InTheAirGuy

Let's not whine, let's talk strategy. With this I've already secured 2023.

MrsItTAG has not ... she is SE, but no 25K Amex bonus (which I got), no ticket spend ($31K flight passes so far for me). She does groceries, gas, we are doing a home Reno. I've got Amex Aeroplan Reserve Black.

What branded CC might be best for her to achieve the $30K spend? I'd do this simply to lock in the additional priority rewards; since we travel together it doesn't do much more for us.

So TD or Amex or CIBC, and which one? We'd have no problems qualifying.

Note to Mod: I know there is an Amex thread, but this post seems unique to this bonus offer.

EdmFlyBoi

100% agree with this. I am not sure the point of actually flying anymore when I can continue to get my status extended by doing the things I do everyday. The SQD rollover would be a great idea...

MillennialMiles

Its not like you need more AQMs or AQDs anyway...you are maxed out! Time for AC to create a special promo tailored specifically to you and your needs

EdmFlyBoi

I don't need any SQD for 2022, but I am likely going to start 2023 with over 100K SQM and 0 SQD. It will make for an interesting year if I have to fly to get over the 20K SQD without worrying about SQM. A few very expensive tickets...

Far Siren

Or you can sit at home until another cc promo is announced c. May 2023 that will allow you to extend your status by buying groceries or taking a few Uber rides...

Tax Dude

We were in a similar boat. I've had the CIBC card for a while and benefited from all the rollovers last year. Mrs. TD didn't have one and started the year at zero. I decided to get the Amex Reserve for her in an attempt to push her SQM up to 100K this year. I chose the Amex so we'd get different promos, so you may want to consider the TD or CIBC for her.
That said, the Amex Reserve has a 10X earning rate for spending with Air Canada for the first 6 months (max 30K points) so Mrs. ITAG would be able to get the 30K she'll need pretty easily.
If it were me, I'd get the Amex Reserve for her with a free Amex supplementary card for me, cancel my Amex and get a TD (higher bonus right now.)
As a side note, the 1K SQM/$5K spend bonuses post very quickly with Amex (as the spend gets posted) whereas the CIBC bonuses post cumulatively a few days after the statement date. CIBC also had an issue last year with calculating the bonuses which wasn't fixed until early 2022. As a result, I missed out on about 10K of SQM rollover. I have no experience with the TD card.

InTheAirGuy

So what you are saying if we got that, and she bought a $3,000 ticket some time before November, she's 30,.000 and a lock for SE.

boomerfss

I didn't think this was a bad thing as it doesn't add any more elites, just makes it easier to re-qualify. So same number of elites next year unless I'm missing something. If they keep this promo up though I would certainly fly a little less. Spending 30K a year on a CC is pretty easy.

To me, a bigger issue is the preium credit cards that give all the benefits of 50K status. Now anyone who has those credit cards has the same benefits as a million miler. I spent 20 years becoming a million miler when I could've got the same benefits from the credit card I now hold.

Bohemian1

Not quite. They would lose out in upgrade priority to an xMM in the same cabin.

boomerfss

Yes. But they do clog up the lounges and board zone 2.

asovse1

the temporary accelerators don't qualify

the permanent multiplier for air canada purchases is 3x (EDIT: ON THE AEROPLAN RESERVE CARD) so you'd only be at 9k from that purchase alone

yyzgigi

Am I correct that any credit card based accumulation that earns EDQ would count in the 30k points? Of all my transactions, I only have the 10k signup bonus for my chase that shows as promotional with no EDQ, everything else has matching EDQ.

asovse1

i'm pretty sure that the promotional (limited-time) multipliers will earn EDQ, but only the base miles themselves will count for the 30k needed to retain status

with that in mind when it comes to regular spending, what qualifies would be more restrictive than what earns EDQ

Tax Dude

I think the above statement is correct. The T&Cs state: Eligible Earn includes base and category accelerator earn of Aeroplan points on your eligible Aeroplan Co-Branded Credit Card, but excludes any welcome bonuses, acquisition bonuses, campaign bonuses or conversion points. Although the term's not defined in the offer that I could see, the extra 7X is probably an "acquisition bonus". But the 3X is definitely the "category accelerator" so it will count.

escape4

The EQD requirement to renew SE was possibly the harder hurdle for the majority of non-Canadian residents and even worse when it was increased from $10k to $20k because such folks had a non-negligible of *A flights which earned EQM but not EQD. Now it seems if we spend $10k on AC tickets and nothing else, we hit 30k pts for retaining SE and don't even have to worry about miles / segments anymore. So the threshold is essentially back to $10k in a way, or perhaps I am incorrectly mixing CAD vs USD depending on which credit card - USA cards might be $10k USD spend whereas SE threshold EQD was $10k CAD not USD. Nevertheless, but just throwing some restaurant and groceries spending in there and it becomes fairly easy to retain status since the 3x earning is not uncompetitive for such spending categories so there is not a major opportunity cost from using that card.