FB_

I do not fly to collect points.

So far I have redeemed 2 flights to Hawaii in economy.
More than 5 YYZ-YAM returns
2 J YYZ-LAX(stop)-RAR(stop)-SYD(Turn)-YVR-YYZ.

I now have 190,000 points again.

All of this from spending money on my credit card and buying gas at Esso. So many great trips for spending money I'm going to spend anyway.

I have learned from this board what not to buy and what to buy and normally do my north american flying using cash out of BUF.

The trip to RAR and SYD was an amazing trip and cost me about $800.00 in taxes but for what I got and booze I drank on the flights alone it was worth it...lol

I have no intentions of stopping anytime soon.

worldtraveller73

You wouldn't be the only one.

Even higher nirvana if it was a VISA as opposed to AMEX.

Colleague redeemed today for YVR-VIE (except it was more like YVR-MUC-CPH-HAM-VIE-LHR-YVR). All in J

Taxes and fees now $1,126! (YQ= $860)

To be fair, a revenue J ticket was pricing at $3,800.

If staying in Aeroplan, there isn't much incentive unless you're maximizing the reward by using extra stopovers or the two ocean rule.

ciana

Another vote for getting AE miles without flying! We are both retired so our only points are through credit card spending and AE promotions. We rack up as many points as we can in order to get 2 round trip J flights on our holiday travels. In 2010 2 J tickets YYZ-SYD, 2 J tickets YYZ-ZRH (stop)- BUD (stop) then PRG-YYZ; 2011 2 J tickets YYZ-MXP; 2012 YYZ-SAN ; 2 J tickets YYZ-MXP (stop) IST (stop)-YYZ; 2 J tickets YYZ-DEL (stop) open jaw SIN-YYZ. 2013 - had to cancel our trip for health reasons YYZ-JNB (stop)- CPT-YYZ. Next up January 2014 YYZ-SYD return plus transferred Amex points from Gold card to BA for SYD-HOB on Qantas. AE has been a tremendous boon for us!

taylor

Collecting points, including churning cards, is my hobby. We then use them to fly to Hawaii each winter, out of a U.S. airport thus avoiding the outrageous fees. Last year our business class tickets cost us $27 each. So thus far, it is working for us.

Toddcan

I suspect we are the minorty on this forum.

Is there a thread on tips to collect more miles that people might not really know?

Eg: I normally dont shop at Sobey's (not a bargain!), but I do watch the flyers for the Sobey's extra points. The convert to Aeroplan miles at a 2:1 ratio. They will often have deals where you buy a $5 item that you were going to buy anyway, where you earn 300 points (150 Aeroplan miles). I usually stock up on those items. It's not unusual for me to earn 1000 points (500 miles) by spending $50-$60 in groceries at Sobey's

I use my Amex or Aerogold card for the purchase, and earn another 50-60 miles + 50% bonus on groceries(+25-30 miles). That's 600 miles for spending $60 on food.


I also fill up at Esso for gas. $70 tank full gets me 23 miles (swipe my AP card at the pump) + 70(x1.5)=95 miles for paying with Visa/Amex. that's another 125 miles for filling up my tank.

Adds up over a year when I repeat this every week. This alone give me 35-40k miles per year.

Any other nice tips?

heraclitus

I have to admit that when I got the Aeroplan e-mail a while ago showing where I've accumulated my points, it was a bit disheartening to see how little the retail channel added up to especially considering it is not uncommon (with the right bonuses) for me to get 1,000 AE points on a regular weekly grocery shopping trip to Sobey's. Credit card churn/spend are king for me.

I could probably make better use of the e-Store for AE points, but I'm pretty bad at planning gift purchases far enough in advance to use it. There are probably a lot of points to be had by using the e-Store more often.

Toddcan

I'm not up to speed on all the acronymns.

AE= ? Aeroplan? Or American Eagle, or Aerpostale? OR... ?

heraclitus

Aeroplan

jerry305

To answer the OP, yes, this is my wheelhouse. I fly a few times a year, and when I do, I rarely earn any significant miles. When I buy flights, I usually get more points from my credit card company on the spend, than on the flight itself.

Less than 1% of the points that I'll earn this year are related to my flights.

tnkngn

Can a Canadian resident get a US credit card like the Chase United CC?

jerry305

Nope. Except for some dual citizens / dual residents, etc.

yerffej201

I wish. Either AP has an agreement to have a *A monopoly (as US isn't here either) or there simply isn't enough presence for the card. Or the banks are really dumb which i doubt.

Like what? Most of my AP goes to US now.
And if a UA card did get issued, then Chase would most likely issue. Probably bonus categories also.

No unless you have US SSN.

DaveTO

Get the SPG Amex as well. Charge all of your purchases on it.

SPG points are much more flexible and give you 25% conversion bonus to most airline frequent flier programs (plus whatever transfer bonuses are out there), or you can use them at a good redemption rate at Starwood properties.

Get the Capital One Aspire Mastercard. Charge everything at places that dont accept Amex, as well as travel expenses (it comes with comp travel insurance, trip interruption etc.)

ffsim

Yeah, about those complimentary insurances...

rankourabu

I have gotten decent shopping sprees out of them when my baggage's gone missing a few times, as well as multiple hotel nights on weather delays.

Had a rock chip in the windshield this past weekend on a rental, no problem for Amex, quick and easy.

The Aspire card is ok as a backup card, but using the points at threshold intervals can be a pain.

There was rumours earlier this year of a UA Canada card, but nothing yet....