Do you think anyone would pay $200 for an umbrella?
Apparently it is possible. As an Aeroplan customer (Air Canada’s air miles program), I get my monthly statements featuring my number of collected miles (not as high as I would like them to be) and a few options on how to redeem those. Beyond flights, Air Canada offers other goodies at a lower mileage cost. So in the last statement, it offered a Calloway Golf umbrella for the amazing sum of 5000 miles.
Of course, miles don’t mean any immediate monetary value – that’s the purpose of the system. But there’s a way to put a number to it: When the number of available miles is less that the necessary number, then additional miles can be purchased. This is described in detail on the Buy Miles page. From it, we learn that a mile costs anywhere between 3 and 4 Canadian Cents. Staying on the conservative side (4 cents per mile), this umbrella would actually cost $200!!!
“Callaway” on it or not – that’s not worth it, don’t you think?