With 2014 right around the corner it is a good time to start thinking about your strategies and ideas for earning and burning miles and points in the upcoming year. Will it be a focus on earning to pad your travel rewards accounts with lots of miles and points or will be a year of divesture as you burn through them to ensure you aren’t hit (again) with all the recent program devaluations. We here are Rewards Canada would love to hear what you have planned for 2014 and share it with our readers. The pool of knowledge of all of our readers, followers and subscribers is extremely vast and one person’s strategy may be unknown to another who sits in the exact same position as you!
If you aren’t sure where to start here are just a few ideas or strategies from us that may be able to help you kick off an amazing year in the world of Miles & Points!
Give me some Distinction!
Earlier in the year Aeroplan announced a bunch of changes and one was the launch of their new status recognition program called Distinction. Think of it as Air Miles Gold on steroids. Separate and different than Air Canada Altitude, Distinction recognizes those Aeroplan members who earn a lot of miles but may not earn a lot of butt in seat miles like those in the Altitude program. Earning status began this year for benefits to be used in 2014. It is yet to be seen whether the Distinction benefits will live up to its promises, in particular with the Market Fare award tickets but there is no harm in trying to reach the various status levels for 2015 if you haven’t jumped on board for Distinction status in 2014.
Learn more about Distinction here.
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| From RC’s Top Travel Rewards Credit Card Ranking! |
I want to cut through the Credit Card Confusion!
With all the confusion abounding about the TD/CIBC/Aeroplan love triangle, many consumers are shopping around for new credit cards. A lot are fed up with the availability issues with programs likes Aeroplan, Delta SkyMiles, Air Miles and others but some are torn as they want that best value out of their points by redeeming for business class flights. That best value only comes from the airline programs themselves, so how can one solve this dilemma? The Hybrid Credit Card is the answer. A term coined by us many years ago the Hybrid Credit Card gives you the best of both worlds. You collect points in the credit card’s reward program which can then be used for flexible travel redemptions via the card’s travel agency or any travel supplier with a few cards but you also have the option of converting those points into airline or hotel programs. The top two cards in the hybrid category are the American Express Gold Rewards Card and the RBC Visa Infinite Avion card. For a comparison of the current hybrid cards in the Canadian market check-out our Hybrid Credit Card comparison chart.
I pledge to save money on my travels and online shopping!
With the Canadian dollar slowly losing traction and analysts expecting it to dip below 90 cents, many frequent travelers and online shoppers will be looking at ways to save money. One way to do this is to get a credit card that comes with a no foreign transaction fee feature. Our favourite in this category is the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Card which not only has the no forex fee but also includes a host of other bonuses that will get you free nights and elite status with Marriott. If this card is not your cup of tea the Sears Voyage MasterCard and Amazon.ca Rewards Visa Card also feature no forex fees.
I’m going to get that Elite Status !
One thing you can strive for in 2014 is to achieve or requalify for elite status in 2015. It is never to early to start this and should be a strategy right from the get go. Whether it is the short cut to Star Alliance Gold with Aegean Airlines Miles&Bonus or getting free status with Le Club accorhotels and then using that to get status matches from other hotels chains, being an Elitist definitely makes travel easier and more enjoyable. We even have a page Rewards Canada tracking elite status bonus offers, status matches and more. Check it out here: rewardscanada.ca/statusoffers.html
