Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for…

I think that I might use Thanksgiving as a yearly theme to list out all that I am thankful for in the miles and points world. Hopefully every year the list will change because of positive improvements in the industry.

1) Thank you for rewards program. Without loyalty programs, this blog would probably not exist. Frequent flyer programs have drastically reduced the cost of many of my trips and had it not been for reward programs, I probably would not have visited those specific places.

I hope to continue to a strong industry for strong reward programs for everyone to enjoy!

2) Thank you for transfer bonuses that really help me boost my miles and points portfolio; namely, American Express’s transfer bonus to Avios and Royal Bank’s conversion bonus to Avios in 2015 which really helped me boost my British Airways Executive Club account.

It is difficult enough to earn points to begin with, transfer bonuses can really help pump your loyalty accounts much faster with a lot more ease. It just takes a little bit of timing to take advantage of such offers.

3) Thank you for survey programs, especially E-Rewards, which help me earn a bank of dollars that allow me to transfer to multiple partners that allow me to keep multiple loyalty accounts active.

I really believe that there is a lot of room to grow in this industry. I am always on the look out for new or improving survey programs to join. I am hoping to see this industry pick up in the next few years as it is always helpful for consumers to express their opinion on existing or proposed products (assuming that consumers are honest with their answers). I actually believe that we should be honest with our answers because it can impact what products will be introduced to the industry. If we all lie, then we will probably not get to see what we actually want.

4) Thank you for retail partners that make it easier for us to keep our loyalty accounts active. Retailers like Esso or Home Hardware teaming up with Aeroplan makes it so easy to keep my Aeroplan account active if I do not fly for an entire year.

I really hope to see more retailers teaming up with third party loyalty programs so that we can bank our points into few loyalty programs. For instance, I rather fill up at Esso and earn Aeroplan miles instead of earning Esso Extra or fill up at Petro-Canada for Petro-Points, as both points programs do not give me as much value as Aeroplan. I hope to see more major loyalty programs teaming up with more retail partners.

Turns out that Aeroplan is teaming up with Toyota, so be on the lookout for more details about that.

5) Lastly, thank you for all the generous credit card sign up bonuses. Without credit card sign up bonuses, I’m not even sure I would be into the miles and points game. It is no secret that credit card sign up bonuses is probably the faster way to earn points.

It is no secret that we are lacking in strong sign up bonuses compared to our friends in the United States. That tells me that we still have some room for improvement. We may never catch up to them, but we could try!!

I hope that everyone had a great long weekend!