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Wander Every Day is the podcast where real travel stories meet smart recs + great chats.
Hosted by Day — a deal-finder, storyteller, and your go-to travel friend — each episode dives into honest conversations with well-traveled friends about where to stay, what to eat, what not to waste your time (or money) on, and how to wander smarter.
If you love adventure, good vibes, and learning tips and tricks for planning travel, you’re in the right place.
✈️🌍 Let’s wander.
Daytona GB (00:00)
Have you ever wondered how your friends are flying lie flat business class to Europe?
Have you ever had a conversation with any of your friends how they collect points to fund their travel?
On this week's episode of Wander Every Day.
I'll break down how Nick and used various point collecting tactics to book business class flights, not once, twice.
as well as multiple additional round trip airfares
for a fraction of what most people pay to fly in basic economy.
We're gonna review how you can afford to fly in ways you never expected.
Are you ready, friends? Let's wander.
Hi everyone and welcome back to Wander Every Day. For those just joining for their first episode, I'm Day.
your friend who's always looking for smart ways to explore the world without draining the savings account.
Today's episode is a little bit different than the typical travel episode, as I'm not going to be reviewing a specific destination. In fact...
I'm breaking down one of the biggest travel hacks that Nick and I use to make more affordable. And that is the world of credit card points.
Specifically, how we've learned to redeem and collect Aeroplan and American Express points to book flights, including class lie flat seats to Europe paying thousands out of pocket.
Whether you're totally new to points or just curious if it's even worth all the effort.
I'll walk you though exactly how we do it.
And before you say, a scam. have a 2 % cashback card.
Well friends, I'm here to tell you that if you're organized and disciplined,
But most importantly, if you know how to optimize collecting and redeeming points.
You can make travel more accessible
by saving to thousands of
on your next trip.
So let's start with how Nick and I got into this point collecting phenomenon in the first place.
In 2022, Nick and I stumbled into the points collecting game after going down a bit of a YouTube rabbit hole, specifically finding Ricky Zhang with Prince of Travel.
Watching people fly business class using points felt like a world we weren't or we're never going to be a part of. Until we realized this is totally doable, even in Canada.
I've watched many YouTubers in the past travel on points. Typically, I've watched mostly American content creators travel on points.
There is a stigma that Canadian credit card programs don't offer the same ability to collect points as other credit card programs in the United States, for example.
However, after doing some very extensive research, we realized that that's not necessarily the case.
Since beginning our point collecting journey three years ago, we've flown round trip to multiple destinations across North America, including Aruba and Miami.
And for those interested in this podcast episode with the intent of just learning how to collect points to fly economy, that's great.
Point collecting can absolutely cover economy round trip around the world travel annually, easily if done properly.
However, for those looking for a little bit more bang for your buck.
We also discovered that by following some of the recommendations I'm going to provide today.
We were able to fly to Vancouver from Toronto in business class, lie flat pod seats on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
And this September we are flying business class on Swissair in their A330.
Wide-body business class typically comes with convertible lie flat seats.
an unlimited bar menu that typically includes champagne and premium liquors and wine.
other perks airport lounge, priority boarding.
priority check-in, free checked bags, the list goes on and on.
For our flight from Toronto to Zurich this September,
we paid all of this except for $100 with points.
Of course these cards come with a fee, and I'll review how much we pay for these credit cards today.
So let's jump into And we're gonna start with step one of the journey in which I call optimizing collecting.
There are three primary ways that you can optimize collecting AeroPlan and American Express points in Canada.
The first way to optimize point collecting is through signup bonuses.
when it comes to collecting aeroplan points.
Sign up bonuses are by far the fastest and most efficient way to build up your Aeroplan point balance.
These are lump sums of points.
you get for opening a new credit card and meeting a minimum spend threshold.
typically within a set period of time of three months, 12 months, and oftentimes now you'll also see between months 15 and 17.
in Canada.
Cards like the American Express Aero Plan or the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite
offer bonuses of between 40,000 to 100,000 points to sign up during promotional periods.
