What are /r/churningcanada's favorite Products & Services?

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The easiest option is probably to transfer to Westjet, Avios, hotels.com, or another partner. You can create an account in his name (they don't ask for any id to create an account). In the future, you can redeem the points for yourself from his account. Just for simplicity, to avoid bureaucracy, it's probably best not to mention his passing (if others have any experience please correct me).

If you would rather keep the points with RBC you can call and ask about their policy, but it will probably be a hassle if nobody else has an RBC card.

It depends on the type of travel you're doing and your timeframe. It's about maximizing the benefits of your cards. Travelling to Asia is a good example of this. For the trip I got the Amex Platinum. After you meet minimum spend, you get the value of the annual fee in MR points + the travel credit. However, here's some other tricks:

Priority Pass - I timed my flights throughout Asia just after meal times. Lounge food (e.g. in Singapore, etc.) is just as good as restaurants if not better. Plus in asia, you can access lounges pre-departure and upon arrival - I was always ready to go (food wise) as soon as I landed Of course, I encourage people to try local food, but you're likely not having local food all the time.

Hostels - I used my Amex to buy discounted hotels.com gift cards. Amex MR points + discounted hostels!

Hotels - every few days, I would switch from a hostel to a Marriott / SPG. Asia is incredibly worth it in terms of value for using Marriott Points. Got upgraded to a junior suite in Malaysia in one of their autograph collection hotels, only paid 10,000 Marriott Points.

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Asia aside, the same principles apply. "Extra Costs as a result of taking these trips" - it takes planning and looking for discounts (often found in gift cards / promo codes). Avoiding FX fees of 2.5% helps as well. At the end of the day, there's not a way to make a trip completely free, but you try to maximize what you have. If you still can't afford the travel related expenses, then the trip isn't something that one should take sadly.

Just to be safe, I always:

1) Open new tabs with each of the items I intend to purchase from my wish list/cart for reference when adding them back to my cart in (4) below

2) Delete the items I intend to purchase from my wish list and cart (if they are there)

3) Click through from the Aeroplan estore/ebates/GCR portal

4) Add the items I want to purchase back to my cart from the newly opened window launched by the portal in (3). Use the Amazon ASIN to search Amazon for the item you want to add. For example, if the URL is:

https://www.amazon.ca/Kilner-KLN21758-Butter-Churner-800ml/dp/B00VSLGHOI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542688868&sr=8-1&keywords=churn

...then the ASIN is B00VSLGHOI

5) Yeh I know that's overkill...but I always get my miles/cashback/rebate

Hope that makes sense :)

It has been a good week

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• AP 10x amazon points from december finally all posted
• that brought me up to AP Diamond status
• Booked Swiss J for two YUL->ZRH->YUL Feb 8th to 10th. weekend trip in two weeks!
• used hotels.com free night for the 1 night in Zurich
• redeemed 6 marriott nights in Kauai and $187 off a $300 car rental with Aventura points.
• booked Brisbane -> Vancouver -> Montreal all in Air Canada J with only $15 YQ (outbound leg was not as great, had route through beijing to get decent seats and low YQ)

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I got a pixel 3 XL ($999+tax) last night with Google Fi's offer to get a $999 travel GC (e.g., delta, airbnb, hotels.com).

Since I am using google Fi in Canada, the offer basically just gave me a new pixel 3 XL for free (paying 8% tax).

The best deal I got in black friday.

Note that you can't collect or redeem hotels.com nights when you use a discount code (including this one), so the discount is worth less, around 5%.

Hotels.com gift cards regularly go on sale for 15-20% off -- and as you can still collect nights when paying with a gift card, the "true" discount can jump to 25-35%.

The best way is for a redemption that you want. I personally would never take Hotels.com GCs since I hate using OTAs, whereas I find value in AAdvantage (although I have my gripes), WestJet (for select destinations) or BA Avios (if taxes are reasonable).

If you transfer your points to WestJet Dollars, there's no expiry. If there's a bonus (ie. 20%) then the bonus dollars would expire in 1 year's time (so the $50 bonus dollars received from transferring $250 have an expiry).

Just a regular wallet for 3 or 4 cards currently meeting MSR.

