Originally Posted by
LondonElite
Fair point, but are you sure that 600,000 points meant C$600,000 spend. Also, there are many people who, given the option between C$3,000 and a few business class tickets, would take the former.
On that card, no 600k points is probably between $100-200k in spend based on how they used the card, I saw the card and the base points are 3 per dollar up to 6 per dollar for a few categories.
Originally Posted by
mlv416
@dvs7310 - we just signed up with this card a number of years ago, but we are considering others now. I do find the points systems for cards in general very complicated and confusing.
With this card you can use it to book any flight, there are no seat restrictions. If you book through expedia for TD, you can get 9 points for every dollar, which translates into 4.5x reward. We were considering using the points, 10,000 = $50 in travel purchases (only $25 cash back on other purchases), to upgrade from Econ whenever possible and just help supplement the difference.
One of us flies to Europe (France/England) once a year, so we don't really travel enough for miles program (I think) although we've joined Avios, the timer always resets usually before the next flight
We do fly domestically, to San Francisco, NY or Chicago every 2 or 3 years, but again, not enough I think for any program.
We try and put EVERYTHING we can on the card and usually rack up $2500 to $5500 every month. We were able to put our entire renovation a few years ago on the card and that helped speed things up (then transferred the balance to our LOC, which is almost paid off).
Any idea what card might be good for us...maybe I can sign up for a new card and try and combine the points when redeeming via Expedia? Is that even allowed?
Is it better to start a new thread about that and if so where?
Right now looking at:
http://www.rewardscanada.ca/topcc2015/
American Express Gold Mastercard
RBC Visa Infinite Avion
BMO World Elite Mastercard
Sorry I have so many questions - I've tried to read all the FAQ's but find the forums pretty intimidating to navigate.
Yeah, programs can be complex but with your spend, if you want to redeem for premium seats you'd still be ahead with a good card. The problem is you lose the flexibility of any airline, anytime like you have with the Expedia deal now. You'd be locked into what's available in one or a few programs (Amex). If you're satisfied with Star Alliance then the Amex Aeroplan Platinum looks good, you'd get to 1.5x Aeroplan miles per dollar after $25k spend. I'm sure some of the other banks offer a similar ratio on Aeroplan cards as well. The other option is the Amex Gold which offers a lot of bonuses on "travel" spend plus additional bonuses for booking through their portal. Unfortunately in Canada the Membership Rewards don't have a lot of transfer partners, but Aeroplan and Avios are both at 1 to 1 which is nice considering the exchange rate of the C$ at the moment.
I also wouldn't rule out the SPG Amex because of it's flexibility, they have so many transfer partners, but unfortunately really no bonuses unless staying frequently at SPG hotels. It's a strong card in itself but doesn't maximize the value of your annual spend like one of the higher earning cards would, assuming you're ok sticking to those alliances.
Sounds like you've got a good start, for subsequent trips it'll be worth it to examine the cards you have available in Canada and go with something that offers a good base earning rate plus bonuses on categories you actually spend in.