World of Hyatt for Canadians
Hyatt has re-branded itself to World of Hyatt. What does this mean for Canadians specifically? Not much different than the rest of its world members. I thought I’d give a quick rundown of the new program.
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.
American Express Increased Spending Requirements Across the Board
As you probably already know, American Express has been increasing its minimum spend requirement to fully qualify for sign up bonus for several of its charged and credit cards.
Below is a quick rundown of the changes. I ranked the credit cards card on the annual fees from lowest to highest.
American Express (AMEX) | Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) | Chase Canada (Discontinued) | Rogers Bank | Scotiabank | Toronto Dominion (TD)
Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards (updated February 26, 2017)
As per some feedback, I think that I continue with monthly post listing out the best current first year fee waived offers. Granted, maybe I may need another list to cover other offers that do not fall under these two categories.
Either way, you can always stay up to date on the best credit card offers in my top credit cards page on the menu bar.
$25 Sign Up Bonus with AC Conversion
The last time I wrote about this card, it ended up being a very messy post with all the updates. Today, I will write up a cleaner version of it.
CIBC’s Air Canada AC Conversion Visa Prepaid Card is currently running a $25 Welcome Reward Credit if you preload between $500 and $2,999 in one or more of the foreign currencies before March 20, 2017. That’s a pretty sweet deal, so now is as good a time as any to get your card, if you haven’t already.
New Elite Benefits with Best Western
They may not be the flashiest hotel chain out there, but I am a huge fan of Best Western. I think the primary reason is because we have the option of earning Best Western points with MBNA. It’s extremely slim pickings in Canada for co-branded hotel loyalty credit cards.
Comparing Canada and US Alaska Airlines Credit Cards
We just finished comparing the Canadian and US Starwood Preferred Guest American Express credit cards, so I thought it would be fun to keep the trend going. Next up is the co-branded Alaska Airlines credit cards.
In Canada, Alaska Airlines’ loyalty program, Mileage Plan, teamed up with MBNA, while they went with Bank of America in the U.S. Below are the highlights of all the available cards.
Comparing Canadian and U.S. SPG American Express
The U.S. based Starwood Preferred Guest American Express personal and business cards have increased their sign up bonus from 25,000 to 35,000. The last time was about a year ago. My question is, when is it going to be Canada’s turn? Also, what about waiving the first year fee? Let’s take a quick look at the highlights of the four cards in question.
Rundown of Aeroméxico Club Premier for Canadians (updated February 15, 2017)
As Canada and Mexico strength their relationship, directly flights between both countries will probably be more frequent. So it may be worthwhile to find out what options are available to us.
Happy Valentine’s Day! VIA Rail Discount Tuesdays
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Though not related to VIA Rail, I do hope that you have a fun day! If you are eating out, remember to use one of the credit cards that give a multiplier bonus at restaurants.
Air Canada (Aeroplan) | Air Canada (Altitude) (Merged with Air Canada Aeroplan) | American Express (AMEX) | Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) | Toronto Dominion (TD) | Travel | WestJet (WestJet Rewards)
Credit Cards that Offer a Free Checked Bag (updated February 11, 2017)
Bringing luggage onto the plane, whether checked-in or carry-on, has become such a complicated issue since the introduction of the pay-per use for the past few years. It seems like it will only get more problematic when costs are attached to carry-ons. As a result, the free checked bag offer from credit cards is only going to become more valuable.
Below is an updated list of credit cards that offer a free checked bag, ranked by annual fees: