By Jaclyn Law on July 5, 2024
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Air Miles expands offerings, including ways to earn and redeem

By Jaclyn Law on July 5, 2024
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

The Air Miles loyalty program has relaunched with new ways to earn rewards, more brand partners and a focus on experiences. But will it fly with collectors?

A hand holds up 2 Air Miles cards and a BMO Air Miles Mastercard

Photo by Jaclyn Law / MoneySense

Air Miles has unveiled its new brand platform, complete with an aspirational tagline that aims straight at Canadians’ revenge-travelling hearts: “Collect more moments.”

As you might recall, BMO Financial Group bought Air Miles in March 2023, after the program’s owner, Loyalty Ventures Inc., filed for bankruptcy. At that time, BMO said the acquisition “would be a made-in-Canada opportunity to enable a reinvigoration for one of Canada’s largest loyalty programs.”

Air Miles collectors, that day has come. Let’s look at how the program has changed.

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What’s new about Air Miles?

In addition to its emphasis on moments (collecting them, winning them, getting to them faster), the new Air Miles brand platform reflects several program enhancements rolled out since April:

More ways to earn

Collectors can take advantage of two ways to rack up more Miles:

Air Miles Receipts, introduced in 2023, gives members Miles for buying certain products and scanning the receipts with the Air Miles app within 14 days. Air Miles Receipts initially included grocery stores. It recently expanded to liquor stores, and more categories are coming in September.
Card-linked offers give collectors bonus Miles at partner retailers. To access offers, link a Canadian-issued Mastercard to your Air Miles Account. (BMO Air Miles Mastercards are automatically linked.) Two recent examples: 250 bonus Miles for spending $500 at LG Electronics, and 125 bonus Miles for spending $300 at Porter Airlines.

More ways to redeem

Collectors can redeem Air Miles for eVouchers at several more well-known retailers, including Amazon, Sporting Life, TJX brands (Winners, HomeSense, Marshalls) and more. Redeeming 95 Cash Miles gets you $10 in value (the same as before the relaunch).

Gas discounts at Shell

If you have a BMO Air Miles–linked credit card or debit card, you’ll save $0.07 per litre on Shell V-Power premium fuel and $0.02 per litre on other Shell fuel—a nice perk given the high cost of gas.

Other credit card benefits

BMO Air Miles credit cardholders can now earn double the Miles on purchases at wholesale clubs and liquor retailers in Canada, the same boosted earn rate they get at eligible grocery stores.

Conversions between Cash Miles and Dream Miles

Air Miles requires cardholders to allocate their reward Miles into two buckets: Cash Miles (redeemable for retailer eVouchers and in-store discounts) and Dream Miles (redeemable for merchandise and travel rewards). The ratio is up to you, but you couldn’t convert one to the other—until now. Onyx and Gold collectors (the upper two of Air Miles’ three tiers) now have more flexibility: Onyx collectors get unlimited transfers, and Gold collectors can transfer up to 1,000 Miles each year. (Sorry, Blue collectors, no transfers for you.)

Contests and events

As part of the relaunch, Air Miles is running a few splashy promotions: the “Epic Moments” contest, with prizes including trips and other experiences; a “redemption event” on July 19, when collectors can redeem their Dream Miles or Cash Miles and get up to 35% back in value (opt-in required); and “The Moment Shop,” a branded retail experience touring eight Canadian cities this summer.

Can we call it a comeback?

I’m a long-time Air Miles collector—I signed up in 1998, in my second year at university. Back then, you couldn’t redeem your Miles for eVouchers or instant discounts at stores, so collectors saved them up for travel rewards, gift cards and merchandise. I still have the Cuisinart blender I redeemed for back in the early 2000s.

But in the years since that heady moment of unboxing my new appliance, my feelings towards the program have see-sawed between delight (“I paid for all this food with Air Miles!”) to disappointment (“Whaddaya mean, the liquor store switched to Aeroplan?”) and even panic, over the aforementioned bankruptcy (“Redeem now!”). There was also that regrettable moment in 2016 when Air Miles introduced and then cancelled a five-year expiry date.

In recent years, Air Miles has also lost several major retail partners, including Rexall, Sobeys, Safeway, Staples, Lowe’s, Rona, the LCBO and, most recently, Metro, which had been a partner since 1998. (The last day to earn or redeem Air Miles at Metro is July 21.) Some former partners have switched to other loyalty programs—such as Scene+ at Sobeys and RBC Avion at Lowe’s—while others have started their own. Metro, where I’ve shopped for most of my adult life, is launching Moi Rewards.

According to Air Miles, it has about 9.5 million active accounts, representing nearly half of Canadian households. Despite the program’s missteps, I and millions of other collectors have stuck with it. I even picked two of my credit cards around it: a no-fee American Express Air Miles card (which I cancelled when Amex added an annual fee) and a BMO Mastercard with a generous Air Miles earn rate and worthwhile travel perks. (See MoneySense’s picks for the best Air Miles credit cards, and check out other rewards programs in Canada.)

I only use my Air Miles for eVouchers and in-store redemptions (rather than saving up for “moment” rewards like flights and trips), so I like that the relaunched program has new brands where I can use those. I’m also glad that collectors can finally transfer between Cash Miles and Dream Miles—though I wish those categories hadn’t been created in the first place (a Mile is a Mile is Mile, am I right?).

Only time will tell if Air Miles will continue to resonate with Canadian reward-seekers, but for now, I’m still on board.

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About Jaclyn Law

Jaclyn Law is MoneySense’s managing editor. She has worked in Canadian media for over 20 years, including editor roles at Chatelaine and Abilities. Jaclyn completed the Canadian Securities Course in 2022.

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