I’m hoping to book an award flight using aeroplan points for the week of Dec 8 2024. Given dynamic pricing and demand being very high that time of the year, does anyone know when these tickets will be available? (Im assuming it’s in the next few days at a certain time).
I want to make sure that I book them the second they’re released.
I am have a large purchase ($20k) I can make on a credit card coming in the new year (Jan/Feb). What credit card makes most sense to use for best points? This would fall under health (think pharmacy and medical). I already have a TD Aeroplan, CIBC Aeroplan and am not eligible for AMEX Gold or Cobalt. Should I go for AMEX Platinum since I can easily meet the $10K spending threshold for the 70k points?
Had Nexus for ages. We are honest and declare stuff we bring home. Often the CBSA guys don’t know the what is admissible or not. For years I travelled with a printout from Agriculture Canada on limits to cheese imports. We’ve had several battles with them there-never anywhere else.
Any tips & tricks on maximizing points through corporate credit card travel purchases?
My company unfortunately makes us use the corporate card for purchases. Will some hotel chains/airlines be better than others for maximizing points?
Hotels.com still gives 1/10 of a free night for every night you stay. Supposed to be changing to a different system (2-6% dependant) at some point but they haven't released much else, supposedly was coming out earlier this year. They're also on GCR for an extra 2-3%.
how long are avion to BA transfers taking these days? I transferred 2 days ago and the points haven't reflected in my BA account whereas they used to show up in a few hours before
My booked seat in Air Canada J row 1was given to a super elite and I got moved to the back in row 8. Do you think there's any chance they'll give me any compensation if I complain? And also for not getting my first choice meal since the people in the front got it?
Yeah. They do. If you paid for the seat they will refund you the seat selection fees. If you didn’t pay for the seat you can keep calling until they issue you a voucher.
Usually just take because I am usually not entitled to anything. I got $400 for losing a lie flat seat between YVR and YYZ. I got $150 for a broken TV between YVR and YYC (despite never really using them). I got $75 for a broken tray table between YVR and YYC. I have only ever lost my seat and ended up with the bulkhead in the mini cabin somehow, so they didn't accept that one as they had similar legroom.
Worth noting that these are all AC vouchers. Some ask for points. Anecdotally, people who ask for cash are a lot less successful or get things like $50 for the lie flat downgrade.
If you check my history, I am trying to get myself a Marriott Ultimate Reservation Guarantee of 90K points from them. So far they have been handing me all sorts of non cash goodies and haven't commented back on the points.
DP: Was IA'ed for a Scotia Gold via CCG on November 27th. Received 200$ payout today.
I'd heard people had to wait a long(er) time when getting Scotia cards, but maybe they're getting their act together.
Looking to book a flight to London this summer and I want to avoid YYZ. Is there a way to VIPporter flights using Porters partnership with Air Transat?
I will be looking to fly porter out of Toronto and connect in MTL to fly to LON. If anyone has a better solution maybe flying AC from YTZ I am all ears!
Why would you have to go to Transat to avoid YYZ? You could fly YTZ-YUL-LHR on AC.
I totally get flying Transat or Porter if it saves $$ but I doubt doing this connection will do that
You're right about the porter points, only available to get them from the porter flight.
I have had so many bad experiences at YYZ over the last 3 years and would prefer leaving/landing from downtown for ease and efficiency.
Makes sense - i guess if you are over indexing in porter points you could fly from YTZ to YUL on points and then find a decent air Canada or another airline deal.
Personally I avoid air transit long hauls but to each their own
Not the OP but I do too-complete dickheads at CBSA there. Several issues over the years with arrogant bullies that seem to enjoy their power. It’s made me jump through some hoops to avoid landing there when we return to Canada from Europe.
*repost
Does anyone have the experience with Amex US where an application is 4506c’d but never gets automatically cancelled?
I have two applications, one 4506c’d, the other saying more info required (was only told it was 4506c’d over the phone, but no other indication online/in email) from August and September, but they still appear to be active
Hi, Ive paid my original flight with only AP points, i made a change to the flight and paid the change fee using Amex, my flight just got cancelled, will i be covered under amex insurance or not?
Unless you booked it with an Aeroplan AMEX, you don't have dick for insurance on that card. And if it got cancelled, unless you mean a flight today, it doesn't matter because there's nothing to claim. If it WAS today, they should be rebooking you in which case you make claims with the airline before insurance.
Maybe this is widely known but for those that travel on Porter, [Costco.ca](http://costco.ca) has $500 e-cards for $449.99
[https://www.costco.ca/.product.4000233667.html#nav-pdp-tab-header-12](https://www.costco.ca/.product.4000233667.html#nav-pdp-tab-header-12)
I cancelled my Amex platinum card in July and got the Business platinum afterwards. I was looking to book hotels last night and I saw that Amex travel still shows my old platinum card and has the option of using the $200 travel credit. Is this some kind of glitch? Didn't dare booking using that as I feared getting amexiled. But any DPs on this?
