Credit Card Rewards, Points and Loyalty Programs in Canada

Each Canadian rewards program sets its own rules for earning and spending points, and the value of a point depends on how it is redeemed. Some programs publish a fixed rate for a redemption type, such as a set number of points per dollar of travel or statement credit; airline programs like Aeroplan price rewards by a chart, so a point’s value changes from one booking to the next. The guides below take each program from its own terms.

Published redemption rates

The rates each program states on its own pages, with the value per point worked out from them. A program can offer other redemptions at different rates; each guide covers them.

Value per point is the cash value divided by the points used, times 100. Scene+ is covered in the Scene+ guide.

Program guides

Airline programs

• Aeroplan: working out cents per point for a booking, plus how Aeroplan works (earning, the reward chart, status and family sharing)
• WestJet Rewards (below): WestJet points, status and the RBC WestJet cards

Bank and card programs

• Amex Membership Rewards: transfer partners, Fixed Points Travel and redemptions
• RBC Avion: membership levels, the flight schedule and airline conversions
• TD Rewards: Expedia For TD, Pay Off Purchases and the TD cards
• BMO Rewards (below): Pay with Points and the BMO eclipse and Ascend cards

Retail and coalition programs

• PC Optimum: earning at Loblaw stores and with PC Financial cards
• Blue Rewards (formerly Air Miles) (below): how the program changed and how points are redeemed
• Scene+: earning with Scotiabank cards and at partners such as Sobeys and Cineplex, and redeeming the points

Deciding whether rewards are worth it

• Cash back calculator: what a cash back card returns on your spending
• Welcome offers (below): kinds of offers, their conditions and judging one
• Applying for cards for their welcome offers (below): how churning works, the issuers’ limits and the credit score effects

Credit card welcome offers

Most rewards cards in Canada come with a welcome offer: extra points, a higher cash back rate for the first months, or a first-year fee rebate for new cardholders. Offers change often, sometimes monthly, so this page doesn’t list them. It explains how they’re built, the conditions attached, and how to judge one, with a link to each issuer’s own page for the current terms. It’s part of our credit card reviews and roundups.

Kinds of welcome offers

The conditions that come with an offer

Every offer has written terms on the issuer’s site, and they decide whether you get it. The ones that matter most:

• A spending requirement and a deadline. Most points and fixed cash offers need a set amount of purchases within a set number of days from account opening. Balance transfers, cash advances, fees and interest usually don’t count toward it.
• An application window. Offers apply to accounts opened between two dates; applying a day late can mean a different offer or none.
• Eligibility limits. Issuers often exclude people who hold, or recently held, a card from them. Scotiabank’s terms for one Passport offer exclude anyone who was a Scotiabank personal credit cardholder in the past two years; Tangerine limits its offer to one per client; TD reserves the right to limit the number of accounts one person opens.
• Good standing at payout. The account usually has to be open and in good standing when the bonus is paid. TD’s Aeroplan terms say the account must be in good standing when each part of the offer is issued, and Tangerine’s say the same at the time of payout.
• Timing. Points can take several weeks after you meet a condition to appear, and staged offers pay their last part a year or more after opening.
• Clawbacks. Some issuers’ terms let them withhold or take back bonus points if the account is closed, converted to another card or not in good standing soon after the bonus is paid. Whether a card has such a rule, and for how long, is in that offer’s terms.

Where to check the current offer

Each issuer’s card page shows the current offer, and its legal footnotes hold the spending requirement, deadline and eligibility rules.

Judging whether an offer is worth it

A welcome offer is a one-time payment, while the fee and the earn rate are with you every year. That makes the order of questions:

1. Would you want this card without the offer? If the ongoing rewards don’t suit your spending, the offer only delays the point where the fee outweighs them. The credit card comparison table and the category roundups help answer this.
2. Can you meet the spending requirement with purchases you’d make anyway? Spending extra to reach it, or carrying a balance, costs more than most offers return.
3. What is the offer worth in dollars? Points have different values depending on the program and how you redeem them; the rewards programs guides set out what each program’s points are worth. Subtract the first-year fee if it isn’t rebated.
4. Does the application suit your plans? Each application can add a hard inquiry; if you’re about to apply for a mortgage or car loan, a new card can wait. The guide to time between card applications explains the effect.

