Best travel credit cards

Read from the certificates: TD Aeroplan gives 4 days; RBC Avion, Scotia Passport and CIBC Aventura give 3; Amex (every tier) and BMO’s World Elites give zero. Only National Bank and Desjardins World Elites cover 65–75 properly (15 days). The full certificate-linked table — with corrections to the numbers most sites publish — is on our retiree cards page.

Count the real visits: Scotia Passport gives 6 free, BMO Ascend 4 passes, CIBC Aventura 4 visits, Wealthsimple includes its network — and Amex Gold’s "Priority Pass membership" charges a fee on every single visit, a verified trap. At $35–50 a walk-in, 4–6 free passes are worth $150–300/yr to someone who actually flies — and nothing to someone who doesn’t. Unlimited access only exists at the $799 Amex Platinum tier.

Fixed charts (Avion’s 35,000-points long-haul, BMO’s 150-points-per-dollar) are predictable: you know the value before you earn. Transferable points (Amex Membership Rewards, Aeroplan) can be worth far more — or less — depending on award availability and your flexibility. The honest rule: if managing redemptions sounds like a hobby you’d enjoy, transferable wins; if it sounds like work, take fixed value or plain cash back.

On travel spending, it’s the largest single lever: 2.5% on everything you buy abroad usually exceeds the earn-rate difference between any two cards on this page. Scotia Passport and Wealthsimple’s card are the no-FX travel options; the full no-FX-vs-USD strategy — including the $0 Rogers card that nets positive on US spend — is on the snowbird page.

When you’ll actually consume the bundle: $200 travel + $200 dining credits used in full bring the effective fee to ~$399, and unlimited Centurion lounge access plus hotel status does the rest for frequent flyers. Two verified cautions: the welcome offer needs $10,000 of spend in 3 months, and at 65+ its travel medical is excluded like every other Amex — the one thing the $799 doesn’t buy back.