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Comparison of the AMEX Air Miles Reserve and BMO Air Miles World Elite Cards

As requested by one of our readers, we will be comparing the American Express AIR MILES Reserve Credit Card and the BMO AIR MILES World Elite MasterCard. A second question was whether Air Miles is worth a second look considering the upcoming end of the Aeroplan and Air Canada partnership. Feel free to share any other suggestions in the comment section below!

Before we get into the comparison, let’s start with some of the highlights of each card:

American Express Air Miles Reserve Card

  • $299 annual fee
  • $50 annual fee for supplementary cardholders
  • Earn 2,400 sign up bonus points when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months
  • Earn 1 mile for every $10 spent at Air Miles Sponsors, grocery stores, gas stations, and drugstores in Canada
  • Earn 1 mile for every $15 spent on all other purchases
  • Receive Onyx elite status with Air Miles
  • Receive a Companion Flight Benefit (once per calendar year when redeeming for any reward flight flight for a companion on the same itinerary as the primary cardholder, up to a maximum of 1,700 reward miles)
  • Receive 4 complimentary visits per year to Priority Pass Worldwide Lounges
  • Receive access to the Toronto Pearson Priority Security Lane
  • Receive access Toronto Pearson Priority Limo and Taxi Lanes
  • Receive access to FlexFly Redemptions
  • Receive ability to redeem miles to pay for taxes and fees on a flight redemptions
  • Receive waived Air Miles flight administration fee

BMO Air Miles World Elite MasterCard

  • $120 annual fee
  • $50 annual fee for supplementary cardholders
  • Earn 2,000 sign up bonus miles (if you apply before August 31, 2017)
  • Earn 1 Air Mile for every $10 spent on all purchases
  • Receive a 25% discount on North America reward flights with no blackout periods
  • Receive 2 Priority Pass lounges passes per year

Annual Fee

This is a straightforward comparison, the one with the lower annual fee wins. The real question though is whether the annual fee is worth it.

Winner: BMO

Sign Up Bonus

The regular sign up bonuses are actually 1,000 for the BMO card and 2,400 for the AMEX card. All else equal, the winner is to the card that offers the higher regular sign up bonus.

Winner: AMEX

Earning Ratios

The BMO card actually has the edge on this one, even though they have the lower annual fee. I value 1 Air Mile at 11 cents a piece, so you are earning 1.1 cent per dollar or 1.1% return (11 cents / $10). This is still a fairly dismal return to me. Unless you are getting more than 11 cents per mile in value, I would not use an Air Miles co-branded credit card for my day-to-day spending.

Winner: BMO

Other Benefits

The AMEX card clearly has many more features and benefits associated with the card. I will break down whether the annual fee is justified:

  • BMO ($120) – 25% discount on North America reward flights + 2 lounge passes
  • AMEX ($299) – Companion Flight Benefits + 4 lounge passes + waived Air Miles flight administration fee + Onyx elite status

The AMEX card charged $179 more in annual fees, but to me, the Companion Flight Benefits alone already makes it worth it. Furthermore, to me, having Onyx status is better than the 25% discount from BMO.

Winner: AMEX

Whether Air Miles is worth a Second Look?

I have personally not put much effort in collecting Air Miles in the past few years. I still present my loyalty card at partnered stores, but I have not gone out of my way to collect them.

I think that it is worth a look if you feel that you have the time and energy to really study the Air Miles reward program to get value out of your redemption. There is still value to be had and I always recommend diversify your miles and points portfolio.

Conclusion

If you take the entire package into consideration, I would give the American Express Air Miles Reserve Card the overall edge. Their features and benefits can more than cover the annual fee. The value gap (between annual fee versus features and benefits) with the AMEX card is much larger value gap than with BMO card.

11 Comments

  1. I got both and I agree with you. The 1700 air miles companion and the oynx upgrade alone justifies the price, but the world elite looks better

  2. Thank you for putting that up. Very informative. I always asked myself which card gave better value. I got the BMO card for the 2000 miles sign up bonus and I only used it when I went to merchants that were giving out Air Miles to begin with (Staples/Bureau en gros).My initial observation was that is was cheaper to pay $120 for 2000 Miles than $299 for 2400 Miles. I am still pondering over if I should get the AMEX Reserve and what true benefits I would have with the Onyx status and what value ($$$) the waive flight administration fees would be. Can anyone answer that question ?

    1. I’m not 100% sure about the waived fee, but I would assume it may save you $30 to $50?. I recently used my concierge to book my Vegas trip and I have to say it’s pretty amazing. They found the best deal for me, they used the 1700 companion AirMiles for my fiancée and used my world elite on my ticket to saved 20%. My only complaint is they can’t save my fiancée information for next time because of privacy. The Amex reserve allow you to book business class flights, which is nice pretty cool.

      1. So if I hear you right Aaron along with the fee waived you can get both use your companion privilege for the 1700 Air Miles from the AMEX Reserve card and the 25% from the BMO World Elite on the same reservation ? I have yet to redeem any flight with AIR Miles yet. Do they add ridiculous charges on top of the reward like Air Canada on when you redeem on Aeroplan ? What charges, if any, did you end up paying for your reservation ?

  3. Hey Matthew, can you compare the BMO Rewards World Elite card with the BMO Cashback World Elite and the Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite cards?

    The annual fee on the BMO cards can be permanently waived by maintaining $6000 minimum in a chequing account, whereas the Capital One does not provide a method to permanently waive the fee. However, the BMO Rewards World Elite card is much more restrictive than the Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite Card, although both provide 2%. Or you can drop to 1.75% back with the BMO Cashback World Elite card which is the most flexible.

    I am looking for a more long-term analysis as I do not wish to churn these cards, so sign-up bonuses carry less weight.

    Which card would you recommend?

  4. That’s correct, once year you can redeem you redeem your companion pass for 1700 air miles. Remember this was all done through the oynx concierge because I also have the world elite, they were able to use that feature. You will have to pay the taxes but with the amex reserve allows you to use your air miles to pay for it, but I personally think its a waste of air miles.

  5. I have the elite card & just got upgraded to the reserve card, my biggest disappointment with BMO was the limitation of North an
    North American flights since I like Europe a lot. Just finding out whether I can get the 2400 by spending 3000 will be a challenge

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