The Collapse of the Air Miles Empire

I’ve been covering the slow descent of Air Miles into the madness of obscurity for more than a year now, and for full disclosure, I’ve actually quite enjoyed it. It’s been one heck of a ride, and in no way has it been boring due to the uniformly baffling decisions made by executives in an attempt to keep the program afloat.

The efforts, if they can be called that, have been met with almost nothing but failure, which has now culminated in a dramatic crescendo that’s rarely been seen in the Canadian loyalty space before.

Let’s dig into what happened, and where Canadians can expect Air Miles to fly from here. 

A Ubiquitous Loyalty Program

It wasn’t too long ago that shopping at just about any store in Canada would inevitably result in the clerk asking you if you had an Air Miles card. Many people, my own family members included, had three or four active Air Miles collector cards at any one point in time because they’d forget to bring them between shops.

Moreover, Air Miles used to provide value on both the earning and redeeming fronts.

The first value proposition was that the program’s partners were popular retailers that regular Canadians shopped at every day, such as Lowe’s, the LCBO, Shell, and even supermarket chains like Sobeys and its affiliated brands. This made accumulation easy, predictable, and routine.

Air Miles’s second main value to Canadians was when it came time to redeem. Even though redemptions were split between the somewhat confusing system of Cash and Dream Miles, the products offered by either branch of the Air Miles tree were basically desirable.

After all, who wouldn’t want $10 vouchers that could be used at common merchants?

Another traditional use of Dream Miles, especially for families like mine, was to obtain free Disney resort and theme park passes. As the cost seems to be rising every year, and since the parks are a source of constant demand from young children and the young-at-heart alike, saving money on a family vacation provided real-world value. 

While the Air Miles program did lose some partners over time, and hasn’t been as prestigious as it was during its zenith a decade or longer ago, it still remained central in the hearts of many Canadians.

In fact, I remember getting into the Miles & Points game for the first time, and almost every person I knew…