Applying for cards mainly for their offers

Opening cards for their welcome offers and closing them afterwards is known as churning. It’s harder in Canada than in the U.S. because issuers limit repeat offers, and it affects your credit file and your relationship with the issuer. The credit card churning guide covers how it works and its risks.

Applying for cards for their welcome offers

Credit card churning means opening cards mainly for their welcome bonuses, meeting each bonus’s spending requirement, and then closing or downgrading the card before (or after) the next annual fee, and repeating the cycle. This page describes how it works, the limits Canadian issuers put in their own offer terms, and what the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) says about the credit-score side. It doesn’t rank cards or recommend churning; the trade-offs are different for every household.

It’s part of the rewards programs hub. Programs that come up in the offer terms below have their own guides: Aeroplan, Amex Membership Rewards, TD Rewards and BMO Rewards.

How churning works

The cycle has the same steps whatever the card:

1. Apply for a card that has a welcome offer. Each application is a hard credit inquiry (see the credit section below).
2. Meet the spending requirement within the offer’s time limit, using purchases that count under the offer terms.
3. Receive the bonus once the issuer posts it; the offer terms say how long that can take.
4. Decide what to do before the next annual fee: keep the card, switch to another card from the same issuer, or close it.
5. Wait until the issuer’s terms allow another bonus before applying for a similar card again.

Welcome offers change; this page doesn’t list them

Welcome bonuses are set by the issuer and change from time to time, so this page doesn’t store or list them. The current offer, its spending requirement and its time limit are on the issuer’s own card page and in the offer terms there.

Welcome-bonus limits in issuers’ own terms

Issuers limit how often one person can earn a bonus. The wording differs by issuer and by offer, and it is in the offer terms on each card page. Three examples, quoted from the issuers’ pages:

Two things follow from that wording. First, a limit can reach across issuers: the Aeroplan clause covers points received from “TD or another issuer of the same card category type,” so a bonus earned on one bank’s Aeroplan card can affect eligibility on another bank’s. Second, switching cards inside one bank doesn’t necessarily count as a new account for bonus purposes, as the Scotiabank terms show. All three offers also require the account to be in good standing, and TD’s terms add that closing the account or transferring to another TD card may forfeit bonus points not yet awarded. Other issuers, including CIBC and BMO, publish their own conditions with each offer.

What counts toward a spending requirement

Offer terms define which transactions count. Some examples of the wording:

• American Express: “Interest charges, annual fees, other fees and cash equivalent transactions are not purchases and do not qualify for Membership Rewards points.”
• TD: the Aeroplan Visa Infinite offer counts “net purchases (including the first purchase, less any returns and credits),” so a return made inside the offer period reduces the total.
• American Express (Cobalt offer): purchases count in the billing period in which they post, so one made on the last day of a monthly billing period that posts the next day may count toward the next period instead.

Cash advances and cash-like transactions carry a cost of their own. The interest-free grace period doesn't apply to cash advances, cash-like transactions and balance transfers. Buying things you wouldn’t otherwise buy to reach a threshold costs the full price of those purchases, which can exceed the bonus.

How churning affects a credit score

The FCAC’s guidance on improving a credit score covers each part of a churning cycle. Credit bureaus and lenders don’t publish their scoring formulas, so the size of any one effect isn’t something a reader can look up.

Lenders check credit reports before approving a mortgage or car loan, so recent inquiries and new accounts are part of what they see. The hard inquiry guide and soft vs. hard credit checks go into more detail.

Keeping, switching or closing a card

When the next annual fee approaches, the options are to keep the card, ask the issuer to switch it to another card, or close it. On annual fees, the FCAC says: “Usually, the charge will appear on your credit card statement once a year.” It also notes that keeping an older account open, even with a zero balance, helps maintain your credit history and utilization rate. Whether an issuer refunds part of an annual fee after cancellation, and whether a switch is allowed, is set out in the cardholder agreement and by the issuer.

