If you are as old as I am you'll remember the days of yesteryear when you bought an airline ticket and that ticket included two checked bags, meals, and seat selection. Fast forward to the last decade and a half or so and ancillary fees have become the norm as airlines unbundled their pricing. Ancillary fees charged by most airlines range from seat selection, checking luggage, buy on board food and more. They are huge revenue generators for the airlines so unfortunately these fees will never go away. Granted you could fly for the lowest cost possible by not checking luggage, only selecting seats at check in and so on - but sometimes, you need to know that you will be sitting together with your travel companions and if you may be traveling for an extended period of time that you'll have to check some luggage.
So how do you go about saving yourself some money by avoiding those fees? The good news is that some credit cards in the Canadian market will cover these fees being dished out by the airlines. Some always cover checked bags, while others provide annual credits that can be used for the various fees charged by airlines and even airports.
This feature is broken down into the following sections:
This is probably the most disliked fee of all that airlines charge their customers. Unless you choose to fly on a more expensive fare, which then defeats the purpose of saving money while travelling, you can avoid baggage fees by utilizing the following credit cards:
WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard
Traveling within Canada, to the U.S., to sun destinations and even to Europe, this card covers the first checked bag fee for the cardholder and up to 8 guests on the same reservation. With the first checked bag now costing no less than C$35 to $45, you can see how quickly this card will save you money. A family of four going to Disney World (or anywhere else for that matter) would save no less than $280 in baggage fees just by having this card. Truth be told, we've had many of our readers tell us this is the sole reason they have this card! It doesn't matter that it comes with a great companion fare benefit as well. Learn more about this card here.
TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card (also available on CIBC version)
Travelling lightly through the airport and saving on baggage fees. Primary Cardholders, Additional Cardholders, and travel companions (up to eight) travelling on the same reservation will all enjoy their first checked bag free (up to 23kg/50lb) when your travel originates on an Air Canada flight. Similar to the WestJet card you are looking at some significant savings each time you and your family or travelling companions check baggage! Learn more about this card here.
American Express® Aeroplan®* Card
Travelling lightly through the airport and saving on baggage fees. Primary Cardholders, Additional Cardholders, and travel companions (up to eight) travelling on the same reservation will all enjoy their first checked bag free (up to 23kg/50lb) when your travel originates on an Air Canada flight. Similar to the WestJet card you are looking at some significant savings each time you and your family or travelling companions check baggage! Learn more about this card here.
TD® Aeroplan® Visa* Infinite Privilege* Card (also available on the CIBC version)
Travelling lightly through the airport and saving on baggage fees. Primary Cardholders, Additional Cardholders, and travel companions (up to eight) travelling on the same reservation will all enjoy their first checked bag free (up to 23kg/50lb) when your travel originates on an Air Canada flight. You are looking at some significant savings each time you and your family or travelling companions check baggage! Learn more about this card here.
American Express® Aeroplan®* Reserve Card
Travelling lightly through the airport and saving on baggage fees. Primary Cardholders, Additional Cardholders, and travel companions (up to eight) travelling on the same reservation will all enjoy their first checked bag free (up to 23kg/50lb) when your travel originates on an Air Canada flight. You are looking at some significant savings each time you and your family or travelling companions check baggage! Learn more about this card here.
National Bank World Elite Mastercard
This card offers up to $150 each year in refunds for travel expenses on airport parking, seat selection, check-in fees, airline ticket upgrades and access to airport lounges worldwides. Once you charge the fees to your card you need to submit a request to NBC and submit the supporting documents (baggage fee receipt) to receive the credit. This is an annual benefit that renews on your card anniversary date. Learn more about this card here.
