November 30 Update: SWISS First Class was available for booking - we missed it, Plum Rewards added to bonus offers, Stay 2 Get 3 with Hyatt & Amex

If you read a lot of other frequent flyer/miles/points blogs your RSS feed may have exploded with this anomalous offer just like ours did. Overnight SWISS First Class became available to redeem for with Aeroplan Miles, MileagePlus miles and most other Star Alliance programs! Normally SWISS First Class is not available as an award to anyone but Miles & More Senator members but for some reason it opened up. We've seen it happen earlier this year and once back in 2016.

We did our best this morning to find availability but couldn't find anything leading us to believe that this amazing redemption offer was caught by SWISS and corrected by the time we got to work hence no post from us about it. It does tell us one thing - you shouldn't sleep at all. You need to be awake 24hrs a day to catch these offers! Just kidding, what you should be doing is making sure you follow many blogs so that you don't miss out on any potential offers.  By the way, in our search for the SWISS First Class we did come across some Lufthansa First Class availability out of New York City on Aeroplan and this was a few months out - not 14 days like you typically see when trying to book LH First.  Were you able to get in on this? Let us know below!!

 In a further expansion of our bonus offer coverage we have now added a Chapters Indigo Plum Rewards page to our bonus offers section. Check it out here.


We're going to keep this reminder going in each update until Christmas:
Check out the Give A Mile Flight Hero campaign! The charity can really use donations of miles to help provide flights to those who otherwise would be unable to travel to visit terminally ill or critically sick family and friends. Rewards Canada has pledged to raise 100,000 miles and we are half way there! We are putting the call out to all of our fans, readers and even new visitors, if you can give please do so. It can be as little as 1,000 miles! You can find out more and donate here.



Posts since our last update:

• Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards - Save 25% on Business Class award tickets between Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver & Europe
  The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Awards were released last night (you would have seen our post…
• Best Western Rewards: Earn a $10 Best Western Gift Card with every stay worldwide
  Best Western Rewards next systemwide promotion is the return of the $10 Best Western Gift Card with every BW…
• Last day to register for Marriott's MegaBonus and Starwood's Explore More promotions
  Today is the last day to register for two major hotel promotions! If you haven't done so yet do so…

Travel Deals
Book a 2 night stay, get a complimentary 3rd night at participating Hyatt Hotels
Book 2 consecutive nights in a standard room at Hyatt’s Standard Rate by January 31, 2018 for stays through March 4, 2018 at participating Hyatt hotels in Canada and enjoy a complimentary 3rd night (excludes taxes and other service charges). To receive this offer, purchase must use offer code and be charged in full to any American Express Card. Find out more here.

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- December Promo Awards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver are all 25% off for business class flights to Europe. More... Book by Dec 31 for travel Feb 1 - Mar 31, 18

AIR MILES
- Earn up to 200 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles on your first hotel booking made via the AIR MILES Travel Hub. More... Book by Dec 31, 17 for stays until Mar 31, 18

Chapters Indigo Plum Rewards
- 250 Bonus Plum Rewards Points when you join the Plum Rewards Program. More... Ongoing


Other Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- December Promo Awards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book by Dec 31 for travel Feb 1 - Mar 31, 18
- 50% Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you buy miles online. More.. Until Dec 31, 17

Best Western Rewards
- Receive a $10 Best Western Gift Card with every stay at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 18

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles for stays at the Shangri-La Hotel Colombo, Kerry Hotel Hong Kong, Shangri-La Hotel Xiamen or the Hotel Jen Beijing. More... Until Feb 28, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- 4X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book between Dec 4 and Jan 21 for stays Dec 4 - Mar 4, 18
- 400 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating hotels in Budapest, Prague, Cracow and Wroclaw More... Dec 3 - Jan 7, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards - Save 25% on Business Class award tickets between Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver & Europe

The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Awards were released last night (you would have seen our post on our global site if you follow it) and this time we see three Canadian cities in the promotion! With promo awards the discount ranges from 25 to 50% off the regular amount of miles required to redeem for these flights. As you can see just by the discount this can be a very good offer if you get 50% off for Business Class! However for us here in Canada we don't get any 50% offers once again but we do get 25% off which can definitely be utilized by some! While 25% isn't as good as 50% of course, it still is something to look at if you were planning travel to Europe for February.

