# Travel Rewards



## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

Is any body an expert at racking these up. I am wondering if there is a way to get enough airmiles from purchases and rewards from an airline for traveling during the year enough to afford one over seas maybe upgraded to a business or first class pod. Seems like a lot of people online have figured a way to do this.

At 6ft 4 in, long distance travel is agony for me and I would sure love to get a little more room on the way.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

For leg room overseas show up early and ask nicely for an emergency seat. As a farmer I'm assuming you look physically fit to qualify and being tall will only help.

I use airmiles/aeroplan for domestic flights and lounge passes. When going overseas you are far better to use foreign airlines imo..

Domestic flights are $$$ and you need to get to Toronto or Vancouver etc. Airmiles are based on zones so the best bang is the short domestic flights.


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## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

We fly westjet pretty much exclusively in NA, usually to Vancouver, Calgary or Toronto a few times every year and then maybe one excursion to the US like vegas or florida. I also buy my parents in law 2 over seas economy tickets so they can go back to the Philippines once a year. 

Our domestic spending on groceries, clothing and misc is a couple K a month and my business expenses are almost $100k a year.

Surely this could all leverage into a couple discounted business pods for an overseas flight. They seem to range from about 3-6k.


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## rl1983 (Jun 17, 2015)

tygrus said:


> We fly westjet pretty much exclusively in NA, usually to Vancouver, Calgary or Toronto a few times every year and then maybe one excursion to the US like vegas or florida. I also buy my parents in law 2 over seas economy tickets so they can go back to the Philippines once a year.
> 
> Our domestic spending on groceries, clothing and misc is a couple K a month and my business expenses are almost $100k a year.
> 
> Surely this could all leverage into a couple discounted business pods for an overseas flight. They seem to range from about 3-6k.



Have you looked at the WestJet Elite Mastercard? I got one when I was flying from Vancouver to Edmonton weekly for work and was getting 2% cash back in Westjet dollars. It subsidized many flights.

Plus you get a companion flight yearly for $99. The card does cost the $99/yr though, but if you do travel a lot, and prefer Westjet, I think it's the way to go.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Aeroplan, Airmiles and Wesjet dollars are only good for Air Canada and Westjet though. That's why I use them for domestic flights and lounge passes

Once you go international and especially overseas, there are other options. TD rewards lets you book with any airline and usually others are far better deals

I almost always take an emergency exit but maybe it helps that I'm a frequent flyer. Got free upgrade to 1st class the few times I asked nicely


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## tygrus (Mar 13, 2012)

I went through a lot of rewards plans and most equate to about $1 in value for every $100 in purchases. Westjet MC appears to have 2% on all purchases. Is there any thing better than this?


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## willpower (Feb 18, 2015)

Westjet MC is actually only 1.5%


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## BC Eddie (Feb 2, 2014)

I like the Capital One Aspire World Travel card. You get 2% on everything you buy with it. You are not limited to particular airlines but can use rewards to pay off anything. It has an annual cost of $120 but each year you get a credit in points that equals $100 so annual cost is only $20.

For restaurants I use my Costco MasterCard as it pays 3% on restaurants. (Note I use my Aspire card to pay for Costco purchase as it gives a better rebate at Costco then the Costco card)

For foreign travel and other purchases in non-Canadian dollars I use my Chase Amazon card because it pays 1% (2% on Amazon) and has no foreign currency conversion fees.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

BC Eddie said:


> Note I use my Aspire card to pay for Costco purchase as it gives a better rebate at Costco then the Costco card


That's pretty funny.


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## jerryhung (Mar 28, 2011)

Check out my RFD thread, mainly focus on this
Aeroplan is the easiest to rack up Credit card miles for a reward flight

Jerry's List of Credit Cards with $200+ Welcome bonus/Aeroplan/AMEX MR [12/12 update] - RedFlagDeals.com Forums
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/jerr...-bonus-aeroplan-amex-mr-12-12-update-1685293/


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## OurBigFatWallet (Jan 20, 2014)

I like my Capital One Aspire Travel World Mastercard but unfortunately the card isn't what it used to be. When I signed up I got $350 in reward miles and 2 reward miles for every $1 spent (return of 2%). Annual fee of $120 with 10,000 bonus reward miles per year (equal to $100) so nets out to $20 fee per year. 

Now I noticed they offer $400 in reward miles as a signup bonus but no longer offer 10,000 annual reward miles and the annual fee is up to $150. Still a decent card but the $150 annual fee is steep


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## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

I use a Credit Union World Elite Mastercard which cost about 190.00 for 2 cards and all the free travel insurance (2 weeks per trip) up to age 75 and all the other stuff like extended warranties, trip cancellation insurance, etc. I receive 2 points per $ spent which is 2% and the rewards can be cashed out and deposited to your account. You can also redeem for merchandise or trips but I always take the cash and then book my trip myself. The travel insurance to age 75 is probably the highest age and it used to cover trips up to a month in duration but was cut back last year.


