The author is from Canada and maintains the website http://thoughtsfrommylife.com.
Why I think an airmile can be worth anywhere between 13 cents and 44 cents depending on what you use it for.
Air miles, Aeroplan points, HBC points, PetroPoints, etc, etc, all the way back to Club Z Points at Zellers. They seem like such a gimmick and just a way to influence your spending. The thing is, they are everywhere now and you can't really avoid it, so you might as well take advantage of it. I have calculated how much I think they are worth so read on.
I personally collect Air Miles and Aeroplan Points so I just talk about those. This posting is about Air Miles specifically, but the same techniques can be used to figure out Aeroplan.
Basically, I value an airmile differently depending on the product. Here is my summary.
Entertainment gifts are about 40 cents/airmile.
Travel is around 20 cents/airmile.
Gift cards are around 10 cents/airmile.
So when you see those "double your airmiles when you buy this..." deals, you can add up how much you are going to spend and how many airmiles you will get and see if it will actually pay for yourself. Unless of course you actually need what you are buying, then it doesn't matter.
How to Collect Air Miles
Air Miles, first of all, is free and there are two different ways to collect.
- You can apply for the blue Air Miles card and just keep it on you. If you shop at stores that are affiliated with them (Shell, SportChek, Turbo, Boston Pizza, Safeway, Rona, etc) then you just hand them your card and you collect some points.
- You apply for a no fee BMO Mosaik Mastercard and link it to your Air Miles card you got above. They will give you 1 AirMile for every $40 you spend on their credit card. For a yearly fee you can increase the AirMiles you earn. You will get 1 for every $20 you spend for $35/year (the silver card), or you get 1 for every $15 you spend for $80/year (the gold card). The card upgrades can also give you some cheaper AirMile rates on flights.
These points can later be used to buy flights, car rentals, gift cards, tickets, electronics, and a variety of other products. With flights and car rentals you will still have to pay the taxes, but the base fees are covered by the air miles.
So this is the basics of the system. Now I will discuss what they are actually worth.
Continue reading the full article for details on how I calculated the value and if it is worth upgrading your various reward cards.
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