Sep 12 Update: Up to 8,000 Aeroplan Miles for Starwood Stays, 1,000 UA or AA miles per night @ Conrad/Waldorf Astoria, Call for SPG Redemption stories

News, Tips & Tricks
The big news is in the bonus offer department, an amazing Aeroplan Starwood offer was recently released and if you have at least 3 nights planned with Starwood over the next 3 months you have to register for this offer. What makes it great is that there are no Starwood locations excluded, the nights don't have to consecutive and you don't have to change your earning preference to Aeroplan meaning you will also earn Starpoints and be able to stack this offer with other SPG offers like Better by the Night!
Here is the offer:
Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays at any of 1,100+ Starwood Hotels Worldwide.
Bonuses as follows:
- Stay a total of 3 nights to earn 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles (nights do not have to be consecutive)
- Stay a total of 5 nights to earn 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles (nights do not have to be consecutive)
plus if a minimum of 3 of your nights are at any Canadian Starwood Hotel or Resort you will earn an additional 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles.
- This offer can be combined with other Starwood promotions including Better by the Night and you do not have to set your earning preference to Aeroplan (ie you can still earn Starpoints for all these stays)
Full Details, Online Registration and Booking. Until Dec 9, 12

Other offers to look out for include another Aeroplan offer that awards up to 5,000 bonus miles for Fairmont Hotel stays ant the 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage or Mileage Plus miles PER NIGHT for Conrad and Waldorf Astoria stays

Keeping on the topic of Starwood, earlier today I also put the call out for your Starwood Redemption stories for my series called "Redemption Stories: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" If you have redeemed Starpoints for hotel stays, transferred to airlines or anyone of the numerous redemption options that SPG offers I would love to hear it! Please see the post here where you can leave your story via the comments section.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays at Fairmont Hotels Worldwide. More... Sep 15, - Jan 31, 12

American AAdvantage
- 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles PER NIGHT for stays at participating Conrad Hotels or Waldorf Astoria Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Frontier Early Returns (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Early Returns Miles for flights between Orlando and Columbia, MO.or Shenandoah. More... Nov 20 - Dec 20, 12

Hainan / Hong Kong Airlines Fortune Wings
- Double Fortune Wings Kilometers on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 12

Melia International Mas Rewards
- 500 Bonus Mas Points for stays at participating Melia Hotels in Mexico, Domincan Republic, Latin America, the United States and Puerto Rico. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles on flights between Germany or Austria and Asia. Valid on every flight segment in Economy Class on board a flight operated by Austrian Airlines or Lufthansa. More... Until Nov 30, 12

Red Lion R&R Club
- Triple R&R Club Points and 15% off the lowest public available rate for stays at participating Red Lion Hotels in the United States and Canada. More... Until ?

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Double Starpoints for stays at the Westin Snowmass Resort or the Wildwood Snowmass. More... Dec 1 - 20, 12 and Jan 2 - Apr 14, 13

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Double Miles&Smiles Miles on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 12

United Mileage Plus
- 1,000 Bonus Mileage Plus Miles PER NIGHT for stays at participating Conrad Hotels or Waldorf Astoria Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Virgin Australia Velocity Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Velocity Points on selected car classes when you rent in Australia at selected Hetz locations. More... Until Oct 31, 12

Redemption Stories: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. Call for stories on Starwood Preferred Guest

Rewards Canada's Redemption Stories: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly is where we reach out to our subscriber and reader base to tell us their stories of reward program redemptions. We want to hear good stories, bad stories and of course plain old ugly ones! We will compile the stories together and post them right here on our blog.

For our fourth edition of this feature we are asking for stories from one of the top hotel frequent guest program: Starwood Preferred Guest 

If you want to share your Starwood Preferred Guest story with the rest of Canada whether it is good, bad or ugly,  leave a comment below or email us at info@rewardscanada.ca. You can send us a couple of sentences, a whole story or feel free to submit a video! Then watch for our third edition of Redemption Stories to be posted within the next few weeks.