This thing for sock drawer cards, alphabetically by bank

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01EHVKJXU/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Same ! But only one week...

CAR: Aeroplan miles to book 1 wk in Mid size suv from Avis 23 000 AP

PLANE: booked AC economy on 789 as well during the promo (just got my 15 000 miles back too btw) and used eupgrade credits that came with the 25K status obtained through the earn at home promo to upgrade to Premium both ways. Also, the Maple Leaf lounge passes with 25K came in handy since we got to YYZ ridiculously early and the place was a ghost town.

HOTELS: cash for Lake Louise and Emerald Lake BC via hotels.com / 3 Nights at the Kananaskis Pomeroy booked with Marriott Bonvoy points. Upgraded to a suite and visited the Nordic Spa and used a Marriott GC I bought during a promo earlier in the year to pay off our hotel bill on check out.

MSR: wrapped up the BMO World Elite M/C and last months on TD AP VI & P2's TD AP Plat

I downloaded a free VPN (I used TunnelBear) and opened up Chrome Incognito. GCR wouldn't work with the VPN active though so I connected the VPN +Incognito and pulled up the 50 k offer from amex and left the tab open. Then I disconnected the VPN and went to the GCR cobalt page and clicked apply. 50 k offer still showed up in new window.

I literally just applied and got the pending review. Hopefully you get auto approved!

I got tired off endless spreadsheets and AwardWallet only tracks loyalty programs, not credit cards - so I created my own app. You can use it too if you have an Android device. Link

Anyone know if there is a Canadian equivalent to MaxRewards? Like an app that keeps track of your CC points/cash back, and your spending etc.

Also is there a Canadian equivalent to Privacy.com? They let you generate single use virtual credit cards to protect you from sketchy online vendors.

So if Marriott doesn't offer cancellation and Hotels.com does, I'm out of luck?

Plus, I am kind of nervous booking a room at Marriott that I can only cancel for 24 hours, what if it's not approved? Am I stuck with the room anyway?

Anybody know how long it usually take to ship Hotels.com gift cards when redeeming at RBC Rewards? Have a trip in 2 weeks and not sure if the gift cards will arrive in time if I order today..

Transfer them to any of the transfer partners that you're interested in e.g. WJD, American, Avios etc or buy some gift cards that you may use e.g. Hotels.com gift cards [for which they run % off promo pretty frequently].

>N.B. For CIBC Aventura, you can call them and have them book anything you see on Expedia, including attraction tickets. So if you find a cheaper hotel on Expedia, just call CIBC Rewards.

This is really useful information. I just burned $17,000 points on some merchandise that I didn't want because I was annoyed with the markup on the CIBC rewards center. I could compare the exact same hotel between CIBC and hotels.com and find a $50-100/night premium through the rewards center.. and the same thing was happening with flights, so I burned the points. I'll look into getting the card again in the future though and take advantage of this. Thanks!!

I have both cards and they are both good cards.

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Scotia Passport has a $149 annual fees but you can get $50 cashback from GCR.

The card also comes with 6 PriorityPass free lounge visits and no FX fees.

Points are easy to use as you can book on your own and then apply points against any travel related purchase to off set cost.

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RBC Avion currently has a promo link for 20,000pts and first year free of annual fees (see link below).

RBC Avion points can only be redeemed from RBC's portal but they are quite flexible : you can book flights and hotels but also can convert points into WestJet dollars, Avios miles, Asia Miles or American miles. You can also buy travel gift card at 1cpp so 20,000pts can buy you $200 in gift cards for hotels.com or Air Canada. And they run 15%-25% bonus from time to time.

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You can find RBC Avion promo link as well as the GRC link for $50 cashback on Scotia Passport on my list of best current offers.

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N.B. For CIBC Aventura, you can call them and have them book anything you see on Expedia, including attraction tickets. So if you find a cheaper hotel on Expedia, just call CIBC Rewards.

AM/WJD/Aventura cannot be converted to other points, however RBC Avion points can be converted to WJD, American, Avios and you can also buy Hotels.com gift cards using points when they run promos which is pretty much every quarter. Not a great value but you can apply Aventura points as statement credit.

Do you have status with some hotel chains ? Do you think you could get 116$ of value off booking with the brand themselves and get your status benefits?

