10 Things Canadians Need to Know About Air Miles (Spring 2024)

Air Miles is a loyalty program that many Canadians interact with every week. We’re all familiar with swiping our Air Miles card at the checkout at our local Shell Gas Station or Grocery Store. 

Air Miles is a program that has been on a downward trend in terms of popularity as of late, yet it remains a program that many Canadians interact with. With the ability to earn miles through everyday spending, and lucrative signup bonuses, Air Miles can be a great loyalty program for Canadians. 

Over 10 million Canadians are part of the Air Miles program, but very few of us have a true understanding of how to maximize the value of this loyalty program. 

Air Miles is a free loyalty program to join, so we should ALL register for a card. 

But how does Air Miles compare to the other travel loyalty programs available to Canadians like Aeroplan, American Express Membership Rewards, and Avios? 

Stay up to Date on the Latest Travel Deals

Here are 10 things you need to know about Air Miles

Air Miles Overview

How to Earn Air Miles	In-person or online shopping Air Miles promotions Air Miles credit cards
How to Redeem Air Miles	Cash back rewards Tickets or merchandise Hotel stays Rental cars Flights
Value of Air Miles	1 Air Mile = 15 cents/point

Earning Air Miles

1. You Can Earn Air Miles for Cash Back, or Travel

Air Miles allows you to earn points for cash back (called “Cash Rewards”) or travel (called “Dream Rewards”). 

Cash Rewards

The Cash Rewards program is quite simple. You can redeem $10 off eligible purchases once you achieve 95 Air Miles. 

The earning rate for in-store purchases is roughly 1 Air Mile earned per $20 spent. Doing the math, it will take $1,900 in eligible spending to achieve $10 in cash back. 

The Cash Rewards option is far from a lucrative return. 

Dream Rewards

The “Dream Rewards” redemptions provide more flexibility, allowing you to redeem your miles towards travel, merchandise, and tickets. 

You will have to specify within your Air Miles online account whether you want your earnings to go towards “Cash Rewards” or “Dream Rewards.”

There is also the option to split your miles into both categories. 

2. You Can Earn Air Miles Through In Person, or Online Shopping

An Air Miles card is free to get. You can apply online, and one will be delivered to you. You should get one, they are free.

As most Canadians are aware, Air Miles has a host of partners that enable you to earn miles from in-store purchases. 

You can find the full list of partners here

Most purchases will earn you somewhere in the range of 1-10 Air Miles, which ultimately makes Air Miles more of a shopper loyalty program, rather than a full travel loyalty program like Aeroplan or WestJet Rewards. 

The earning rate for in-store purchases is ~ 1 point per $20 spent. This means you’ll only be earning a few Air Miles per purchase, so it’s best to temper expectations. It will take a long time to hit the dream vacation threshold. However, there are ways in which you can rack up points beyond in-store shopping, and we’ll get to that below.

Keep an Air Miles card in your wallet/purse, and remember to show it at checkout. 

For those tech-savvy individuals, you can digitize your Air Miles card on your smartphone

3. You Can Earn Air Miles Through Branded Credit Cards 

In addition to earning points through shopping, you can increase your earnings by signing up for an Air Miles branded credit card. The BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard is the top Air Miles card in the market today. 

Sign up here

The annual fee of $120 is waived for the first year and is offset by the following benefits:

• Sign-up Bonus:
  • 2,000 Air Miles upon spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
• Earn Rate: 
  • 3 Air Miles per 12 dollars spent at Air Miles partner retailers
  • 2 Air Miles per 12 dollars spent at grocery & gas stations
  • 1 Air Mile per 12 dollars spent everywhere else
• Insurance:
  • Emergency medical travel insurance – up to 15 days
  • Flight delay insurance – up to $500
  • Car rental damage insurance 
  • Trip cancellation insurance – up to $2,500
• Perks
  • DragonPass membership
  • 15% discount on all Air Miles flights within North America

The 1 Air Mile per $12 spent is a higher earning rate when compared to your average Air Miles Card, so there are benefits to be had there. 

