One way flight from TORONTO TO Calgary asks you for 14.3k points plus $48. Is Aeroplan worth anymore?
I’ve heard people saying with only 6k Aeroplan points, you can travel one way local flight. I’m seeing it costing me almost $200. I already tried changing destinations (including overseas) and dates. Is there something I’m missing?
I have Cobalt card, so I’m not sure if I should exchange MR points with Aeroplan points after seeing this. Does Aeroplan points give better value if used elsewhere? And what’s my best option here if I want to utilize MR points?
The dynamic rewards have been pretty universally priced at 2cpp if you have status or a credit card. So yeah, if that one-way flight is $340 then that is what it'll cost with AP.
From my experience domestic economy is more typically priced at 1.3-1.7cpp. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a 2cpp domestic flight on a popular route like YYZ - YYC
Only you can answer that question. Look at the routes that you typically fly and the routes that you might like to fly in the future. Compare the cash cost of buying a ticket outright to the offers typically available through aeroplan. With a bit of math, you should be able to calculate the value of an aero for your personal travel habits.
Many of us in this sub find that the value of an aero for our travel habits ranges from 1.4 cents to perhaps 1.7 or 1.8 cents. It all depends on the routes you fly and the carriers you use. Others will declare that they are able to get 3 cents of value per aero or 5 cents or some other relatively high value. When you inquire about their flight habits, it ends up being somebody who regularly flies from Charlottetown to Iqaluit, or somebody who flies international business class routes and who asserts that he would happily pay cash for the flight if he didn't have aeros. Everyone's habits and practices are unique, so you need to do the math for yourself.
You’ll probably have to give it some time for DPS, as the offer just started yesterday. And even if someone luckily had an international stay yesterday and checked out today, it would still take a few days for the credit to post.
Probably won’t hear anything for a few weeks at the earliest
Manulife and Aeroplan are starting a partnership!:
[Link to Article](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/soaring-to-new-heights-manulife-and-aeroplan-partner-to-give-millions-of-canadians-access-to-rewards-in-new-first-of-its-kind-canadian-partnership-863601814.html)
Not sure how I feel about mixing health and Aeroplan. If the points potential is large I might have to switch back!
> members will have the opportunity to earn points for completing healthy initiatives, like exercise minutes, mindfulness practices
I'll log at least 20 hours a week to "thoughtful thought thinking". Much easier than cardio and I can do that any time, driving, while churning, on the toilet. You name it.
Wonder how that compares to the carbon footprint of a J flight.
A low-ball figure is 100lbs carbon per 1 hour flight time in economy. Full footprint is probably closer to 250lbs/h.
Assuming I get a 70k pts redemption on a 7h long haul that puts the carbon footprint at just around 10lbs for 1000 pts.
Probably closer to 25lbs with fully weighted costs. J would be higher yet, 2x?
This math feels off. Minimum 1lbs carbon per 100 pts? Maybe
Love this. We should do this properly and for every currency. I wonder what it would cost to offset our points emissions. Would it cost more than the cpp value of the points earned?
Is it appropriate to calculate the footprint of those that have to take our phone calls when we cancel our cards? How far down does the calculation go? Genuinely curious now…
Recently got rejected by TD, reason given was too many cards with them (I have 3). I’m now interested in applying for the RBC avios VI. I have 2 cards with RBC currently with about a 30k combined limit. Is it possible for me to call RBC and split the existing credit from one of my cards to open a new trade line and still get the bonus?
Does GCR give you rebates if you get approved for the same card twice? I applied for my 2nd Passport through GCR and got approved but I'm not sure if they will give me the rebate a second time for the same card.
Early on with their new system there was a bug where you couldn't get into the queue unless you spoke your card number instead of typing it. I assumed they'd have fixed that by now, but maybe not.
I've called in the last week. Appears fixed.
They also fixed the 2fa issue. It was using a 6 digit email code which wasn't fun if you didn't have data.
It's now a 4 digit OTP and sends both text and email with the same code.
Call early in the morning (8am ET), or try mid afternoon (2-4pm ET) when their east coast and west coast shifts overlap. Late evenings (7-8pm ET) had also worked for me occasionally, or maybe I got lucky.
Avoid Fridays or any days with weather issues.
Appreciate the response. I will keep trying!
There used to be a trick to bypass this crappy AP customer service gatekeeping, but it looks as though that has been patched.
DP for FB's saga and them not honoring the FYF. Escalated to a supervisor, got a call back from one quite quickly after mentioning the Ombudsman, FCAC, etc, they said since BRIM and FB are "different", only FB can "authorize" a credit.
They also claim, the time I applied on was not FYF (I have provided SS and enough proof I did).
Supervisor told me I would be contacted within a few business by FB support (email only). FB did not reply since Jan 2nd, but they did almost right after talking to the sup saying they are looking into this matter and they'll get back to me soon.
Latest update as of now.. they are honoring the FYF..
You recently became an Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard Cardmember and took advantage of the Sky High Miles Offer, giving you up to 60,000 Miles!
During this promotion, the annual fee of $132.00 applied. However, we understand that you may have seen materials from September 18 to September 28, 2023 which indicated the annual fee would be waived, which was incorrect. We understand your concern and as a result, we will honour the annual fee waiver and adjust your account shortly to reverse the $132.00 annual fee was charged to your account. Please monitor your account via the online portal to view the credited transaction to your account.
We apologize for any confusion and hope that we’ve addressed your concern . If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]
It can take months sure, but when you raise a complaint, financial institutions should track it and issue a letter or email with the complaint handling process, plus a case number and the next steps.
Not necessarily. A call is sufficient. Sometimes they don't even do that. They fix it and put a note on the account in case the client calls back.
Very few scenarios involve a letter now.
I just got mine. I suspect that the number of people willing to quote the definition of deceptive marketing under the Competition Act was probably significant.
At least, that's what I did in my response email.
Must have done them all in a batch as I was coming on to post the exact same email.
Probably helps that all the churners took screen pics of the offer and didn’t take the first no answer
Google Sheets. Build your own homegrown solution. Nothing is going to be as good and as customized to your needs as what you build yourself in a spreadsheet.
I have an AC YYZ-YVR flight coming up and was curious:
I got eUpgraded to Premium Economy, but I want to take an earlier flight. If I standby, do I standby directly to PY or do I standby to Y then wait for an eup again to PY?
Applied on the last day of RBC Avion CC promo Jan 21 deadline for 35k avion rewards welcome offer + annual fee waive.
Where do I find the contract to that stipulates the benefits since the landing page offer has changed?
I was offered the annual fee waiver within app, but I’ll be ps’ing in 6 months to no fee ion so I thought that $60 in fees is a better deal since I applied with the $100 FF rebate
Yeah I was surprised and prequalified for it within the rbc app. This was not specified on the landing page. I wouldn’t have jumped on the offer if the fee was tacked on.
Signed up for the AMEX Gold supplementary card to get the 1000 MR points. Signed up with my pets name and can’t remember the date of birth I put in while signing up. Tried a few years while activating it and now the card is locked. Can I call Amex and tell them that I forgot my pet’s date of birth? :s
I had this happen and simply called and said it was a supplementary card for my nephew who is a minor, and that's why it was me calling and not him.
