What to do with my Aeroplan Miles?

[j3tang]

I wasn't sure where else to put this topic and I thought that the personal finance since it pertains to my credit cards. Mods, please move this elsewhere if there's a more suitable section.

I've been accumulating aeroplan miles for 2 years and I am contemplating stopping. I might just go for the PC card (free, and groceries are always needed for the family, so I can't go wrong there). I've been with Amex Aeroplan Gold for 1 yr, and I'm just about finishing another 1 yr with CIBC Visa Aeroplan Gold. For each year, I've received sign-up bonuses and also had to pay annual fees of $120. I've racked up ~47,000 points and would like to redeem them for something.

I've been looking at redeeming them for gift cards (Chapters $50 = 6K, TRU $50 = 6.5K, Cadillac Fairview $100 = 13K, FS $250 = 32.5K, etc.)

With ~47K, I can redeem about $350 worth of GC (with $240 of it from annual fees). So the money I spent using those cards have earned me $110 over the 2 years, I don't think that's terribly bad, but at the very least I've broken even and have a bit extra. Does that sound reasonable?

I've not looked at using them for travel, and I don't think I'm in the position to travel at this time. Does anybody have any other suggestions as to what I can/should do with the points?

[fl4wless]

gift cards are possibly the worst use of aeroplan points.

You have enough for one short haul flight, and a flight to the US, that would be the best use. Another 3k and you have 2 flights to US, another 13k of points and fly to europe, or get to 75k total for a flight to asia, etc.

[j3tang]

yeah, I figured GC were not the smartest things to use it for .. and the original plan when I decided to accumulate aeroplan points was to go to asia. At this point, I don't plan on renewing my membership with Amex or Visa ...

[Octavius]

Let's see:

Assuming for the sake of simplicity you spent a total of 47k over the past 2 years. Let's assume 1 Aeroplan Mile = 1 Dollar Spent on the credit cards.

47,000 Aeroplan Miles (After Annual Fees, Redeeming for Gift Cards) - Will get you back $110.00. That works out to $55.00 in "cash back" for using these cards per year. (works out to about 0.25% return, which is horrible)

If you would have spent the same money on a straight 1% cash back card (Citi Enrich Platinum), or if you got the PCF Mastercard, you would have gotten $470.00 worth of cash back over the last 2 years. Since neither of these cards have an annual fee, you're never out of pocket to pay for the "privilege" of using these cards up front.

So you would have gotten $360.00 more by just using the plain ol' 1% Cash Back no annual fee cards out there.

I would suggest you NOT redeem for gift cards. The whole point of Aeroplan miles is to use them to travel. Although you may not be in any position NOW to use them, why not use them in 2-3 years from now?

So long as you keep your account active (pay a Bell bill once a year, fill up at Esso once a year, have car insurance with ING/BelAir Direct, etc) then you won't lose your miles. I believe they expire within 7 years of your accumulating them - so if you've been collecting for 2 years, I'd say you've got another 3-4 years worth of free time to choose when/where you'll want to go.

[j3tang]

Let's see:

Assuming for the sake of simplicity you spent a total of 47k over the past 2 years. Let's assume 1 Aeroplan Mile = 1 Dollar Spent on the credit cards.

47,000 Aeroplan Miles (After Annual Fees, Redeeming for Gift Cards) - Will get you back $110.00. That works out to $55.00 in "cash back" for using these cards per year. (works out to about 0.25% return, which is horrible)

If you would have spent the same money on a straight 1% cash back card (Citi Enrich Platinum), or if you got the PCF Mastercard, you would have gotten $470.00 worth of cash back over the last 2 years. Since neither of these cards have an annual fee, you're never out of pocket to pay for the "privilege" of using these cards up front.

So you would have gotten $360.00 more by just using the plain ol' 1% Cash Back no annual fee cards out there.

I would suggest you NOT redeem for gift cards. The whole point of Aeroplan miles is to use them to travel. Although you may not be in any position NOW to use them, why not use them in 2-3 years from now?

