Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[bababear_50]

I went for a special trip to Sobeys for a big shop post-isolation. It's out of the way for us so I only go there when I can make it worth it.

I did two transactions - one on my husband's card which had a $50 for 50AMs on it, and one on mine. Managed to take advantage of a lot of Max-o-Miles promos. Also found another offer on goldfish crackers.

Total take home was not too bad - 512 AMs between the two transactions but keep in mind there was a big spend.

But guess what?

Forgot to use my "cash in 95" offer to complete the Bonus Boom. Fail!

Great haul of miles Hon. Congrats on finally being able to get out and do a bit of shopping.

Yeah my brain was a bit foggy last week too..... I had to return to the car because I forgot the shopping bags in the car.
It's hard to remember everything with hand sanitizer ,,masks, gloves and keeping hands away from head ,,watching everywhere you step..
not getting too close to anyone or letting them get too close to you. AHHHHHH the old days of shopping please come back!

Hugs
Mel

 

[dancin Disney style]

We have used crossborderpickups.ca three times in the past 3 months and they have been great. You register on their site and they give you an address to use to ship your parcel to. When it gets to their address, they contact you and you let them know how you want it delivered. We pick up at their office in Toronto. They charge you a fee depending on weight and duties paid.

They have been very fast and really reasonably priced.

I’m going to tuck that info away for sure. I ended up buying the ears I want from eBay. Not too bad a deal (I think) total including shipping and import fee $55 USD. Just made the purchase this morning and before noon they had been shipped.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

@damo, can this be used for shipping to NS??

 

[damo]

@damo, can this be used for shipping to NS??

I would imagine so. Check their website. We've only used it in Toronto.

 

[CanadianKrista]

Has anyone that had airmiles flights booked for Air Canada tried for a refund yet? I think as of today we should be able to get them...

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I thought air miles tickets were all under the non-refundable umbrella?

 

[hdrolfe]

I thought air miles tickets were all under the non-refundable umbrella?

Customers who purchased non-refundable fares but did not travel due to COVID-19 since February 2020 will be eligible to receive refunds as of April 13, the company said.

Freeland said anyone who bought a ticket before the government announced travel restrictions on March 22, 2020 that either they or the airline cancelled will be eligible for a refund. Those who purchased tickets after that date but had their flight cancelled by the airline will also be eligible, she said.

Quote from CBC article, so I think you should be able to get back what was paid if they meet those criteria.

 

[ottawamom]

I just got off the phone with Airmiles. Air Canada will be refunding all flights cancelled by Air Canada because of Covid as part of a bail out with the federal government. The agent I had has filed the paperwork with Air Canada to apply for a refund. It will be 4-6 weeks to hear what the answer is.

Originally the Airmiles tickets only qualified for a credit to be used within two years but yesterdays announcement is a game changer. Last time I made such a request it was met with an immediate NO. I am hopeful this will work out. If not I have done everything I can to get my money/AM back and will just have to use the flights credits or kiss them good-bye.

edit to add: Air Canada must check to see if my flight qualify for the refund (ie that they cancelled them because of Covid and not some other reason). I gather when the agent said that they still have a bit of a loop hole for not refunding money.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

@ottawamom, did you just go through the air miles travel phone number for this?

That will be 5000 dream miles back in my account if it works!

I can't remember if I used my air miles or DH's air miles for those flights.

 

[Raimiette]

Customers who purchased non-refundable fares but did not travel due to COVID-19 since February 2020 will be eligible to receive refunds as of April 13, the company said.

Freeland said anyone who bought a ticket before the government announced travel restrictions on March 22, 2020 that either they or the airline cancelled will be eligible for a refund. Those who purchased tickets after that date but had their flight cancelled by the airline will also be eligible, she said.

Quote from CBC article, so I think you should be able to get back what was paid if they meet those criteria.

What an odd policy (specifically, it seems that you can only get a refund if you purchased within the Feb to March 22, 2020 period?). It's good for the few people it'll help within that 2 month period I guess but it's such a short period.

EDIT: oh nevermind, I just checked the AC website. It now says (for "Ticket with travel dates on or after February 1, 2020 and purchased before April 13, 2021"):

"If your flight was cancelled before April 13, 2021, please make sure to request your refund before June 12, 2021 at 11:59PM EDT, in order for your refund to be processed to the original form of payment. After this date, you can request your remaining ticket value to be transferred to an Air Canada Travel Voucher or converted to Aeroplan points with a 65% bonus."

This is for both flights cancelled directly by AC and flights you cancelled personally due to COVID. It does state on the page that if you got your tickets through a reseller (I assume AMs is included in this) that you would have to go through the reseller directly but refunds should be given.

EDIT 2: I do wonder how this will work for people that purchased AMs AC tickets before April 13, 2021 but for travel later on this year (for me in September, I'm still hopeful lol). It looks like I should be entitled to the AC Travel Voucher or Aeroplan points if I need to cancel but I wonder what sort of credit amount is given for AMs purchased trips, or if AMs will just refund me the points I used and refund the taxes? I guess I will have to wait and see. I hope I can just vacation...

 

[ottawamom]

@ottawamom, did you just go through the air miles travel phone number for this?

That will be 5000 dream miles back in my account if it works!

I can't remember if I used my air miles or DH's air miles for those flights.

Yes. The agent I had hadn't heard anything in the news about it. She had to call Air Canada and that agent hadn't heard anything either so she had to ask a higher up. There is a bit of paperwork for the Aimiles agent to file and then Air Canada has to review it before granting a refund. A bit of a process but better than not being able to use the credits.

I would have been happy 6 months ago with an non-expiring credit but heck I want a refund now.

The Airmiles agent will need your Airmiles confirmation # in order to process the request. You will then know who's account you used for the flights.