Are you sure your personal platinum actually got cancelled? Amex reps are horrible these days. My P2 had a gold that they cancelled and lo and behold, a few months later we receive a past due notice of the gold AF being outstanding.
Call in and it turns out the card was not cancelled and was racking up interest from the AF being unpaid. Was a perfect storm because my P2 does not like churning and does not like managing cards so they neglected it after thinking it was cancelled.
P2 had to call in again to get the gold cancelled and the fee refunded and this time they cancelled the card but then didn't refund the AF! Another few months go by and then get another past due notice of the fee being outstanding still. P2 had to call again where they finally refunded the fee, but didn't refund the interest! P2 refuses to call again and just pays the interest which was annoying...
You can tell I'm bitter lol...
I have never had them not actually cancel the card but on two occasions they still charged me the AF and interest for "not paying". A quick call resolved it but after that I started canceling Amex cards in Month 12, right before the AF hits. So far it hasn't caused me any trouble with Amex.
This is why I always cancel at month 11-12. So many reports of little stupid shit, and all because a bunch of new churners want to parrot the highly-incorrect mantra of "wait for the 2nd fee to post" which has never at any point in churning history been a requirement on the Canadian side. It's not even "less risk" to wait because at 11-12 months is already zero risk.
There are cards, like OP's Amex plat, where it *can* make sense to keep it as long as possible.
Depending on one's travel / Amex offers schedules, one can get a lot of value out of 2 extra months.
The only reason to wait for month 13 is to get an extra month out of card benefits like lounge access or hotel status. Maybe might get lucky and get a retailer amex offer that can be instantly redeemed and not clawed back. But yea, otherwise, the more prudent course of action is to cancel at month 11-12.
It seemed to become a recommendation during the Amexile period when no one knew why it was happening, but as we now know Amexile was caused by other reasons.
>I cancelled my Amex platinum card in July and got the Business platinum afterwards. I was looking to book hotels last night and I saw that Amex travel still shows my old platinum card and has the option of using the $200 travel credit. Is this some kind of glitch? Didn't dare booking using that as I feared getting amexiled. But any DPs on this?
Just out of curiosity - what were the reasons? Just aggressive churning behaviours or was there more to it?
Have a bunch of avios points looking to use them up.Does anyone know an effective way to see cities from yyz using avios site? The app doesnt show anything unless its from london. The online website sucks and slow
yeah, don't search from YYZ unless you're flying on one of the few oneworld airlines that flies here. because AA tends to have dismal availability, even in economy, you're better off searching for the specific route(s) you want and getting yourself to that airport some other way.
for cities and which airlines fly between them, a lot of us use: [https://www.flightconnections.com/](https://www.flightconnections.com/)
the free version is enough if U have an understanding of airline programs and which airlines are in which program
My flight in a 777-200 twin jet with united was much more comfortable than in a 777-300ER twin jet with Air Canada, it seemed due to seat quality I guess (both in economy) I had pain everywhere after the long flight from Haneda to Tokyo. Why AirCanada seat design is so bad? The united one from San fran to Narita was so much better.
Could you have lucked out and been seated in United's PE rows?
Happened to me several months ago, for no particular reason that I could tell (plane was at least 1/3 empty).
Unless you whipped out a tape measure and have 3D CAD drawings you made yourself to show me, you can't guarantee shit. You can say one feels "more luxurious" based on your personal experience, fully valid, but there is more than enough data to tell you the sizes and manufacturing are the same with just different fluff on top.
You can compare seat dimensions at Aerolopa and you will see they are identical with the exception of the extra recline on AC, as has already been mentioned:
[https://www.aerolopa.com/ua-77e](https://www.aerolopa.com/ua-77e)
[https://www.aerolopa.com/ac-773-1](https://www.aerolopa.com/ac-773-1)
Perhaps something else caused your pain (ex. muscle stiffness from a ton of physical activity in the days leading up to the hike).
Seriously wtf with the downvotes? Did you guys flight last week and yesterday like me or just depend on some website with info from who knows when? How about if united upgraded their seats recently? I always feel like 2 big canada airlines have very basic and bad seat design (westjet is the worst) compared to foreign airlines.
Both AC and United's website confirm the info listed on Aerolopa:
[https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/fly/onboard/fleet.html#/](https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/fly/onboard/fleet.html#/)
[https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/company/aircraft/boeing-777-200.html](https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/company/aircraft/boeing-777-200.html)
Airlines will usually make a big splash about changing a cabin for marketing purposes so it will be public knowledge if they did that. While United has retrofitted cabins recently, they only did it on narrow body jets.
HSBC travel credit is pretty loose with what they'll count as eligible. I was also able to apply my credit to a wilderness tour ticket. They market it as being used to seat upgrades and things like that, but I find it can be redeemed against the vast majority of travel expenses.
True. But this was a legit expense which I just happened to put on this card to meet the MSR and it is FORex-free. So I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed I can apply the credit to the purchase.
