PLEASE NOTE: The 30,000 mile welcome bonus detailed in this post has ended. The current offer is 25,000 miles which still can provide up to $1,450 in value (as of June 12, 2019)
Back in February TD launched one of the richest offers yet for the
TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card. The offer provides an awesome welcome bonus of up to 30,000 Aeroplan Miles and a first year annual fee rebate for the primary card. The 30,000 Aeroplan Miles welcome bonus is split as 15,000 miles upon
your first purchase and another 15,000 miles when you spend $1,000 on
the card within the first 90 days of opening your account. For most
people this shouldn't be too hard as that will equate to $333.33 in
spending per month.no fee etc. This offer ends on June 2, 2019
The questions is after you get the card and receive the miles, how can you get really good value from them?
To start, here is a broad example of what 30,000 Aeroplan Miles can get you:
- 2 round trip economy class short haul flights in Canada & Continental USA
- 1 round trip or 2 one way economy class long haul flights in Canada & Continental USA
- 1 one way economy class ticket from Canada to Hawaii, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America, South America or Europe
- 1 round trip business class short haul flight in Canada & Continental USA
- 1 one way business class long haul flights in Canada & Continental USA, or to Mexico, Caribbean or Central America
That's great but what is the value of those 30,000 miles? With so many great welcome offers available right now on a variety of travel rewards credit card why would I want to pick the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card over others? You would want to because this card has the ability to get value from as little as $300 to well over $1,000 just from the points - not additional benefits like we see added into 'value' propositions from other cards. You have to remember as well - the card is first year free - so outside of the minimum spend requirement, these miles are coming to you for free.
Enough blabbing! Let's look at some examples!
All of the examples below require miles that are at or below the sign up bonus of this card:
Let's look at Sudbury to Montreal for August 12 to 18:
This round trip flight is 15,000 miles + $182.81 in taxes and fees. To
buy the flight outright with Air Canada would cost $363.40. The savings
is $180.59 or 1.2 cents per mile. Taking that 1.2 cents per mile value means the 30,000 Mile sign up
bonus from the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card would be worth $361. Not bad but we can do better!
Toronto-New York La Guardia for August 16 to 20
This round trip flight is 17,300 miles + $127.06 in taxes and fees. To
buy the flight outright with Air Canada would cost $342.39. The savings
is $215.33 or 1.24 cents per mile. Taking that 1.24 cents per miles value means the 30,000 Mile sign up
bonus from the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card would be worth $373.
Ok those are so-so offers and they are ones that many Canadians would typically book but lets look another popular route. I know some of you like to see higher value per mile redeemed and sometimes you get can real out-sized value from the program. Here is one of those, Toronto to San Francisco for a weekend in the height of summer:
This round trip flight is 25,000 miles + $199.51 in taxes and fees. To
buy the flight outright with Air Canada would cost $967.14. The savings
is $767.63 or 3.07 cents per mile. Taking that 3.07 cents per miles value means the 30,000 Mile sign up
bonus from the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card would be worth $921! But wait, we can do even better....
How about doing a one-way in business class on the same route as above on the same outbound date - and there's a bonus - it is on Boeing 777-300 with lie flat seats:
This round trip flight is 25,000 miles + $124.69 in taxes and fees. To
buy the flight outright with Air Canada would cost $1573.21. The savings
is $1448.52 or 5.8 cents per mile.
Taking that 5.8 cents per mile value means the 30,000 Mile sign up
bonus from the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card would be worth $1,738!
Are you starting to get the picture here? Sure people like to nitpick on airline frequent flyer programs on how seats aren't available, dates aren't available, too many miles are required. And this isn't false - this is true in many cases when you need to travel when everyone else does. But as we have preached for 18 years, if you can be flexible in your travel (ie you don't need to travel during Spring Break or Christmas and can move your vacations around by a few days) then the best bang for your buck are always going to be frequent flyer and frequent guest programs.
Related: A look at how The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card provides huge value!
If this isn't you then you are probably still best suited to take part in proprietary credit Card reward programs
Related:
Why proprietary credit card reward programs are the best option for most Canadians
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