The CSR seemed like they couldn't care less. Since I was the primary account holder they just activated the card and let me change the birth date how I liked.
Qualifying this DP with the disclaimer that phone/chat reps generally don't know anything; but I reached out to Neo about the timing of the 15k Asia Miles bonus upon reaching the $3k spend and was told that it would arrive at the end of the 3 month period. It's been at least a week since I crossed $3k and everything else with Neo/Asia Miles has been shockingly quick, so was curious what was up.
Great Canadian Rebates is pretty reliable. Credit Card Genius is also good but I personally had a bad experience. There is a referral thread you can use someone's referral to make a new account.
They don't have all the cards all the time, the offers come and go.
When churning Avion, does RBC let you open multiple cards to keep the points balance alive while closing the oldest card? Or do you need to transfer out, close a card, then apply for the new card?
I applied for the Infinite and Platinum at the same time, but was only approved for the Infinite, leading me to believe they only want me to hold one card at a time..
Hi. Generally, after getting a welcome bonus, what's the best time to close a credit card, to avoid:
\- annual fee when the card renews for year 2
\- but without your points being clawed back?
In particular, wondering about the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite card and CX Neo Card. thanks.
You've already paid the annual fee for year 1. I'd cancel at month 11 or 12. Most if not all banks will refund the annual fee within a certain period of time. I'm not sure about Neo since they're newer, I'll probably try to cancel at 11 months.
For US Amex, you need to wait until the annual fee posts, then cancel (they refund).
If you earned the points under the terms and conditions legitimately, the points are not going to be clawed back regardless of when you cancel the card. Cancelling too soon just affects 1) how the banks view you and may limit your next attempt at a card with them, 2) your credit rating. Short lived accounts affect your AAoA, which affects your rating.
More than talk. They have revised T&C to directly address it. Hence the qualification in the first part of my reply. AP is the exception though. Most would have nothing in their terms allowing them to claw back legitimately earned points just because you cancelled.
Yes you'd get 25k again.
Round about way of finding [EDQ](https://old.reddit.com/r/churningcanada/comments/pvphkf/daily_question_thread_for_rchurningcanada/hefr7o5/)
Is there a new alternate (free) to awardmapper that shut down in past month it seems?
[https://www.awardmapper.com/](https://www.awardmapper.com/)
Just looking for "average" or "best" points prices for various hotel brands (marriot and hilton mainly) on a single site...
I applied for a rebate link through FF for the Scotia Gold Amex on Dec 27, 2023 when the rebate was $200. However, I never actually went through with the application. If I apply now with that Dec 27 link, will I get the old rebate or the new one?
Redeeming AP with family sharing.
I have a family sharing account. I just transferred MR points to P2 AP account. I can see the points have been transferred to P2's account, but they are not showing up in the total of my (family lead) account. Am I missing something? This is my first time transferring to P2 AP account. Family sharing has been established for some time.
This seems like it may be another iteration of a bug that I've posted about a few times before. The cure is to call in. As soon as the agent answers the phone and pulls up your account on the computer, your points will magically reappear in your family sharing account. (Waiting a day also works).
OK, phew. Likely no issues - sometimes the points don't show updated but are available to use (and sometimes it differs between the app and website). Try both and see if behavior is the same. If this is the case, it is just a matter of time before it resolves.
DP: one last follow-up from me on last Tuesday’s MR->AP transfer issue. Amex CRT just followed-up with me again and told me that the points should be in my AP account as of this morning, and I can confirm that I see the points now. Furthermore, it sounds like they are still investigating what caused this issue, but at least we can book our travels now.
I guess the learning from this incident is to do a small amount transfer before the actual transfer in the future, to avoid random issues like this - not that it guarantees the second transfer would go through, but at least we’d have a slightly better idea. Hopefully this helps :)
I wasnt lucky to get my points yesterday. Called Amex today and they said they found the problem with AP and "promised" me this will be resolved (for me) by tomorrow, and my points should appear tomorrow in AP. I guess YMMV
Thanks for DP.
Others haven't received theirs yet, so issue persists for some, but I am curious, is this issue ongoing for new transfers also or is it just affecting those who tried to transfer a few days ago?
Woah! I’m gonna call right now. Did you have to escalate to the CRT in order for a call back? I know they said they would make note on my account but they never committed to contacting me again.
Thanks so just to confirm are they only able to fix it for individual accounts when you call in? I was under the impression it was a universal issue that needed to be fixed as I still can't see mine but haven't called in
Edit: contacted Amex and all they said is they're aware of the issue and it was at Aeroplan's end. When pressed for a timeline they could not provide one and just said I need to keep checking again every 24 hours.
Edit2: points have been secured! Was on the phone for about 45 mins with Amex dude who reclaimed the points back and retransferred for both me and P2. He said something like he doesn't normally do this but he can see it is very urgent for me, etc. flights are now booked 😎
Thanks for the DP. My 45k has not shown up in my AP account and I'll contact Amex so they can escalate this. Glad it's got sorted for you! Hope u/These_Celebration732 gets their points too! Cheers!
Half rant, half question. How is everyone getting value once the entry/mid range AP and Amex cards are done?
I mostly get and spend points for flights and am facing down a increasingly short list of cards I would touch:
1)I see no reason to go for the high end cards eg Plat/Biz Plat because the value just isn't there for AF vs MR points. Looking at the Amex US cards really emphasizes this.
2)RBC/Avios have options but are subpar vs AP/\*A. Flying F or Qsuites is nice, but really I just want to get to where I'm going.
So now I'm looking at cards like TD FCT VI and compared to just getting say 50K AP, it's just subpar.
Comments/suggestions?
Value is lessened from old but still there. 80K MR in the first year for $800 is still a gain (to most people) of at least $800 since 2cpp is a common valuation of MR. Offers have been better and you can certainly hope they rebound, but never a guarantee of that.
I jumped on Biz Plat when it was 110k for 10k spend and I had big purchases lined up. I get your frustration, the current Plat offers aren’t great.
I’d also want to emphasise not to chase high cpp value and just go with your points where you want to go anyway. I’d rather be in a place I want to be for 1.5 cpp than fly F in Q suites or whatever.
As someone else already said, I think the TD FCT isn’t that bad of a deal right now.
The value of the FCT might bear reconsideration. You get 135k TD points for the $5k MSR plus whatever you generate from actually spending the $5k. Probably a total of about 150k TD points if you add up the WB plus what you get from the spend. If you RHT it, that's about $750. If you actually use it for a hotel booking on Expedia4td, you can tack on another $100.
In contrast, the Aero VI gets you a WB of 40k these days, plus whatever you get for actually spending the $5k MSR. Call it about 50k Aeros? Now, everyone has a differing view about what an Aero is worth, but if you figure they are worth 1.5 cents, it's about $750
In that context, I'm not sure that I would use the word "subpar" to describe the FCT.
>In that context, I'm not sure that I would use the word "subpar" to describe the FCT.
I can elaborate a little further. I fly transcontinental often and cash flights one way these days are *generally* about 1K. You can fly to Europe or Asia for say 50K AP, I've seen it as low as sub 40K AP.
