AIR MILES: Loyalty Ventures files for bankruptcy and BMO wants to acquire the program

To the point Loyalty Ventures, the company that owns AIR MILES, filed for bankruptcy. At the same time, BMO indicated its intention to purchase the loyalty program.

What this means for your AIR MILES miles BMO and American Express co-branded credit cards Bottom Line

*** March 10, 2023: In a press release at 7:00 a.m. this morning, BMO confirms that it wants to acquire AIR MILES. More details to come. BMO’s acquisition of the AIR MILES business was proposed in the LoyaltyOne proceeding under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) commenced in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice – Commercial List.

The moment many have been dreading is about to arrive: Loyalty Ventures has announced its intention to declare bankruptcy in the next few days. As a result, AIR MILES will soon be gone. The company is discussing a restructuring agreement with its creditors but intends to file for bankruptcy due to too significant a loss of customers.

This article will be updated over time as more information becomes available about the future of AIR MILES.

In recent months, we have seen several efforts by AIR MILES to retain its customers:

These seem to have been in vain. AIR MILES has suffered many blows, particularly in terms of its partnerships, such as the replacement of the program by Scene+ in grocery stores, which will take effect at the end of March. Check out our coverage on the subject to follow the evolution of the last few months.

So what should you do with your AIR MILES? Here are our tips.

What this means for your AIR MILES miles

We recommend that you use your AIR MILES miles if you can.

If you have Cash Miles, use them in store. The redemption rate is 95 miles for $10 off your bill to pay :

Your grocery store at IGA in Quebec (reminder: in-store gift card purchases do not work). Or Metro outside Quebec.
Items or medication at Jean Coutu drugstores (reminder: the purchase of gift cards in-store does not work either)
Pay for gas or items at Shell

If you live outside of Quebec, you are left with Shell, Metro and a few smaller partners.

Another plan, valid for all Canadians, is to use them for electronic vouchers. There are vouchers for Spotify, Decathlon, The Source, Uber Eats, Timber Mart, H&M, Hudson’s Bay, La Vie en Rose, Roots, Pizza Pizza, Cineplex, Sephora, VIA Rail, WaySpa, etc. You will receive the electronic voucher a few minutes after your transaction.

The AIR MILES site may be unstable or experience technical problems during redemption due to high traffic on the site. If you have any problems, it would be better to do it directly in stores like IGA, Jean Coutu or Shell.

If you have Dream Miles, you have several options.

If you have any bookings scheduled and paid for with your AIR MILES miles, we hope that they will be maintained.

We will have information in the next few days, but you can try to get in the very short term:

on merchandise
tickets to theme parks such as Disney and Universal Studios
hotels and car rentals
or airline tickets

BMO and American Express co-branded credit cards

*** March 10, 2023: BMO announces that it wants to buy AIR MILES. The acquisition of the AIR MILES Reward Program business by BMO was proposed in the LoyaltyOne proceeding under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada, before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

This is very good news, as BMO is in a strong position. And AIR MILES needs stability in this sea of turbulence.

It’s still early to tell what will happen with AIR MILES credit cards.

We will have to wait for the details of the restructuring to know more. We will update this section as we go along.

On March 23rd, the Scene program will take the place of AIR MILES at IGA in the province of Quebec. These Scene Points are earned on select Scotiabank cards.

If you’re looking to change your BMO AIR MILES World Elite credit card, it may be time to switch to a Scotiabank Passport™ Visa Infinite* Card, for example Here is a comparison between these two cards to help you in your choice.

Bottom Line

You are probably asking yourself 1001 questions following this announcement. We will have to wait a little to get the answers, but the next few days will tell us more about this bankruptcy and this article will be regularly updated with the evolution of the situation.

Now that BMO wants to buy AIR MILES to relaunch it, this gives us a little more optimism about the future of the program. But will it be on the same form and with the same exchange rate?

All this news reminds us of what we often say: Earn and burn – accumulate and exchange as much as possible. Loyalty programs are not savings accounts. They can be devalued at any time.

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