Earn 2,500 bonus Avios + save up to 25% on Qatar Airways flights out of Canada

 

Qatar Airways is celebrating their 25th Anniversary by offering 2,500 bonus Avios and up to 25% off their flights from around the world including those out of Canada

Qatar Airways Privilege Club has officially made Avios its loyalty currency and includes easy transfers from British Airways Executive Club

Back in February Qatar Airways announced they will be adopting Avios in place of Qmiles as the loyalty currency in their Privilege Club program. That time has come and as of March 22 the switch has been made. Qatar Airways Privilege Club members now earn and burn Avios and any Qmiles in accounts up to this date have been converted 1:1 to Avios. 

Qatar Airways Privilege Club moving from Qmiles to Avios as its loyalty currency

 
News came out today from Qatar Airways that they will be adopting Avios as the new currency for their Privilege Club frequent flyer program. Avios is the currency of the airlines that are part of IAG (British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, etc.) which Qatar Airways happens to a be a major shareholder so it seems like a natural progression for Qatar Airways to bring on this change. 

January 6 Update: Updated credit card reviews, earn 2x RSVP Rewards points at Sandman Hotels & Qatar Airways 25th anniversary seat sale

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. 

As part of the redesign of the Rewards Canada website we are also updating many of the articles and features as well as we go along. On the credit card reviews front two popular reviews were updated today. Those two are as follows:

• American Express Cobalt™ Card Review
• BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card Review

On top of that we have now created a separate landing page on the Rewards Canada website strictly for Credit Card Reviews. You can check it out here. New landing pages will also be created for our airline, hotel, lounge and other reviews in the coming weeks.

Earn 3,650 bonus Qmiles on all Qatar Airways flights out of Montreal (book by Nov 23)

 
Qatar Airways is celebrating being one year away from the start of the FIFA World Cup 2022 with a three day flight booking bonus. For each flight booked with Qatar Airways between now and November 23 for travel until October 31, 2022 you will earn 3,650 bonus Qmiles. This bonus includes Qatar Airways' flights to and from Montreal.

Click here for more details and to book this offer.

October 28 Update: New increased welcome bonus offers for CIBC cards, Qatar Airways Montreal seat sale & Flair Airlines adds Manitoba to Saskatchewan routes

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points worth $500, has no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee in the first year! 

CIBC revealed new offers on their Aventura and Dividend Cards today! We have them all listed on our CIBC page and will have further coverage coming shortly. Here's a quick run down of the new offers:

CIBC Aventura® Visa Infinite* Card & CIBC Aventura® Gold Visa* Card: Get a total of up to 40,000 Aventura Points (up to $850 in travel value†) including a first year annual fee rebate!†

CIBC Dividend® Visa Infinite* Card & CIBC Dividend Platinum® Visa* Card Get a first-year annual fee rebate for you and up to three Authorized Users† and 10% cash back for the first 4 statements on net purchases of up to $2500.†

CIBC Aventura® Visa* Card & CIBC Aventura® Visa* Card for Students Get up to 12,000 Aventura points when you make your first purchase (up to $120 in travel value†)

CIBC Dividend® Visa* Card: Get 5% cash back for the first 4 statements on net purchases of up to $2,000 (up to $100 cash back).†

CIBC Dividend® Visa* Card for Students: Welcome Offer: Get $60 cash back after you make your first purchase within the first 4 months!†

Fly Qatar Airways out of Montreal from only $818 + earn double elite qualifying Qpoints

Qatar Airways has a massive seat sale running right now for most of their flights around the world and that includes those departing from Montreal. The sale is advertised as fares starting at $829 however they do show some as low as $818 to Beirut. On top of these seat sale fare Qatar Airways Privilege Club members will earn double elite qualifying Qpoints on these flights. Not a member yet? They are also offering 5,000 bonus Qmiles for anyone who joins the program with promo code FLYQR21. The seat sale and double Qpoints offer must be booked by September 12 for travel until May 14, 2022. The 5,000 Qmile offer for joining Privilege Club is available September 12, 2021 to May 31, 2022

Click here to learn more about and to book this offer.