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## BC Eddie (Feb 2, 2014)

I guess they grandfather'd the 10,000 annual reward on the Capital One Aspire Travel World MasterCard because I just got my 10,000 miles last week on my 3rd annual renewal and the renewal fee was still $120. I still get 2% on everything and this past year they made the use of the rewards miles simple in that you can virtually redeem anytime in any amounts. You are not restricted to any airline (e.g. Air Canada) and can use points on any flight you can book.


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## lost in space (Aug 31, 2015)

Didn't think it was possible in Canada but my brother in law did the credit card churn thing and got enough points to book 2 first class tickets to visit us this year. He's doing economy return (which is gonna really suck) only because the dates didn't quite work out.


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## GalacticPineapple (Feb 28, 2013)

tygrus said:


> Is any body an expert at racking these up.


Even the "best" cc is only going to rebate you a few hundred bucks a year. I say "best" because the real way to save for your vacation is to spend less. So-called credit card rewards only encourage you to spend more.

The whole sub-industry that's popped up around cc rebates is a mirage. That said everyone needs a cc so I used the PCF world elite card. No fees and more rebates than some.


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## BC Eddie (Feb 2, 2014)

G Pineapple You have underestimated. Between my three cards I had over $2400 in rebates in the last 12 months and that is after deducting all the card fees. Of course, I use CC for everything I can.

We pay off all balances every month and the rewards don't encourage us to spend. We plan our purchases and will pay cash if it is a better deal than the typical 2% reward.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

In reality the merchant fees are higher than the rewards. But our consumerist culture encourages these games. The house always wins.

"But I have to pay merchant fees anyways" No you don't. Europeans will often warn/discourage you and charge 2% to use credit..


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## Mukhang pera (Feb 26, 2016)

m3s said:


> In reality the merchant fees are higher than the rewards. But our consumerist culture encourages these games. The house always wins.
> 
> "But I have to pay merchant fees anyways" No you don't. Europeans will often warn/discourage you and charge 2% to use credit..



Never mind Europe, try Asia! About 15 years ago I bought a new car there and asked the Honda dealer if I could pay for it (about $30,000) on my credit card. I thought, that way, I could at least get a free air ticket out of the deal. They said they would accept my card if I agreed to pay an extra 5% of the price. I paid cash.


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## Robillard (Apr 11, 2009)

My circumstances probably don't match anyone else on this bulletin board, but I accumulated a lot of miles and status points on Qatar Airways in a year. In 18 months I had reached platinum status. I note that this required travelling a lot. Right now I live in Qatar, and in the past year, I would travel back to Canada about twice a year. Qatar Airways is a member of the Oneworld alliance with American Airlines. So would buy tickets with American Airlines on trips to Canada. I also did a lot of travelling for holidays and during Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. I had to do a lot of business trips as well. 

Here are my tips for accumulating travel rewards on airline loyalty programs:
-Get membership in the rewards program for the airline(s) that you expect to use the most.
-It may be better to get membership in a rewards program for an airline that is part of one of the 3 main airline alliances: Star Alliance, Oneworld, or SkyTeam (Air Canada is part of Star Alliance), since you can earn miles and status points by flying on tickets sold by other airlines in the alliance. Fly airlines in that alliance exclusively, if possible.
-Travelling frequently on short-haul flights in coach is probably the most efficient way to accumulate status points, though you don't accumulate many reward miles this way.
-Travelling in a higher "booking class" on changeable or refundable tickets should allow you to accumulate status points and reward miles faster (though such tickets are more expensive and may need to be bought direct from the airline; travel agents, Expedia and other travel websites generally sell you the cheapest tickets in the lowest booking class).
-Travelling in business class lets you earn more reward miles and status points, but this is generally not efficient from a cost perspective. 
-Gaining higher status generally allows you to accumulate reward miles at a faster rate.
-A single long-haul flight can provide many more reward miles than multiple short-haul flights.
-Some hotel chains allow you to earn reward miles in programs, but the value these bonus miles tends to be pretty low. If you stay in hotels a lot, you might be better served by that hotel chain' rewards program.
-Watch for special promotions that allow you to earn bonus reward miles. I took part in one for Qatar Airways that gave me a big boost in miles.
-Beware the expiry time on status points. They generally expire after a year. You generally need to move up to the next status tier quickly before the status points expire.
-Credit card reward programs probably won't contribute much to miles accumulation unless you charge a lot. 