For me its a no brainer as 116$ is almost enough for another hotel night and I dont have status that grant much room upgrade! (only hilton & marriot gold ... so maybe if I was going for the free breakfast at a hilton ?)

Never had any issue with expedia. My only issue was with hotels.com where the hotels didnt end up receiving my reservation

I stayed at Crowne plaza recently, booked using hotels.com(couldn't add rewards number while booking), I gave them my rewards number at check-in and the front desk agent was nice enough to extend me the benefits of my IHG status after checking the account details online. However it shows up in my IHG account activity as "Non-Qualifying Stay: Online Travel Agency Reservation".

Thanks!

Avios = British Airways. You can book any one world partner.

Avion = RBC points - can transfer to avios, can also buy hotels.com giftcards, etc.

Yes to MR and Avion being 1:1 transfer (more during bonus periods for RBC).

I have enough BW points from the CC for a single night in SFO. We're going to be there 4 nights, so I'll be paying for three. I do, however, have 25k Avion points I can turn into $250 at Hotels.com.

My current plan is to book one night with BW directly, with points, and three additional nights on Hotels.com and use a gift card. Then, I'm hoping I can just ask the desk to ensure I keep the same room.

Thoughts? A better solution?

I've booked IHG properties through Rakuten US. They often have 12-15% cashback. Other hotel chains like Marriott, Hilton and Fairmont are there as well, but I haven't seen really high cashback from those (mostly 2-3%). I've also purchased NordVPN subscriptions through the site.

For a detailed review of NordVPN (and many other VPN providers), I would suggesting checking out this site.

For those of you that use US Rakuten and use a VPN regularly, they are offering 40MR/$ for NordVPN.

It’s costs ~125 USD for three years.

If you’re a new account holder and sign up through the right link you get a 3000MR bonus after your first purchase of 25USD or more. (just google “3000MR for rakuten sign up”)

In total, I earned:

125$x40MR/$ = 5000 MR New sign up bonus = 3000 MR 125x1MR/$ = 125

Total MR = 8125

I referred a friend who also uses NordVPN and he purchased through my link = 25USD

So in total I earned 8125MR and 25USD.

Not the best but still decent earning for something I use regularly.

I have a different model of Breville espresso maker (this one) and I love it. Use it every day. Was a drip coffee drinker before buying it.

Trading Card Sleeve Pages 9 Pocket Pages Protectors 3 Holes for Trading Cards/Sport Cards/Game Cards Fit 3 Ring Binder 30 Sheets OS0230 https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08DNHYRN6/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_EH4716F6A74RAMQ3BNZR

You can put them in these and sort by year or institution and try to collect them all! Just like my Pokemon cards back in the day

Does anyone have a recommendation for where to keep all your cards? Looking for some sort of binder or equivalent to store my cards. For reference i have around 15ish cards now and will likely have many more in the future

Ive been using this off amazon. its pretty good, but it has filled up quite quickly. https://www.amazon.ca/FurArt-Credit-Wallet-Blocking-Compact/dp/B07ZFHKDKG/ref=sr\_1\_7?keywords=credit+card+holder&qid=1648167265&sprefix=credit%2Caps%2C133&sr=8-7

I used this thread as a resource. https://slickdeals.net/f/4629010-official-where-to-sell-airline-miles-credit-card-points-or-rewards-thread-no-buying-selling?page=331#commentsBox

I've sold most of my miles to Bruce, I like dealing with him and he usually offers a solid price. As an example I recently just sold him 40k aeroplan for 500 USD. After paypal fees (god damn are they ever high) I netted 480 USD. Not sure how many GC's you'd be able to get but it's probably no where near as much.

Anyone familiar with Charles Schwab's High Yield Checking account? Is it available to non-residents? I just recently was informed that Canadians are able to open brokerage accounts in the U.S. (including an account with Charles Schwab), and I was interested in knowing if anyone was able to open their checking account, or is it only for U.S. citizens/residents.

Also : " If you qualify for a Spotify Premium trial period offer, as determined by Spotify, it is subject to Spotify Premium Promotional Offer Terms and Terms and Conditions of Use. You will need to need to pay for your first month’s subscription fee of at least 9.99 (CAD) after the trial period ends with your registered American Express Card and the charge must be posted to your account by 04/04/2021 to be eligible to earn a statement credit. "

This is a weird one. If the offer ends on January 31st, how will they collect that information and apply the credit. I started my trial period last month and I just added the card. I am curious if it will work.

