My suppliers are all local so CAD. My goal is to skip the middle man here and go directly to the source in the future

Can you explain why AAdvantage is better than avios?
I've always transfered to avois from my rbc because of the 50% bonus.
Now for my Amex. I don't think I can transfer to AA

I've heard before that AA is better but wasn't sure why

1) Used to be extremely great rates for redeeming long-haul CX F (67.5k o/w) but it will go wayyy up soon to 110k/ each way.

2) No fuel surcharge, but most airlines are eliminating it to $0 soon - due to obvious reason.

But again, Avio's chart has been recently devaluated last year too.....

Avios has its place too. The key is knowing when to redeem Avios vs AA.

Avios is good for shorter haul flighs. For example, BLI to HNL is 25k pts vs more for other airlins.

On the other hand, AA might win depending on your redemption. Right now,

YVR->HKG in Cathay Busines class is 180000 Avios
The same rouet is 100000 AA.

Even with the 50% bonus, you're better off with AA.

YVR-HKG in J
- 120,000 Asia Miles
- 180,000 Avios
- 110,000 AAdvantage (current)
- 140,000 AAdvantage (post-Apr)

YVR-HKG in F
- 180,000 Asia Miles
- 240,000 Avios
- 135,000 AA (current)
- 220,000 AA (post)

But the beauty of AA is it's region based instead of mileage based. So it's from "US/Canada" to "Asia 2" aka, you can do Yellowknife-YVR-HKG-SIN for the same mileage as YVR-HKG.

JFK-HKG on CX J: 210,000 Avios
JFK-HKG on CX F: 280,000 Avios

So far im reading that Avios is better? Is RBC the only CC with Avios?

Also, does anyone know how I can possibly get the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or am i SOL since it's American?

So is the only way to get AA points fTom Amex MR is to transfer MR to Starwood points then to AA?

There's also the esso extra backdoor.

MR->Aeroplan->Esso Extra->Avion->AA

AA is changing the redemption rate? Do you know starting when?

March 22, 2016

American Airlines award chart

I've been collecting Aeroplan only... With my FYF ending soon, should I scrap it and switch to another card? Which one would you guys prefer?

Amex gold
Fyf
2 points for every dollar spent on travel hotel grocery and gas
Transfers 1 to 1 to aeroplan
Good insurance benefits for travel, car rental, purchase protection etc

^Not a lot of places accept Amex though, have you ever ran into problems with that? I also heard going for the Amex Gold biz is better for the welcome bonus

If you have a bigger purchase in mind, go with the Amex. $1500 in first 3 months to get the bonus. Pretty much cancel right away since like above poster said, not many people take Amex because of the super high processing fee

I've honestly never had a problem with it.
I get my groceries at Save On
Gas at Shell
And all my flight hotel and car rental places takes Amex
So I get all my 2x points where possible.

For the rest of my purchases I use my Amex plat which is 1.25x points.

I do also have a rbc west jet world elite MC for the odd places that don't take Amex. .and for my 1st free checked bag when I fly west jet and the $99 annual companion fare is nice.

I never really had trouble with using AMEX plat; mind you I only really use it for gas and purchasing work related stuff.

These are the other cards that I use, RBC Avion Infinite, RBC Business Avion, and Marriott Visa


Anyone here know if the BMO World Elite Mastercard worth while in getting? A friend working in BMO keeps nagging me to open one saying it's really good but I had a look at it and doesn't really seem all that good? Any feedback ?

For those of you who are into hotel loyalty, don't forget you can status match from SPG to Hyatt. I am not sure if Hilton is still doing matching, but was able to match my hyatt diamond to hilton diamond a two months back.

Is spg Plat match to Hyatt diamond?

Iirc the bmo world elite card gets u 4 lounge pass a year or smth like that....besides that it's a normal premium credit card

If u have Amex Plat. .u don't need it

I have the west jet world elite Mastercard from rbc
1 companion flight a year for 99
And free checked luggage

Yes. SPG plat to Hyatt Diamond and SPG Gold to Hyatt Plat.

Hilton was matching status as well before, but ended Jan 17th.

Do they look at your history?

I have SPG Gold, but I had 0 stays with them in the past year :pokerface:

I'm not sure about SPG Gold, but got platinum you need at least 20 qualifying nights in 2015 or 2016 for Hyatt Diamond.

I've switched my stays to Hyatt recently just to use up the 4 DSU. Currently at the Hyatt Shanghai and the suite here is quite nice. Service wise, I still prefer SPG.

What is the best way to maximize Amex MR points? I have about 27K points.

You could transfer to Avios rewards program with British Airways/oneworld alliance. AMEX MR to Avios has a 1.25x promo right now. I find using them for domestic overseas flights gets the most bang for your buck.

Do they charge ridiculous fees and taxes on their reward flights like Aeroplan?