The new Starwood Credit Card is an American Express

Although you can't sign up for it yet, SPG has announced that they have partnered with American Express to issue their new credit card in Canada after the termination of their partnership with MBNA Canada.

Few details are available yet but the card will earn 1 Starpoint per C$1 spent and will come with a 10,000 Starpoint sign up bonus. It will also offer some sort of accelerated point earning feature.

So far it does not look too bad although the 10,000 Starpoint Sign up bonus is a little on the low side compared to the U.S. equivelant or some of the higher end cards in Canada but that could be negated if the benefits and accelerated point earning are worthwhile.

More details can be found here

WestJet adds new routes, expands service on 19 others

CALGARY, Dec. 16 /CNW/ - WestJet today unveiled its flight schedule for
the summer of 2010, featuring five new routes and expanded service on 19
trans-border and international routes.
The summer schedule also includes new non-stop service between Vancouver
and Kitchener-Waterloo, Vancouver and San Francisco, Edmonton and Kamloops,
Edmonton and San Francisco, and Toronto and Puerto Vallarta.
Five Canadian cities will see seasonal routes become year-round, including:

- Vancouver to Los Angeles, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun
- Edmonton to Cancun
- Calgary to Phoenix, Palm Springs and Cancun
- Toronto to Atlantic City, Miami, Puerto Plata, Bridgetown, Cayo Coco,
Varadero, Turks and Caicos, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Cancun
- Montreal to Las Vegas and Cancun

Full details on the WestJet Press Release

Delta cuts Montreal - Cincinnati route

As part of the shrinking of their Cincinnati hub, Delta will be cutting service between Montreal and Cincinnati as of Feb 11, 10

Source: Airline Route Updates

Ethiopian Airlines to join Star Alliance in 2010

Following the successful integration of a partnership with Star Alliance founding member Lufthansa, Ethiopian is now setting it sights to get full membership in the Star Alliance. No exact date has been set but according to this article it states that the airline is set to join early next year.

Continental Announces New OnePass Elite Benefits

This was received this an email from Continental last week. The following new benefits are being offered for Elite levels in Continental's OnePass program:

System-wide Upgrades
Platinum Elite members who earn at least 100,000 Elite Qualification Miles (EQMs) or 120 Elite Qualification Points (EQPs) will earn four, one-way electronic System-wide Upgrade certificates. These certificates can be used in conjunction with any published fare on Continental, Continental Micronesia or Copa Airlines flights and are not subject to additional fees.

New Elite level — OnePass Presidential Platinum Elite
Presidential Platinum is a new invitation-only Elite tier designed to reward Continental’s top Platinum Elite members with some exciting new benefits. Members who achieve this level will be given all the benefits of a Platinum Elite member, plus top priority in Elite Upgrade recognition and flight standby, a dedicated VIP phone line and 25,000 bonus miles.

The initial spending qualification will be $30,000*, and Elite members will be able to track their eligible spending at continental.com starting mid-year 2010.

*$30,000 is the inaugural spend threshold for 2010. In subsequent years, this threshold may change in order to preserve the exclusivity of this program.

Rewards Canada on Newstalk 1010 tonight

If you live in the Toronto area or anywhere where you can listen online I am scheduled to be on Ryan Doyle's show tonight on Newstalk 1010 around 8:35EST. Be sure to listen if you can. No specific topic of yet just a general overview of Rewards Canada and what we do.

Air Canada 10% off flights to the U.S. when using a Visa card

Travel from January 6 to March 31, 2010! To get your exclusive discount, simply enter this promotion code when booking and pay with your VISA card: 4N6JQRV1

Offer ends December 31, 2009. Valid on published Tango Plus, Latitude, Executive Class fares

View the complete offer on Aircanada.com

Cathay Pacific increase Toronto flights for summer 2010

Beginning March 28, 2010, Cathay Pacific will increase service between Toronto and Hong Kong to 10 flights a week from the current 7.

Source: Airline Route Updates

Air France to reduce Canada flights for Summer 2010

According to Airline Route Updates, Air France will only operate 3 flights per day between Montreal and Paris as compared to the 4 per day this past summer. As well Toronto will not see the seasonal up gauge to a 747-400 as the route will continue to be flown with an A340-300.

First details of WestJet RBC MasterCard revealed

The first few details of the new WestJet RBC MasterCards have been revealed on the RBC website. Without knowing all the details yet it is hard to give a full judgement on the cards but from the earning standpoint on the cards they seem to be about average.

There are two offerings from RBC, the first is the WestJet RBC World MasterCard which offers 1.5% in WestJet dollars on everyday spending and assuming that WestJet dollars are 1 for 1 in redemption means this card offes a 1.5% return. This 1.5% falls below cards like the Capital One Miles Plus and Diners Club MasterCards but is equal to cards like the TD Travel Visas. Chances are this card will have an annual fee as it will have enhanced travel insurances and the higher earning rate of the 1.5%

The second offering is called the WestJet RBC MasterCard and it offers 1% back in WestJet dollars. We can assume this card will either have no annual fee or a low one like the CIBC AeroClassic Visa. Once again assuming a 1:1 redemption ratio this card falls in line with such cards at the ScotiaGold Passport Visa, Capital One Miles MasterCard and the majority of the credit union/small bank reward cards.

Since this card will be part of a significant rewards program in Canada you will soon see it on our comparison charts to see how it stacks up against other Canadian Travel Rewards credit cards.

As always you can find our main comparison chart here

To see the WestJet cards on RBC click here