11 responses to “Saver Saturdays”

1. 

   Kate January 24th, 2009 at 11:49

   Our Food Basics flyer this week showed Tropicana orange juice for 2.88- normally 4.99 in our local Loeb!

   I think we’ll be stocking up and freezing it all. Plus they come with 10 Aeroplan miles.

2. 

   Erran January 26th, 2009 at 12:08

   Meeeooow. Hee hee

3. 

   Saver Queen January 26th, 2009 at 17:59

   Thanks for the tip, Kate! I actually noticed that one too and forgot to mention it!

4. 

   Saver Queen January 26th, 2009 at 17:59

   PS Kate, don’t forget you can use those Aeroplan miles for lots of stuff besides trips, too! I got a magazine subscription and a $100 gift card from HBC a while ago.

5. 

   Erran January 27th, 2009 at 00:07

   Just so you know that while you can get other things with Aeroplan miles, mile for mile, flights are the best value. I remember reading about it in the newspaper not that long ago, and not that hard to figure out on your own, especially with gift cards.

6. 

   Kate January 27th, 2009 at 08:17

   I’ve been a member of Aeroplan since 1992 (how scary is that?? I was 8…). I’ve found that there’s a real trick to using them. Flights are still the best value, but not just any flight. If you’re going to use your miles, using Aeroplan points works best if you are going on a short-haul flight to an underserved location (for instance,, Ottawa-Timmins). These flights are usually horrendously overpriced (~800 bucks), but qualify for the lowest flight redemption (15,000) because they’re so close.

   Keep in mind though, this only works for Aeroplan or similar airline-specific frequent flyer plans. It does NOT work with RBC points- those go by price.

   Maybe SQ will let me do a guest post on our “almost-free” trip to Barbados that’s coming up for Valentine’s Day! My inner frugalista reared its’ head!

7. 

   Saver Queen January 27th, 2009 at 10:50

   Kate, thanks for the good tip about redeeming the flights. Good tip. Please tell me more about this almost free trip to Barbados!! Actually a guest post on this sounds great!

   Erran, you’re right that the flights are the best deal. But only under certain circumstances. Here’s why I chose the “less value” benefit. First of all, you have to use flights within 3 years of your last flight. My time was running out. I do travel quite a bit but stopped flying with Air Canada because they have never had the best deal for where I wanted to go, and even when they are occasionally cheaper, if I’m on a long flight, to England, for example, I’ll choose an airline that is more comfortable (I really hate Air Canada).

   The other issue is that I only had miles for one person, so my traveling companion would have to buy his flight through Air Canada in order for us to travel together. And then I have to pay tax on my own flight. When I priced out a trip to New York City, it was actually *cheaper* for us to both fly Porter, than for me to use my miles. And besides, Porter is much more convenient, because Porter is in downtown Toronto, so we would save the $50 cost to go out to the airport via taxi - and nicer - you get perks like free snacks, booze, pop, a lounge with internet, etc.

8. Saver Queen » Blog Archive » Free Yoga Mat January 27th, 2009 at 13:13

   [...] I mentioned in Saver Saturdays, Astro Yogurt is on sale right now at No Frills (check flyerland.ca to see No Frills prices in your [...]

9. 

   Erran January 27th, 2009 at 20:10

   Kate, great point about the underserved locations - they typically are costly, but would qualify for the lower points package. Never even thought of that really. But then again, why would I be going to Timmins??? Ha ha Hmmm…I do hear a place like Kelowna is gorgeous though…

   Is there not an option to get a 2nd ticket for a partner with Aeroplan? I figured there would be, but I (unfortunately?) never had to worry about finding a 2nd ticket for someone.

   Because I’m AC Elite, I never have to worry about snacks, booze, internet, etc. Ha ha Damn straight too because AC is just too expensive for personal flights.

10. 

    Saver Queen January 27th, 2009 at 20:25

    haha… Erran, why go to Timmins, indeed, lol…

    you can get a second ticket for someone else using your points IF you have enough points, and I did not.

    Btw for some reason wordpress sometimes does not recognize you as a repeat commenter and I have to approve your comments. strange. too bad there is not an “elite commenter” status at saver queen

11. 

    Erran January 28th, 2009 at 03:44

    Maybe I have to achieve SuperElite commenter status in order to get that settled…haha