Air Miles Round-Up Contest (Aug. 6 – Sept. 15, 2019)

It’s a collection of Air Miles coupons. If you use offers at 3 different partners you get 1 contest entry and 5 offers will get you 3 entries. You are limited to 3 entries max. The prize is a package of 5 $100 gift cards chosen from various Air Miles partners. The country is divided into 4 regions and there will be 125 winners in each area. Check out all the details on the contest website. I suspect a few collectors were hoping for a repeat of the “Pack To School” promotion. That doesn’t seem very likely now.

Because there is no big Air Miles bonus for completing a set number of offers, as in the Mega Miles and Shop The Block promos, I think it’s best not to focus too much on the contest. Consider the individual offers to see how they fit with your shopping plans – unless you feel lucky, in which case you might figure out a way to try to get 5 done to maximize your chances.

The Highlights

I looked at the coupons for Nova Scotia. It’s slightly possible that more offers will appear before the end of the promotion. For now, here are some of the better ones, in my opinion:

Sobeys – Buy $200 in Sobeys gift cards, get 100 Air Miles
This one is the no-brainer that appears fairly frequently. You can use it at Lawtons or buy gas with it as well. I see the coupon does not also appear in the flyer as it typically does but it’s mentioned in tiny print at the bottom of page 9.
Aug. 8-14

Foodland – Buy $200 in Foodland gift cards, get 100 Air Miles
See above, same tiny print, page 3.
Aug. 8-14

Lawtons – Buy $100 in Lawtons gift cards, get 50 Air Miles.
If you shop at Lawtons, this one’s useful.
Aug. 8-14

Airmilesshops.ca – Spend $100 in a single transaction, get 50 Air Miles.
If you have plans to make online purchase(s) from a single Air Miles partner during this time you might as well capitalize on this offer.
Aug. 6-19

Irving – 4x the miles on 20L fill-up of any fuel type
No great bonus but if you’re buying gas at Irving anyway you might as well get the extra miles and get another offer toward your contest entry goal.
Aug. 9 – Sept. 1 (valid on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only)

Pharmasave – Buy 3 Pharmasave brand products, get 15 miles
This is one of 3 Pharmasave offers.
Aug. 6 – Sept. 15

Skip the one time only offers like the Rewarding Your Opinions surveys or Samsung Pay if you haven’t done them before. It’s a good idea to keep those in reserve in case you need one for a better promotion like Shop The Block, assuming it returns later this year.

No Purchase Necessary Entry

In the Official Contest Rules you’ll see that it’s possible to get a free entry in the contest. You just have to submit by email a 50 word essay describing your 3 favourite Air Miles partners and why you like them. Terms say entrants may use more than one entry option. So, if you’re not going to use 5 offers, thereby maxing out your 3 entries, you might as well shoot them an email with some word salad about why you love Timber Mart, Kent & Rona or whatever.

Bottom Line

I never get too excited about contests. The last thing I won was a cake in the shape of a cabbage patch doll. It was a very long time ago but the cake was incredibly good. I do kind of wonder if it tasted extra delicious because I won it. I’ll never know for sure. Anyway, my pessimistic nature keeps me from being too hopeful but at least the Air Miles Round-Up is not a contest with only 1 winner. There will be 125 in Atlantic Canada. If I happen to win I will post a video of me doing some sort of happy dance. No I won’t.