What’s in Our Wallets? The 2026 Prince of Travel Team Card Lineup

We’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about which credit cards we’re actually using in 2026, and more importantly, which ones we’re thinking about cutting.

It’s a fair question. The Canadian credit card landscape has shifted quite a bit over the past year: annual fees have climbed, lounge access has been tightened, and some previously must-have cards have lost their edge. At the same time, a few newer entrants have earned a permanent spot in our wallets.

So here’s the full breakdown. We’ve organized our cards into three categories: daily drivers that see regular use, sock drawer cards that earn their keep in more specific ways, and cards that are on the chopping block, products we’re actively reconsidering.

Let’s get into it.

In Our Wallets: The Daily Drivers

These are the cards we reach for on a daily or weekly basis. Each one fills a specific role in our spending strategy, and together, they cover virtually every category and network.

American Express Cobalt Card

Annual fee: $15.99/month (~$192/year) | Earning rate: 5x eats & drinks, 3x streaming, 2x transit & gas, 1x everything else

The Cobalt is still the anchor of our everyday earning strategy, and in our opinion, it’s the single most powerful everyday card in Canada. The 5x earning rate on eats and drinks (which includes groceries, restaurants, and food delivery) is essentially unmatched when you factor in the flexibility of Membership Rewards points.

The key here is transfer partner access. Those MR points can move 1:1 to Aeroplan, British Airways Avios, and several other airline and hotel programs, which makes them significantly more valuable than fixed-value points. At a conservative 2 cents per point, that 5x rate translates to a 10% return on your highest-frequency spending categories.

From a practical perspective, the Cobalt is the card we’d recommend to almost anyone building a Canadian points strategy from scratch.

RBC® ION+ Visa

Annual fee: $4/month ($48/year) | Earning rate: 3x grocery, dining, food delivery, gas, transit, rideshare, streaming & EV charging, 1x everything else

The ION+ has become our go-to card for every situation where Amex isn’t accepted, and that happens more often than you’d think.

At 3x Avion points across an impressively wide set of bonus categories, the ION+ punches well above its weight for a card that costs just $48 per year. Gas stations, transit, rideshares, and even EV charging all earn at the accelerated rate, which fills a gap that the Cobalt doesn’t fully cover.

It’s worth noting that ION+ earns Avion Premium tier points, which means you’ll want to pair it with any Avion card to unlock airline transfer access. Once you do, those points become impressively flexible in their own right. They aren’t quite on Amex MR’s level, but they’re transferable to British Airways Avios, WestJet, Cathay Pacific, and more.

For the price, this card is hard to beat as a Visa backup.

Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card

Annual fee: $120 | Earning rate: 5–6x groceries, 5x dining & entertainment, 3x gas, transit & streaming, 1x everything else (Scene+ points)

The Scotiabank Gold Amex remains the anchor of the Scene+ side of our strategy. Between 5x on groceries and dining (rising to 6x at Empire-owned stores like Sobeys, Safeway, FreshCo, and IGA) it earns at one of the strongest rates in Canada on the categories where most of our money actually goes.

It’s also one of the few points-earning cards in Canada with no foreign transaction fees. For spending abroad, though, the Scotiabank Passport® Visa Infinite +* Card is arguably the more popular pick on our team, since its earning rates also apply to foreign purchases. And with Scene+ points redeeming at a flat 1 cent per point against any travel purchase, there are no award charts or blackout dates to work around. The points simply come off the bill.

Business Platinum Card from American Express

Annual fee: $799 | Earning rate: 1.25x on everything

The Business Platinum earns a flat 1.25x MR points on every purchase with no category restrictions, which makes it the default card for any non-bonused spending that doesn’t fall into grocery, dining, gas, or travel.

At first glance, 1.25x may not look exciting. But because these are fully transferable MR points, the effective return on non-category spend is notably higher than what most other cards offer. When you value MR at 2 cents per point, you’re looking at a 2.5% return on everything, a baseline that’s hard to find elsewhere.

The card also comes with Priority Pass and Centurion Lounge access, Marriott Gold and Hilton Gold status, a $200 annual travel credit, and a $100 NEXUS credit, all of which help offset the $799 annual fee.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Business Platinum is one of the best cards in Canada for generating Amex referral bonuses. Each approved referral to the American Express Cobalt Card earns 20,000 MR points, a substantial payout that can quickly add up. For some of our team members, the referral income alone justifies keeping this card year after year.

American Express Aeroplan Reserve Card

Annual fee: $599 | Earning rate: 3x Air Canada, 2x dining & gas, 1.25x everything else

The Aeroplan Reserve fills a dual role in our strategy: it’s a strong non-category earner at 1.25x Aeroplan points on everything, and it’s one of the only cards in Canada that earns Status Qualifying Credits (SQC) through spending, at a rate of 1,000 SQC for every $5,000 spent, up to 25,000 SQC per year.

