Can't tell if it's a joke because I've seen passengers do this. And sometimes it's quite obvious that they're the FT type, and makes me a bit embarassed

You're so right, Triple J! I was on a turkey bender when I posted...

Calling it travel hacking, was a joke, indeed. The actual act itself...let's just say it should never have been posted to begin with. I don't think we need to read stuff like that on a public forum. Well, maybe at RFD, but not here at FT.

@jerry...I have images of you POUNDING the stuffing out of that Hello Kitty pillow. ("salvage", not "savage", right?) :D

Added the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite to the Wiki. $50 GCR rebate, FYF, 15K +10K after $1K spending, 1 Maple Leaf Lounge Pass to use with Aeroplan redemption bookings, 2-for-1 Aeroplan shorthaul voucher on AC flights. Till Dec 19th.



Some notes from the T&C:

If you have opened an Account in the last 6 months, you will not be eligible for this offer.

We reserve the right to limit the number of Accounts opened by and the number of 10,000 Miles Bonus awarded to any one person.

Existing TD Aeroplan Cardholders are not eligible for this offer.

Thanks JJJ - Tried applying through GCR and couldn't process my application as TD says I need to go in branch to apply as they can't validate my identity (I've never banked with them).

The statement for my 2nd Alaska Airlines card came out earlier this week and I did get the bonus points. Still no GCR rebate though, hopefully they get that together soon.

[QUOTE=JJonahJ;23911928]Added the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite to the Wiki. $50 GCR rebate, FYF, 15K +10K after $1K spending, 1 Maple Leaf Lounge Pass to use with Aeroplan redemption bookings, 2-for-1 Aeroplan shorthaul voucher on AC flights. Till Dec 19th.


Maybe I just missed it, but I was not able to see where there was a 2 for 1 flight promo with the card. I missed the last one and have been waiting for this to return. Where does it state the 2 for 1 has returned? Thanks

[QUOTE=tryinginvain;23915779]The statement for my 2nd Alaska Airlines card came out earlier this week and I did get the bonus points. Still no GCR rebate though, hopefully they get that together soon.[/QUOT

The missing GCR rebate is a concern for my son too. He applied for the AS card on Sept. 15. Because of the late September problems, his card wasn't approved till Oct. 15. He got the 25K mile bonus, no problem, but no $60 GCR rebate. And now there is no recourse: Since MBNA isn't on the GCR list, online there is no option of filing a complaint.

Question: Who else is experiencing this? What can he do now with GCR to get his rebate?

Preacher, everyone who applied through GCR in mid-Sept and missed the cutoff for new applications is affected. There is nothing that can be done right now. People have already reached out to GCR, including my wife, and have been given similar information. She contacted GCR with a secured message, the response was: So, they cannot give any of us the $50 GCR rebate until MBNA starts to report back to GCR with the list of approved cards (i.e., those that have the GCR signup code attached to the application).

What you CAN do right now is be proactive and contact MBNA and verify with them that they see your son's card application has an attached code/note that indicates that it was applied for through GCR. If all is good, then thereafter, just patiently wait for the good times to roll in. :) And, hopefully the WILL roll in.

No, you didn't miss it. I don't see the 2-for-1 as a listed welcome bonus either, but I saw people at RFD posting in the related thread that they got it. Maybe they're referring to the promo from earlier this year though.

But, to be honest, few people find good value with that 2-for-1 voucher. It's for a short haul redemption, and it MUST be on AC metal, and though you only redeem 15,000 for the two tickets instead of 30,000, you still have to pay the scamcharges on BOTH tickets, so about $150 each. If they had relaxed it to allow it to apply for say UA award bookings, then it'd be more palatable to swallow.

As for the MLL pass, though it's not listed at the GCR/TD promo pages as a welcome benefit, it is a standard benefit that you receive for the card when you sign up, and upon renewal.

BMO World Elite Mastercard promo with Grand Cru Wine Festival

The annual fee is waived for 3 years - $450 value

$400 travel credit after your first purchase

And you get an annual Priority Pass membership with 4 lounge passes.

Seems like a decent deal for the casual traveler. I don't see any T&Cs requiring any sort of membership with Grand Cru.

http://www.bmo.com/credit-cards/bmo-...8345-EY014GGWE

When I went to apply it notified me of the $150 AF

Milesbuzz: Canada
 

I'm already an owner of this card...

"ALREADY A BMO® World Elite™ MasterCard® MEMBER?

Do not worry if you already have a BMO® World Elite™ MasterCard® just call the BMO Ambassador and you will be counted as a BMO/Grand Cru Supporter. You will receive your premium benefits, so will Grand Cru and research at UHN!"

Anyone know what "the BMO Ambassador" is?

I'm existing owner too (and will be "former" owner in a month)
T&C at bottom

BMO is lame vs. AMEX giving recurring welcome bonuses :)
i.e. no current cardholder will EVER get any promo again probably

I can only provide an anecdotal report that my friend in Vancouver successfully got this card with the benefits. I guess you could also donate to Grand Cru (a dollar for example) to be considered a supporter.

You can check out the RFD forums if you want to see the discussion there.

BMO World Elite Mastercard
 

"Sign up today and tell your friends and family"

…4th line from the bottom: http://www.tgwhf.ca/sites/grandcru/bmo/

Now the BMO offer is publicly advertised everywhere - RFD, SmartCanucks, BoardingArea, etc.... when it's a very YMMV/targeted (?) offer

It'll be fun to see how this unfolds... $400 credit + 3 years free is probably the biggest offer we have seen in recent years (if one excludes AMEX's 25K value calculation as it could value from $250 to $500+)

I too tried to complete the online application and it indicated the $150 fee. Suggestions?

