Thursday, July 30, 2015

July 30 Update: Last Minute Travel Tips using Points & Miles, Aeroplan Transfer Bonus, AAdvantage Buy Miles Bonus

A little less loyalty program action today!

News, Tips & Tricks
With the long weekend only two days away we released a new guide today, Rewards Canada's Last Minute Travel Tips using Points & Miles. Give it a read to see how you can use loyalty programs to your advantage for travel that isn't planned months ahead!



And of course the other big news today is the new Aeroplan partner transfer bonus that sees the return of the 150,000 level bonus of 40,000 miles!. See the links below for details.


Posts since our last update:


Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 40,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert points from a wide selection of Aeroplan partner loyalty programs (hotel, car rental, and points.com). More... Until Aug 24, 15

Air China Phoenix Miles
- Double Phoenix Miles Kilometers for stays on the Linger Longer for Less package at participating Langham Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 27,500 Bonus AAdvantage miles when you buy or gift miles online. More... Until Aug 5, 15

China Airlines Dynasty Flyer
- Earn up to Triple Dynasty Flyer Miles for stays at participating Okura Hotels & Resorts, Nikko Hotels International and Hotel JAL City Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Double Royal Orchid Plus Miles for stays at participating Anantara, Per Aquum, and Avani Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15




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Transfer points to Aeroplan to earn up to 40,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles


Aeroplan has once again brought back their partner transfer bonus that we saw in March 2015, November 2014, April 2014,  November 2013, April 2013,  November 2012 and so on. Basically what it entails is transferring points out of other select loyalty programs into your Aeroplan account. This time they have finally brought back the 40,000 bonus miles version that we haven't seen since April of 2013 and there are no financial partners involved again, for Canadians that is, Americans get Diners Club Club Rewards in that category. Basically you can transfer from partners like Starwood, Hertz and more (see the last graphic) and as long as the total Aeroplan miles deposited from all of them reaches one of the bonus target levels you will be awarded the respective bonus miles.

And just like the last four versions of this offer, American Express Membership Rewards is unfortunately not included. so chances are I will not use the promo this time (again).

If you are a Starwood Preferred Guest collector you can really up the bonus by taking advantage of their 5,000 Mile bonus offer when you convert 20,000 Starpoints into Aeroplan. Which means in this promotion you can get 29,000 Aeroplan Miles for 20,000 Starpoints or if you transfer 20k four times, you'll get 125,000 Aeroplan Miles for 80,000 Starpoints. Of course I like to keep Starpoints for award nights or cash+points stays within the Starwood family but some of you may like this transfer option. You can get 20,000 Starpoints simply by getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express


Offer Details:
Earn up to 40,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert points from a wide selection of Aeroplan partner loyalty programs (hotel, car rental, and points.com). Bonuses are as follows and are awarded on a cumulative basis. Convert Points to
5,000 Aeroplan Miles to earn a 1,000 Mile bonus
10,000 Aeroplan Miles to earn a 2,000 Mile bonus
20,000 Aeroplan Miles to earn 4,000 Mile bonus
50,000 Aeroplan Miles to earn a 10,000 Mile bonus
100,000 Aeroplan Miles to earn a 25,000 Mile bonus

150,000 Aeroplan Miles to earn a 40,000 Mile bonus  
Full details Valid until Aug 24, 15



Wednesday, July 29, 2015

July 29 Update: British Airways to put A380 on YVR-LHR route, Hilton HHonors Gold Fast Track offer, IHG Buy Points Bonus

This is going to be a week to catch up here on Rewards Canada as we were off all last week!

News, Tips & Tricks
British Airways
will be launching Airbus A380 service between Vancouver and London in May 2016  for the summer season (Source Airlineroute.net) The boost in seats means there is quite a bit of award availability right now for that route in Economy, Business and First Class! For example here is a screen shot of the availability May 5 - 13

Now as we always warn, redemptions via BA Executive Club for travel on BA will incur high carrier surcharges but those can pale in comparison to the actual cost Business and First Class tickets. Some savings can be brought about by utilizing the current American Express 25% bonus on converting Membership Rewards points transfers to British Airways! Well it doesn't really save you money on the surcharges but technically lowers the amount of credit card spend required to get the award flight mileage.  Find out more about that bonus here.