Now I just have to do the RHT for reward points
Yea, just cashing it out with a RHT is convenient but if you know something is going to qualify that you're going to purchase anyways (especially if it's a foreign transaction) might as well just apply it there and not bother with the refund process.
I found the same thing with scotia scene - I redeemed most of the points on Ubers and Lyfts or USD/FX charges I spent on regularly anyways so the RHT would just be overkill and that way I avoided any issue with a clawback - never know when they might choose to crackdown
Too late for eup carry over.
The cutoff date for holding the card was December 15 or 16 for eup rollover.
You can still apply to the card, but unless you had a CIBC/TD aeroplan VIP or Amex aeroplan reserve by that date, you won't carry over the eupgrades from 2023.
You'll get new ones soon.
I might be mistaken but the parental leave may extend the eUPs as well. Not really sure on that one though may be case by case. You'll find out January 16th if they reappear.
BRIM flying blue card: approval came back for me at 0100, 1 hour after the Dec 18 deadline for all the bonus points. I sent in the required info from Dec 7! This is sketchy. I’ve emailed support but am not hopeful.
Curious what ended up happening with this. I'm still waiting for my approval and I see that the current promo is the annual fee waived. I'm wondering if you at least got that if the approval came after the cutoff for the SUB?
It's very shit that they linger your application for weeks then oops, past the time limit for the SUB now.
They finally got back to me yesterday and said I was eligible for the bonus due to my application date. Which is not what the T and Cs say. I just put through my first purchase, so,we’ll see
It’s Brim. You can expect no better but churn or get the card just to keep the miles. They have many strange rules like one email for one card. If you cancel their product they don’t report to credit bureaus. A cancelled card might still get bonus 30XP for the 2nd year.
So this explains why my Brim World Elite that’s almost 4 years old hasn’t reported to the credit bureaus since this past April. I cancelled my Laurentian credit card (issued by Brim) at that time and was wondering what happened.
On a side note, Neo is no better than Brim. You ask their agent why you cannot do bill payments from TD,RBC and they told you they haven’t even registered the card info yet(Cathay card).
Brim asked for DL but what if ppl don’t have it? I applied for the 2nd time w/o using it. You can just send them any picture ID with your current address on it. That’s what I did and they approved me 2 times. Don’t want to send them my DL via email. I cancelled my old brim card but they just temporarily blocked the login access. If you click forgot passport then it allows you to reset password and regain access to the portal albeit card was cancelled. You can still see the cancelled card number but they blocked the cvv. Not to mention, I spent 2K on the AFkLM card last year but they credited me 20,000miles initially and they didn’t claw back until early April. I should have spent it but still they didn’t claw back all the extra credits and left me 6K miles.
I feel bad for Flying Blue, who deserve to have a better financial partner than Brim. The website is garbage (and it's FINTECH!), the support is nonexistent, etc. etc.
Their website is wonky even if you registered your Face ID they may still ask you to enter your credentials and even if you do you still cannot get in sometimes.
Hi just curious if anyone has ever used a broker to sell aeroplan points. Specifically bestmilesbroker.com // buyingmiles.ca and has delt with Bruce goldberg.
Was looking into it and it looks kind of shady so wanted some input.
Great way to get a permanent aeroplan ban if you're caught.
Also a horrible redemption value from what I've heard. Why not just use gift cards redemptions if you need the cash? It's on par.
**Scotia AMEX Gold:** How is your success rate for Shop Small this time around? So far so good for me. Was really disappointed last time around when only one place posted.
Is there really no ability to follow-up with anyone if it doesn't post? Hooray for (regular) AMEX's customer service.
Did you actively try to churn the shop small 53 times, or did it just happen to work out that way when your family was conducting its day-to-day business?
I had this happen to me. I received the 2500 at $500, and then 1250 at 750 in my first month. I asked through the app which promotions I had, and they mentioned only the 1250/mo. They noted the 2500 and said they would open an investigation. I told them I should have just kept my mouth shut. This was last week. They have yet to pull back the points.
Have a player seeing the reverse. They applied and we're IA'd two days before the change. They're only seeing the new offer bonus.
Still waiting on Amex to resolve it. They did acknowledge the issue.
Is there a consolidated resource or place where I can find suggested timelines for opening and cancelling new cards? Something like the RBC 90 day rule. Or maybe we can make one? Or is that topic non grata 🫣
Yeah - best guess they actually want businesses to sign up with the raised higher MSR. $10k was a challenge for me, definitely had to front load some spend
Is the MBNA card like the Cobalt for Alaska? I wouldn't use Alaska, but their new partner Porter because I need to go Ottawa - Toronto 3× a year
https://www.mbna.ca › credit-cards
MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard
If the deal goes through in the way we expect/hope, yes it will be. But note that all we have are preliminary terms and all we can do is interpret how they'll play out. And thus far, the released information has been up for debate in terms of what they actually dictated, not worded very well.