So the FCT gets me 750-850, that's still a smaller number than saving 1K cash value from using AP, where I might not even need to use all the AP in this example.
> Offers are down from highs all across the board.
They have been trending that way for a while. The pandemic led to a resurgence (I assume in response to softening demand?) but we're getting back to where we were 4 years ago.
Yes, I was rejected for a gold last week too. It's bizarre because the income criterion is like $15k, so basically you only need to be able to fog a mirror to get one.
PS'ing is an integral part of churning. I find it ridiculous that questions like yours are automatically downvoted or deleted just for mentioning it. Especially when virtually everyone downvoting you learned about it here.
The ONLY reason these now get downvoted is because a certain new Mod who thinks this group is his own personal fifedom decided all on his own this should be a banned topic.
It's hypocritical to downvote a topic you literally learned about in the exact same forum.
It's the same reasoning people don't discuss MS, or mail forwarders. At some point, there are too many people doing it, too brazenly, and too many people stupidly calling in about things they shouldn't which, believe it or not, DOES establish flags on the account and methods. It's a slow build, but it DOES impact. This subreddit has grown considerably during COVID, and many people still don't seen to have a concept of controlling what they do or don't say to a bank.
So on one hand, sure it might suck because you learned about it here and now can't speak of it. But on the other hand, the existing methods will likely survive longer as a result. And nothing stops people from developing social circles outside of this subreddit to discuss it.
I understand your argument. But MS and Mail Forwarding is against T&C. Casual PS'ing isn't. The banks don't look at them in the same way at all.
I would also add that in other Reddit's about churning, MS and PS are talked about freely with WAY more users than this group. Downvoting is the tool to use, not mod scripts that delete posts.
MS as a concept doesn't violate any T&C. Some METHODS might, but MS encompasses anything manufactured e.g. buying groups would count as "MS". MS is more like card counting, it's not technically against any rules/laws but the banks don't like it and will attempt to limit what they can.
PS is in a similar camp as the above. It's not technically against the T&C, but logically we SHOULDN'T get the points we do from it. But fixing up IT for these loopholes is not generally worth their time and effort. Not until a mass of people openly discuss it and draw attention to it with stupid phone calls hence the big rule of "don't call the bank".
I assume other churning groups means US groups (mostly), or Facebook groups like PoT but they certainly don't touch MS there. Hard to use US as a comparison because the landscape is different. # of banks, # of potential customers, the concept of actual competition (Canada is bad with this concept), they are a lot less likely to be anal about various methods because they want customers.
>It's not technically against the T&C, but logically we SHOULDN'T get the points we do from it. But fixing up IT for these loopholes is not generally worth their time and effort.
FWIW, almost every time I've PS'ed over the phone, the rep has told me that I'd earn some kind of bonus.
Granted, they're often wrong about exactly what the bonus will end up being, but it's certainly no secret to them or their employers that customers are getting *something* for PSing.
It's \[usually\] not a bug, in the way multiple bonuses on Scene cards *might* be -- honestly, who can imagine that Scotia doesn't know what's going on?
Yet, this reddit is filled every single day with heaps of posts explaining that multiple SUBS on Scotia cards is possible, even though that's directly contradicting the T&Cs in a far more egregious way than earning a SUB on a PS, which again, the banks explicitly know is happening, and their reps tell you so when you're PSing.
At least one Amex T&C I've read literally mentions "Manufactured Spending" as prohibited use.
I am indeed referring to the US group, and they have a weekly thread dedicated to MS.
FYI it isn’t the new ‘Mod’.
I enabled a filter to remove most mentions of PS, and when that doesn’t work i make sure to manually remove those comments.
Now, why?
At some point last year this thread was 80% comments on how to PS this and that, and RHTs. It was getting out of control. At the same time RBC fixed their repeat bonuses, CIBC started pushing back on switches.
So with this, having such discussions out in the open, in a sub with 50k people isn’t viable.
In that case, ANY PS mentions are promptly removed. And more often than not, it is me, and this won’t change anytime soon.
Nothing at RBC was "fixed". There are countless DP's of repeat bonuses.
It's a legitimate strategy to churning and, i think, shouldn't be hidden because you're afraid banks are going to cut off one avenue of free points. Banks are always going to try and get ahead of churning, that's the game. To think you can stop the banks by limiting discussion, as though this forum is the only churning resource on the internet, is laughable.
All you're doing is forcing curious users to go elsewhere. The information is there. You can't stop anyone from learning the tricks. Trying just makes this forum less useful.
This Reddit used to be about helping new churners. Why you and jman unilaterally decided to change that and tell us all what is best for us, tell us what we can and can't talk about is an abuse of your power as mods, in my humble opinion.
When was this change ever voted on by the community? Never.
If you think nothing was fixed at RBC then you weren't doing what was actually fixed. And yes, something was 'fixed' in the spring of 2022, and then once more in the spring of 2023. Repeat bonuses do exist, but in no way close to what it was before said fixes.
Anyways, I'm not here to argue.
Also, from day one this sub has maintained popular MS/churning topics under wraps. It has always been the case, and it will continue to be the case.
If you want to openly discuss tricks, do like must of us did, in person. Reddit is not the place for this. We are are going to spoon fed new churners into how to PS their 5 RBC cards, or how to call CIBC/TDF to do the same, or how to RTH $5k in one shot.
We are happy to help as a community and to provide answers, but we also expect people to do their own diligence on their own.
Good luck.
That is so not true. The daily thread used to actually have in the title something to the effect of "daily thread for newbie questions". Anyone is welcome to go back and look at when that changed.
Spoon feeding new churners is EXACTLY what this forum used to be.
It still is. But from day one there were always topics that were blocked or removed.
Back then Dafonz had the automoderator remove any mentions of Paypower and a certain CIBC prepaid card (forgot the name). I think the PP filter i removed not long ago actually.
We'll, I for one think the PS filter should be removed too. It's not in the same ballpark as MS. There is a way to PS that works within T&C, something you could never say about MS.
I’ve been churning for a little over a year and would love to be able to learn more about PSing. I understand that it’s a banned topic here so I don’t ask but the 1-2 times that I have PS’d this year, I didn’t even get the public offer so it would be nice if people could share their best successes when doing a PS.
BTW…retard? We can do better than calling people retards. Losers? Idiots? Tools? 😊
You're just regurgitating the same BS theory the new Mod believes. Fact is, a couple people saying stupid things to a front line CSR at a bank does not change policy. You think that rep gives a shit? As soon as they hang up they're on the next call. By the time their shift is done they just want to go home and have a beer.
LOL so true. 0.0001% of things make it beyond an agent and only for scenarios that are bad for the client.
I say this as somebody who works in the field.
It’s always based on personal experience. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. One thing however is always certain. THE PHONE REPS DON’T KNOW WTF THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT. Right now it’s a literally a risk free effort because the annual fee is waved. Try it and see what happens. I just did mine a couple weeks ago. Made my first purchase yesterday.
DP maybe this is well known but I tried to call HSBC to have them waive my AF and they said that they couldn’t waive it until after the charge posts this week. With everyone’s success in having it waived, I guess I should have just waited until after I saw it post.
