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Tips to help you boost your Air Miles balance

Tips to help you boost your Air Miles balance

By now, if you're an Air Miles collector, you've heard the news: some Air Miles will begin expiring at the end of this year.

Back in 2011, Air Miles announced that Miles would now have a five year expiry, a policy which we'll begin to see the effects of on Dec. 31, 2016.

"Collectors have five years in which to use their Miles" said Rachel MacQueen, Vice President of Air Miles Marketing. "And so I would encourage Collectors to go onto airmiles.ca and check out all that we have to offer."

If there's something you find that you just don't have quite enough Miles for, however, there are some tricks to getting those last few and making the most of your expiring Miles.

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Jump on bonus offers

The Air Miles program regularly offers chances to earn bonus Miles, including the recently announced Air Miles: Detour program.

"Detour is a great opportunity," said MacQueen. "We've got almost 100 offers in market during the month of May where you can earn bonus Miles faster than ever, so I would encourage [Collectors] to engage, participate with Detour as a way to get those last few Miles."

All month, as part of the Air Miles Detour program, Collectors can visit the website and take advantage of bonus Mile offers, which will not only get you more Miles, but also enters you in a contest. If you win, you and three friends will be flown to one of the five Canadian cities vying to play host to an Air Miles concert headlined by Meghan Trainor later this summer.

You can earn up to 1,000 bonus Miles using the Detour program's VIP coupons, which will be released later this month.

Shop when and where you'll get the biggest advantage

Take advantage of reward events when they're offered at your favourite stores, as they'll often help you earn a lot of Miles very quickly. Rexall and Metro both hold multiplier events regularly. You can find out when these events are by subscribing to email circulars from the stores, or by checking local flyers. Other stores, like Sobeys, will sometimes issue coupons for bonus Miles. Again, it pays to be on mailing lists.

If you'd rather shop online, there are opportunities to still earn Miles there, too. If you visit airmilesshops.ca and use the links there to connect to your online shopping destination, you can earn Air Miles. There are dozens to choose from, but some of the most popular destinations include Indigo, Sears, Ebay, Victoria's Secret, Old Navy, Amazon.ca and Expedia.ca.

Almost as important as knowing where you should be shopping is knowing where not to shop, if you're on a Miles hunt. Stores will sometimes cease supporting the Air Miles program, and smart consumers, if questing for Miles, may want to reconsider before visiting an old standby. Craft store Michael's, for example, recently stopped accepting Air Miles. Similarly, the Newfoundland Labrador Liquor Corporation announced last month that it would no longer be issuing Air Miles on locally brewed beer. That's not to say you should avoid these places -- they just won't be the Miles boon they once were.

Top up your balance

If you can't earn those Miles fast enough, there's the option to spend a few dollars.

"You can always buy a few Miles if you're just shy of the reward that you're looking for," said MacQueen.

Miles can be purchased in increments of 100 Miles, and cost 30¢ each. You can buy up to 2,500 Miles at a time, and a maximum of 10,000 Miles in any 12-month period.

This only works for Dream Miles, though: you can't purchase Miles and add them to your Cash Miles balance.

Think outside the suitcase

The name certainly denotes travel, but there's a lot more that Air Miles can get you aside from plane tickets. Most people are familiar with the household goods available through the program, but Collectors can also use points for sweepstakes, concert tickets, experiences like being the dinner guest of a Masterchef Canada judge, and charitable donations. If you do decide to go the donation route, you can even get a tax receipt at the end of the year for the Miles you donated. Every 95 Miles you donate equals a $10 donation, and you can donate up to $750 through the Air Miles donation platform.

Have any tips you use to get more Air Miles? Tell us in the comments, or tweet us at @YahooFinanceCA!

[Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that it costs 3 cents per Mile to purchase Air Miles. It has since been corrected to 30 cents.]