Points 5: U.S. Airline Frequent Flier Programs

When I described the SPG Amex card I explained the advantage of belonging to American frequent flier programs. But even if you don't have the annual spending that makes this card's fee worthwhile, there are other ways to earn miles in these plans.

Most of the airline programs offer a joining bonus. It's usually only 1,000 miles, but it's a nice start. However, you'll need to find ways to keep earning miles because most plans' points expire if you have no activity during a 12-24 month period.

You can, of course, take a flight, but for most of us leisure travelers, that's an occasional thing, and our choice of airline usually depends on price and schedule, not loyalty points.

But you can also fly on one airline and credit the miles to another airline, as long as they are both members of the same alliance. There are three global airline partnerships: Star Alliance, SkyTeam, and oneworld. For example, you can fly on United Airlines and credit the miles to Aeroplan, and vice-versa, because both Air Canada and United are members of the Star Alliance.

Remember I told you to join the loyalty program of every hotel you stay at? Here's why: you can earn miles in your chosen airline's frequent flier program. That's right: you can stay at the Hampton Inn or the Super 8 and earn Aeroplan miles (for example). You don't have to accept the hotel program's points. Join online prior to your stay. When you set up your account, in your "profile", set your earning preference to the airline program of your choice (you'll have to register your frequent flier number). You can change it as often as you want in order to keep the points in different plans alive.

And if you've earned a significant number of hotel points, but not enough for a free night, you may be able to swap them for airline miles. Many hotel plans let you do this, but they all have differing minimum point levels and exchange rates.

There's another way to keep frequent flier points alive and that's through Points.com. It's a free point tracking and swapping website and it allows swaps between HBC points and airline programs, including Aeroplan, Alaska, Cathay Pacific (Asia Miles), Delta, and US Airways. They do exact a hefty premium for their service, but if you want to keep points alive, or boost your total to the level where you can redeem for a flight, it might be worth it. You can even swap Petro Points, if you first exchange them for Asia Miles at the Petro Points site and then swap Asia Miles at Points.com.

There are also several annual-fee credit cards available to Canadians that earn points with U.S. airlines. I'll tell you where to find out about them when I describe the blogs and websites that I find useful. But first, I want to go into a bit more detail on hotel programs.

Points 1: Canada's Favourite Points Programs

A couple of conversations with friends lately about my points and miles collecting hobby (obsession?) led to requests for me to post on the subject. So over the next few weeks, I'll try to cover the basics of how to get the most out of loyalty programs. Keep in mind, these are my preferences; they may not always be suitable for you, but I hope you'll find something of use here.

For starters, many points experts advise that you focus on one program so you can achieve rewards quickly. I take the opposite view. I believe in signing up for almost any program, focusing on several, and taking a patient, long-term approach. There are a number of reasons why, but one is that I collect with the goal of travel rewards (hotels stays and flights), rather than merchandise or cash-back rewards. That takes a lot of points and that takes time. I find the dream of travel to be more inspiring than cash-back, and the value of travel rewards greater than merchandise.

I'll begin by discussing three of the programs most popular with Canadians.

PC points are earned through a variety of activities with President's Choice Financial, chiefly through the use of its credit and debit cards. Points can also be earned through bonus offers at supermarkets that sell President's Choice products. Rewards come in the form of groceries and other products sold in the stores and are redeemed right at the checkout, using your credit or debit card. No separate membership card is required. Ease of earning and redeeming makes this program the right one for many people.

I do have a PC Financial chequing account, but not a credit card, so my point earning is minuscule. The reason I don't focus on this program is because $20 off groceries doesn't inspire me (see paragraph 2, above), and because I can use a different credit card at the supermarket to earn points in another program that has more value to me.

Air Miles can be earned through a variety of retailers and affiliated credit cards offered by the Bank of Montreal and American Express. It is perhaps the most popular loyalty card in Canada. It seems almost everyone has one. Except me.

The main reason Air Miles has little value to me is that few of their partners are located in my town, so I have little chance to earn. But if you're a BMO customer and can shop at Air Miles retail partners, this program can be valuable to you, especially if you like merchandise or grocery certificate rewards.

That brings me to Aeroplan. Though a separate company, Aeroplan is essentially Air Canada's frequent flier plan and offers reward flights not only on Air Canada, but also on its partners in the Star Alliance, such as United, US Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore, Air New Zealand, and many others. As well, points can be redeemed for hotel stays, car rentals, cruises, and merchandise.

Aeroplan miles can be earned through flights, retail and travel partners, and affiliated credit cards and other products at a range of financial institutions. Aeroplan's gas and grocery partners (Esso and Sobeys) are located in my town, and that's a big reason why I collect Aeroplan miles.

Next time, in Points 201, I'll take a look at points-earning credit cards, with the emphasis on earning points and miles without having to pay an annual fee.