For guidance and/or examples here are links to the past Redemption Stories
Air Miles
Aeroplan 
Capital One Aspire

Sep 11 Update: 75% Bonus Aeroplan Miles for flights in Canada, Priority Club promo summary

News, Tips & Tricks
Over on the FrequentFlyerBonuses.com blog I did a quick summary post of some new IHG Priority Club promos since there will not be a systemwide Q4 promo. You can also find those promos below in the Bonus Offers.

In the bonus offers section the big offer is the 75% Bonus Aeroplan miles on Air Canada flights within Canada. Please note that the low end Tango fares that only earn 25% base Aeroplan miles are excluded.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 75% Bonus Aeroplan Miles for every eligible roundtrip flight (or two one-way segments) with Air Canada or Air Canada Express within Canada. More... Until Oct 21, 12

American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles for Japan Airlines operated nonstop flights between Boston or San Diego and Tokyo. More... Dec 2, 12 - Feb 28, 13

Bangkok Airways Flyer Bonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double FlyerBonus Points for Bangkok Airways flights On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between Bangkok and Chiang Mai or Phuket. More... Until Nov 30, 12

Delta SkyMiles
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus SkyMiles on Hertz rentals Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for rentals until Dec 31, 12

Gulf Air Falconflyer (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Falconflyer miles when you stay at any participating IHG hotel in Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific, Japan, the Middle East (from 15 September 2012), and Southeast Asia. More... Until Aug 31, 12

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
- Triple Priority Club Points or Airline Miles when you stay at any participating IHG hotel in Portugal or Spain. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- 2,000 Bonus Priority Club Points for stays on the “Canton Fair 5-in-1” rate at participating IHG Hotels in Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhongshan or Shenzen. More... Book by Oct 30 for stays until Nov 4, 12
- Earn up to 15,000 Bonus Priority Club Points starting with your second stay at participating InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo™, Holiday Inn®, Express by Holiday Inn™ and Holiday Inn Express® hotels worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 12 Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles when you fly on Brussels Airlines between Brussels and Oslo, Gothenburg, Stockholm, or Copenhagen. More... Until Oct 31, 12

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles on TAP Portugal flights between Madrid and Lisbon or Porto. More... Sep 17 - Oct 31, 12

Sep 10 Update: Another Travel Credit Card on the horizon, SPG Q4 promo now open for registration, airBerlin offers big bonuses in Europe

News, Tips & Tricks
There will be yet another Travel Rewards Credit Card coming out later this month but I have to keep it hush hush for now! Hopefully I'll be able to attend the launch party in Toronto if my schedule permits and then I can let you know about it! Just in case you are keeping track, that is one new card coming later in September and one later in October.

Starwood's Better by the Night promo that I mentioned a few weeks back is officially open for registration, here is a recap of the promo:
Earn Double Starpoints on all eligible stays of 1 or 2 nights,
Triple Starpoints on all eligible stays of 3 or more nights.
Members will also earn 250 Bonus Starpoints for eligible stays booked on SPG.com and 500 Bonus Starpoints for stays booked via the SPG iPhone App.
You must register for this promo by November 30 for stays between October 1 and December 20, 2012
For more details on the promo and to register for it please visit SPG's Better by the Night

Bonus Offers
airBerlin Top Bonus
Double topbonus Miles + up to 10,000 Bonus topbonus Miles on any airberlin route within Europe. Plus you’ll be awarded an additional 5,000 miles for taking five one-way flights and an extra 10,000 miles for ten one-way flights. More... Register and book by Sep 30 for travel until Dec 31, 12

Air China Phoenix Miles
- Earn up to Triple Phoenix Miles Kilometers on Avis rentals Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 12

American AAdvantage
- 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles + 500 Business ExtrAA Points when you fly on American Airlines within 90 days of a qualifying enrollment using your company's new Business ExtrAA account number. More... Until Nov 30, 12
- 25% Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you transfer AAdvantage miles to friends or family. Bonus can be awarded to either the recipient or the transferrer. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Emirates Skywards
- Double Skywards Miles on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 12

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles on all Avis rentals of 2 or more days Worldwide. More... Until Oct 1, 12

