I can't find an AM forum anywhere (I thought maybe Miles&Points > Other Loyalty Programs/Partners), and I didn't want to start a new thread, so I hope this is okay. I'm going to use AM for Air Miles, DM for Dream Miles, CM for Cash Miles.

AM still has their 5-year rule (even though AC dropped their 7-year rule) and it's coming up in a couple of months. I have about 850DM and was happy to see I have no miles expiring in the next 12 months (though I'm doubtful, don't think I only collected in the last 5 years).

I thought they had lots of $100/950DM gift card redemptions, corresponding to the $10/95CM instant redemption that they push now, and which represents about 10.5c/AM. Since I don't have 950DM yet, I had figured to keep earning to get exactly 950DM, redeem for $100 at Metro or Rona or somewhere, then switch to CM for the quick redemption (and I can understand the AM program would prefer that for the lack of handling a physical product).

But apparently almost all of the GCs have been dropped (and two of the few that remain - though pretty useless - are about to be dropped).

It looks like there a complete lack of useful options. A typical merchandise redemption is $400 worth of DM (at the $10/95CM rate) for a 32" TV (which if you're not going to pay retail for Panasonic or Sony, is worth at most $200). Or a set of pots for about $1000 worth of DM.

I can't quite afford a $100 Travel Voucher (which I don't really want and which goes away Oct 15) or a $100 BMO Investment Voucher (which I don't understand but which goes away Oct 1). I can't find anything else in the $100/950DM category.

Apparently they used to have more of the GC redemptions, and you used to be able to transfer from DM (merchandise and flights) to CM ($10 store credit on the spot) but that's all been quietly dropped. "Quietly" just means I didn't know about it so I'm not assuming it was totally secret but it certainly wasn't very loud.

A friend with just over 4000DM (don't know how many expire) could redeem 3800DM for a flight to FL, that's $400 worth of DM (at 10.5c/DM) but I don't know much cash they want on top of that, nor how hard it is to get your flight. And then what does she do with the other 300DM!?

Am I missing something? Are there other options I'm not seeing? Are they likely to introduce new options when people driven to redeem by the 5-year rule start finding they can't do anything with their DM?

Thanks!
=aw