Top Travel Points Credit Card (with annual fee)
1. Capital One Aspire Travel™ World MasterCard®
2. TD First Class Infinite Visa
Top Travel Points Credit Card (with no annual fee)
1. American Express Blue Sky Credit Card
2. Capital One Aspire Travel Platinum MasterCard
Top Hybrid Travel Credit Card (with annual fee)
1. American Express Gold Rewards Card*
2. RBC Visa Infinite Avion
Top Airline Credit Card
1. CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite
2. Capital One Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard
Top Hotel Points Credit Card
1. Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
2. Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One
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 2012 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.
1. Capital One Aspire Travel™ World MasterCard®
2. TD First Class Infinite Visa
Top Travel Points Credit Card (with no annual fee)
1. American Express Blue Sky Credit Card
2. Capital One Aspire Travel Platinum MasterCard
Top Hybrid Travel Credit Card (with annual fee)
1. American Express Gold Rewards Card*
2. RBC Visa Infinite Avion
Top Airline Credit Card
1. CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite
2. Capital One Delta SkyMiles World MasterCard
Top Hotel Points Credit Card
1. Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
2. Priority Club® World MasterCard® from Capital One
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 2012 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.
GLAD YOU AGREE WITH ME THAT CIBC AEROGOLD AIRLINE CARD IS GREAT CHOICE. FOR MY SITUATION, IT IS. ALSO ADVISE READERS TO GET AEROPLAN CARD SO CAN "DOUBLE DIP" WHEN BUY AT CERTAIN RETAILERS (ESSO, HOME HARDWARE)
ReplyDeletePROBLEM WITH AMERICAN EXPRESS IN CERTAIN AREAS, (E.G. MUSKOKA ONTARIO REGION) 75% OF MERCHANTS DO NOT ACCEPT AS FEES ARE TOO HIGH - EVEN LARGE ONES LIKE ZELLERS AND INDEPENDENT GROCERY
CIBC Aerogold is good -- no disagreement there. The rewards options are also good -- IF there are any to redeem for. The #1 negative in this card is not a CIBC, but rather a Aeroplan issue. The travel rewards program by Aeroplan have been significantly devalued over the years. Unless you hold various high-level statuses with Air Canada, your travel options are incredibly limited. And if there are any flights to redeem for, they require you to spend virtually an entire day connecting between various airports. The Business Class rewards are also a sham. Sure -- you may get better bang for your buck in Business Class IF there is any to redeem for. And IF there are any choices for Business Class, and you require a connection, you are likely to be travelling in Business on the shortest flight, while stuck in Economy for the rest. Aeroplan is good for frequent fliers of Air Canada, but not so for the occasional traveller and those who collect points exclusively on credit cards that bear its program name.
ReplyDeleteI recently switched to the Capital One Aspire Travel World MasterCard. It's 2 pts/$1 spent and it's 10,000 bonus points per year (on top of the 35,000 bonus intro) are excellent. What is even better is I am in FULL CONTROL of my travel plans without having to deal with the crazy itineraries set forth by programs such as Aeroplan. This is by far the best travel card offering incredible flexibility. This card allows you to use points even on taxes and fees, which can make a flight truly 100% FREE.
The other card I use regularly is the AE SPG card. Another excellent program that offers generous redemption opportunities at many of their properties. I agree that this is the best hotel programs card out there.
Air Miles is also very good. Their expiry date policy wasn't (and still isn't) popular, but at least their redemption options for flight travel are very good. I had virtually zero problems redeeming for flights. The only down side to the Air Miles program is it's inability to redeem for Business Class reward travel. It would be nice to see that option available.
AEROPLAN SUCKS THESE DAYS. The Aerogold card is fine, but why are you collecting almost useless Aeroplan points?
ReplyDeleteI just tried booking a flight from Toronto to Quebec City and would be charged $168 in FEES ON TOP of the points. Some "reward"! I have also been trying to get a Caribbean flight at the stated 40K points. There are plenty of those if you want to spend a night in an airport en route. Direct flights - forget it! It is pretty useless and I am canceling my Aerogold card because of Aeroplan.
I figured that out 4 years ago.Kept the card (to keep the points alive) and use the vast accumulation of points.Still have some left.The only way to use them, I found, was short haul between Victoria & Vancouver, even then if you are lucky to find one flight that does not send you to overnight in Calgary or Kelowna or some place worse they overcharge as well.These people are fraudsters.
DeleteFully agree that Aeroplan has lost its lustre - 10 years ago. Recently my wife and I wanted to fly to Florida using my pool of either Aeroplan or Delta points. Aeroplan had ONE option on the day we wanted, required 40,000 points, had us flying through Washington(!), took 10 hours and still cost us $370 total. Using Delta I had 7 choices - 5 direct - and it cost me 40,000 points and...wait for it...$5 per ticket. Aeroplan needs a wakeup call as the market has passed them by. The only problem is the average user doesn't know it.
Deletehow about the new scotiabank american express card?
ReplyDeleteThe new Scotiabank Amex cards will be included in the 2013 rankings as it came out after these results were published.
DeleteI agree about the problem with AMEX. I would love to get one of their higher level cards, but the reality is that even in Toronto it is difficult to use AMEX. And Loblaws will not take it.
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ReplyDeleteIt is good to see that the CUETS Platinum Class card available from most credit unions is still top 3 (although down from #2 in 2010 and 2011). Look for this card to make a move in 2013 as it adds a CASH REWARDS feature starting April 1st. This effectively makes it a 2% cash back card on ANY purchase.
ReplyDeleteCUETS will also be releasing a World Elite Card with a similar rewards structure in April with NO ANNUAL LIMIT on the points that can be earned. Great for those big spenders.
I like the Capital One aspire but it is my only card to have a problem with posting my payments. Every time it takes a minimum of 5 days, while all my other cards get posted on the same or next day. Not usually a problem if I pay at least a week in advance but had a major problem when wife went to Portugal and could not use it. My payment of just under 11,000 did not go through until a week later! So mostly I use amex gold if I can now.
ReplyDeleteI travel a lot in the USA, anyone know definitively what card has the best cdn conversion rate? I see a visa card now that offers no "additional" fee for conversion, just Visa International's fee, which seems very difficult to pin down. (I do realize that it changes every day, but do they use the Fed Res rate + 3% or what)?
And in addition to above, I am not big on Aeroplan. As an example,it costs much more to pay tax and fees for flight from YVR to LAS using Aeroplan points, than I quite often have flown to Vegas from Bellingham, not using points. Less tax's flying out of Bellingham but that's ridiculous.
ReplyDelete