Hi Everyone,
So CIBC enticed me into the CIBC Gold Aventura with 20,000 welcome points and First Year Free.

I've used Aeroplan for as long as I can remember, and it's the only "rewards" based program I've used for flights (I use airmiles for free movies tickets)

So I thought it would be interesting to see how Aventura works. What caught my attention was the Short Haul rewards for only 10,000 points (AE is 15,000). My primary purpose for Aventura will strictly be for short hall.

My partner is from St. John's so we often fly YHZ-YYT to visit his family.
We're planning on going May 29th June 3rd. So let's compare Aeroplan Vs. Aventura...


YHZ-YYT

Points Required:

Aventura: Starting at 10,500 going up to 14,600
Aeroplan: 15,000
WINNER: Aventura.

Availability:
Aventura: 144 flights. Porter, Westjet and Air Canada....
To compare Oranges to Oranges, let's just use Air Canada flights...
Total Air Canada flights available..... 36 Results.
Aeroplan: 4 results found (6:55am flight and 10:15pm. both bad times)
WINNER: Aventura

Point Options:
Aventura: 10,500 points = Westjet flighs
11,100 points = Porter Airlines
14,600 points = Air Canada.

Aeroplan: 15,000 points = Air Canada only option
WINNER: Aventura

Taxes And Fee's:
Aventrua: Westjet flight for 10,500 points = $129.84 Taxes+Fee's
Porter Flight for 11,100 points = $131.65 Taxes + Fee's
Air Canada for 14,600 points = $96.84 Taxes + Fee's

Aeroplan: Air Canada for 15,000 points = $164.34 Taxes + Fee's

Winner: Aventura.


"Market Fares"
Aventura: 26,784 points + ZERO Taxes
Aeroplan: 20,000 miles + $67 Taxes+Fee's
WINNER: Undetermined.


Another Comparison.

I'm going to go to Orlando for Thanksgiving this year to go to Disney.
So, let's compare

YHZ-MCO
Oct12-20th


Points Required:
Aventura: 25,000 - 33,000 points
Aeroplan: 25,000 miles
WINNER: Aeroplan

Availability:
Aventura: 250 flights found
Aeroplan: No rewards available. I had to change my return date to Oct 21st
WINNER: Aventura

Point Options

Aventura: 25,000 points = Delta Airlines
32,300 points = Mixed Airlines
32,600 points = US Airways
33,800 points = Air Canada

Aeroplan: 25,000 points = Air Canada

WINNER: Aeroplan

Taxes And Fees:

Aventura: 25,000 points on Delta = $129 Taxes + Fees
32,300 points on Mixed = $137 Taxes + Fees
32,600 points on US = $140 Taxes + Fees
33,800 points on AC = $136 Taxes + Fees

Aeroplan: 25,000 points on AC = $204 Taxes + Fees

WINNER: Aventura


Market Fares:
Aventura: 40,887 points + NO TAXES
Aeroplan: 49,000 points + $110 taxes

Winner: Aventura


Conclusion

Based on my VERY SMALL sample size, Aventura came out on top.
HOWEVER I'm still not 100% sold on Aventura as I think it may be hard to accumulate the miles. With Aeroplan there are many ways to accumulate miles , most importantly, by flying star alliance!
As far as I can tell, the only way to accumulate Aventura is by spending money on your aventura visa card.

This is a big factor for me. I still think my Aeroplan will continue to accumulate faster, which means I'll be needing to use my Aeroplan instead of Aventura. But when you consider you're getting 20,000 points for sign up, it seems Aventura is the best value for the sign up.

Sorry for the long post!!!