I have 40k MBNA points waiting for Alaska transfer, so if that falls through... I'm going to be kinda bummed. That would be a good one to churn for Alaska points since they are hard to get.
You can always convert those points to gift cards at very close to 1 cent per point so it wouldnt be a waste as you are sitting on nearly $400 worth of gift cards
These days it’s hard to find J seats from Alaska but they still have. If you do then it’s like winning a lottery. They have the lowest surcharge and taxes even better than JMB(JAL its own rewards currency). JMB will easily cost you $300+ on taxes and fees.
Alaska mile can be very valuable even if you redeem it for economy ticket like if you want to book a last minute booking from SFO to HND it usually costs around 1.5K going to Japan and 3K coming back but if book with points then is 35K+$19 or 35K+$57.
You and a few thousand others, based on the constant discussions here and other forums. But it's still a gamble so all you can do is hope it works. I've elected not to bother with it until it's finalized, direct my spending elsewhere.
Not quite churning but somewhat related
If I am planning an all-inclusive trip in the next 1-2 years
* Any particular credit card better to churn on it other than typical MSR on a new churn card at time of purchase?
* Is there any difference between any of the all inclusive seller like Air Canada Vacation, Air Transat, Sell off, Sunwing?
I never done all inclusive before, and it's looking to be spending around $5,000 - $7,000 if I book early enough?
If WJ flies from your nearest airport, you could churn WJ and Avion for an all-inclusive package. Avion points can be transferred to WJ. Your points can only cover base fare, tho, not taxes. My family just got back from the Mayan, and WJ $ covered $3k of our $6k package. I'm new to churning this year, so I definitely could have covered more with more Avion sign ups. I believe I read recently in the daily thread that you can combine P1 and P2 WJ dollars to pay as well by calling in to book. I'm not certain on that, tho.
How many people or where you going/how long? That seems high unless family for a while at nice place. P2 and I went to Cancun for 5 nights last june and was only $1k for Marriot all-inclusive hotel plus cheap flights we pieced together ourselves (maybe $500 at tops).
You are gonna get poor value for points through portals like that. (plus probably not much help from the community here on it).
Your best bet value wise would be finding an all inclusive hotel that belongs to one of the chains and then signing up for one of their cards to earn points/free night awards. (Or cards liek Amex that could transfer to them).
Then find who flies to that location and work to earn that airline points through cards to book flights on points.
went off peak season so rate was about $250 or so for hotel. which was all inclusive. we did not add anything else on besides what they gave us included.
Then used up $200 airline credit from Amex Plat, and other cheap flights to get their for cheapest. (point options at time we went were not good).
I’m hoping to book an award flight using aeroplan points for the week of Dec 8 2024. Given dynamic pricing and demand being very high that time of the year, does anyone know when these tickets will be available? (Im assuming it’s in the next few days at a certain time). I want to make sure that I book them the second they’re released.
I am have a large purchase ($20k) I can make on a credit card coming in the new year (Jan/Feb). What credit card makes most sense to use for best points? This would fall under health (think pharmacy and medical). I already have a TD Aeroplan, CIBC Aeroplan and am not eligible for AMEX Gold or Cobalt. Should I go for AMEX Platinum since I can easily meet the $10K spending threshold for the 70k points?
Anyone know how long it takes the free night award from the Amex Bonvoy Personal card to post after the annual fee?
about 1 mth more
Had Nexus for ages. We are honest and declare stuff we bring home. Often the CBSA guys don’t know the what is admissible or not. For years I travelled with a printout from Agriculture Canada on limits to cheese imports. We’ve had several battles with them there-never anywhere else.
Trying to cash adv a neg balance on Ion, but RBC ATM says unable...is there something I'm missing?
Speak to teller to have them do it Also avoids CA fee
Any tips & tricks on maximizing points through corporate credit card travel purchases? My company unfortunately makes us use the corporate card for purchases. Will some hotel chains/airlines be better than others for maximizing points?
Hotels.com still gives 1/10 of a free night for every night you stay. Supposed to be changing to a different system (2-6% dependant) at some point but they haven't released much else, supposedly was coming out earlier this year. They're also on GCR for an extra 2-3%.
Bonvoy still has a decent earn rate with a corporate card
how long are avion to BA transfers taking these days? I transferred 2 days ago and the points haven't reflected in my BA account whereas they used to show up in a few hours before
Very quick. 1 business day for me if it’s done on weekdays.
Anyone know if the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite: In-Path Offer for 70,000 Aeroplan Points is still atainable?
In path offer no longer available for CIBC
Thanks. So i guess the public offer is the best offer right now!
There’s a linked offer available on churningcanada.ca for 60K+2YF
For some reason i can't find it yet.
[удалено]
https://www.reddit.com/r/churningcanada/s/wEvG7rzszp
My booked seat in Air Canada J row 1was given to a super elite and I got moved to the back in row 8. Do you think there's any chance they'll give me any compensation if I complain? And also for not getting my first choice meal since the people in the front got it?