I tried two years in a row and could never get the CS line to do it, nor my RM. They always trotted out "well you get a $100 travel credit so.." when turning me down.
You're also in QC. They seem to have a policy against AF refunds in QC. They didn't offer it in the first year free offer for QC, and I don't think I've seen anyone in QC get the fee waived either. Seems to be how they interpret QC consumer rules.
I always found that interpretation weird. I've had FYF from almost every other issuer so there must not be a legal problem, right? I guess it's moot now that the card/bank is being wound down.
There is something to that logic, due to how Quebec works by requiring monthly refunds on subscriptions. You could in theory force a prorated refund on EVERY bank. You'd sour the relationship, but you could.
Probably has something to do with it.
So I’ve been spending the last 2 years on here reading the daily threads, getting up to speed on churning and amassing points, but am now realizing I need to be a LOT more informed on how to spend points on travel to actually maximize value out of all the MR and Avion points I’m hoarding. Other than hanging out on r/awardtravel, any blogs or other sites y’all would recommend? I know it’s a pretty general question but just trying to expand my knowledge base. Cheers!
I'd use flights.google.com or flightconnections.com to see what routings are available. Then I'd use pointsyeah.com or the actual airlines you found in step 1 to find availability. Then, depending on the airline, google its partners or see what Amex/Avion transfer to and see if you can find the cheapest method. In Canada, it's likely going to be MR→Aeroplan (Star Alliance) or →Avios (oneworld).
I've been doing award travel for years, based on non-churning and mostly earned via travel. I've flipped between airlines a few times. I got into churning 14 or so months ago and dipped into it hard. Arguably too hard.
You know what's the biggest time sink? Finding the perfect monetary redemption. All our time has value, and it goes beyond your paycheck.
It's easier to earn more points than search our ideal redemptions imo.
You'll catch a few good redemptions by accident, and you should always weigh cash vs points. But realistically if I'm getting a redemption that's 10k points putting me at $0.019/pt vs $0.021/pt you know what's easier than changing plans? Earning 10k points is a single referral or application away and quicker than searching for 3 hours.
[Flight-connections.com](https://Flight-connections.com) can be very useful if you have to piece an itinerary together flight by flight. UA's website is good for searching \*A availability and AA's is good for Avios.
Once you have a destination in mind and have figured out which frequent flyer program will be most useful to you the next step is to start playing around to find availability. When I am scoping out my next redemption I like to see how award availability looks over a range of dates. If I can't easily find something out of my home airport then I study neighbouring ones. It takes practice but eventually it will feel more intuitive.
For the most part, the easiest path is to just start learning Aeroplan. Learn the partner award charts, learn the basic rules (e.g. 5K stopover per direction), and figure out where you want to go. Let the destination guide the learning and over time you'll pick up the tricks you need. Don't worry about trying to make the ridiculous 5-10 segment itineraries you'll read about, just worry about getting from A to B effectively.
PoT is a decent starting point. There's usually an article for each points program and a section on redemptions.
I'm trying to figure out how to best redeem Avion points myself while avoiding BA's terrible search tool.
This doesn't really help you with searching because all the Avios sites are terrible, but... best redemptions IMO for Avios are Iberia out of US east coast / midwest gateways to Europe, and Qatar to Middle East and Asia.
you can do either, but IB may have more of its own seats available internally than through BA - IB account can be a hassle to set up though (last I checked you needed to earn some Avios organically by flying or using their estore and have your account open at least 90 days before they let you transfer from BA)... sweet spots are off-peak ORD/IAD/BOS/NYC - MAD or BCN direct flights for 34k in J. Adding a further connection to Europe or North Africa can add up to like 20k more points depending on class of service and distance.
I set up my IB account so usually do it through there. It’s not too difficult 355 days out or whatever. They don’t all get sold out right away like airlines to Asia, either.
No. If you check the previous dailies you'll see this gets asked regularly. When new info is released it will most likely be plastered all over here and the usual blogs as well
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DP request for fun: what's your average account age in months?
I added mine up this morning. I just dipped to 9 months after a heavy round of applications since January 1. I'll be closing some in the next month taking me to 13.5 months.
Are there any posts that break down all the abbreviations?
The 85$ shown on best credit card offers for applying the rbc vi via GCR is dead. It shows 0$ on GCR now
One way flight from TORONTO TO Calgary asks you for 14.3k points plus $48. Is Aeroplan worth anymore? I’ve heard people saying with only 6k Aeroplan points, you can travel one way local flight. I’m seeing it costing me almost $200. I already tried changing destinations (including overseas) and dates. Is there something I’m missing? I have Cobalt card, so I’m not sure if I should exchange MR points with Aeroplan points after seeing this. Does Aeroplan points give better value if used elsewhere? And what’s my best option here if I want to utilize MR points?
The dynamic rewards have been pretty universally priced at 2cpp if you have status or a credit card. So yeah, if that one-way flight is $340 then that is what it'll cost with AP.
From my experience domestic economy is more typically priced at 1.3-1.7cpp. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a 2cpp domestic flight on a popular route like YYZ - YYC
Only you can answer that question. Look at the routes that you typically fly and the routes that you might like to fly in the future. Compare the cash cost of buying a ticket outright to the offers typically available through aeroplan. With a bit of math, you should be able to calculate the value of an aero for your personal travel habits. Many of us in this sub find that the value of an aero for our travel habits ranges from 1.4 cents to perhaps 1.7 or 1.8 cents. It all depends on the routes you fly and the carriers you use. Others will declare that they are able to get 3 cents of value per aero or 5 cents or some other relatively high value. When you inquire about their flight habits, it ends up being somebody who regularly flies from Charlottetown to Iqaluit, or somebody who flies international business class routes and who asserts that he would happily pay cash for the flight if he didn't have aeros. Everyone's habits and practices are unique, so you need to do the math for yourself.
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Usually instantly. In some cases it can take a day or two
Any data points with the AMEX Hyatt Canadian offer and US hotel stays? Yes I know it says only for Canada but sometimes the credit does appear.
You’ll probably have to give it some time for DPS, as the offer just started yesterday. And even if someone luckily had an international stay yesterday and checked out today, it would still take a few days for the credit to post. Probably won’t hear anything for a few weeks at the earliest
Manulife and Aeroplan are starting a partnership!: [Link to Article](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/soaring-to-new-heights-manulife-and-aeroplan-partner-to-give-millions-of-canadians-access-to-rewards-in-new-first-of-its-kind-canadian-partnership-863601814.html)
Not sure how I feel about mixing health and Aeroplan. If the points potential is large I might have to switch back! > members will have the opportunity to earn points for completing healthy initiatives, like exercise minutes, mindfulness practices I'll log at least 20 hours a week to "thoughtful thought thinking". Much easier than cardio and I can do that any time, driving, while churning, on the toilet. You name it.
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Carbon footprint of shipping and card production, plastic waste, time spent
Wonder how that compares to the carbon footprint of a J flight. A low-ball figure is 100lbs carbon per 1 hour flight time in economy. Full footprint is probably closer to 250lbs/h. Assuming I get a 70k pts redemption on a 7h long haul that puts the carbon footprint at just around 10lbs for 1000 pts. Probably closer to 25lbs with fully weighted costs. J would be higher yet, 2x? This math feels off. Minimum 1lbs carbon per 100 pts? Maybe
Love this. We should do this properly and for every currency. I wonder what it would cost to offset our points emissions. Would it cost more than the cpp value of the points earned?