So long as you keep your account active (pay a Bell bill once a year, fill up at Esso once a year, have car insurance with ING/BelAir Direct, etc) then you won't lose your miles. I believe they expire within 7 years of your accumulating them - so if you've been collecting for 2 years, I'd say you've got another 3-4 years worth of free time to choose when/where you'll want to go.

well said and point taken. I guess I'll just keep the points until i can travel with them. I'd only still be using it towards a ticket to asia. I guess what I'll do is in the next year or the year after, I'll join back again for a year of aeroplan gold with any of the credit cards to try to get the remainder needed for a ticket to asia.

I think I've spent about $17K the past 2 years (most of the points came from the sign-up bonuses), but still not 1% cashback. So I'm settled on the PCF Mastercard for now

[brunes]

So long as you keep your account active (pay a Bell bill once a year, fill up at Esso once a year, have car insurance with ING/BelAir Direct, etc) then you won't lose your miles. I believe they expire within 7 years of your accumulating them - so if you've been collecting for 2 years, I'd say you've got another 3-4 years worth of free time to choose when/where you'll want to go.

This is true, but you don't want to wait TOO long, cause every once in awhile they will bump up the mileage needed for everything by 5,000 miles.

It would suck to hold on to them too long then have them decrease in value.

OP - you never travel anywhere in NA? Why not just take a vacation to somewhere?

[LarryLat]

where do you have your points? are they in your Aeroplan account, or are they tied to your credit cards?

If they are tied to your credit cards, then look into ways of transferring them into your Aeroplan account. Then stop using cards with fees. There are a number of other credit cards that can be used to collect points, which can be eventually transferred into your Aeroplan account. I think Starwoods MasterCard allows you to transfer points into Aeroplan under some certain restricting conditions, but it is possible nonetheless. I'm sure there are other options as well.

It might even be more beneficial to transfer Aeroplan miles into some other point program with a less restrictive and more rewarding options.

[Drew_W]

Shorthaul Air Canada flights are only 15k miles, so you've got enough for 3 of those, or one long haul (25k) and one short.

Go on a trip somewhere. Have a little fun.

[trenton1776]

Keep in mind, Aeroplan travel is far from free. Expect to spend $100-$200 in taxes, fees and fuel surcharges when redeeming your free flight.

Free flights are not what they used to be.

[halflife150]

I believe they expire within 7 years of your accumulating them - so if you've been collecting for 2 years, I'd say you've got another 3-4 years worth of free time to choose when/where you'll want to go.

Do the individual points only have a life time of 7 years before they expire or is it 7 years of account inactivity will expire all points?

[Octavius]

Do the individual points only have a life time of 7 years before they expire or is it 7 years of account inactivity will expire all points?

Lifetime of 7 years AND they expire within 1 year of no account activity.

[RiCHC3]

If I'm not mistaken there's a site where you can transfer your points to another type of points (probably not too appealing in this case), but I think you could also trade it for cash. I'll have to look it up and get back to you.

[j3tang]

i just went to paris in August .. so another vacation anytime soon is not the best time. But I like the suggestion of keeping the points around for another year or two and maybe go back to accumulating them to see if i can get a free one to asia. I'd still have activity since my Esso speedpass puts points into my aeroplan account when I get gas.

[enigma54]

Keep in mind, Aeroplan travel is far from free. Expect to spend $100-$200 in taxes, fees and fuel surcharges when redeeming your free flight.

Free flights are not what they used to be.

Most people forget this point. I redeemed 60k points for two tickets to Paris last fall. I had to dish out $550 in taxes and fees. To put that in context, had I purchased the two tickets, it would've cost me about $1500 all in.

[pitz]

The best 'deal' seems to be using the points for business class travel.

For example, AC.com is quoting Canada-Sydney for approximately $12,000 right now in Business class. If you shop around, you should be able to get that down to $7000-$8000.

Or you can redeem 110,000 points if you can find a seat.

At $7000 / 110,000, that's 6 cents a mile.

And at 21 hours each way from Toronto-Sydney, those lie-flat beds they have on the new 777's sure beat the h*ll out of sitting in the back trying to make yourself comfortable for an entire day.