If approved, Virgin America will start serving Toronto as early as June 2010 from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Subject to receipt of authority from the U.S. DOT, Virgin America would offer one flight per day from Toronto to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Toronto would be Virgin America's first International destination.
Should these routes be approved it gives Canadian's another frequent flyer option as Virgin America does have its own program called Elevate.
Source: Yahoo Finance
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Marriott changing reward night levels at 20% of their hotels
As of this past Sunday (March 8) Marriott changed the points requirements for free nights at 20% of its Worldwide hotels. 300 of the hotels (roughly 9%) will increase by being moved up to a higher category level while 350 (11%) will decrease by being moved down to lower categories. Approximately 95% of the 650 hotels affected fall into the first 5 redemption categories.
Visit this thread on FlyerTalk.com to see a compiled list of the individual hotel changes
Source: Hotel Check-In
Visit this thread on FlyerTalk.com to see a compiled list of the individual hotel changes
Source: Hotel Check-In
AIR MILES adds new airline partners
AIR MILES has added three new airlines for which you can redeem your AIR MILES Rewards Miles on.
The first is United Airlines, a Star Alliance carrier, US based United serves over 300 destinations in the U.S. and Hawaii. To celebrate the partnership, all AIR MILES bookings for United are 10% if booked by the end of March for travel until the end of the year
See here for more details
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have also joined AIR MILES and offer flights out of Alberta and B.C. to cities in the U.S., Hawaii and Mexico. It also looks like there is an introductory offer of 10% off reward flights for the rest of the year if booked by March 31
The first is United Airlines, a Star Alliance carrier, US based United serves over 300 destinations in the U.S. and Hawaii. To celebrate the partnership, all AIR MILES bookings for United are 10% if booked by the end of March for travel until the end of the year
See here for more details
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have also joined AIR MILES and offer flights out of Alberta and B.C. to cities in the U.S., Hawaii and Mexico. It also looks like there is an introductory offer of 10% off reward flights for the rest of the year if booked by March 31
US Airways to launch Halifax-Philadelphia service
Beginning on June 1, US Airways will serve Halifax from their Philadelphia hub with 50 seat CRJ200's. The year round service will operate three times per day.
Philadelphia - Halifax Halifax - PhiladelphiaSource: CanFlyer
Flight Departure Arrival Flight Departure Arrival
3608 9:40 a.m. 12:45 p.m. 3657 7:40 a.m. 8:56 a.m.*
3706 1:35 p.m. 4:33 p.m. 3623 1:15 p.m. 2:31 p.m.
3652 8:25 p.m. 11:25 p.m. 3707 5:00 p.m. 6:16 p.m.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
US Airways to offer Ottawa-Charlotte service
US Airways will launch service between Ottawa and their hub at Charlotte on May 31, 10. The route will be flown with a CRJ200
Flight Timings:
Ottawa-Charlotte Dep 0750 Arr 1017
Charlotte-Ottawa Dep 2030 Arr 2253
Source: Airline Route Updates
Flight Timings:
Ottawa-Charlotte Dep 0750 Arr 1017
Charlotte-Ottawa Dep 2030 Arr 2253
Source: Airline Route Updates
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Marriott matches Starwood with Free Internet for Elite Members
Starting on May 7, Marriott Gold and Platinum Elite members will have free Internet access at nearly 450 locations across the U.S. and Canada. The benefit will be available at Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott's and Renaissance Hotels. All other brands will continue to offer free Internet to all guests.
The move comes after Starwood Hotels announced that their elite SPG members would be receiving free Internet access.
The move comes after Starwood Hotels announced that their elite SPG members would be receiving free Internet access.
Continental to offer extra legroom in Economy, for a fee
Rather then rehashing it, this is what I got in my recent email from Continental:
"On March 17, 2010, we’ll be introducing a new option allowing you to purchase seat assignments for unreserved, Economy Class seats that feature extra legroom. Depending on the type of aircraft and row, seats with extra legroom offer a minimum of seven additional inches of legroom.
You will have the ability to purchase seat assignments when checking in at continental.com or at an airport kiosk during the normal check-in period, beginning 24 hours prior to flight departure. The price of these extra legroom seats will vary depending on a number of factors, including the length of the flight and market.
Consider this choice when you want extra legroom for more comfort on your flight.
We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Continental."
"On March 17, 2010, we’ll be introducing a new option allowing you to purchase seat assignments for unreserved, Economy Class seats that feature extra legroom. Depending on the type of aircraft and row, seats with extra legroom offer a minimum of seven additional inches of legroom.
You will have the ability to purchase seat assignments when checking in at continental.com or at an airport kiosk during the normal check-in period, beginning 24 hours prior to flight departure. The price of these extra legroom seats will vary depending on a number of factors, including the length of the flight and market.
Consider this choice when you want extra legroom for more comfort on your flight.
We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Continental."