 

Images via Qatar Airways

You can now redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for flights on Qatar Airways

 

This news was expected for August but it appears that it has come early and that is the ability to redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for flights on Qatar Airways. Although both airlines are part of the oneworld Alliance this partnership was done separately from Alaska Airlines adding in all the oneworld partners so you won't see some of the other oneworld airlines as part of the Mileage Plan redemption pool just yet.

July 21 Update: Canalta Rewards adds elite tiers with more benefits, JetBlue TrueBlue added to Rewards Canada & 2,500 free Qatar Airways Qmiles

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more.

Western Canada's Canalta Hotels has made changes to their Canalta Rewards program. You may have received an email from them stating this:

Some of you may be aware already that we are making a few changes to our rewards program. Your points will remain the same, and you will still earn points the same way. 

We are moving our program to a new platform, so please bare with us while we work out some of the kinks during the move. 

Some exciting news with the new platform: We will be bringing back Gift Cards again! And we will be adding a brand new tier system.

With a number of technical issues with our Canalta Hotels App - we will be retiring the app. However, the new site is totally mobile friendly! 

1,000 free miles when you join Qatar Airways Privilege Club by April 30

 

Offer details:
1,000 Bonus Qmiles when you join the Privilege Club program using promo code JOINPC21. Click here to join (promo code automatically populates). Members will also earn 1,000 bonus Qmiles on their first online booking, or 500 bonus Qmiles for each subsequent online booking. Join by Apr 30, 21

December 8 Update: Qatar Airways announces partnership with Alaska Airlines along with a new Seattle - Doha route and earn yourself 500 free World of Hyatt points tomorrow

  Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard .

Qatar Airways announced a new route between Seattle and Doha today as well as a partnership with Alaska Airlines ahead of the latter airline joining the oneworld Alliance that Qatar is already a member of. That route will launch on March 15th and will operate 4 days per week. This is of particular interest to those who live in Western Canada as once Alaska Airlines resumes more flights to the five cities they used to serve Pre-Covid you should be able to use those flights to connect to this Qatar Airways flight. There are plans to have code-sharing in place some time in the future. Of course if you live in the lower mainland you have the great option of driving to Seattle once the land borders open up to non-essential travel. One of Qatar's biggest competitors, Emirates, already had code-shared on those Alaska Airlines Western Canadian routes and promoted that partnership heavily on their website and even at conferences. I remember one of the years that I attended the Global Petroleum Show here in Calgary Emirates had their own booth and were primarily promoting the Seatte gateway with their Alaska Airlines connection. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Qatar do the same thing and invest in promoting the Seattle route to Western Canadians.

Here is the schedule of the new route:

Seattle Flight Schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday
Doha (DOH) to Seattle (SEA) QR719 departs: 08:00 arrives: 12:20
Seattle (SEA) to Doha (DOH) QR720 departs: 17:05 arrives: 17:15+1

The partnership will also include reciprocal earning for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Qatar Airways Privielge Club members for flights as of December 15. Then on March 31st (when Alaska joins oneworld) there will be reciprocal redemption and elite status recognition.

Learn more here.

Image via Qatar Airways

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Be sure to set a reminder for tomorrow if you want to score some free World of Hyatt points. Tomorrow is the Global Day of Gratitude and to celebrate Hyatt will give you 500 points for spending time with Headspace in the World of Hyatt app. Here's how it works:

•	Open the World of Hyatt app. If you don’t have it already, download it here.
•	Complete one of our custom Headspace exercises — Unwind, Reflect or Sleep.
•	Enjoy 500 Bonus Points just for nurturing your wellbeing.

Image via Hyatt

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Give A Mile 2020 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign: Help Rewards Canada raise 50,000 points for flights of compassion We are now up to 30,000 points - thank you to everyone who has donated so far! Now we only need 20,000 more points!

