Great Reward Ticket Bonus Offers from Alitalia and Etihad

You may recall that not too long along we starting tracking discounted award/reward offers from all the various travel reward programs (see this FFB page for a summary) and in the past week two airlines have come out with some really great promotions on their reward tickets. Alitalia's applies right to your first booking while Etihad's requires you to redeem for 5 tickets, either way both offers are well worth taking advantage of:

Alitlia MilleMiglia
AZ's offer will provide MilleMiglia members with a 40% MilleMiglia bonus on each reward ticket that is redeemed for. That is, if you redeem for an economy class ticket between New York and Milan for 50,000 MilleMiglia miles, they will provide you with 20,000 bonus miles afterwards. This offer is good on all standard reward tickets in all booking classes, so the higher the redemption value the higher the bonus. This offer runs until June 30, 11. For complete details please see here.


Etihad Guest
Etihad's offer also provides members with bonus miles after redemption but in EY's case you have to complete 5 reward ticket redemptions. All five redemptions do not have to take place at the same time but all have to be booked by July 31. Once you have completed all 5 bookings, Etihad will award you with bonus miles equivalent to the lowest value booking out of your 5 redemptions. to make the most of this offer you will want to try to go for some bigger redemptions to ensure a bigger bonus is returned to you, nonetheless whatever route you go you will end up with enough miles for another redemption at that lowest level.

For Example: you redeem for 4 business class tickets between North America and Abu Dhabi at 140,000 miles each but then redeem your 5th one for economy class for 70,000 miles, your bonus would be 70,000 miles or enough for another economy class ticket from North America to Abu Dhabi.

Full details and registration for this promotion can be found here.

You may ask why offer bonus miles on redemptions? Why not just discount the reward ticket as that would be easier? The primary reason is that with a discount there is no guarantee you may come back to fly that airline and use their FFP again. By offering you bonus miles after the fact you are being encouraged to continue using that FFP and its partners to earn more miles within the program. In fact promos like these kill two birds with one stone, they promote redemption and lower mileage balances on the FFP's books while potentially keeping the member active in the program.

British Airways Business Class Sale to London

British Airways is currently running a sale on Business Class fares from Canada to London for the summer season. Fares start at $2698r/t (+taxes &fees) for travel Jun 28 - Sep 3 and need to be booked by Jun 16.
Fares from
Montreal $2698 r/t
Toronto $2698 r/t
Vancouver $3298 r/t
Calgary $3298 r/t
You can book this fare at BritishAirways.com

Earn 5x the Aeroplan Miles at Home Hardware this weekend

This is offer has an extremely short duration, so rather then placing it on our regular Aeroplan bonus offer page we thought it would fit better here and it is pretty simple:

This weekend, from June 16-19 Aeroplan members can earn 5X the Aeroplan miles on all Home Hardware purchases. Simple as that.

Full details can be found on Aeroplan.com

Rack up tons of Aeroplan miles for Best Western stays this summer

Despite a possible looming strike by some of their front end workers, Air Canada states they will continue on with a full schedule but should the airline slow down operations you can still get a good Aeroplan mileage fix with Best Western this summer. Due to the possible strike these offers are great for those who may be planning a 'stay-cation' here in Canada as many small towns don't have the higher end Sheratons, Hyatts and Marriotts but do have BW's.

What are the offers? There are two currently running for Air Canada's Aeroplan members. The first (which should be your first step in racking up the miles this summer) is for buying Best Western gift cards or as they call them Travel Cards. You can earn 1,500 bonus Aeroplan miles for every $100 spent on a Best Western travel card. This offer runs until August 31, 2011.

The second offer is part of Best Western's summer system wide promotion whereby members will earn 750 bonus Aeroplan miles for every stay completed at a Best Western. This bonus is above the 250 base Aeroplan miles earned for each stay. The offer is valid for stays between June 19 and August 14, 2011. The offer requires membership in the Best Western Rewards Program (free to join) with your earning preference set to Aeroplan and registering for the offer itself.

Here a couple of examples of how many miles you could get with this promotion (assuming a nightly rate of $125).
$500 of Travel Cards = 7,500 Aeroplan Miles
Cards purchased on an Aeroplan earning card = 500 Aeroplan Miles (minimum, can be higher with the American Express AeroplanPlus or Gold Rewards cards)
4 Stays at $125 = 1,000 Aeroplan Miles
Stay bonuses = 3,000 Aeroplan Miles
Total for four stays: 12,000 Aeroplan Miles

$1,000 of Travel Cards = 15,000 Aeroplan Miles
Cards purchased on an Aeroplan earning card = 1,000 Aeroplan Miles (minimum, can be higher with the American Express AeroplanPlus or Gold Rewards cards)
8 Stays at $125 = 2,000 Aeroplan Miles
Stay bonuses = 6,000 Aeroplan Miles
Total for four stays: 24,000 Aeroplan Miles
This is enough mileage with lots to spare for a short haul flight with Air Canada (15,000 miles)

As you see both options can earn you a lot more Aeroplan miles then you normally would (4 stays at $125 would normally net 1,500 Aeroplan miles including credit card earning, 8 stays would net 3,000 miles)

Not a bad deal if you are planning some BW stays this summer and of course the stays don't have to be in Canada. In fact a lot of Best Western's in the U.S. can be had for under $100 per night which means you could stretch a $1000 in travel cards to 10 stays which would get you Gold Elite status in Best Western's Rewards program and put you over the 25,000 mile mark good enough for an Aeroplan reward flight within North America.