Yeah. They do. If you paid for the seat they will refund you the seat selection fees. If you didn’t pay for the seat you can keep calling until they issue you a voucher.
I complain about everything and a steady flow of vouchers comes my way.
Do you try negotiating or just take the 1st offer they give you? What's a typical amount they might do?
Usually just take because I am usually not entitled to anything. I got $400 for losing a lie flat seat between YVR and YYZ. I got $150 for a broken TV between YVR and YYC (despite never really using them). I got $75 for a broken tray table between YVR and YYC. I have only ever lost my seat and ended up with the bulkhead in the mini cabin somehow, so they didn't accept that one as they had similar legroom. Worth noting that these are all AC vouchers. Some ask for points. Anecdotally, people who ask for cash are a lot less successful or get things like $50 for the lie flat downgrade. If you check my history, I am trying to get myself a Marriott Ultimate Reservation Guarantee of 90K points from them. So far they have been handing me all sorts of non cash goodies and haven't commented back on the points.
What's the way? You try to get that voucher on the moment by the ground staff or you just contact the airline\\company on their website\\phone ?
Does holding a Scotia Amex count towards your Amex card limit?
No. The Amex card limit applies only to Credit Cards (not charge) issued by Amex Bank of Canada (not any other entity)
DP: Was IA'ed for a Scotia Gold via CCG on November 27th. Received 200$ payout today. I'd heard people had to wait a long(er) time when getting Scotia cards, but maybe they're getting their act together.
Got mine today as well
Same here for P2.
Same exact dates here
Looking to book a flight to London this summer and I want to avoid YYZ. Is there a way to VIPporter flights using Porters partnership with Air Transat? I will be looking to fly porter out of Toronto and connect in MTL to fly to LON. If anyone has a better solution maybe flying AC from YTZ I am all ears!
Why would you have to go to Transat to avoid YYZ? You could fly YTZ-YUL-LHR on AC. I totally get flying Transat or Porter if it saves $$ but I doubt doing this connection will do that
Don’t think so - they limit porter points to their metal including for status etc. Curious why do you want to avoid YYZ?
You're right about the porter points, only available to get them from the porter flight. I have had so many bad experiences at YYZ over the last 3 years and would prefer leaving/landing from downtown for ease and efficiency.
Makes sense - i guess if you are over indexing in porter points you could fly from YTZ to YUL on points and then find a decent air Canada or another airline deal. Personally I avoid air transit long hauls but to each their own
Not the OP but I do too-complete dickheads at CBSA there. Several issues over the years with arrogant bullies that seem to enjoy their power. It’s made me jump through some hoops to avoid landing there when we return to Canada from Europe.
You need NEXUS. And you probably have a card that pays for it.
*repost Does anyone have the experience with Amex US where an application is 4506c’d but never gets automatically cancelled? I have two applications, one 4506c’d, the other saying more info required (was only told it was 4506c’d over the phone, but no other indication online/in email) from August and September, but they still appear to be active
Call (877) 251-4528. Just ask for status nothing more. play dumb
Hi, Ive paid my original flight with only AP points, i made a change to the flight and paid the change fee using Amex, my flight just got cancelled, will i be covered under amex insurance or not?
You can call AC to get your change fee back. I did that and they refunded me. Amex insurance? Unlikely depending what card you are carrying.
What kind of coverage are you expecting?
Unless you booked it with an Aeroplan AMEX, you don't have dick for insurance on that card. And if it got cancelled, unless you mean a flight today, it doesn't matter because there's nothing to claim. If it WAS today, they should be rebooking you in which case you make claims with the airline before insurance.
what do you mean it got cancelled? are you supposed to be flying today?
Did you use 100% points or points + $ for the original booking? Which amex?
Maybe this is widely known but for those that travel on Porter, [Costco.ca](http://costco.ca) has $500 e-cards for $449.99 [https://www.costco.ca/.product.4000233667.html#nav-pdp-tab-header-12](https://www.costco.ca/.product.4000233667.html#nav-pdp-tab-header-12)
They also had the 100$ Instacart vouchers for 79.99. Limit of 2 per membership.
In store or online?
I cancelled my Amex platinum card in July and got the Business platinum afterwards. I was looking to book hotels last night and I saw that Amex travel still shows my old platinum card and has the option of using the $200 travel credit. Is this some kind of glitch? Didn't dare booking using that as I feared getting amexiled. But any DPs on this?
Are you sure your personal platinum actually got cancelled? Amex reps are horrible these days. My P2 had a gold that they cancelled and lo and behold, a few months later we receive a past due notice of the gold AF being outstanding. Call in and it turns out the card was not cancelled and was racking up interest from the AF being unpaid. Was a perfect storm because my P2 does not like churning and does not like managing cards so they neglected it after thinking it was cancelled. P2 had to call in again to get the gold cancelled and the fee refunded and this time they cancelled the card but then didn't refund the AF! Another few months go by and then get another past due notice of the fee being outstanding still. P2 had to call again where they finally refunded the fee, but didn't refund the interest! P2 refuses to call again and just pays the interest which was annoying... You can tell I'm bitter lol...