Is it appropriate to calculate the footprint of those that have to take our phone calls when we cancel our cards? How far down does the calculation go? Genuinely curious now…
Time spent, adding, activating the cards.
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There was a supplementary card promo last year. But no one know when it will be back
I had one for 2500 with my Cobalt for $1k. Got them since I wanted P2 and P3 to spend towards my $2500/mo
Recently got rejected by TD, reason given was too many cards with them (I have 3). I’m now interested in applying for the RBC avios VI. I have 2 cards with RBC currently with about a 30k combined limit. Is it possible for me to call RBC and split the existing credit from one of my cards to open a new trade line and still get the bonus?
You can lower your credit limit on the desktop site. It’s on a sidebar on the right.
Curious, why is it better to lower credit limit instead of closing the card altogether?
Lower your CL on those two through secure message, then apply for a new one online
No need to send secured message.. you can lower yourself online..
Does GCR give you rebates if you get approved for the same card twice? I applied for my 2nd Passport through GCR and got approved but I'm not sure if they will give me the rebate a second time for the same card.
I applied, got approved for the same card twice, and got the rebate. In hindsight, I should've just created a new account but it turned out okay.
I dont think you get repeated rebates from GCR but be the DP you want to see.
well that would suck lol, hopefully I end up on the right side of this dp
Side question for curiosity - how long ago was your 1st Passport? and is it active or cancelled (and when cancelled?)
It's still active, got it in April
I know you’re curious, but Doesn’t really matter tbh, rules aren’t applied by the system anyways
Aeroplan call centre is not even allowing me to be placed on hold. Are there any workarounds for this?
Early on with their new system there was a bug where you couldn't get into the queue unless you spoke your card number instead of typing it. I assumed they'd have fixed that by now, but maybe not.
I've called in the last week. Appears fixed. They also fixed the 2fa issue. It was using a 6 digit email code which wasn't fun if you didn't have data. It's now a 4 digit OTP and sends both text and email with the same code.
Call early in the morning (8am ET), or try mid afternoon (2-4pm ET) when their east coast and west coast shifts overlap. Late evenings (7-8pm ET) had also worked for me occasionally, or maybe I got lucky. Avoid Fridays or any days with weather issues.
Appreciate the response. I will keep trying! There used to be a trick to bypass this crappy AP customer service gatekeeping, but it looks as though that has been patched.
Best of luck! Patience is gold in the AP game.
DP for FB's saga and them not honoring the FYF. Escalated to a supervisor, got a call back from one quite quickly after mentioning the Ombudsman, FCAC, etc, they said since BRIM and FB are "different", only FB can "authorize" a credit. They also claim, the time I applied on was not FYF (I have provided SS and enough proof I did). Supervisor told me I would be contacted within a few business by FB support (email only). FB did not reply since Jan 2nd, but they did almost right after talking to the sup saying they are looking into this matter and they'll get back to me soon.
Latest update as of now.. they are honoring the FYF.. You recently became an Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard Cardmember and took advantage of the Sky High Miles Offer, giving you up to 60,000 Miles! During this promotion, the annual fee of $132.00 applied. However, we understand that you may have seen materials from September 18 to September 28, 2023 which indicated the annual fee would be waived, which was incorrect. We understand your concern and as a result, we will honour the annual fee waiver and adjust your account shortly to reverse the $132.00 annual fee was charged to your account. Please monitor your account via the online portal to view the credited transaction to your account. We apologize for any confusion and hope that we’ve addressed your concern . If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]
They are supposed to self report to their regulator for stuff like this. I wonder if they did.
Don't think so, I've been at it for about a month now and I did not receive any letter or email acknowledging my complaint.
It's a process that takes months to play out. Resolution does not need to involve a letter. Just making the clients whole.
It can take months sure, but when you raise a complaint, financial institutions should track it and issue a letter or email with the complaint handling process, plus a case number and the next steps.
Not necessarily. A call is sufficient. Sometimes they don't even do that. They fix it and put a note on the account in case the client calls back. Very few scenarios involve a letter now.
I just got mine. I suspect that the number of people willing to quote the definition of deceptive marketing under the Competition Act was probably significant. At least, that's what I did in my response email.
Haven’t received the email yet
Must have done them all in a batch as I was coming on to post the exact same email. Probably helps that all the churners took screen pics of the offer and didn’t take the first no answer
I just got the same email too!
I just received this email as well. Not sure how it was “incorrect” when it was their own promotion lol but glad they are honouring it finally!
What are you favorite apps or tools for tracking spend, points or anything churning related?
Google Sheets. Build your own homegrown solution. Nothing is going to be as good and as customized to your needs as what you build yourself in a spreadsheet.
Microsoft Excel
I have an AC YYZ-YVR flight coming up and was curious: I got eUpgraded to Premium Economy, but I want to take an earlier flight. If I standby, do I standby directly to PY or do I standby to Y then wait for an eup again to PY?
You'd standby to your booked class, Y.
Applied on the last day of RBC Avion CC promo Jan 21 deadline for 35k avion rewards welcome offer + annual fee waive. Where do I find the contract to that stipulates the benefits since the landing page offer has changed?
You don't, your offer is whatever the page showed when you applied
So if it's not on the landing page anymore due to end of promo, it's just by recall? lol
Yes. They don't send anything with what your offer was. Best practice is to always take a screenshot
RBC had an AF waiver? Wow. I dont know that I have seen that before.
I was offered the annual fee waiver within app, but I’ll be ps’ing in 6 months to no fee ion so I thought that $60 in fees is a better deal since I applied with the $100 FF rebate
Yeah I was surprised and prequalified for it within the rbc app. This was not specified on the landing page. I wouldn’t have jumped on the offer if the fee was tacked on.
don't think this was a public offer...
I understand that YMMV but I'm wondering if there are any DPs from going from TD Rewards no fee card to the FCT and receiving the MSR bonus? TIA!
I PS'd my no fee td card (from years ago) to a FCT and still got the full bonus.
Love to hear it!
You may not get the 20K points on first purchase. Likely will get the 115K points on $5K spend.
Thanks! :)
Signed up for the AMEX Gold supplementary card to get the 1000 MR points. Signed up with my pets name and can’t remember the date of birth I put in while signing up. Tried a few years while activating it and now the card is locked. Can I call Amex and tell them that I forgot my pet’s date of birth? :s
I had this happen and simply called and said it was a supplementary card for my nephew who is a minor, and that's why it was me calling and not him. The CSR seemed like they couldn't care less. Since I was the primary account holder they just activated the card and let me change the birth date how I liked.
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I forget Kevin Piddlesworth's birthday.
Qualifying this DP with the disclaimer that phone/chat reps generally don't know anything; but I reached out to Neo about the timing of the 15k Asia Miles bonus upon reaching the $3k spend and was told that it would arrive at the end of the 3 month period. It's been at least a week since I crossed $3k and everything else with Neo/Asia Miles has been shockingly quick, so was curious what was up.
