Looking at Rove, and there are hotel options at my destination for an upcoming domestic trip. Downsides are the prices are in USD so I'll get hit with a foreign transaction fee if I use (for example) my Marriott Bonvoy AMEX to book a Marriott property - annoying when the double/triple dipping seems to be the big draw for Rove. I haven't done the math to see if the additional cost is worth it.

Wondering if other Canadians are using Rove and find it worthwhile.

How difficult is ANA with names?

Hi! Hoping to get some insight from anyone who may have had a similar situation.

I booked an award flight (10 months ago) with Aeroplan points to fly from YYZ (Toronto) to HND (Tokyo) in Jan 2027.

There are two legs YYZ>JFK (operated by AC business), then JFK>HND (ANA first class), and return flight HND>ORD (ANA), ORD>YYZ(AC).

I have 2 last names and a middle name on my passport so AA BB CC DD. I don’t usually use my second last name and have had no issues travelling internationally in the past with various airlines including AC using only AA CC on the ticket (but not to Asia and not with ANA). When I purchased the award tickets, I used AA CC as the name on my ticket.

My concern is that I’m not sure if the name on the ticket has to match 100% with the name on my passport (AA BB CC DD vs AA CC) for ANA. A lot of posts mention that asian airlines and ANA are particularly strict about names and that your name must match 100% or you will be denied boarding. I am not able to cancel and rebook because there is no more award availability for the dates I booked.

I spoke to an Aeroplan agent and they recommended to cancel and rebook (which is not an option given no more award availability-we booked a year out to be able to find availability in First and business class at a decent award rate). I am also travelling with my spouse so rescheduling to a different date is not possible.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be amazing.

Thank you in advance!

Earlier this year i bought a Samsung tv and it came with a promo gift card for a website called TLC travel https://ss-tvappliance.tlcjourneys.com/home?action=home

I have not been able to find much use for my credit on this website i find the bookings are usually overpriced and come with restrictions does anybody on here have any experience booking on this website or have any tips or tricks would hate to have my credit go to waste it expires at the of the year.

Hi - we'd like to take our family of 4 on a trip to Europe using points at least for business class flights (hotels would be nice too, but may be trickier if we don't have a specific destination in mind?) Destination and timing flexible. I'd like to start earning points now. I'm thinking an AMEX Cobalt and then signing up for a points card with a good bonus? Aeroplan vs RBC Avion?

I've seen mention of churning cards, which I'm slightly concerned about in case I forget to cancel/downgrade the card. Although I guess in that case I just eat the yearly fee and still come out ahead in terms of points values?

What would be your strategy in this case?

Editing to add: I will have one or two trips to London (UK) for work coming up, and pay for those on a personal card (and get reimbursed) so maybe that's an opportunity to use the right card to maximize the points I can accumulate?

Amex points balance: 184,000
Aeroplan points balance: 38,000

Hi all, I have never redeemed my travel points and do not understand the best way to do so. Hoping someone can point me to some resources I can look at and offer advice.

My next trip would most likely be to China in October 2028. I would be booking a one-way into Shanghai on the way there and then I’d leave out of Beijing back to Toronto.

I’d ideally not want to do the flights in economy and am willing to pay a bit of a cash difference when booking with points. But not sure how all this works so I’d be fine with economy if the other options are too pricey

I have a few hundred thousand RBC Avion points and would like to find a good Toronto to Europe flight for a family of 5.

I have been reading and experiencing myself the poor redemption. They advertise 65,000 for round trip points to Europe but then theres $1000 in taxes and fees, making the actual point redemption nearly worthless. Then theres 1 point = 1 cent but from what I’ve read, that’s amongst the worst redemption rate.

So I ask thus community, what’s the best way to get a decent deal on a flight to Europe? Young kids so really only prefer direct flights that are non-stop (so that British airways transfer isn’t ideal, I don’t think, because it would mean a super long travel day stopping in London).

And to make matters worse, a family of 5 has a hard time redeeming hotels in Europe via RBC too.

Any advice?

