Which Credit Card Earns the Most Aeroplan Miles?

UPDATED FOR 2014: See our new post here

Occasionally I get asked the question: "Which credit card can you earn the most Aeroplan miles with?" What better way to show to answer to that question than in Rewards Canada's first Infographic. This Infographic pulls data from the full Rewards Canada feature with 10 different spending scenarios which can be found here. As always feel free to leave your comments below.

You can find more spending scenarios on our site here. For more information on all of the cards please follow the links!

Links to the cards
CIBC Aerogold / Aventura Cards
American Express Gold Rewards Card
Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
The Platinum Card from American Express
MBNA Best Western Rewards MasterCard
Chase Marriott Rewards Visa

Earn up to 15,000 Bonus Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles between Vancouver and London

On May 24th Virgin Atlantic will inaugurate their new route between Vancouver and London. The route will operate four times per week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and while there have not been any specific bonuses or offers set out for the route, Virgin Atlantic did release this systemwide promo a few days ago that you can register for and earn bonus Flying Club miles for the Vancouver-London route along with almost all other Virgin Atlantic routes. For the best fares (which start at $798+tax at time of posting) or to book this new service please visit Virgin Atlantic

Here is the offer as pulled from the main Rewards Canada website:
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Earn up to 15,000 Bonus Flying Club Miles on all Virgin Atlantic routes Worldwide (Except Accra and Shanghai).
5,000 bonus miles in Economy (2,500 per sector)
10,000 bonus miles in Premium Economy (5,000 per sector)
15,000 bonus miles in Upper Class (7,500 per sector)
Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required) Register by May 13 for travel until Jun 15, 12

Save 20% on Priority Pass memberships extended to April 30

Priority Pass, the independent airport business class lounge access program is celebrating its 20th Anniversary and as part of that celebration they are offering 20% off all their memberships until April 30, 12. For more information please visit Priority Pass

Here is the promotional pricing for the three levels of membership:

BMO World Elite MasterCard added to our Travel Anywhere Spend Comparison Chart

The BMO World Elite MasterCard has been added to our Travel Anywhere Credit Card Spend Comparison (Non-Airline/Frequent Flyer) chart. This chart looks at ticket prices to various regions around the world and shows how much you have to spend on these cards. Travel Anywhere (our Travel Points & Hybrid Cards) cards are the cards that let you book any travel travel either via the credit card's travel rewards agency or in the case of some cards with any travel provider and then you redeem the points against the charge.

To see how the BMO World Elite MasterCard stacks up against the others see the updated chart here.

Updated Credit Card Charts: Sears Voyager and RBC British Airways Cards added

I recently updated our very popular travel rewards credit card comparison charts by adding the Sears Voyager MasterCard and updating the RBC British Airways card from the now discontinued Platinum card to the new Infinite version of the card.

You will find the updates on the following charts
All Canadian Travel Rewards Credit Card Comparison

Travel Points Credit Card Comparison

Airline (Frequent Flyer) Credit Card Comparison

Fast Track to Silver Elite Status at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre hotel

The Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre hotel is running a Marriott Reward promotion that fast tracks you to Marriott Rewards Silver Elite status after just 3 stays with them. Achieving Silver Elite Status within the Marriott Rewards program normally requires 10 qualifying nights. A quick check of rates at this hotel show that the offer does not increase the price of the Best Available rate although the CAA/AAA can be a little cheaper although the price difference to fast track to Silver may be worth it. This offer is valid for stays up until May 31, 2012 so if you have multiple upcoming trips to Toronto you may want to steer your way to this hotel.  For more details or the book online visit Marriott.com

FFB Insider: Now Earn Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles on all Fare Classes

For quite some time now, many airlines, in particular those outside of the U.S. moved away from awarding miles or points on their lowest economy fare classes as those fares were seen as the 'competitive fares' against Low Cost airlines that had no FFP programs. Fast forward to October 2010 and the tide slowly starts turning as British Airways goes back to their old model and offers 100% earned miles on all economy class fares. And in March 2012 when many airlines are still hold outs, one of the most stingiest programs in terms of awarding miles in Economy Class will become a little less stingy: Singapore Airlines. One reason why Singapore Airlines may be doing this is that those previously mentioned Low Cost airlines are now launching their own FFP's and in particular for Singapore Airlines case would be AirAsia's new Big program.

