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.

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:

| | | | |

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.

| | | | |

Canadian Airlines Layoff Across the Board

ByMatt

I was hoping that it would be not come to this. But airline layoffs are real. Personally, I really thought that there would be more “leave without pay”, so that they can retain their employees and slowly bring them back. But maybe there is more to the story if they want to cut their ties. I guess they can always hire them back later? 

Anyway, here’s the current count to date. May airlines are careful to say that these are temporary layoffs, so the door is open for people to come back. 

COVID-19 Updates for Canadians

ByMatt

We created a tab on the menu bar for the most recent COVID-19 updates on as many relevant loyalty programs that affect Canadians. 

Since the page will be continually updated, you may not see a snap shot of the information at a specific point in time. Every now and then I may post the snap shot of that day in the regular blog posts. The reason I do this is to give everyone a comment platform to help us update the list as much as possible. The hope is to have a one stop shop for all relevant programs that affect your situation with quick hyperlink access. The links provided below are direct to the COVID page on each respective website. 

This is a significant revamp from my last update which was more focused on when to call into the loyalty companies. This post is focused more on the cancellation policies.

|

Miles and Points Strategy While Staying at Home

ByMatt

There are probably a lot of topics that I will be introducing in this post that probably merit a more full blown post. If there is something that you would like me to elaborate on, please let us know in the comment section below. 

Depending on which country you live in, seems like this COVID-19 lockdown may drag on longer than we might hope. So in the meantime, does it even more any sense to keep earning frequent flyer miles and hotels points? Should we really just switch to a more predictable cash back rewards option or other retail programs?

Will Loyalty Companies go Bankrupt?

ByMatt

Pointshogger reader asked a great question in the comment section of our post: [STICKY] Loyalty Program COVID-19 ONGOING Updates:

“Hi Matt – do you think a frequent flyer program like Aeroplan is at risk of going bankrupt due to it’s relationship with Air Canada as a result of the CV-19 pandemic?”

This is actually a question that I have been thinking about. But I felt the topic was too controversial to write about. But since someone asked, it gave me the confidence to attempt to answer!

| |

[REVIEW] Air Canada Vancouver Signature Suite

ByMatt

A good friend of Pointshogger, Kathy Ye, went to the YVR Signature Suite unveiled on our behalf and shared her experience with us. Thank you so much Kathy for representing Pointshogger!

On March 14th, 2020, Air Canada unveiled its second Signature Suite at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Pointshogger had the opportunity to get a sneak peak of the lounge and enjoy the premium amenities before it is opened to the public.

|

Journie Rewards Replace Pioneer Bucks

ByMatt

Chevron, Ultramar and Pioneer have created a jointed venture to offer a new rewards program called Journie Rewards. At first glance, I am very excited by this new program as it should compete well with Esso Extra and Petro-Canada. That being said, this spells the end of Pioneer Bucks that was offered by Pioneer Energy.

Let’s take a closer look at the Journie Rewards program.

Expiry Policy

Points do not expire as long as there is an activity (earn or redeem) once every 12 months. The account then goes into inactive mode first. Accounts will be suspended if there is no activity for 60 days. After that, accounts get closed and all points are lost.