BTW, last week's mileage run for *G who A3 worked like a charm! Instant *G, one flight. Except the day my status posted, A3 changed their rules. It's only good for one year now.
In Portland now, flying to BLI, driving across the border to Abbotsford. Cheaper flying to BLI than into Canada.

So I applied for the card, wasn't sure if I was approved as they asked me the security questions and I botched one (all four prevoius addresses were wrong, weird) and tried to go back and got some error message.

Since then I've received a free night voucher by email from Marriott and have silver status. No points in the account yet, though.

Not to be a SNARK about it, but you should be posting in the thread related to the Chase Marriott Visa, I linked to it in the wiki above.

FYI, all of the security questions in my recent online application for this card were red-herrings. EVERY SINGLE ONE! Besides, I've read recently that you only have to answer 2 or 3 of them correctly. :p

Note: This is the RBC Westjet World Elite Mastercard benefit. The regular Westjet Master card does not offer the first bag free, nor all of the other benefits.
Have this card in your hand when you check in at Westjet and you will be happy with your service :-)

is it a simple flash of the card or do they scan it or something .....to check if its still active

I am looking for advice from the group here about RBC Avion VISA Infinite.

I got the card last year as I got a letter offering FYF and 15K Sign-Up bonus. My main purpose to get this card is to transfer from Aeroplan to AA at 1:~0.82 ratio (during the RBC to AA 20% Transfer bonus) to redeem CX.

One year is up and I got charge for the $120 annual fee, hence called in to inquiry about cancel and they offer me 10K points to stay with RBC. Using my typical $0.01 per Aeroplan miles value, this 10K RBC points worth ~$146 or ~14600 in Aeroplan Miles (using the above ratio)

Hence, in theory, I am getting my value back for paying $120 and get something that I value $146. But before I go ahead and accepting the offer, want to hear what others think about my line of thought. Am I thinking straight or I am out of my mind (which doesn't surprise me if that is the case :))

Thanks in advance.

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Mod, if you think this should be located at another Forum, please move this post over. Thank You.

Personally , i probably would not keep the card for 10K points. I would feel that most of the value there is negated by having to pay the $120 AF, and $120 for 10K = 1.2 cents per point, which is a bit too high unless you had no other options to work with & really need the miles.

There are other card options out there that are around 0.5 cents per, like Platinum AMEX $300 net for 60K, AeroplanPlus Gold $120 for 26K, CIBC Aerogold $120 for 20K, or TD Aeroplan $120 for 25K. The first 2 are via referral but those are easy enough to get around here.

I'm also not a huge fan of paying $120 now, to save $150 a year later. Technically speaking, from a time value of money perspective, it probably still is a net positive, but its small enough that once you factor in risk of points depreciation, its not worth it to me.

That's why I'd pass on it unless all other options were exhausted, AND i really needed the points soon.

I completely disagree with the above poster. I'd accept it. $120 for 10k in programs outside of Aeroplan with no credit check isn't bad.

Not to mention you must have the card to assist in converting Aeroplan to AA at a decent ratio, so there's ancillary benefits to it too.

On the RBC Rewards topic, I was thinking of getting the Avion that alc is talking about, mainly because it's FYF and one can convert to FFPs. Any thoughts as to which FFP would be best to convert to, though?

I live in YWG which has no oneworld presence. Does that mean WS by default is the way to go with conversions, or should I go with Avios and just burn AE points to get to a BA gateway when I eventually want to redeem for overseas? The only other means I have to earn Avios would be via Amex MR conversions (which I normally convert to AE), so I wouldn't be likely to amass a huge amount of them.

You can potentially do a mixed award, to break up a long haul into 2 short hauls.
It would let you use Avios and potentially come out a bit ahead

ie: Instead of 25K Aeroplan for YWG-JFK/LGA, you could do 15K Aeroplan for YWG-YYZ, and 7.5K Avios for YYZ-JFK/LGA

heraclitus - Where did you see an offer for this card at FYF?? Was it targetted??

Shoppers Optimum points:

As with all things points, there always seems to be something new to learn and take advantage of. Tomorrow is a 20 x points day for Shoppers Optimum.

It's not really for travel since SDM points are only redeemable for SDM products, but if you do mental accounting Shoppers points leads to some serious savings that you can allocate to travel.

First off, if you buy a Shoppers gift card, you earn 10 points /$1 on that purchase. When you later redeem that gift card, you earn 10 points /$1 again. AND you can purchase other merchant gift cards with that Shoppers gift card. I did a test run today and loaded $200 on a Shoppers reloadable card (no fees). Instantly I was able to buy a Beer Store cash card and $7 of stuff with a great sale price at SDM. I loaded so much because I am hitting the store tomorrow for 20X. I paid with my Amex Gold MR at 2 points / $ and earned another 2000 SDM points plus another x10 /$ for my small spending today.

SDM has a HUGE selection of merchant gift cards.... Much better than the grocery store. and your Amex Gold earns double points.... For Beer store, LCBO, Home Depot, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Rona, Staples, Indigo, all kinds of clothing stores, and restaurants etc etc....

.... So you can earn double Amex MR points and double SDM points.

Who cares about SDM, you ask? They're worth more than you'd think once you think about it:

If you double up on SDM points using their gift card trick and you shop on the 20x Saturdays and you stick to sale items it takes a minimum of $435 of regular targeted spend at Shoppers to earn $170 of rewards (95,000 point redemption for Shoppers products only ... Does not include gift cards sadly).

And this does not account for redeeming those points on the premium redemption days! It's an even better return if you strategically redeem.

You can pay for scripts with the gift cards and still earn points. SDM has some great sale items as well as regularly great priced items like eggs and milk. I looked at the flyer today and easily came up with a quick list of great deals that put me over the $50 spend to get the 20x multiplier.

I've added in Shoppers Optimum to my hacking arsenal. I just need to see how good I am at mental accounting!

NJD

P.S. Don't judge me for the Beer card. That was for DH. I'm an LCBO kind of girl.

I should show my math for correction, since it's actually better than $435 spend. I calculated it based on buying a $400 gift card to redeem on the 20X days.

10 points / $1 spend on gift card purchase amount
10 points / $1 spend using gift card for purchase

95,000 points = $170 standard redemption

Example
$400 gift card = 4,000 points
$400 spend using gift card = 4,000

95,000 - 8,000 = 87,000 points
$435 spend on 20x the 10 points / $1 days = 87,000 points

So... It's actually a lower spend but I don't want to redo the math for the extra $35 difference.

Feel free to correct me. I should have double checked my math before hitting the libations and posting this!

they've had a long running promo where if you bring in a competitor's VISA Infinite they'll give 15K points + FYF on their Avion Infinite card.

regarding Shoppers, once earlier this year, i went in to try to use a Shoppers GC to buy another GC from their stack (Esso i think), and they wouldnt let me. I actually went to grab a GC to check, and it really did say on the back, that you can not purchase gift cards with shoppers gift cards. I simply went to a different Shoppers and they were fine with it.

it was a new thing back then, because the Shoppers GCs i had bought from Shell (was when i was double dipping Air Miles and Aeroplan at the same time) didnt say that. i dont know if the current GCs have that printed on the back, but you may want to double check that!

Thanks. Yes I knew of this promo - but is it still alive? Has anyone tried it lately?