Air Miles sale fail

So, I’m an Air Miles collector, even if I’m somewhat lackadaisical about it. So I got an email from them today telling me that I should do all my Christmas shopping through airmilesshops.ca (yeah, right) and I  decided to click over to see how many Air Miles I had so far colected (not that many) and what I could get for it (not that much).

But what stunned me was one of the “sale” items they were promo’ing. Now, normally, they tell you a certain number of Air Miles that you have to redeem for any particular reward. Sometimes, though, they’ll allow you to top up your reward miles with a little bit of cash, if you’re just a little bit short.

So, take a look at what they’ve done:

Normally, this luggage set would require that you cash in 2,400 reward miles. But, if you only have 1,950 reward miles, you can buy the rest of them for just $90. Seems fair (enough) given that you earn Reward Miles at a rate of about 1 for every $20 spent at participating stores.

However, they have a special sale — currently, it’s only 1,800 reward miles.

Hmm, so let me get this straight: I can either cash in 1,800 reward miles … or I can cash in 1,950 reward miles and still owe you $90???

Fail.

(Also, it ships in as little as 4 weeks?!? Just in time for Valentine’s Day!)

(Also, having done some quick Googling, this is a luggage set that lists for over $800 — but nobody charges that much. Even the manufacturer’s website offers it at $364…. and you could get it on the Shopping Channel for $299. Makes that $90 fee look even stupider.)