Thoughts on Air Miles, New Partners for Shopping Portal

I think that it is safe to say that most of the dust has settled with all the negative publicity with Air Miles.

Negativity with Air Miles

Air Miles was introducing a hard expiry policy of 5 years after miles were deposited, that was going to be effective on December 31, 2016. What that means is that once your miles are deposited into your account, they will expiry within 5 years regardless of expiry. There was going to be a first-in-first-out rule, whereby the miles you redeem will be the ones that were deposited first.

In the end, Air Miles opted with going with no expiry policy whatsoever. However, by the time they made this decision, the damage was done. People who were unhappy with Air Miles already moved on. Some people still find value with Air Miles. As for me, I think that I take more of a middle ground approach.

What to do with Air Miles

Here is how I see Air Miles. To me, 1 mile is worth 11 cents. So even if I earn 1 mile for every $10 spent, it only gives me a 1.1 cent return (or 1.1%). I think that I can do better with other options. That being said, it does not cost me anything to flash by Air Miles card when making a purchase at one of its partners.

I like to keep my portfolio diversified. I see Air Miles now as a “better than nothing” type of program. I am collecting very slowly, but once I have enough miles for a reward, I am more than happy to redeem for it. But I would not go out of my way to rack up Air Miles. I find that this approach takes away my frustration with Air Miles.

Shopping Portal

One way to rack up more Air Miles is through their shopping portal called Air Miles Shops. The portal is celebrating its 15 year anniversary by adding 15 new partners.

The 15 new online stores include:

• Etsy
• HP Canada
• Adidas Canada
• Reebok Canada
• Kate Spade
• New Balance Canada
• Lenovo Canada
• S’well Bottle
• Lancôme Canada
• Urban Decay
• Kiehl’s Canada
• Endy
• Bumble and bumble
• Charlotte Tilbury
• Réno-Dépôt