What a churner tracks

People who churn keep a record of each card so deadlines aren’t missed:

Trade-offs

The balance shifts with circumstances. Someone planning to apply for a mortgage soon has more reason to care about recent inquiries than someone with no borrowing planned, and someone who carries a balance faces interest costs that a person paying in full doesn’t.

BMO Rewards

BMO Rewards is the Bank of Montreal’s own points program, earned on BMO Rewards credit cards such as the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite, the eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege and the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard. Points are redeemed through bmorewards.com, most directly with Pay with Points, which applies them to eligible purchases already on the card. BMO Rewards is a different program from Blue Rewards, the program that replaced Air Miles; that one is covered in the Air Miles and Blue Rewards guide. Both are part of the rewards programs hub.

BMO Rewards at a glance

Sources: BMO Rewards Terms and Conditions, BMO rewards credit cards page, BMO eclipse Visa Infinite page, BMO Blue Rewards page.

Cards that earn BMO Rewards points

Welcome offers on these cards change often, so they are not listed here; the current offer is on each card’s page at bmo.com. Readers weighing a card mainly for its sign-up bonus can find the trade-offs in the credit card churning guide.

BMO eclipse Visa Infinite

The eclipse earns 5 points per $1 at merchants in Canada classified as gas, grocery, dining or transit, and 1 point per $1 on everything else. BMO’s card page also names takeout and food delivery apps, and rideshare apps, among the purchases earning the accelerated rate. The accelerated rate stops at an annual limit in each category, counted from January 1 to December 31; after the limit, purchases earn 1 point per $1. BMO’s benefit guides for the eclipse and the Privilege add that points aren’t posted to an account that isn’t in good standing when the purchases are made or the statement is issued, or that isn’t open when the statement is issued.

Source: BMO eclipse Visa Infinite benefit guide.

The card also pays a $50 statement credit each year, and BMO’s page advertises 10% more points on all purchases after an authorized user is added. The income requirement BMO lists is $60,000 (individual) or $100,000 (household), or a minimum of $15,000 in declared current annual spending.

BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege

The Privilege earns 5 points per $1 at merchants in Canada classified as grocery, dining, drugstore, gas, air fare, hotel or car rental, with its own annual limits, higher than the eclipse’s for dining and groceries but lower for gas:

Source: BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege benefit guide.

BMO’s page for the card lists a $200 anniversary lifestyle credit, 25% more points on all purchases with an authorized user, and a Visa Airport Companion membership with 6 complimentary lounge visits a year (card page).

BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard

The Ascend puts its highest earn rate on travel. It earns 5 points per $1 on eligible travel purchases, 3 points per $1 on eligible dining, entertainment and recurring bill payments, and 1 point per $1 on everything else. It includes membership in Mastercard Travel Pass provided by DragonPass, with 4 free lounge passes a year (card page). BMO’s card page footnotes its accelerated rates; any limits on them are in the card’s terms at bmo.com.

How to redeem BMO Rewards points

Pay with Points. Sign in at bmorewards.com, pick a recent eligible purchase and choose how many points to apply. BMO’s page says points can be redeemed for as little as $1. The terms say points are redeemed up to the full amount of the purchase or the cash value of the points, whichever is less, and the redemption appears as a credit on the monthly statement. It doesn’t count toward the minimum payment. Only the primary cardholder can sign in to the BMO Rewards account and redeem this way.

Travel. There is no separate BMO travel portal requirement in the terms: a cardholder can book with any travel provider using the primary BMO card, then use Pay with Points on the travel purchase. To qualify, the merchant has to be classified as an airline, car rental agency, hotel or resort, cruise line, vacation package seller, eligible vacation rental, passenger railway, timeshare, travel agency or tour operator.

