Looking for a little input here from folks, particularly my Canadian readers.
I have a lot of flights in my future if I ever want to visit DS at college to see him play or fly him home at Christmas etc.
I bank with BMO and use their BMO air miles CC...the one with no fee. I get one reward mile for every $20 in purchases. I am wondering if I should choose to get one of the other airmiles cards where there IS a yearly fee, but the ratio of dollars spent to miles earned is better.
I would be using it for flights down to the US and back and those days would be rather specific so I would not want to fight 'blackout' times.
I really haven't used my airmiles for much beyond some gift redemeptions.
Thoughts? suggestions?
Tuesday, Nice weekend!
1 day ago
5 comments:
I don't have an Air Miles or any of the flying points credit cards. I use Dividend cards that offer cashback at the end of the year so I can't really give you feedback on any...
But here are the questions I'd pose to help organize your thoughts and research:
1-What is your average spend on your current credit card?
2-How does the other reward systems work on the other cards?
3-What is the annual fee of the other reward cards?
4-What are the limitations on your current card & the other comparable cards?
a) Do these points/rewards expire? And if so, when?
b) Do you know what the blackout times are for either and how they'd affect the dates you require?
c) Do the rewards allow you to go to the city that you want to go (ie: there's no point in using a card if you need flights to Dallas, and it doesn't allow you to use it)
Mathematically, figure it out - probably works best on an Excel Sheet. In case scenario, if you spend annually $25K.
a) How many points would you receive on your current card vs the other cards? What is the difference?
b) Is there enough points to get you where you even need to go (ie: they might let you go there but you might need 100,000 points and you only bank 100 a year.)
c) On average, how much is a flight to the destination city cash-wise?
Then it's a basic math & comparison table. Good luck!
Oh wow great questions Pear. I have some investigations to do. Thanks!
I usually use my Airmiles to redeem for merchandise too, not flights. What a lot of people don't realize is you have to pay for taxes and fuel surcharges, so there is no such thing as a free flight.
I have the $99 fee BMO card that has me earning 1 mile per $15 spent. Do as Asian Pear suggested and use a spreadsheet to see what your best value card will be.
I also have the Gold BMO Airmiles credit card ($99 annual fee) 1 airmile for every $15 spent. I usually bring this card down to the silver (no fee/$20 for 1 airmile) if I'm not planning a trip in that year, because the main reason I would have the Gold vs the Silver is the 25% off the required airmiles for a trip. Basically, the $99 fee has to pay for itself (which it would if you book a trip and use 25% less airmiles). Otherwise, stick with the no fee.
You might too look into a flight pass with westjet or air canada. Sometimes you can prepay for a set of flights at a cheaper rate. If .you know your son is not going to be traded...would have to look AT the fine print..
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