Airmiles Armchair Chatter

BMO AM offer I received today, spend $750 between today and April 26, get 115 AM's. No specific stores, just a spend threshold. I could do it I suppose. What I didn't spend on regular items could be used to buy a Disney GC. I'll think about it. The return is not great but I have to pay Disney anyways.
 
I have to make 4 purchases and get 20AM. Couldn't have come 2 days earlier when I made 2 airmilesshops purchases. And we're staying in right now due to travelling next week to Egypt. Trying to stay safe!
 
tinkerone said:
BMO AM offer I received today, spend $750 between today and April 26, get 115 AM's. No specific stores, just a spend threshold. I could do it I suppose. What I didn't spend on regular items could be used to buy a Disney GC. I'll think about it. The return is not great but I have to pay Disney anyways.
Click to expand...
No offers for me this time around,,$750 is kind of high though.
Disney GC might be worth it though.

Hugs
Mel
 
Need some input please......who has booked a flight redeeming miles? We are looking at booking to go to FL in June. I can get a really nice flight with Westjet for 2 people 4100ish miles and $292 in taxes. Usually I would say never get flights with miles (paying fees does not = free) but this time everything else is over priced. The flight is only $380 each which out of YYZ is a great price. Anyway, I'm wondering what I need to know about booking a flight this way. Do I book RT or one way...what about cancellation.....???? Should I look for a hotel instead but that would require redeeming a lot more miles.
 
dancin Disney style said:
Need some input please......who has booked a flight redeeming miles? We are looking at booking to go to FL in June. I can get a really nice flight with Westjet for 2 people 4100ish miles and $292 in taxes. Usually I would say never get flights with miles (paying fees does not = free) but this time everything else is over priced. The flight is only $380 each which out of YYZ is a great price. Anyway, I'm wondering what I need to know about booking a flight this way. Do I book RT or one way...what about cancellation.....???? Should I look for a hotel instead but that would require redeeming a lot more miles.
Click to expand...
I have booked flights quite a bit with AM. I find especially with their new system, the value of miles (using 95AM =$10) plus taxes/fees equals about the same as if I were to buy the flight from the airline directly but the miles portion is free so I feel like it is still at least mostly free. I usually book return flights since we need to come home anyways. Although once I booked the flight there and back as separate bookings as I found better flight times when I did that.
Most of the flights with AM are not refundable unless you book the premium economy and even then I'm not sure if they are refundable. I never really worried about that until covid hit then it was an ordeal to get my refunds for our March 2020 flights. Although I think it really depends on what flights you have booked somehow because a lot of AM customers got refunds right away and some of us unlucky ones got a real runaround.
In general I find the value better for flights than hotels although I have redeemed for both over the years and use the AM for whatever I feel is most useful at the time.
 
Went to Metro and purchased a $500 Disney GC to help get me to that $750 mark. They no longer have the gc's that have a $25-$500 range out on their card rack, you have to ask for them, which I did. I was questioned by 2 people (besides the cashier) about the purpose of the purchase, was it for personal use, was I being harassed to buy it, did I know how it would be used. Loads of questions. It was a bit much but I get it. She eventually explained that people are being scammed and they want to make sure I was safe. It's good they are questioning these purchases. We have already seen the damage that can be done from posts on this thread.
I did ask though, why Disney GC's? They have the Visa GC's out and on display. They have Amazon GC's out and on display. It seems silly to me that they keep Disney cards off the floor. She said that the scam can be for any card. Yes but the odds would be a scammer would prefer a Visa card over a Disney card.
Am I over thinking this?
 
dancin Disney style said:
Need some input please......who has booked a flight redeeming miles? We are looking at booking to go to FL in June. I can get a really nice flight with Westjet for 2 people 4100ish miles and $292 in taxes. Usually I would say never get flights with miles (paying fees does not = free) but this time everything else is over priced. The flight is only $380 each which out of YYZ is a great price. Anyway, I'm wondering what I need to know about booking a flight this way. Do I book RT or one way...what about cancellation.....???? Should I look for a hotel instead but that would require redeeming a lot more miles.
Click to expand...

