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.

Top Reasons to go on Road Trips (updated April 3, 2020)

ByMatt

I can’t be the only one who thinks that when this COVID-19 crisis is over that road trips are going to be more popular right? I predict that people will eventually get back to flying, but may be slow to do so. In the meantime, I think that road trips do satisfy some of the travel bug. Furthermore, it has been over 4 years since I last wrote my thoughts about road trips. So I think that it is due for an update.

See Also: Top Credit Cards to Use on Road Trips

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Ranking the Credit Card Portfolios of Each Canadian Financial Institutions (updated April 1, 2020)

ByMatt

It has been almost a year since we last updated this post, so no question this was due for an update. The reason why I waited so long is because there are very few changes to the rankings since then. However, there was a sufficient amount of changes to the industry to warrant an update. Most of the ranking movement occurred in the bottom third of the list. Furthermore, another common theme on this list is that the gap widen between some of the positions.

Every time I update the rankings, I have an overall theme throughout the post. For today’s post, the focus was on internal changes made by each financial institution which justify their position in the rankings.

Class Action Against Airlines Over Vouchers Instead of Refunds

ByMatt

It did not take long for the lawsuits to come in. We wrote a post a few days ago about the Canadian Transportation Agency saying that airlines are not required to refund passengers. This has become a heated topic because there is a legal argument to be made that airlines should be refunding passengers for cancelled flights. 

Legal Issues

For the purposes of this post, I think it’s best to keep it short with regards to the legal rights of each side. In short, passengers are arguing that the law entitles them to a full refund for a cancelled trip not under their control. While airlines are arguing that the cancelled trip was not in their control either, so they should not have to offer a refund, but a voucher for future travel or waive rebooking fees.

AIR MILES Partners with Uber Eats and Door Dash

ByMatt

Effective today, March 31, 2020, Air Miles collectors can use their Cash Miles to redeem for Uber Eats and Door Dash eVouchers. The redemption rate is 190 Cash Miles for a $20 eVoucher code. This is pretty much the benchmark rate of return I would suggest for Air Miles redemptions. You are getting 10.5 cents per miles ($20 / 190 points). In other words, you are ahead of the game if you can get more than 11 cents per mile in value, but you do not want to dip below 10 cents per mile if you want to optimize your miles.  

New Domestic Air and Rail Screening Measures

ByMatt

Seems like things change on a daily basis. Sometimes, it even feels hour by hour. Starting tomorrow, new measures are being taken by airlines and trains to screen people before they are able to travel. At the end of last week, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau announced that there will be no more domestic travel by plane or train for those showing coronavirus symptoms. So now airlines and trains have to increase their screening process, which would prevent people showing signs of the virus (e.g. cough, fever and difficulty breathing) from boarding. 

Government Quarantines People with COVID-19 in Hotels

ByMatt

Right off the bat, so that the title is not misleading… not in Canada. But this news was reported by a Canadian networt. A news report by CTV a few days ago went over my head about the governments using hotels to quarantine COVID-19 infected people to ease hospitals.

Chicago uses hotels for quarantine to ease hospital demand
Some Places Around the World

CTA Says Airlines Not Required to Refund Passengers

ByMatt

Yesterday, CBC reported that the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) said that “airlines are not required to refund passengers for flights cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other reasons outside an airline’s control.”

So there we have it. It will be up to the airlines to decide whether they want to refund passengers or not for a cancelled flight. I thought I’d share my pros and cons from each perspective and offer a possible compromise solution.

Is it Time for a New Credit Card?

ByMatt

Pointshogger reader, Danielle Lauzon, from Fintel Connect, sent us a very relevant question: “Is this the time for a new credit card?”  We will respond to this with a short and long answer below. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us Danielle!

Question

Is it the time for a new credit card?

Short Answer: No

Let’s get the elephant out of the room first, NO, it is not the time to get a new credit card if you cannot pay your balance in full.

There has to be Something Else to Write About!

ByMatt

Hey Everyone,

I hope that everyone is safe at home. We are writing this post in a letter format hoping that it feels a little more personable. 

With the travel industry coming to a virtual halt and daily spending needed to be cut down, we want to put together a suggestion box. We would like to know what topics you would like to read about during this COVID-19 crisis. I think that we already covered what strategies to take during this time with the following posts:

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for March 2020

ByMatt

Quite a few promotions ended at the beginning of the month, but have been extended for the most part. The list is actually quite extensive relatively speaking. So if there are cards that you have been considering, now is the time to go for it. 

Ongoing First Year Fee Waived Offers

The reason I left this list (ongoing offers) up is that there are so few (just 2 really) permanent first year fee waived offers. So they are worthy of being highlighted. Meridian Bank is the only company willing to do this at the moment. Every other company has first year fee waived offers during a specific promotion period.