Today on RewardsCanada.ca we posted our second annual picks for Canada's top travel rewards credit cards.. We have combed over 60 different credit cards offering travel rewards for Canadians and of those there are a few that really stand out. While it is practically impossible to give this question a perfect one card answer, we can breakdown the market of Canadian Travel Rewards credit cards into five major categories that these cards fall into. Without further ado, here are the top travel rewards credit cards for 2010 as picked by RewardsCanada.ca:Top Airline Credit Card
CIBC AeroGold Visa / AeroGold Visa Infinite
Top Hybrid Travel Credit Card
RBC Visa Platinum Avion / Visa Infinite Avion
Top Travel Points Credit Card (with annual fee)
Capital One Aspire Travel™ World MasterCard®
Top Travel Points Credit Card (with no annual fee)
American Express Blue Sky Credit Card
Top Hotel Points Credit Card
Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
For the complete article, details on each card plus runners up in each category please visit the full Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Card for 2010 page on the Rewards Canada website
Care to comment on our choices? Want to voice your opinion on the good and the bad of all the Travel Rewards Credit Cards in Canada. Share you views and experiences by leaving a comment below.
American express has no annual fee and great rewards? My airmiles card charges me $100 a year, and the miles arent that great. Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteAirmiles from Victoria requires you to use two reward redemptions to fly most places as we typically need to fly via Vancouver ( or incur ferry and airport parking costs) or via Calgary ( which typically means staying overnight to make connections). For example, to fly to LAX you leave Victoria mid afternoon one day to fly out of Calgary the next morning. Evev a Victoria to Toronto fligt requires leaving Victoria in the evening to connect in Calgary after midnight to arrive in Toronto at 6 am when you cannit check in before the aftenoon is Ridiculous! I just converted my BMO Airmiles MasterCard to the World Elite for that very reason. To here the Airmiles agent inform me that I can redeem for merchandise instead is extremely annoying.
ReplyDeleteRe: MNBA MasterCard
ReplyDeleteTried to book a flight for Xmas"from" Phx - Calgary (return) thru M/C Carlsons Travel Agency. Westjets www whether you book "from" Calg or "from" Phx ( all return)is the same price. Carlson (M/C) if booked "from" Phx wants an extra 20,000 points s "from" Calgary. What a rip off!! Beware of M/C Carlson
You neglected to mention one big drawback with your #1 choice - the CapitalOne Aspire card. They use reward ranges, so for example, you need 35000 points for a ticket values between 150.01 and 350.00. My current card may not accumulate at a 2 for 1 rate, but I also can redeem at 1 for 1....not a rate as low as 2.33 for 1 as per a 150.01 ticket.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Capital One rates on the low end are a definitely a drawback but it is pretty much everything else about the card that makes it number one. Add to this that unless you are booking travel for only one person, the majority of travel bookings (and subsequent redemption) will be over the $600 top end range of the redemption chart and automatically be at the 2% rate of return.
ReplyDeleteForgot to put that we do say "Up to a 2% return on all purchases" in our ranking to take into account the lower end redemptions which of course fall under 2%.
ReplyDeleteWhat caused Diner's Club to drop to number 5 while RBC takes the top spot?
ReplyDeleteWas there a change in the rewards program for DC?
The only thing that made Diners Club drop was the fact that it has been closed to new applications for nearly two years. Nothing else with the card changed but it was hard to justify giving it top spot again if only current cardholders could take advantage of the great card. We are anticipating that BMO will open up Diners to new applicants early in the New Year meaning another change in the Hybrid Card category for the 2011 rankings.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if for trip insurance, all trip purchases need to be done with the same card or can the deposit be done with one card and the rest of the charges put on another card?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking for some travel insurance and I'm considering getting a travel credit card with insurance. However I have already paid the deposit with my current card.
Usually it depends on the card, for the out of province medical insurance that some cards have the coverage is automatic regardless of how the payment was made, however for trip cancellation, interruption, baggage loss, etc. usually the full amount of the trip needs to be put onto the card.
ReplyDeleteThe Cuets Platinum Card includes up to 31 days out of province coverage for cardholders up to age 75...this is a significant increase from any other card.
ReplyDeleteI do not see the American AAdvantage Visa Card of TD Bank which works very good!!
ReplyDeleteThe TD AAdvantage Visa was considered in our rankings and while being a decent card it does not match those listed in our top 5.
ReplyDeleteFor Capital One, can you redeem part of the amount, or it must against the full amount? e.g. for a $800 charge, can you redeem 70,000 points which would be $700?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately that is one of the only drawbacks of the Aspire card, you have to have the full amount of points for the complete charge.
ReplyDeleteAnything more current than 2010 ? Air Canada/Areoplan have just uppped the number of point required for redemption, so are they still the card of choice?
ReplyDeleteThe next top travel credit card rankings will be out in July 2011
ReplyDeleteI am trying to compare the CIBC World Master Card with the RBC Avion Platinum Card. It appears you need a lot more points with the CIBC card to fly to the same destination which would indicate that the RBC card is a better buy for the identicle fee.
ReplyDeleteI would appreciate others thoughts and experience.