We always use our miles for flights and Disney/Universal tickets. I find the value is much better than using them for hotels. Do a comparison to what you would spend on the hotel or flight and what the AM cost is. This Xmas we were able to redeem the normal amount of AM to fly from Prince George to Vancouver (highways were all closed because of the flooding we had out in BC) and the flight prices were ridiculous. We saved $2700 and used 4000 AM. This was before they changed the flight system though.
 
tinkerone said:
Went to Metro and purchased a $500 Disney GC to help get me to that $750 mark. They no longer have the gc's that have a $25-$500 range out on their card rack, you have to ask for them, which I did. I was questioned by 2 people (besides the cashier) about the purpose of the purchase, was it for personal use, was I being harassed to buy it, did I know how it would be used. Loads of questions. It was a bit much but I get it. She eventually explained that people are being scammed and they want to make sure I was safe. It's good they are questioning these purchases. We have already seen the damage that can be done from posts on this thread.
I did ask though, why Disney GC's? They have the Visa GC's out and on display. They have Amazon GC's out and on display. It seems silly to me that they keep Disney cards off the floor. She said that the scam can be for any card. Yes but the odds would be a scammer would prefer a Visa card over a Disney card.
Am I over thinking this?
Click to expand...
maybe it was the amount that triggered it,,,not the place
 
mort1331 said:
maybe it was the amount that triggered it,,,not the place
Click to expand...
You very well could be right on this however my point was actually more to why they wouldn't have them on the card rack. The Visa cards also are high value and would seem to me to be more valuable for usage. You can use them anywhere. Disney is pretty much a one use item, only with a Disney product. I have often read/seen where scammers want you to purchase Visa or Amazon cards but have never read one that wants you to purchase Disney.
I appreciate the fact they ask, it might help someone, but it seems silly to hide them away.
I will probably never know the answer. They must have some sort of reason.
 
cari12 said:
I have booked flights quite a bit with AM. I find especially with their new system, the value of miles (using 95AM =$10) plus taxes/fees equals about the same as if I were to buy the flight from the airline directly but the miles portion is free so I feel like it is still at least mostly free. I usually book return flights since we need to come home anyways. Although once I booked the flight there and back as separate bookings as I found better flight times when I did that.
Most of the flights with AM are not refundable unless you book the premium economy and even then I'm not sure if they are refundable. I never really worried about that until covid hit then it was an ordeal to get my refunds for our March 2020 flights. Although I think it really depends on what flights you have booked somehow because a lot of AM customers got refunds right away and some of us unlucky ones got a real runaround.
In general I find the value better for flights than hotels although I have redeemed for both over the years and use the AM for whatever I feel is most useful at the time.
Click to expand...
youngdeb12 said:
We always use our miles for flights and Disney/Universal tickets. I find the value is much better than using them for hotels. Do a comparison to what you would spend on the hotel or flight and what the AM cost is. This Xmas we were able to redeem the normal amount of AM to fly from Prince George to Vancouver (highways were all closed because of the flooding we had out in BC) and the flight prices were ridiculous. We saved $2700 and used 4000 AM. This was before they changed the flight system though.
Click to expand...
Thank you both. I have no clue what I will do. After doing a lot of searching last night it appears that a week in FL is stupidly over priced at the moment. I can go to a 5* in either the Dominican or Mexico for less money.
 
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bababear_50 said:
This story has me a bit concerned

BMO customers out thousands of dollars unable to prove fraudulent e-transfers weren't their fault​



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/bmo-customers-thousands-etransfer-fraud-1.6423576

Keep a close eye on your accounts and don't rely on Banks to protect you was my thought after reading it.
And yeah maybe it's time to part ways with some cards...
Click to expand...
As a banker for more than 30 years I agree with you, keep a close eye on your account. Always close any cards you don't need or use at least once a year.
Reading this story puts up several red flags for me. No one wants to admit they may be the cause of a loss. I'll give you an example, and I have a ton!

