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Best Credit Card Points Program (pg. 4)
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| geroin |
| quote: | Originally posted by fayraree
RBC Avion for the past 3 years but I'll be switching to TD's new travel points card soon. TD has the added flexibility of buying tickets from any vendor while RBC forces you to use Carlson Wagonlit which is a ripoff agent. |
LOL what?
Call this number
1-877-636-2870
rbc travel redemption department. |
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| zoogla |
| quote: | Originally posted by geroin
LOL what?
Call this number
1-877-636-2870
rbc travel redemption department. |
exactly, the travel redemption is outsourced to Carlson Wagonlit when you call that number ;) |
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| geroin |
| quote: | Originally posted by fayraree
exactly, the travel redemption is outsourced to Carlson Wagonlit when you call that number ;) |
no dude, its not
carlson wagonlit is a partner with rbc and you can redeem with them but you can book for any airline with your points |
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| zoogla |
| quote: | Originally posted by geroin
no dude, its not
carlson wagonlit is a partner with rbc and you can redeem with them but you can book for any airline with your points |
bro, I wasn't referring to airlines, I was referring to the agent who books your ticket. The travel agent is always the same person when redeeming RBC avion points: Carlson Wagonlit. Or it may be a different name, can't remember, but I can assure you they're not RBC employees; the people who respond are part of a travel agent that has been hired by RBC to manage their visa customers' reward needs. RBC is not in the travel agency business! ;) |
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| geroin |
| quote: | Originally posted by fayraree
bro, I wasn't referring to airlines, I was referring to the agent who books your ticket. The travel agent is always the same person when redeeming RBC avion points: Carlson Wagonlit. Or it may be a different name, can't remember, but I can assure you they're not RBC employees; the people who respond are part of a travel agent that has been hired by RBC to manage their visa customers' reward needs. RBC is not in the travel agency business! ;) |
yes of course, they are not rbc employees but they are affiliated with rbc, its not carlson wagonlit that books the travel for you i can assure you that.
that's the way a lot of companies operate, obviously rbc does not deal with travel bookings... btw what is the difference though who boooks your travel though? |
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| zoogla |
| quote: | Originally posted by geroin
yes of course, they are not rbc employees but they are affiliated with rbc, its not carlson wagonlit that books the travel for you i can assure you that.
that's the way a lot of companies operate, obviously rbc does not deal with travel bookings... btw what is the difference though who boooks your travel though? |
For example, going to Pakistan a competitive fare is about $1,700 from various mom and pop agents, however when I got a quote for low-season through RBC it was $3,000. The most you can spend for a long-haul flight to Asia is a $2,000 cap from RBC avion so u have to make sure the agent can get you a ticket at that price or lower (and taxes aren't included unfortunately; will always be out-of-pocket). So if I was able to buy my ticket independently using my TD visa and then before my bill comes I let them know to use my points for that ticket purchase, they will, using the same point redemption ratio as RBC (which means if I can get cheap tickets, less of my points will be used, whereas RBC has fixed point levels for each area of the world). |
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| geroin |
| quote: | Originally posted by fayraree
For example, going to Pakistan a competitive fare is about $1,700 from various mom and pop agents, however when I got a quote for low-season through RBC it was $3,000. The most you can spend for a long-haul flight to Asia is a $2,000 cap from RBC avion so u have to make sure the agent can get you a ticket at that price or lower (and taxes aren't included unfortunately; will always be out-of-pocket). So if I was able to buy my ticket independently using my TD visa and then before my bill comes I let them know to use my points for that ticket purchase, they will, using the same point redemption ratio as RBC (which means if I can get cheap tickets, less of my points will be used, whereas RBC has fixed point levels for each area of the world). |
while rbc does look for a ticket for you aren't you able to go to a specific airline website, look up the price that is most convinient for you and then call back to rbc travel and ask them to book something around the same price, same date with that same airline? i'm sure the ticket price will not be $3000 when you saw it same day at 1700, try doing it this way, ive seen people do that before.
OR
on the avion you can transfer your points to BA Miles, contact BA and find out how many BA miles is required to travel to Pakistan. If they have something for good pts amount call rbc and transfer points to Ba miles (need to open ba executive club miles account first, free i believe). Sometimes they have better deals than rbc but you have to book with BA only after (there is a potential of transfering points from ba to other companies after i think) |
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| zoogla |
| quote: | Originally posted by geroin
on the avion you can transfer your points to BA Miles, contact BA and find out how many BA miles is required to travel to Pakistan. If they have something for good pts amount call rbc and transfer points to Ba miles (need to open ba executive club miles account first, free i believe). Sometimes they have better deals than rbc but you have to book with BA only after (there is a potential of transfering points from ba to other companies after i think) |
thats exactly what I did, there was a promotion at the time of getting 1.5 BA miles for 1 RBC reward point so I benefited big time, but too much of a hassle for me, I'd rather have things simpler with fewer steps required. It was a massive pain in the ass to do all the research to figure this out cuz I'm not in the Visa dept! lol
Anyway, peace of mind that ur getting the best travel deal is important and the best in the buusiness is Amex platinum travel card with an annual fee of like $395 so I'm no shooter executive (yet lol) so I'll stick with my employee cards! ;) |
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| Special K |
any updates on this thread?
looking for a good points card to add to my wallet ... |
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| StereoPrincess |
lol. i am surprised that this thread is as old as it is.
Carlo, I am not sure about travel cards and I assume you are looking for one of those?
I use the HBC Mastercard for everything. they offered me an insanely high limit and you get to cash in your point for gift cards at The Bay. I have yet to pay for gifts for people. It's useable at Home Outfitters too.
For gas I use the RBC Esso Visa and the points seem to rack up really fast on that one.
My parents swear by the Canadian Tire Mastercard. |
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| Jayx1 |
points cards have gotten a little scarcer lately. A lot of them now charge an annual fee which i refuse to pay!
Im looking at the starwood american express. No fee for a year. After a year im going to cancel it.
I refuse to pay someone yearly to use a credit card. They make 3 percent from the retailer everytime you use it not to mention interest if you dont pay it off. |
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| jpistone |
http://www.mbna.ca/shopping_cardList.html
Smart Cash Platinum Plus®
1.99% introductory annual interest rate† on balance transfers* and cheque cash advances for 10 months
Get up to 5% cash back on qualifying net retail gas and grocery purchases for the first 6 months††
Get up to 3% cash back on qualifying net retail gas and grocery purchases thereafter‡
Get up to 1% cash back for all other qualifying net retail purchases‡
No annual fee |
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