Friday, March 5, 2010
Choice Privileges adds fourth tier to Preferred Hotel reward levels and reduces amounts on first three
Choice Privilege members have had an option for many years to redeem their points for select luxury/preferred hotels outside of the Choice Hotels brands. The redemption rates were set in three tiers depending on the property and those rates were increased not too long ago along with certain properties being excluded.
Now Choice has introduced a fourth tier to the redemption levels which has allowed them to bring back some of the properties that they took away from being able to redeem for. As well for the first three tiers they have dropped the points required value back to what they were before they inflated them.
The points requirements for the tiers are as follows:
Tier 1 - 30,000
Tier 2 - 40,000
Tier 3 - 50,000
Tier 4 - 60,000
For more details and to see all the participating hotels please visit Choice Hotels
Now Choice has introduced a fourth tier to the redemption levels which has allowed them to bring back some of the properties that they took away from being able to redeem for. As well for the first three tiers they have dropped the points required value back to what they were before they inflated them.
The points requirements for the tiers are as follows:
Tier 1 - 30,000
Tier 2 - 40,000
Tier 3 - 50,000
Tier 4 - 60,000
For more details and to see all the participating hotels please visit Choice Hotels
Thursday, March 4, 2010
WestJet Frequent Guest Program Review
I have done a complete review of the WestJet program, it is quite long so I will not post all of it here, as well you can see in the previous post a quick overview. However please post your comments, good,bad or neutral below. WestJet does read our blog and they are known as a very proactive company when it comes to comments from their Guests.
The complete review is on our main Rewards Canada site, you can read it here
Here is an excerpt:
Key Features
The biggest feature with the WestJet Frequent Guest Program is no black out dates. As long as seats are available (ie for sale on the website) then you will be able to redeem for them. There are no black out dates and there is no limit to number of seats per flight or per route like legacy frequent flyer programs. Although most legacy programs have introduced access to all seats at all times it requires more miles, typically double the base requirement or more whereas with WestJet the value of your rewards remains the same regardless of the ticket value.
Jet-Away bonus rewards are an interesting way to reward members without giving away tons of dollars and relatively unique to the Frequent Flyer Program industry but again they are taking a page from the credit card industry where numerous cards offer complimentary companion tickets. With these rewards however WestJet is keeping revenue in mind as you have to buy a ticket to go along with the companion ticket.
The WestJet Frequent Guest Program allows for transfers between members for a flat $20 fee, compared to most frequent flyer programs that have a base fee plus a certain amount of cents per miles transferred.
Overall what is good about programs like the WestJet program is that you don't have to have a lot of points to redeem and get some sort of reward versus the set point programs like most frequent flyer programs where you need a minimum amount of points to redeem for a flight.
Downfalls
The $1500 annual spend level will keep the ultra-leisure traveller away unless they get the RBC MasterCard. The spending is also per person, so if you think, by booking your family of four a trip and spending $1600 in base fares reaches the first level, think again, each person will only have $400 towards the first level.
The main downfall of the credit card type or WestJet type of program is that value is lost when you have to redeem for expensive/non-seat sale flights as you have to redeem more points versus the set point programs which require the same amount of points for a flight regardless of what it is selling for (of course this is the best case scenario not taking into account black out dates, availability etc)
As well the credit card is right in the middle of the pack as the 1.5% return on the World MasterCard version falls below cards like the Capital One Miles Plus and Diners Club MasterCards, but is equal to cards like the TD Travel Visas.
The 12 month annual spend levels will make it tough for the less frequent flyer to accrue WestJet Dollars. While Aeroplan has a 12 month inactivity rule, all you have to do is earn 1 or redeem 1 mile to keep your account and balance active and growing. With WestJet if you don't hit that $1500 in the 12 month period, say you spend $1350, you won't get anything.
The 5 Year expiry on your earned dollars is about average for the industry but only for programs that have life span regulations on earned miles/dollars. Many Asian frequent flyer programs have a 3 year life span and in Canada Aeroplan has a 7 year life span while others have no life span as long as you have activity in your account.
No online capabilites for redemption yet, that will come soon but in the meantime it means calling WestJet to take care of bookings when you want to redeem WestJet dollars.
Once again, you can read the complete review here
The complete review is on our main Rewards Canada site, you can read it here
Here is an excerpt:
Key Features
The biggest feature with the WestJet Frequent Guest Program is no black out dates. As long as seats are available (ie for sale on the website) then you will be able to redeem for them. There are no black out dates and there is no limit to number of seats per flight or per route like legacy frequent flyer programs. Although most legacy programs have introduced access to all seats at all times it requires more miles, typically double the base requirement or more whereas with WestJet the value of your rewards remains the same regardless of the ticket value.
Jet-Away bonus rewards are an interesting way to reward members without giving away tons of dollars and relatively unique to the Frequent Flyer Program industry but again they are taking a page from the credit card industry where numerous cards offer complimentary companion tickets. With these rewards however WestJet is keeping revenue in mind as you have to buy a ticket to go along with the companion ticket.
