air miles gold and onyx -- a quick review

recently, air miles came out with a new top tier above their current gold level.

air miles gold
requirements:

• 1,000 air miles earned throughout the calendar year. they no longer stipulate a 5-partner minimum

benefit:

air miles onyx
requirement

• 6,000 air miles earned throughout the calendar year

benefits:

the analysis of the benefits:
priority call centre: 
i remember being a gold member for many years in row, and i never really made use of the priority call center. i can't imagine the priority call center would be any more helpful now than it was back then.

the merchandise:
this is certainly not the best choice for rewards. i took a quick look at what was available:

• a garmin nuvi 2557 LMT north american edition gps system can be purchased at amazon.ca for $189.95, or $212.744 after tax. or, you could redeem 2300 air miles. this would give each air mile a value of 9.25 cents.
• an electrolux access T8 bagless canister vacuum can be purchased at bestbuy.ca for $249.99, or $279.99 after tax. or, you could redeem 2400 air miles. this would give each air mile a value of 11.67 cents.
• a nikon coolpix s6800 digital camera can be purchased at bestbuy.ca for $199.99, or $223.99 after tax. or, you could redeem 2050 air miles as a gold member (regularly 2450 as a regular member). this would give each air mile a value of 10.93 cents
• there are currently no onyx specials that are specifically for onyx members

i can't imagine the "special order" rewards to be of a better value than what they currently offer.

flights:
these are typically the best value, even for non-elite members. for economy flights, these are usually better than aeroplan as availability is often much better. for a dummy booking between vancouver and calgary next month shows this:

air miles

same flights on westjet

for the same flight, you can spend 1500 air miles to save $223.65. this makes each air mile worth 14.91 cents. (of note, they recently increased their redemption rates -- it used to only cost 1200 air miles during the high season).

currently, for air miles gold and onyx members, you can save 30% and 40%, respectively on air canada and westjet flights on certain routes between september 9, 2014 and december 14, 2014. vancouver to calgary is one of those routes. if you were a gold or onyx member, you'd only need to spend 1050 or 900 airmiles, respectively. this makes each air mile worth 21.3 cents and 24.85 cents, respectively.

these sales used to be available to regular members in the past too, but it looks like it's only reserved for gold and onyx members now.

overall:
if you're willing to use your air miles only for flights, then the jump leap to gold may be worth it. it may not, however, be worth it to jump for onyx as the incremental value achieved over gold is too small given the huge leap in qualification requirements from regular gold status.