Looks like the big banks across Canada are looking to reduce interest rates on credit cards to provide relief to customers affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
Warning
Let’s just make this clear up front on this post. If you are someone who has no other options than to use a credit card to pay for bills during the crisis, and you are receiving an interest rate reduction, definitely take it.
Not quite what I was trying to lobby in my previous post, but this might be even better.
Free Breakfast and Shower
Three hotels in Saskatchewan are being highlights in an article. The Holiday Inn Express & Suites North Battleford, the Western Star and Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Regina East Gate have been offering truck drivers passing by a free shower and breakfast (or even supper) at the hotels.
As mentioned in our previous post, we will be making some minor changes to our posts temporarily. Today’s post is a perfect example of such a change. All links to credit card companies are taken off as we are not trying to encourage people to sign up for credit cards. But if you do have the means to take advantage of rewards, this is what you can watch out for.
If things keep dragging out, we may put a pause to our monthly top promotional offers posts and focus on other topics. So feel free to let us know what else you would like us to write about. Or would you prefer that we continue as is? Please let us know in the comment section below!
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.