That's enough for a business class flight to round trip flights to Europe, or multiple short haul flights within North America.
just for getting a new card and using it for your normal expenses.
now. It's important to plan this strategically.
For example, if you this card before a big expenditure such as a renovation, a big trip, a wedding,
you can meet the minimum spend without going over your normal budget.
Something that's important to keep in mind is that the minimum spend does range depending on the card.
Now for the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card, the minimum spend is $7,500 in the first 180 days, which is approximately six months. And this is a minimum spend on average of $1,250 a month on the credit card, which if you're someone who's putting your monthly expenses fully on your credit is pretty easy to meet.
In contrast, American Aeroplan Reserve Card has the same minimum spend of $7,500, but it's in the first three months. So you do have to be mindful when you're choosing a card if you think the minimum spend is something that's attainable for
It's also important to be mindful of annual fees.
many of these cards offer benefits checked baggage, lounge access, travel insurance.
or priority boarding, which can offset the expenses of the card.
When Nick and I both got started, we both signed up
TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card.
which you actually receive a full rebate for for the first year.
I recommend the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card for those new to the credit card game who are just looking for a modest signup bonus
the time of recording, which is July 25th, 2025, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card provides the following signup bonus.
10,000 Aeroplan points when you make your first purchase with a new card.
15,000 Aero Plan Points when you spend $7,500 within 180 days of the account opening, and a one-time Anniversary Bonus of 15,000 Aero Plan Points when you spend $12,000 within 12 months of the account which is $1,000 a month on average. The reason they often give these Anniversary Bonuses is they do want and expect you to stay with the card for an additional year. card also includes perks
a NEXUS application fee rebate up to $100 Canadian, and free first checked bags, which can be shared with up to eight travel companions.
However, the downside of these cards is that although they do competitive signup bonuses, they certainly don't offer much of an advantage if you're just trying to collect points on the amount you're spending in day-to-day life after these signup bonuses have been attained.
The TD Aeroplanes Visa Infinite Card only offers 1.5 points per dollar spent on groceries, gas, electric car charging, and any Direct Air Canada purchases.
Otherwise, you're only receiving one point per dollar spent,
which leads me to the next section where we're going to discuss optimizing point collecting through credit card spending.
Once you've nailed the signup bonus.
The next essential step is earning points consistently.
That's where everyday spending comes in.
An absolute, without a doubt, standout player in this realm is the American Express Cobalt Card.
which shines if you live in Canada and you want to maximize your aeroplan points, or in this case, your membership rewards points.
American Express membership rewards points transfer to AeroPlan one-to-one. So you don't actually directly collect AeroPlan points, you actually collect American Express points. However, one of the incredible functions of membership rewards points is as much as they can be transferred to
they also transfer to any of the following partners. Flying Blue, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta Sky Miles, Etihad Guest, Marriott Bonvoy, and Hilton Honors.
I can guarantee you that if you have a friend who's been flying to Europe, especially on business class, and especially if it's more than once, they very likely have the American Express cobalt card. With the cobalt card, you earn. And here's the big one.
Five times the points per dollar on groceries and dining. That means if you spend $1,000 on groceries a month, you'll collect 5,000 membership rewards points a month, Three times the points on streaming and subscriptions. This includes Netflix, Crave, Two times the points on travel and transit, and one times the point on everything else.
For someone who eats out, picks up coffee regularly.
stocks up on groceries or pays for Netflix.
these multipliers really add up
just from normal reoccurring spending habits
Another thing I love about the cobalt card is that the points are obtained monthly.
And the flexibility of receiving your points monthly as opposed to in lump sum payments over time when you receive your signup bonuses, is it also gives you the flexibility to redeem your points as You can move the points to AeroPlan. You can move them to another loyalty partner.
based on which has the best redemption scheme in that moment.
We aim to put all of our trackable expenses like streaming, all of our groceries, all of our
and all of our restaurants on our cobalt cart.
It is a simple and the most efficient way to bulk up your aeroplan balance.
And if you pair it with a card like the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card.