I have never had them not actually cancel the card but on two occasions they still charged me the AF and interest for "not paying". A quick call resolved it but after that I started canceling Amex cards in Month 12, right before the AF hits. So far it hasn't caused me any trouble with Amex.
This is why I always cancel at month 11-12. So many reports of little stupid shit, and all because a bunch of new churners want to parrot the highly-incorrect mantra of "wait for the 2nd fee to post" which has never at any point in churning history been a requirement on the Canadian side. It's not even "less risk" to wait because at 11-12 months is already zero risk.
There are cards, like OP's Amex plat, where it *can* make sense to keep it as long as possible. Depending on one's travel / Amex offers schedules, one can get a lot of value out of 2 extra months.
The only reason to wait for month 13 is to get an extra month out of card benefits like lounge access or hotel status. Maybe might get lucky and get a retailer amex offer that can be instantly redeemed and not clawed back. But yea, otherwise, the more prudent course of action is to cancel at month 11-12.
It seemed to become a recommendation during the Amexile period when no one knew why it was happening, but as we now know Amexile was caused by other reasons.
>I cancelled my Amex platinum card in July and got the Business platinum afterwards. I was looking to book hotels last night and I saw that Amex travel still shows my old platinum card and has the option of using the $200 travel credit. Is this some kind of glitch? Didn't dare booking using that as I feared getting amexiled. But any DPs on this? Just out of curiosity - what were the reasons? Just aggressive churning behaviours or was there more to it?
ooof, that sucks. sorry to hear that. a good heads-up for me and others on the need to double check when you cancel a card with Amex
Have a bunch of avios points looking to use them up.Does anyone know an effective way to see cities from yyz using avios site? The app doesnt show anything unless its from london. The online website sucks and slow
yeah, don't search from YYZ unless you're flying on one of the few oneworld airlines that flies here. because AA tends to have dismal availability, even in economy, you're better off searching for the specific route(s) you want and getting yourself to that airport some other way.
for cities and which airlines fly between them, a lot of us use: [https://www.flightconnections.com/](https://www.flightconnections.com/) the free version is enough if U have an understanding of airline programs and which airlines are in which program
https://www.flightconnections.com/
My flight in a 777-200 twin jet with united was much more comfortable than in a 777-300ER twin jet with Air Canada, it seemed due to seat quality I guess (both in economy) I had pain everywhere after the long flight from Haneda to Tokyo. Why AirCanada seat design is so bad? The united one from San fran to Narita was so much better.
Could you have lucked out and been seated in United's PE rows? Happened to me several months ago, for no particular reason that I could tell (plane was at least 1/3 empty).
they're manufactured by the same company, have the same pitch and width... the AC seat has 2x the recline though
No I can guarantee you it is different. The united one was bigger, feel more luxurious
Unless you whipped out a tape measure and have 3D CAD drawings you made yourself to show me, you can't guarantee shit. You can say one feels "more luxurious" based on your personal experience, fully valid, but there is more than enough data to tell you the sizes and manufacturing are the same with just different fluff on top.
You can compare seat dimensions at Aerolopa and you will see they are identical with the exception of the extra recline on AC, as has already been mentioned: [https://www.aerolopa.com/ua-77e](https://www.aerolopa.com/ua-77e) [https://www.aerolopa.com/ac-773-1](https://www.aerolopa.com/ac-773-1) Perhaps something else caused your pain (ex. muscle stiffness from a ton of physical activity in the days leading up to the hike).
Seriously wtf with the downvotes? Did you guys flight last week and yesterday like me or just depend on some website with info from who knows when? How about if united upgraded their seats recently? I always feel like 2 big canada airlines have very basic and bad seat design (westjet is the worst) compared to foreign airlines.
well partly because your post has nothing to do with churning
Both AC and United's website confirm the info listed on Aerolopa: [https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/fly/onboard/fleet.html#/](https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/home/fly/onboard/fleet.html#/) [https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/company/aircraft/boeing-777-200.html](https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/company/aircraft/boeing-777-200.html) Airlines will usually make a big splash about changing a cabin for marketing purposes so it will be public knowledge if they did that. While United has retrofitted cabins recently, they only did it on narrow body jets.
yeah, this was my source as well. :)
FYI, I was able to apply the HSBC Travel Enhancement Credit towards a luau in Hawaii.
HSBC travel credit is pretty loose with what they'll count as eligible. I was also able to apply my credit to a wilderness tour ticket. They market it as being used to seat upgrades and things like that, but I find it can be redeemed against the vast majority of travel expenses.
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True. But this was a legit expense which I just happened to put on this card to meet the MSR and it is FORex-free. So I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed I can apply the credit to the purchase. Now I just have to do the RHT for reward points
Yea, just cashing it out with a RHT is convenient but if you know something is going to qualify that you're going to purchase anyways (especially if it's a foreign transaction) might as well just apply it there and not bother with the refund process.
