| Air Miles and Aeroplan points. The two biggest | | | | In my other articles, I value an Air Mile at 23 |
| travel rewards programs. There is always the | | | | cents/mile for flights and I value an Aeroplan point |
| decision on which one to go with. | | | | at 1.6 cents/mile for flights. You can read them to |
| This will provide a bit of an analysis on them and | | | | see how I figure that out (links above). Using the |
| which one I think is better. Personally, I think you | | | | $10,000/year situation, it would be in my best |
| should sign up for both, since the programs are | | | | interest to pay the fee for the best credit cards. |
| free. There are credit cards that allow you to | | | | That would be the $120/year CIBC AeroGold |
| collect more miles and that is what I am going to | | | | Visa and the $80/year BMO Gold Mosaik |
| focus on. For the record, I am going to assume | | | | Mastercard. |
| points were obtained from a credit card alone and | | | | The Visa card would give me 15,000 aeroplan |
| that the individual put $10,000 on their credit card | | | | miles. These are valued at 15,000 times 1.6 cents |
| in one year. I will also assume they are using their | | | | or $240. Since I had to pay $120 for the yearly |
| rewards for travel. | | | | fee I would get $120 back from my spending. |
| Basically, both programs are good. They are free | | | | The Mastercard would give me 666 Air Miles. |
| to sign up and free to collect for most situations. | | | | These are valued at 666 times 23 cents or |
| Using the credit cards and paying fees change | | | | $153.18. Since I had to pay $80 for the yearly fee |
| things though. Air Miles is the only one with a "no | | | | I would get $73.18 back from my spending. |
| fee" credit card (Bank of Montreal's Mosaik | | | | I'm getting better value out of my Aeroplan Visa |
| Mastercard) and whether paying the fees is worth | | | | card? Yes, in this situation you are. I used the |
| it to you or not, you need to read my other | | | | "travel rewards" scenario where an Air Mile is |
| articles to figure that out. | | | | worth around 23 cents. |
| The basic air miles Mosaik Mastcard is free so | | | | However, Air Miles has a variety of rewards and |
| that is a no brainer if you want it. I figure you | | | | entertainment rewards are worth up to 45 cents |
| need to put at least $3600/year on the basic | | | | mile. You can only get these with an Air Miles card |
| CIBC AeroClassic Visa card (the Aeroplan credit | | | | (this isn't totally true, but there are so many |
| card) to make it worth your while there. For | | | | more rewards with Air Miles you can't really |
| most people, that isn't a problem. | | | | compare them). In that scenario the Air Miles card |
| I wrote two articles that show how much an air | | | | actually would give you $220 back from your |
| mile is worth and how much an aeroplan point is | | | | spending (after deducting the $80 fee). |
| worth. They are in both of these two articles... | | | | Go to the full article using the link below to see |
| Collecting Air Miles and Their Value | | | | the pros and cons and further comparisons that |
| Collecting Aeroplan Points and Their Value | | | | are not covered here. |