Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[pigletto]

I was able to use my mastercard to buy $500 worth of Home Depot cards --got 550 airmiles.
Picked up some stuff at Rexall--spent 55 dollars got 110 airmiles.
Long story short
Neighbour hit gas line 400 feet from my bedroom
Came home to massive response unit,blocking my home,,,,
Enbridge Gas trying to clamp gas line right now. My sons are safe,,they were sleeping at the time.
Almost didn't have a home to reno,,,
Life is precious.
Hugs Mel

Yikes Mel !! Glad you are all ok.

 

[Raimiette]

About the pre-paid credit cards. You need to know exactly how much is left on them. If you know your purchase is more than is left on it, tell the teller the amount you want to charge to the card first. Otherwise the card will be denied for lack of funds. I'm pretty sure they inform the purchaser of this in their ridiculously large terms of service forms you get when you buy them.

I just keep a sticky with the amount left on them with the card so I make sure to use all of it.

 

[bababear_50]

Thanks for the well wishes everyone,,yep we are fine but it is a BIG reminder to call the Gas Company before you dig.
This was a young couple and I feel very bad for them,,I think they are facing a fine.
Definitely call before you dig!


On a positive note I was able to get another 500 in Home depot gift cards charged to my WestJet mastercard and got the airmiles too.
I now have enough to get some new light fixtures and some new door handles.
I do wish they promo was going longer though. The original end date of Sept 3 was toooooo good to be true.

Hugs Mel

 

[Days In the Sun]

Not much success with the gift cards, 5 stops over the week at 3 different stations. Machine not working twice at one, picked up 4 at one station, 1 at another which I returned to and was declined using a credit card with a pin, two pieces of government and a matching airmiles card. Sent in negative feedback to Shell about the station on their website, really silly argument that it is due to fraud. Overall, 550 airmiles so ok with promo in the end. Hoping Sobeys has a gc promo soon.

On the positive side, I'm loving the 4 cents off a litre which still goes til September. We also received exclusive Shell email promos for June, titled "Take xxx bonus miles for a spin, xxxxxx". Daughter 2 fill-ups 25 am, dh and I 100 am for 4 fill-ups.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

There is a new subdivision being built near my house and in it is a brand new Shell station! There are only like 2 in the whole municipality! Are these air miles offers at Shell typically advertised in store or via air miles? I just want to make sure I know where/how to find them, IF they will even be offering them in Halifax.

 

[bababear_50]

There is a new subdivision being built near my house and in it is a brand new Shell station! There are only like 2 in the whole municipality! Are these air miles offers at Shell typically advertised in store or via air miles? I just want to make sure I know where/how to find them, IF they will even be offering them in Halifax.

Hi Hon
Keep an eye on the airmiles web site and also here

https://www.shell.ca/en_ca/motorists/offers-and-promotions.html

Others may have some other suggestions
Hugs Mel

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

Hello everyone! I'm just starting to really pay attention to my airmile collecting - even considering changing my mastercard to the BMO airmiles credit card. I've been reading through this thread and I was wondering, do you collect "cash" or "dream" or both? Is it easier or faster to collect one vs the other?

 

[osully]

Hello everyone! I'm just starting to really pay attention to my airmile collecting - even considering changing my mastercard to the BMO airmiles credit card. I've been reading through this thread and I was wondering, do you collect "cash" or "dream" or both? Is it easier or faster to collect one vs the other?

Welcome! You collect dream and cash miles at the same rate. X per whatever dollar spent at each sponsor, or X bonus miles for purchase of X for example.

You can do whatever % you like. 50% dream, 50% cash. 30% dream, 70% cash. Etc. That's how the miles will post to your account regardless of how they are earned.

I personally collect 100% dream right now as I am saving my AM for items I can redeem with dream miles only. Flights, hotel stay, and Universal Orlando tickets (already have my Disney World tickets).

I was doing 20% cash 80% dream for a while so every now and then I could redeem for $10 off at Shell, $10 off at Sobeys (to use a promo coupon), or $10 Starbucks e-giftcard, however when we decided we were going to go to WDW again late 2019 & stay in an offsite hotel that I can book via AirMiles, I changed to 100% dream.

 

[osully]

Hello everyone! I'm just starting to really pay attention to my airmile collecting - even considering changing my mastercard to the BMO airmiles credit card. I've been reading through this thread and I was wondering, do you collect "cash" or "dream" or both? Is it easier or faster to collect one vs the other?

I see in your signature too you are planning a 2018 or 2019 trip to WDW - if that's the case I would say go 100% dream so you can earn and redeem for WDW or UO tickets!

 

[osully]

As of today I've earned Onyx for next year. It is showing the total earned this year including the MM 1250 bonus though?

 

[dancin Disney style]

Thanks for the well wishes everyone,,yep we are fine but it is a BIG reminder to call the Gas Company before you dig.
This was a young couple and I feel very bad for them,,I think they are facing a fine.
Definitely call before you dig!



Hugs Mel

Yep...big fine for cutting the gas line. Plus you pay the fire dept and if you cut the line past your metre you pay for all the gas too.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Hello everyone! I'm just starting to really pay attention to my airmile collecting - even considering changing my mastercard to the BMO airmiles credit card. I've been reading through this thread and I was wondering, do you collect "cash" or "dream" or both? Is it easier or faster to collect one vs the other?

HI!I'm so glad you've decided to join the hunt

I do my best to keep the first post up-to-date with direct links to the current flyers and I change the title of the thread to point you to where the first sightings of the deals for the upcoming week appears.