Posts since our last update:

• Receive 25% bonus Elite Tier Miles when you convert Marriott or other points to Emirates Skywards
    Emirates Skywards has offered an array of bonus offers during the pandemic for transferring points, buying miles and…
• Amex Offers - Spend $25 with Amazon and receive a $5 statement credit
    An Amex Offers offer that everyone likes to see came back today. That is an offer for shopping…
• Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for December - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October…
• December 7 Update: New Amex Offer for Browns Socialhouse, RBC Avion offer of 8x points with Harry Rosen & new 6% back offer for the TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Card
   Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and…

Deals:

HSBC Premier Chequing Account Get up to $1,000* in cash back and rewards when you switch over to us by December 28, 2020 Find out more here.

Earn $300 cash when you open a new Scotiabank Ultimate Package! Plus earn Scotia Rewards or SCENE Rewards points. Find out more here.

If you aren't using the Ampli Cash Back app yet you can get $5 when you download the app and join today with promo code AMPLI5 Find out more here

SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. Find out more here

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Aeroflot Bonus
- Double Bonus Miles when you book hotels via Booking .com More... Book by Dec 31, 20 for stays until Jan 31, 21

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Up to a 50% discount when you buy or gift MilleMiglia miles online. More... Until Dec 24, 20

British Airways Executive Club
- 200 Bonus Avios per night for stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 21

Emirates Skywards
- 25% Bonus Skywards Tier miles when you convert miles/points from Air Miles (UAE), FAB, ADCB, Standard Chartered Bank UAE, and at Marriott Bonvoy™, Shangri‑La, Hyatt, and All – Accor Live Limitless hotels worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 21

Marriott Bonvoy
- OFFER EXTENDED 2,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points PER NIGHT for stays at all participating Courtyard Hotels in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean and Latin America More... Until Apr 4, 21

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when you rent a car with Avis for 3 or more days in North America (USA and Canada, excluding Alaska), Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia More... Book by Jan 31 for rentals until Feb 28, 21

Follow Rewards Canada:

Qatar Airways Black Friday offer – Additional 10% off flight bookings out of Montreal + up to 4,000 bonus Qmiles

 
Looking to book Qatar Airways' flights out of Montreal? Use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY when you book by 02 December 2020 to receive an additional 10% off. The discount will only apply to the base fare, and will not apply to carrier surcharges, taxes, or other fees.*

Air Canada to launch flights to Doha this December!

 

According to RoutesOnline Air Canada will be launching flights between Toronto and Doha, Qatar in just over a month! This comes as a big surprise not only for the route itself but even the timing of launching it in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Qatar Airways already flew the route for about a month this past summer when out of the blue they announced the flights and started up the route a few short days after that! The route didn't last very long but perhaps it was being done more as a test for this upcoming Air Canada flight. The airlines do have agreements in place with Air Canada providing feed to Qatar's flights out of Montreal and will be doing so on the vice versa out of Doha. This is why you have the option to choose additional Canadian cities on Qatar Airways' website even though Qatar Airways only flies out of Montreal. In fact a recent email from Qatar Airways even mentioned utilizing Air Canada for those connecting flight.

1,000 Free Qatar Airways Privilege Club QMiles when you download their app and login

 

Over on our global site I posted about an  offer where you can earn 1,000 bonus Qmiles when you book Qatar Airways flights via their app (this is applicable to Canadians as well) however if you keep reading further down on the promotion page there is another offer. That offer states you’ll earn 1,000 Qmiles for simply downloading the Qatar Airways app and logging in to your Privilege Club account on the app.

Here is the terminology direct from Qatar Airways:

Not yet downloaded the Qatar Airways App? As a valued Privilege Club member, download the app by 12 August 2020 and you will also enjoy an additional 1,000 bonus Qmiles once you log in.

This is valid for new members or those members who have never used the app or haven’t logged in for 6 months or more and the offer runs until August 12.

Learn more about the app offers here.

Full terms and conditions:

Bonus Qmiles Terms and Conditions for Qatar Airways App Download and Login to the membership profile:

• This offer is only applicable to Privilege Club main members, who download Qatar Airways mobile app and login to the membership account
• Members who have logged into the Qatar Airways mobile app in the last 6 months will not be eligible for the bonus Qmiles
• App users who are not members need to enrol to the Privilege Club program as main member and login to their membership account to be eligible for the bonus Qmiles
• Promotion period for App download and login: 06 August 2020  to 12 August 2020
• Members will earn bonus Qmiles only once during the offer period
• Bonus Qmiles will be credited to the eligible members account by 20 August 2020.