Got this on the pers plat.

> Spend at least $9.99 and Earn a $9.99 credit.
>
> Spend at least $9.99 in qualifying purchases using your registered Card at www.spotify.com/ca-en/ by 31/01/2021 and earn a one-time $9.99 statement credit. Registration cap applies. Terms apply.
>
>
>
> To be eligible for a $9.99 (CAD) statement credit, one single qualifying purchase or cumulative qualifying purchase(s) that total at least $9.99 (CAD) after taxes, must be charged to your registered Card at Spotify Canada Inc. mobile application or online at www.spotify.com/ca-en/ during the offer period and subsequently posted to your account. 

Try using ITA Matrix. It also caps out at 6 flights but it breaks down the flights into base fare + taxes so you can add it up a bit more easily in comparison to Google.

Very cheap. Intra-europe flights only pay the RFS fee:

Taken from: https://www.britishairways.com/en-ca/executive-club/spending-avios/reward-flights

British Airways flights in Europe - £35/€42 return in economy (World Traveller) and £50/€60 return in business (Club World) Comair flights in southern Africa - £56/ZAR700 in economy (World Traveller) and £64/ZAR800 in business (Club World) (should be half one way .. I think I've paid $27.50CAD)

While at Oceania I THINK (never have actually done this before) you would only pay the airport / immigration taxes, you can just go to ITA matrix and check there. For example:

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/#view-details:research=SYDAKL;solution=0DAYOkYdNG88NELnrzhMmsB/gE8qsw2dikTNBKngKQ5QIJ00I

so taxes come up to $117.70CAD for o/w Y. Or you can just do a mock booking at BA and find out for sure.

Hotels.com has been one of the most frustrating experiences I've had when trying to book a trip. Tried to make a group booking for 6 people and the page always timed out by the time I input everyone's travel information. I did it as fast as I could a 2nd and 3rd time and still nope. Customer service was also useless as, to get through to an agent, we needed to provide an itinerary number.

If I didn't have a stash of hotels.com gift cards, I would never bother with the site again honestly. We made the booking through Expedia and it went through 1st try.

I'm backpacker myself. Here's the summary of what to aim for:

Aim for Aeroplan & AMEX MR (convertible to Aeroplan) to cover flights.

Aim for TD First Class Travel Points, Scotiabank Points, HSBC World Elite Mastercard Points, and RBC Avion* to cover hostel/hotel costs and other activities.

(*Avion can be used for hotels.com GCs. Hotels.com does have hostels on its site, although depending on the country/hostel you can't always redeem GCs for it, so it's a little more finicky.)

I have 9 Hotels.com stamps collected and the expiry date is at the end of this month. There's a blurb on the website that says: "Just a reminder that we’re pausing any stamps and reward* nights due to expire from April 1st, 2020 until at least the end of June 2021. Please note, your account may still show the old expiry date for now."

That's pretty clear IMO, but I don't remember receiving an email or announcement that explained more in detail. Mostly, I'm concerned because I have 9 and don't want to risk losing them. I already did once a few years ago, heh.

DP: Cancelled my trip to Japan for end of September last Thursday - got absolutely everything credited back today. Super impressed with the quick timing. This includes all my hotels.com reservations, ANA flight bookings and Aeroplan bookings. Everything was booked using my US AMEX card - not sure if that contributed to the quick refunds?

Side note: If you have a bunch of hotels.com GC and have trouble using the online gift card tool, the US site is working whereas the Canadian one isn't. You can combine up to 5 GCs at once and the newly combined GC will not combine with others

RBC Rewards: anyone else not able to see Hotels.com gift cards available on RBC Rewards? They've been my go to for redeeming Avion points but I can't seem to find them in the rewards portal today.

Yes it does but you can avoid them. For example, most travel related websites will have an option to allow you to change the payment currency. I know on Hotels.com you can change to USD and it will be converted at the mid market rate more or less. You can then pay in USD and avoid FX fees.

