I agree with others that this is certainly not a primary mileage program except for those who seldom or never fly,have big families to feed [and thus shop at Safeway in the west and Dominion in Central Canada], and who want a no fee Amex card. At the same time, I would not write Air Miles off completely.

First, the cost of awards is relatively high and they have recently been increased. Well, AC forced a renegotiation of the fares Air Miles has been paying, so obviously this was passed on to us. Remember, Air Miles buys these seats in the same way CUTS or a consolidator does. In fact, these are Z-class fares which would have the same no change restrictions as many of these consolidator tickets in the cheapest fare class. However, on the bright side, you do collect Aeroplan miles on these tickets. (Not sure about eligibility on other programs like NW, AA or UA which also issue tickets to Air Miles.)


Second, the extra charges on tickets. This is not their fault. Blame the folks in Washington who impose the most outrageous Customs/Immigration/Agriculture/segment and other fees and taxes on air travellers. I am flying on one of these tickets between YYZ and LGA for Catman's weekend on Friday. The U.S. government charges me $42.26 for the privilege of getting asked a few questions, and another $9.12 and $12.83 for segments into and out of the U.S. and to use LGA itself. Some of the other costs include a fuel surcharge which all airlines add to their base U.S. discounted fares, in this case it is AC. And finally, I pay the NAVCAN fee. So none of this goes to Air Miles, and you would pay all but the fuel surcharges on an AC or AA award ticket too. (Not sure about NAVCAN.]

I used another award to spend a Westin free weekend in Chicago last fall, so all those years shopping at Safeway and The Bay in Alberta have paid off. Still got enough to do two more such short trips, which is pretty much what I figured they'd get used to. I just don't find it a cost benefit to either buy a short haul ticket, or even redeem Aeroplan points for one [except during discount periods], so Air Miles fills the need perfectly for me. But it may not do much for others.

As I say, certainly not one's primary award program, but an interesting supplement for many. Having moved to the U.S., you face added problems since the program never did catch on down there, though rumours had it that another attempt would be made to launch Air Miles down there sometime this year.