Receive 2,500 free QMiles for joining Qatar Airways Privilege Club + 5,000 bonus Qmiles & 50 bonus QPoints on your 1st flight

Qatar Airways has revealed a campaign to acquire new members for their Privilege Club frequent flyer program and to encourage you to fly with them soon. This is ideal for us Canadians as Qatar Airways just expanded their coverage in Canada! For years on end they only flew between Montreal and Doha but as of last week they added flights between Toronto and Doha. Between the two cities Qatar Airways is flying to Canada once a day, that is 4x per week from Montreal and 3x per week from Toronto.

With this offer you’ll get 2,500 QMiles just for joining the program and then if you complete your first Qatar Airways flight by December 10, 2020 they’ll give you an additional 5,000 QMiles and 50 bonus elite qualifying QPoints. Those 50 QPoints get you 1/3 of the way to Silver Elite status in the program.

Offer details:
Earn up to 7,500 Bonus QMiles and 50 bonus QPoints when you join Privilege Club using promo code JOIN2020 and complete your first Qatar Airways flight. Full details, online registration and booking.  (Registration is required) Join by Sep 30 and travel by Dec 10, 2020
Earn 2,500 miles for joining Privilege Club then earn 5,000 bonus QMiles + 50 Bonus QPoints when you complete your first flight by December 10, 2020

Qatar Airways launching new flights between Toronto and Doha tomorrow!

Qatar Airways came out with a surprising announcement earlier this week - they are launching flights between Toronto and Doha, Qatar. It isn't the route itself that is surprising - it's when it starts. Tomorrow is the first flight on this new route. That's right, they are starting it during the pandemic when travel is at an all time low and technically Canadians can't even travel to Qatar right now! However Canadians and other nationals are allowed to transit via Qatar to other countries and that is where Qatar Airways makes their living anyways - its not travel to Qatar, its connecting via Doha to other destinations beyond.

The new flights will operate 3x per week between Toronto and Doha and this is on top of the airline's 4x weekly flights between Montreal and Doha. This route comes about from an expansion in the agreement between Canada and Qatar allowing more flights. The Toronto flight will be operated with an Airbus A350-900 on the following schedule (Source RoutesOnline)

QR767 DOH0830 – 1500YYZ 359 246
QR768 YYZ2050 – 1615+1DOH 359 246

On the miles side you can earn and redeem Qatar Airways Privilege Club Qmiles on these flights and recently Qatar lowered their carrier surcharges for their redemption which is good news for those who do utilized Privilege Club. However in Canada the only way to earn QMiles outside of your standard travel providers (flights/hotels) is via the Marriott Bonvoy program which means you can access those miles via American Express (see here: Complete list of Airline & Hotel loyalty programs that you can earn miles or points in with Canadian Credit Cards). However the actual number of miles Privilege Club requires is a lot more than other programs. These means the best option for Qatar Airways flights is utilizing their oneworld partner airline programs and in Canada that primarily means British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and American AAdvantage. All three programs have lower mileage requirements for flying on Qatar Airways than Qatar's own Privilege Club so earning via credit cards like the Amex suite of Membership Rewards cards,  RBC Visa Infinite Avion or HSBC World Elite Mastercard and converting to something like Avios makes more sense than trying to convert from Marriott to Qatar's Privilege Club. You can still choose to convert Marriott to British Airways, Cathay Pacific etc. and that's totally fine and doable!

It's great to see an airline launching new flights during this downturn and while the flight may not make Qatar any money right now you can bet it will once travel opens up again in the next few years. So one can hope Qatar will keep the flight going and if their past history is any indication I feel like they will keep this route going for a long time.

You can book Qatar Airways flights here. (This link earns RC a commission - you don't have to choose to use it but thank you in advance if you do so!)

