[Canadian Credit Card] New Cards for Welcome Bonus - Asia Miles
- Jet So
- Sep 24, 2024
- 5 min read
A friend of mine who loves traveling to Asia, recently complained to me that it took him forever to save enough Asia Miles for a flight ticket, and asked me if there are shortcuts to earn Asia Miles efficiently - Good question!
In fact, the fastest way for ordinary people to earn Asia Miles is to issue new credit cards and get the welcome bonus. There are mainly three credit cards in Canada that allow you to earn Asia Miles as the welcome bonus. According to the current offers, the best-deal order is ① RBC Avion Visa Infinite/ RBC Avion Visa Platinum, ② Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard, ③ Amex Cobalt.
(as of 2024/09/24) | ① RBC Avion Visa Infinite/ RBC Avion Visa Platinum | ②Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard | ③Amex Cobalt |
Upon Approval/ Activation | 35,000 Avion | 7,000 Asia Miles | N/A |
Completed Spending Mission | 20,000 Avion | 20,000 Asia Miles | 15,000 MR |
Asia Miles Conversion Rate | 1x | N/A | 0.75x |
Max. Asia Miles to be received | 55,000 | 27,000 | 11,250 |
Annual Fee | CAD120 | CAD180 | CAD155.88（*） |
$/Asia Mile | CAD0.00218 | CAD0.00667 | CAD0.0139 |
(*) Amex Cobalt does not charge an annual fee, but a monthly fee. CAD12.99 per month, equal to CAD155.88 per year.
Note: In exchange for Cathay Pacific one-way super long-haul economy class (for example: Toronto > Hong Kong), the Asia Miles required are 38,000.
The bottom line of the above table is "$/Asia Mile". It is assumed that you open the card and pay the annual fee = spending money to buy Asia Miles. It shows the cost paid for 1 Asia Mile earned as the welcome bonus. The premise is that you can complete all spending missions.
In terms of the welcome bonus, Amex Cobalt is completely inferior; Asia Miles earned via RBC Avion is 3 times cheaper than that of Neo Cathay. Let’s talk about each card one by one.
① RBC Avion Visa Infinite (VI)/ RBC Avion Visa Platinum (Pt)
The welcome offers for both cards are the same: apply before 2024/11/25, get 35,000 Avions on approval, and get 20,000 Avions when you spend CAD5,000 in your first 6 months. In other words, you can earn up to 55,000 Asia Miles.
VI requires an annual personal income of at least CAD60,000, or a household income of at least CAD100,000. There is no annual income requirement stated for Pt.
After getting the welcome bonus, the two cards are basically the same (=useless...). For VI, travel-related transactions are 1.25x Avion, and everything else is 1x. Pt basically 1x on all spending items. In other words - I would recommend you put the cards somewhere in the freezer after earning the welcome bonus if you want to keep the card.
Both cards come with a 12-month DoorDash membership DashPass (regular price: CAD9.99 per month/CAD96 per year). If you need it, you can keep one card for 12 months to help cover some of the annual fees.
If you don’t need it, you can simply cancel it and get a prorated refund; or you can downgrade the card to RBC ION+ Visa (its annual fee is CAD48, and there are 3x points for supermarkets/restaurants/gas/streaming subscriptions, etc.) However, points earned via ION+ cannot be directly converted to Asia Miles; you will need to change it back to Avion VI/Pt for Asia Miles redemption.
② Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard
Once upon a time, this card had a very generous welcome when it was new, offering a total of 45,000 Asia Miles... But that's all gone... This card is currently Cathay Pacific's only joint credit card in Canada. Spending money goes directly back to Asia Miles, no need to convert from "points" to Asia Miles.
In terms of the welcome bonus, it will give you 7,000 Asia Miles when you activate a new card, and another 20,000 Asia Miles when you spend CAD5,000 in your first 3 months. A total of 27,000 Asia Miles.
The annual personal income requirement is CAD80,000, or the household income is CAD150,000. (Having said that, there are friends around me who don’t have enough annual salary requirements to meet the requirements. Let’s see if you want to give it a try with a hard pull.)
For domestic purchases in Canada with this card, CAD1=1 Asia Mile; for foreign currency purchases, it is the same as Cathay Pacific online ticket purchase, CAD1=2 Asia Miles. Some partner merchants, such as Popeyes, Boston Pizza, and Adidas, have boosters, which can earn 1.5-6.5x Asia Miles. But to be honest, there are not many cooperative merchants, and the number of cooperative merchants can be increased or decreased at any time.
It is another card that I will put into the freezer after earning the welcome bonus - especially after hearing that Boingo will no longer provide free wifi to World Elite Mastercard holders from 2024/09/30.
In addition, if you use this card to buy Cathay Pacific air tickets, there is a 10% off promotion code. However, I tried to enter the promo code, but turns out it was more expensive than entering nothing... I’ll make another post to “share” it when I have some free time☺️
③Amex Cobalt
In the past year, the welcome offer of this card has shrunk like crazy, but I think it is the only one among these three credit cards that is worth holding for a long time and is not a junk card.
One feature of this card is that it charges a monthly fee (CAD12.99) instead of an annual fee. Its welcome offers are monthly and are distributed based on whether you can complete your spending tasks. The current offer is that if you spend CAD750 every month, you will get 1,250 MR as a welcome bonus every month in the first year. In other words, you can get up to 15,000 MR in a year as a welcome bonus, equivalent to 11,250 Asia Miles.
Compared with the past, the current welcome bonus is not generous at all... If you are not in a hurry, you can wait and see if Amex will offer better later. However, welcome offers, like stock prices, can rise or fall. Past performance does not guarantee future performance, and may be reduced over time. FYI — When I got my card last year, the welcome offer was to spend CAD500 per month and receive 2,500 MR.
Let’s not talk about the welcome bouns, but exchanging MR for Asia Miles. I think this card is unparalleled in Canada. Even the 5x points program is unbeatable. You can use MR to exchange for Cathay Pacific air tickets - it is a steal if you redeem for economy class ultra-long-haul flights (e.g. from Toronto to Hong Kong), as Cathay extensively lowered Asia Miles needed to redeem for Medium-Long, Long and Ultra-Long-hual flights.
Summary
RBC Avion is a great deal now. If your annual salary exceeds CAD60k, you can try applying for Visa Infinite. It doesn’t matter if you can't get VI, the welcome offer made by Visa Platinum is the same.
After earning the welcome bonus, you can put it aside or cancel it because its daily rewards are simply unattractive.
Neo Cathay's welcome is a bit tasteless. If you don’t mind paying the annual fee of CAD180, signing up for CAD5k within 3 months, already got RBC Avion and want some Asia Miles to support your trip, this is an option.
Daily transactions are kind of useless in my opinion, not to mention losing Boingo wifi. Apart from meeting the above requirements, I really can’t think of any incentive for me to issue this card now...
Amex Cobalt's welcome offer is not attractive, but it is my to-go card for everyday grocery shopping and restaurant spending - see if you go to stores that accept Amex.
Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday are coming soon. If you want to take the opportunity to earn more Asia Miles, you should apply for a credit card in advance and do the welcome tasks to earn the most!
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