BMO Air Miles Credit Cards: Earn 5x Miles This Summer

BMO and Air Miles have launched a new promotion just in time for the busy summer months.

On a select range of BMO Air Miles co-branded credit cards, you can earn 5x Air Miles at select retailers from June 1, 2023 to August 31, 2023.

BMO Air Miles Credit Cards: 5x Miles with Select Partners

BMO has launched an upcoming promotion on a select number of its co-branded Air Miles credit cards. From June 1–August 31, 2023, you can earn 5x Air Miles at select retailers, which could be worthwhile if you tend to frequent the businesses. 

Cardholders of the BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard, the BMO Air Miles World Elite Business Mastercard, and the BMO Air Miles Business Mastercard will enjoy an increased earning rate of 5 Air Miles per $12 spent at participating partners.

If you have a BMO Air Miles No-Fee Business Mastercard, you’ll earn 5 Air Miles per $20 spent with eligible partners during the promotional period.

Lastly, the BMO Air Miles Mastercard will see its earning rate increase to 5 Air Miles per $25 spent with eligible partners between June 1 and August 31, 2023.

Note that the BMO Air Miles World Mastercard and BMO Air Miles Gold Mastercard are not eligible for this offer.

If you have an eligible credit card, you can earn 5x Air Miles when you shop with the following eligible partners during the promotional period:

• Shell
• Budget Rent a Car
• Alamo Rent a Car
• National Car Rental
• Global Pet Foods
• Samsung
• Eligible travel booked through airmiles.ca

The promotion’s terms and conditions define eligible travel as follows:

Eligible travel booked through airmiles.ca includes standalone flight, hotel or car bookings, bundled flight + hotel, bundled flight + car bookings, bundled hotel +extras (tours, transfers, and activities) and extras (tours, transfers, and activities) only bookings. Vacation packages, cruise bookings and travel insurance purchases are excluded.

The list of partners is subject to change at any time, and retailers may be added or taken away without notice.

Keep in mind that the 5x promotional earning rate is not in addition to your base earning rate. Rather, it replaces the earning rate for a limited time, and only at the above select retailers. Otherwise, the standard earning rates apply.

There’s no need to opt-in or enroll in this offer. If you’re an eligible cardholder, the elevated 5x earning rate at participating partners will automatically come into effect starting June 1. After August 31, 2023, the earning rates will fall back to the standard amounts.

Is This a Good Deal?

To determine whether or not this deal is worthwhile, let’s first look at how much the promotional 5x earning rate moves the needle for each card.

First off, on the BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard, the base earning rate is 3 Air Miles per $12 spent with Air Miles partners. Therefore, the increase to 5 Air Miles per $12 spent during the promotion isn’t a huge change from the status quo.

Similarly, the standard earning rate at Air Miles partners on the BMO Air Miles World Elite Business Mastercard is 4 Air Miles per $12 spent, which means that the promotional boost is even less meaningful.

On the other hand, the standard earning rate on the BMO Air Miles Business Mastercard is 1 Air Mile per $12 spent with partners, so this increase to 5 Air Miles per $12 spent is quite significant for this product.

The earning rate on the BMO Air Miles No-Fee Business Mastercard is normally 1 Air Mile per $20 spent. Once again, if you often frequent the eligible retailers, the boost to 5 Air Miles per $20 spent can be more meaningful.

Lastly, the earning rate on the BMO Air Miles Mastercard is 3 Air Miles per $25 spent with partners. An increase to 5 Air Miles per $25 spent with this promotion also isn’t too meaningful for an existing cardholder.

Overall, this promotion is most impactful for two cards with lower base earning rates to begin with, and less meaningful otherwise.

Keep in mind that the elevated 5x earning rate only applies at select Air Miles partners. In fact, the increased rate only applies at a grand total of seven retailers, including the booking portal at airmiles.ca. 

Unless you have a significant amount of spending to do at any of these businesses, the standard earning rates on your BMO Air Miles credit card will apply, and the promotion won’t bear you much fruit.

It’s worth noting that in the above image, there is a grocery category listed. However, noticeably absent from the list of partners for this promotion are any grocery stores.

As you may recall, Air Miles has been dropped from many retail partners, including grocery stores, in the recent past, and replaced by Scene+.

Since grocery stores represent a large portion of any household’s daily spending, which could result in meaningful earning opportunities, it’s unfortunate that there aren’t any included on Air Miles’s list of partners.

Therefore, unless you have a significant amount of spending planned at any of the listed partners, and could pad your Air Miles balance accordingly, your efforts are likely better spent elsewhere over the summer months.

For example, many credit cards offer a standard 5x earning rate at grocery stores, restaurants, and bars, in addition to meaningful earning rates at gas stations and travel.

If your goal is to use points to fund travel, you’re likely better off shifting your spending to one of those cards instead of going out of your way to take advantage of this promotion.

Conclusion

BMO and Air Miles have released details of an upcoming promotion on a select number of its Air Miles co-branded credit cards. Between June 1 and August 31, 2023, the earning rate at select partner retailers is boosted to 5x Air Miles, albeit with each card’s usual dollar-amount threshold.

While it’s nice to see BMO and Air Miles trying to drum up activity in the market amidst their recent turbulence, the small number of eligible partners and mediocre earning rates in this promotion leave a lot to be desired, and are unlikely to move the needle for the majority of cardholders.