HT One Mile at a Time

Title Image via Qatar Airways

May 20 Update: 50,000 bonus PC Optimum points with $150 online Shoppers purchase, CIBC Holidays for Heroes initiative, Qatar Airways modifies amazing re-booking policy

Another big bonus from Shoppers Drug Mart! Earn 50,000 bonus PC Optimum points when you spend $150 or more online via Shopper's Beauty Boutique. Those 50,000 points are worth $50 towards a future purchase. This offer is good for today and tomorrow. Find out more here. 

Last week CIBC launched a new campaign to recognize front line health care workers. The CIBC Holidays for Heroes initiative is providing 30 million Aventura travel reward points to give these workers an opportunity to recharge. Nominees will be chosen at random to receive a $1,500 travel voucher to take a well-deserved break.

Through the CIBC Holidays for Heroes program, Canadians are invited to nominate a frontline health care worker who has made a contribution to keeping us safe during this challenging time, and who has earned a well-deserved break for their efforts. CIBC has provided 30 million Aventura travel rewards points to recognize health care workers who will be chosen at random to receive a travel voucher, allowing them to take a holiday at a future date, reconnect with their families, and re-energize themselves. 

Nominations are open to all Canadians and can be made at CIBCHolidaysForHeroes.com.

“The Holidays for Heroes program is one way we can show our deep appreciation for the sacrifices our frontline health care workers have made for Canadians, by giving them the opportunity to rest and recharge with their families,” added Mr. Dodig. “The holidays these heroes take are also one small way of supporting local businesses when economies can safely reopen.”

Last week we gave you the details of Qatar Airways' amazing flight re-booking policy and noted that it will most likely change and it did over this past weekend. It is a relatively small change in that you now have to wait 14 days before you can change your flights and you have to re-book into the same fare class. Find out more here.

Airline Schedule Updates
This will now be a standard feature for the foreseeable future in our daily update posts as we summarize Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

Sunwing has released their plans for their summer domestic operations with flights between offered between Toronto and Deer Lake, Gander, St John's and Vancouver. Flights will start up in late June and are already open for reservation on Sunwing's website. (Source RoutesOnline & Sunwing)
Toronto – Deer Lake 01JUL20 – 09SEP20 1 weekly
Toronto – Gander 26JUN20 – 08SEP20 2 weekly
Toronto – St. John’s NFLD 26JUN20 – 09SEP20 2 weekly
Toronto – Vancouver 28JUN20 – 08OCT20 1 weekly

The latest updates out of SWISS Airlines shows them wanting to resume Montreal to Zurich service on July 1. (Source RoutesOnline)
Not that you can actually travel to Switzerland as their borders are still closed (unless they open up by July 1) but I thought I would pass along that this flight is showing availability in business class for no less than 6 people with Aeroplan! 

Japan Airlines is reducing their planned service between Vancouver and Tokyo to 1 flight per week for the month of June. (Source RoutesOnline)

Remember to visit and bookmark our COVID-19 resource page where we are keeping you up to date with all the latest airline, hotel, lounges and loyalty program news, policies, closures and more.

Posts since our last update:

• New Amex Offers for Uber Eats and SkipTheDishes - Spend $10 get a $5 statement credit
  A couple of really good Amex Offers came out today for select American Express cards. Rewards Canada's contributor Jeff W.…
• Earn 500 bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays this summer at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the U.S. and Caribbean
  This offer was originally slated to end on April 30 but has been extended to the end of August.…
• TD Aeroplan Visa cards receive limited time boosted earn rate on food and grocery delivery services
  TD is following the lead of American Express with the release of a limited time boosted earning option on…
• Fairmont's Canadian mountain resort hotels offering every 2nd night or 2nd room free for the rest of 2020!
  We are just over a week away from Fairmont's four Canadian mountain resorts reopening and they are offering a…
• May 19 Update: Canada and the U.S. agree to keep border closed until June 21, 15x AIR MILES for Apple Store online purchases & more!
  Canada and the United States will be extending the closure of the border to non-essential travel for another 30 days.…

Deals:

Fairmont's Canadian mountain resort hotels offering every 2nd night or 2nd room free for the rest of 2020!