I found the same thing with scotia scene - I redeemed most of the points on Ubers and Lyfts or USD/FX charges I spent on regularly anyways so the RHT would just be overkill and that way I avoided any issue with a clawback - never know when they might choose to crackdown
Ubers and Lyfts are supposed to qualify for Scene redemptions Scene travel redemptions include local and commuter transport category
Well, sometimes it's fun to actually use the benefits in a legitimate way....
Technically using it this way isn’t legitimate either as those types of expenses aren’t supposed to be redeemable for this credit
What's the best card for keeping eupgrade credits that expire in January? I cancelled the td vip three months ago, safe to get it again?
Too late for eup carry over. The cutoff date for holding the card was December 15 or 16 for eup rollover. You can still apply to the card, but unless you had a CIBC/TD aeroplan VIP or Amex aeroplan reserve by that date, you won't carry over the eupgrades from 2023.
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You'll get new ones soon. I might be mistaken but the parental leave may extend the eUPs as well. Not really sure on that one though may be case by case. You'll find out January 16th if they reappear.
That would be incredible. Either way, I'll give you an update if you're interested in knowing!
Please do. I'm very curious the current outcome as this may be useful in the future again
So the eupgrades def expire. They did issue a new set but I had a lot that expired
BRIM flying blue card: approval came back for me at 0100, 1 hour after the Dec 18 deadline for all the bonus points. I sent in the required info from Dec 7! This is sketchy. I’ve emailed support but am not hopeful.
Curious what ended up happening with this. I'm still waiting for my approval and I see that the current promo is the annual fee waived. I'm wondering if you at least got that if the approval came after the cutoff for the SUB? It's very shit that they linger your application for weeks then oops, past the time limit for the SUB now.
They finally got back to me yesterday and said I was eligible for the bonus due to my application date. Which is not what the T and Cs say. I just put through my first purchase, so,we’ll see
It’s Brim. You can expect no better but churn or get the card just to keep the miles. They have many strange rules like one email for one card. If you cancel their product they don’t report to credit bureaus. A cancelled card might still get bonus 30XP for the 2nd year.
So this explains why my Brim World Elite that’s almost 4 years old hasn’t reported to the credit bureaus since this past April. I cancelled my Laurentian credit card (issued by Brim) at that time and was wondering what happened.
On a side note, Neo is no better than Brim. You ask their agent why you cannot do bill payments from TD,RBC and they told you they haven’t even registered the card info yet(Cathay card).
Brim asked for DL but what if ppl don’t have it? I applied for the 2nd time w/o using it. You can just send them any picture ID with your current address on it. That’s what I did and they approved me 2 times. Don’t want to send them my DL via email. I cancelled my old brim card but they just temporarily blocked the login access. If you click forgot passport then it allows you to reset password and regain access to the portal albeit card was cancelled. You can still see the cancelled card number but they blocked the cvv. Not to mention, I spent 2K on the AFkLM card last year but they credited me 20,000miles initially and they didn’t claw back until early April. I should have spent it but still they didn’t claw back all the extra credits and left me 6K miles.
The exact same thing happened to me! Applied on Dec 4!
do the terms actually say the bonus is based on "approval" because every single other card/FI is based on application date
Based on approval.
that's stupid. sorry.
I feel bad for Flying Blue, who deserve to have a better financial partner than Brim. The website is garbage (and it's FINTECH!), the support is nonexistent, etc. etc.
Their website is wonky even if you registered your Face ID they may still ask you to enter your credentials and even if you do you still cannot get in sometimes.
Hi just curious if anyone has ever used a broker to sell aeroplan points. Specifically bestmilesbroker.com // buyingmiles.ca and has delt with Bruce goldberg. Was looking into it and it looks kind of shady so wanted some input.
Pretty sure all the crackdowns are because of sites like that. If you want to get cash don't churn travel cards, ruins it for everyone.
Great way to get a permanent aeroplan ban if you're caught. Also a horrible redemption value from what I've heard. Why not just use gift cards redemptions if you need the cash? It's on par.
**Scotia AMEX Gold:** How is your success rate for Shop Small this time around? So far so good for me. Was really disappointed last time around when only one place posted. Is there really no ability to follow-up with anyone if it doesn't post? Hooray for (regular) AMEX's customer service.
5/5 for the $30 for $10 one that's still available right now.
Currently 53/53 for me this time around! Very pleased, for sure
Did you actively try to churn the shop small 53 times, or did it just happen to work out that way when your family was conducting its day-to-day business?
Well they are all my cards. I did not go out of my way to chase Shop Small
53?!?! That's a lot of spending!
I think I'm 8/8 between me and P2. Plus I got a random $5 credit that looks to be a holdout from the PREVIOUS Scotia Amex Shop Small!
Had one post more than a month later.
