My understanding between Aeroplan and Air Miles is very limited but I have become slightly obsessed with making sure I claim every point I can. Here is a quick look at a few select ways to earn points locally. Hopefully the numbers are correct.
| Aeroplan | Air Miles | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Some Ways to Earn | Some Ways to Earn | ||
|
Air Canada CIBC VISA Gold CIBC VISA Futureshop ESSO |
1/$3 1 1/$1 1/$2 1/$1 1/$3 |
BMO BMO Mosaik MC Gold BMO Mosaik MC Shell Sobeys Sobeys Sales Various Stores WestJet NWA |
Everyday Banking 1/$15 1/$40 1/$20 1/$20 Promotions2 1/$20 1/$20 25/One-Way |
| Flights from Charlottetown | Flights from Charlottetown | ||
|
Montreal Toronto Boston Vancouver Calgary |
15,000 25,000 15,000 25,000 25,000 |
Montreal Toronto Boston Vancouver Calgary |
800 1,150 900 3,900 2,800 |
| from Moncton on WestJet with BMO Gold | |||
|
Montreal Toronto Boston Vancouver Calgary |
800 800 1400 1400 |
||
Test Case: Lets say I spend an average of $500 a month on my credit card or by shopping at the various participating stores. That would be about 500 Aeroplan (6000 per year) or 25 Air Miles (300 per year). Based on those numbers, Aeroplan wins for getting flights faster.
Or: 25,000 points to Vancouver (about $25,000 spent) compared to 1,400 points to Vancouver (about $28,000 spent).
However by also buying flight tickets for friends, banking with BMO and shopping at Sobeys with my credit card (buying Air Mile promotion products2), I tend to average 80-100 Air Miles a month and currently only get my Aeroplan points from flights. At this rate, I'll have enough points to fly to Vancouver on Air Miles using WestJet long before Aeroplan.
1 Not sure why Aeroplan say it is 1 point for every 3 dollars on flights. I received 2,648 for a trip to Orlando and another 3,078 for a trip to San Fransisco. I'm missing something there.
2 Example. Last night at Sobeys I bought 8 General Mills products to claim a bonus 40 Air Miles for a total of 56 Air Miles from one trip to Sobeys.
Comments
Jevon - February 11, 2005 12:36 pm
Pizza Delight has some great AirMiles promotions too.
Mandy - February 12, 2005 10:02 pm
funny, I just called the 800 number the other day to get my points number. Their site was not working, so I did it the old fashioned way. I was surprised with out little points I seemed to have. But not I see how you collect them, it makes sense. I only ever really use my cards at Sobeys so.
Stephen DesRoches - February 13, 2005 8:12 am
They can add up. I'm over 2,000 Air Miles as of this post.
Mandy - February 15, 2005 2:18 pm
I'm no where NEAR that.. yeesh. But I'll keep scanning the card.
Colleen - June 21, 2006 11:29 am
Hi Stephen...do you have an idea how to collect aeroplan points after your flight if you have kept your boarding passes? I've heard its possible but can't find the directions! Thx!
Stephen DesRoches - July 4, 2006 10:42 am
Yes Colleen, you can enter your flight numbers into their website for credit. I believe you have up to 6 months to claim your points after a flight.
janis - July 31, 2006 11:33 am
My friend has a gold visa under my name, it costs around $30.00 a year, would he be eligible to use the areoplan miles as I know he couldn't before as my name was the principal card owner.
patrick rose - November 28, 2006 8:39 pm
Which Plan is better to use I have Aeroplan and Airmiles. I was advised I can convert reward points from American Express not sure which card to convert points too for best deal.
Please advise