Travel Hacking 101 - Earn 91,000 Aeroplan Points or 37,000 British Airways Avios for free* (Updated August 20, 2021)

Quite a few years ago RewardsCanada.ca was featured in an article on Travel Hacking. What is travel hacking? Simply put it is what we have been doing here every day on RewardsCanada.ca for nearly 12 14 15 16 17 19  20 years, but it simply has a name put to it now.  The article revolved heavily around a new site that charges people a fee for things that are found for free right here on Rewards Canada, Flyertalk, Inside Flyer, Boardingarea, Redflagdeals and many other places. To me it boggles the mind that someone would pay $97 per year to get the information you find for free here or those other places I mentioned. They claim they will get you one free flight within 30 days otherwise you can get your money back (or at least 1 free flight per year). It doesn't boggle my mind as much anymore, everyone is different and some people are willing to pay for a service while others aren't. Good on those who start a business where there is a need. I know from feedback of my readers that many of you have enjoyed tons of free flights, hotel nights, car rentals and more due to the information provided on Rewards Canada. Right from the onset of creating RC that was my goal, to help all Canadians get more Miles, more Points, more Rewards!

Well folks if you don’t already know these techniques, I am prepared to give you this information for free in this post (I assume veteran RCers won’t need this as you have probably already done it) on how to get that free flight (or flights) excluding taxes and fees. It primarily revolves around credit card sign up bonuses from cards that either have no annual fee or where the first year fee is waived.  The only ‘costs’ associated with this method are putting your everyday credit card spend onto these cards to meet the minimum requirements for getting the sign up bonus. Now if you don't think you can hit the minimum spend on the cards you don't have to apply for them all at once, you can take your time and apply for cards once you've hit each spend individually. All this means is that it will take a little longer to earn your fee flights.

* I state free in the title as I assume you would be spending this money anyways on these credit cards so you might as well be rewarded for it with free Aeroplan miles or Avios!

TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card
This card is offering a welcome bonus of 25,000 Aeroplan points which is split as 10,000 points on your first purchase and 15,000 more when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first 90 days. It is also offering a bonus Buddy Pass which is worth at least $300 if not more Plus they are waiving the first year annual fee on the primary card and the first three additional cards if you apply by March 6, 2022. You can apply for this card here.
Learn more about Buddy Pass conversion here. This offer is not available for residents of Quebec. For Quebec residents, please click here.

Now you have at least 26,000 Aeroplan Points at no cost to you other than spending on the card (This amount includes the points earned to reach the spend requirement)

You can then look at getting this card as well:

CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card 
This card is offering a welcome bonus of 20,000 Aeroplan points which is split as 10,000 points on your first purchase and 10,000 more when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first four statement periods. This card also has a Buddy Pass but you are only allowed to earn one. So you could choose between the TD or the CIBC card to earn the Buddy Pass. Plus they are waiving the first year annual fee on the primary card  You can apply for this card here. 

Now you have at least 77,000 Aeroplan points at no cost to you other than spending on the cards.   (This amount includes the points earned to reach the spend requirement)

and then get this card:

American Express® Green Card

This card is offering 10,000 points when you spend $1,000 on it in the first three months and it is a no fee card! Those 10,000 points can now be converted directly to 10,000 Aeroplan points or British Airways Avios. You can apply for the card here.

 Now you have at least 88,000 Aeroplan points or 11,000 Avios at no cost to you other than spending on the cards. (This amount includes the points earned to reach the spend requirement)

and then you can get yourself this card

mbna Best Western Rewards MasterCard
You earn 20,000 points with the card with no annual fee after your first purchase You can apply for this card here.

These 20,000 Best Western Rewards Points can then be transferred to Aeroplan or Avios at a 5:1 basis (20,000 Best Western Rewards Points = 4,000 Aeroplan Miles or Avios) which means you could have 92,000 Aeroplan points or 15,000 Avios if you are going the British Airways route. (This amount includes the points earned to reach the spend requirement)

And now one more option for British Airways Executive Club:

HSBC World Elite® Mastercard®.
This card is offering a welcome bonus of up to 70,000 HSBC Rewards Points with no annual fee in the first year. You get 20,000 points upon approval and 20,000 more when you spend $5,000 within 180 days of account opening. Then you can get 20,000 on your 1st year anniversary and 10,000 more for adding a supplementary card. Since we only look at points you earn at no cost we'll take only the first 40,000 points into consideration here.  You can then convert these points to British Airways Executive Club Avios at a 2.5:1 ratio (they also have transfer bonuses several times per year) . The offer on this card is available until September 27, 2021. You can apply for this card here

 Now you have at least at least 37,000 Avios at no cost to you other than spending on the cards.  (This amount includes the points earned to reach the spend requirement)

There you go just with these offers you can earn over 89,000 Aeroplan Points or 30,000 British Airways Executive Club Avios.  That opens up a lot options to redeem for flights.  I recommend reading Utilizing British Airways' Executive Club for flights in North America and How you can easily get a free flight between Toronto and Dublin, Ireland (pre taxes/fees) or 4 flights for $240+fees for some more ideas

Now do you want to keep any of these cards after the first year free is up? If the Aeroplan program works for you then the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card is worth keeping and then ditch the CIBC card after you earn the points and they post to your account. The Marriott cards are awesome for hotel stays let alone for converting to airlines. The Best Western card does not have an annual fee ever so that would be one to let go of and then apply for again in the future to get the bonus once again. The HSBC card has a lot of other amazing aspects to it other than the sign up bonus and being able to convert to Avios so it can very well be a keeper as well.

You can also take advantage of other free Aeroplan point offers that you can use to add even more points to your account albeit not that many. I would recommend that you visit our Aeroplan and Avios Bonus opportunities pages regularly and look under the ‘other offers’ section for any and all free mileage offers that may come up.

• No free Aeroplan Points or Avios offers at this time

LAST UPDATED:
August 20, 2021 Added the new TD Aeroplan offer of 25,000 points



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