You're earning points faster and in different programs.
offering a bonus promotion.
We'll get to bonus promotions next.
Although the American Express Cobalt card does not have the same extensive signup bonus as the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card or the American Express Aeroplan Reserve card.
I do have a limited amount of referral offers listeners will be posted in the show notes.
By following my redemption offer, you can earn up to 15,000 signup bonus points with the American Express Cobalt Card
as long as you have a minimum spend of $750 a month
That's on top of your spending accumulation, which likely if you just do basic groceries on Express cobalt card will be over 60,000 points a year.
The cobalt card has a $12.99 per month fee.
but easily on its own provides us with annual round trip flights within North America.
Before truly considering this card, however, I do suggest that you query where you do your grocery shopping as Costco and Loblaws do not accept American Express.
a result, we primarily do our grocery shopping at Farm Boy, Food Basics, Sobeys, Metro. There are many other options if you have the availability to grocery shop somewhere else. not that we never shop at a Loblaw store, but we try and optimize by collecting our five times the points on groceries.
The third pillar of Smart Aeroplan Point collecting is bonus offers and promotions.
are limited time or targeted deals from Aeroplan or your credit card you extra points for specific actions.
For example, TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card currently has a promotion offering 6,000 bonus points I make 60 tap purchases with my card my Apple Wallet in a four-month period.
As I'm sure you can tell, my husband and I have both been trying to tap TD Aeroplan visa cards as best as we can to collect the 12,000 points just for using the cards we have in the first place.
equivalent of one short haul flight just from buying groceries or coffee.
You can also earn major bonuses buying through the Aeroplan eStore.
which often offers multipliers of five to 10 times if at retailers like Apple, Indigo, or Sephora.
Planning to make a purchase? Check the Aeroplan portal first.
Plus, watch for partner promotions.
Things like booking hotels through Rocket Miles, renting a car with Avis.
or flying with other Star Alliance partners.
These can offer a healthy boost to points if timed right.
These promotions might seem small on their own.
but when you stack them with the right card and spending strategy,
they can push your total over the edge for that dream redemption.
So now that you've signed up for your credit cards, you've gotten your sign up bonuses, you've gotten your points for spending on your credit cards, and perhaps you've participated in a few bonus promotions, now it's time to optimize redeeming your points.
There's a few essential things you have to know before you decide to your aeroplan points. The first
Before booking a flight using Aeroplan points, It's essential to understand the Aeroplan points chart.
This is a table that lays out the baseline amount of points that is charged a destination based on its distance and destination zone.
Here's the you can search for flights dates or partner airlines,
it's the chart that gives you a target number of what you should be spending on specific routes.
For example, the target number of aeroplan points one who's trying to optimize redemption that we'll be spending to fly from North America to Europe, business class starts at 60,000 points.
Just a reminder, you can easily earn this in one year just using the Cobalt card.
Knowing the chart benchmarks helps you spot underpriced redemptions and avoids overpaying on points.
I'll provide a link to the chart in the show notes of this podcast you can see what you would be expecting to pay fly to certain areas of the world on points.
However, this comes to the second point, which is important to know and something I just talked about in the last bit, that Aeroplan does use something called dynamic pricing.
a pricing strategy where the cost of a flight will
in real time based on factors like demand, seasonality, customer behaviors.
availability, booking timing.
airlines may increase the cost of a particular leg of a flight if there are fewer seats available.
you're traveling during peak season or during the holidays.
Even things like booking on a smaller airplane versus a larger airplane will make a difference based on the total number of seats available on the flight.
so a business class flight from Toronto to Paris could cost 60,000 points in business class one day and 120,000 points the next if you just have one or two people book between the first and the second day.
Now here's the pro tip.
Dynamic pricing only applies to Air operated flights.
If you book with Aeroplan Partner Airlines such as Swissair,
United or Singapore Airlines.
The pricing is actually fixed based on the Aero Plan Points chart.
making those flights far more predictable and often a better value.
So while dynamic pricing can give availability and flexibility.
Savvy travelers look for sweet spots and off-peak times to travel to maximize their points to get more value.