Air Transat
has added a bunch of new sun destination scheduled routes out of Canada for the upcoming winter. Some of these routes were only part of packages before but now you should be able to buy the flight only on any of these routes. Sure Air Transat doesn't have a frequent flyer program but there is no stopping you from using proprietary credit card points to redeem for these flights like BMO Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, TD Rewards etc. Find the full list of routes here.

We see many fast track to Gold Status offers from Hilton (find them here) but most are loosely targeted to members from select companies. Now there is an offer that anyone can take advantage of and it is even better than those targeted offers as you get status after only 3 stays instead of 4 or 6! The offer is for members of airberlin's topbonus program which is free to join. Find out more in the bonus offer section below!


Posts since our last update:



Bonus Offers

airberlin topbonus
- Fast Track to Gold Status and up to Quadruple topbonus Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels worldwide. More... Register by Dec 31, 15
- 3,000 Bonus topbonus miles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Dec 31, 15

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- 1,000 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles for weekend stays at participating Starwood Hotels & Resorts in North and Latin America. More... Until Jan 31, 16

IHG Rewards Club
- 5,000 points per award night - IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks Redeem only 5,000 points for stays at select hotels Worldwide. Offer and participating hotels are subject to change at any time, valid for stays until Oct 31, 15. More...
- 50% to 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Saudia Alfursan
- Double Alfursan Miles for stays at participating Millennium & Copthorne Hotels in the Middle East. More... Until Sep 15, 15

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa. More... Until Sep 30, 15
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Riviera Palm Springs. More... Book by Sep 9 for stays until Sep 30, 15
- Triple Stash Rewards Points & Third night free for stays at the POSH Palm Springs Inn. More... Book by Sep 15 for stays until Sep 30, 15
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at The Kenilworth. More... Book by Oct 15 for stays until Dec 31, 15
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Magnolia Hotel Dallas - Park Cities. More... Until Dec 30, 15







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Today's Bonus Offer Highlight is brought to you by:

Earn 50% Bonus Caribbean Miles when you fly between Toronto and Kingston, Jamaica


Caribbean Miles (also 7th Heaven Rewards) members can earn 50% more miles when they fly between Toronto and Kingston on Air Jamaica/Caribbean Airlines. This offer is good until September 15th.  Full details can be found here.

Also available is a 25% discount on the number of miles required to redeem for award flights between the two cities! Full details can be found here.

IHG Rewards Club Buy Points Mystery Bonus - 50% to 100% Bonus Points


IHG has launched a new bonus offer on buying their points online. Depending on how you are targeted, you can get anywhere from 50 to 100% bonus points when you buy points. You find out the bonus you get after inputting your account details via the link below. If you get 100%, that's great as it brings the price of a point down to 0.575 of a cent if you buy 26,000 or more points. This per point price is less than the Points+Cash trick of buying points for 0.7 cents. If you choose to buy the maximum number of points, 60,000, it will cost you US$690 but of course you'll end up getting 120,000 points. That's 24 nights at IHG hotels if redeeming via the PointBreaks option which works out to only $28.75 per night!

If you get below a 70% bonus then you are better off not taking advantage of this offer. As you can see by the screen shot above, I was only offered 50% so this time it is a no go for me.

Offer Details
100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online. Full details. Until Aug 31, 15

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

July 28 Update: First Year Free on Scotia Momentum Infinite extended, Bonus Aeroplan Miles at Costco, 50 Free Avios from Iberia Plus

Playing catch up again after another few days off for a vacation!

News, Tips & Tricks
Be sure to check your email for a targeted offer from Costco that offers bonus Aeroplan miles for purchasing select Kirkland products in-store.