Consider buying hotels.com gift cards with Avion points when they offer a bonus, or buy gift cards for your vendors from places that take AMEX (e.g. grocery stores, online). Any of the fixed-value bank rewards (e.g. TD, Scotia) can be redeemed for hotels. And, as mentioned, Bonvoy free night.

Does anyone experience a significant delay from hotels.com refund? I cancelled one hotel on April 10 but I haven't seen the refund posted yet. In the past, it only takes like 1-2 business day to process the refund. Thanks,

You could use Cobalt or Scotia Amex and offset purchase with points. Book your own flights there with Aeroplan/West Jet etc. Hotels.com also has some all-inclusives listed so if you have a lot of Avion points that could be an option. You could stitch together nights with different programs if you found availability with TD Expedia and other in-house points systems like CIBC, etc. I'd hit the Trip Advisor reviews up to find ones with good kid/baby club recommendations.

FWIW we really enjoyed the Club Meds when the kids were little. We went with kids ages 10 months to 4 years. Check for the ones the have Petit Club Med for babies. Some only offer certain age ranges. You can get some decent deals just outside of school holidays. We went to the Dominican Club Med twice and once to the Portugal Club Med. Great to get a few hours at the pool or beach child free and they usually have an evening service too. I'm not sure if they book through third parties though.

Another easy option if you are banking with RBC : RBC Financial Rewards are at par right now (not for long IIRC) meaning you could get about 260$ for TFSA, or mix with Hotels.com GC.

hotels.com Giftcards are my go-to whenever there is a promo. WIth points covering flights and hotels in main hubs, the giftcards are a great option for covering hotels/b&b's off the beaten track. after 10 night, you also get a free night.

Not talking steller redemptions, but free is free. Especially with how easy Avion points are.

Your churning timeline is about the same as mine as I started Feb/18. I have the cobalt but now ventured into scotia amex, which offers 5x dining/groceries too. Nice to know that amex offers are available for scotia amex holders. I plan to use my scotia amex points for hotel stays. Won't cover it all but certainly helps. Also from our RBC avion inf churns we have about 900 in hotels.com gc's. Now that the bonvoy personal is not churnable based on many negative dp's it's a bit harder to work towards hotel stays. The biz BV is YMMV too. I believe the new amex biz edge is MR select transferrable to BV. I feel like ever since I got into this everything seems to be devaluating at an alarming rate.

Would recommend Marriott and Hilton as your two best bets for that. And then possible Hotels.com gift cards when there are deals on em? Air Miles is pretty decent as well for hotels, I just booked out in YVR for a decent return on the points

In addition to what has been already stated, TD First Class Travel uses Expedia for bookings or you can book travel on your own(AirBnb, VBRO) but will need more points for redemption. Avion cards are also easy churns and you can get Hotels.com and Fairmont gift cards. They usually have a bunch of bonuses multiple times a year so you might be able to get $300-350 worth of gift cards on a churn. BMO World Elite can also book hotels on points + you get 4 lounge passes and it is FYF.

Air Miles Hotel portal has recently been changed and has many hotels. Flights are a better redemption but hotels are still decent if you don't want to pay cash.

Thanks for the DP. I canceled just in June and didn't get instant approval as I think I had too many inquiries this year. Note for those that haven't applied. On my Drop app, it's offering 80k points on the app which I wished I looked up earlier, although one would only get 20k avion points. But the 80k Drop points worth $80 make up for it unless one would prefer higher 25k avion points which I looked up is equivalent to $250 hotels.com gc's. I'd prefer the drop points as I'd rather get gc's or drop points than avion points.

Anybody have recommendations for using AVION points? I haven't seen much decent value out there. Normally I've been using them to buy Hotels.com gift cards once and a while (when on sale), but not really a fan of that site to book hotels.

I think it's the case for all cashback portals.

Download the hotels.com app or use their mobile site - they have sometimes better cost and coupon codes exclusive for mobile (MOB5 was one at some point) which can be combined with GC

Aventura points can be used to book anyhting on Expedia at 1cpp. To do so, you need to call them but it's a smooth process.

RBC Avion points are quite flexible. You can convert them to British Airways Avios !:! (with often promo) to Asia Miles, to American Airline Miles or to Westjet dollars.
You can also redeem for travel gift cards at 1cpp including AirCanada and hotels.com. They also often runs promo on gift cards.