The last important concept to understand is the cost per point ratio. Now this is a podcast, so I'm gonna try and keep this really simple because sometimes it can be hard to do math in our head.
The cost per point is simple. It is just the total cost of the fare the taxes divided by the amount of points we've used.
In the aeroplan world, you typically want a cost per point ratio or CPP of at least 1.5 cents per point,
This is where our aeroplan point collecting becomes a bit incomparable when it comes to other credit card products like 2 % cashback is when we start talking about business class redemption and the cost per point of these seats aeroplan points.
and I used our aeroplan points from Toronto to Montreal, Montreal to legs in business class 152,800
actual cost of these flights per person was $152 for taxes and fees.
So our cost per point ratio was 5.1, which is almost as good as it gets. more value than a 2 % cash back card.
Another sweet spot that you can find is short haul flights within North America.
especially when you see cash prices spiking.
You can often snag seats for as low as 6,000 to 10,000 points. done this to Miami and Aruba both in the winter when flight prices amounts, especially Aruba. Flights can be over $1,000 per person trip, and we have flown there for between 40,000, 50,000 points round trip per person.
In addition, Aeroplan allows for stopovers on international flights for 5,000 points per stop.
So if you're flying to Europe or Asia, you can build in a whole other leg of your trip for only 5,000 extra aeroplan points.
One last tip, and this is something I see people do often, and it's a bit cringy, especially when you're trying to maximize the amount per dollar you're spending on your is please avoid redeeming your points for gifts.
or merchandise at the Aeroplan store.
The value drops significantly, typically below one, even 0.8 cents per point, just isn't worth it,
A few closing points about that you can enhance your ability to collect and redeem Aeroplan and Membership Rewards points.
A tool I recommend is called Roame, R-O-A-M-E, you can find this
Roame is a free online tool that helps users optimize how they're redeeming their points.
especially for programs like Aeroplan, Membership Rewards,
and other frequent flyer miles.
Some things that specifically make Roame useful is different airlines.
It does do a cost per point analysis for you.
You can search specifically for business or first class options with points specifically.
In my opinion, Roame is a must use tool if you're someone who's trying to search multiple airlines or multiple routes
There are premium features which you can pay for, but I do find the free to use platform is also very beneficial if you are looking for more specific dates.
Another thing I do is joining a few of the aeroplan points collecting groups on Facebook.
I see people post about these crazy redemptions that they find on the aeroplan system, from Toronto to Tokyo, Toronto to Rome, Toronto to Athens. Whenever anyone finds anything at that base redemption that's listed on the Air Canada price chart, they will post it so that everyone can see it on the group. This is also available on various subreddits, so I definitely recommend looking up Reddit as well if you're looking for specific
places or if you have points and you're just looking for a good deal.
Also, just like me, if you're looking for information about other credit cards, we didn't really review specific credit cards today. I just reviewed the cards that we've used. You can do so by going and doing what we did, which is going on YouTube. I highly recommend watching The Prince of Travel. If you're on Instagram, you can follow the Canadian Jet Setter. are many online resources where you can learn a little bit more about the different credit card options available for you.
around the world.
or simply shaving a few hundred dollars off your next vacation.
Collecting credit card points can open doors that perhaps once fell out of reach.
with a bit of planning, strategic credit card use.
and tools like Roame or Prince of Travel's resources.
Your everyday spending can turn into extraordinary memories.
But remember, this strategy only works if you pay off your balances in full, stay organized with your accounts,
and avoid chasing points at the cost of your financial health.
The best redemption is the one that gets you where you want to go.
in a way that's sustainable, attainable, and exciting.
if you're just starting out, don't stress.
Pick one program, start collecting, watch the possibilities unfold.
Happy wandering and happy point collecting.
This episode is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Credit cards are financial products that may be subject to annual fees, interest charges, and other terms and conditions. Always read the fine print and consider your personal financial situation before applying. This is not financial advice. Please consult a financial advisor or do your own research before making any decisions related to credit or travel rewards.