Flight Redemption Benefit Changing With The BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard

If you’re a serious Air Miles collector, there’s a good chance you also have the BMO AIR MILES^®† World Elite^®* Mastercard^®*.

And for good reason – it’s our top rated Air Miles credit card.

One of the biggest benefits this card provides is the 15% discount on Air Miles rewards flights within North America. It’s a blanket 15%, with no caps or restrictions as to how many miles you’ll save.

But, big changes are coming to this benefit on July 4, 2022 that you’ll want to be aware of.

BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard flight redemption changes

The flight redemption model is undergoing some drastic changes on July 4, 2022.

The full details can be seen here, but here’s a bullet point summary:

• 25% discount, maximum of 750 miles saved,
• can be used on any flight in the world, and
• can only be used once per year.

There’s a lot to unpack. Let’s go over what’s better and what’s worse.

What is better

The easiest part to state that’s better is the discount can be used for any flight redemption you can find through Air Miles. The current benefit is only available for flights within North America.

The discount is also 10% higher at 25%. However, there is a cap on the amount of miles you can save at 750.

What is worse

There are 2 big things that stand out.

First, the discount can only be used on one flight booking per year. The current benefit can be used as much as you like.

The other is the cap – you’ll only be able to save a maximum of 750 miles. The current benefit is unlimited. You can save 100 miles, or you can save 2,000.

So this last one is what makes it trickier to decide if the updated benefit is better than the current one.

And truthfully, it all really depends on how many miles you plan on redeeming for a flight.

To max out the 25% discount, your flight only needs to cost 3,000 miles.

To reach the 750 mile cap with the current 15% discount, your flight would need to cost 5,000 miles.

So that’s the line where the old and new benefits are the same – 5,000 miles. If you tend to save up for a trip and it costs more than that, the old benefit would be better.

But if you redeem for a flight with fewer miles, then this new benefit will suit you.

Summary of when the new benefit is better than the old

Let’s summarize which benefit is better, so you can see.

Here are the times the new benefit will be better than the older one.

• Redeem miles for flights outside North America
• Redeem for flights within North America AND redeem less than 5,000 miles total.

And here’s where the older benefit is better.

• Make more than 1 flight redemption per year in North America.
• Redeem for flights within North America AND redeem more than 5,000 miles total.

It’s really up to you to decide if this new benefit is better for you.

Personally, I like the current benefit as is. I tend to save up miles for a big redemption. My last one was almost 10,000 miles. With the current 15% discount, that saved me 1,500 miles, double what the new benefit would save.

But that’s my opinion, it all depends on how you redeem your Air Miles.

Is it worth getting rid of the BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard?

The last big question – is it worth changing cards? I would say no, you’re still saving a good chunk of Air Miles on any flight redemption.

If you’re a serious Air Miles collector who wants to look at some other options, here are a few different cards you could look at. These Amex cards offer different benefits when it comes to redeeming flights within the Air Miles program.

Your turn

Those are our thoughts on the upcoming changes, but what about you?

If you have the BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard, do you like the change?

Or do you prefer the current benefit?

Let us know in the comments below.