The Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard offers arguably the best value for everyday travellers. The flagship credit card from Capital One has been one of the top travel rewards cards in Canada for many years, and a recent facelift made it even better.

I’ve been using the Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard for several years now and this latest update – which removed the tiered redemption structure and made it incredibly simple to redeem miles – further cemented its claim as the go-to rewards credit card for all of my spending, including when I travel.

Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard

What’s so special about the Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard? For starters, new sign-up’s get a 40,000 reward mile bonus when they spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. That’s worth $400 in travel rewards! Cardholders also get 2 reward miles for every $1 spent – regardless of spending category. That means your points will continue to add up quickly even after the early-spend bonus becomes a distant memory.

What about redeeming your reward miles? Most travel rewards programs are inflexible when it comes to redemptions; forcing members to book through a specific travel provider, putting up restrictions on when and where you can book, and then adding fuel surcharges and taxes onto your bill.

With Capital One’s Aspire Travel program you can use your card to book with any airline or hotel and then simply redeem your miles online afterwards. There are no tiers – for example if you redeem a charge for $149 it will cost you 14,900, and if you redeem a charge for $550 it will cost you 55,000.

Don’t have enough reward miles to erase that $550 travel charge? No problem! Just make a partial redemption against that charge with the miles that you have. In this case, you might only have 39,500 miles, which means you can make a partial redemption of $395 and apply against the $550 charge.

That’s why I’ve declared the Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard to be the best value for everyday travellers today and why I now funnel all of my spending onto this card to reap the juicy rewards.

Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard benefits

Here’s what this best in class travel rewards credit card has to offer:

• Early-spend bonus: 40,000 points = $400 in travel rewards once you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months
• Earn rate: 2 reward miles for every $1 spent = 2% back in travel rewards
• Booking travel: Book your own trip – including the hotel, airline or rental car of your choice
• Points redemption: Redeem your miles to cover any travel expenses with no minimum requirements. 100 points = $1 in travel.
• Partial redemption: Redeem on a portion of a transaction – for example, redeem half of an overseas flight.
• Annual fee: $150

Apply for this card here and earn $400 in bonus travel rewards

• Interest rate: 19.8% interest on card purchases
• Additional card fee: $0 additional card fee
• Insurance: 22-day travel emergency medical coverage, trip cancellation, trip Interruption, flight delay, baggage loss, baggage delay, purchase assurance, extended warranty, and car rental
• Eligibility: $70,000 personal annual income OR $120,000 annual household income

How much can you earn with the Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard?

• Spend $2,000 on your card each month
• Earn $480 in travel rewards each year
• Add $400 travel rewards early-spend bonus in the first year
• = $880 travel rewards this year

Final thoughts

Many of the top travel rewards credit cards offer a generous sign-up bonus but the everyday value of the program, combined with the hassle and difficulty of redeeming points, fails to live up to the early hype.

With the Capital One Aspire Travel World Elite MasterCard, you get the best of both worlds. A generous early-spend bonus, plus a healthy 2% earn rate on everyday spending that keeps points accruing quickly. The best part is how easy it is to redeem points. After all, there’s not much point to earning reward miles if you can’t use them when, where, and how you want to.