Discussions

I'd like my spouse and I to have a joint account wherein we make all family purchases on a credit card that earns points for travel in the future. Id love to have our family fly on trips occasionally. Any suggestions on the best card for earning points towards this?

AMEX Aeroplan miles. Some places also give Aeroplan, like Home Hardwar, so I double dip. They are affiliated with AC and AC is dumping them in a few years.  
 
Watch which airlines code share. AC and United do. WestJet and Delta share.

Rbc world elite master card is in my opinion the best travel rewards credit card on the market  
 
Info on RBC's website.

A lot depends on where you want to go. I have Aeroplan, Air miles and AMEX gold reward which can convert 1:1 to aeroplan if I want. I find Aeroplan is better for Europe with Air Canada but Air Miles is good for North America. I am booked to go to Hawaii flight and hotel paid for with Airmiles. AMEX rewards can be used to pay for taxes as well the flight which can be any flight any airline. Having said that Aeroplan can be used for package holidays too, I just prefer to use them to go to Europe and have gotten some good deals like flight Winnipeg to London England for 26,000 miles instead of 60,000. Of course it all depends on when you travel too.

I’ve been to Hawaii twice on mine in the last four years. Once by myself and once with my husband!

Do you mean your air fare to Hawaii was paid for with your points both times? Are these points accumulated with making regular personal purchases such as groceries etc?

Im amazed that people can accumulate enough points to fly a family. How does this work...do points add up making just regular every day personal purchases?

Our family of 5 have used air miles for 3 different trips. Years ago we all went to Disney and paid for the flights (we had to pay a bit for taxes) and van rental for 2 weeks all with air miles.  
 
Another year we all flew to Toronto and again paid for the flights and car rental all on Air Miles .  
 
Most recently 4 of us (oldest is grown and gone) flew to Vancouver on Air Miles.  
 
We make sure to use our Air Miles card every time we shop at the Air Miles merchants, i.e. Sobeys, Safeway, Shell, Staples, MLCC, etc. We also have a BMO MasterCard that earns 1 Air Mile for every $15 spent. We pay for as much as we can of our normal expenses on the MasterCard, like house insurance, autopac, groceries, phone bill, any major purchases, etc and transfer the money right away from our bank account so we never carry a balance or overspend. There's actually a BMO MasterCard that earns more Air Miles but it comes with an annual fee which I don't want pay so I haven't gotten it.  
 
I'm actually amazed how fast the Miles accumulate...we actually don't spend a lot, just basic expenses.  
 
In the last 6 months we've accumulated over 5000 Air Miles toward our next adventure.

1. Use your credit card as much as you can instead of a debit card.  
2. Most importantly, pay it off in full every month.  
 
If you don't pay it off in full, then you are paying a lot of money in interest, which will cost you several times more than the dollar value of any points that you earn.  
 
I've earned over $4,000 in free groceries at SuperStore, all from using their MasterCard as much as possible and paying it off every month.  
 
Good luck.

Most people cannot do it. I funnel my purchases through either AMEX or debit. Amex MUST be paid, in full, the 15th of every month. So? It is a no interest CC. Plus? generous terms.  
 
I have a large bill this week. I will pay it on Friday the 19th, my cut-off day. That comes due, March 15th, seven (7) weeks later.  
 
I get a flight, somewhere, every year.

I read an article a few years ago that said dollar for dollar Westjets credit card pays the biggest return.

We use the American Express card for as many purchases as possible. We earn points faster than with our Visa Card. Amex card has an annual fee of $99 for main card and $29 for associate card.  
 
The points can be redeemed with a simple phone call. You have to have used Amex to purchase travel in the past twelve months. If you simply wish to redeem points you can but at a lesser rate.  
 
 
Last year I had an accident and because I bought with Amex all expenses were covered.  
 
By using our card for bulk of purchase we earn $700 to $1000 worth each year. I know of farmers who use cards to purchase chemicals etc and earn exponentially more.  
 
My Visa also earns points but at about half the rate.

They have real customer service.

I just have the regular Westjet. Find the upper Westjet for 2 cards I don't use it enough to justify the card fees. We put on $35-$40 a month.

Yes on mine was just the airfare. I use it for everything and make sure it’s paid off. MTs direct bills, Shaw direct etc. I make a payment to my Visa with every pay and I know when these bills will be charged so most of the time there’s a credit when the bill comes through. It’s 45,000 points to get to Hawaii plus taxes. I just saved up a little longer and had the taxes paid with points too!

https://www.ratehub.ca/  
 
Westjet worked out best for me.  
 
Marpet

if you travel at least once a year the world elite RBC mastercard easily pays for it's $99 fee you also get a higher % back on purchases vs the regular RBC westjet MC. There is a qualifying income of $75k single or $110 household so there is that to consider too