Merchandise and gift cards. The bmorewards.com catalogue has products and gift cards. For merchandise other than gift cards, a cardholder needs at least 80% of the points for the item and can buy the rest on the card. Gift cards can’t be topped up this way: they need the full number of points. Redeeming online is free; BMO charges a telephone redemption fee of $7.50 for each merchandise or financial rewards redemption.

Savings, investments and charity. Points can go toward a contribution to a BMO savings or investment account, or to a charity donation.

Gifting. Points can be sent to another BMO Rewards cardholder, in any amount from 1,000 points, using the recipient’s last name and collector number. A gift can’t be returned.

Sources: BMO Rewards Terms and Conditions, BMO rewards credit cards page, BMO eclipse Visa Infinite page.

What a BMO Rewards point is worth

BMO’s credit card terms value points at 150 points per $1 when redeemed for travel-related purchases, which is 0.67¢ per point; other redemptions can differ, and bmorewards.com doesn’t open to automated reading. The program terms describe Pay with Points as redeeming points up to their cash value. Dividing the dollars a redemption covers by the points it uses, times 100, gives cents per point, the same measure used for Amex’s published rates in the Amex Membership Rewards guide, so the two programs can be compared on equal terms.

Expiry and cancelling a card

• Points don’t expire while the account stays open and in good standing.
• If the account is cancelled, the cardholder has 90 days to either redeem the points for merchandise and gift cards only, or reinstate them by reinstating the account or linking them to a new BMO Rewards card account. After that, the points expire.
• Redeeming requires the account to be in good standing: not cancelled, past due or otherwise in default.

Source: BMO Rewards Terms and Conditions, sections 8 and 9.

BMO Rewards vs Blue Rewards (formerly Air Miles)

BMO runs BMO Rewards and Blue Rewards as separate programs. Asked whether Blue Rewards is the same as BMO Rewards, BMO’s answer is that they are different programs, and BMO Rewards is available only with select BMO credit cards (BMO Blue Rewards page).

The earn rates on the Blue Rewards cards and the partner list are in the Air Miles and Blue Rewards guide.

BMO Rewards compared with other bank programs

For a household deciding between a points card and plain cash back, the rewards worth-it guide and the cash back calculator put the two side by side.

Points to watch

BMO Rewards sources

• Bank of Montreal. BMO Rewards Terms and Conditions.
• Bank of Montreal. BMO eclipse Visa Infinite benefit guide and card page.
• Bank of Montreal. BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege benefit guide and card page.
• Bank of Montreal. BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard.
• Bank of Montreal. Rewards credit cards and Blue Rewards.

Blue Rewards (formerly Air Miles)

Air Miles, the coalition loyalty program Canadians collected at partner stores for decades, no longer exists under that name. BMO, a founding partner of the program since 1992, completed its purchase of the AIR MILES Reward Program business from LoyaltyOne on June 1, 2023, and launched its replacement, Blue Rewards, on June 2, 2026. Collectors’ Miles converted automatically. This page explains what changed and how the program works now; it is part of the rewards programs hub.

What changed: Air Miles to Blue Rewards

Sources: BMO Blue Rewards page; BMO Newsroom, January 26, 2026; BMO Newsroom, June 2, 2026.

Why the program changed hands

LoyaltyOne, the company that ran AIR MILES, sold the program business to BMO as part of its proceeding under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the federal law for restructuring insolvent companies. BMO announced the agreement in March 2023 and completed the purchase on June 1, 2023 (BMO Newsroom, March 10, 2023; BMO Newsroom, June 1, 2023). BMO unveiled Blue Rewards on January 26, 2026 and launched it on June 2, 2026.

How the Miles-to-Points conversion worked

Every collector’s AIR MILES balance converted automatically to Blue Points, and BMO says the conversion happened with no loss in value. No action was needed, and collector numbers carried over as member numbers. Cash Miles and Dream Miles were consolidated into a single type of point.

The new points are smaller units than the old Miles, so balances look much larger after the switch while buying the same amount. Under the old program, 95 Cash Miles redeemed for $10 at partner stores; under Blue Rewards, $10 takes 1,500 Blue Points, or about 15.8 points for each former Cash Mile at the same dollar value.

