AIR MILES® Expands Earning at Wholesale Clubs and Other Retailers

AIR MILES® has announced a string of changes that will positively impact its over 9.5 million collectors.

In the latest round of improvements to the program, we’ve seen an increase to earning rates for eligible cardholders at wholesale clubs, including Costco, as well as at retailers who sell alcohol.

Plus, the program is adding more ways to earn AIR MILES® through receipt scanning and online groceries.

BMO AIR MILES® Cardholders Earn 2x Miles at Wholesale Clubs

The biggest among the improvements announced today is that holders of the BMO AIR MILES®† World Elite®* Mastercard®* and the BMO®† AIR MILES® Mastercard® will receive 2x AIR MILES® at warehouse clubs and alcohol retailers.

Wholesale clubs include Costco and Walmart, while alcohol retailers include the LCBO in Ontario and SAQ in Quebec.

This development is particularly notable as no other Mastercard product offers an elevated earning rate at Costco – not even the CIBC Costco Mastercard. Furthermore, no other credit cards offer an elevated earning rate specifically at liquor stores.

In fact, wholesale clubs are largely excluded from category multipliers on Canadian credit cards. 

With this improvement, holders of the BMO AIR MILES®† World Elite®* Mastercard®* will now earn 2 AIR MILES® per $12 spent at wholesale clubs and alcohol retailers, which is at par with the card’s earning rate at grocery stores.

This is an improvement from the card’s previous baseline earning rate of 1 AIR MILE per $12 spent at wholesale clubs and alcohol retailers.

Meanwhile, cardholders of the BMO®† AIR MILES® Mastercard® now earn 2 AIR MILES® per $25 spent at wholesale clubs and alcohol retailers, which is up from the previous earning rate of 1 AIR MILE®† per $25 spent.†

As a reminder, AIR MILES® can be redeemed at a nominal rate of 95 AIR MILES® = $10 in value, or a valuation of 10.5 cents per mile. Therefore, earning 2 AIR MILES® per $12 spent corresponds to a return of 1.75%, and earning 2 AIR MILES® per $25 spent equates to a return of 0.84%.

Comparatively, other World Elite Mastercard products only offer the baseline earning rate for warehouse clubs due to their business model. For instance, while the Rogers Red World Elite® Mastercard® offers 2% cash back at Costco (if you’re an eligible…