Air Miles Update | A complete overhaul

Earlier this year, BMO acquired Air Miles. When the announcement was made, many people weren’t sure what to make of the move. BMO Rewards isn’t the most popular bank travel program, and despite having 10 million+ members, Air Miles has been losing partner retailers. However, after just a few months, we’re starting to see the turnaround of Air Miles. I spoke to Air Miles directly and can confirm the following.

Air Miles to remain separate from Air Miles

I recently spoke to Shawn Stewart, president of Air Miles, and he confirmed that BMO is looking to keep the Air Miles brand separate from BMO Rewards. BMO knows Air Miles is a well-known brand, so they intend to invest in the company. This is vital for Air Miles as their previous owner didn’t invest the right resources into the company, which is likely why many partners left. With the backing of BMO, Air Miles can now try different things because they have the funding.

Travel rewards will look different

Even though Air Miles is a travel loyalty program with a plane for its logo, the travel rewards value has been quite low. Air Miles executives know this is a major pain point and are taking steps to resolve things. Expedia was just selected as the lodging supply partner for Air Miles. That means Air Miles collectors will soon be able to access 700,000+ hotels and vacation rental properties as standalone bookings or vacation packages. While no air search partner has been announced, this is a step in the right direction.

Cash and dream miles can be swapped

One of the biggest pain points about Air Miles right now is that you can’t transfer any dream miles earned to cash miles or vice versa. This annoyed many people for obvious reasons. The leadership team at Air Miles knows this, and they’re prioritizing to change this. Soon you’ll be able to transfer your miles between the two options.

The program needs to be rebuilt

Interestingly enough, Air Miles has told me they plan to rebuild the ground up. Not only do they want to make things better for loyalty collectors, but they also want to make things easier for merchants. This is a big deal since Air Miles has basically admitted that the program has a lot of issues and needs to be fixed. They can now look at what works with other travel and retail loyalty programs and apply it to the new Air Miles.

Partnerships will look different

Many loyalty programs rely on anchor partners to make their loyalty programs appealing. However, Air Miles is taking a different approach. They want to make their loyalty program available to any merchant. To do this, they’re leveraging their technology and partnership with Mastercard. Through airmilescardlink.ca, you can earn points at partner retailers with any linked Mastercard. You can earn points twice if you link an Air Miles credit card. This new partnership offers some surprisingly good offers.

New ways to earn points

Besides card link partners, BMO is also testing new ways for collectors to earn Air Miles. One way to do so is by scanning your receipt for specific items. For example, Air Miles might have a promotion with a specific packaged goods company. To earn your miles, you’d scan your receipt. It doesn’t matter where you bought the item or how you paid; you could earn Air Miles for your purchase.

Technology to play a bigger role

Now that BMO is partnered with Air Miles, they can leverage their technology. BMO already works with Mastercard and Moneris (one of the payment processing systems). With the data collected from everyday card spending, Air Miles can provide merchants with a better snapshot of what consumers are spending money on. This will allow retailers to develop campaigns or offer products directly appealing to their core partners. While this may not sound like a big deal, it’s something that will become more relevant in the future. 

There’s potential for Air Miles collectors

Before BMO got involved, Air Miles’ parent company declared they’d be filing for bankruptcy. Many people were rightfully worried about their miles, so they cashed them in for anything of value. However, now that BMO owns Air Miles and the program is going to go through massive changes, there’s no reason to burn your points as soon as possible. It’s likely worth sticking around to see where things are headed.