If you intend on cashing in your Air Miles for a flight, this card can certainly help. The 15% discount on Air Miles flights within North America, and the 2,000 sign-up bonus can get you a free round-trip flight. 

BMO Offers several Air Miles Branded Credit Cards Including:

BMO Air Miles World Elite Business Mastercard

BMO Air Miles Mastercard

Read: Your Complete Guide to BMO Credit Cards

Read: Your Complete Guide to Scotiabank Credit Cards

4. You Can Earn Air Miles Through Air Miles Promotions 

In addition to the standard 1 Air Mile per $20 spent in-store, there are promotional opportunities available through the Air Miles website, or mobile app. 

These promotional items allow you to earn dozens, if not hundreds of extra Air Miles through everyday purchases.

For example, these are some of the promotional items available through Shell in Ontario 

You can view the full list of offers here

Some promotions simply require you to use your card at checkout, while others require you to register for the promotion beforehand.

Different promotions are available throughout the year, so you should regularly check AirMiles.ca to see if the current promotion fits your regular shopping pattern. You can also sign up for Air Miles’ promotional emails to stay up to date on current offerings.

For those tech-savvy Canadians, you can download the Air Miles app and have deals sent directly to your phone.

Read: 10 Travel Apps Every Canadian Should Download

Read: Your Complete Guide to Gas Station Rewards

Redeeming Air Mies

5. You Can Redeem Your Air Miles for Cash Rewards (Cash Back)

As we briefly touched on above, you can earn Cash Rewards to reduce the cost of your everyday purchases. This is essentially a cash-back option. 

Cash rewards are redeemed at the point of sale, or through the Air Mies online portal at a rate of 95 Miles = $10 off. 

There are occasional promotions that will allow you to earn extra Air Miles for redeeming your Cash Rewards. 

Given that the redemption value for Cash Rewards is fixed, we can easily determine that the value of an Air Mile for cash rewards is 10.5 cents per point (cpp) 

Going forward, we can use 10.5 cpp as a baseline when redeeming Dream Rewards for travel. 

If your value is higher than 10.5 cents per point, it means you’re getting a good deal. If your value is lower than 10.5 cpp, it means you would’ve been better off with the cash-back option. 

6. You Can Redeem Your “Dream Rewards” for Merchandise or Tickets

If you’re collecting Dream Rewards, you can redeem those rewards for free merchandise, or attraction tickets. 

The online shopping portal (found on Airmiles.ca) occasionally provides sales on their products, but to be honest, receiving a higher value than 10.5 cpp (the baseline value of the Cash Rewards redemption) can be difficult. 

There is a good chance that your points will go a lot further when redeeming for attraction tickets or travel.

When looking at redeeming your Dream Rewards for attractions & entertainment, you can choose from a variety of partners including Cineplex & Disney.

Once again, you should strive to achieve a value greater than 10.5 cpp, since that is the value of cash rewards

You can see the full list of entertainment partners here

7. You Can Use Your Dream Rewards for Air Travel

If you redeem your Dream Rewards for travel, you can choose between flights, hotels & car rentals. 

When looking at air travel, there are both positives and negatives to this approach. 

On the positive side, you have the option to book with a wide variety of airlines. Flights within Canada provide you with the highest likelihood of redeeming your points for a value greater than 10.5 cpp. 

If you would like to book an international flight, programs like Aeroplan, or Avios will provide you with greater value.  

Air Travel Redemption Partners

With flight redemptions, you can only book economy, premium economy, business & first-class tickets

The amount of points that you need for a particular redemption is 100% dynamic, meaning it’s entirely up to Air Miles as to how much they’re going to charge.

How to Save on Flight Rewards

Owners of the BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard receive a 15% discount on all Air Miles flights within North America

Gold Members (more on that below) receive a discount of up to 30% on flight redemptions

Onyx Members (also more on that below) receive a discount of up to 40% on flight redemptions

8. You Can Use Your Dream Rewards for Hotel Bookings 

In addition to flights, you can also use your Dream Rewards for hotel bookings.

