Choosing the Best Points Program for Your Trip

1. Identify the airlines serving your destination

Let’s say your dream is going on a once-in-a-lifetime safari in Africa in Kenya next year; you will first need to find out the routes available to Nairobi, the capital, before selecting the best points program for your trip.

The ideal tool for this is Flight Connections.

As we can quickly see here, there are eight routes with one stop from Montreal to Nairobi via the following cities:

• Cairo
• Amsterdam
• New York
• Frankfurt
• London Heathrow
• Paris
• Istanbul
• Doha

Flight Connections also lists an additional 20 routes with two stops, so it’s up to you whether you’re ready to embark on a longer journey or not. When we skim through the results, we can see that Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi is very well served by many airlines and cities.

By identifying the airlines, you’ll also find their alliances and the different programs where you can book. In this case, Nairobi is linked by all three major ones: Star Alliance, OneWorld and Skyteam.

2. Determine whether you have a preferred route or airline

After the first step, if you know you absolutely want to visit Egypt as well, chances are that your search to select the best points program for your trip will end here.

Indeed, the fastest route between Montreal to Nairobi via Cairo will be on Air Canada and Egypt Air, which are members of Star Alliance. While that is not the only way, it is the quickest journey and most convenient. Therefore, you will most certainly resort to Aeroplan and their 5000-points stopover option.

Similarly, if you wish to fly in a specific plane or the amazing Qsuites, you will have to turn to Avios and Qatar Airways Privilege Club for example.

3. Getting There as Cheaply as Possible

However, if you are open to flying any routes, you will have to do some more research to pay the least.

If we take our example to Nairobi, we know all three major alliances serve it. From here, we’ll look at our choices with Aeroplan (Star Alliance), Flying Blue (Skyteam) and Avios (Oneworld).

Why only search among those to find out the best points program for your trip? There are endless options, but I would limit my search to them as their points are easier to accumulate in Canada (directly or via transfer).

Here’s an example of transfer ratios for the American Express Membership Rewards program:

Should you wish to do a complete search, I would repeat this exercise with other programs at your disposal, such as Delta Skymiles, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, American Airlines AAdvantage, United MileagePlus, and so on. When you need to search through the inventory of several different programs, consider using a tool like Roame to simplify the task. Indeed, Roame can search for the best prices and find availability on several different platforms simultaneously.

By searching for each program, you can analyze the best points program for your trip for your destination and dates; inputting the same dates as dynamic pricing will be something to consider, and the result will depend on your situation.

Additionally, we look for the cheapest cash rate on Google Flights to compare if points are the way to go or if you should book with cash.

With Aeroplan:

With Avios via Qatar Airways Privilege Club:

With Avios via British Airways Club:

With Flying Blue:

In cash:

4. Compare Different Award Prices

To find out which points program is best for you, you should now compare the award prices you just found for that round-trip ticket to Nairobi,

As you can see, it will cost you more Avios to fly British Airways than Qatar Airways. Same Avios currency, but very different pricing. Because of that, we’ll drop the British Airways option from our comparison in the next step.

When you lay out these choices side by side, we can also see that Air France Flying Blue requires the least number of points. However, points do not hold the same value, and the amount of taxes and fees are very different, so it’s crucial to bring it back to the same currency to evaluate your options.

Since you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to any of these programs, we’ll use that currency. So you can also use them to cover airfare, taxes and fees. So it’s a great way to compare before choosing the best travel rewards program for your destination.

As you can see here, the best points program for your trip for this situation would be by paying in cash (so either points for statement credits or cashback rewards) when you consider the total number of points in addition of taxes and fees..

I wouldn’t redeem Aeroplan for this particular flight because the valuation of a point is much lower than Milesopedia’s 2 ¢.

($1,183 – $216.83) ÷ 100,700 × 100 = 0.96¢

Instead, you can use your Versatile Membership Rewards points to get a statement credit on your flight purchase; you’ll need 118,300 Membership Rewards points to do this, compared to the 122,383 Membership Rewards points needed when transferring to Aeroplan.

There are also a lot of other programs that will give you a statement credit when you redeem their points on flights you book in cash:

• NBC Rewards
• TD Rewards
• Aventura Points
• Scene+
• RBC Avion Rewards
• Cash Back

As the number of points can fluctuate, the best points program for your trip may not be the same for your trip to Nairobi.

Also, changing the class of service can shuffle everything on how to choose the best points program for your trip. If we do the same exercise for business class, here are the results:

($7,279 – $216.93) ÷ 165,200 × 100 = 4.27¢

If you want to make the same trip, but in the front cabin, the best points program for your trip is Aeroplan if you’re looking for the cheapest way to travel and the best return on your points.

Unfortunately, there’s no one clear-cut answer to choosing the best rewards program for your destination. You need to repeat this exercise for each of your different projects and dates. Choosing the best travel rewards program will depend on comparing what’s available.

5. Other Factors to Consider

As we mentioned, if you want to combine two trips, such as Istanbul and a safari in Kenya, the most convenient route will be Aeroplan and its stopover option.