For anyone chasing or maintaining Aeroplan elite status, this is a significant accelerator. In a world where Air Canada has moved to a revenue-based status model, the ability to earn SQC on everyday purchases, without stepping foot on a plane, is a genuine competitive advantage.

The card also comes with Maple Leaf Lounge access, a companion flight benefit, and comprehensive travel insurance, which together make the $599 annual fee more palatable.

Wealthsimple Visa Infinite* Card

Annual fee: $240 ($20/month, waived for Premium and Generation clients or with $4,000+ in monthly direct deposits) | Earning rate: 2% cash back on everything

The newest addition to our daily rotation. The pitch is simplicity itself: unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase, with no categories to track and no caps to monitor, and no foreign transaction fees on top of it.

For those of us who qualify for the fee waiver through direct deposits, this has quietly become the default card for everything that doesn’t earn a category bonus elsewhere, and the automatic pick when travelling, where 2% back with no foreign transaction fees beats the effective return of most premium travel cards on foreign spend.

The catches: it’s still waitlist-only, there’s no welcome bonus, and payments have to come from a Wealthsimple Chequing account. But as a set-and-forget everyday earner, it’s hard to argue with.

United® MileagePlus® Neo World Elite® Mastercard

Annual fee: $89 | Earning rate: 1.25x United and Star Alliance flights, 1x dining & groceries, 0.75x everything else (MileagePlus miles)

With the rest of our daily rotation running on Amex and Visa, this is the lone Mastercard in the lineup, and every Canadian wallet needs one, if only for Costco. As the newest airline co-brand in the country, it earns MileagePlus miles directly, and at $89, it carries the lowest annual fee of any major Canadian airline co-brand card.

It’s worth being clear-eyed about the earning rates, though. For everyday spending where any card is accepted, there’s a better way to feed a MileagePlus balance: the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card earns 2 Bonvoy points per dollar on all purchases. Bonvoy points normally transfer to airlines at 3:1, but thanks to the RewardsPlus partnership, United MileagePlus members get a 10,000-mile bonus on every 60,000 points transferred (double what other airlines get), bringing the effective ratio down to 2:1. Put those together, and every dollar spent on the Bonvoy card becomes a full 1 United mile, comfortably ahead of the 0.75x this card earns on everyday purchases.

So in practice, this card catches the spending that only a Mastercard can (Costco runs above all), plus United and Star Alliance flight purchases at 1.25x, while the Bonvoy card quietly does the heavy lifting on United miles everywhere else.

The Sock Drawer: Useful, but Not Daily Drivers

These cards don’t see everyday use, but each one earns its place in the lineup through specific, high-value benefits that justify keeping them active.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card

Annual fee: $120 | Earning rate: 5x at Marriott, 2x everything else

The Marriott Bonvoy Amex isn’t a card we use for everyday spending, but it’s one we’d never cancel. The reason is simple: the annual Free Night Award.

Each year on your card anniversary, you receive a certificate worth up to 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, which can be topped off with up to 25,000 additional points from your account for an effective cap of 60,000 points. At many properties, that’s easily worth $200–$400+ per night, which makes the $120 annual fee a no-brainer.

On top of that, when we do stay at Marriott properties, the 5x earning rate on hotel spending is excellent, and the 15 Elite Night Credits and automatic Silver Elite status provide a helpful boost toward Gold or Platinum qualification.

National Bank® World Elite® Mastercard®

Annual fee: $150 | Earning rate: 5x grocery & dining, 2x gas, travel & recurring bills, 1x everything else

This card lives in the sock drawer for two very specific reasons: travel insurance and the annual travel credit.

First, the National Bank World Elite Mastercard offers what is arguably the strongest travel insurance package of any Canadian credit card. It’s one of the only cards that covers award bookings from any loyalty program, not just bookings made through the card’s own rewards program. For anyone who books flights through Aeroplan, Avios, or other points currencies, this is a notable differentiator.

Second, the $150 annual travel credit effectively offsets the $150 annual fee, making this a near-zero-cost card to hold for the insurance coverage alone. We use it specifically to pay the taxes and fees on award bookings, which activates the insurance benefits.

WestJet RBC® World Elite Mastercardǂ

Annual fee: $139 | Earning rate: 2x travel, gas, grocery & transit, 1.5x everything else

The WestJet card is another one that stays in the drawer most of the year, but it comes out whenever we book WestJet flights.