Travelzoo and Brewster's Mountain Lodge in Banff are selling discounted vouchers for future stays that are 100% fully refundable. You can buy vouchers for starting at $179-$199 each for June, $199-$239 for July and $269-$319 for August & September. Based on these numbers looks like they are anticipating a decent return to travel in late Summer. We did a quick check for a mid-week stay in June and Brewster's wanted $339 for the same room and the cheapest 3rd party rate we could find was $209. Sot the $179 voucher definitely provides some savings. Find out more here. 

Travelzoo and Huntingdon Manor Hotel in Victoria B.C. are selling discounted vouchers offering Breakfast & Parking, 35% Off for future stays that are 100% fully refundable. You can buy vouchers for stays starting at $95 per night each for stays between June and November. Find out more here. 

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here(We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

4Ocean - Introducing the Sperm Whale Beaded Bracelet - $20 at 4ocean! Valid until 5/31. Shop Now!

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the United States, or the Caribbean Islands. More... Until Aug 31, 20

Other Bonus Offers

Hilton Honors
- OFFER EXTENDED Earn 2,000 Bonus Honors points per stay at Hilton Hotels worldwide plus 10,000 bonus points for every 10 nights stayed. More... Until Sep 7, 20

Marriott Bonvoy
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points or receive 50% off stays in Suites or Villas at participating Marriott Hotels in China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan. More... Until Jun 7, 20

United MileagePlus
- Receive a 40% to 75% bonus when you buy MileagePlus Miles. More... Until May 29, 20


Follow Rewards Canada:

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Qatar Airways Travel with Confidence - The best airline rebooking policy yet that can be used to obtain cheap business class flights to destinations around the globe

A couple of days ago Qatar Airways released their latest initiative to stimulate bookings amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic. They have entitled it Travel With Confidence and it is by far the best re-booking policy to emerge during this travel downturn. The airline is offering unprecedented change and rebooking options for flights that are completed in 2020. That's the key to this deal - the minute bookings are for 2021 you won't get as sweet as deal as this!

First we'll explore Qatar Airways Travel With Confidence guarantees:

• Hold on to your ticket
  Keep your ticket and use it when you are ready with our extended ticket validity, now valid for 2 years from the date of ticket issuance for greater flexibility.
• Unlimited changes
  You can change your travel date or destination free of charge, as often as you need, for travel until 31 December 2020. You can change your origin to another city within the same country or any other destination we fly to within a 5,000 mile radius of your original destination.
• Swap for Qmiles
  Swap your ticket for Qmiles and redeem them towards reward flights, extra baggage or cabin upgrades when the time is right. For every 1 USD, you will earn 100 Qmiles that are valid for at least three years, so you can have the flexibility to choose how, when and for whom to redeem them.
• Exchange for future travel
  You can exchange your ticket for a future travel voucher with 10% additional value. Vouchers are now valid for two years from the date of voucher issuance.
• Refund your ticket
  Qatar Airways will refund your ticket to the original form of payment if your flight gets cancelled.

All of the above do provide a lot of confidence for travel in 2020 and if you are willing to give it a shot the point that is getting the most buzz is number 2 - unlimited changes. If you read it you may at first not believe it but it is true and Qatar is abiding by what they state. You can book any flight for travel until December 31 and change it as much as you want to any destination within 5,000 miles of your originally booked flights. Yes you read that right - 5,000 miles! And you can even change your origin as long as it is in the same country although that's not really useful for us seeing that Qatar only flies to Montreal and nowhere else in Canada. However they do have several U.S. departure points that you can look into and that's where the biggest buzz comes from.  One Mile at a Time shows that you can fly from Philadelphia to Kiev in business class for around US$1,600 and if you take a 5,000 mile radius from Kiev you have most of Africa, Asia and Europe covered where you can choose to change your ticket to. There are other examples that have been brought forward from bloggers showing New York to Kiev as a low price option as well. The route to Kiev is the one you'd want to book first since it prices out the cheapest and then you call to change to the actual city or cities you would want to visit. Basically you'd be looking at paying US$1,600 to fly business class to cities like Seoul, Delhi, Hanoi and so many others. A real steal of deal!

