Thursday, January 20, 2011

Comparison of my point programs

I had been thinking about doing this for a while. For comparison sake I used my travel rewards programs to compare travel from Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to three locations. Have you ever wondered how much you would need to spend on your credit card to get a reward?

Vancouver to Los Angeles (LAX) Stay for 1 week, round trip.

CIBC Aerogold Card gives you 1.5 aeroplan points per $1 spent.
60,000 aeroplan points
Spend $40,000

TD Visa First Class Travel 3 travel points per $1 spent
You can book through TD travel rewards or any travel site & get reimbursed. 10000 points = $50 travel. I found you would need 50,000 points.
Spend $16,666

TD Elite gives your 1% on all purchases. Take that money and go to Expedia YVR to LAX $346. You need to spend $34,600 to earn a free ticket to Hollywood.

Vancouver to Hong Kong (HKG) stay for 1 week, round trip

CIBC Aerogold Card gives you 1.5 aeroplan points per $1 spent.
Best Value Offer 75,000 aeroplan points
Spend $50,000 BUT when I tried to pick a date there was not availability. I tried shoulder date but nothing was available except in Business Class or a 36 hr return with two stop overs.

RBC Cathay Pacific gives you 1 point per $1 spent
60,000 points.
Spend $60,000

Td Elite 1% back & Expedia
Ticket costs $1875 flying Cathay Pacific non stop
Go spend $187,500.

So it would seem to me if you want travel then a travel card is preferred over a rebate card. However, my beef with Aeroplan remains, I am never able to pick the days that I want to travel even if it is the random week of January 22 to January 29.

Any one any better programs?