On April 1st, Singapore Airlines will move to award KrisFlyer miles in all fare classes. Now they are not going to be as generous as British Airways but the move is in the right direction nonetheless.

From Singapore Airlines:

When you book an Economy Class flight on Singapore Airlines under ‘Sweet Deals’ and ‘Super Deals’, you will receive 50% and 10% of applicable KrisFlyer miles respectively.  When you book an Economy Class flight under ‘Hot Deals’ on SilkAir, you will also receive either 50% or 10% of applicable KrisFlyer miles, depending on your booking class. These promotional fares will, however, not be eligible for the additional tier bonus. 

RBD	SAA Fare Families	MI Website Fare Families	Percentage of KF miles accruable
Q	Sweet Deals	Hot Deals	50%
N
V	Super Deals		10%
T

Any takers on which major airline will be next to start giving back?

About FFB Insider
This article is part of the FFB Insider, our corporate/B2B newsletter for those who work in the travel, travel rewards and/or loyalty industries. It offers insights into bonus offers and other loyalty promotions found in the world of travel. It also features updates and news on the FFB Group. The FFB Insider is sent once every few months and you can subscribe to it here.

Air Miles raises Gift Card redemption rates

First off I want to thank one of our readers who commented on our popular "Air Miles adds expiry rule and instant redemption option" post for alerting us about this latest change.

Sometime earlier this month Air Miles raised the redemption rates for their gift card reward options. It wasn't too long ago that the rates for the gift cards were increased and the majority of the catalog gutted to remove primarily non-sponsor gift cards (the sponsors pay Air Miles a lot of money to give out Reward Miles only to have their members redeem for gift cards to the sponsor's competition is main argument for that change). It was inevitable however that this increase would come along because of the new Air Miles cash option otherwise known as instant redemption. The new Air Miles cash option values 95 Air Miles Rewards Miles at $10 where as most gift cards were around 85 Air Miles for $10 (well 170 for $20 but I divided that by 2 to make the comparison equal). As you can see the better deal was to redeem for Gift Cards rather than use the Air Miles cash option and based on the responses to our post and other online forums many of the savvy collectors realized this. So to make the Air Miles Cash option more appealing it is obvious Air Miles had to raise the Gift Card rate to match. This is an unfortunate aspect of the loyalty business in that the programs have free reign to steer you towards options you may not like but will utilize because of the lack of other reward options. This happened early on when Air Miles moved from primarily offering travel rewards to adding tons of merchandise rewards which afforded a healthier profit margin over the original Air Miles reward: Flights. And they drove customers to the merchandise catalogs by raising redemption rates for the flight rewards. Now we see it again in this case as it appears the push may be on to move redemptions to the Air Miles cash option by limiting the Gift Card catalog and removing the redemption advantage the gift cards had over the cash option.  Why would they do this? To push the consumer to their sponsors to spend even more money, with the Air Miles Cash option you are actually completing a purchase and chances are you are going to spend more than the amount of miles you are redeeming for (or you will end up buying more items than you originally planned thereby increasing you spend)

Looking at it from the loyalty industry side, this move will appear good on paper as it is a way for the loyalty program and its sponsors to make more money but from the consumer side they will take it as being screwed over again and they may actually walk away from using that program as much as they did in the past. For Air Miles I would assume they are hoping for a healthy balance of the two but with the many changes that have occurred with Air Miles over the past 24 months it may lean more towards the consumers side. I have to admit after my last Air Miles flight redemption in mid-2011 I barely use Air Miles anymore and only collect miles if I happen to be using a sponsor I had to shop at and didn't go out of my way to go to. My total for the past 12 months would have be at or below 100 Air Miles Reward miles earned.  