But if you don't want to go the route of travelling via the U.S. (getting a positioning flight etc.) you can look at Montreal departures. Here is just one example we found that doesn't price out too bad at all:

Montreal to Mumbai for $2892.45

Once booked you could then switch to cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo or even Perth. Of course you have the beautiful Indian Ocean island nations to pick from as well. We checked out Perth on the same dates as above and it prices out at over C$6,500 so by booking a ticket to Mumbai first and then changing it to Perth you would save yourself over 50% of the ticket price.

If you do choose to book some flights to try to take advantage of this generous policy I recommend putting the purchase on The Platinum Card from American Express as it earns 4 points per dollar spent on travel until July 20. If you take the Mumbai example above you would earn 11,568 Membership Rewards points on the purchase and if you take into account their double redemption value at 1,000 points to $20 you would essentially be earning $231 cash back on the flight purchase.

Now you do have a couple questions that you'll have to ask yourself before taking advantage of this offer:

• Do I want to travel in 2020? If you have any hesitation about travelling outside our borders don't move on this offer.
• Do I wait to see how and where the world goes in the next few months before booking? This one is tough to answer and I would say not to wait.  Even though they say it is good for tickets purchased up to September 30 that could change at anytime. The reason why is this policy and subsequent amazing deal to switch flights is being posted on so many miles & points and travel blogs around the world! It is very possible the demand along with so many flight changes may overwhelm Qatar Airways and force them to cut the policy short.

Should you choose to go ahead and give it a shot we'd love to hear from you and have you document and write about it for the Rewards Canada community.  Let us know in the comments below or send us an email!

Learn more about the policy and book your Qatar Airways flights here

Title image via Qatar Airways

October 22 Update: 25 Free AIR MILES, Air Canada adding A220 to Montreal-Denver route & Qatar Airways Doha stopover deal

 If you haven't done so yet you can score 25 Free AIR MILES Reward Miles for subscribing to emails from Sobeys. Check it out here.

As of May 1, 2020 we'll have another Air Canada Airbus A220 route to look forward to. The latest schedule update shows the new aircraft operating Montreal-Denver as of that date. (Source RoutesOnline)

Posts since our last update:

• TODAY ONLY – Double Stash Rewards Points on all stays booked via Stash including non-Stash hotels
  Offer details: Double Stash Rewards Points on all hotel stays booked today only via Stash Rewards. The hotels do…
• October 21 Update: WestJet's new We treat people like people ad campaign + StayVancouver's $125 gift card offer returns!
  WestJet's newest ad campaign was released today and you'll probably see their commercials a lot tonight during the eletion…

Travel Deals

Qatar Airways Stopover special - Travel from Montreal via Doha to anywhere Qatar Airways flies and enjoy a great stopover option on Doha. Book by 28 December for travel until 31 December 2019 to enjoy a luxurious holiday of up to four nights in a four or five-star hotel in Qatar from just USD 23! 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 MILES (Canada)
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles when you make your first hotel booking via the AIR MILES Travel Hub. More... Book by Oct 31, 19

Other Bonus Offers

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 50% Bonus AsiaMiles on all hotels stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by Nov 23, 19 for stays until Mar 31, 20

Emirates Skywards
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Skywards Miles for stays of 3 or more nights at Atlantis The Palm Dubai. More... Book by Jan 31 for stays until Mar 31, 20

Finnair Plus
- 4,000 Bonus Plus Points when you make your first hotel booking via Rocketmiles. More... Until Dec 31, 19

Le Club AccorHotels
- 2x Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating MGallery Hotels in Italy. More... Until Nov 3, 19

Marriott Bonvoy
- 1,000 Bonus Bonvoy points per stay at the Residence Inn Spokane East Valley. More... Until Nov 25, 19
- Earn up to 3,500 Bonus Bonvoy points per stay in a suite at the Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa. More... Until Nov 30, 19
- 1,000 Bonus Bonvoy points per night at the Four Points by Sheraton Nashville Airport. More... Until Dec 6, 19
- 1,000 Bonus Bonvoy points per night at the Four Points by Sheraton Knoxville Cumberland House. More... Until Dec 17, 19



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