Safeway's Sweet AirMiles Deals

[operabob]

Flights and I still get the Best Western Cards. BW Cards are the same value as the others now but I still get a tax advantage when I use them on business.

[pamjcoupon]

thanks guys. We don't want to use them for flights as you still pay so much in taxes. We have a capital one mastercard with points system that gives us much better deals on flights. Maybe I will look into HBC gc and start shopping there more often.

[operabob]

Pam,

I have a Gold BMO MasterCard which reduces the AM cost of flights by 25%.

[pamjcoupon]

perhaps, but you still can pay over $100 in taxes...capital one you pay for the flight yourself on your credit card and they just credit you the money back...and deduct the amount of points it costs-you are out of pocket-zero.
You would think it would be easy to spend money

Pam,

I have a Gold BMO MasterCard which reduces the AM cost of flights by 25%.

[Donna456]

I use them to get Shell coupons (now air miles cash, which I hate by the way) and then take the money I would normally spend on fuel and put it in an "airmiles" bank account. I may lose some value in doing that but I can use the money for whatever I want and book the flight of my choosing. I ditched the airmiles credit card and got a capital one mastercard. So flexible.

[operabob]

Yes, you can get 1% (???) cash back and credit it towards a flight but you're still paying. With careful shopping I get well over 1% in value.

[operabob]

With careful shopping I get well over 1% in value.

Of course I wasn't thinking as I wrote this. You can still shop for bonus AirMiles at Safeway with a 1% cash back card. At Safeway, with the new $0.105?AM rate if you have a 1AM/$$10 spent the card itself is slightly ahead of a 1% card at 1.05%.

However,

If you're using a 1% card to buy flights you have an advantage of choice of flights but you're at a disadvantage over cost despite paying the taxes:

1. Even if you pay cash for taxes you can offset that by buying gas for example. It's still money out of your pocket using the 1% cash back card. So that's even for both cards.

2. Suppose you want a flight costing $200 including $100 in taxes. With a 1% cash back card you'd have to spend $20,000 to cover the cost.

How much would it cost using Airmiles?

Well with just using the AM credit card virtually the same but with Safeway's bonus miles using the Chapman's ice cream bars as an example. Why the Chapman's? Because the AMs give a clear advantage this week.

Chapman's is B3G30 or for every $4.99 get $1.05

I'm going to round that off to $1.00 to cover the $0.05 price differential over Wally World.

So how much do you need to spend to cover the $200 cost of the flight?

200 X $4.99 = $998.00 vs. $20,000 on a cash back card alone.

Note: The value of AirMiles on Flights is usually above $0.105 so the cost is actually lower yet.

Now I would never buy 200 Chapman's but with careful shopping for the bonus miles and using AirMiles to purchase flights is still well ahead of a cah back card if you don't mind the lead time needed.

[operabob]

Ooops, forgot one thing.

I have to buy 200 Chapman;'s to offset the cost of the $200 flight.

However, each one costs about $1.42 more in cash than Wally World so at $0.10/AM you'd have to buy 142 to accumulate enough AM value to offset that difference as well so the cost would be:

342 x 4.99 = approx. $1,710 vs. the $20,000 needed on a 1% cash back card alone.

[SavingYourHardEarnedMoney]

Great post Bob, thanks. Have you compared the Mbna cash back card? It's a no fee card.They give 3% on groceries and gas(up to $600/month)and 1% on everything else. When I signed up I got 5% and 3% for the first 6 months and then a few years later they gave it to me again. I have found that with a family of 4 we get about $600/year cash back. Of course run everything I can through the card.

[pamjcoupon]

thanks for the analysis...interesting. I probably won't be using my airmiles for flights (not going anywhere) and capital one works better for us. After all this I think I have decided to get some hbc gc and use it to buy my kids clothes for the next little while as well as some new pillows for our house (we really need these). thanks again.

[operabob]

Thing is to do what's best for you rather than what's best for them. We all find what works for us.

They give 3% on groceries and gas(up to $600/month)and 1% on everything else.

Does that include Safeway groceries? Or is it specific to a particular store?

The Gold BMO Card works for me because it saves me several $100s on travel insurance alone.

[Donna456]

My Capital one card gives me 2% on all purchases. I'll end up with over $1000 per year because I put everything on it. This has worked out way better for us than the AM cards and the fees per year were similar.

[a_1_a]

I use them to get Shell coupons (now air miles cash, which I hate by the way) and then take the money I would normally spend on fuel and put it in an "airmiles" bank account. I may lose some value in doing that but I can use the money for whatever I want and book the flight of my choosing. I ditched the airmiles credit card and got a capital one mastercard. So flexible.

Shell coupons will not be available after June 28.

[Giving-Small]

So for airmiles you've already saved up over the years, can you move them to cash back at the pump or do I need redeem asap?

[kelsie94]

The Gold BMO Card works for me because it saves me several $100s on travel insurance alone.

Do you ever purchase the air miles insurance?