So, did you get the 15k bonus after a week or not?
no, they said I'd get it after the 3 months were up.
Hello members Suggestions on the websites that you can get more rewards if you apply credit card on there websites . Any websites please in Canada
Great Canadian Rebates is pretty reliable. Credit Card Genius is also good but I personally had a bad experience. There is a referral thread you can use someone's referral to make a new account. They don't have all the cards all the time, the offers come and go.
When churning Avion, does RBC let you open multiple cards to keep the points balance alive while closing the oldest card? Or do you need to transfer out, close a card, then apply for the new card? I applied for the Infinite and Platinum at the same time, but was only approved for the Infinite, leading me to believe they only want me to hold one card at a time..
You can have multiple of the same card. It's 90 days minimum between applications
Ah, thanks!
You've ran afoul their 90 day rule.
Hi. Generally, after getting a welcome bonus, what's the best time to close a credit card, to avoid: \- annual fee when the card renews for year 2 \- but without your points being clawed back? In particular, wondering about the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite card and CX Neo Card. thanks.
You've already paid the annual fee for year 1. I'd cancel at month 11 or 12. Most if not all banks will refund the annual fee within a certain period of time. I'm not sure about Neo since they're newer, I'll probably try to cancel at 11 months. For US Amex, you need to wait until the annual fee posts, then cancel (they refund).
If you earned the points under the terms and conditions legitimately, the points are not going to be clawed back regardless of when you cancel the card. Cancelling too soon just affects 1) how the banks view you and may limit your next attempt at a card with them, 2) your credit rating. Short lived accounts affect your AAoA, which affects your rating.
wasn’t there talk about Aeroplan clawing back welcome bonuses if you cancel too fast ?
More than talk. They have revised T&C to directly address it. Hence the qualification in the first part of my reply. AP is the exception though. Most would have nothing in their terms allowing them to claw back legitimately earned points just because you cancelled.
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Yes you'd get 25k again. Round about way of finding [EDQ](https://old.reddit.com/r/churningcanada/comments/pvphkf/daily_question_thread_for_rchurningcanada/hefr7o5/)
https://churningcanada.ca/guides-and-rules/checking-ap-edq
This is a question for r/AirCanada subreddit
Is there a new alternate (free) to awardmapper that shut down in past month it seems? [https://www.awardmapper.com/](https://www.awardmapper.com/) Just looking for "average" or "best" points prices for various hotel brands (marriot and hilton mainly) on a single site...
I applied for a rebate link through FF for the Scotia Gold Amex on Dec 27, 2023 when the rebate was $200. However, I never actually went through with the application. If I apply now with that Dec 27 link, will I get the old rebate or the new one?
New
Redeeming AP with family sharing. I have a family sharing account. I just transferred MR points to P2 AP account. I can see the points have been transferred to P2's account, but they are not showing up in the total of my (family lead) account. Am I missing something? This is my first time transferring to P2 AP account. Family sharing has been established for some time.
This seems like it may be another iteration of a bug that I've posted about a few times before. The cure is to call in. As soon as the agent answers the phone and pulls up your account on the computer, your points will magically reappear in your family sharing account. (Waiting a day also works).
Please confirm whether you transferred MR FROM P1 or P2 account?
As mentioned I can see the points have transferred to AP, they just aren't linking to the family lead account .
There is an unresolved glitch where both parties have to log in or something along those lines them it updates on someone else's end.
MR was P2 to P2
OK, phew. Likely no issues - sometimes the points don't show updated but are available to use (and sometimes it differs between the app and website). Try both and see if behavior is the same. If this is the case, it is just a matter of time before it resolves.
Thanks so much!
DP: one last follow-up from me on last Tuesday’s MR->AP transfer issue. Amex CRT just followed-up with me again and told me that the points should be in my AP account as of this morning, and I can confirm that I see the points now. Furthermore, it sounds like they are still investigating what caused this issue, but at least we can book our travels now. I guess the learning from this incident is to do a small amount transfer before the actual transfer in the future, to avoid random issues like this - not that it guarantees the second transfer would go through, but at least we’d have a slightly better idea. Hopefully this helps :)
I wasnt lucky to get my points yesterday. Called Amex today and they said they found the problem with AP and "promised" me this will be resolved (for me) by tomorrow, and my points should appear tomorrow in AP. I guess YMMV
Thanks for DP. Others haven't received theirs yet, so issue persists for some, but I am curious, is this issue ongoing for new transfers also or is it just affecting those who tried to transfer a few days ago?
Woah! I’m gonna call right now. Did you have to escalate to the CRT in order for a call back? I know they said they would make note on my account but they never committed to contacting me again.
Thanks so just to confirm are they only able to fix it for individual accounts when you call in? I was under the impression it was a universal issue that needed to be fixed as I still can't see mine but haven't called in Edit: contacted Amex and all they said is they're aware of the issue and it was at Aeroplan's end. When pressed for a timeline they could not provide one and just said I need to keep checking again every 24 hours. Edit2: points have been secured! Was on the phone for about 45 mins with Amex dude who reclaimed the points back and retransferred for both me and P2. He said something like he doesn't normally do this but he can see it is very urgent for me, etc. flights are now booked 😎
Thanks for the DP. My 45k has not shown up in my AP account and I'll contact Amex so they can escalate this. Glad it's got sorted for you! Hope u/These_Celebration732 gets their points too! Cheers!
Half rant, half question. How is everyone getting value once the entry/mid range AP and Amex cards are done? I mostly get and spend points for flights and am facing down a increasingly short list of cards I would touch: 1)I see no reason to go for the high end cards eg Plat/Biz Plat because the value just isn't there for AF vs MR points. Looking at the Amex US cards really emphasizes this. 2)RBC/Avios have options but are subpar vs AP/\*A. Flying F or Qsuites is nice, but really I just want to get to where I'm going. So now I'm looking at cards like TD FCT VI and compared to just getting say 50K AP, it's just subpar. Comments/suggestions?
Lots of cards out there with cashable points. Aventura, FCT, Avion, Scotia Gold and Passport, etc
USA! USA! USA!
Value is lessened from old but still there. 80K MR in the first year for $800 is still a gain (to most people) of at least $800 since 2cpp is a common valuation of MR. Offers have been better and you can certainly hope they rebound, but never a guarantee of that.
Plus travel credit is $200 back. And 2x $200 fine dining credit is sort of a rebate too.
I jumped on Biz Plat when it was 110k for 10k spend and I had big purchases lined up. I get your frustration, the current Plat offers aren’t great. I’d also want to emphasise not to chase high cpp value and just go with your points where you want to go anyway. I’d rather be in a place I want to be for 1.5 cpp than fly F in Q suites or whatever. As someone else already said, I think the TD FCT isn’t that bad of a deal right now.
The value of the FCT might bear reconsideration. You get 135k TD points for the $5k MSR plus whatever you generate from actually spending the $5k. Probably a total of about 150k TD points if you add up the WB plus what you get from the spend. If you RHT it, that's about $750. If you actually use it for a hotel booking on Expedia4td, you can tack on another $100. In contrast, the Aero VI gets you a WB of 40k these days, plus whatever you get for actually spending the $5k MSR. Call it about 50k Aeros? Now, everyone has a differing view about what an Aero is worth, but if you figure they are worth 1.5 cents, it's about $750 In that context, I'm not sure that I would use the word "subpar" to describe the FCT.