The offers are:
Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver to Europe: 25% off Business Class


Offer Details:
December Promo Awards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. Full Details Book by Dec 31 for travel Feb 1 - Mar 31, 18 (Canadian departures are Feb 1 - 28 only)

Here are all the details on the  Canadian offers available for booking this month:

Don't have all the miles? Hopefully you took advantage of the Flying Blue 100% bonus on buying miles earlier this fall so that you could use them for this month's offer.  They do however have a 50% bonus going on right now until Dec 31! You can buy enough miles for the round trip business class flight for around C$2700.00 then you would have to add in the taxes and fees for the flights which can run upwards of $600. So ideally you'd only want to buy miles if the value of the ticket is more than $3,300 which many times it can be in the high $4,000 or $5,000 range unless they have one of their business class sales going on where the price of the ticket could be under $3,000.

You could always consider transferring Starpoints earned via the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to Flying Blue. The card has a 25,000 Starpoint bonus right now which translates to 30,000 Flying Blue miles and a nice way to top off your account for one of these awards. Starwood is also selling Starpoints at a 35% discount so that could provide you with an additional option in terms being able to have enough points to redeem for this offer although you can only buy up to 30,000 Starpoints.

Best Western Rewards: Earn a $10 Best Western Gift Card with every stay worldwide

Best Western Rewards next systemwide promotion is the return of the $10 Best Western Gift Card with every BW stay.  Last seen from November of last year all the way until April of this year the newest iteration will run from Dec 1 to Jan 31, 18. It's not a bad deal considering there are lots of BW hotels that can be booked for under $100 meaning you can pull a 10% or higher return. Now you only have 120 days to use up that gift card after it being issued so not a lot of time to make use of it especially if you don't stay at Best Western very often. The major difference this time versus last year's is that the promotion is open to all Best Western Rewards members worldwide instead of just North America. Also it does state The Gift Card will be issued in the member’s local currency, so does that mean someone in Canada will get a C$10 or will it be US$10 converted to about C$13?

Offer details:
Receive a $10 Best Western Gift Card with every stay at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) Until Jan 31, 18


Find more BW Rewards Bonus Offers here.

Last day to register for Marriott's MegaBonus and Starwood's Explore More promotions

Today is the last day to register for two major hotel promotions! If you haven't done so yet do so now and then at least your covered if you have any Marriott or Starwood stays until the middle of January

Marriott Offer
Earn a free night when you complete two stays at any participating Marriott Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.  Additional bonus offers may be provided after completing the two stays.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Register by Nov 30 for stays until Jan 15, 18
Free stay is valid for 6 months after issuance and is good for Category 1-5 hotels.

Starwood Offer
Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays at participating Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking(Registration is required) Register by Nov 30 for stays until Jan 15, 18
Earn 1,000 bonus Starpoints per stay at St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Le Méridien, Westin, Sheraton, Tribute Portfolio and Design Hotels. 500 bonus Starpoints per stay at Aloft, Element and Four Points. Plus earn . 10,000 bonus Starpoints when you stay 25 or more nights

November 29 Update: Podcast Episode 37 discusses PC Plus & PC Insiders, Ukraine International to fly to Toronto and big bonuses for Hainan / Hong Kong Airlines flights

The newest episode of the Rewards Canada Round Up podcast was released today! You can listen to or download it on Apple iTunes, Google Play, our website and Soundcloud. This week it features an interview with Richard from Bond Brand Loyalty, a Canadian loyalty consulting firm. Jeff and Richard discuss the history of Shoppers Optimum, the new PC Plus program and the new fee based PC Insider program.