Overall only time will tell what these changes mean to Air Miles. I would like to hear what you think! Please feel free to comment below on this newest change or any of the other Air Miles changes that have happened over the past 2 years.

Redemption Stories The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Aeroplan Summary

I asked and you responded. Welcome to the summary of Rewards Canada's first Redemption Stories: The Good The Bad and The Ugly. For the first go around I picked Aeroplan and our readers spoke out. Surprisingly to me there weren't as many 'Ugly' incidents as I thought there would be based on the number of complaints I receive each month but the balance of responses do fall into the 'Bad' category. Of course these are categorized by me, so what I think may be 'Ugly', could just be 'Bad' to someone else or vice-versa, either way I hope this post helps shed some light on Aeroplan redemptions

Some interesting notes from these comments tell us how your hotel status may still be applicable on an Aeroplan hotel redemption while we see another person avoiding Aeroplan and using the not-so-well known Aegean Airlines method to achieving Star Alliance Gold Status, someone so fed up with Aeroplan they redeemed all their miles for merchandise and one other person actually choosing a tight fitting airline seat for a direct charter flight rather than redeeming Aeroplan miles for a connecting flight that incurred large fuel surcharges.

I would love to hear more comments and stories from Aeroplan members, feel free to do so at the bottom of this post and finally I want to thank everyone who contributed their stories, without you this post would not be possible! Be sure to watch for the next Redemption Stories request in early April.


THE GOOD
via e-mail

I recently redeemed Aeroplan miles for a great two night stay at the W Hong Kong and it was well worth it.

No problems at check in and once my SPG Gold info was added to my reservation, I had an upgraded room as well with awesome view of Kowloon harbor.

My minor disclaimer is that I'm already an Air Canada Elite frequent flier so it's easier to upgrade to business class than it is to try and find one via Aeroplan.

Aeroplan works for my strictly personal travel despite the now hefty 50,000 status mile requirement. On the other hand, it's currently easier to accumulate miles thanks to my proximity to Spokane plus I already have approximately 33,000 status miles towards 2013.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I think aeroplan can be an excellent program if you have the means to accumulate a large number of points, if you can plan well in advance, if you want to travel in J/C, if you are flexible and if you have SE status. We have redeemed trips without SE status, but those trips were booked almost a year in advance. If you don't accumulate many points and you can only redeem in economy I don't think that the product is necessarily worth it - unless it's on a very expensive route - the taxes and fees on some routes are more than the fares and this doesn't seem like good value. I actually find the starwood program more beneficial, not for flights, but for hotels. Anyone can join, you can easily earn and use points and I have found that you can get excellent value.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

Overall I've had good experiences with Aeroplan including 7 trips to Europe, 3 to Mexico, 3 to San Francisco, 3 to New York, 1 to Costa Rica (never again), about 6 Vancouver to Toronto. My main complaint is about hidden charges, what else is new. Right now we don't book on Aeroplan to Europe or AC for that matter because of the horrendous fuel surcharge. Other than that they have been way better than most others including WestJet and Alaska Air. They at least have choices. You get what you pay for, seems to true all the time.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I redeeem Aeroplan points about once every year or two for flights from Ottawa Vancouver and have never had any issues. Always helpful phone staff, and will make suggestions regarding other options for flights that don't always show on the website. We recently travlled business class Ottawa to Phoenix, and Aeroplan allows access to AirCanada lounges which was a plus. I wasn't impressed with the US Airways and American Airlines, for level of service for business class.

Yes, there are fees/surcharges/etc but I would be paying those even if I booked seat sale prices.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

We collect Aeroplan points primarily through credit cards, which we use for everything We have been to South America this year, China and Singapore last year and to Europe several times before that all Business Class all at basic points. It's an incredible value - flights that would literally have cost tens of thousands of dollars for a few hundred. You do have to be flexible and patient, however...