Sep 7 Update: New RBC Shoppers Optimum MasterCard, Jet Airways sale from YYZ and 4x SkyMiles for Accor stays

News, Tips & Tricks
RBC launched a new rewards credit card this week (this is not the card I mentioned earlier this week), albeit not a travel rewards one but nonetheless a rewards card! The card is the RBC Shoppers Optimum MasterCard which obviously is tied to the Shoppers Drug Mart loyalty program Shoppers Optimum. I had a quick look at the card and for the majority of Canadians I would say this card is not worth the time however if you are big time Shoppers Drug Mart shopper and/or a Shoppers Optimum fan than the card can be a very good option for you. The Shoppers optimum program in general awards 10 Points/$ spent at Shoppers Drug Mart which when redeemed can give you a return of 1.25% to ~1.79% on your Shoppers spending. The credit card earns 15 Points per dollar spent at Shoppers Drug Mart over and above the 10 Points/$ for swiping your Optimum card. That 15 points translates into a return of 1.88% to 2.7% on your spend at Shoppers Drug Mart. Not bad but you can do better with cards like the ATBPlatinum Cash Rewards Card that offers 3% on Drug Store Purchases or depending on how much you spend the fee version of the Scotiabank Momentum Visa's that offer a straight 2% (or a vast other number of cards that have returns around that amount) and with these cards you are not limited to redeeming at Shoppers Drug Mart. Where the new RBC Shoppers Optimum MasterCard really fails is for non-Shoppers Drug Mart purchases as it only award 5 Optimum points/$ spent or a 0.625% - 0.89% return on your spending! So like I said above, unless you are a big time spender at Shoppers Drug Mart then this card is not for you. You're better off with another cash back card like the MBNA Smart Cash Platinum MasterCard or any other host of cash back cards as seen on our comparision of Cash Back cards

Travel Deals
Jet Airways is having a weekend sale on flights out of Toronto to places likes Brussels, Milan, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Flights start at C$702 and must be booked on September 8th or 9th. You can book online at JetAirways.com

Bonus Offers
Delta SkyMiles
- Quadruple SkyMiles on all qualifying Accor Hotels stays Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 12

Emirates Skywards
- Earn up to Double Skywards Miles when you fly Emirates from Europe to Dubai, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Osaka, Tokyo - Narita, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Male, Seychelles, Colombo, Peshawar, Karachi, Lahore, Lagos, Accra, Entebbe & Nairobi. More... Oct 1 - Nov 30, 12

Etihad Guest
- Double Guest Miles on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 12

Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Boomerang Miles for Germanwings flights to/from London. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for Japan Airlines flights between Tokyo and San Diego. More... Dec 2, 12 - Feb 28, 13

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 15% Bonus Flying Club Miles when you purchase or gift Flying Club miles. More... Until Oct 4, 12

Voila Hotel Rewards
- Double Elite Qualification Credit for every stay of 3 or more consecutive nights at participating VOILÁ hotels worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 12

Sep 6 Update: Double EQMs for US Airways shuttle and more details on the WestJet World Elite MC

News, Tips & Tricks
Rewards Canada follower Bob has posted more information on the upcoming changes to the WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard on our Facebook page. Check it out and let us know if you like (or dislike) the new offering that upgauges this card from the current World to World Elite branding

Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
Double AAdvantage Miles for nonstop flights on American between between the U.S. and Mexico. More... Until Nov 13, 12

Etihad Guest
- Double Guest Miles on Etihad flights between Abu Dhabi and Ho Chi Minh. More... Oct 1 - 31, 13

MEA Middle East Airlines Cedar Miles
- Double Cedar Miles on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 12

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints on every Sheraton Club stay at the Sheraton Hartford South Hotel. More... Until Nov 30, 12

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Double Preferred Qualifying Miles for US Airways Shuttle nonstop flights operated between Washington DC (DCA), New York City (LGA) and Boston. More... Until Oct 31, 12
- Double Dividend Miles with every qualifying stay at all participating Choice Hotels locations Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Vietnam Airlines Golden Lotus Plus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to Triple Golden Lotus Miles for flights from/to Buon Ma Thuot and Pleiku. More... Until Nov 30, 12
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Golden Lotus Miles for flights between Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh and South Korea. More... Until Oct 31, 12
- Receive Golden Lotus Plus Gold Status when you complete 15 domestic flights operated by Vietnam Airlines, with booking classes C, D, J (Business Class). More... Until Jan 15, 12

