The CIBC Aventura program is one of the more popular credit card travel points program in Canada. With that being said, I do think that Aeroplan still brings a significantly better value than Aventura. At the same time, CIBC tends to offer generous points earning with Aventura and this program could be a decent supplementary points program to use for travel.
VIDEO – How To Earn and Redeem CIBC Aventura Points in Canada
How to earn CIBC Aventura points
The best way to earn CIBC Aventura points is through credit card sign-up bonuses. As of writing this article, there are three credit cards in Canada that can earn you CIBC Aventura points.
CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite and CIBC Aventura Gold Visa
The first two credit cards have a very similar offer. Those cards are the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite and the CIBC Aventura Gold. I’m not sure if you can hold both card at once but since both offers are identical, it’s just a matter of applying one for one or the other depending on your income level.
Both cards will earn you 35,000 Aventura points in one year. As shown on the image above, you will earn 20,000 Aventura points on your first purchase. You will then earn 1,250 points every month for your first year after spending $1000 per month. The other benefit of getting either credit card is the annual fee is waived for the first year. And, if you like travelling to the USA, then the $50 NEXUS application fee rebate is quite enticing as well.
CIBC Aventura Visa Business
Another card that you can get to earn Aventura points is the CIBC Aventura Visa Business. You need to get a business number to qualify for this card. One company that offers an easy and quick way to get a business number is Ownr. Here’s a referral link to get $50 off your business number through Ownr.
At first glance, it seems like the CIBC Aventura Business card will earn you a whopping 60,000 Aventura points and first year annual fee rebated. But upon a closer inspection, it looks like you only earn 25,000 points in your first year. To get the remaining 35,000 points, you’ll need to spend $65,000 within your first year. I don’t think a lot of people will be able to complete the second part of this promotion. However, even with just 25,000 Aventura points, it’s still a decent card to get to top up your Aventura points balance.
How to redeem CIBC Aventura points
Redeeming the CIBC Aventura points is relatively straight forward. First, look at the awards chart to determine how much points you need to redeem.
Then, login to CIBC Rewards and choose your flights. As shown below, it seems that flights between a Canadian city and Florida is one of the best value for redeeming your Aventura Points.
Inter-Canada flights doesn’t seem to be a good use of your points. The Vancouver-Toronto route, for example, still requires you to pay a hefty tax. It might be in your best interest to book your flights out of pocket instead.
The best value for your Aventura points seems to be inter-USA flights. But, that might not be worth your time to relocate to an American city just to save a bit of money. But, if you are in the US already, then this is a spectacular way to redeem those Aventura points.
Conclusion
Earning and redeeming Aventura points is a pretty straight forward process. Even if Aeroplan is the better program, it’s still a decent program to use for travel between Canada and the United States. If you’ve already tapped out all the Aeroplan credit card sign-up bonuses, then it might be a good idea to earn a bit of Aventura points on the side.
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