Originally Posted by
Gainsbarre
Alright, I'll bite. TD Visa Infinite was my main credit card from late 2012 until January 2019, and I travel very frequently. I still use my TD Visa Infinite, but only for travel related purchases, and only after doing some price comparison online. The Rogers World Elite Mastercard (1.75% cashback on all CAD purchases, 1.5% cashback on all FX purchases) is now my main card - I also use the Simplii Visa (4% cashback for restaurants), the Tangerine Mastercard for recurring bill payments (2% cashback for TELUS and my cellphone plan but not ENMAX), and the Triangle World Elite Mastercard to pay my property tax and for grocery (3%) and gasoline purchases. I have the all-inclusive account to pay zero fees with my TD Visa Infinite card - I've never have and never plan on pay any credit card fees, ever...
Expedia for TD does give you the equivalent of 4.5% cashback for travel related purchases, and I'll still use them for flights/hotels if it's the cheapest price I can find. If I'm booking domestic flights in a foreign country, it's almost always significantly cheaper to book directly with the airline (e.g. I recently booked a bunch of domestic Japanese flights with ANA and they were all significantly cheaper dealing directly with ANA in Japanese Yen on their website). Always look up the flights you're wanting to book with Google Flights first - if I can get that price on Expedia for TD I will book it there, and if the difference is no greater than 3% compared what I can get I will booking directly with the airline I'll book on Expedia for TD, otherwise I'll book directly with the airline using my Rogers World Elite Mastercard.
One beef I have had with Expedia for TD is that their selection is NOT as robust as what you'll find on Expedia.ca. For instance, many hotels where you would pay directly at the hotel cannot be booked on Expedia for TD! I always look up hotels first with Trivago. That being said, if you see the exact same hotel/room type available on Expedia.ca and Expedia for TD, it's almost always cheaper to book on Expedia for TD. Expedia for TD doesn't seem to pair your airfare purchases with hotel purchases, in that if you've recently booked airfare on Expedia for TD you'll get the "book a hotel with your flight discount", even if the hotel(s) you book after the flight is in a different part of the world.
Another beef I have with Expedia for TD is that they've kiboshed their best price guarantee where you'd get a $50 voucher and a refund of the price difference if you could find a cheaper price elsewhere - I had collected over $2,000 in vouchers, mostly by finding the same hotel for cheaper at Agoda.
Expedia for TD is excellent for booking rental cars - it's always free cancellation until about a day before your reservation, and from the price comparisons I've done, Expedia for TD has always been the cheapest - even compared to booking directly with a car rental company website with a corporate discount and/or "elite" membership discounts (I have Hertz Gold through my Mileage Plus Gold status).
I have also had great experiences with TD Visa Infinite's rental car insurance coverage and trip interruption insurance. I had my first (and thankfully, so far only) flat tire almost 2 years ago after striking a huge pothole in Kentucky just northeast of Louisville - Allianz fully covered the cost of a replacement tire. Do NOT EVER purchase car rental insurance through the rental company if you pay for your rental with the TD Visa Infinite - the very first question Allianz asked when I inquired about the claim was whether or not I had taken out rental car insurance through the rental car company - if I had, I would have no coverage through my TD Visa Infinite. Furthermore, the daily cost of the insurance through the rental car company (if I had purchased it) also exceeded the ~$50 cost of the replacement tire! My TD Visa Infinite also came through for me when my luggage was delayed about 5 years ago (covered some of my expenses for my first day in Tokyo) and when I was in my first and only ever card accident on my way to YYC, which caused me to miss my flight and incur a $100 same day flight change fee - TD Visa Infinite fully reimbursed me there as well.
Alright, final point for the TD Visa Infinite - I don't believe it has any coverage of checked baggage fees or any airport lounge offers, which is a bit of a letdown for frequent travelers, especially if you've had free airport lounge access before. As mentioned in an earlier post I've made in this thread, I believe that free airport lounge access with a no-fee credit card is extremely difficult to come by. I believe that the HSBC Jade Mastercard is the only no-fee credit card that offers unlimited airport lounge access, but it comes with a steep hurdle to clear (you need to have a tidy sum in HSBC accounts, so much so that I can only find very limited information about this card online - only a few posts on Red Flag Deals seem to briefly touch upon this card...)