Hey folks, I see RBC WestJet card offers companion pass that is convertible to 200$ voucher for WestJet vacation booking. Tried reading terms and conditions but can’t find anything: are these stackable? Like if I get multiple companion passes and convert each one to these vouchers, can I use multiple vouchers in single booking? Or is there a “one voucher per booking” rule? Thanks!

I can't figure out how to do CIBC Aventura visa fixed point flight redemption. When I go to CIBC Reward, all I got is flexiable redemption , like ticket is $587 and it will cost me 58700 points. Never see any options for the redemption chat. Anyone know how to get that?

Good morning and happy Thanksgiving weekend all!

I found a flight in Sept. from YVR-HKG-Phuket I want to book and I transferred RBC Avion to Cathay on Oct. 8th. Any recent data points on how long it will actually take to arrive in Cathay?

Also opened a Cathay Neo MC, and again, any data points on how long the welcome bonus (not spend bonus) takes to land in Cathay?

And finally any feedback on the YVR-HKG flight in J class, and the Pier One lounge in HKG?

Thanks!!

Has anyone resolved an unused Aventura flight booking originally made through Merit after CIBC changed its travel provider to Expedia?

My elderly mother booked WestJet flights in June 2024 for September–October 2024 using cash and Aventura points. I’m her necessary travelling companion, and an injury prevented me from accompanying her. She cancelled through Merit, and a replacement ticket was issued in February 2025 for September–October 2025, with an additional payment.

That trip was also cancelled because I remained unable to travel. She was told the redeemed points remained attached to the ticket.

Merit’s cancellation email required rebooking by September 15, 2026 and directed her to Merit or WestJet. In June/July 2026, WestJet told her the ticket was “good until October 15.” She recorded that date on her receipt and relied on it, although no written extension was provided.

She was ready to rebook on September 21, but repeated calls led in circles: Merit said it no longer handled Aventura, Expedia required an itinerary number it had never issued, and WestJet directed her back to the agency. On three occasions between September 21 and October 2, WestJet indicated the ticket remained active or open.

CIBC Client Care is now investigating possible points reinstatement. We’ve also complained to WestJet and contacted TICO. Refunds have not been processed, and no points reinstatement has been confirmed.

Has anyone managed to:

• Have a legacy Merit ticket serviced through CIBC by Expedia?
• Recover both the cash-paid portion and redeemed Aventura points?
• Obtain a clear accounting of the original redemption and subsequent ticket exchange?

We prefer a refund and points restoration but would consider restored travel value. I have a detailed timeline and supporting records.

Hi all,

I’m planning a trip from Toronto to Tokyo for 2 people in Economy. From my research, I can book this via Qatar Airways using Avios for roughly 50k points per person, each way (total ~200k Avios).

Here is my current stash:
RBC ION+: 70k Avion points
Amex Cobalt: 60k MR points

My Proposed Plan:

1. Apply for the RBC Avion Visa Infinite to tap into the welcome bonus (currently 35k points on approval). 

2. Pool my ION+ points into the new Avion Infinite account, bringing the total to 105k Avion points.

3. Wait for a British Airways transfer bonus (hoping for a 30% bonus around Nov/Dec) to boost the 105k Avion points up to 136.5k Avios.

4. Product Switch / Downgrade the RBC Avion Visa Infinite to a no-fee card (like the standard RBC ION or a no-fee cash-back card) to trigger a prorated annual fee refund and not take a hit to my credit history/score

5. Transfer Amex MR points directly to BA Avios (60k MR = 60k Avios), putting my combined total at 196.5k Avios.

6. Top up the remaining balance through everyday organic spend to hit the 200k Avios mark and book the Qatar Airways flights

Does this sequence make sense? Anything else I should be aware of?

Hi everyone! I have a few trips coming up and was curious to ask the points gurus on what everyone’s recommendation is!

I have 3 trips upcoming. A quick trip to Calgary, a trip to Greece, and a trip to Toronto. I have 101k points with avion. What is the best to use the points for?

I was looking into Greece through the 65k max thing, but what I couldn’t understand was that the fares and taxes in addition to the 65k was still like $950 dollars? Even though I did fixed? That doesn’t seem like a super good deal to me.