New to AMEX US so please forgive me if this is a silly question. I know that AMEX US are a lot stricter on many things, the purchase of GCs to name one of them. Would it be a big no-no to purchase GCs from the US equivalent of the eBates GC Shop; Card Cash and GC Spread were 2 that I was looking at. They have some discounted GCs for Hotels.com that I want to buy.

Le Meridien Fisherman's Cove on Mahe was excellent. Was able to get breakfast comped due to honeymoon which was great because Seychelles is expensive. However, I would definitely recommend going to the other islands as well. We preferred Praslin and La Digue over Mahe. Just used hotels.com gift cards for those.

Just looked at their redemption amounts for Westjet and Hotels.com.

25,000 points = $250 hotels.com

The lowest redemption amount for Westjet is 35,000 points for $350.

If I don't want to use this card to build up points, should I just go for a hotels.com redemption once they have a bonus?

Do you want to use your status / earn hotel pts? If so book with the hotel website directly. Only way to guaranteed they recognize your status / give you qualifying nights.

Do you have a cobalt ?

* Buy hotels.com GC with cobalt

* use your favorite cash/pts-back portals to book on hotels.com

* get 11th night free ! ($ avg of your 10 previous night price)

If you have an AMEX its sometimes worth check amex travel if you were targeted by one of their promo.

I was able to get 675 in Hotels.com gift cards for 2 sign-ups (1 for me, 1 for SO). I'm actually on my second card and sitting on 26k points. Waiting on a bonus for Hotels.com again or avios

Are they still selling Hotels.com gift cards on the RBC Rewards site? If so, what denomination, what's the cpp, and do they still take 4 weeks to mail them out? What's the cpp for redeeming Avion points as straight statement credit? You can't see any of this since if you're not a member. Thanks!

Question about RBC product switching:

I got the RBC Avion about 6 months ago when it had its best offer (25K Avion points with FYF, no min spend). I've already used the points to buy Hotels.com gift cards when there was a promo going on, and I'm now ready to cancel it.

I've read that I can cancel via secure message online, which is great. I'm wondering whether I'd be better off churning one of the other RBC cards, or the same one now that there's another Avion offer. Specifically my questions are:

1. If I cancel this Avion card, how long should I wait before re-applying for the same Avion card?
2. If I want to product switch to the Westjet or BA cards, should I cancel my Avion card first or just call to switch?
3. Has anyone had any luck in switching from an FYF card to a paid card and having the annual fee reduced or waived, but still get the bonus?

Most valuable use of trip for points would be to use the spending to meet minimum spend on a new card.

As for Amex Platinum, you will receive 1.25 MR per dollar spent.

If you would use an Amex personal gold you would receive 2 MR per dollar spent on anything travel related.

If you are staying in a hotel chain, make sure you book direct (meaning not via expedia or hotels.com) so you earn points on stays. Also make sure activate your elite status from Amex Platinum (Hilton, Marriott/SPG). If you are staying in a Marriott/SPG hotel, consider using the Amex SPG car as it gives 5 Marriott points for each dollar spent. That's on top of 12.5pts / $ spent your Elite gold status would give. So 17.5pts per dollar spent total.

Since you’d earn 17.5pts per dollar spent, consider eating in the hotel restaurant and bill it to your room for extra points :)

I have a couple of questions:

1- I fucked up and booked the wrong dates for a trip on Aeroplan site. The trip is only 4 segments so I did it over the website. Now, when I called in to cancel, they were really firm with paying the fee. I'm wondering if anyone was able to get them to waive the fee or do something else similar. I called in less than 24 hours after I made the booking.

2- What is the best redemption for hotels in terms of points? I currently have TD Rewards, CIBC Aventura, little bit of MR, some hotels.com gift cards from RBC Rewards and wondering which one works better for hotels. I'm looking to book around mid to end of December in Europe.

3- What is the cheapest/best redemption way to book flights within Europe? I have a mini rtw with a destination to Cairo. I'm stopping in Europe but still needed to book some flights within Europe since 2 stopover is not enough.

4- How aggressive can I be with RBC Avion? Can I cancel then apply right away or I should do 3 months hold and 3 months cancel? What if I downgraded to no fee card?