How Blue Rewards works now

Redemption value. In store at partners and for eGift cards, 1,500 Blue Points = $10, or about 0.67 cents per point. BMO notes that standard daily Points usage limits and terms and conditions apply to these redemptions, and that other forms of redemption have their own terms and redemption rates, listed at bluerewards.ca/value. Through Blue Rewards Travel, any amount of points can go toward a trip when the rest is paid with a BMO Blue Rewards credit card (cruises excluded), or points can cover the whole trip including taxes and fees, except cruises and pay-at-property fees. (BMO Blue Rewards page; BMO Blue Rewards World Elite Mastercard page)

Expiry. An account with no points earned, redeemed or transferred for 24 months is considered dormant, and all its points are removed (Blue Rewards, do points expire?). The program’s full terms are at bluerewards.ca.

Ways to earn without a BMO card. Anyone can join as a member on the Blue Rewards website. Members earn by showing a physical or digital Blue Rewards member card at participating partners, and BMO’s January 2026 release describes earning on grocery and food deliveries by scanning in-store receipts in the Blue Rewards app. BMO customers can link their member number to an eligible BMO payment card for partner offers, and a Blue Rewards credit card earns points on top of those from showing the member card.

Where to earn Blue Points

Shell has left the program. BMO’s release says collectors could earn and redeem at Shell Canada through May 25, 2026, and at Alberta locations through March 2, 2026. Readers whose gas spending used to earn Miles at Shell can compare cards that reward fuel in the best gas credit cards guide.

BMO says Blue Rewards covers over 400 brands. The partners BMO names:

The full, current partner list is at bluerewards.ca. (Sources: BMO Newsroom, January 26, 2026; BMO Newsroom, June 2, 2026; BMO Blue Rewards page.)

BMO Blue Rewards credit cards

BMO replaced the AIR MILES-branded cards with two personal cards for new applicants. BMO says existing BMO AIR MILES credit cards keep working with no interruption and the same card number, and now earn Blue Points instead of Miles.

BMO footnotes the accelerated rates on each card’s page. On the World Elite card, the category bonus applies to purchases in Canada, and both the category and partner bonuses stop at a spending limit per statement cycle, after which purchases earn the base rate; the limits are in the card’s benefits guide on bmo.com. Welcome offers change often and are not a fixed feature of either card. (Sources: BMO’s World Elite and no-fee card pages.)

Status tiers: what happened to Gold and Onyx

Air Miles ran a three-tier status program (Blue, Gold and Onyx). Blue Rewards’ FAQ on the move from Air Miles says members who obtained Onyx status keep Onyx benefits until December 31, 2027; the FAQ gives the Personal Shopper benefit an earlier end date, December 31, 2026. The rules for each tier, and the dates that apply to each member, are at bluerewards.ca.

Blue Rewards vs other Canadian rewards programs

BMO Rewards, the points program on cards like the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite and BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard, is a separate BMO program from Blue Rewards: asked whether the two are the same, BMO says they are different programs. Whether collecting points beats a cash back card for a given household is worked through in the rewards worth-it guide.

For former Air Miles collectors

• The old AIR MILES collector number is now the Blue Rewards member number, and the converted Blue Points balance shows in the Blue Rewards account at bluerewards.ca or in the Blue Rewards app.
• Spending habits built around Shell no longer earn points there, since Shell has left the program.
• A BMO AIR MILES credit card keeps working with the same number and now earns Blue Points; BMO says no card change is needed.
• Point values and partner terms are set out at bluerewards.ca, which shows the current rate for each type of redemption.

