After 34 years within the Canadian market, AIR MILES is about to undergo its greatest makeover but. Beginning in summer season 2026, this system will rebrand as Blue Rewards.
In a panorama the place some loyalty applications lean into premium journey and others concentrate on on a regular basis worth, Blue Rewards is aiming for a center floor.
It desires to be related for each day by day spending and occasional journey, and that intent exhibits up in how it’s altering the factors foreign money, the journey platform, and the banking integration round it.
How Is AIR MILES Becoming Blue Rewards?
For present AIR MILES collectors, the transition is designed to be virtually invisible. Your AIR MILES account will merely develop into a Blue Rewards account in summer season 2026.
Your stability will carry over, and your BMO AIR MILES bank card will proceed to work as typical, with the identical card quantity and bodily plastic. You’ll not be requested to reapply or manually migrate something.
This system beneath, nonetheless, is not going to be the identical. AIR MILES traditionally break up earnings into Money Miles and Dream Miles, which required collectors to resolve up entrance the best way to allocate their miles.
Blue Rewards replaces that with one unified factors stability and a printed benchmark for sure redemptions:
1,500 Blue Rewards = $10 for in-store and e-gift card redemptions.
Different classes comparable to flights, inns, and experiences can have their very own pricing, however the single stability and clear money type benchmark are supposed to make this system simpler to grasp, particularly for informal customers who by no means liked the Money versus Dream resolution.
What Occurs To Your Present AIR MILES Steadiness?
Blue Rewards has been very specific on one key level: you’ll not lose worth when your AIR MILES stability converts to Blue Rewards. All present Miles are anticipated to transform routinely to the brand new factors foreign money.
Whereas BMO has not printed the precise conversion components, we are able to get an inexpensive estimate from the 2 identified benchmarks:
- Below AIR MILES Money, 95 Miles = $10.
- Below Blue Rewards, 1,500 factors = $10 for in-store and e-gift card redemptions.
If each of these $10 quantities are supposed to characterize the identical underlying worth, then the implied conversion is:
- 95 Miles converts to 1,500 Blue Rewards
- 1 Mile converts to 1,500 ÷ 95 = 15.79 Blue Rewards
- 1,000 Miles converts to about 15,789 Blue Rewards
That is nonetheless an estimate till BMO discloses the official math and rounding guidelines, nevertheless it illustrates the logic behind the “no loss in worth” declare. For in retailer and e present card type redemptions, the $10 anchor seems to be preserved, simply expressed in a bigger factors quantity.
How Will Journey Work Below Blue Rewards?
Some of the important structural adjustments is on the journey facet. Blue Rewards will use Expedia Group to energy its journey reserving platform. Which means we should always have the ability to see a a lot wider vary of flights, inns, and automobile leases than underneath a extra restricted in-house catalogue.
As an alternative of chasing mounted charts or thresholds, we will apply Blue Rewards to cowl some or all of a journey buy. Blue Rewards additionally says that the minimal factors threshold to redeem towards journey can be eliminated, which makes smaller balances extra usable. Even a modest quantity of factors can offset a part of a flight or lodge, moderately than sitting idle.
There may be one essential open query for standing targeted travellers. Many lodge applications don’t award elite night time credit or full elite advantages on third occasion bookings, and Expedia type reservations typically rely as third occasion.
The main points that matter are whether or not Blue Rewards will introduce a approach to e-book straight with lodge chains whereas nonetheless utilizing factors, or whether or not every thing will circulate by way of an ordinary on-line journey company setup.
In case you care about conserving your lodge standing advantages, that may be a element price watching intently as extra data turns into obtainable.
Which Companions Are Becoming a member of Blue Rewards, And What About Shell?
Partnerships are the place Blue Rewards exhibits the obvious shift in technique. This system will maintain incomes with greater than 400 present manufacturers, however BMO has highlighted quite a few new strategic companions that lean into each on a regular basis and journey spend.
On the journey facet, Porter Airways and Accor Group seem on the companion listing, with lodge manufacturers comparable to Fairmont, Novotel, and SLS referred to as out particularly.
On the on a regular basis worth facet, Blue Rewards is including Instacart, in addition to a broad slate of MTY Group eating places comparable to Thai Categorical, Bâton Rouge, Pizza Delight, Allô mon Coco, Sushi Store, Mr. Sub, Manchu Wok, Mucho Burrito, and Jugo Juice.