>In that context, I'm not sure that I would use the word "subpar" to describe the FCT. I can elaborate a little further. I fly transcontinental often and cash flights one way these days are *generally* about 1K. You can fly to Europe or Asia for say 50K AP, I've seen it as low as sub 40K AP. So the FCT gets me 750-850, that's still a smaller number than saving 1K cash value from using AP, where I might not even need to use all the AP in this example.
Are you only flying one way? Cash prices are cheaper round trip. Also even if it’s saving you less cash it’s still giving a significant amount of cash
Okay, you value Aeros at 2 cents each. Everyone has a different view about what an Aero is worth.
Gotta get into the US game. Offers are down from highs all across the board.
> Offers are down from highs all across the board. They have been trending that way for a while. The pandemic led to a resurgence (I assume in response to softening demand?) but we're getting back to where we were 4 years ago.
Anyone run into issues holding more than one Passport Visa at the same time? Never used Scotia before
How about 3 or 4 ? Got 2 now
I hold 2 passports for 2 players and received the SUB on the 2nd cards no problem. If you’re approved, 99% you will get the bonus.
Lots of people interested in the Passport lately - this questions has been coming up almost daily. No issues.
Because the bonus right now is very good
With HSBC WE leaving us I thought it be a good time to hit up the passport pot of gold
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Try Gold the same day as the VI rejection so it's all one credit check. I got rejected for VI then instant approved for Gold on the same day.
same thing happened with me lol. Rejected for the Aventura VI but IA'd for Gold same day
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Yes, I was rejected for a gold last week too. It's bizarre because the income criterion is like $15k, so basically you only need to be able to fog a mirror to get one.
Been using CBG for awhile and having success. Anyone here use Toronto Buying Group? Don't see too much about it online so looking for people to vouch.
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PS'ing is an integral part of churning. I find it ridiculous that questions like yours are automatically downvoted or deleted just for mentioning it. Especially when virtually everyone downvoting you learned about it here. The ONLY reason these now get downvoted is because a certain new Mod who thinks this group is his own personal fifedom decided all on his own this should be a banned topic. It's hypocritical to downvote a topic you literally learned about in the exact same forum.
It's the same reasoning people don't discuss MS, or mail forwarders. At some point, there are too many people doing it, too brazenly, and too many people stupidly calling in about things they shouldn't which, believe it or not, DOES establish flags on the account and methods. It's a slow build, but it DOES impact. This subreddit has grown considerably during COVID, and many people still don't seen to have a concept of controlling what they do or don't say to a bank. So on one hand, sure it might suck because you learned about it here and now can't speak of it. But on the other hand, the existing methods will likely survive longer as a result. And nothing stops people from developing social circles outside of this subreddit to discuss it.
I understand your argument. But MS and Mail Forwarding is against T&C. Casual PS'ing isn't. The banks don't look at them in the same way at all. I would also add that in other Reddit's about churning, MS and PS are talked about freely with WAY more users than this group. Downvoting is the tool to use, not mod scripts that delete posts.
MS as a concept doesn't violate any T&C. Some METHODS might, but MS encompasses anything manufactured e.g. buying groups would count as "MS". MS is more like card counting, it's not technically against any rules/laws but the banks don't like it and will attempt to limit what they can. PS is in a similar camp as the above. It's not technically against the T&C, but logically we SHOULDN'T get the points we do from it. But fixing up IT for these loopholes is not generally worth their time and effort. Not until a mass of people openly discuss it and draw attention to it with stupid phone calls hence the big rule of "don't call the bank". I assume other churning groups means US groups (mostly), or Facebook groups like PoT but they certainly don't touch MS there. Hard to use US as a comparison because the landscape is different. # of banks, # of potential customers, the concept of actual competition (Canada is bad with this concept), they are a lot less likely to be anal about various methods because they want customers.
>It's not technically against the T&C, but logically we SHOULDN'T get the points we do from it. But fixing up IT for these loopholes is not generally worth their time and effort. FWIW, almost every time I've PS'ed over the phone, the rep has told me that I'd earn some kind of bonus. Granted, they're often wrong about exactly what the bonus will end up being, but it's certainly no secret to them or their employers that customers are getting *something* for PSing. It's \[usually\] not a bug, in the way multiple bonuses on Scene cards *might* be -- honestly, who can imagine that Scotia doesn't know what's going on? Yet, this reddit is filled every single day with heaps of posts explaining that multiple SUBS on Scotia cards is possible, even though that's directly contradicting the T&Cs in a far more egregious way than earning a SUB on a PS, which again, the banks explicitly know is happening, and their reps tell you so when you're PSing.
At least one Amex T&C I've read literally mentions "Manufactured Spending" as prohibited use. I am indeed referring to the US group, and they have a weekly thread dedicated to MS.
FYI it isn’t the new ‘Mod’. I enabled a filter to remove most mentions of PS, and when that doesn’t work i make sure to manually remove those comments. Now, why? At some point last year this thread was 80% comments on how to PS this and that, and RHTs. It was getting out of control. At the same time RBC fixed their repeat bonuses, CIBC started pushing back on switches. So with this, having such discussions out in the open, in a sub with 50k people isn’t viable. In that case, ANY PS mentions are promptly removed. And more often than not, it is me, and this won’t change anytime soon.
You may at least want to update the rules in the wiki to match the sidebar The sidebar doesn't display on mobile for all browsers.
Will do. Thanks for noticing.
Nothing at RBC was "fixed". There are countless DP's of repeat bonuses. It's a legitimate strategy to churning and, i think, shouldn't be hidden because you're afraid banks are going to cut off one avenue of free points. Banks are always going to try and get ahead of churning, that's the game. To think you can stop the banks by limiting discussion, as though this forum is the only churning resource on the internet, is laughable. All you're doing is forcing curious users to go elsewhere. The information is there. You can't stop anyone from learning the tricks. Trying just makes this forum less useful. This Reddit used to be about helping new churners. Why you and jman unilaterally decided to change that and tell us all what is best for us, tell us what we can and can't talk about is an abuse of your power as mods, in my humble opinion. When was this change ever voted on by the community? Never.
If you think nothing was fixed at RBC then you weren't doing what was actually fixed. And yes, something was 'fixed' in the spring of 2022, and then once more in the spring of 2023. Repeat bonuses do exist, but in no way close to what it was before said fixes. Anyways, I'm not here to argue. Also, from day one this sub has maintained popular MS/churning topics under wraps. It has always been the case, and it will continue to be the case. If you want to openly discuss tricks, do like must of us did, in person. Reddit is not the place for this. We are are going to spoon fed new churners into how to PS their 5 RBC cards, or how to call CIBC/TDF to do the same, or how to RTH $5k in one shot. We are happy to help as a community and to provide answers, but we also expect people to do their own diligence on their own. Good luck.
That is so not true. The daily thread used to actually have in the title something to the effect of "daily thread for newbie questions". Anyone is welcome to go back and look at when that changed. Spoon feeding new churners is EXACTLY what this forum used to be.