Last week Avianca Brazil officially joined the Star Alliance which means Aeroplan members can now earn and burn miles with this latest airline partner (or any other Star Alliance partner for that matter)

The First Year Free offer on the Scotia Momentum® VISA Infinite* Card has been extended to October 31st. We have reflected this change on our cashback comparison chart.


The 500 AIR MILES Reward Miles bonus for the no fee BMO AIR MILES MasterCard has returned until August 31st. We have reflected this change on the following charts: All Travel Rewards Credit Cards, Most Popular Cards, Travel Points Credit Cards


Alaska Airlines & Hainan Airlines have announced a new partnership. At this point, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members can only earn miles on Hainan flights. This is significant news as Hainan serves Toronto and Mileage Plan is a very valuable frequent flyer program with a strong credit card offering in Canada. That being said since you can only earn miles at this point the full strength of Mileage Plan cannot be utilized. However redemption options should be available for Hainan flights late this fall and that is where the partnership will really shine since Mileage Plan allows one way awards on many of their foreign partners and offers those awards at decent mileage rates. They also fly to Seattle which provides a connection option by flying Alaska out of B.C. or Alberta to connect to the Hainan flight. Find out more here.

On the not so good news front more of Air Canada's sun destination routes are being transferred to rouge such as Vancouver-Kona and many Florida routes out of YYZ and YUL. (Source Airlineroute.net)

Looking to fly on WestJet's new 767s and you're not going to Hawaii? (Well new to WestJet as they acquired them from Qantas) They will operate one of their services on Saturdays to Montego Bay from Toronto (Source Airlineroute.net)

In the bonus offers section check out the free Avios offer from Iberia Plus. This is a good way to activate your Iberia account so that you can transfer Avios from British Airways (which has a 25% bonus from Amex right now) and then redeem via Iberia to avoid fuel surcharges.

Posts since our last update:


Travel Deals
WestJet
has launched a two day seat sale for travel within Canada, to the U.S., Mexico and Caribbean! Book by Jul 9 for travel Sep 9 -Dec 10. Find out more here!





Bonus Offers

Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Double Aeroplan Miles for stays on the Linger Longer for Less package at participating Langham Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15

AIR MILES (Canada)
- 500 Bonus AIR MILES Rewards Miles when you apply for and are approved for the BMO AIR MILES MasterCard Earn 1 rewards mile for every $20 in credit card purchases. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Double Mileage Plan Miles on all Hainan Airlines flights Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 15
- Earn up to 35% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy miles online. More... Until Aug 9, 15

Canadian North Aurora Rewards
- Double Aurora Rewards points on all Canadian North flights systemwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15

Caribbean Airlines Caribbean Miles
- 50% Bonus Caribbean Miles for flights between Kingston and Toronto. More... Until Sep 15, 15
- 25% Caribbean Miles Discount when you redeem miles for award flights between Kingston and Toronto. More... Until Sep 15, 15

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- Earn up to 20,000 Bonus Fortune Wings Miles when you fly on Hainan Airlines international flights. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Iberia Plus
- 50 Free Avios when you enter the Iberia Summer Flights Contest. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- 300 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays participating Mercure Hotels in France. More...Until Sep 13, 15

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Triple Victoria Miles for stays of 2+ nights at the Porto Bay Rio Internacional, Porto Bay Búzios or L’Hotel Porto Bay São Paulo. More... Until Sep 30, 15
- Double Victoria Miles on Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide except North America. More... Aug 1 - 31, 15

United MileagePlus
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you shop online via the MileagePlus Shopping portal. More... Until Aug 12, 15






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Canadian North: Double Aurora Rewards Points on all flights


In celebration of Canadian North's new codeshare partnership with First Air, they are offering Double Points on all their flights until September 30th! And remember not only can you earn Aurora Rewards points on those flights, you can also earn Aeroplan miles. Canadian North is one of few or even perhaps the only airline to offer points/miles from multiple programs when you take a single flight! If you use a points earning credit card to purchase these flights you are technically achieving a quadruple dip! (Base Aurora Points, Bonus Aurora Points, Aeroplan Miles, Credit Card Points/Miles)

Offer Details:
Double Aurora Rewards points on all Canadian North flights systemwide. Full details Until Sep 30, 15

Monday, July 27, 2015

Now Live - IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks - 5,000 Points for Award Night Redemptions at 160+ Hotels until Oct 31, 15

The latest set of IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks are now bookable for stays Jul 27 - Oct 31, 15 (subject to availability). For those of you traveling within our beautiful country you'll find five Canadian locations participating. This is the same amount of hotels as seen during the last set of PointBreaks offers.


