collecting Aeroplan vs air miles?
 

I was collecting Petro Points at Petrocan, but not they have changed their rules and are only giving half the points for gas.
SO I won't be getting gas there anymore!

Now I don't know whether to go to Esso to earn Aeroplan or whether to go to Shell to earn Air Miles.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

I personally don't care about Airmiles. They are useless.

But if I go to an Esso, I won't use my Aeroplan card. $3 for one AP mile is pathetic.

For gas, I would just buy gas wherever and whenever I need it. The perks from buying gas is next to none.

Not for those wanting to keep their accounts active ... simple way actually.

I use my airmiles for non-flight related purchased and my aeroplan miles strictly for flight rewards.
You get a higher earning ratio at Shell, especially with many 3X the airmiles reward bonus that seem to float around a lot.

I redeem my airmiles for fuel coupons for use at Shell. 175 miles for $20 coupon. And the coupons used to pay for gas accrue airmiles.

Yes, you're right.

I just filled up at Esso today. I bought exactly $3 worth of gas with my AP card and then bought exactly $3 worth of gas with my wife's AP card. So that we can qualify for the recent AP bonus offer.:cool:

But if one wants to collect AP points from buying Esso gas, I would just use the Esso-extra card. You get 1 Esso point per dollar spent.

11500 Esso points can be converted to 10000 Aeroplan points at points.com

So essentially, this way, you're getting 1 AP point per $1.15 purchase at Esso. Way better than the rate of 1 AP point per $3 purchase using the AP card directly.

I have a quickpay thingy so i just put it next to the Tiger and i start filling.

Not sure if I can collect 11500 points with Esso. That will take me around 20 years. I only spend around $500 a year on gas. By that time, i am sure the exchange rate will not be 1.15 anymore. :D

I use a Sunoco performance points card -- 20 points per litre of Ultra 94 (which I prefer to use anyway). 20K points gives you a $20 gas coupon, or 6K for a top-line car wash (basically a wash for every six fill-ups). Plus the 1% cash reward on my credit card ...

It's actually better yet if you use premium gas -- Esso Extra gives you three points per dollar for premium, so that would be 3 AP per $1.15.

But for the points.com conversion -- is 10K the minimum conversion? I couldn't see that without creating a points.com account.

Well, my post was just a hypothetical post.

I have never used points.com because they are a rip-off. I would just convert the Esso points to RBC points and then wait till they have a bonus offer and convert them to BA points.^

I thinks Sunoco and Petrocanada are going to merge. Don't know what that means in terms of the points.

That works if you collect RBC and AA points. I'm 0-for-2 on that count. :rolleyes:

At this point they are saying that the two programs (and the two gas station chains) will continue to run independently, with no changes. That surely won't last for ever, but it could be a year, two or five before there is consolidation.

Thank you all very much. I didn't know there where so many plans out there.
Maybe I'll just go to Shell and slowly accumulate air miles. Eventually I'll get a flight somewhere.

Just as with airlines, you need to consider the convenience and the product. Pick the one that works the best for you, and then use their points.