash miles for a while now, and doing the same saving strategy as others here.

 

[ottawamom]

@bgula ,If you want to call try the "Others have reported receiving theirs earlier in August" line. Maybe they will do something about it. Did each of your individual offers post?