Ukraine International has made plans to start flying being Toronto and Kiev. The three times per week service is schedule to start on June 6, 2018. Ukraine International does have their own frequent flyer program called Panorama Club. We cover Panorama Club offers over on our global site (see them here) and will add them shortly to the Rewards Canada bonus offer section. In all likelihood, based on our tracking of their offers, there will be a bonus available when the route launches. (Source Routes Online)

In other route news, IAG group which owns British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus etc. has announced the new routes of its new low cost trans-Atlantic airline Level. Included are flights between Montreal and Paris Orly airport. The airline will replace the current OpenSkies airline that British Airways launched many years ago, Open Skies does not serve Montreal however. The Montreal flights will launch on July 2 and operate 3 times per week. Find out more here!

We're going to keep this reminder going in each update until Christmas:
Check out the Give A Mile Flight Hero campaign! The charity can really use donations of miles to help provide flights to those who otherwise would be unable to travel to visit terminally ill or critically sick family and friends. Rewards Canada has pledged to raise 100,000 miles and we are half way there! We are putting the call out to all of our fans, readers and even new visitors, if you can give please do so. It can be as little as 1,000 miles! You can find out more and donate here.



Posts since our last update:

• Air Canada adds six new routes to the U.S.
  Lots of Air Canada news today including the announcement of 6 new routes between Canada and the U.S.! Canada's 2…
• Air Canada debuts Signature Suite for Premium International Customers at Toronto Pearson
  Air Canada debuted their newest lounge offering at YYZ Toronto Pearson today. The Air Canada Signature Suite will officially…
• How students can save money with loyalty programs
  So far in our Guide to Points & Miles for Students we've discussed tips on how you can earn…

Travel Deals
Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more! Since you are booking direct you'll earn your miles, points, elite status qualification and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- Earn up to 50,000 Bonus Fortune Wings Points when you fly on Hainan Airlines between Calgary or Toronto and Beijing as well as on Hong Kong Airlines between Vancouver and Hong Kong. More...   Until Feb 18, 18

Other Bonus Offers

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- Earn up to 50,000 Bonus Fortune Wings Points when you fly on international and domestic flights operated by Hong Kong Airlines (HX), Hainan Airlines (HU), Grand China Air (CN), Lucky Air (8L), Capital Airlines (JD) and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines (GX). More...   Until Feb 18, 18

Hilton Honors
- 33% Bonus Honors bonus points when you transfer Membership Rewards points to Honors. More... US Residents Only Until Dec 15, 17

Jumeirah Sirius
- Double Sirius Points for stays on the Leisure First Package at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers. More... Until Dec 31, 18
- Double Sirius Points for stays on the Suite Sensation package at Jumeirah Hotels in Dubai. More... Until Apr 30, 18

Marriott Rewards
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points when staying Thursday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required) at the Courtyard Novato Marin/Sonoma. More... Until Jan 14, 18
- 500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Residence Inn Boston Burlington. More... Until Jan 15, 18
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the SpringHill Suites & TownePlace Suites Minneapolis West/St. Louis Park. More... Until Jan 14, 18

Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass
- Triple Travel Pass Points for stays of 7 or more nights at the onesta ES Suites Gwinnett Place Atlanta. More... Until Jan 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

Air Canada adds six new routes to the U.S.

Lots of Air Canada news today including the announcement of 6 new routes between Canada and the U.S.! Canada's 2 big airlines are on a tear right now with new routes which only means more options for us and more options to earn and redeem miles on!

The six new routes announced by Air Canada today are:

• Toronto to Omaha and Providence
• Montreal to Baltimore and Pittsburgh
• Vancouver to Sacramento
• Edmonton to San Francisco

All routes are going to be flown by Air Canada Express with 50 seat CRJ's or 76 seat CRJ-900's and will launch in May of 2018:

Overall, great news for Canadian travellers with all these new direct non-stop options. Edmontonians can now enjoy direct flights to SFO which is awesome!

