Toddcan

I used to fly a fair amount for work, but since moving up to localized management, I hardly fly at all, except for pleasure. And when I do fly (1-2 times per year max), I am using AP miles, or flying on Southwest. So, I do not earn any AP miles from flying. I cannot remember my last flight where I earned miles.

But, I still rack up 85k-100k miles into my AP account each year. I am almost fanatical about getting miles where I can. I bank with CIBC, and earn lots of miles by having an Aeromortgage, Aerogold Infinite Visa, and the right kind of chequing accounts, etc etc. I buy gas at Esso (hardly work the miles, btw, but it is convienient location). I shop at Sobeys, and use Telus for my long distance.

Seeing as this is a FT forum, I suspect most forum members are mainly flyers.

Am I correct? Or are a lot of us pretty vigilant AP mile collectors where possible (and were practical)?

zorn

98.079326% of the miles I've earned lifetime have been from flying.

I've never taken an interest in collecting miles. (I've never actually chosen the top tier bonus miles option.)

I think there are lots of people who only seek to earn miles (like you) and lots of people who take the miles they are given but may no particular effort to do so (like me).

hydrogen

I can't speak for everyone else, but most of my miles come from flying.

I don't see the value of collecting AE miles for fun, given the ridiculous surcharges on redemptions and the poor value of AE miles.

What do you plan on using your AE miles on other than travel? Esso gift cards?

scotchmeup

I think most fly alot and collect a lot from all other means.... But i do get way more from spending than from flying... given your desire to collect miles, am surprised you don't have the AMEX Gold yet which would give you access to more miles...both from signing up and from spend on travel, gas and grocery.... and allows up to 1.5 on transfer bonuses to Avios (BA) and keep waiting for similar promotions again to Aeroplan... you may want to take a look its free for first year

Toddcan

When I fly, I use AP miles. Went to St. Kitts last year, and Mexico the year before, and Hawaii 4 years ago - all with AP miles. Cashing in AP miles for merchandise is beyond inefficient.

Didn't mention it, but I also have the Amex Gold.

vernonc

I would say you are a minority on this forum as most fly a lot. But in the general sense most Aeroplan Canadian collectors of which there are a lot do not fly a lot. Several members of my extended family fly once-twice a year and are AE collectors.

heraclitus

My new job involves no travel whatsoever, and I don't have all that much vacation time. So the upshot is that these days, I am on a plane for no more than maybe 4 or 5 trips a year. But using the point collection tips I have garnered here, I have been able to make my vacations a lot more interesting than they would otherwise be! I guess I am a VBIT by FT standards.

For the true FFs on this board who are flying for work often, there is probably little point in pursuing the various collecting tactics like shopping at Sobeys or churning credit cards. Personally, I wouldn't bother with that stuff if I was in the air every other week. For me, being a member of a FF program is about collecting enough points to take fun vacations, and if flying alone got me to that point then there would be no need to hassle with other techniques.

zoobtoob

Please elaborate

DaveTO

Not a fan of toaster redemption, I guess.

Some of the YYZ-LHR in Y redemptions are worse, in terms of value per mile, so don't lump it all together. I suppose if you had thousands of miles that were going to expire, it's better to get gift cards than nothing.

By the way, I hate to point out that you are getting screwed on your CIBC banking. Between the Unlimited chequing, Aerogold, and Aeromortgage, you are giving CIBC way too much money for aeropesos.

BMGfan

New collector here. The little travel I do do for work is completley out of my hands booking wise (my company is C H E A P), so i grab what pitiful amount of miles i can (next to nothing due to tango fare accumulation and how expensive even tango fares can be).

So I've been collecting mostly through credit card means. ALL my expenses have been going on the aerogold amex or aerogold visa. Truth be told I'm shocked at how easy it is to accumulate aeropesos. I'm at more than 50k after 2 months of accumulation, without doing anything crazy like manufactured spending.

I've also been gearing up for the burn side, and while the scamcharges are VERY high, them math works out for us. We travel once a year or so anyways, so a "free" upgrade to buisness class on a trip we would have taken anyways (assuming we don't minimize scamcharges at all), works for us value wise. You can get better value out of the points with a little effort too. Of course the game only works if you don't pay interest at all and get more than your annual fees worth of points out of the card.

While I totally get the complaints about aeroplan, the fact is aeropesos (which really is an apt term given how easy they are to accumulate), aren't worthless, they're just not worth much. For me still as somone who flies 7-10 times a year the value is still there.


TOTALLY aggree on the CIBC thing. Unfortunatly the aerogold is my main spend card as so few daily spend companies take amex here (really I wish a grocery store here took amex). Sadly the sales guy who called to try to get me to move more of my finances over to CIBC after I got the aerogold simply couldn't understand why I didn't want to move all my finances over to a CIBC chequing account for 100 pesos a month!

Toddcan

You're probably right. I no longer have the AeroMortgage (I did at one point). The Aeromortgage rates start at 5.1%. My CIBC mortgage is 2.35%

The unlimited chequing acct gives 1200 miles/yr, but due to my other banking products, I get a monthly credit of $4.95 on that one account.

Yes, I pay an annual fee for the Aerogold Infinite. But, this is the lion's share of my mile accumulation - I believe it's worth it.

But, I've cashed in my AP miles mostly for J flights - which make it quite cost effective, imo.

I'm all ears if I can do better with another card/program.

Toddcan

Sorry... Primus.

There was a promotion going around 3-4 years ago where they pay out 3 miles for every $1 spent on long distance. We don't use it alot, but it does earn me a some miles.

rankourabu

99.9% of my Aeroplan miles are not from flying (I think I credited a LIS-MAD TAP flight once that earned 50 miles)

But in Canada, its easy to get AE miles, so we are kinda stuck here... If someone like me can get over 100k points in a year without crediting a single flight mile, it shows you how devalued the program is.


None of my hard earned flying miles however, will ever go to Aeroplan, those all go to a real FFPs.

Boogie711

If I could get United Miles with a Canadian credit card, I'd be in Nirvana.

rankourabu

There is still use for Aeroplan, and diversifying is always good.

Would I rather earn 2 AE miles on my groceries with Amex than 1 UA mile with a theoretical UA card.. yeah probably would still choose AE in this case.

BUT

Crediting flight miles to Aeroplan is only good if you
a) fly mostly domestic
and
b) buy (or more likely - have bought for you) tickets in Flex/Lat