Job: Personal Support Worker, mom
Hobbies: Baking, playing board games, travel
AIR MILES® Status: Onyx
Balance Preference: Dream
“I’ve been an AIR MILES collector since it’s inception, around 1992. I love collecting Miles and sometimes am a little obsessive.”
When it comes to earning the most AIR MILES® Reward MilesTM, Teresa is one keen collector. She watches her inbox closely for offers, fills up at Shell, earns online through airmilesshops.ca and takes advantage of AIR MILES promotions like Shop the BlockTM. “I love figuring out how to implement Bonus Offers into my shopping. And to get the most bang for my buck!”
That’s putting it mildly. Because when it comes to earning and redeeming Reward Miles, Teresa is an expert at how to do more with less. More travel. More holiday gift giving. More flying friends out to visit her. Quite simply — more living.
From the Big Apple to the big screen
Before we look at how Teresa reaches AIR MILES Onyx® status year after year by earning at least 5,000 Miles annually (also, pro tip, BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard cardholders automatically qualify for Onyx status), check out all the ways she’s rewarded herself since becoming a collector:
- Rented vehicles while on vacation
- Flown to Aruba (twice)
- Flown to San Diego
- Flown to New York
- Flown to Curacao
- Flown friends in to visit her
- Flown to Timmins to visit her brother
- Redeemed for an iPad
- Redeemed for movie passes
- Redeemed for eVouchers for herself and to give as gifts
- Redeemed for Canada’s Wonderland passes
- Redeemed for a dishwasher
Teresa’s top tactics
As you’ll see, by applying some strategy and mindfulness to her everyday shopping, Teresa is able to get the absolute most out of the program. Here are just some of her tactics:
“I like to stack offers whenever possible.”
Teresa is right on the money — or the Miles — on this one. Our program is unique in that collectors are encouraged to use multiple offers at once. Learn more about how you too can stack offers for next-level earnings.
“I always have my collector card with me and use it as often as I can along with my BMO AIR MILES MasterCard.”
This is just plain smart. In addition to always keeping her collector card handy, Teresa uses her BMO AIR MILES Mastercard so she can “double up her Miles whenever she can.”
“I use the Shell and Metro app to get additional Miles.”
And why not? The Metro app is chock-full of AIR MILES offers. And with her Shell Go+ membership, Teresa earns 2x the Miles on Shell fuels, which comes in handy for driving to her cottage or to her job as a Personal Support Worker. (How happy are we to reward a collector who got into this work at the start of the pandemic? Let’s just say we think Teresa is all-around awesome.)
“I’m always looking at my offers.”
Teresa makes a point of looking at her offers regularly so she can be aware of where she can earn the most Miles. (Hint: The AIR MILES app makes it easy to get offers that are curated just for you.)
“I shop and earn online through airmilesshops.ca”
This one’s a no-brainer, especially since there aren’t stores like Sephora and Linen Chest where Teresa lives. And then there’s Amazon. Once Teresa confirms her item is from an applicable category on airmilesshops.ca — voila! She’s earning Miles on a purchase she was already planning to make. Rewarding and convenient.
“I make big purchases during big promotions like Black Friday and Shop the Block.”
When Teresa knows she’s got big purchases ahead, such as holiday shopping, she waits until there are AIR MILES promotions to earn the most Miles. It’s like Christmas comes twice at her house.
It’s all about the rewards
Teresa isn’t just an earning expert, she’s a pro at redeeming Miles, too. “I take advantage of my Onyx discount for merchandise redemptions.”
In other words, with her 10% discount, Teresa can get a reward that’s normally 1,000 Miles for just 900 Miles. It’s just one more way she makes every Mile go a little further.
She also uses our Personal Shopper, an exclusive Onyx benefit, to purchase items outside of our merchandise rewards catalogue. That’s how Teresa ordered the iPad.
A more rewarding way to DIY
With some home renovations ahead, Teresa is all set to give her balance another boost. So, get ready TIMBER MART! Because when it comes to shopping and earning Miles, Teresa means business.