Dreaded almost as much as baggage fees, although somewhat more avoidable if you simply choose to check in for your flight 24-48 hours beforehand as most airlines don't charge the fee at that time (Ultra Low Cost Carriers may charge at anytime). However if you want to make sure you have the seats you desire, want to sit with your travel companions or maybe you want to upgrade at time of check in you'll have to pay the seat selection or upgrade fees. These are the cards that offer a travel credit that can be used to offset these fees:
National Bank World Elite Mastercard
This card offers up to $150 each year in refunds for travel expenses on airport parking, seat selection, check-in fees, airline ticket upgrades and access to airport lounges worldwides. Once you charge the fees to your card you need to submit a request to NBC and submit the supporting documents (baggage fee receipt) to receive the credit. This is an annual benefit that renews on your card anniversary date. Learn more about this card here.
Airport fees aren't like the airline ones however if your drive yourself to the airport you will likely be stuck with parking fees or maybe you want to access a business class lounge before your flight and have to pay the entrance fee. These are the cards you could use to pay for such fees.
American Express® Aeroplan®* Reserve Card
The American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card has several benefits for flying out Toronto Pearson International Airport. Two of them can save you some money and those are complimentary valet service at the Express Park and Daily Park as well as a 15% discount on parking rates at the Express Park and Daily Park. You will receive a statement credit after the charge has been posted to your account! Learn more about this card here.
National Bank World Elite Mastercard
This card offers up to $150 each year in refunds for travel expenses on airport parking, seat selection, check-in fees, airline ticket upgrades and access to airport lounges worldwides. Once you charge the fees to your card you need to submit a request to NBC and submit the supporting documents (baggage fee receipt) to receive the credit. This is an annual benefit that renews on your card anniversary date. Learn more about this card here.
Platinum Card from American Express®
The Platinum Card from American Express has several benefits for flying out Toronto Pearson International Airport. Two of them can save you some money and those are complimentary valet service at the Express Park and Daily Park as well as a 15% discount on parking rates at the Express Park and Daily Park. You will receive a statement credit after the charge has been posted to your account! Learn more about this card here.
Visa Infinite Privilege Cards
All Canadian issued Visa Infinite Privilege cards receive discounts on parking or valet services at Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver airports.
- Montreal: 10% discount on Valet parking
- Ottawa: 20% discount on standard parking fees in the parkade (plus Visa Infinite Privilege branded dedicated parking spots located in P3 of the parkade on a first-come-first-serve basis)
- Vancouver: Gateway Valet parking discount of 20% (plus dedicated parking spots close to the terminal)
Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access
The ultimate guide to accessing business class lounges for Canadians!
Check it out here
There is another way that you can save on baggage and other airline fees. This is with proprietary credit card programs that allow you to redeem points for any travel. Typically baggage and airline fees will appear as a charge from the airline, hence it is considered a travel charge. You can redeem your points against those charges once they post to your account. You can choose to cover the entire cost or only a portion of it if you so desire. The following programs are the ones that allow you to do this:
- American Express Membership Rewards (Gold Rewards Card, Platinum Card, Cobalt Card and others)
- ATB My Rewards (ATB Gold My Rewards Card and World Elite Mastercard)
- BMO Rewards ( BMO AscendTM World Elite®* Mastercard®*, BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card and others)
- Desjardins BONUS Dollar Rewards (Desjardins Odyssey World Elite Mastercard, Odyssey Gold Visa and others)xw
- National Bank À la carte Rewards (NBC World Elite Mastercard, Platinum Mastercard and others)
- Scene+ (Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card, Gold American Express and others)
- TD Rewards (TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite* Card, Platinum Travel Visa and others)
These feature was first posted on January 28, 2019 and is updated frequently
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This post is part a series here on Reward Canada entitled Everyday Value. With the Everyday Value series we aim to show how reward programs and credit cards can provide value for the everyday Canadian. The fact is over 90% of travel rewards redemptions are for economy class flights, lower to mid-level hotels, cash back and merchandise. Thus we hope that by developing this series for the majority of Canadians, they will come to enjoy and reap the benefits of reward programs even more than they already are.
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