There are currently 2 amazing welcome bonuses in Canada that give a net value of over $1000 in free travel (but one ends tomorrow night, January 28, 2025). Both are on cards that have benefits called a “travel credit.” The benefits seem similar, but in reality, they’re completely different (as is often the case).
I’m sharing this comparison of the 2 benefits while you await a complete guide to each, because I’ve obviously already used the 2 travel credits myself, with the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card and the American Express Platinum Card. By the way, don’t overreact to the premium card’s fee; PLEASE at least read our simple explanation before irrationally saying no.
Here are the details of the travel credits
Overview of the 2 travel credits
Here’s an infographic comparing the composition of the cards’ Flytrippers Valuation, including the travel credits (we also have an infographic comparing the free airport lounge access benefits of the 2 cards).

I’ll now share with you a little more detail on each of the travel credit benefits of the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card and the American Express Platinum Card.
(By the way, the American Express Gold Rewards Card also has an annual travel credit that works exactly the same as its more premium version, but is worth $100 instead of $200!)
To receive even more details on the 2 current deals that give $1000+ tomorrow (and detailed guides on these benefits soon), sign up for our free newsletter specifically on travel rewards!
Cards that offer these travel credits
TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
It’s one of the best offers ever seen in Canada for simple points! And starting April 30, 2025, it’s also going to offer a free airport lounge accesss benefit (you’ll get it even if you apply for the card right away, of course)!
TD Rewards points are of the more simple type, so you can use them for (almost) any travel expense and they have a simple fixed value.
You simply have to go through their Expedia for TD platform, which has almost every hotel and flight in the world, for example. You can also use them for trips booked elsewhere, but that gives you 20% less value so we obviously don’t recommend it (the bonus is worth $860 instead of $1025 if you choose that, which is still great of course).
As always, you can easily see all the redemption options (and literally everything else there is to know about the card) by simply checking the 10+ tabs on our card resource page for the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card. The “Redemption options & values” tab lists all the redemption options, and the following “Examples of best redemptions” tab gives you more details.
The welcome bonus has no public end date, but it has just been extended in January. So it should be there for at least a few more months. I’ve given you more details on this new TD approach regarding offer end dates in the post on the card’s lounge access benefit.
American Express Platinum Card
It’s the best premium card in Canada (and by far) and it’s the best offer we’ve seen in years. It’s the best time to get it if you’re interested in luxury benefits like free unlimited access to VIP airport lounges. I repeat: don’t freak out over the fees; read our simple explanation before you get irrational.
American Express Membership Rewards points are of the more lucrative type, so you can get an outsized and unlimited value. It can be worth a lot more than “just” our conservative Flytrippers Valuation of ≈ $1252 if you want!
More details on Amex points are also coming tomorrow in our free newsletter specifically about travel rewards. Again, in the meantime, there are 10+ tabs on our card resource page for the Amex Platinum Card.
In addition to extremely lucrative points, benefits like lounge access, automatic hotel elite status, NEXUS credit, and plenty more make your travel experience more enjoyable, not just more affordable.
The increased welcome bonus ends at the end of the day on January 28, 2025.
Basics of the travel credits
TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
The TD Travel Credit is a true travel credit that you must use to get a discount on an accommodation booking.
American Express Platinum Card
The Amex travel credit can (and should) actually be cashed out on Day 1 to directly reduce the card fee.
Value of the travel credits
TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
The TD travel credit gives you $100 off an accommodation booking of a minimum of $500 in a single transaction.
American Express Platinum Card
The Amex travel credit gives you $200 to immediately reduce your annual fee from $799 to $599.
Good use of travel credits
TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
You can receive the TD travel credit even when you use TD Rewards points for an accommodation booking!
In concrete terms, that means you’ll get a $100 statement credit by using 100,000 TD Rewards points to get $500 in free accommodations (either for 2-3 nights in North America if you’re like everyone else or 10-15 nights in more affordable countries if you want to travel for less).
Flytrippers recommendation: Definitely use TD travel credit by using points, because you should already be using your TD Rewards points for hotels (not flights) anyway. It fascinates us how many people don’t know this basic trick, so we want to repeat it to help as many people as possible: flights should always be booked with the airlines directly if possible (for hotels and everything else, it doesn’t matter at all).
American Express Platinum Card
You can receive the Amex travel credit on Day 1 without having to book a trip, using the refundable hotel trick (complete guide in the newsletter tomorrow)!
In concrete terms, this means you’ll get a $200 statement credit by using the Amex travel credit on a refundable hotel booking — and as soon as the credit appears, you can simply have the hotel refunded and Amex won’t take back the travel credit. So you’ll have cashed it out so quickly and so easily!
Flytrippers recommendation: Definitely use the refundable hotel trick on Day 1 and don’t wait! Don’t rack your brains trying to use the credit some other way, as so many travelers who don’t know the pro tricks unfortunately do! With the incredible inflation due to abusive government spending, $200 today is worth a lot more than $200 in 8 months’ time.
Logistics of using the travel credits
TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
The TD travel credit automatically gives you $100 back when you book $500 worth of accommodations via Expedia for TD.
You don’t have to do a thing.
American Express Platinum Card
The Amex travel credit gives you $200 when you manually apply it in a few clicks when booking your trip via the Amex Travel website.
The credit will appear automatically, but you’ll have to cancel the hotel manually, of course (it only takes a few clicks).
Frequency of obtaining the travel credits
TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
The TD travel credit is available every calendar year. So you can always get 1 more travel credit than the number of years you’ve had the card.
If you don’t renew the card, you’ll therefore get 2 travel credits: 1 in 2025 and 1 in early 2026 before you close the card.
If you renew the card once (because it will cost you just $39 net, after deducting the value of the travel credit, which works out to less than $10 per free airport lounge pass), you’ll get 3 travel credits in total: 1 in 2025, 1 in 2026 and 1 in early 2027 before you close the card.
And so on.
American Express Platinum Card
The Amex travel credit is available every time you pay an annual fee. So you can’t get more travel credits than the number of years you keep the card.
If you renew the card once (which you should definitely do, because the current offer includes a renewal bonus that makes the 2nd year profitable too), you’ll get a $200 travel credit both times, starting on day 1, to lower the card fee directly and immediately.
After your 2nd year, you’ll re-evaluate the card as you always should if you follow the 6 steps that are so simple to always follow. When you figure out what the card’s other benefits are worth to decide whether it’s worth keeping in your specific situation, if you know how to count, you’ll compare that value to the net cost of $599 thanks to the travel credit (and especially not to the hypothetical $799 fee).
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Summary
The travel credit benefits of the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card and the American Express Platinum Card may sound similar, but many things seem similar in the wonderful world of travel rewards and yet aren’t at all. Get used to it and learn to simply read the details to understand — and follow Flytrippers for the pro tips!
What would you like to know about the travel credits of these 2 amazing deals? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: Infographic on travel credits (photo credit: Flytrippers)