Originally Posted by
doss1
What card should we get for the airline portion of the trip?
To / from the USA, YVR is serviced by Air Canada, Alaska (Horizon), American, Cathay Pacific, Delta, United, US Airways (American) & WestJet.
Of those, United has the highest frequency of flights to their hubs. United can also book you onto Air Canada, although AC's reward seat availability is very stingy and their "Air Canada Rouge" subsidiary has terrible legroom.
You can also consider flying to SEA, renting a car and driving up. SEA to downtown Vancouver is about three hours of driving, plus the border wait time, which can be anything from five minutes to 2+ hours depending on the day / time.
SEA airport has pretty much every airline you might need.
All of the major hotel chain loyalty programs are represented in Vancouver, although some individual offerings aren't here, such as the W and aLoft.