I had a woman call the bank one time, she was a nurse who works nights. She noticed that money was being taken from her account every Sunday night and since that was one of the nights she worked she knew for sure it was not her taking it. Now this woman was not calm, she was yelling and blaming the bank for allowing someone to take her money. It was very hard to get her to listen to my questions and every one I asked was an affront to her. I asked had she shared her PIN with anyone. No, she never gave her PIN to anyone, not her husband, not her children. How dare I ask (her words). I suggested maybe she should speak with them before it went much further at which time she got louder because 'I was accusing her family of stealing money when she knew it was the bank who was stealing it. Was her PIN with her card, could someone at work have gotten access to it. No, was I calling her stupid. I was able to tell her the exact times and the exact instabank machine that was used on every occasion. She demanded I give her her money back immediately. I told her that I would send for photos of the person and I would give those photos to the police, was she willing to have the person who took the money charged? Of course she was, was I trying to trick her? I said no problem, I would put the funds back into her account and order copies of the pictures, make a police report and have the person or persons charged. That would take about 3 days.
Two days later she called back to yell at me some more. DO NOT get pictures, DO NOT call the police. She was not going to tell me why, it was none of my business. I did find out later that her children were the ones who were taking money from moms account when mom was at work. She had shared her PIN with them plenty of times.

My point is, it's not always the clients fault but I would say 95% of the time it is. They opened a spam email (saw this a lot). They shared their passwords with husbands, children, boyfriends, girlfriends. Can't begin to tell you the heartbreak of those stories. They wrote their PIN number on their cards, elderly people have problems with this. Their computer gets hacked, another big one. Reading this story I see lots of glaring holes. Those two people do not want to see they could have had any culpability in this. Its just easier to blame the bank. Who knows, it could be a bank issue but for this one, my money is on the clients.
Just watch your banking. Somebody somewhere wants to take your money.
 
tinkerone said:
As a banker for more than 30 years I agree with you, keep a close eye on your account. Always close any cards you don't need or use at least once a year.
Reading this story puts up several red flags for me. No one wants to admit they may be the cause of a loss. I'll give you an example, and I have a ton!

I had a woman call the bank one time, she was a nurse who works nights. She noticed that money was being taken from her account every Sunday night and since that was one of the nights she worked she knew for sure it was not her taking it. Now this woman was not calm, she was yelling and blaming the bank for allowing someone to take her money. It was very hard to get her to listen to my questions and every one I asked was an affront to her. I asked had she shared her PIN with anyone. No, she never gave her PIN to anyone, not her husband, not her children. How dare I ask (her words). I suggested maybe she should speak with them before it went much further at which time she got louder because 'I was accusing her family of stealing money when she knew it was the bank who was stealing it. Was her PIN with her card, could someone at work have gotten access to it. No, was I calling her stupid. I was able to tell her the exact times and the exact instabank machine that was used on every occasion. She demanded I give her her money back immediately. I told her that I would send for photos of the person and I would give those photos to the police, was she willing to have the person who took the money charged? Of course she was, was I trying to trick her? I said no problem, I would put the funds back into her account and order copies of the pictures, make a police report and have the person or persons charged. That would take about 3 days.
Two days later she called back to yell at me some more. DO NOT get pictures, DO NOT call the police. She was not going to tell me why, it was none of my business. I did find out later that her children were the ones who were taking money from moms account when mom was at work. She had shared her PIN with them plenty of times.

My point is, it's not always the clients fault but I would say 95% of the time it is. They opened a spam email (saw this a lot). They shared their passwords with husbands, children, boyfriends, girlfriends. Can't begin to tell you the heartbreak of those stories. They wrote their PIN number on their cards, elderly people have problems with this. Their computer gets hacked, another big one. Reading this story I see lots of glaring holes. Those two people do not want to see they could have had any culpability in this. Its just easier to blame the bank. Who knows, it could be a bank issue but for this one, my money is on the clients.
Just watch your banking. Somebody somewhere wants to take your money.
Click to expand...
I felt the same way reading this article. I think some details were left out by the clients.
 