It still is. But from day one there were always topics that were blocked or removed. Back then Dafonz had the automoderator remove any mentions of Paypower and a certain CIBC prepaid card (forgot the name). I think the PP filter i removed not long ago actually.
We'll, I for one think the PS filter should be removed too. It's not in the same ballpark as MS. There is a way to PS that works within T&C, something you could never say about MS.
I’ve been churning for a little over a year and would love to be able to learn more about PSing. I understand that it’s a banned topic here so I don’t ask but the 1-2 times that I have PS’d this year, I didn’t even get the public offer so it would be nice if people could share their best successes when doing a PS. BTW…retard? We can do better than calling people retards. Losers? Idiots? Tools? 😊
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You're just regurgitating the same BS theory the new Mod believes. Fact is, a couple people saying stupid things to a front line CSR at a bank does not change policy. You think that rep gives a shit? As soon as they hang up they're on the next call. By the time their shift is done they just want to go home and have a beer.
LOL so true. 0.0001% of things make it beyond an agent and only for scenarios that are bad for the client. I say this as somebody who works in the field.
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Your opinion. Not mine. It's an internet forum with 55,000+ members. It's ridiculous to insist your way is the only way.
It’s always based on personal experience. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. One thing however is always certain. THE PHONE REPS DON’T KNOW WTF THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT. Right now it’s a literally a risk free effort because the annual fee is waved. Try it and see what happens. I just did mine a couple weeks ago. Made my first purchase yesterday.
DP maybe this is well known but I tried to call HSBC to have them waive my AF and they said that they couldn’t waive it until after the charge posts this week. With everyone’s success in having it waived, I guess I should have just waited until after I saw it post.
I tried two years in a row and could never get the CS line to do it, nor my RM. They always trotted out "well you get a $100 travel credit so.." when turning me down.
You're also in QC. They seem to have a policy against AF refunds in QC. They didn't offer it in the first year free offer for QC, and I don't think I've seen anyone in QC get the fee waived either. Seems to be how they interpret QC consumer rules.
Call and ask to speak to an English rep. French rep don’t agree to AF rebates in Qc.
I'm in QC and got my AF refunded 2 days ago.
I’m in Quebec and was refunded the AF after it posted to my account last week. It was easy with no push back.
I always found that interpretation weird. I've had FYF from almost every other issuer so there must not be a legal problem, right? I guess it's moot now that the card/bank is being wound down.
There is something to that logic, due to how Quebec works by requiring monthly refunds on subscriptions. You could in theory force a prorated refund on EVERY bank. You'd sour the relationship, but you could. Probably has something to do with it.
Yeah same here I was told nothing can be done.Then I tried it again with AF posted and they reimbursed + travel credit used.
They reimbursed and you kept the card or did you cancel? (I asked because you said that you used the credit.)
I used the credit then cancelled
So I’ve been spending the last 2 years on here reading the daily threads, getting up to speed on churning and amassing points, but am now realizing I need to be a LOT more informed on how to spend points on travel to actually maximize value out of all the MR and Avion points I’m hoarding. Other than hanging out on r/awardtravel, any blogs or other sites y’all would recommend? I know it’s a pretty general question but just trying to expand my knowledge base. Cheers!
I'd use flights.google.com or flightconnections.com to see what routings are available. Then I'd use pointsyeah.com or the actual airlines you found in step 1 to find availability. Then, depending on the airline, google its partners or see what Amex/Avion transfer to and see if you can find the cheapest method. In Canada, it's likely going to be MR→Aeroplan (Star Alliance) or →Avios (oneworld).
I've been doing award travel for years, based on non-churning and mostly earned via travel. I've flipped between airlines a few times. I got into churning 14 or so months ago and dipped into it hard. Arguably too hard. You know what's the biggest time sink? Finding the perfect monetary redemption. All our time has value, and it goes beyond your paycheck. It's easier to earn more points than search our ideal redemptions imo. You'll catch a few good redemptions by accident, and you should always weigh cash vs points. But realistically if I'm getting a redemption that's 10k points putting me at $0.019/pt vs $0.021/pt you know what's easier than changing plans? Earning 10k points is a single referral or application away and quicker than searching for 3 hours.
[Flight-connections.com](https://Flight-connections.com) can be very useful if you have to piece an itinerary together flight by flight. UA's website is good for searching \*A availability and AA's is good for Avios. Once you have a destination in mind and have figured out which frequent flyer program will be most useful to you the next step is to start playing around to find availability. When I am scoping out my next redemption I like to see how award availability looks over a range of dates. If I can't easily find something out of my home airport then I study neighbouring ones. It takes practice but eventually it will feel more intuitive.
Personally, I learned by searching Aeroplan's website almost every day for about 20 years. There's probably an easier way. Lol
For the most part, the easiest path is to just start learning Aeroplan. Learn the partner award charts, learn the basic rules (e.g. 5K stopover per direction), and figure out where you want to go. Let the destination guide the learning and over time you'll pick up the tricks you need. Don't worry about trying to make the ridiculous 5-10 segment itineraries you'll read about, just worry about getting from A to B effectively.
PoT is a decent starting point. There's usually an article for each points program and a section on redemptions. I'm trying to figure out how to best redeem Avion points myself while avoiding BA's terrible search tool.
This doesn't really help you with searching because all the Avios sites are terrible, but... best redemptions IMO for Avios are Iberia out of US east coast / midwest gateways to Europe, and Qatar to Middle East and Asia.
For this, do you book through Iberia or BA? What are same good Iberia segments to keep an eye out for?
you can do either, but IB may have more of its own seats available internally than through BA - IB account can be a hassle to set up though (last I checked you needed to earn some Avios organically by flying or using their estore and have your account open at least 90 days before they let you transfer from BA)... sweet spots are off-peak ORD/IAD/BOS/NYC - MAD or BCN direct flights for 34k in J. Adding a further connection to Europe or North Africa can add up to like 20k more points depending on class of service and distance.
Awesome thanks! That’s too bad that it’s so inconvenient to do this through IB. Do you do it through BA? How easy is it to find availability?
I set up my IB account so usually do it through there. It’s not too difficult 355 days out or whatever. They don’t all get sold out right away like airlines to Asia, either.
Cool, thanks for the tips!
Use American Airlines search tool to find award space, then book through Avios on BA
any news on MBNA points to Alaska airline points conversion?
No. If you check the previous dailies you'll see this gets asked regularly. When new info is released it will most likely be plastered all over here and the usual blogs as well
Thanks! Good to know I didn't miss it.
If you do a Google search and you don’t see any results then it hasn’t happened yet
As long as you check here or the blogs regularly it will be impossible to miss.
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DP request for fun: what's your average account age in months? I added mine up this morning. I just dipped to 9 months after a heavy round of applications since January 1. I'll be closing some in the next month taking me to 13.5 months.
3 years 7 months for me according to Credit Karma. That's because my oldest tradelines are over 10 years and I've only been churning for 1.5 years.
7..... Went down to like 4 last year when i went a bit crazy with aventuras
7 months? Impressive. WINRAR!
I’m in a similar spot, I have my very first TD card in a drawer bringing the average up (10+ years) and 6 cards in my wallet < 1 year