Hi all,

I live in Canada and just signed for an aeroplan enabled credit card. 2$ spent = 1 mile and a 2,500 miles signing bonus for 29$ a year.
Not sure if this is good or not, not sure either where to look to get educated about what is possible...

I landed here after the article posted on lifehacker from nerdfitness on how this guy got a round the world trip for 418$.

Any help to help me understand how this whole thing works and how to take advantage of it would be very welcome. I'm guessing this forum only applies to US credit cards? What about us up here in Canada?

Thanks!!

--I apologise if this is not the appropriate section, I posted here for lack of finding a better suited sub-forum...

You may want to go to http://MyCrumb.net and look at the card here. Should be good for the U.S. and Canada too. You get cash back when you shop with this card and it can be put back in to your account.

Link for beginners

Before applying for a credit card, do some searching to find the best current deal for that card. Using this LINK, I can find an Aeroplan AMEX with up to 50,000 bonus miles. Granted it has a $499 fee, but just showing there are options. Personally, I don't like to have any out of pocket expenses, so large annual fees are a no go for me.

The best thing to do is to stay current on this site and some others with the programs you want to work with. Be patient for the good deals to come along. Read the fine print so there are no surprises. Enjoy your miles stacking up.

You might help yourself get help if you add a bit more information about whether you currently do any travel that would let you accumulate miles and what you'd like to do with the miles (whether from travel or credit cards) once you get them.

Off the top of my head, it doesn't sound like the deal you posted is a very good one, but I'm not familiar with the aeroplan program and don't know what options Canadians have for credit cards and other ways of building miles and points.

If you can get a Starwood American Express card in Canada, lots of folks (including me) feel that it's the best single way of accumulating hotel points that are valuable in and of themselves and that also can be converted into miles on a number of airlines. You might use the Search function here on FT to try to find out more info about it.

In addition to Miles Buzz, you might look through the Other Credit Card forums and, if you mainly will fly on Air Canada, that airline's forum.

This can all be a bit daunting at first, but you're taking a good first step by posing your initial question.

Hope this helps!

Welcome to FlyerTalk, marquee!

The FrugalTravelGuy.com blog, along with the links to other blogs in it's right-hand column, is a great place to begin.

Unfortunately, I don't know of a FrugalCanadianTravelGuy blog.

As Thunderroad said, Starwood Amex can work quite well for people that are spread out in terms of airlines.

Some cards I can named off is CIBC with Aeroplan, TD with AA, BA and CX or RBC Avion that might be useful.

OP, if your thinking about churning cards then you better move to the US, those offers just aren't around
If you have a particular pattern of flying, then that might push you in 1 direction or another

Remember these cards also usually need you to have 25-35K minimum income, so if your a university student like me, that alone can give you some trouble.

I personally used the TD AAdvantage card, i think it's $120 year fee which is steep, but I am also AA EXP so my account explodes with miles very quickly.
1 mile/1 dollar in everyday spending and 2 mile/1 dollar for AA spending.
Then again, I fly 80% to/from US and 20% international

What works for me might not work for you and welcome to the world of frequent flying and flyertalk.

And I've done 1, starting another on friday Round the World First/Business Class tickets mostly on miles so possibility are endless.

Good Luck