Air Canada debuts Signature Suite for Premium International Customers at Toronto Pearson

Air Canada debuted their newest lounge offering at YYZ Toronto Pearson today. The Air Canada Signature Suite will officially open to customers on December 1st. This new offering differs from the standard Maple Leaf lounges we are all accustomed to. First off they went with more of dining style design that moves away from many of today's lounge options:

"The new suite is an exclusive airport retreat where eligible premium customers can dine à la carte at a complimentary, full-service restaurant from a menu created by acclaimed chef David Hawksworth, or enjoy hors d'œuvres, champagne, fine wines and cocktails in an intimate, Canadian-designed and decorated setting."

Quite possibly the biggest difference however is for who can access the lounge. At the time of opening only full fare paying international business class passengers will be able to access the Signature Suite. That means Aeroplan tickets in business class will not be able to, Super Elites not travelling full fare business class will not be able to, Star Alliance Gold members will not and so on!
It really is an exclusive benefit to those who are buying the tickets that really add to Air Canada's bottom line. In some ways this makes sense - many business class lounges including Air Canada's Maple Leaf lounges are crowded these days and their are customers who make the difference for airlines like Air Canada and AC wants to make sure they are treated right. That being said, you would at least think it would be open to Super Elite 100K members since they are also extremely valuable to AC. Perhaps this an initial test to see how the Suite is received and how it is used and perhaps sometime in the future the access may be relaxed a bit.

"The Air Canada Signature Suite officially opens Dec. 1, 2017 and is accessible to all full fare paying International Business Class customers, excluding upgrades and most point redemption programs. The 6,400-square-foot suite, conveniently located by Air Canada's international departure gates at Toronto Pearson Terminal 1, can accommodate up to 160 premium customers and is fully complimentary. It hosts a full-service restaurant offering à la carte dining from a Hawksworth-designed menu. The suite also features a cocktail lounge space with full service bar and a selection of hors d'œuvres and specialty snacks, a quiet sitting ara and concierge service.
Other notable design features of the Air Canada Signature Suite include:

• Design by acclaimed Montreal architecture and design firm Heekyung Duquette;
  
  
• High quality wine and spirits supplied by our partners at Diageo and Moet & Chandon Champagne (both brut and rosé available), and feature Signature cocktails;

• Mural by renowned Ottawa artist Gavin Lynch;
  
  
• Cloudscape Chandelier by acclaimed Toronto design firm Moss & Lam;
  
  
• Exclusive works by local Montreal artists Pascale Girardin and Nicolas Ruel;
  
  
• And Luxury skin care products from Molton Brown."

What do you think? Are you excited for this new option for travelling overseas from Canada? Will you be utilizing the Signature Suite soon?  Do you think more flyers should access to it? Let us know below!

Read more about the Signature Suite here

All photos courtesy of Air Canada

How students can save money with loyalty programs

So far in our Guide to Points & Miles for Students we've discussed tips on how you can earn more miles and points on your back to school shopping (and all shopping in general), using points & miles to pay for tuition and also earning points & miles on tuition payments. Now in this latest article we look at how you can utilize points and miles and other loyalty based programs to save you money. Whether you are or were a student before, you know how hard it can be to keep money flowing while attending classes and only being able to work short hours. So every penny counts which means you can utilize points & miles programs as well as discount loyalty programs to save money on your everyday purchases. 

Continue reading the entire article here! 

November 28 Update: Marriott teams up with Maple Leaf sports, AC Altitude members to have Gogo WiFi option, AIR MILES ups Cash Redemption cap for the holidays

14 years ago today we sent out our 32nd issue of the Rewards Canada News newsletter. The big highlights in that newsletter were the Canadian specific offer of 3,000 miles for joining Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and the buy SkyMiles bonus for Canadians only when redeeming for an award! This week we will be sending out our 600th issue! If you don't subscribe to the newsletter yet you can do so here

 
Rewards Canada reader Ryan has confirmed that the American Express Cobalt's multipliers do work in the U.S.. He was confirming our post "Are the American Express Cobalt Card category multipliers available globally?" as many had questioned if the category bonuses were just for Canada or available globally.