Each Reward Night at these participating hotels will be only 5,000 IHG Rewards Club points during the above mentioned dates. Remember the new PointBreaks rules that a member can only book up to 2 reward reservations per hotel participating in the individual offer (ie 2 at Pointbreaks hotels and 2 at Last Minute Reward Night hotels).  My tip to get around this would be to book 2 reservations with one IHG Rewards Club account and then have your spouse book 2 more etc. Of course this is dependent on both accounts having enough points to redeem for these awards. Also be sure to book these ASAP as once the allotted nights are booked at certain locations those hotels will fall off the list.

Why are IHG Rewards Club Point Breaks such a great deal? Because they offer reward nights at participating IHG hotels Worldwide for only 5,000 Rewards Club points. For those of you not to familiar with IHG Rewards Club , normal redemption rates for Rewards Club reward nights run from as low as 10,000 points for some Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express locations to 50,000 points for ultra-luxurious InterContinental locations and even these locations can participate in PointBreaks. So as you can see you can receive a discount of 50 to 88% off the regular redemption rates. You may be thinking that the high end hotels won't participate but they do depending on the time of year! Please note that like most loyalty promotions these offers are capacity controlled so I advise to book sooner than later to ensure you get the PointBreaks rate. These offers will be bookable via the primary PointsBreaks page later today but right now you can book via the individual links below. (list pulled from the IHG blog)

Canada:

Hotels in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East:

Hotels in Europe:


Hotels in the Americas:

Canada:

Central and South America:

Mexico:

United States:

Full Map of Participating Hotels

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

July 22 Update: Executive Hotels buys the Cosmopolitan in Toronto, new Amex Centurion lounge in Houston, Porter to North Bay

News, Tips & Tricks
Executive Hotels, which were featured in our Guide to Canadian Hotel Frequent Guest Programs has bought the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Toronto. This is Executive Hotels first location east of Saskatchewan. You should now be able to earn and burn Executive Rewards points at this location. (Source Executive Hotels) Watch for their New York City location to open soon!


American Express has announced yet another new Centurion Lounge in the U.S.! The latest will open up in Houston in the first half of 2016. Of course us Canadians can access the lounge for free when it opens if you hold The Platinum Card from American Express. You can also access the lounge with other American Express cards but you will have to $50 to enter. (Source View from the Wing)

Porter Airlines will start daily service between Toronto and North Bay on October 7th. (Source Porter)




Bonus Offers

Air China Phoenix Miles
- Earn up to Triple Phoenix Miles Kilometers for stays at participating Okura Hotels & Resorts, Nikko Hotels International and Hotel JAL City Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15

Best Western Rewards
- Earn Triple Rewards Points for stays of 3 or more nights at select Best Western Hotels in Australia. More... Until ?

Hyatt Gold Passport
- 5,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Park Hyatt Zanzibar, Hyatt Regency Dar Es Salaam - The Kilimanjaro, and Hyatt Regency Johannesburg. More...Until Sep 30, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in Italy. More... Book by Jul 31 for stays until Oct 31, 15
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at any one of 14 ibis Styles and ibis hotels in Sweden. More... Until Sep 6, 15

Qantas Frequent Flyer
- 5,000 Bonus Frequent Flyer Points when you stay at the Hilton Niseko Village. More...   Book by Aug 31 for stays Dec 1 - Mar 15, 16

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- 1,000 Bonus QMiles when you stay at any participating Marriott Hotel in Dubai. More... Until Sep 22, 15






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