Blue Rewards sources

• BMO Financial Group. “BMO Confirms Agreement to Acquire LoyaltyOne’s AIR MILES Reward Program Business.” March 10, 2023.
• BMO Financial Group. “BMO Completes Acquisition of LoyaltyOne’s AIR MILES Reward Program Business.” June 1, 2023.
• BMO Financial Group. “BMO Boldly Reimagines Loyalty with Launch of Blue Rewards.” January 26, 2026.
• BMO Financial Group. “BMO Launches Blue Rewards: A New, Bold and Rewarding Loyalty Experience for Canadians.” June 2, 2026.
• Bank of Montreal. Blue Rewards and BMO Blue Rewards credit cards.

WestJet Rewards

WestJet Rewards is WestJet’s loyalty program. In 2025 WestJet replaced its old currency, WestJet dollars, with WestJet points, converting one WestJet dollar to 100 WestJet points, with balances shown in points from April 30 (WestJet news release). Older reviews that describe WestJet dollars refer to the previous program. This guide covers earning, redeeming, tiers and the WestJet RBC cards; the rewards programs hub compares WestJet Rewards with Canada’s other programs.

WestJet Rewards at a glance

How to earn WestJet points

Flying WestJet

Members earn WestJet points on WestJet flight base fares and surcharges, seat selection, checked bags and cabin upgrade purchases; only government taxes and fees are left out. The earn rate depends on tier (WestJet, how to earn). Because WestJet sets the value of a point on fares at 100 points per $1, each tier’s earn rate converts directly into a return on what was spent:

Partner airlines and vacation packages

WestJet points can also be earned when booking and flying directly with Delta Air Lines, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Qantas Airways, and on the other partner airlines listed on WestJet’s partner airlines page. On a partner-marketed flight, points are based on distance flown and class of service. WestJet Vacations and Sunwing Vacations packages earn points too, and count toward status at 20% of the member’s share of an eligible package (WestJet, tiers).

Everyday partners and the eStore

Linked accounts with TELUS, Skip and Triangle Rewards earn WestJet points, as do hotel and car rental bookings made through WestJet and purchases in the WestJet Rewards eStore.

Tiers and tier qualifying spend

Status is based on tier qualifying spend in a calendar year (January 1 to December 31), which counts spending on WestJet fares and extras such as seats, bags and upgrades (WestJet, tiers). Under WestJet’s terms, only the member travelling, whose name and WestJet Rewards ID are on the ticket, earns it; the part of a booking paid with WestJet points doesn’t count; and a flight counts toward the year it departs.

Once reached, Silver, Gold or Platinum benefits last for the remainder of your current qualifying year until the end of your next qualifying year. Milestone awards, such as bonus points or vouchers, start at $2,000 of milestone qualifying spend, which is tracked separately and leaves out Status Lift.

Status Lift is a WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard benefit for the primary cardholder: each $5,000 of everyday card spending adds $200 of tier qualifying spend, up to 50 Status Lifts a year. That cap equals $10,000 of tier qualifying spend, reached after $250,000 of card spending. Status Lifts combine with flight spending, so a mix of the two also counts. Only net purchases count toward a Status Lift (returns, fees, interest and cash advances don’t), and the card account must be open and in good standing when a Status Lift is awarded; if the account is closed before the end of the year, WestJet can remove the Status Lifts and any tier they earned.

The WestJet RBC credit cards

RBC issues two personal WestJet cards. The World Elite card’s fee and earn rate come from this site’s card data file:

The lower-fee WestJet RBC Mastercard has its current fee and earn rates on RBC’s card page. Welcome offers on both cards change, so the current offer is on RBC’s site.

Companion vouchers

Both cards give the primary cardholder a round-trip companion voucher after the first purchase, then one each year the card’s net spending reaches a set amount, as long as the account is open and in good standing. The welcome voucher is for new cardholders only, not existing or former ones or additional cardholders.