this has nothing at all to do with airmiles but I thought it might bring a smile to a few faces. I spent most of Wednesday in the ER dealing with complications from my colonoscopy prep (preventative health care is still important, get the camera up your butt!) meaning I was a close contact to confirmed case of COVID-19. SO I couldn't go to a family shower this afternoon, hubby was at his family's COVID-19 is over party (SMH!!) and this is how i used my found time. I cut the fabrics I bought from Etsy (got me some miles doing that) so I can start sewing bibs for our new grandbaby

20220423_134947.jpg20220423_133122.jpg20220423_125738.jpg
 
There are only so many places I can look for my garden clippers and watering can................ maybe my old neighbors borrowed them when they moved. :rolleyes1
Solution :drive:off to Shell to pick up a Canadian Tire card = 20 Am
Gift cards listed (Ends May 1st)
With the purchase of any of the following Gift Cards: $100 Walmart, $100 Sobeys, $50 Sephora, $50 Canadian Tire, $50 Indigo, $50 HBC, $50 Keg or $50 Starbucks
Of course I had to stop and get a coffee & muffin.pooh:

Hugs Mel
 
bababear_50 said:
There are only so many places I can look for my garden clippers and watering can................ maybe my old neighbors borrowed them when they moved. :rolleyes1
Solution :drive:off to Shell to pick up a Canadian Tire card = 20 Am
Gift cards listed (Ends May 1st)
With the purchase of any of the following Gift Cards: $100 Walmart, $100 Sobeys, $50 Sephora, $50 Canadian Tire, $50 Indigo, $50 HBC, $50 Keg or $50 Starbucks
Of course I had to stop and get a coffee & muffin.pooh:

Hugs Mel
Click to expand...
Oh I may have to head there as we are thinking of going to the Keg on Wednesday for my nephews birthday. Not sure about the dining out part yet but I will go for him.
 
juniorbugman said:
Oh I may have to head there as we are thinking of going to the Keg on Wednesday for my nephews birthday. Not sure about the dining out part yet but I will go for him.
Click to expand...
That sounds great Hon ,,just a caveat on the cards

"One transaction per 12-hour period. Offer may be combined with other Bonus offers. No coupon required. A valid AIR MILES Card must be presented/Collector Number entered at time of transaction. Shell reserves the right to make changes to this offer and to terminate the offer at any time, for any reason and without notice. Please allow up to 2 weeks after your transaction for Bonus Miles to be posted to your Collector Account." (My miles posted already).
I was going to get 2 $50 but will go back tomorrow for a second one.

Hugs Mel

Edited to add
Hmmmm............ I may just pick up some extra Canadian Tire ones for gas over the next week.
 
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bababear_50 said:
There are only so many places I can look for my garden clippers and watering can................ maybe my old neighbors borrowed them when they moved. :rolleyes1
Solution :drive:off to Shell to pick up a Canadian Tire card = 20 Am
Gift cards listed (Ends May 1st)
With the purchase of any of the following Gift Cards: $100 Walmart, $100 Sobeys, $50 Sephora, $50 Canadian Tire, $50 Indigo, $50 HBC, $50 Keg or $50 Starbucks
Of course I had to stop and get a coffee & muffin.pooh:

Hugs Mel
Click to expand...
I’m so jealous! All our shell stations near us are circle K type stores so no airmiles .
All is good here. I’m only earning well from BMO and shell regularly. Earning a lot more PC at the moment which is all going to our trip Disney gift cards in June.
58 more sleeps. Got two dining res I wanted as I’m still not even sure I’m comfortable indoor dining yet. We are all to this point still covid free. ( the stress of trying to keep kiddos safe is really getting to me , it feels like every step is a minefield out there and we have teammates not following isolation rules etc it’s exhausting )
We got sci fi and beaches and cream . I really want the fam to try the kitchen sink. I was really disheartened by the lack of options but yet on certain FB groups ppl are trying to switch and trade. I really wish they would start charging a res fee to stop this. Sigh
My shifts were extended another month covid swabbing in LTC I’m so tired of it but it’s easy money , I’m just drowning working every single weekend and the boys schooling. Blech .
Hope everyone is well. I have a PC optimum spend $50 in points get 20% back so I will go grab some things and a Disney gift card.
Hugs to all
T
 
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