THE BAD

via e-mail

I have nothing good to say about Aeroplan, although i like Air Canada. I am an elite flier with Air Canada and as a result have more chances to redeem for flights. It is still ridiculous trying to get a flight for basic points. I either spend double miles for the every flight which means my points are worth half their value or i spend them on merchandise and hotels for one cent per point which makes them worth one one hundredth the value aeroplan promises.
Next year aeroplan will further reduce the value of their program by moving my status from star alliance gold to silver, less benefits, less value. I am cancelling my aerogold visa with CIBC as i don't want more points with aeroplan.

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via e-mail

From the Aeroplan webpage I've had no success in finding air travel or
car rental that fits my schedule. You have to continually enter dates
and locations that do not match anything available. It's like a
lottery that I've never won with no information that helps you improve
your chances of using the points that have to be used before they
expire.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I have been Aeroplan Elite with Air Canada for over 20 years. The only Aeroplan miles I collect is when I fly to retain my status because they are just too difficult to redeem. Also, with credit cards such as Aventura, when I redeem my points for a flight I receive Aeroplan Miles on the flight - unlike Aeroplan tickets (even though Aeroplan and Air Canada are quick to point out they are two separate companies). I can also pick any airline with no blackout dates and in the rare occasion I do find a flight on Aeroplan, I can always convert my Aventura points to Aeroplan on a 1 to 1 basis. (Same with Amex Platinum).

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I have several hundred aeroplan points and as soon as I use them up, I will be dropping my CIBC credit card in favor of another program. I used to fly a lot for work, maintained elite membership and amassed a considerable number of points. Traveling on points used not to be a problem. I find now, however, that since Air Canada introduced their "Classic Plus" awards there are never any awards at the Classic level available and this includes being totally flexible and booking almost a year in advance. Aeroplan used to be a great program and maybe it still is at the elite and super elite level, but for those of us who fly less after retiring, the program is a disappointment. Just when we are flexible and can/will fly anytime, the program lets us down. Air Canada may want our loyalty, but they sure don't show any to us.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I had a CIBC Aerogold for years but cancelled it when I finally came to my senses. We now collect via CIBC Aventura and we can actually USE our miles during peak periods and on short notice. The selection via Aeroplan is so limited unless you're willing to pony up 75,000 for a short-haul domestic flight! I had lots of success booking on Aeroplan many years ago (over 7-8) but now that I don't fly overseas very much, there is significantly less value derived from the points.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

if aeroplan did not charge the fuel surcharge on Air Canada flights and charged 50% of the miles on one way flights like other airlines it would be great. On united mileage plus you can book Air Canada flights without the fuel surcharge. I find this a bit ridiculous as Air Canada owns Aeroplan and it charges its loyal customers more money.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I have about 150K Aeroplan points that I plan to get rid off over next 12 months by travelling to California and Hawaii. I used to have Amex Aeroplan card which I have now cancelled, replaced by free Amex Costco. In 1986, when you would redeem aeroplan points, they would put you in first class if there was room on the plane ... Times have changed. Surcharges to Europe + taxes are several hundred dollars ...

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

Aeroplan Elite or SE with CIBC Aerogold. Collect about 250K per year in miles (flights plus CIBC card). If it were not for buying my retired inlaws flights across the country to visit us twice a year, I don't know how I would ever use the miles. Inlaws very flexible (hey free flight up front), but as far as booking for my family forget it. Phone staff is great, on line basically is depressing - never anything available unless you want to fly for 18 hours with stopovers (in laws will do it, my five year old would not). I know there are seats, but AC won't release them. Once the inlaws don't want to travel as much, cancelling CIBC card, and AC will see less of me...

