Where did Canada’s Most Expensive Annual Fee Card Go?
As the title says it, today I am going to discuss Canada’s credit card with the highest annual fee. This post does not count any secret credit cards that are by invitation only, such as the Centurion card from American Express. I am focusing on cards that the general public can actually apply for.
The winning credit card with the most expensive annual fee in Canada goes to the American Express AeroplanPlus Reserve Card.
Temporarily Unavailable
First off, you may have noticed that the card is no longer listed on the regular American Express website, I found it by Googling the name of the card and this link comes up.
However, a phone call to American Express this morning confirms that this card is temporarily unavailable and marketing is working on the card. No timeline on when it will be ready.
Highlights
The next most common question is whether the $899 annual fee is worth it. For now, let’s take a look at the key highlights of the card and break down the benefits included:
- $899 annual fee
- $299 for supplementary cardholders
- Earn 50,000 sign up bonus Aeroplan miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
- Earn 2 Aeroplan miles for every $1 spent on Air Canada purchases
- Earn 1.25 Aeroplan mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases
- Receive a $200 Annual Travel Credit
- Receive an Annual Partner Ticket benefit (receive a free partner ticket when redeeming up to 25,000 Aeroplan miles for a reward flight)
- Receive unlimited access to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Priority Pass Lounges
- Receive up to 5 complimentary first checked bag annually on flights operated by Air Canada
If you looked at the above highlights and compared it to lower annual fee versions of the card, you will notice that most of the benefits are fairly similar.
Comparison to American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum Card
- $499 annual fee
- $199 annual fee for a supplementary cardholder
- Earn 40,000 sign up bonus Aeroplan miles, after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
- Earn 1.25 Aeroplan mile for every $1 spent on all purchases on the first $25,000 purchases annually
- Earn 1.5 Aeroplan mile for every additional $1 on purchases over $25,000 annually
- Receive an Annual Partner Ticket benefit (receive a free partner ticket when redeeming up to 15,000 Aeroplan miles for a reward flight)
- Receive unlimited access to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Priority Pass Lounges
Comparison to American Express Platinum Card
- $699 annual fee
- $175 fee for supplementary cardholders
- Earn 50,000 (or 60,000 if referred) sign up Membership Rewards bonus points (after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months)
- Earn 3 points for every $1 spent on dining (in Canada only)
- Earn 2 points for every $1 spent on travel
- Earn 1 point for every $1 in all other purchase
- Receive a $200 Annual Travel Credit (every card anniversary year)
- Receive airport lounge access worldwide (along with a companion)
Thoughts
Personally, I think the annual fee is over the top for the amount of benefits that are being received, especially when you compare it to the two available Platinum cards. I feel like the benefits are only marginally better than the $499 and $699 annual fee cards.
Looking forward to seeing what American Express has in store. What do you think they should do? Keep the annual fee and increase the benefits? Or something else? Please let us know in the comment section below.
I believe a reasonable perk would be to have access to maple leaf lounge to the traveling partner. As it stands only the card holder has access to the maple leaf lounge and the travelling partner has to pay. Either give free access or an agressive reduction.
I would like to see this, but doubt it. That would be a huge added benefit.
The MLLs are crowded enough as is, this would affect other users, doubt they would add this
MLLs are getting quite crowded these days. But I think it goes for lounges in general.
My guess since they are bringing aeroplan back into the fold, they don’t want a card out there issuing 2 points per dollar which might be too high for their tastes. If they are keeping a high fee, perhaps they’ll drop it down to 1.5 points per dollar and add some kind of spend waiver for status like the delta amex in the USA. That would be interesting for the Canadian market imo, and for compelling for myself.
True about the 2 miles per dollar. Curious to see how they are going to mix this up.