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With the summer wrapping up and the cooler weather just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to start thinking about travel plans for the fall and winter. Porter Airlines flies to more than 40 destinations for the season, and pairing its VIPorter loyalty program with the right credit card can meaningfully cut what you pay to get there.
Whether you’re planning a getaway around the holidays or a family trip over March Break, Porter Airlines offers many excellent destinations with plenty of sun and warmth. By using the airline’s loyalty program, VIPorter, and a co-branded credit card like the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®*, you earn points on every purchase and can redeem them toward getting there.
In this article, we’ll share how to maximize your VIPorter points with smart earning and redeeming strategies, and how to get more out of the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* and VIPorter Avid Traveller elite status.
If you’re hoping to take advantage of Porter’s sun destinations this fall and winter, maximizing the number of VIPorter points you earn will play a big part in helping you lower your flight costs and open up new travel opportunities. Given this, here are a few key ways to get the most VIPorter points possible:
As you can see from the list above, one of the best ways to earn VIPorter points outside of flying is to spend using the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®*. With the card, you can earn points on all your everyday spending at the following rates:
The BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* has an annual fee of $89, but this is frequently waived for the first year. Additionally (and importantly), the card typically comes with a compelling welcome offer of VIPorter points to help quickly bolster your rewards stash.
Beyond the earning rates, the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* also comes with a number of valuable perks, including:
Once you’ve got a nice pile of VIPorter points, it’s time to focus on the fun part: booking a flight with your rewards to save money on your next adventure!
Porter Airlines prices their redemptions using a dynamic system, so the cost in points will fluctuate, and you can expect it to increase as the cash fare goes up. Additionally, your VIPorter points only cover the base fare cost of your flight, so you’ll also need to pay for the taxes and fees with cash.
Unfortunately finding redemptions at the lower end of the price ranges can be more difficult during popular travel seasons, like around the holidays or March Break. Here are some additional tips to help you maximize your VIPorter points anyway:
Another great way to get the most out of your VIPorter points and experience is through the valuable perks offered by the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* and the Avid Traveller status program, here’s a closer look at the two most valuable ones.
With the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®*, the 35% off flight booking discount comes twice over. The first voucher arrives with the welcome offer, after $6,000 in purchases within 180 days of opening your account.* After that, you earn a new voucher each year you spend at least $25,000 on the card within 365 days.* BMO values each one at $535.
The voucher discounts the base fares for one-way or round-trip travel for up to 4 travellers, giving you a chance to save a considerable amount.
The BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* comes with automatic VIPorter Passport Avid Traveller status, offering some travel benefits to make your trips more convenient and enjoyable.
VIPorter Passport status not only lets you earn points faster (with an extra 6 points per $1 spent on Porter flights), but you also get a dedicated check-in line, priority security and boarding, priority call centre, and more.* Plus, if you’re able to reach the next Avid Traveller level up (i.e., VIPorter Venture), then the available perks start to add real dollar value.
At the VIPorter Venture level, you get complimentary seat selection, a complimentary carry-on, and your first checked bag is free! This status level is available automatically with the BMO VIPorter World Elite®* Mastercard®* or by meeting the $3,000 minimum qualifying spend.*
One Avid Traveller perk is worth knowing about because few programs offer it: if you are welcoming a new child to the family, you can ask Porter to extend your membership level instead of watching your status lapse while you are grounded. It applies from VIPorter Passport up.*
Learn more about VIPorter Avid Traveller elite status in our complete guide.
So once you’re ready to redeem, where exactly can you go? Porter flies to over 40 destinations across Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Costa Rica, including classic sunshine favourites like Cancun, Punta Cana, Montego Bay, and Aruba – perfect for a fall or winter getaway. Plus, thanks to Porter’s partnerships with Air Transat and Alaska Airlines, you can get to even more destinations in the Caribbean and Europe.
We’ve written a helpful guide about great destinations that you can get to with 50,000 VIPorter points or fewer, so check that out for even more travel inspiration.
In the sections just below, we’ve put together a couple example itineraries showing you some real-world redemptions to give you a better idea of what to expect when you go to book.
For our first example, imagine that you and a friend are getting ready to head out for a relaxing getaway to Montego Bay, Jamaica, to put your feet up after a busy holiday season.
A round-trip flight between Toronto (YYZ) and Montego Bay (MBJ) for two people can be booked for 40,000 VIPorter points + $875.58 in taxes and fees. The cash fare for the same flights comes in at $1,465.58, giving you a savings of $590 or a value of just under 1.5¢ per VIPorter point.
This value of 1.5¢ per point is actually exactly the amount we would aim for when redeeming VIPorter points (see our valuation information here), so this is a solid redemption option! Additionally, the 40,000 points needed could easily be earned by simply signing up for the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* and earning the welcome offer, making this tropical getaway quite accessible.
The next itinerary we’ll look at is for a family of 4 to travel from Hamilton/Toronto (YHM) to Cancun (CUN) for March Break. In this example, we were able to find a round-trip for 80,000 VIPorter points + $1,684.88 in taxes and fees. Compare this to the cash fare of $2,348.88 for the same flights, and you’re saving $664 by using your points.
As we mentioned above, we value VIPorter points around 1.5¢ each, so this redemption is coming in a fair bit short of that at only 0.8¢ per point. That said, saving over $600 could still be a worthwhile use of your points if it helps you enjoy a March Break trip with your family and gives you a week in the sun during one of the coldest months of the year.
Also, the 80,000-point redemption costs means that if both parents in the family got the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®*, the two 40,000-point welcome offers alone would earn you these savings.
For our final itinerary example, we’ll get a bit more intrepid and head to Costa Rica for a solo adventure filled with outdoor activities like surfing, hiking, zip-lining, and more.
A single round-trip fare between Toronto (YYZ) and Liberia (LIR) comes in at 39,000 VIPorter points + $345.26 in taxes and fees. The cash fare for this itinerary is $755.26, giving you a redemption value of just over 1¢ per point and a savings of $410.
Once again, we see that just by signing up for the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* and earning the 40,000-point welcome bonus, you could be on your way to a fantastic winter escape, with savings enough to maybe add an extra tour or some surf lessons.
Escaping the cold and heading to warmer destinations during the fall and winter is a favourite pastime of many Canadians. Luckily for us, loyalty programs like VIPorter can meaningfully cut what you pay to get there.
Smart earning and redeeming strategies make maximizing your VIPorter points straightforward, and our example itineraries show exactly how valuable a co-branded credit like the BMO VIPorter Mastercard®* can be.
Savings are this way:
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