Virgin Atlantic: Earn up to 150% Bonus Miles & 12 Bonus Tier Points Worldwide incl. Vancouver to London

Virgin Atlantic does not run too many bonus mile offers for their Flying Club members but when they do they are usually pretty good. Their newest offer released on Monday is no different as it is a systemwide offering without many restrictions, runs into 2013 and not only does it offer bonus miles but it also offers bonus elite qualifying tier points. This offer is good for all Virgin Atlantic flights Worldwide including their seasonal Vancouver - London route which runs until October 27, 2012.

The offer is as follows:

Earn 50% extra miles and 4 bonus tier points on your first round trip flight (or 2 bonus tier points on each leg).

Earn 100% extra miles and 8 bonus tier points on your second round trip flight (or 4 bonus tier points on each leg).

The offer is good for flights until Feb 28, 2013 in Economy, Premium Economy or Upper Class (J,C,D,I,Z,W,S,K,H,Y,B,R,L,U,M,V,E,Q,X,N or O booking classes) on all Virgin Atlantic operated routes that are ticketed with a Virgin Atlantic prefix (VS).

The biggest restriction is that you have to register by October 15th otherwise you are out of luck. So even if you may not have any VS flights planned at this time it is better that you register now so you don't forget about this offer when it is too late.

For complete details, registration and online booking of this offer please visit VS's Sky High Rewards page

Sep 5 Update: Delta SkyMiles raises some award ticket requirements, Emirates Sep Miles Accelerator offers and more

News, Tips & Tricks
Delta Airlines silently raised some award ticket redemption rates over the weekend with no advance notice. While most increases from programs tend to be on the lower end rewards this one is the opposite as reported by Gary @ View from the Wing:

‘Medium’ level coach awards between the US and Mexico or the Caribbean go from 50,000 to 55,000 miles roundtrip.
‘High’ level coach awards between the US and Mexico or the Caribbean go from 70,000 to 75,000 miles roundtrip.
‘Medium’ level coach awards between the US and Southern South America go from 90,000 to 95,000 miles roundtrip.
‘High’ level coach awards between the US and Southern South America go from 125,000 to 130,000 miles roundtrip.
‘Medium’ level coach awards between the US and Europe go from 90,000 to 95,000 miles roundtrip.
‘High’ level coach awards between the US and Europe go from 125,000 to 130,000 miles roundtrip.
‘High’ level business class awards between the US and Southeast Asia go from 370,000 to 350,000 miles roundtrip

As you can see there is one decrease but overall these changes don't bode well for the already chastised SkyMiles program. As most of these rewards went up by 5,000 Miles, Delta SkyMiles® World MasterCard® from Capital One cardholders will have to spend at an extra $2,500 if one of them was in their sights, barring any other mileage earning of course.

In other news, I hinted at another new rewards credit card for the Canadian market in June's Top Credit Card feature and I can tell you that it will come out on October 24, but that is all I can tell you for now

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 2,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you book a Majestic Resorts package to Punta Cana with Air Canada Vacations. More... Book by Sep 30 for travel Oct 1 - Nov 30, 12

Air China Phoenix Miles
- 888 Bonus Phoenix Miles Kilometers per car rental booked through Rentalcars.com. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Emirates Skywards
Earn up to 16,000 Bonus Skywards Miles with Emirates Skywards September Miles Accelerator offers which enables you to earn more Skywards Miles when you fly with Emirates, irrespective of the fare you pay or where you buy your ticket. More... Sep 1 - 30, 12

Etihad Guest
- Double Guest Miles for stays for stays in a Suite on a 'Suitely Sensational' rate at over 70 Kempinski Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 15, 12
- Double Guest Miles for stays at the Erbil Rotana, Kurdistan, Iraq. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Iberia Plus
- 20% Bonus Avios Points when you buy, gift or transfer Avios. More... Until Sep 13, 12