For more details on these offers please visit our Aeroplan Bonus Mile Opportunities page

15% discount on Air France flights to France or Germany

15% discount on Air France flights to France or Germany
Book before June 15 and benefit from a 15% discount on your flight to France or Germany between July 8 and December 12, 2011. This offer is valid for departures from Canada in Voyageur or Premium Voyageur cabin. To take advantage of this offer simply enter the code "ETE144" when prompted while booking online at AirFrance.ca
Only the first 500 users will benefit from the 15% discount.

Air Canada reveals new sun destinations and routes

According to Airline Route Updates, Air Canada is further expanding its reach in the sun destination market with flight to three new cities and four new routes destinations previously served from other Canadian cities.

The three new destinations are Curacao, St. Kitts and St. Thomas. All three will be served with direct non-stop flights from Toronto.

The four new routes that Air Canada will operate this coming winter are
Edmonton – Cozumel
Halifax – Providenciales
Montreal – Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo
Ottawa – Holguin

The inter schedule has also seen adjustments to existing routes with some increase and decreases as well as the cancellation of the following routes:
Edmonton – Montego Bay
Montreal – Phoenix
Quebec City – Varadero
Vancouver – Montego Bay

For complete details please visit Airline Route Updates

SriLankan to serve Toronto?

I have not seen much news on this but according to this SriLankan newspaper, the national airline, SriLankan will begin to serve Toronto this October via London Heathrow. Apparently the service will be daily and would provide another option for those looking to go to the Indian Sub-continent or Southeast Asia.

Vote for Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Card

For the third year in a row Rewards Canada will be ranking Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards but this year we are also having Canada vote for their favourites. Canada's Rankings will be listed alongside of Rewards Canada's on July 18th.

To vote please visit
http://www.rewardscanada.ca/vote/

4 Days Only: Air France Business Class Sale from $1990!

Save up to 40% on l'Espace Affaires
Book online at AirFrance.ca
Book by May 30th 2011
Departure from Toronto and Winnipeg to:
(Round trip fares, taxes and surcharges included)


PARIS 24 June - 31 Aug starting from $1,990 R/T 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
NICE 24 June - 31 Aug starting from $2,045 R/T
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MARSEILLE 24 June - 31 Aug starting from $2,045 R/T
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
BORDEAUX 24 June - 31 Aug starting from $2,045 R/T
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LYON 24 June - 31 Aug starting from $2,045 R/T
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
TOULOUSE 24 June - 31 Aug starting from $2,045 R/T

Changes to Qantas Frequent Flyer Program

Qantas is the latest airline to make changes to their FFP, rather then rehash everything, I will quote this post from Canflyer.com that summarizes the changes:

Classic award flights cost more points
Qantas is imposing a 50% price increase on the number of points required to pay for surcharges and taxes on classic award flights. It will increase from 3,000 points to 4,500 points per segment, which Qantas blames on increased jet fuel prices.

Increased cabin class point-earning bonuses
on Qantas and eligible Jetstar tickets

•Premium Economy: from 10% to 25%
•Business: from 25% to 50%
•First: from 50% to 100%
Increased status point-earning bonuses
on Qantas and eligible Jetstar tickets

•Silver: 25% to 50%
•Gold: 50% to 75%
More points and status with Jetstar
A new fare structure for Jetstar will see Frequent Flyer members able to earn both points and status credits in Economy and Business on any fare purchase with a “Plus or Max Bundle”.

The new “bundles” can be included on top of any fare and will provide customers with flexibility and extras depending on their needs.

Among the added benefits are making free changes to their flight, seat selection or earning Qantas Frequent Flyer points and Status credits.

Better upgrade process
While most airlines allow points-based upgrades to be locked in as surely as if you'd bought a ticket, Qantas only gives you the chance of getting an upgrade when you apply for one.

There's no guarantee of the upgrade, and even if you are upgraded you'll be notified only shortly before boarding.

Qantas says it will have an improved upgrade request and notification process planned for late 2011, including SMS confirmation prior to the day of travel.

A new "super platinum" membership level
Qantas new Platinum One tier is for travellers who have accrued 3,600 status credits in a year -- three times the number of status credits required for 'ordinary' platinum status.

The airline hasn't yet released many details on what benefits this new status level will bring, except that it will include a "dedicated team to look after your travel needs every step of the way."

Changed Loyalty bonus
Qantas is raising the 'loyalty bonus' bar, making it harder to receive those extra points while also increasing the number of points you receive.

Under the current scheme members who accrue 450 status credits will receive an extra 5,000 frequent flyer points.

From December this year the qualification limit will be 500 status credits but the bonus will be 8,000 points. Loyalty bonuses can be issued up to four times a year.

You can also find a lengthy discussion on these changes on Flyertalk.com