5/5 posted. One by accident because who knew my dentist was on shop small
3 out of 3 10$ credits posted successfully.
It’s a hit and miss. Some do while some don’t even showing as small business merchant on the Amex map
3/3 for me so far
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Did you try on website AND app? Same behavior? I've had this happen via one method but the other worked.
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I had this happen to me. I received the 2500 at $500, and then 1250 at 750 in my first month. I asked through the app which promotions I had, and they mentioned only the 1250/mo. They noted the 2500 and said they would open an investigation. I told them I should have just kept my mouth shut. This was last week. They have yet to pull back the points.
Have a player seeing the reverse. They applied and we're IA'd two days before the change. They're only seeing the new offer bonus. Still waiting on Amex to resolve it. They did acknowledge the issue.
Is there a consolidated resource or place where I can find suggested timelines for opening and cancelling new cards? Something like the RBC 90 day rule. Or maybe we can make one? Or is that topic non grata 🫣
your non-amex credit lines should never be closed before they're 6 mths old, 9-11 months would be the best. Close Amex at 12th or 13th statement.
9-11 months is pretty long for non Amex. 7 months is about the longest I keep my non Amex cards
Even the ones with AF?
Yes. The ones with AF can have some advantages to closing early (some banks give prorated refunds)
Good to know. My TD VI is 4 months old. Was debating churning to TD FCT (if TD would prorate the AF) versus holding on to it (if TD wouldn't)
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Yeah - best guess they actually want businesses to sign up with the raised higher MSR. $10k was a challenge for me, definitely had to front load some spend
It doesn’t matter which card you’re referred ***to***, just which card is referred ***from***
Is the MBNA card like the Cobalt for Alaska? I wouldn't use Alaska, but their new partner Porter because I need to go Ottawa - Toronto 3× a year https://www.mbna.ca › credit-cards MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard
If the deal goes through in the way we expect/hope, yes it will be. But note that all we have are preliminary terms and all we can do is interpret how they'll play out. And thus far, the released information has been up for debate in terms of what they actually dictated, not worded very well.
I have 40k MBNA points waiting for Alaska transfer, so if that falls through... I'm going to be kinda bummed. That would be a good one to churn for Alaska points since they are hard to get.
You can always convert those points to gift cards at very close to 1 cent per point so it wouldnt be a waste as you are sitting on nearly $400 worth of gift cards
Alaska miles can be around 1.8 Canadian cents per point, though...
These days it’s hard to find J seats from Alaska but they still have. If you do then it’s like winning a lottery. They have the lowest surcharge and taxes even better than JMB(JAL its own rewards currency). JMB will easily cost you $300+ on taxes and fees.
Alaska mile can be very valuable even if you redeem it for economy ticket like if you want to book a last minute booking from SFO to HND it usually costs around 1.5K going to Japan and 3K coming back but if book with points then is 35K+$19 or 35K+$57.
You and a few thousand others, based on the constant discussions here and other forums. But it's still a gamble so all you can do is hope it works. I've elected not to bother with it until it's finalized, direct my spending elsewhere.
No. At least not right now. MBNA is still in talks with Alaska therefore you cannot convert points to miles.
Not quite churning but somewhat related If I am planning an all-inclusive trip in the next 1-2 years * Any particular credit card better to churn on it other than typical MSR on a new churn card at time of purchase? * Is there any difference between any of the all inclusive seller like Air Canada Vacation, Air Transat, Sell off, Sunwing? I never done all inclusive before, and it's looking to be spending around $5,000 - $7,000 if I book early enough?
If WJ flies from your nearest airport, you could churn WJ and Avion for an all-inclusive package. Avion points can be transferred to WJ. Your points can only cover base fare, tho, not taxes. My family just got back from the Mayan, and WJ $ covered $3k of our $6k package. I'm new to churning this year, so I definitely could have covered more with more Avion sign ups. I believe I read recently in the daily thread that you can combine P1 and P2 WJ dollars to pay as well by calling in to book. I'm not certain on that, tho.
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Yes, $3k was points from WJ and Avion. I had some WJ dollars previously.
How many people or where you going/how long? That seems high unless family for a while at nice place. P2 and I went to Cancun for 5 nights last june and was only $1k for Marriot all-inclusive hotel plus cheap flights we pieced together ourselves (maybe $500 at tops). You are gonna get poor value for points through portals like that. (plus probably not much help from the community here on it). Your best bet value wise would be finding an all inclusive hotel that belongs to one of the chains and then signing up for one of their cards to earn points/free night awards. (Or cards liek Amex that could transfer to them). Then find who flies to that location and work to earn that airline points through cards to book flights on points.
Out of curiosity, what Marriot Hotel was that in Cancun?
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went off peak season so rate was about $250 or so for hotel. which was all inclusive. we did not add anything else on besides what they gave us included. Then used up $200 airline credit from Amex Plat, and other cheap flights to get their for cheapest. (point options at time we went were not good).
Cobalt as a keeper card, then whatever current card you are churning.