Would be curious to learn if I’m doing anything wrong. Thank you! Apologies if I’m asking a dumb question

I've noticed in my Amex account that I can refer someone for 100k bonus points instead of the normal 60k points for the personal gold. I'm wondering if there's a way to manifest those offers from amex for other credit cards or if it's random. I'm planning on referring family and friends if possible and they are interested.

I'm also curious what the best offer possible is ? Is 100k for the personal amex gold a good opportunity for my wife or work friends that are into travel ?

I've been listening to a lot of ChooseFI and they constantly talk about travel hacking. So I've tried to start doing so in Canada.

Resources are pretty limited, but I do like mileopedia for an initial search, then I take everything into my own spreadsheet.

I use three different credit cards in normal life - 3 different spending buckets for my family - so I recently signed up for 3 new credit cards that had good sign up bonuses and some other good perks.

After a couple months I'm ready to churn the first card. However I surprisingly was denied for two cards - one of which I even got a promotional offer as "pre approved". I presume it's because I've had too many credit card applications in a short period of time, although my credit rating is still excellent (840+).

I'm curious if anyone else has attempted to do this in Canada and what has worked for you?

I recently got an Avion Visa Infinite card because of a targeted bonus + FYF promo. Looking at their redemption rates for flights which is supposed to offer the most value, the taxes seem excessive. In some cases, taxes account for more than 50% of the market price of the flight. In almost all flights I looked at, the excessive taxes make it impossible to use them for bookings. Here’s an example (I have at least 10 others like this):

One-way from Vancouver to Hong Kong:
With RBC Avion Rewards: 50K points + $350 taxes
With Aeroplan: 45K points + $60 taxes
Note: I do have 15% cardholder discount with Aeroplan points currently but without it I get 52K points for this flight which is not that far off from RBC points.

Given this massive difference in value and the fact that earning rate is not that different from Aeroplan reward cards (Aeroplan being significantly better if using Amex Cobalt), then why use RBC Avion at all? I could make a case for Avion in case of availability issues for Aeroplan but with these amounts of cash I will spend out of pocket, I’d rather buy the ticket with cash direct from the airline.

How do you make sense of the Avion rewards program? How do you redeem your points?

Hello, I booked a UA flight via Avion Rewards and then subsequently made some changes (after 24 hours). It took a long while for a call centre agent to get it done but he said I was lucky. Not only the change was free but I will also receive some refunds from UA for the price difference (~USD $100). He reminds that as the refund comes from UA, I can call UA to ask refund to go back to my method of payment.

However, later today I received an email from UA saying the refund has become travel credits and it's valid for a year.

As there's a bit of a wait time for calling both Avion and UA, I wanted to ask here and see if any of you had dealt with similar situation before? Can the travel credits really become a refund back to my credit card?

Lots of availability for Tokyo to LAX December 9-10, 2026 on American Airlines. 77.3k Avios on Qatar Airways portal or 85k on British Airways.

We have 300k Avion points. I’m looking at tickets from Toronto to Tokyo (return Osaka to Toronto) - 3 adults. July 2027. I’m using the fixed price grid and finding Air Canada return tickets for 100k points + $1100 in fees/taxes.

When I check the AC website*, same flight is $922 base fare + $1100 in fees/taxes. So that’s a redemption rate of 100k Avion points for $922 in air fare. Pretty abysmal.
\ far more flight options on the AC website that aren’t showing on the Avion travel page*

What am I doing wrong/missing? Is there a way to get more from my Avion points? Should I just pay cash for the airfare and save the points for hotels? Although I’m not sure the redemption rate will be any better.

ps More and more I am realizing the Avion redemption rates even on their fixed grid is not a lot of value. I can probably do better on a 2% cash back card. :(

TLDR at the bottom.

Used AI to make my ramblings shorter and concise but completely my own experience.

My last post called Avion a scam, which was frivolous — I was mid-way through booking a family return flight to China, Avion let me down badly, and I ended up dumping my points into RRSP/TFSA transfers and cancelling the card for a fee refund.

