Previously one of the best features of the Scotia Rewards program imo was that you could book travel anywhere and then apply points to that purchase. Even if you didn't have enough points to cover the entire purchase you could still redeem some to act as a discount at a rate of 1point=1cent.

Example:

• Booked a flight directly through Air Canada for $1000 with Scotia Gold AMEX
• Redeemed 15,000 points against that flight through Scotia Rewards
• Got a $150 credit from Scotiabank

This was great because it meant you didn't have to save up points for ages to redeem them, the flexibility was awesome.

Now if you try the same thing through Scene+ you get this:

• Booked a flight directly through Air Canada for $1000 with Scotia Gold AMEX
• Only have 15,000 points available
• Try to redeem points against that flight purchase
• " Your points balance does not meet the required amount for this purchase, please choose another amount. You need 85,000 more points to complete this order"

I think with this, the value of Scotiabank's credit cards has dropped immensely. I hope this is just an oversight that will be resolved soon during the Scene+ transition. Unless this change is resolved I think it may be worthwhile to look at other travel credit cards rather than Scotiabank's.