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I used to use my aeroplan points for flights but it doesnt really make sense with $ 200+ per ticket for redemption fee, tax, etc. I cashed them all out for gift cards and bought the kids beds, tv, ipods, etc. Easier and just use a cash back credit card now.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I don't generate a lot of miles as I only have my credit card to earn miles. I have tried for a number of years to book flights at the regular rate but always find they aren't available and then have to use 1.5 times the miles. Even when I tried booking 355 days before the flight, I couldn't get the regular rate - which tells me that certain flights aren't offering seats at the regular mileage. I gave up and switched credit cards and don't collect Aeroplan anymore except at the gas station.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I have no problem with Aeroplan itself, but I think the "reward" value is misconstrued. Advertisements for travel reward programs all tout "free airfare", yet when you come right down to it, there is no such thing as a free airline ticket. It is nearly impossible to collect enough points for a reasonable redemption with regular (not business) purchases unless one also holds a premium credit card; even then, it will generally take more than a year to collect enough points for an average couple to book a flight. Once the cost of the card ($125 per year) plus taxes, plus fuel surcharges are factored in, the ticket price can easily surpass what one would pay during a seat sale. Convenience must also be considered -- point redemption requires planning, and there is also the extra protection (insurance = more $$$) that can be purchased lest one's points be lost if a cancellation occurs. All in all, it may not be as good a deal as one would think.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

True, we have been able to redeem Aeroplan points for flights, but in all cases we were booking 5-6 months in advance. What I object to is going on the Aeroplan website, seeing flights are available, but being told I can't book a portion of the flight. All this means I have to call, and pay their agent for booking the flights I should have been able to book online. Another beef is the limited access to partner airlines often having to fly on very inconvenient Air Canada flights when a partner airline would have given me a a more direct and shorter duration flight. I plan to use up my remaining points and switch to another bank card.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I looked at an AC flight to Europe on Aeroplan website and I would have to pay the fuel surcharge. I went on the United website and found the EXACT flight available to their mileage plus members and there is no fuel surcharge. How can Aeroplan collect fuel surcharge from it's members on behalf of AC and United does not have to??

THE UGLY

via e-mail

You'll laugh at this one - it was from a few years ago, and I was looking to use some Aeroplan points to fly from Toronto to Kelowna and return.  For two people the number of points was 25,000 per person, or 50,000 in total.  But, I had 126,000 miles and was looking to use more.  So, I entered that I wanted to book for three people - the number of points required was 193,500 - in other words, the third person cost 143,500 points.

I assumed there was a system issue, and phoned their customer service hotline.  The agent confirmed that the 143,500 was correct, and couldn't understand why I felt it was unreasonable!  No matter what I said, it was still that many extra for one more person.

Needless to say, we went ahead with the two person option on points.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

Two years ago, I was sitting on 200,000+ Aeroplan points. I wanted to book my family (4 tickets) to Orlando and back. I was flexible: any time in the next year. Didn't care. The search came back showing NOTHING was available. I got really mad, went online and redeemed all my points in about 3 minutes acquiring random merchandise - patio heaters, exercise equipment, etc... it all arrived in literally a few days. Their merchandise arrives faster than the Air Canada planes.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

Cleaned out the account with a 90,000 point J redemption on CO for very low (comparative taxes) after lucking out with dates. Had grown disillusioned with the program long ago when the much-vaunted short haul system went wonky and decided to turn YOW-YYZ flights into epic YOW-YUL-YYZ flights that took longer than a VIA rail train. Now proud user of RBC Avion Infinite (former Aerogold customer) and Aegean (booked to hit *G by end April), after abandoning Aeroplan in December. That will make it 25,000 miles in a shade under 5 months this year - only 6k on Air Canada. Should hit Aeroplans new *G threshold (50k miles) later this year. Just not with Aeroplan. For me, its a fail.

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

I was going to use my points for a return flight, Toronto to Lisbon. 60,000 points and $500 in fees, over $300 of that the fuel surcharge. I had to route through Frankfurt. I found a direct flight on Air Transat for $686 including all fees and taxes. I'm going to use up my points on North America flights where the fuel surcharge is much lower. I've already switched credit cards and if I fly Air Canada, I earn points in one of their partner airlines. My 20 years of active membership in Aeroplan is coming to an end.

