Originally Posted by
mikeycanuk
Those tickets are probably gone. Maybe you might find 1 but it will involve a wicked connection.
Quickest route is to "buy" Aeroplan miles with Plat cards. The Amex Aeroplan card, $499 for 50,000, the TD Inf. Privilege, $399 for 50,000. Then the Amex gold for free 25,000. You'll have to spend a minimum of $2500 right away (minimum spend for the bonus).
You will have then spent $800 already. By the the the time the miles are posted it's now 90 days. Even if you do get a ticket or 2, it's in Y with long connections,add the taxes and fees to the $800 already spent and you'll be wondering why you went this route. Not to mention you still need 2 more tickets. And probably won't be on the same flight.
CPhil,
I'm with the others on this. Christmas break awards this late will be unavailable or super inconvenient.
There is the West Jet World Elite RBC MasterCard. It has an annual fee though ($99):
$250 West Jet dollars welcome bonus
Annual $99 round trip companion fare (plus taxes, fees and other charges) anywhere in Canada or the continental U.S. (excludes Hawaii and Puerto Rico)
1st checked bag free for the primary card holder
So between you and your wife and accounting for the annual fee, you can knock $300 off the airfare for two people and pay $99 plus taxes etc for two other tickets.
You can collect Advantage (American Airlines) points on West Jet flights.
I considered the cards for an upcoming trip to Florida over Christmas as well. We're a family of five and months ago I found round trip direct flights on West Jet for the dates we wanted for $497 all in or roughly $2,500 for the five of us. Factoring in the West Jet welcome dollars, the $338 base fare, companion fees and annual fees, the value of two West Jet credit cards for my itinerary came in at just under $800. Not tremendous savings but it would have brought the five tickets down to $1,720.