These warnings are becoming more of a reality as the Prime Minister announced today that travellers who are returning to Canada will soon have to quarantine in hotels … at their own cost. The point of this measure is to continue to discourage travel outside of Canada. The more recent one was the 72-hour negative test that came into effect on January 7, 2021.
We wrote up a post yesterday mentioning that the government is issuing warnings on the media that they may implement stricter travel restrictions. At the very least, they admit that it is being considered.
In my post, I mentioned that if the government “warns” us, chances are they will actually do it. They are just bracing us for the eventual news. I just wanted to mention a few reasons why I feel that more travel restrictions are coming.
The industry seems to go in ups and downs. There was a period of time where first year fee waived cards were far and few in between. At the moment, there are quite a few cards with first year fee waived offers.
Also note that we are only listing credit cards that have limited time offers and not ones that have an indefinite first year fee waived offer, like some of the CIBC cards.
Today’s post was triggered by a report from CBC: Garneau won’t rule out invoking Emergencies Act to limit pandemic travel.
Note that we recently wrote a post entitled: Update on Canadian Travel Restrictions. So today’s post is to add onto what was already mentioned there, so if you want a more complete picture, we definitely recommend reading that post first.
It seems like cash back credit cards have really come into their own in Canada and there are lots of cash to be had. So today, we are going to give a try to a new monthly post idea, regarding credit cards that offer at least 10% cash back.
We were will be listing the 10% or more cash back offers on a monthly basis by splitting them into 2 categories, permanent and temporary offers.
We continue to add to our collection of posts related to the current travel restrictions. Our last post was back in November 2020, but there have been several significant updates since then. This post will build on that post, rather than simply repeating the information found there.
The Canadian Government continually updates their website with the latest travel rules and this post breaks down some of the key highlights along with a commentary.
Who can leave Canada?
A new year, but not yet a new list. The list has really trimmed down over time. The first one up for expiry is the Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card. The other 3 promotions are going to hang around a while longer.
Keep in mind that this monthly post focuses on temporary offers. We have a more complete list of ongoing offers in the Top Cash Back Credit Cards page.
Marriott Bonvoy made some new announcements regarding certain promotions, and we also mentioned a reminder of things that carried over from the year before.
Seems like the first part of 2021 is going to be a tough time to travel. Keep in mind that at Pointshogger, we do not endorse any sort of unnecessary travel. However, if you do have an essential trip, do watch out for these promotions to help boost your accounts.
Air Canada is already a member of Star Alliance. However, on the side, they have been adding other code-share partners. Just in 2020, they launched 4 new partnerships: Etihad, Azul, Vistara, and Air Serbia.
Now in 2021, they are continuing this momentum. On January 19, 2021, they will start the year by adding Virgin Australia (VA) to the roster of partners (outside of Star Alliance). VA operates a loyalty program called Velocity. You will already see Air Canada listed as partner on VA’s website.
It’s already a new year! For now, most offers are still running from the year before. Only the RBC WestJet is coming off this month’s list so hopefully we will be seeing new offerings coming this year.
Top Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonuses for January 2021
The credit cards are ranked by the price of the annual fees (lowest to highest):