Author: Matt

Matt has been an avid points collector since 1992 (an elementary school student), when his dad signed up for the new (at the time) Air Miles program. Since then, Matt took a keen interest in learning how the miles and points world works. He quickly found out that there is a lot of value in leveraging miles and points to fund his passion for travelling.
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Comparing American Express, CIBC and TD Infinite Privilege/Reserve Cards

ByMatt

We continue our series on comparing Aeroplan credit cards that were introduced to the market on November 8, 2020. Today’s post focuses on the more premium personal cards. The most recent comparative post was: AMEX vs. CIBC vs. TD Aeroplan Platinum/Privilege Cards.

American Express has discontinued its Platinum version of the card, so the Reserve card is the closest comparison to the CIBC and TD Visa Infinite Privilege versions.

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Comparing American Express, CIBC and TD Aeroplan/Infinite Cards

ByMatt

Time really does fly. It’s been almost 4 years since I wrote this post: AMEX vs. CIBC vs. TD Aeroplan Gold/Infinite Cards. I reference that post because those Aeroplan co-branded cards are the closest comparisons to the current new co-branded Aeroplan cards. I will be writing another post regarding the business cards and the reserve/privilege cards too. I will be starting with the more commonly accessible cards offered by the 3 companies first and go from there.

Booking Flights that Never Take Off

ByMatt

I was just reading an article from CBC: Airlines lure Canadians to buy tickets for flights that will never take off.

Flights Being Cancelled

The article is fairly long, but here is a quick summary of the point I would like to discuss today. Basically, passengers are complaining that Canadian airlines are selling tickets for scheduled flights, but the flights never actually take off. So when the flight gets cancelled, the passenger has little option to reschedule, so they end up being stuck with a flight voucher, instead of a cash refund. And there is little chance that the passenger will ever be able to use the flight voucher.

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[PROMOTION] Bagful of Miles / It’s-Been-A-Year Event

ByMatt

Air Miles is cranking things up to finish out 2020. There are 2 current initiatives happening at the same time.

Bagful of Air Miles Bonus Event

Between October 29, 2020 and November 10, 2020, you can earn bonus miles for certain daily food and products are Air Miles partnered stores. This is a great way to rack up more bonus miles on every day spending.

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Current Hotel Elite Status and Points Expiry Extensions

ByMatt

See also: COVID-19 Updates for our most up-to-date tracking. 

I’m not sure about everyone, but when I start travelling again, it will most likely be road trips within Canada ONLY for the foresable future. For this reason, I have been tracking hotel points expiry policies, elite status extensions and other relevant information more closely than airline industry.

I still hope to see hotels being used for multi-purposes, not just for tourism. For example, government buying up rooms to house certain people temporarily to alleviate the hospitals. Marriott has introduced a work anywhere program. 

Capital One Ending Relationship With Costco and Hudson’s Bay

ByMatt

Did I jinx it? Yahoo News is reporting that Capital One is ending its relationship with Costco Canada and Hudson’s Bay in 2021. 

Are you kidding me? Right after our previous post where I said: 

At this point, I just hope that Capital One finds a way to continue to operate in Canada. Part of me feels like they are closer to shutting down rather than introducing new products.

Marriott Work Anywhere

ByMatt

Marriott Bonvoy is offering a new program called: Work Anywhere. The program offers several different packages that will be explained below.

These packages are designed to encourage people who happen to be working from home, to work out of hotels and resorts instead. So Marriott is offering enhanced benefits for staying at a hotel that will combine working and vacationing together. 

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for October 2020

ByMatt

Several offers ending (see October 2020 and November 2020 cards) on this list that would not make it to next month’s list. So if you are thinking about a specific offer, you may want to go for it now.

Keep in mind that this post refers to temporary offers. We also have an ongoingly updated Top Credit Cards pages that includes permanent first year fee waived offers too. Here are some of the more relevant ones that are more related to this post:

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Top Cash Back Credit Card Offers for October 2020

ByMatt

A couple of offers (Laurentian and Scotiabank) are ending before my next month’s list. So if you are thinking about getting either of the cards, best to go for them now! 

Keep in mind that this monthly post only includes temporary offers with higher than normal cash back offer. We have a list of ongoing offers in the Top Cash Back Credit Cards page with a more complete list.