Question: Air Canada $1k gift card for 85,000 aeroplan miles - worth it?
Sep 21, 2019, 3:58 am
#1
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Air Canada $1k gift card for 85,000 aeroplan miles - worth it?
Hi all,
I saw there's a promotion till the 25th offering the $1k AC gift vard via aeroplan for 85k points.
Now I know normally the ROI on gift cards is garbage (and 8.5 cpm is a bit ouch) but is it worth it?
It's pretty much like cash money in that I don't need to hunt for I class availability, and can book in any class I want, and get milage on those flights.
With the upcoming uncertainty re AC buying aeroplan, seriously debating it.
OTOH round trip to say, HND, in J(I) from YFC is 150 in fixed miles rewards, and 2* gift card is about half that value of one way in J.
Thoughts?
Edit: messed up a decimal point, oops. 85k miles/1k gift card
I saw there's a promotion till the 25th offering the $1k AC gift vard via aeroplan for 85k points.
Now I know normally the ROI on gift cards is garbage (and 8.5 cpm is a bit ouch) but is it worth it?
It's pretty much like cash money in that I don't need to hunt for I class availability, and can book in any class I want, and get milage on those flights.
With the upcoming uncertainty re AC buying aeroplan, seriously debating it.
OTOH round trip to say, HND, in J(I) from YFC is 150 in fixed miles rewards, and 2* gift card is about half that value of one way in J.
Thoughts?
Edit: messed up a decimal point, oops. 85k miles/1k gift card
Last edited by ecc; Sep 21, 2019 at 6:08 am
Sep 21, 2019, 5:11 am
#2
Join Date: Feb 2019
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If it really was 8.5K miles for $1000 it would be one hell of a deal, 85K on the other hand is not great. If you need the AQM/AQD for status or can't find availability then it might make sense for you.
Sep 21, 2019, 6:07 am
#3
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Sorry, my bad, 85k like in the thread title, not 8.5k like in the post. Have not had coffee yet 
will edit post accordingly.
will edit post accordingly.
Sep 21, 2019, 8:48 am
#4
Join Date: Jan 2016
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Posts: 5,612
I mean it’s a good deal vs $50 for I believe 6750... But I can think of much better uses for 85k miles worth far more than $1k even with scam fees.
Assuming has the time, money and ability etc to travel...
Assuming has the time, money and ability etc to travel...
Sep 21, 2019, 9:46 am
#5
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OP, this actually works out to a bit under 1.2 cpm ($1,000 / 85,000 miles = ~1.176 cpm).
If the post above is correct about the usual price for a gift card being $50 for 6,750 miles, that's about 0.7 cpm and this is therefore a great deal in relative terms.
But it really depends on how you usually use the miles. Relative to many flight rewards, especially those in business class, 1.2 cpm is a poor return. But if you struggle to use your points for flights and end up burning them on things like toasters or gift cards (or, God forbid, burn 60K + hundreds of dollars of YQ for Y tickets to Europe that you could have had for $700), this is actually a pretty good deal.
If the post above is correct about the usual price for a gift card being $50 for 6,750 miles, that's about 0.7 cpm and this is therefore a great deal in relative terms.
But it really depends on how you usually use the miles. Relative to many flight rewards, especially those in business class, 1.2 cpm is a poor return. But if you struggle to use your points for flights and end up burning them on things like toasters or gift cards (or, God forbid, burn 60K + hundreds of dollars of YQ for Y tickets to Europe that you could have had for $700), this is actually a pretty good deal.
Sep 21, 2019, 9:56 am
#7
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People for whom it might make sense are those who want to use miles for an award ticket but also need to earn status miles from the trip for elite qualification.
Otherwise, most people should be able to redeem at better than 1.2 cents per mile (which seems to implicitly include redeemable miles earned on tickets purchased using gift cards).
Otherwise, most people should be able to redeem at better than 1.2 cents per mile (which seems to implicitly include redeemable miles earned on tickets purchased using gift cards).
Sep 21, 2019, 10:11 am
#8
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Sep 21, 2019, 11:36 am
#9
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It costs C$0.03 to buy an AE mile so 85K would cost C$2,550. 85K AE miles can get a one-way business class ticket to Asia, Australia, Africa Europe or South America (most with AEs left over) that would cost at least C$1,500, more likely twice that (and on most airlines without the horrendous surcharges found on AC or LH flights). Or at least three one-way North American business flights (with 10K left over) that go for at least C$1,500 each. So you figure out how bad a value that C$1,000 gift card really is. (The same poor value can be found in most non-flight redemptions.)
Sep 25, 2019, 9:31 pm
#11
Join Date: Oct 2010
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You could get to Africa in business class for 75,000 miles; arguably that's worth much more than $1,000.