Having Porter and Accor as named companions naturally raises a query for factors fanatics: will Blue Rewards ultimately enable transfers into VIPorter or ALL Accor?
Thus far, there isn’t a affirmation of any type of switch function or ratio. For now, the partnerships are greatest handled as locations to earn or redeem throughout the Blue Rewards ecosystem, not as new switch choices.
On the flip facet, one lengthy standing relationship is ending. Shell Canada will wind down its AIR MILES partnership in 2026 and transfer over to Scene+.
A few of you might have already got seen that BMO and Shell quietly ended the two cents per litre low cost at Shell stations lately. If Shell is shifting into the Scene+ ecosystem, it’s logical that the BMO tied gasoline low cost linked to AIR MILES could be phased out forward of the transition.
How Is BMO Utilizing Banking And Credit score Playing cards To Assist Blue Rewards?
Blue Rewards can also be designed as a deeper extension of BMO’s banking and card ecosystem. BMO has previewed a brand new lineup of BMO Blue Rewards bank cards that may function built-in accelerators on classes comparable to gasoline, groceries, and wholesale golf equipment.
The wholesale membership angle might be notably fascinating if it captures retailers like Costco. If Blue Rewards playing cards are in a position to earn a bonus charge at wholesale golf equipment along with gasoline and grocery, that has the potential to create a really robust on a regular basis earner for lots of households.
Past bank cards, BMO chequing account holders will have the ability to earn Blue Rewards on on a regular basis debit transactions in classes like gasoline, grocery, warehouse spend, and even EV charging.
This successfully turns the loyalty program into an extension of the banking relationship. In case you already maintain your chequing account with BMO and use debit often, it is possible for you to to earn Blue Rewards with out altering a lot behaviour.
There may be additionally a waitlist for the upcoming Blue Rewards bank cards, paired with a big prize promotion. The headline is the possibility to win 1,000,000 Factors, however the eligibility guidelines matter.
To be eligible for the draw, you will need to:
- Not be a present BMO AIR MILES credit score cardholder
- Join the Blue Rewards bank card waitlist
- Apply for the brand new BMO Blue Rewards bank card whenever you obtain your invitation e mail in summer season 2026
Solely clients who meet all of those situations can have an opportunity to win, and the winner is anticipated to be contacted in fall 2026. Present BMO AIR MILES credit score cardholders are excluded from the competition, which is price noting when you had been considering of becoming a member of the waitlist purely for the prize.
Can Blue Rewards Compete In A Crowded Canadian Loyalty Market?
From a method viewpoint, Blue Rewards is getting into a really crowded house. Aeroplan has doubled down on premium journey and airline partnerships. Scene+ has quietly constructed a robust on a regular basis worth stack by way of grocery, gasoline, pharmacy, and leisure
Blue Rewards shouldn’t be making an attempt to specialize in a single area of interest. As an alternative, it’s making an attempt to be aggressive in on a regular basis spending, center of the market journey, and banking integration on the similar time.
That’s formidable, and it places a number of stress on execution. The expanded companion set and Expedia integration are promising on paper, however the actual check can be whether or not collectors see compelling earn charges, honest redemption values, and a easy expertise after they really attempt to use this system.
For present AIR MILES collectors, the encouraging half is that the transition is designed to be seamless and worth impartial.
For everybody else, Blue Rewards might want to earn its place towards applications that have already got very clear worth propositions.
Conclusion
Blue Rewards marks a full scale modernization of one in every of Canada’s longest operating loyalty applications. It replaces break up buckets with a single factors stability, publishes a transparent money type benchmark for some redemptions, and brings in Expedia to assist extra versatile journey bookings.
It additionally leans into BMO’s banking ecosystem by way of new bank cards and debit linked incomes. The construction seems to be promising, however the actual judgment will rely upon particulars which might be nonetheless to come back, comparable to the precise conversion components, journey redemption charges, how lodge bookings work together with elite standing, and whether or not companion logos ultimately translate into extra superior options like factors transfers.
For now, present AIR MILES members can anticipate a clean transition, whereas maintaining a tally of Blue Rewards to see if it turns into a program price actively incomes in, moderately than merely inheriting by default.