The free first checked bag benefit is straightforward and saves real money, especially for families or frequent WestJet flyers. But the bigger reason to hold this card is the companion voucher: spend $5,000 on the card each year, and you’ll receive a round-trip companion voucher that can save hundreds on a second ticket.

It’s worth noting that the $5,000 spending threshold is relatively low, and for cardholders who direct even a modest amount of spending to this card throughout the year, the companion voucher alone can deliver significant value relative to the $139 annual fee.

On the Chopping Block

These are cards we’re actively reconsidering. They’re not bad products, but recent changes (to the cards themselves or to the competitive landscape) have shifted the value equation.

American Express Platinum Card

Annual fee: $799 | Earning rate: 2x travel & dining, 1x everything else

This one might be the most controversial take, but it’s a conversation that many of our team members are having right now.

The Amex Platinum has long been the prestige card of choice in Canada, primarily for its lounge access. But recent changes have us rethinking. Starting January 1, 2027, Priority Pass and Plaza Premium visits will be capped at six per year, with guests counting as separate visits. Unless you spend $20,000 on the card annually, unlimited access goes away.

Combined with the annual fee increase to $799, which was already a tough pill to swallow, the lounge access alone may no longer justify the cost for many cardholders.

In our opinion, the $200 travel credit and $200 dining credit help, but they don’t fully close the gap. And from a pure lounge-access perspective, several mid-tier cards now offer comparable access at a fraction of the cost: the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card comes with four annual lounge visits, the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card offers six, and the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card includes four.

That said, some team members are planning to hit the $20,000 spending target to retain unlimited lounge access, and for those who can direct enough spend to the card, that remains a viable path. Others are keeping the Platinum specifically for its referral value: each approved referral to the American Express Cobalt Card earns 15,000 MR points, which can represent a significant annual return if you’re regularly referring friends and family. Between the Business Platinum’s 20,000-point referral bonus and the personal Platinum’s 15,000-point bonus, these two cards together can generate substantial points income beyond everyday spending.

For cardholders who already hold the Business Platinum, which offers identical lounge access, the case for keeping the personal Platinum comes down to whether the referral income and credits justify the second $799 fee.

Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard® (Brim)

Annual fee: $132 (first year free) | Earning rate: 2x restaurants, 1x everything else (Flying Blue miles)

When this card launched, it was one of the only direct paths to earning Flying Blue miles in Canada, which gave it a clear niche. But the landscape has changed.

Amex Membership Rewards now transfers 1:1 to Flying Blue, which means anyone holding a Cobalt, Platinum, or Business Platinum already has a more efficient way to earn Flying Blue miles, with better earning rates and more flexibility.

The main exception is the cardholder perk on Air France and KLM cash fares. Simply holding the card earns you a bonus 5 Flying Blue miles per euro spent on their tickets, on top of regular Flying Blue earning, and you don’t even need to charge the flight to this card. That’s a solid return if you fly those airlines frequently on paid tickets. But for everyone else, the earning rates are underwhelming, and the card’s utility has narrowed.

Some team members are keeping it as a Costco card (since it’s a Mastercard), but even there, the United® MileagePlus® Neo World Elite® Mastercard in our daily rotation already fills that slot.

Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – Powered by Neo

Annual fee: $180 | Earning rate: 4x Cathay Pacific, 2x foreign currency, 1x everything else (Asia Miles)

The Cathay Pacific card generated a lot of excitement when it launched, and an elevated welcome offer last year brought many of our team members on board. But now that the welcome bonus has been earned and the dust has settled, the ongoing value proposition is thin.

Outside of the 4x earning on Cathay Pacific purchases and the 15% discount on cash fares, the card doesn’t offer much to justify a $180 annual fee. The 1x base earning rate on everyday spending is uncompetitive, and Asia Miles, while useful for Cathay Pacific and oneworld partner redemptions, aren’t as flexible as MR or Avion points.

With the United MileagePlus Neo card now in our daily rotation and offering a more compelling value proposition for a co-branded product in this space, the Cathay Pacific card may be the first to go.

The Big Picture

If there’s one theme running through our 2026 card strategy, it’s this: flexibility matters more than ever.

The cards that have earned permanent spots in our wallets (the Cobalt, the ION+, and the Scotiabank Gold Amex) all share a common trait: they earn points that can be deployed across multiple programs and redeemed in multiple ways. In a loyalty landscape where programs are constantly shifting, that flexibility is the best hedge against devaluation.

Meanwhile, the cards on the chopping block share a different trait: their value was once anchored to a specific perk or benefit that has since been diluted. When a card’s core proposition erodes, even strong secondary benefits aren’t always enough to justify the annual fee.

As always, the right card lineup depends on your own spending habits, travel patterns, and goals. But we hope this look inside our wallets gives you a useful framework for thinking about your own.