I need to get both an Amex and a visa/mc no AF card. Not FYF, as I need these to be keepers. At this point, it looks like the best sign up bonus on cards like these are:
1. MBNA Best Western, 20 K points.
2. Amex Air Miles, 500 AM.
Am I missing any cards in this mix, if I'm only talking sign up bonus?

I think AMEX Air Miles card is 1600 AM via referral (look in the Referral AMEX thread). Public offer is 1000 AM, not 500 though

As for VISA, what do you already have? and not have?
TD Aeroplan VISA is obviously better with 25K Aeroplan, FYF
or maybe SCOTIA VISA with $75 Amazon cashback?

Preacher7 is not looking for the AMEX Plat card, hence it is 500 Air Miles sign-up bonus.

Preacher7 is looking for "no annual fee" card and not "First Year Free" card.

Preacher7, here are my suggestions:

VISA - open a "TD All-Inclusive Banking" account and put $5000 in it. Then you can get a TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card with no annual fee forever (or until TD cancel this feature). There are a number of other benefits too (TD USD VISA, TD USD Account, $60 off toward a Safety Deposit Box, etc...)

MC - Target / PC Financial World. Depending where you shop your stuff the most, or just get them all. I do price match at Target and get 5% off, and the rest price match at other Loblaws family of store to get 2% rebate in PC Points.

AMEX - SimplyCash (not the Preferred one) and get 5% for 1st 6 months and 1.25% afterward.

Goodluck

Amex seems to be tightening up their offerings quite a bit. Going on 8 months without a SPG offer, recent cancellation of the Holt Renfrew card, losing Costco, and not much in the way of above-average bonuses on the other cards.

If it's a long term hold, the signup bonus shouldn't matter.

The Amazon.ca Visa is the best no annual fee Visa card, because of the no forex fees. People who have annual fee cards still end up using this card while traveling instead of putting it away in a sock drawer, so there's value in it.

The Amex Blue Sky gives 10k points upon 500 in spending (worth $100 travel credit, referral available if you have friends/family with it), or the Simply Cash regular gives 6 months 5% cashback on gas/groceries/restaurants which may beat the Blue Sky at higher spending levels.

The Amazon.ca VISA is the one card I'd recommend everyone just holds onto. If someone just turned 18, and they're searching for their first credit card (which they should always keep), I'd recommend the Amazon.ca VISA.

Thanks a lot to all of you for your help, I really appreciate it!

Preacher, I know you're also an Airmiles casual collector, so in addition to the Amex Airmiles no fee regular card, there's also the BMO Airmiles MC with 400 welcome points.

I know you want those as keeper cards to build up credit history, and you probably don't want to spend much with them, but I would make sure you also spend time to keep those accounts active with the odd purchase every month or two...For eg., in the case of BMO, they monitored my lack of usage and lowered the limit without any warning. With MBNA, they closed up one of my wife's accounts when she had no activity for 12 months, never got any notification that it was going to be canceled.

Thx, JJJ! The no-activity reminder is a good one. Some of our Choice cards haven't had activity on them since the summer. I'd hate to have them shut down without warning.

I don't know if this was already discussed in here, but apparently RFD is offering $85 cashback with the TD Aeroplan card.

Info here:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/deal/cre...an-miles-more/

The page has disappeared completely now. Funny, wasn't the whole point to maximize signups to raise money for UHN? They could have smashed their projections by allowing signups through this week ;)

This was a pretty awesome deal... usually I avoid the proprietary Aventura/Avion type arrangements because even if FYF, it takes me longer than just one year to get enough points to make a redemption worthwhile. But at 3 years free, well, now we're talking.

it's now $70 after Dec 8th 1 pm


and the BMO $400 credit offer is DEAD also, now that it has gone "public"

I applied just this afternoon for the RFD deal... I hope I even get any amount of cashback at this point. I applied online only for them to create the application over the phone. I wonder if them just adding the RFD code will link it back to the same tracking id on RFD?

Re: BMO

There are currently posts on RFD, from senior posters, that say they've spoken with a supervisor at BMO and they will be honouring. Again, just a third-party anecdote, but it looks good, and BMO might be doing a great good by donating a huge amount of $ to the Toronto Hospital system!

I was approved for the card today. A rep called, asked a few questions about my income, verified my dob and address, andand said I can expect the card in 10 business days. Sure hope all the benefits are included.

I was referred for my Amex business gold and have just fulfilled the $5000 spending requirement within 3 months. I am quite happy to see 30,000 points bonus posted in my account right after I spent over $5000. Anyone knows when they will post the remaining 10,000 points bonus (30k non referral vs 40k via referral) ? Maybe I am too early to worry about it..

After I hit the $5,000 min spend requirement, my 40k points posted on the next statement - it wasn't split into 30,000 / 10,000 increments. It might be worth sending an email through secure message to double check.

Some thing happened to me. Just call and let them know 10k are missing and they will "file a report" - the next morning the points showed up.

pretty much the same thing happened to me. I think they are just a little slow and if you call they will make you a priority case.

i've emailed twice and they just keep spewing the "ideal case is 8-10 weeks to award the points". even tho in the past, i've always received the points right away.

i actually got 10K but did not get the other 50K from a Platinum

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Finally got the points after emailing then twice. Woohoo