A quick little quirk of the Amex 5x points on Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes.

Whenever I get a refund for a meal that was wrong, poorly prepared, etc, only the base points get deducted and the original bonus points remain.

Anyone else experience that?

To my knowledge, that's correct.
You may or may not want to look at starting another card and combining the points accounts.

I don't quite understand what you mean here...

Although Amex signup offers are not what they used to be, you could sign up for another card (Gold Business, Gold Personal, etc.), pay the first year annual fee, and collect a decent signup reward.
Then, ask Amex to link the two accounts and consolidate the points. And eventually cancel the original account.
It's not free, but it's a good way to keep your points active.

Correct. NONE. In Canada, there has never been a no-fee MR card to hold, combine and keep your MR points alive. The only options, as you've alluded to, would be to open another card in the MR product family, so that you could consolidate your points before closing the older card.

That said, currently, the only effectively 'free' Amex MR card that you can open to keep points from another MR card (Biz Gold, Biz Plat, Personal Plat) alive is the Personal Gold, if you open it using the CPA RSVP code. If you or a family member have a CPA online membership account, you can get the RSVP to apply for the Personal Gold, and the offer is 25,000 points and a $150 rebate to offset the $150 annual fee, provided that you spend $1500 within the first 90 days after approval.

The RSVP code for the CPA offer is generic and not tied to an actual membershp ID, like the RSVP code of the similar Perkopolis offer for the Personal Gold (however, Perkopolis no longer has the $150 rebate). So if you're not a CPA but are willing to apply using their RSVP code regardless, you can get the offer to make the Personal Gold MR card effectively FREE for one year.

If you are not within a CPA circle, there are other ways of obtaining the RSVP code, but that type of discussion doesn't belong in this forum. Ask your friends, and include Mr. Google, if you want to find the RSVP code to pursue this option.

One more note, and this probably should be in the Amex Canada discussion thread. Due to COVID, Amex Canada has expedited their measures to close down all cards for cardmembers who they deem are not profitable. If you haven't seen discussions of these shutdowns, bear in mind that this had started shortly after the pandemic began, and has been ongoing. So if you are at risk, you may want to consider redeeming / converting your MR points, to mitigate the potential losses due to forced (and prompt) cancellations.

huh, that last part is interesting. Since I'm moving I'll likely be using my Gold much less but I wanted to keep my points alive in a flexible account instead of commiting to, say, AP or Bonvoy. And conversion to US MR just about makes every value worse due to currency conversion.

... Dangit.

Hasn't Amex gotten wiser to churning? I know I didn't get a repeat bonus for my Bonvoy even though I only had the SPG card before that...

The HSBC World Elite MasterCard signup bonus is actually pretty sweet: about $500 in travel credits.
But the bank itself can be very hard to deal with: actually getting approved for the card has proven difficult for many.
Minimum income / household income / invested assets required.

https://www.hsbc.ca/credit-cards/products/world-elite/

I was just looking at the $50 GCR link for this card.

For Ontario the 100,000 HSBC points are divided into 20,000 on first purchase. And 80,000 when you spend $5,000 in 180 days. Annual fee rebate. And a $100 'travel enhancement' for seat selection, bag fees etc. Quebec offer is a bit different but similar value.

The HSBC card has been good and is hands down the best forex card in Canada anyways. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to use the $100 annual credit on Aeroplan surcharges.

Home Trust has 0 Forex fees and cashback with no annual fee, I'll take it for what it's worth.

I would suggest to do some research into the business practices and corporate philosophies of Home Trust.

Would you mind elaborating?

RBC®  WestJet World Elite Mastercard

Big increase in the signup bonus here.
It had been $250 Westjet dollars, and occasionally $350. Now it's $450.

"Take advantage of our limited-time offer and get 450 welcome WestJet dollars with the WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercard‡ after your first purchase within three months, when you apply and are approved.^ That’s $450 off the base fare of your next WestJet flight.*"

Annual fee is $119. Minimum Income Required: $80,000 (personal) or $150,000 (household)

https://www.westjet.com/en-ca/reward...d/more-dollars

Until September 30, the rate to convert American Express Membership Rewards points to Marriott has improved (from 6:5, to 3:2).
IMO, that's a much more lucrative use of your Membership Rewards points, particularly for Membership Rewards Select points on the Business Edge and Cobalt cards.

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-c...roducttype=All

There is a new offer available for the two MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercards that provides a $100 statement credit when you spend $1000 in the first three months. This is on top of the 20,000 and 30,000 mile welcome bonuses. This offer is not in the MBNA affiliate channel so you won't find it on GCR etc. Here are the direct links to MBNA for the offers

World Elite:
https://apply.mbna.ca/applicationfor...3&locale=en_CA

Platinum Plus
https://apply.mbna.ca/applicationfor...1&locale=en_CA