On the World Elite card, the companion’s round-trip fare is $119 in economy fares (UltraBasic, Econo, EconoFlex) within Canada and the continental United States, or $219 in Premium fares; elsewhere in WestJet’s network it’s $399 in economy or $499 in Premium. Taxes, fees and charges are extra, and the voucher can’t be used on Business or Member Exclusive fares (WestJet Rewards). WestJet’s companion voucher rules add that the companion travels with the primary cardholder on the same itinerary, booked at the same time and on the same fare type, on a flight marketed and operated by WestJet; the voucher is for new bookings only, not group or WestJet Vacations bookings; and unused vouchers are cancelled when the card account is closed. The WestJet RBC Mastercard’s voucher covers round trips within Canada and to or from the continental United States only (Hawaii is excluded), at $299 for Premium fares (WestJet, RBC credit cards).

Free checked bag

The World Elite card gives a free first checked bag for yourself and up to eight guests on the same reservation when the flight is paid with the card (RBC, WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard). What that’s worth depends on WestJet’s bag fee for the fare and route, and on how many people travel together.

How to redeem WestJet points

WestJet points are applied at checkout on westjet.com (WestJet, redeem):

• Fares and extras: at booking, 100 points take $1 off base fare, surcharges, bags and seats.
• Taxes and fees: once everything else is covered, points can pay either 50% or 100% of the taxes and fees at 105 to 115 points per $1. Extras added after booking use the same rate.
• Minimum: redemptions start at 2,500 points for $25 off.
• Availability: regular WestJet fares have no blackout periods or seat limits for points. Member Exclusive fares, priced lower for members, must be paid entirely with WestJet points (excluding taxes), and do have blackout periods and limited seats.
• Cancellations: points used on a cancelled booking go back to the account (the fare must allow changes, and a cancellation fee may apply), except on UltraBasic fares, which are non-refundable and forfeit any points used.
• Changes: points can’t pay an amount owing after a booking is changed; that has to go on another form of payment, such as a credit card.
• Sharing: points can pay for someone else’s booking, and can be transferred to another member for a fee of $50-$59 CAD per transfer.

Points also go toward WestJet Vacations and Sunwing Vacations packages, partner flights, TELUS services, Skip credits, Canadian Tire Money and eStore gift cards and merchandise.

In cents per point, the fare rate is 1.00 cent per point and the taxes-and-fees rate is 0.87 to 0.95 cents, so points stretch slightly further on the fare than on taxes.

Do WestJet points expire?

WestJet points have no expiry date while the account stays active. An account becomes inactive after 24 months with no points earned, redeemed, transferred or converted, and WestJet can then deactivate it; if it does, all WestJet points and vouchers associated with the deactivated account will expire (WestJet Rewards terms). WestJet may offer a member a way to reactivate a deactivated account within 12 months of deactivation, which can include paying a fee. Promotional points can carry their own expiry dates.

WestJet Rewards vs Aeroplan

The trade-off is simplicity against range. WestJet points are easy to value and can be used on any regular WestJet fare, and outside Member Exclusive fares their value per point on the fare is fixed. Aeroplan’s value per point varies more, upward on some partner rewards and downward on others, and it lists over 50 partner airlines. The Aeroplan guide covers how that program works.

Points to weigh

• Companion voucher use: the voucher’s value depends on whether a companion would have flown anyway and what their fare would have cost.
• Tier: earn rates rise with tier, from 1 to 8 points per $1, so the same flight spending earns 8 times as many points at Platinum as at Teal.
• Keeping the account active: any earning, redeeming, transfer or conversion within 24 months keeps it active.
• Rewards vs cash back: whether a WestJet card beats a cash back card depends on how often the points get used on WestJet, and credit card churning covers the welcome-bonus side.

Choosing a card

The credit card reviews compare cards by category:

• Rewards credit cards
• Cash back credit cards
• Travel credit cards
• Hotel credit cards
• Dining credit cards
• Grocery credit cards
• Gas credit cards
• Aeroplan credit cards
• American Express cards
• Premium credit cards
• No foreign transaction fee cards
• Credit card welcome offers (above)
• Points vs cash back cards
• Is a premium credit card worth it?

Related guides

• Getting approved for a credit card
• Using your card, including authorized users
• Paying your credit card bill
• Credit card cash advances
• Building credit and utilization
• Airport lounge access with credit cards
• RBC credit cards
• BMO credit cards