If you dream of seeing Paris instead of Turkey, Flying Blue’s free stopover might be more fitting for you as you might face Aeroplan’s dynamic pricing since the YUL-CDG leg is on Air Canada.

Similarly, if you are travelling with a child between the age of 2-11, Flying Blue offers a 25% discount on the miles rate when the other programs will charge you a full fare; you’ll have to repeat the search and comparison with the appropriate party number.

There’s also a question of availability; perhaps there are hardly any seats left on Turkish Airlines or Aeroplan and the only way to reach your goal of visiting both Turkey and East Africa might be with Flying Blue Miles, to Istanbul with KLM via Amsterdam and then with Kenya Airways afterwards.

Then there’s the possibility of accumulating points, when you think of the best points programs for your trip to Japan, it’s often mentioned that Alaska Mileage Plan can get you there from 35,000 miles in economy class and 70,000 miles in business class.

But, in Canada, getting those points will be trickier than Aeroplan, so that’s also something you should evaluate. Sure, you can buy those miles while a promotion is underway! If you do so, that’s another option you should add to your comparison list!

Finally, if you shop mainly at Maxi or Costco, you’ll have trouble earning Membership Rewards points because Amex is not accepted. It would therefore be useful to identify the types of points you can easily earn based on your shopping habits.

For example, you could take out a TD^® Aeroplan^® Visa Infinite* Card or a National Bank World Elite Mastercard depending on what you’re focusing your earnings on (this should be easy, since we went over the thought process earlier in this article).

6. Search Tools Suggested by Milesopedia

If you don’t feel like sifting through all that research to find the best points program for your trip, there are tools you can use, such as ExpertFlyer, point.me, AwardFares, Seats.Areo, Roame, etc… They are designed to search for award rates and availability on many existing programs, and present you with the results in just one click.

They’ll search across multiple platforms, but you still need to bring it all down to the same currency (i.e. American Express Membership Rewards points) and compare your options. To use them to their full potential, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee.

Marriott Bonvoy points can also be transferred to many airline programs. But I wouldn’t rely on it because you lose out on the optimal use of these points (i.e. when redeemed for stays at Marriott Bonvoy hotels).

7. How to Choose the Best Points Program for Your Trip and the Best Credit Card?

In my Review, there’s no need to choose the best travel points program for your destination when earning Membership Rewards points, since they can be transferred to a number of other programs.

These points are the most valuable you can have. You can decide where to transfer them when you’re ready to book and when you’ve secured availability.

In addition, you can always resort to using them as a statement credit on your credit card if the lowest fare you’ve found is by purchasing a cash ticket. You can’t ask for more than having so many of ways to pay for your trip.

They are most practical for those who have many projects in mind and no set dates.

What’s more, it’s easy to accumulate them with the American Express Cobalt^® Card which makes you earn 5X points on groceries, restaurants and gift cards. This increases your earning potential, as you can get 5X points on gas, Amazon, SAQ, Netflix, Simons, etc. As far as I’m concerned, almost all my organic spending benefits from the 5X multiplier.

The American Express Cobalt^® Card can also be used indirectly to quickly accumulate points in over forty loyalty programs.

American Express also offers a number of generous welcome offers that make it quick and easy to rebuild your Membership Rewards points balance. For example, you could sign up for a American Express Platinum Card^® to maximize rewards on your next income tax or municipal property tax bill!

In addition to the boatload of points you will receive from your credit card, you will get many exciting travel benefits, such as superior travel insurance and access to over 1,300 airport lounges worldwide.

It’s worth keeping an eye on current offers when choosing the best points program for your trip. After all, the best points are the ones you get (almost) for free!

Bottom Line

Identifying the best travel points program for you can be difficult at first. But it’s like having to choose between the best currencies to pay in, and you have to bring them down to the same level to compare them. Indeed, if someone asks you whether you’d prefer to pay $100, €100, £100 or ¥100, you’re going to put all these amounts on the same currency in order to make a well-evaluated choice. Then it would be useful to see how easily you can earn them through your daily spending.

With some experience, you’ll know which program to lean on for a particular trip, but you’ll still want to search and compare to make the best choice.

In short, the best points program is Membership Rewards and the best credit card for earning points on your everyday purchases is the American Express Cobalt^® Card. The majority of our community seems to agree. But all things considered, it will depend on your situation.

What's the best gas station reward program?

Each service station has its own loyalty program:

• Shell: AIR MILES
• Esso: PC Optimum
• Ultramar, Pioneer, Fas Gas and Chevron: Journie and Aeroplan
• Petro-Canada : Petro-Points and RBC

Plus, you’ll get a double boost if you combine the loyalty program with a gas-saving credit card.

If you spend a lot of money on gas each month, your first instinct is to find a credit card that offers more rewards in the Gas Station category.

Here are 5 great cards for your gas purchases:

• 4% cash back per dollar with the CIBC Dividend^MD Visa Infinite* Card.
• 5 points per dollar of purchase (approximately 3.35%) with the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card.
• 3% cash back per dollar purchased with the BMO CashBack^® Mastercard^®*.
• 3% cash back per dollar purchased with the CIBC Dividend Platinum^® Visa* Card .