As with the flight redemptions, there tends to be a great amount of variance when looking at the value of these redemptions. 

All that being said, you should be able to find bookings that eclipse the 10.5 cpp benchmark. 

However, If you regularly stay at hotels, you’re better off booking through Marriott or Hilton, as they provide escalating benefits the more you stay. These points are best used for hotels that are not part of a major loyalty program.

9. You Can Use Your Dream Rewards For Car Rentals

In addition to flights and hotel bookings, you can also use your Dream Rewards for car rentals. Using your air miles for car rentals can be a prudent decision for several reasons. Primarily it presents a cost-saving opportunity, particularly if you’re facing substantial expenses for transportation during your travels.

Once again, if you’re booking a rental car, you will need to strive for a value of >10.5 cpp.

Maximizing Air Miles

10. There are 3 Air Miles Loyalty Tiers

Air Miles allows you to earn status when hitting different earnings thresholds. Gold & Onyx status are outlined below

With consistent bonus miles and promotional opportunities, Gold status can be obtained for savvy collectors. At the same time, Onyx may be extremely difficult to attain for the average Canadian, but with a few steps, you’ll be able to hit Onyx status.

How to Obtain Onyx Status

the 5,000 Air Miles needed for Onyx status may seem daunting, but there are a few simple steps you can take to achieve this milestone:

Sign up for the BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard: you’ll earn 2,000 Air Miles upon spending $3,000 in the first 3 months

Air Miles offers promotions throughout the year that allow you to earn miles by completing tasks

OR

You can sign up for the American Express Air Miles Reserve Card, which comes with instant Onyx Status, although the $299 annual fee is high given the low sign-up bonus and the benefits of the card.

Valuation 

Using Cash Rewards provides a baseline value of 10.5 cents per point (cpp). 

Booking using Dream Rewards can provide opportunities to enhance the value of an Air Mile. Given the distance-based rewards chart, you can find sweet spots when booking (especially to short-haul Canadian trips) that can raise the value of an Air Mile closer to 16 cpp 

Cash Rewards Valuation: 10.5 cents per mile

Dream Rewards Valuation: 15 cents per mile

Air Miles vs Other Travel Loyalty Programs

The benefits of loyalty programs such as Aeroplan, WestJet Rewards & British Airways Executive Club are that you can not only earn points directly through credit card signup bonuses, and everyday spending, but you can also transfer points from one program to another (transferring American Express Membership Rewards to Aeroplan is an example of this). 

Unfortunately, Air Miles does not have this capability, ultimately bringing it down a notch when compared to other programs. 

The inability to view flights unless you have the required points already in your account puts the user experience slightly below these programs as well. 

Valuation Comparison

Program	Valuation
Aeroplan	2.1 cents/point
Avios	1.7 cents/Avios
Alaska Airlines Mileage Program	2.3 cents/point
WestJet Rewards	1 cent/point
Dream Rewards	15 cents/mile
Cash Rewards	10.5 cents/mile

Air Miles FAQ

Do Air Miles Expire?

After 24 months of inactivity, your Air Miles will expire

Conclusion

Air Miles is free and has a member base of over 10 million. It is not a program that should be ignored by Canadian travelers. You can earn miles steadily through in-store purchases, or quickly through braided credit cards. 

There is the ability to redeem your Dream Rewards at a value of 15 cents per mile, and if you regularly take short-haul Canadian fights, this could be a program to dive into.   

4 Tips to Help You on Your Travels

1. Sign up for an Air Miles card, it’s free to do so
2. Remember to swipe your card when applicable
3. Remember to check the Air Miles website regularly to stay up to date on promotions and bonuses
4. Sign up for Air Mies promotional emails. You can create a “deals” section within your inbox if you’d prefer to compartmentalize your incoming emails