TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card: a full review

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card is a credit card from TD that offers rewards designed to tempt frequent travellers. But there’s stiff competition out there among travel credit cards, and even among Aeroplan travel credit cards - so, how does the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite compare?

In this full review, you’ll find out what the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite offers. And additionally, you’ll also learn about the Wise card, a low-cost and convenient option in case you’re planning to travel abroad.

What is Aeroplan?

Aeroplan is a frequent flyer scheme run by Air Canada. It offers rewards in the form of flights and other travel-related offers, which you can redeem in exchange for points.¹ How do you get points? Via a credit card.

There are numerous Aeroplan credit cards, as well as some more from American Express that aren’t Aeroplan-branded but can nonetheless have their points converted to Aeroplan rewards.

TD offers 3 Aeroplan credit cards: the Visa Platinum at the lower tier, the Visa Infinite Privilege at the upper tier, and the Visa Infinite in the middle.²

And the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite - what does it offer?

More or less by definition, all Aeroplan credit cards offer the same rewards: the ones you get through Aeroplan. But the cards differ in terms of their fees and how you can earn points.

The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite costs $139 per year, rebated in your first year. Its current welcome offer awards up to 25,000 points: 10,000 as a joining bonus, and another 15,000 if you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days of having the card. And in that case, as well as those 15,000 bonus points, you also get a Buddy Pass so you can take someone else with you in economy on a North American flight.³

What else? One thing that’s particularly notable with this card is its insurance. It offers a strong range of protection for travel, as well as purchase insurance too. You can find our some more details about this later on.

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite fees and points

Credit cards are enthralling things, but they often come down to the numbers. So here’s what you need to know about the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite.³

Annual fee	$139 (first year rebated)
Interest: purchases / cash	19.99% / 22.99%
Additional cardholders	$75
Minimum income requirement	$60,000 personal / $100,000 household
Minimum credit limit	$5,000
Welcome bonus	10,000 points on first purchase, 15,000 + Buddy Pass if you spend $1,000 within 90 days
Points per dollar: all purchases	1
Points per dollar: gas, grocery, Air Canada	1.5
Points per dollar: Aeroplan partner brands	Double

Other benefits with the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite

Aeroplan credit cards, and indeed other travel credit cards like Air Miles, tend to offer similar points programmes. But what additional benefits do these cards offer? That could be what determines your choice.

Here are some of the additional benefits you get with the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite:³

• Travel and purchase insurance – see section below
• Complimentary concierge service
• Additional benefits with certain hotels, dining series, wineries, events, and golf courses
• Emergency travel assistance
• NEXUS application fee rebate once per 48 months

But the insurance offering is worth a special look, as you’ll find out now.

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite insurance

It’s normal for higher-level credit cards to offer a certain amount of insurance to cardholders, and that’s especially true when it comes to travel credit cards. But the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite insurance offering is worth explaining.

Here’s what it offers travellers:³

• Travel medical insurance of up to $1 million for 21 days (or 4 days if you or your spouse is 65 or over)
• Cancellation / interruption insurance of up to $1,500 / $5,000 per insured person
• Delay insurance of up to $500
• Delayed/lost baggage insurance of up to $1,000 per insured person
• Common carrier travel accident insurance of up to $500,000
• Burglary insurance at your hotel/motel of up to $2,500 per occurrence
• Auto rental collision / loss damage insurance for up to 48 days in a row

Other insurance offers

It’s also common for credit cards to offer a certain amount of insurance in other categories too. The TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite also offers:³

• Mobile device insurance of up to $1,000
• Purchase security, as well as extended warranty protection, for items purchased with the card for 90 days. The warranty period could be doubled for up to a year.
• Optional payment protection plan, which would help to cover you in a few extreme circumstances.

What can I do with Aeroplan points?

You can redeem them for a variety of travel-related rewards.

Most obviously, and maybe most temptingly too, you can redeem them for flights. 6,000 points could be enough for a trip within North America, although a long-haul flight could be at least 65,000,⁴ so you’ll have to buy a heck of a lot of groceries.

Aeroplan doesn’t just offer flights, though. You can also redeem them for hotels, car rental, entire vacation packages, or other activities, not to mention merch.

Plus you can use points for those tempting little extras like in-flight wifi.¹

These rewards are all offered via the Aeroplan scheme itself, not TD, so you’d be able to get them with any Aeroplan credit card.

Pros and cons of the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card

Starting with the pros, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite credit card offers a good return when it comes to points, and the fee is not too high – in fact, it’s zero for the first year. The range of travel insurance on offer is impressive, too. As for Aeroplan itself, it’s a strong scheme with competitive benefits.

The cons? Many of the downsides are true across all such credit cards: you always have to be careful you don’t end up spending more purely in order to get points, as that can become a rather expensive habit. Further, rewards in the form of travel bonuses are great, but something like cash back – boring though it sounds – might end up going much further when it comes to actually cutting down on costs.

Also, you’ll need to be in the right income bracket for this card to be a good idea – don’t forget it’s for those earning $60,000 or households bringing in $100,000. There are Aeroplan cards available – as well as other credit cards, of course – at both lower and higher levels.

But ultimately, the value of the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card comes down to how it compares to its competitors.

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite competitors

There are two other Aeroplan cards at the same essential price point: the CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite, and the American Express Aeroplan.

CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinit: CIBC’s card is an identical $139, but CIBC Smart Plus Account holders can get that waived each year, not just the first year – so that’s one benefit that could keep on giving. Other features of the card are similar, including insurance.⁵

American Express Aeroplan: The Amex Aeroplan card is different - it’s actually not a credit card at all, but rather a prepaid card. There are potentially as many as 40,000 bonus points available, as well as a Buddy Pass, if you keep your spending high in your first year, and the cost is a little lower at $120.⁶ As mentioned earlier, there are numerous other American Express credit cards whose points can be redeemed via Aeroplan as well – including the $0-per-year Green Card and the $12.99-monthly Cobalt Card. These cards offer more flexibility with rewards: if you prefer, you can redeem them for other, non-travel benefits.

An important thing to bear in mind is: Aeroplan isn’t the only show in town. When it comes to travel rewards, there’s also Air Miles, of course, as well as Avios. And Amex has its own Fixed-Points Travel Program too.

Always have a think - do you even need to use specialists travel card? Some of the best travel credit cards in Canada are more flexible, allowing you to get value out of the card on the day-to-day as well. The Scotiabank Gold American Express is one example of a card that’s good for both travel and everyday spending. And if you want to stick with TD there’s also the First Class Visa Infinite, which offers a different set of travel bonuses altogether.

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Sources:

1. Air Canada: Aeroplan: Redeem
2. TD credit cards
3. TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite
4. Aeroplan Flight Reward Chart
5. CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite
6. American Express Aeroplan Card