AIR MILES and LCBO expanded Partnership

It is no secret that Air Miles has been quite unpopular lately, due to their continued devaluation of reward redemptions (i.e. cost more miles to redeem for a reward) and no increase in earning ratios (neither with its credit cards co-branded cards, nor with its partners). 

That being said, they do have a valuable partnership with LCBO, Ontario’s liquor store. One devaluation that has not occurred (I’m assuming “yet”) is the cash miles options, where you can redeem 95 Air Miles for $10 cash towards your next LCBO purchase. They have now made it easier to redeem the $10 cash back with its new eVoucher option.

To take advantage of this option, keep in mind that you have to set your balance preference to earn Air Miles cash and not Air Miles Dream rewards. So if you are currently already earning Dream Rewards miles, you will have to switch it to cash going forward to redeem for the LCBO eVoucher.

Personally, what I like about Air Miles’ partnership with LCBO is that there are many bonus miles opportunities. So if you frequently purchase alcohol and you are open to trying different products, then I would always watch for sales and bonus miles double stacking opportunities when making your decision on what to buy. This way, you can rack up miles much faster, as well as instant cash saving. The reason I suggest this strategy is because it would take a long time to earn 95 miles if you are earning the regular way, which is 1 miles for every $30 spent (albeit on a monthly cumulative basis), but excluding taxes and container deposit fees.

Either way, my bottom line is that if you make regular LCBO purchases, I would definitely walk in there with an Air Miles card, regardless of its weak earning ratios, because it is still free to sign up for an Air Miles loyalty account.