The WestJet Frequent Guest Program allows for transfers between members for a flat $20 fee, compared to most frequent flyer programs that have a base fee plus a certain amount of cents per miles transferred.
Overall what is good about programs like the WestJet program is that you don't have to have a lot of points to redeem and get some sort of reward versus the set point programs like most frequent flyer programs where you need a minimum amount of points to redeem for a flight.
Downfalls
The $1500 annual spend level will keep the ultra-leisure traveller away unless they get the RBC MasterCard. The spending is also per person, so if you think, by booking your family of four a trip and spending $1600 in base fares reaches the first level, think again, each person will only have $400 towards the first level.
The main downfall of the credit card type or WestJet type of program is that value is lost when you have to redeem for expensive/non-seat sale flights as you have to redeem more points versus the set point programs which require the same amount of points for a flight regardless of what it is selling for (of course this is the best case scenario not taking into account black out dates, availability etc)
As well the credit card is right in the middle of the pack as the 1.5% return on the World MasterCard version falls below cards like the Capital One Miles Plus and Diners Club MasterCards, but is equal to cards like the TD Travel Visas.
The 12 month annual spend levels will make it tough for the less frequent flyer to accrue WestJet Dollars. While Aeroplan has a 12 month inactivity rule, all you have to do is earn 1 or redeem 1 mile to keep your account and balance active and growing. With WestJet if you don't hit that $1500 in the 12 month period, say you spend $1350, you won't get anything.
The 5 Year expiry on your earned dollars is about average for the industry but only for programs that have life span regulations on earned miles/dollars. Many Asian frequent flyer programs have a 3 year life span and in Canada Aeroplan has a 7 year life span while others have no life span as long as you have activity in your account.
No online capabilites for redemption yet, that will come soon but in the meantime it means calling WestJet to take care of bookings when you want to redeem WestJet dollars.
Once again, you can read the complete review here
WestJet reveals Frequent Guest Program
It's officially posted, the long awaited much delayed WestJet Frequent Flyer program, called Frequent Guest has been revealed. I will have a more detailed review coming very soon but first impressions are mixed, I will need a little more time to digest this as there is lots involved here........
Basic overview:
You don't get anything back until you spend $1500 with WestJet per year, see the following:
- Spend $1500 with WJ get $50 in WestJet Dollars
- Spend $4500 get $165 WestJet Dollars + 1 Complimentary Companion Ticket within Canada, 4 advance seat selection vouchers and two lounge passes ($500 value)
- Spend $6000 get $230 WestJet Dollars + 1 Complimentary Companion Ticket anywhere WestJet flies, 4 advance seat selection vouchers and two lounge passes ($800 value)
- Spend $7500 get $300 WestJet Dollars
Basically once you reach the $1500 you then start earning 2.5% in WestJet Dollars back on every dollar you spend with WestJet and 1% back on WestJet Vacations. The key is that you have to hit that $1500 level.
The annual spending resets every 12 months based upon when you joined and your WestJet dollars earned have a 5 year life span (they expire at the end of the 5th year after you earned them)
You can use WestJet dollars towards any flight or towards a WestJet vacations (Max $500 for WJV)
WestJet Vacation's Packages do not count to any of the annual spend levels but will earn 1% in WestJet dollars once you reach the $1500 level.
You can also earn additional WestJet dollars with the WestJet RBC MasterCard and other bonus offers during the year.
Sign up before Dec 31, 10 and the $4500 award level is dropped to $3000 for the first year.
See all the details here and watch out for our complete and thorough review soon.
Basic overview:
You don't get anything back until you spend $1500 with WestJet per year, see the following:
- Spend $1500 with WJ get $50 in WestJet Dollars
- Spend $4500 get $165 WestJet Dollars + 1 Complimentary Companion Ticket within Canada, 4 advance seat selection vouchers and two lounge passes ($500 value)
- Spend $6000 get $230 WestJet Dollars + 1 Complimentary Companion Ticket anywhere WestJet flies, 4 advance seat selection vouchers and two lounge passes ($800 value)
- Spend $7500 get $300 WestJet Dollars
Basically once you reach the $1500 you then start earning 2.5% in WestJet Dollars back on every dollar you spend with WestJet and 1% back on WestJet Vacations. The key is that you have to hit that $1500 level.
The annual spending resets every 12 months based upon when you joined and your WestJet dollars earned have a 5 year life span (they expire at the end of the 5th year after you earned them)
You can use WestJet dollars towards any flight or towards a WestJet vacations (Max $500 for WJV)
WestJet Vacation's Packages do not count to any of the annual spend levels but will earn 1% in WestJet dollars once you reach the $1500 level.
You can also earn additional WestJet dollars with the WestJet RBC MasterCard and other bonus offers during the year.
Sign up before Dec 31, 10 and the $4500 award level is dropped to $3000 for the first year.
See all the details here and watch out for our complete and thorough review soon.