The Death of the Maritimes’ Favourite Rewards Program
The Saturday Huddle is a weekly column that features opinion, analysis, and reflections on Huddle stories, podcasts, and business news in the region. Trevor Nichols is Huddle’s editor, based in Halifax.
Pour one out for the Air Miles rewards program.
Whether you’re an obsessive collector or know it only through those blue-and-white stickers plastered across fuel pumps and glass sliding doors, the program has been a ubiquitous part of consumer life – especially in the Maritimes – for decades.
This week, the company that operates Air Miles filed for bankruptcy. Shortly after, BMO Financial Group signed a deal to buy it.
BMO says it plans to “reinvigorate” the floundering program but Air Miles’ prospects don’t look promising. And that will make many Maritimes very sad.
Air Miles isn’t a Maritime program and its owner, LoyaltyOne, isn’t a Maritime company — but boy does it feel like they are.
Of all the rewards programs, Air Miles seems to hold a special place in Maritimers’ hearts. I’ve lived in nearly every province in Canada and have never heard anyone talk about the program with the same intensity as us east coasters.
We all have that one relative who relentlessly hunts down deals at Sobeys, or only buys gas at Shell, so they can pile up as many points as possible. They’re usually the same one who will explain in staggering, step-by-step detail exactly how they secured a flight to the Dominican with their bounty.
Last year, Huddle’s short story about Sobeys dropping Air Miles was one of our most read of the year. More than six months after we published it, readers were still leaving lengthy, passionate comments.
So, while Air Miles is a product of LoyaltyOne, which is a Toronto-headquartered subsidiary of a larger American firm, we feel in our bones like it’s from the Maritime. And as it gets swallowed up by BMO, it feels on some psychic level like we’re losing a Maritime company.
While there’s a kind of sad nostalgia to the fading relevance of Air Miles, it’s not necessarily surprising; the program has been struggling for years.
LoyaltyOne’s stock has been in freefall since 2021 and brands like Staples, the hardware store Lowes, and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario have all dropped Air Miles over the past two years.
But the biggest blow came last summer when Sobeys ditched the program in favour of Scene+, which its parent company Empire has a stake in.
Empire represented about 10 percent of LoyaltyOne’s earnings and was its best-known remaining partner.
BMO, which has agreed to buy company, is Air Miles’ most significant remaining partner.
I’ve never been a rewards person and I have no idea which of the popular programs is “best.” My guess is that they all offer pretty much the same value, just in slightly different packages.
But Scene+ or Optimum or any of the others just don’t seem to have the same magic for Maritimers as Air Miles.
Maybe it’s just the nostalgic pull of that blue-and-white logo, but there’s something about booking a flight and not having to pay anything that just can’t compare with free movie tickets, or whatever.
For now, Air Miles technically still exists, although exactly what BMO will do with it is unclear. At this point, I don’t think anyone will be surprised if the program folds completely.
When that happens, I’m sure many Maritimers will begrudgingly switch to one of the hundreds of other rewards programs out there.
But, for many, it just won’t feel the same, and they’ll continue to mourn the loss of a company that, while not technically local, was absolutely a Maritime company in their hearts.