It's the perfect time to switch your MC to the BMO Airmiles one because they are currently giving 2X the base miles with even the basic no-fee card. You'll want to take a bit of time and decide what it is you want to do with the miles once you earn them, are you going to cash them in for e-vouchers and/or use them for instant redemption at sponsor stores (95 cash miles =$10) OR are you going to save them up to redeem for something a tad more tangible? Our account is set at 100% dream simply because of how we like to use the miles & I'll switch to cash if there is a special promo that will require me to use cash miles. We have used our miles for things ranging from flights (not always the best deal) to rental cars, an awesome sound bar for our TV, Disney & Universal tickets, stay at a spa on Vancouver Island, weekend getaway in Toronto, just got a set of tickets for Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto and I currently have my eye on a stand mixer.

The rate you earn the miles is the same, doesn't matter which "account" they get deposited into. Our rule of thumb is never buy anything strictly for miles and we aim for at LEAST a 1:1 ratio on items that do have miles. I keep a running list of items that we use on my "watch for a sale" list and stock up when we can (huge stash of TP under our bed currently and a massive hoard of granola bars from last week at Metro!)

Don't be afraid to jump in and ask questions and be sure to share the results of your hunting trips, both the good and the epic failures, we love to help each other out!

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

Thank you Jacqueline! I will definitely keep an eye on the first post. I agree with your comment about avoiding the tempation to buy something strictly for the airmiles..in the end its money I would never have spent, so I wouldn't be saving anything.
So far I have been making sure to only gas up at Shell - I use the Vpower gas (15x points), and I check my offers through Sobeys regularly.

I do have one other question - there's a BMO Airmiles Mastercard and at Sobeys I saw an ad for the BMO Airmiles Sobeys Mastercard. I haven't been able to find a difference between the two - do you know if there is one (or several)?

Thank you! I'm looking forward to the hunt!!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Thank you Jacqueline! I will definitely keep an eye on the first post. I agree with your comment about avoiding the tempation to buy something strictly for the airmiles..in the end its money I would never have spent, so I wouldn't be saving anything.
So far I have been making sure to only gas up at Shell - I use the Vpower gas (15x points), and I check my offers through Sobeys regularly.

I do have one other question - there's a BMO Airmiles Mastercard and at Sobeys I saw an ad for the BMO Airmiles Sobeys Mastercard. I haven't been able to find a difference between the two - do you know if there is one (or several)?

Thank you! I'm looking forward to the hunt!!

Here's the info about the BMO Airmiles Mastercard promo that's on right now:
BMO AM Mastercard Promo
I just did a brief scan of the info on the Sobeys card and i'm not sure what the benefit is to this card over the other one (but it is rather late )
Sobeys Mastercard

We have the basic BMO Mastercard as well as the AMEX Platinum Airmiles card. The AMEX is our primary card because it earns us more miles and we use the MC only where the other isn't accepted. Check into both cards because they both often have sign-up bonus offers and even upgrading your current card will allow you to get the bonus (i think the current BMO MC offer is 500 AM)

 

[osully]

I have the Sobeys AM Mastercard and the difference was that you got 1 AM per $20 spent everywhere, but 2AM per $20 spent at Sobeys. For me that was a good bonus as we mainly shop at Sobeys.

There was also a bonus on sign up when I switched but I did not get the bonus as I was already a BMO Mastercard user. I think on that promo they were also offering 3 AM per $20 spent for 3 months or something. So a pretty good deal. Again I did not get that because in BMO MC's eyes I was an existing customer.

Now just in the past month they are giving 2 AM per $20 spent at any sponsor though.

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

I have the Sobeys AM Mastercard and the difference was that you got 1 AM per $20 spent everywhere, but 2AM per $20 spent at Sobeys. For me that was a good bonus as we mainly shop at Sobeys.

There was also a bonus on sign up when I switched but I did not get the bonus as I was already a BMO Mastercard user. I think on that promo they were also offering 3 AM per $20 spent for 3 months or something. So a pretty good deal. Again I did not get that because in BMO MC's eyes I was an existing customer.

Now just in the past month they are giving 2 AM per $20 spent at any sponsor though.

That's what was puzzling me....now that they are giving 2 AM per $20 spent on all purchases with participating companies, there doesn't seem to be any difference between the Sobey's BMO Airmiles MC and the regular BMO Airmiles MC. Wish I had joined when the promo was 3 AM!

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

I would just get the BMO World Elite Air Miles mastercard. You earn 1 mile for every $10 in purchases, regardless of the vendor. And charge everything to that card! Even if I buy $20 of gas, I charge it and then go home and make the $20 MC payment right away. It's a very easy way to earn hundreds of miles per month without even trying

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

I would just get the BMO World Elite Air Miles mastercard. You earn 1 mile for every $10 in purchases, regardless of the vendor. And charge everything to that card! Even if I buy $20 of gas, I charge it and then go home and make the $20 MC payment right away. It's a very easy way to earn hundreds of miles per month without even trying

I wish I could - my credit rating is great but I don't make $80 000 per year

 

[bgula]

I wish I could - my credit rating is great but I don't make $80 000 per year

I don't make ANYWHERE near $80000 - I mean ANYWHERE, but they sent me a personalized offer. It's a great card other than the $170 they charge for the main & supplementary card every year. We do earn a lot of AM with it.

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

I don't make ANYWHERE near $80000 - I mean ANYWHERE, but they sent me a personalized offer. It's a great card other than the $170 they charge for the main & supplementary card every year. We do earn a lot of AM with it.

Good to know! Have you been with them long? Maybe they offered it to you because you are a long-time customer?