5- Is it possible to apply for AMEX Plat in less than 3 months after cancellation?

Was approved for a MBNA BW MC so looking forward to those BW points. Also did the Mega Miles promotion with purchases at 5 different Airmilesshops retailers (Staples, Apple, Amazon.ca, Old Navy and Groupon), all for things I've been meaning to get for ages. Finally, I cashed out my RBC Infinite Visa welcome bonus and took advantage of the 25% promotion and got Hotels.com gift cards. Pretty good week :-)

Small hack you can use is to use kayak like this: https://www.kayak.com/explore/YYZ?budget=510

This returns all the flight searched from YYZ in the last 24 hours with a budget under $510 CAD. Pretty neat for looking up cash flights.

Essentially, the only alliance (bookable with points) flights to GND are AA from MIA and AC from YYZ. So you don't have many options. You can look into flying into a nearby Caribbean island and book a short flight from there, but that may be expensive.
List of flights to GND: https://www.kayak.com/direct/gnd

If you're using Chrome, you can use this extension to bypass the paywall for multiple sites.

https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome

Any recommendation for a good CC organizers ?

I have my eyes on theMyLifeUNIT Business Card Holder Book from Amazon.

Oh I do agree about the hat, but for shoes, while I don't mind how I look like abroad (I'm not going to see anyone I come across ever again), I do agree that a pair of hiking shoes/trainers doesn't go very well with a summer dress, or dress pants for that matter.

(FWIW, pairs of shoes I'm bringing www.merrell.com/US/en/mqm-flex/30852M.html , https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clarks-Allston-Free-Slip-Loafer/dp/B00NYTTEZQ and I'd love to bring my Merrell flip-flops, but they're just so big)

I also don't agree with the flip-flops part. I've heard too many horror stories from people who walked on hotel carpets or used hotel showers barefoot to not bring a pair strictly for this. I do bring the cheapest pair I can buy, but I would not go without it, for sure.

In the end, I'd probably agree with you if traveling in fall/spring to parts with similar weather. But traveling to Japan, Thailand in semi-wet season and Dubai on the same trip does require some kind of arrangement.

I love hearing how other people do it and see if it would work for us, too (that priority check-in for J sounds great!). For example, I don't see myself wasting time doing laundry every few days (on this mini-RTW, we plan on doing some once mid-trip), especially with most of our clothes needing to be air-dried rather than put in the dryer. On the other hand, transit with large luggage does scare me a bit, so I'll see what others do about it.

All things considered, I'd love to be able to do it without a checked bag, but while checking a bag does add a bit of stress to the whole planning, I don't see us wasting that much time waiting for luggage because of customs, like u/kneevase explained.

There's a forum on TripAdvisor about booking on latam/es_cl and it varies wildly. Do prepare to try at the very least 5 times before your payment goes through. Some people managed to book without a Chilean VPN though. I used NordVPN.

I was surprised that it didn't work through the vpn. I use NordVPN which is one of the few vpn providers that works with Netflix. Netflix is pretty brutal with VPNs and blocks whole IP ranges that are associated with vpns, so nord shuffles them a lot. Cat and mouse game. I can't imagine MBNA is that thorough... Nevertheless, it didn't work when I tried ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Google voice does still work. To set it up, you must:

1. Setup a US based phone number. You can use an app like Telos to get a number in whatever state you want.

2. Download and use a US VPN; such as, NordVPN. Most come with 7 day free trials.

3. With the VPN connected, you can access U.S. only websites and services; such as Google Voice.

I believe that Google voice isn't considered a VOIP so banks and financial services are more likely to accept it.

All that being said, there are many DPs that suggest a Canadian phone number will do the trick.

That's weird.

I see this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.loungebuddy.playstore&hl=en&utm_campaign=lb_android_pay

And that is linked straight from a page on www.loungebuddy.com so should be legit: https://www.loungebuddy.com/blog/loungebuddy-now-with-android-pay/

I use it all the time, along with the PP app.

Ten days until everyone loses their Amazon Chase Visa... Does you think Amazon will release another branded card in the next couple months? I don't expect anything as nice as the American version, but I really want to get another >2% cashback card for Amazon purchases.