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via e-mail

I had been redeeming Aeroplan Points for years by calling them the first week of August to book a flight to Fla. so that we could take a winter cruise in Jan. or Feb. All went well until 2 years ago. I gave them 5 different cruises that I wished to coordinate with and they couldn't find me a flight unless I wanted to pay a premium of 15,000 points on top of the 25,000. Both I and all our family members cashed in and cancelled our Aeroplan accounts!

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via e-mail

I have been trying off and on for months to find suitable flights from Kelowna to Ottawa. There is almost nothing (classic reward) that does not require wither being at the airport at 5am, doing a red-eye or overnight, having to stay over a week or doing many many stops. For years, as long as I booked ahead, I used to have no problem getting this route at all. For instance, in September and October it is impossible to be able to go over a weekend (say Thursday to a Monday), unless I am willing to use 10x the points to get there.

I was looking for 2 classic reward flight tickets unsuccessfully on line. Usually if I was willing to book close to a year in advance I could get your pick of routes. Not this time. I called in and spoke with an agent and, on another day, an agents supervisor who both told me that, starting this past August, there was a change to the way the Aeroplan seats were being released. Instead of releasing the entire percentage the 300 & some-odd days in advance (as they always did before), they were now only releasing them as a ratio of fully-paid seats are sold.

Anyhow, all I know is that a flight that would have been easy to book is now impossible (without spending over 100,000 points for what should be 25,000 points).

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via the Rewards Canada Blog

Aeroplan rewards? Not even on the best day! "Rewards" are actually a money grab, not only from the vendors (sorry, suckers) that pay Aeroplan to give YOU miles, but wait until you see what Aeroplan charges you for SERVICE FEES. I just booked the same identical 60,000 mile reward using United Mileage Plus for Cslgary to Copenhagen and return. I paid $447 LESS in fees that had I booked with Aeroplan!!! Same exact flights, same exact days, same class of service. And to top it off, both transatlantic flights are on Air Canada! When I asked for an explanation, some supervisor bimbo from Aeroplan in Montreal (named Mindy) could only make excuses and give no answers.

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Capital One updates the Aspire Travel™ Platinum MasterCard®

There is an exciting change happening tomorrow in the no-fee travel points credit card category which to be honest with you has been quite stagnant for the past couple of years. Capital One is going to up the game in this category by going directly after the mainstay card the American Express Blue Sky Credit Card which has taken our top pick for the no-fee category for three years straight. The Blue Sky card has offered its cardholders 1.25 miles/$ spent since its inception and Capital One is going to match that on their Aspire Travel Platinum MasterCard although with a different method. Unlike the Blue Sky card, the Cap One Platinum will continue to offer 1 Mile/$ spent but instead of a 1,000 mile bonus on the cardholders anniversary Capital One will award 25% bonus miles on all eligible spending done on the card up to the anniversary date which brings the card's earn ratio to 1.25 miles/$.

This change is timely with the 2012 Rewards Canada Travel Rewards Credit Card ranking coming out in a few months and it will make my work a little harder for this category. Right now the pros for The Capital One Aspire Travel™ Platinum MasterCard® is that it  offers a much better insurance & benefits package while the pros for the Blue Sky are the partial redemption option (Cap One you have to have the full amount of points to redeem) and access to all your points right away as Capital One you will have to wait until the end of your billing year to be awarded those extra miles. Watch closely for our rankings in July to see which way I go!

For more details on the Aspire Travel™ Platinum MasterCard® please visit Capital One

The card has an Annual Interest rate of Prime +16.8%

“The interest rates, fees, rewards details, benefits and other details of the Capital One product(s) described in the article may have changed since the time of publication. Please consult the product information pages on the Capital One website for accurate product details. In the event of any conflict between the product details in this article and the Capital One website, the details on the Capital One website shall prevail.”
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