If you are a regular Boomeresque reader, you know I enjoy writing about rewarding travel experiences — like that time we went to Japan, or New Zealand, or Canada, or Florida, or much closer to home, to Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. But today, I’m writing about being rewarded by your credit card company — with travel.
Baby Boomers probably remember traveling before credit cards were omnipresent. Back in the day, if you didn’t want to carry around wads of cash during a trip, you went to a bank and purchased travelers’ checks (or “cheques” if you were from the United Kingdom or a Commonwealth nation).
No one had even heard of Frequent Flyer miles because they didn’t exist until 1979. If you only flew very occasionally, it was difficult to accrue enough Frequent Flyer miles to earn a free flight. This situation eased up some when credit card companies started co-branding with particular airlines so you could also earn miles by using your credit card for purchases. The down side was that you were confined to being able to use your Frequent Flyer miles for one particular airline and its foreign partners. If you were trying to obtain a plane ticket by using your Frequent Flyer miles, you were also subject to black-out periods. Then airlines figured out that they had to fly full to make a profit, so Frequent Flyer seats became increasingly difficult to use. The final insult was when airlines started having their Frequent Flyer miles expire. “Sorry, you can’t fly for free, but, it’s your lucky day, you can use your expiring miles to buy these lovely magazines.”
Fortunately for Canadian residents, at present, programs like TD Travel Rewards make it possible to earn free travel and other perks you can actually use. For high reward credit cards like TD Bank’s First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card there is an annual fee; however, if you love to travel, you can do the cost-benefit analysis, balancing the cost of the annual fee against the benefits provided by the card, starting with the fact that you earn 3 TD points for each dollar spent on purchases made with the card. If you purchase travel with the card on-line, using Expedia for TD, you earn 9 points per dollar. There are no blackout periods. You purchase your travel and can request reimbursement by the card for any travel expenses (not just flights) based on your accrued points. You can even request partial reimbursement if you do not have sufficient points to cover all your travel expenses. You are insured for trip cancellation and interruption, and for delayed and lost baggage.
Best of all, your points do not expire as long as you have your card! There is no danger that you will be having to hurry up and use your points to subscribe to Cat Fancy Magazine or Golf Digest to avoid losing them.
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