 

[AngelDisney]

My flights were changed not cancelled. When I called AM to cancel the flights, I was given the voucher option only. Am I still eligible to get a refund? I don’t even mind to get AM back or the cost converted to Aeroplan Miles. I am just not sure if I will travel within the two-year period.

 

[tinkerone]

My travel credit is with Air Transat. Does anyone know if they are doing the same refund? It was not booked through AM's, booked online. Getting through on the phone with them is a disaster, good luck! I sent a FaceBook message to them and I'll see if they answer.
The one good thing about my travel credit is there is no expiry so at least I have that.

 

[hdrolfe]

My travel credit is with Air Transat. Does anyone know if they are doing the same refund? It was not booked through AM's, booked online. Getting through on the phone with them is a disaster, good luck! I sent a FaceBook message to them and I'll see if they answer.
The one good thing about my travel credit is there is no expiry so at least I have that.

I believe the references above are specific to Air Canada and the deal they made with the government. I'm not sure Air Transat will have to do the same thing, yet any way. I guess if they take a "loan" as AC is?

 

[ottawamom]

My flights were changed not cancelled. When I called AM to cancel the flights, I was given the voucher option only. Am I still eligible to get a refund? I don’t even mind to get AM back or the cost converted to Aeroplan Miles. I am just not sure if I will travel within the two-year period.

Give it a try. The worst they can say is your situation doesn't qualify. Originally, after Air Canada cancelled my flights I was only give the option of a credit good for two years. I called about six months later and asked if a non-expiry credit was possible as this is something Air Canada was doing for people who had booked directly with them. I was told it didn't apply to an Airmiles booking.

It doesn't hurt to ask.

Just heard on CTV news. Flights changed by more than 3 hours will also qualify.

Another side note. Going forward all flights cancelled by the airline or changes of more than 3 hours are eligible for a refund if I heard things correctly. Flights are going to be going up as a result.

 

[cari12]

Give it a try. The worst they can say is your situation doesn't qualify. Originally, after Air Canada cancelled my flights I was only give the option of a credit good for two years. I called about six months later and asked if a non-expiry credit was possible as this is something Air Canada was doing for people who had booked directly with them. I was told it didn't apply to an Airmiles booking.

It doesn't hurt to ask.

Just heard on CTV news. Flights changed by more than 3 hours will also qualify.

Another side note. Going forward all flights cancelled by the airline or changes of more than 3 hours are eligible for a refund if I heard things correctly. Flights are going to be going up as a result.

I had a feeling flights would go up after the pandemic. So even if we hung onto our credits, when it came time to book they may tell us that we need more miles or $ for the same destination. I will call tomorrow for a refund and start from scratch when we are ready to book. It’s about 12,000 AM and $600 taxes for me.

 

[bababear_50]

Hugs
Mel

 

[cari12]

I tried calling AM re: air Canada flight refunds and they have a recording that for all flights that qualify they will be automatically contacting collectors so we don’t have to contact them. Apparently. We’ll see how that plays out.

 

[Donald - my hero]

I promised a post regarding my most recent experience with Amazon but luckily for me i didn't add any timeline to that

I didn't want to have an order with Amazon muddy the waters connected to the online Mix & Match promo so i let it become one that would for SURE count for $20 and at least one miles and made up the threshold with 4 other stores. (we won't talk about the fact that this posted perfectly but 2 didn't and I'll need to chase down close to 400 miles, sigh)

Tips & Tricks to order from Amazon

• The included categories change monthly now so be sure to pay attention when you place an order, just because something worked last week doesn't mean it will today.
• They have closed the loop that would give you miles on the entire transaction if you earned at least 1 mile in an included category.
• If it's part of a threshold spend ONLY the pre-tax value of the allowed items will count towards the final total (same goes for Walmart apparently)
• It doesn't seem to matter anymore if your order is split when it gets delivered, I still got the correct mile (yup, singular mile!) even though they were delivered separately.

I placed an order with things scattered across all different areas and included items from 2 of the allowed categories, it took me FOREVER but it was so i could report here, normally I'd just place the order and be done with it but i wanted to make sure I would get a mile or 2 and that the order would ship on several different days . Poor delivery guy! They actually all arrived at the same time, same truck, 5 different boxes/bags. I stood in my window and watched him get out stare at his clipboard, rifle around in the back and come up with something, walk to the step, head back and do the same thing until he just stood there scooping it all up. I grabbed a mask and went out to pick them up and he shrugged "I wish they would just combine them in one box when they get to our location" and climbed back into his truck. I kept a tab open with the list of items included and 2 tabs for Amazon so i could check how the things i selected were being categorized. I put them in my wish list and then opened it up from there, that would let me see which category each item was considered to be from. Once i was ready to order, into the cart to check once more before i put them into my "save for later" section where they will sit waiting to be bought, kinda like a middle ground between wishing for and actually buying. THEN sign out of everything and start for real *****warning, the airmilesshop portal times out now make sure you're still signed in before you place any orders!!****

I made a detailed post with pictures of how to make sure items are included, you can refer to that and hopefully that makes sense. Will I spend the time to get miles from Amazon anymore? Probably not on a regular basis, but when it will help with a big bonus like this past one, yes. I doubt I'd be able to make a big single threshold transaction anymore but for one like the past one where it was the # of stores it was worth my time to get the extra 350 miles

Amazon Post with screenshots

 

[bababear_50]

Weekly Flyers

Ont Foodland
https://www.reebee.com/flyers/10016/1402535
Ont Metro
https://www.reebee.com/flyers/13406/1402840
Ont Sobeys
https://www.reebee.com/flyers/10012/1402528
Sobeys Urban Fresh
https://www.reebee.com/flyers/10092/1402537

Happy safe shopping
Hugs
Mel