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
- $50 Resort Credit when you book the Extra Credit rate for two night at Holiday Inn Resort® and Holiday Inn Club Vacations® properties in the Americas. Plus, with each additional night, you'll earn $25 in Extra Credit. More... Until Nov 30, 12

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Triple Mileage Bank Miles for rentals of a compact car or larger for three or more consecutive days in USA, Canada, Hawaii and Guam. More... Until Dec 31, 12

US Airways Dividend Miles
- 750 Bonus Dividend Miles on a qualifying rental of three or more consecutive days at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Avianca TACA LifeMiles: 100% Bonus on buying miles is back!

OK, Avianca TACA may takeover the title of offering 'Double' for purchasing miles within a program from US Airways! In the last year we saw it in September and  December 2011, May 2012, July 2012 and now September 2012 sees the 2x1 buy LifeMiles offer return! This offer brings the cost buying LifeMiles down to 1.5 cents/mile from the normal 3 cents per mile.

The biggest difference this time (and part of July's) is that Avianca TACA is now a member of the Star Alliance. So while before I used to tout this offer as a way to get Lufthansa business class from North America to Europe for $1800, you can now use the miles on any Star Alliance airline. The program also offers one way rewards at exactly half the round trip cost and does not charge fuel surcharges on award tickets.

With business class tickets to Europe going for 100,000 miles and Asia for 120,000 miles you can travel 'luxuriously' for a lot less with this deal. Another great feature of LifeMiles (in fact even better than buying all the miles) is their Cash + Part Points option. This option only requires that you have 40% of the points for a reward (so buy 40% during this 100% bonus period) and then you can buy the rest of the miles (the other 60%) at $12.75 per 1,000 miles or 1.275 cents per mile!

What's the catch? You had the have been a LifeMiles member as of September 3 to take advantage of it. If you are not, I would recommend joining anyways and wait for the next 100% bonus to appear.

For complete details on the Avianca TACA LifeMiles 100% Bonus or to buy the miles please see here

Sep 4 Update: Upgraded RBC WestJet MasterCard, Virgin Atlantic systemwide bonus & LifeMiles 100% bonus on buy miles is back

News, Tips & Tricks
It looks like that this October will see the WestJet RBC World MasterCard upgraded to a World Elite MasterCard, which will bring with additional insurance and travel benefits including a yearly companion ticket. The annual fee is being bumped to $99 from $79 but for the extra $20 to get the annual companion ticket is well worth it! I don't have complete details but this news comes to us from Rewards Canada reader Bob who emailed me the info and was confirmed by my RBC contact today.

In the bonus offer section, two promotions to note, first is the new Virgin Atlantic systemwide bonus which includes their Vancouver route and the return of Avianca TACA LifeMiles 100% bonus on buying miles. If you are not a LifeMiles members as of yesterday don't bother but for those of you who are this is a great promotion that can get you some great reward tickets on Star Alliance for a relatively good price. Stayed tuned for a separate post on this topic.

Bonus Offers
Avianca TACA LifeMiles
- 100% Bonus LifeMiles when you purchase LifeMiles. More... Until Sep 28, 12 Applies only to members enrolled in the program prior to September 3rd, 2012.

Belavia Leader
- Double Leader Points for Belavia flights between Minsk and Erevan, Batumi, Ashgabat, Moscow, Stockholm, Helsinki, Riga, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Warsaw or St.Petersburg. More... Until Sep 30, 12

Ethiopian Sheba Miles
- Double Sheba Miles for flights between Addis Ababa and Kuala Lumpur. More... Oct 31 - Dec 31, 12

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles on all Sixt rentals Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 12

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Triple Dividend Miles when renting a Compact car or larger vehicle for two days or longer at participating Thirfty locations worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Earn up to 150% Bonus Flying Club Miles + 12 Bonus Tier Points on all Virgin Atlantic flights Worldwide including Vancouver - London. More... Register by Oct 15, 12 for travel until Feb 28, 13