Air Miles vs. Aeroplan

[goodtime]

With Aeroplan recent aggressive marketing campaign to counter the ever popular acceptance of Air Miles program - Goodtime is loving it!

Faster accumlation. Fewer or no blackout dates. Booking two/seven days ahead or on the day of. Airlines, hotels, rentals, life experiences - Figher pilot/racecar, cowboy, etc.

Can hear Dido's Thank you playing in the background. So many places so little time.

In terms of other popular reward programs, Goodtime loves them too.

If only MP & SC joins these reward programs...

 

[Weekly]

Would you therefore buy the Aeroplan Income Fund listed on the TSX?

 

[RogerRabbit]

I agree, Aeroplan™ is better than Airmiles™, imho!

 

[Ol' Sodomy Sam]

Aeroplan has gone to hell.

It used to be good, but with the introduction of Aeroplan Avenue rewards, it seems that every time I want to book a trip somewhere, there are no Classic rewards available, just the Avenue ones which cost half again as much. And forget the other rewards; by the time I accumulate 4.5 million miles to take the wine tasting tour in France I'll be long dead from radiation poisoning. And what's with the Esso Aeroplam promotion? One Aeroplan mile for three dollars in fuel? I get 500 for a hundred dollars spent on a car rental or hotel stay.

Airmiles, on the other hand, seems always to get me on flights which were not available or sold out for Aeroplan. With Gold Level, I can book with two days notice on Westjet. Admittedly, the cost of the "free" flight is more, in that you have to pay taxes and $20 to the travel agency, but if you ask the agent to speak up as they mumble over the $50 they want to charge for insurance on a free flight, you might pay $70 more for an Airmiles ticket.

Of course, Aeroplan is much more flexible, and has a good website for booking, so if you are going to Sydney via Hong Kong in executive class, Aeroplan is great. But if you're like me and going to see Aunt Hilda in Regina, stick to Airmiles.

 

[goodtime]

Sodomy, you're not doing it right. Get one of the reward credit cards so earn miles/points faster. Well worth the annual fee. Few promotional ones give away free companion or cheap tickets (with restrictions) for signing up Or extra points.

There are more ways to earn faster. It takes discipline.

And competition of the loyalty programs are good.
The memories, priceless...

 

[drlove]

Just get an Aeoroplan Visa card or American Express and charge all of your business and personal expenditures to it. Your points will add up in no time. That's what I do, and I haven't paid for a flight in years.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Aerosucks

I agree with Sodomy. I've been redeeming flights for 10 years now. The availability of seats for redemption keeps getting worse and you have to book farther out in advance. Even when you pay up using the new Avenue rewards pricing, the selection isn't as good as what the basic price used to be. It's just another way of jacking up the prices without providing any better service.

On the other hand, I can't blame Air Canada for trying to restructure and reduce the number of empty seats on their planes. After all, they do have to try to make a profit one of these days. But it still sucks.

 

[kz65]

IMO - over the years I've found Aeroplan to be a better deal for me, quicker to accumulate the miles with the Aerogold visa card, more flexible rewards.
plus the extra aeroplan bonuses on car rentals, hotels, golf

 

[Ol' Sodomy Sam]

I agree with Sodomy.

Hey- that's catchy! Too bad gay marriage is going through, or it could become one of those protest chants.

Anyhoo, Air Miles has it's affiliate card with BMO, but I get a flights worth a year anyway from all the other sponsors (read LCBO), and so forth. Honestly, I think if you do the math and compare the top flight (gold/platinum) cards, Aeroplan comes out on top by about 20%, but that still assumes you get the Aeroplan rewards at the classic level.

But, imagine the typical summer weekend:

1. Build deck in backyard. Airmiles from RONA.
2. Buy booze to pay slackjaw friends for manual labour. Airmiles from LCBO.
3. Feed masses mystery meat burgers from supermarket. Airmiles from A+P.
4. Order quality pizza at midnight for hangers-on. Suggest Tuscan from Boston Pizza (Airmiles).
5. Get pissed. Phone Ex drunk. Aeroplan miles from Bell
6. Get Asprin next day. Airmiles from Pharmacy.

Airmiles wins out.

 

[bigaudio]

Looking for Update

Could someone update what's happening with Aeroplan, is it worthwhile or a scam?

 

[VERYBADBOY]

Better yet, pay with CIBC Aeroplan Visa AND swipe your AirMiles card also!

Exactly ... the best of both plans !!!

VBB

 

[fuji]

I prefer cash. I have a CC that pays back 1% cash on all my purchases. There are no blackout periods when you pay cash for a flight, cash doesn't get arbitrarily revalued by the CC company on a whim the way points do.

I worked out a few times whether points were worth more or less than cash. It really depends on your spending. For most things one airmile is worth 15-18 cents and depending on whether you pay an annual fee or not you either get 1 airmile per $15 or 1 per $20. In that case the points are either worth less than 1% cash back, or about the same, but with less flexibility.

There are a few things though for which the points seem to be worth more than cash--movie and theatre tickets often seem to be worth about 20-25 cents per point, or roughly 2% back on your purchases. However, there's only so many movies I can see.

Flights and hotels booked on points at "list" price appear to be worth slightly more than 1% but do compare with what you would have paid if you had bought from a discount agent with cash...

I have the CIBC Dividend card which pays 1% back, there are Mastercards that do better than that, but I prefer the Visa because it's accepted slightly more places.

 

[pblues]

I personally prefer Air Miles. I don't need to cash in for flights, so the other Air Miles rewards suit me fine.

 

[stang]

Of course, Aeroplan .... has a good website for booking.

ROTFLMAO !!!!!!!!!

 

[my2cents]

Aeroplan does offer rewards other than flights such as gift cards of $100.00 from future shop etc. Although flights are nice I have mainly used my points for rewards other than flights and find the delivery of the items to be fast.

 

[oldjones]

Tanstaffl.

 

[butterfield]

Related question...

I collect miles from all airlines - When I started to collect, I didn't know one can consolidate the miles from different airlines. If I have Aeroplan, Dividend miles from US Airway, Preferred miles from United already how can I go about merging these miles into one? Same goes for the One World Alliance group.

 

[Samthe12man]

Sadly, and in my opinion, Air Canada has long since lost the meaning of 'Service'. Booking seats with Aeroplan - not the rip-off level but the basic one - is a very difficult thing to do. Want to test it? Try booking seats using Delta's or American Airlines' loyalty programs. You get overwhelmed by the kind, accomodating and personal service. Also, generally we are really getting ripped-off with Air Canada. Try comparing the cost of a flight to the same destination; one from Toronto on AC and one from Buffalo.

 

[raven@mirage]

they both suck, your spending a lot to get very little points back .

I get more cash back on my optima card at shoppers drug mart.

 

[MissCroft]

they both suck, your spending a lot to get very little points back .

But if you travel a lot anyway it can be worth it. I've gotten two free trips already thanks to aeroplan and now I have enough miles for another one. You do have to book pretty far in advance though for most destinations.