Why Avion loses to cashback:

1. Fixed points redemptions are rigged by the fare breakdown. 100,000 points for $2,000 off base fare sounds great until you look at real fares. Jan–Mar 2027 non-stop to Hong Kong on Cathay: $1,600 base, $800 surcharges. China Southern to Guangzhou: $1,100 base, $700 surcharges. Same pattern for Europe and Africa — low base, high surcharge. If the split weren't deliberate, why not just have one redeemable ticket price? To anyone claiming fixed beats flex: name one flight where fixed beats flex before you comment sometimes fixed beats flex!

2. Without fixed redemptions, you're on flex at 100 pts = $1 — matching a 1% cashback card, except worse, because not every airline is bookable through Avion. RBC advertises "over 500 carriers" and publishes no list. Air China (China's flag carrier) isn't bookable, online or by phone — and it had the cheapest direct option for me at $1,400 to Beijing. So my points were worth nothing on the best flight available.

3. RRSP/TFSA transfers are 120 pts = $1, worse than 1% cashback. Promos occasionally hit 100:1, but Avion cards start at $120/year — versus free 1% cards everywhere.

4. Transfer partners don't fix it. Cathay was $2,400 direct to HKG; China Southern $1,800 to CAN, an hour from Hong Kong by high-speed rail. Transferring your balance on a promo locks you into a narrow set of carriers that may not be the cheapest route to where you're going. Plus, it is more hoops to jump through, more reliance on promotion timings for both points transfer and air fare discounts.

TLDR:
Skip Avion, get a flat cashback card. Cashback wins the large majority of the time, and the rare cases where Avion wins require hoops, luck, and perfect timing.

If RBC gives you points (mortgage, etc.), if you are willing to pay the $120 annual fee, value them at 120 pts = $1 cash, or 100 pts = $1 for travel — otherwise its 172 pts = $1.

So I have approximately 250000 Avion points. Our initial vacation plans was to fly to the Maldives, so I was going to transfer my points to be able to book on Qatar Airlines. We have since changed our minds and wish to go to Bora Bora instead.

Am I correct in stating that there really isn't a great use of Avion points to transfer to another points program for flights or even Hotel points for this trip?

Any recommendation for the best use of our points.

Any airline? No Air China, I'm sure there are many other airline providers that are excluded as well.

Not worth the pain.

I’ve been building RewardGalaxy, an Android app for managing points, credit cards, and travel — and I’d really appreciate some feedback from this community.

The app is live and usable, but still very much a work in progress. I'm actively adding and updating data every day, and one of the biggest parts of that process is making the data community-curated.

What does that mean?

Users can submit new information or suggest updates, but submissions don't go live automatically. Moderators review and approve changes before they're published. The idea is to get the best of both worlds: keep the data fresh and continuously improving, without turning it into an unmoderated free-for-all.

What it does

💳 Tracker — See your entire loyalty portfolio at a glance, including point balances and expiry dates.

🔥 Deals Feed — Live deals for flights, hotels, credit card offers, points sales, and more.

🔔 Alerts — Get notified before your points expire so you don’t lose them.

🌎 Global Credit Card Catalogue — 150+ cards across Canada, US, India, UK, Australia & Singapore, with more countries being added regularly.

💬 Community Lounge — Chat, share tips, and vote on posts.

💳 My Card Perks — Track recurring card credits and never miss a redemption window.

📊 Renewal Advisor — Get data-driven Keep / Cancel / Evaluate verdicts for your cards based on your actual usage.

✈️ Flight Journal — Log your flights and track lifetime travel stats.

💰 Points or Cash? — Instantly calculate whether a redemption is worth using points or paying cash.

🔐 Secure Cloud Sync — Hardware-backed encryption for synced data.

It’s Android-only for now - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rewardgalaxy.app

I’d especially love feedback from people who are deep into points, miles, credit cards, and travel: What would make an app like this genuinely useful enough that you’d keep coming back to it?

Hi everyone! I recently learned about the transfer program that BA has available. I bank with RBC and have ~130k avion points. I want to book a flight from YWG to HEL for next February and was wondering if you lovely people have some tips/tricks for using points? Totally new to using points for travel.

I'm aware that there is no direct flight from YWG to HEL, so I was thinking maybe a flight from YWG to FRA makes the most sense using points, then pay for a ryanair flight to HEL? Please help!!