Here are some notes on airline rewards programs in general:
-Silver status, or its equivalent generally lets you use priority or business class check-in desks at the airport with airlines in the relevant alliance.
-Once you achieve gold status or its equivalent, you generally get free lounge access. Aside from free WiFi, free food (of variable quality), free booze, the best thing about lounges for the frequent traveller is probably free showers.
-Gold status, or its equivalent, generally lets you use the priority boarding lanes and breeze by the plebs who have to wait for their zone or row to be called for boarding.
-Having higher status may increase your chances of getting "randomly" upgraded to business or first class for free on flights that are full or close to full. This has happened to me about 4 times in the past year.
-Watch for additional perks associated with an airline's rewards program. If you travel to Dubai at all, it is worth it to have membership in Emirates' Skywards reward program. Even the lowest membership tier is eligible for E-gate privileges at Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport. E-gate is kinda like the Nexus program in Canada.


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## tiffbou2 (Jul 4, 2013)

I've had the BMO world elite for 18 months. $150/year fee but they give you 30,000 points ($300 worth of travel) for signing up, and in 18 months we've cashed in $2,500 worth of travel. We put all our monthly household and work expenses and purchases on that card, usually between $3,000 -$5,000 a month. There are no blackouts as far as I can tell. Any seat sale or fare price I see on airline websites, I can access through my rewards.


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## houska (Feb 6, 2010)

Upthread, some people mention wanting to fly in AC's business class pods.

If that's what you want to do, the best game in town is one of the Aeroplan point-accumulating cards (e.g. from TD, but also some amex options). 

It is very difficult (unless you are an actual super frequent Air Canada flyer) to redeem at all with Aeroplan, and in business class overall. For long-haul economy flights, it is also poor value compared to credit cards that offer you a $ credit against airfare actually paid (i.e. you buy the cheapest ticket you can find, and the rewards points you have are converted to a $ discount). However, Aeroplan points, if you are willing to jump through the right hoops to find availability, are much more valuable exchanged for business class tickets.

If you fly long-haul economy, it is difficult to realize more than 1.5 or exceptionally 2c/mile in value, which works out to 1.5-2% return on your spend. This compares unfavorably with the about 1.5% you can get on some of the travel-rebate cards (as discussed above), without the availability challenges. If you redeem for business, the value can be 3-5c/mile (if you were willing to pay that amount of cash) since business class ticket point levels are about double economy ones, but the cash fares are more than 2X higher.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

We are moving away from the Aeroplan cards. We are using our points on United since the admin fees are much lower. We used to redeem them on Lufthansa but now they have an admin adder like AC that makes the point redemption very poor. We did top up with the TD offer, then cancelled the card. Have used CIBC card for many years and plan to drop it just prior to the next renewal date.

We use the Marriott Visa card. We travel frequently and it saves us a great deal of money in FX charges-both on Visa and on ATM withdrawals (we preload the card and do cash advances). The cost is $120. but it comes with a free night each year. We just used our fee night at a five star Marriott Renaissance in Asia. My spouse has applied for the card....50K free points, a free hotel night, and the first year fee waived.

Not yet certain what we will replace our CIBC Aeroplan card with. Perhaps a cash back. Also looking at the WestJet offer. We don't fly WestJet very often and most of our travel is outside Canada so this may be a little iffy for us.


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## jerryhung (Mar 28, 2011)

Diversification is key

However, I have basically 90% in Aeroplan and those will cover my flights for foreseeable future, thanks to credit card signups & referrals. 
Way faster than anything requiring ACTUAL spending


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## Robillard (Apr 11, 2009)

In addition to accumulating miles and status points with Qatar Airways, I also earn TD points from having a TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite. I like the program reward program for this credit card since it lets you use your points as credit against the cost of flights and hotels on Expedia. It is my understanding that Aeroplan is pretty locked in with Air Canada and Star Alliance. I'm not sure if Aeroplan miles can be used to purchase flights on many carriers outside of Star Alliance. This card accumulates 9 TD points for every dollar spent on travel spent through Expedia for TD, and the conversion value is 2 points = 1 cent when redeemed to purchase flights or hotel stays. So the benefit is similar to 4.5% off of flights and hotels booked through Expedia for TD. The points accumulation on other purchases is 3 per dollar, or roughly 1.5%, which is similar to other travel reward credit cards. Points can also be redeemed for merchandise or gift cards, but the effective conversion value of points is lowered, particularly if redeemed for gift cards.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Saving up enough points, in one year, to fly business or first class pod - is very difficult. You'd need to spend a whack of cash to do that.

Better off getting a TD Aeroplan card and putting everything on it, saving up over time.


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