Last week Marriott announced a Canadian specific partnership that will resonate well with Marriott Rewards and SPG members in our great country! The partnership is with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and it will see members in both program being able to bid on hockey experiences with their points via Marriott Rewards Moments and SPG Moments:

Marriott International, the country’s leading lodging company, is proud to announce a multi-year partnership with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), making Marriott International the preferred hotel company for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The 100 million+ global members of Marriott’s three loyalty programs - Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guests (SPG), including the more than 3.7 million members in Canada, will be big winners with the partnership. Members will be able to redeem points on Marriott Rewards Moments and SPG Moments for once-in-a-lifetime hockey themed experiences with players and legends of the game. 

At the time of publishing this no Moments packages were available yet but they should be soon.

Air Canada Altitude members will be able to choose complimentary Gogo WIFI as one of their Select Privileges in 2018. (Source Air Canada)

Beginning later this year, the airline will offer Altitude Elite 75K and Super Elite 100K members the opportunity to select complimentary 6- and 12-month unlimited use passes, respectively, for inflight connectivity on board Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada Rouge operated flights

AIR MILES has adjusted their daily cap for in-store Cash Miles redemption to $750 from $100 for the holiday season. This sees the program gain confidence in their fraud detecting abilities as it was the cash miles option that was affected by fraud that saw in-store redemption halted temporarily and then reinstated with the $100 cap. Good news for collectors who are planning on utilizing a lot of cash miles for their holiday shopping! This increase will be in place from December 1 to January 7.

We're going to keep this reminder going in each update until Christmas:
Check out the Give A Mile Flight Hero campaign! The charity can really use donations of miles to help provide flights to those who otherwise would be unable to travel to visit terminally ill or critically sick family and friends. Rewards Canada has pledged to raise 100,000 miles and we are half way there! We are putting the call out to all of our fans, readers and even new visitors, if you can give please do so. It can be as little as 1,000 miles! You can find out more and donate here.



Posts since our last update:

• Starwood and Marriott announce some changes for 2018 including no intregration... yet
  As we said in September "The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express isn't going away - at…
• Meet the Collectors: Airport planner utilizes a divide and conquer strategy with loyalty programs
   Today we bring you our latest Meet the Collectors feature. These are interviews with our readers, who are everyday Canadians…
• 2 Days left to book the IHG Rewards Club Your World Sale - Save 15-30% off destinations across the globe for a limited time
  You only have a little over 2 days left to book IHG Rewards Club's Your World Sale! It provides…

Travel Deals
Today is the last day to book KLM's Black Friday sale! There are some great offers to be had including Edmonton to London for as little as $725! Find out more here.

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A


Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Club Premier Points for stays at Marriott Hotels & Resorts in the Caribbean and Latin America. More... Until Jan 15, 18

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Triple MilleMiglia Miles for stays at any participating Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Jan 7, 18

American AAdvantage
- 500 Bonus AAdvantage Miles, up to 25% off, free cocktail & breakfast + $25 hotel credit for stays on the Suite Moments package at the Fairmont Hotels in the Americas and Europe. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Mar 31, 18
- 6x AAdvantage Miles for rentals at participating National locations in the US and Canada. More... Until Feb 28, 18

ANA Mileage Club
- Earn Double or 2,000 Bonus Mileage Club Miles when you fly on ANA or Vietnam Airlines between Japan and Vietnam or for flights within Vietnam. More...  Until Dec 31, 17
- Triple Mileage Club Miles for stays at participating Raffles Hotels in Asia and the Middle East. More...   Book by Dec 31 for stays until Feb 28, 18

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles + 300 Bonus Asia Miles for stays at an AccorHotels MyResorts hotesl in Asia Pacific More... Book by Jan 31 for stays until Feb 28, 18

Copa Airlines ConnectMiles
- 30% Bonus ConnectMiles when you buy or gift miles. More... Until Dec 22, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at participating hotels in Alabama, Connecticut, Kentucky, Ohio or Texas. More... Until Jan 23, 18

United MileagePlus
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you book hotels via PointsHound. More... Book by Dec 3 for stays until Mar 31, 18


Follow Rewards Canada: