American: Earn 2,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles and save up to 25% when you purchase AAdvantage miles

Every month it seems like American AAdvantage is releasing a different buy miles offer. This time it is a small bonus but the miles come at a discounted price. If you purchase the maximum amount of 60,000 Miles you will end up paying 2.06 cents pre tax (2.2 incl tax) per mile which isn't too bad for an AAdvantage mile purchase but when you consider you can buy US Airways Dividend Miles for around 1.75 cents and likely be able to convert those to AAdvantage in the near future it doesn't look that good.

Earn 2,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles and save up to 25% when you purchase AAdvantage miles online. Full details
1. Get up to a 25% discount off the purchase price, through August 30
2. In addition, earn 2,000 bonus miles when you buy 20,000 or more miles, through August 15
Purchase 5,000 - 9,000 Miles and get a 5% discount
Purchase 10,000 - 19,000 Miles and get a 10% discount
Purchase 20,000 - 39,000 Miles and get a 15% discount
Purchase 40,000 - 59,000 Miles and get a 20% discount
Purchase 60,000 Miles and get a 25% discount

500 Free Points in the new Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer program

John over at LoyaltyLobby has done a great job of covering the upcoming changes to the iPrefer program from the Preferred Hotel Group and thanks to him we found out about this offer. As the program changes come closer to launch, iPrefer is offering a 500 point bonus for joining the program in the next week plus a chance to win 100,000 points in the new program. For those of you who are not familiar with iPrefer, the program has only offered select amenities for Preferred Hotel Group stays like complimentary Internet, room upgrades and more. Now the program is moving to a points based system where those points will be able to be redeemed for cash-value room certificates or hotel amenities.

Sign up here by August 12th to get the free points and to enter the contest.

Marriott MegaBonus returns for the Fall: Earn Free Nights or Bonus Points on your Marriott stays

Although Marriott's last promotion was called 'Unexpected Bonus' it was no different than past MegaBonus promotions from Marriott and now the hotel chain returns to the MegaBonus nomenclature for the fall. As is the case with this promotion there are several different offers out there and you won't know which one you qualify for until you register. Here is the offer as it will appear on FFBs Marriott page late today with the variety of bonuses that we are aware of (Thanks to Flyertalk!)

Marriott MegaBonus: Earn Free Nights or Bonus Rewards Points for stays at any participating Marriott Hotel Worldwide. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking Register by Nov 15 for stays between Sep 15, 2013 and Jan 15, 2014
Some of the Offer Variations:
- Earn one free night certificate for a category 1 to 5 hotel after every two stays. Maximum of 2 free nights.
- Earn 35,000 points after 20 nights and another 15,000 bonus points after 25 nights - up to 50,000 points
- Earn 25,000 points after 15 nights and another 15,000 bonus points after 20 nights —up to 40,000 bonus points
- Earn 25,000 points after 12 nights and another 15,000 points after 18 nights —up to 40,000 bonus points

British Airways improves online flight award search tool

British Airways released an updated online flight award search tool overnight and while most of the changes were insignificant, one of them is a great new addition. Now the Executive Club Award flight search engine will show availability of all classes of service versus the previous version which only showed space in the specific class you searched for. This is very useful for those who are flexible in which cabin they want to fly in and overall since the BA award search tool is one of the best for oneworld it can be used to look at availability for other programs such as AAdvantage, Asia Miles, Mileage Bank and virtually any other oneworld airline.

I gave it a quick spin looking up availability between Toronto and London in February 2014 and this is what the result was:

As you can see it shows what classes are available and the number of seats left as well for not only British Airways but also their partners, AA in this. Of course you can give it a spin or book your award online at britishairways.com

What are your thoughts on this improvement? Will it make your Avios or other oneworld redemptions easier?

Aug 6 Update: TD Cash Back MasterCard added to Rewards Canada, Award Wallet welcomes back AA, and bonuses of course!

I hope that you all had a great Heritage Day weekend! Here is what the first business day of the week brings:

News, Tips & Tricks
The TD Cash Back MasterCard has been added to Rewards Canada's Cash Back Credit Card comparison chart. To see how it stands up against the competition see the chart here.

Award Wallet, an online mileage tracking service has come to an agreement with American Airlines and effective immediately Award Wallet members will once again be able to track their AAdvantage mileage balances via Award Wallet. (Source AA Press Release)

The latest set of Emirates' Miles Accelerator offers have been added to Rewards Canada's Skywards pages, unfortunately no bonus this month out of YYZ but if you are connecting via Dubai to another Emirates' destination be sure to check the list to make sure you earn the bonus on the connecting flight if it carries an offer. See the link below.

And if you missed it, about 10 minutes ago I posted about the new American Express Travel online booking bonus. Read all about it here.

Bonus Offers
airBaltic BalticMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 5x BalticMiles Points when you shop at Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages in Europe. More... Until Aug 31, 13

China Eastern Eastern Miles
- Earn up to 100% Bonus Eastern Miles Points & Elite Qualifying points on China Eastern flights between Shanghai and Sydney. More... Until Oct 31, 13

Emirates Skywards
- Earn up to 17,500 Bonus Skywards Miles with Emirates' August Miles Accelerator offers. Miles Acelerator 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... Until Aug 31, 13

IHG Rewards Club
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Club Points for any 2 night stay at any IHG hotels in Dubai. More... Until Sep 30, 13

Millennium & Copthorne Loyalty Club
- Double Loyalty Points for stays at the Studio M Singapore. More...Until Dec 31, 13
- Triple Loyalty Points for stays at the any one of 5 Millennium & Copthorne Hotels in Singapore. More... Until Aug 31, 13
- Triple Loyalty Points for stays at the Orchard Hotel Singapore. More... Until Sep 30, 13
- Double Loyalty Points for stays at the Grand Millennium Sukhumvit Bangkok. More... Until Aug 31, 13

Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Double Frequent Flyer Points when you rent any car for 4 consecutive days with Budget in Australia. More... Until Aug 31, 13

Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle
- Earn up to Triple GC Award Points for stays at the Shangri-La Hotel, Shenyang. More... Aug 15 - Dec 31, 13
- Earn up to Triple GC Award Points for stays at the Shangri-La Hotel, Qufu. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Starwood Preferred Guest
- SPG Take Two: Double Starpoints + up to 10,000 Bonus Starpoints on all eligible stays at participating Starwood Hotels Worldwide. More... Sep 1 - Dec 15, 13

Virgin America Elevate (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple Elevate Points for Virgin America flights between San Francisco and Portland. More... Until Oct 31, 13

2,500 Bonus Membership Rewards Points for bookings with Amex Travel Online

In the midst of tons of email this morning was this nice offer from the team at American Express Canada for their Cardmembers. My offers states the American Express Gold Rewards Card since I hold that card but it is open to other Membership Rewards cards as well:

You can earn a bonus of 2,500 Membership Rewards points when you charge $250 (after tax and other fees) on eligible^± hotel and car rental bookings to your American Express^® Gold Rewards Card from August 1^st to September 30^th  2013¹.

In addition to the special bonus offer of 2,500 points, you can now earn 1 additional point for every dollar charged to your Gold Rewards Card on eligible hotels and car rentals when you book online with American Express Travel at americanexpress.ca/travel.

This is nice bonus to take advantage of if you hold any eligible Membership Rewards cards (if not you can apply for it here) but what I find just as intriguing is the offer of 1 additional point for every dollar charged to the card for eligible hotels and car rentals. The Gold Rewards card already earns 2 points per dollar on travel so essentially you will earn 3 points per dollar spent on these bookings. With a $250 booking you should earn 3,250 points which is worth $32.50 with Amex TripFlex feature or more if converted to Aeroplan/Avios and used on the right redemption (and converted when there is a conversion bonus!)

One thing you want to be careful of when booking hotels is that some Hotel Frequent Guest programs do not credit points or elite qualifications on booking made via third party sites like Expedia and Travelocity. Now, American Express Travel is considered a full fledged travel agency that differs from Expedia and Travelocity and bookings made from full fledgedtravel agencies can earn points but I am not sure if Amex's online service counts as I have never booked with them. Feel free to comment below if you have any experience in this regard!

Eligible Cards include: The American Express® Card, American Express® Gold Rewards Card, Platinum Card®, Centurion® Card, Choice Card from American ExpressTM, ChoicePlus Card from American ExpressTM, Business Platinum CardTM from American Express, American Express® Business Gold Rewards Card, American Express® Corporate Card, American Express® Corporate Gold Card, American Express® Corporate Platinum Card, and the Platinum Credit Card.

SPG Targeted Offer: Free Night at a Cat 1-5 Hotel after completing 1 stay

Much like what we've seen before from SPG, there is another set of targeted bonuses for select Starwood members. It has been awhile since I have been personally been targeted but finally I was again.  My offer is complete one stay between August 1 and October 31 and get a free night award at a Category 1-5 hotel that can be redeemed up to December 31st.  I know in the past other members who were targeted got different offers. So whether you got an email or you didn't yet but want to see if you qualify for an offer you can register here. Let us know in the comments section if you got the email and/or successfully registered via the link and what your offer was so that we can compile all the offers out there.

SPG Fall Promotion: "Take Two" - Double Starpoints + 2,500 Bonus Starpoints for every 5 nights

Starwood Preferred Guest has released the details of their fall systemwide promotion called Take Two. It mimics the Double Take promotion that just finished in that it offers double Starpoints on all eligible stays at participating properties. It looks like just over 1,000 properties have chosen to participate which means 100+ properties chose not to.

Where this promotion differs from Double Take is the change from 'social media/mobile booking' bonuses to additional bonuses for the more nights you stay. SPG will award 2,500 bonus Starpoints for every five eligible nights up to 10,000 bonus Starpoints.

The promotion runs from September 1st to December 15th and will require registration. Registration is not open yet but stay tuned here on FFB as we will announce it once it is open. Complete details and a list of hotels not participating can be found here

August 1 Update: Big Buy Miles Bonuses, Hilton Lake Las Vegas Bonus, new Air Canada routes

A new month is upon us and of course that means lots of new promotions. Two promos we keep seeing over and over are back and those are the buy miles bonuses from Avianca and US Airways which I touch upoin quickly here but thee offers themselves did have their own posts today (see links below)

News, Tips & Tricks
Many airlines offer buy miles bonuses and mores are not worth it unless you need to top off for an award or keep an account current but with the two best buy miles bonus offers back for August the questions should you take advantage of one or both them? For Avianca LifeMiles I would only if you plan on using the miles in the near future as they have been known to change redemption rates unannounced and then all of a sudden what was a good deal could turn bad. US Airways on the other hand can be held for longer as we won't see any changes to their redemptions as Dividend Miles will be absorbed by American's AAdvantage program if the AA/US merger is approved. If that happens then you will have a nice AAdvantage balance as those Dividend Miles should convert to AAdvantage when the program consolidate.

Air Canada will be launching two new routes which is always good as it means more options to earn and burn Aeroplan miles. The first is Toronto to Vail/Eagle Creek winter seasonal service that will run from mid-December to early April, obviously launched for the skiers and snowboarders while the other is for snowbirds, cruisers and sunbathers with a winter seasonal service between Halifax and Ft. Lauderdale. (Source Airline Route Updates 1, 2)


Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Double Aeroplan Miles when you park with Park & Jet Calgary. More... Until Aug 31, 13

American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles when you stage an event with a minimum spend of $6,500 USD at any participating The Langham, Langham Place, Eaton hotel or 88 Xintiandi. More... Book by Sep 30 for events until Dec 31, 13
- Earn up to 250 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you redeem miles for Avis or Budget rentals. More... Until Oct 31, 13

Avianca LifeMiles
- 100% Bonus LifeMiles when you buy LifeMiles. To take advantage of the offer you must have been a LifeMiles member as of August 1. More... Until Aug 30, 13

Emirates Skywards
- Double Skywards Miles for stays at any of for stays at four select Hyatt Hotels in France. More... Until Sep 30, 13
- 1,500 Bonus Skywards Miles for stays at the Courtyard by Marriott Stockholm. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- Triple Skywards Miles for car rentals with Budget in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More... Until Sep 30, 13

Hilton HHonors
- 1,000 Bonus Honors Points per night for stays at the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa. More... Until Jan 1, 14

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Earn up to Quadruple Miles&Smiles Miles when you rent a car at participating Hertz locations Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 13

United MileagePlus
- 600 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you join the OpinionMilesClub. More... Until ?

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Earn up to 100% Bonus Dividend Miles when you buy Dividend Miles. More... Until Aug 31, 13

Avianca LifeMiles: 100% Bonus on Buying Miles is back for August

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the US Airways Buy Miles promotion, Avianca LifeMiles has also brought back their 100% bonus on buying miles promotion. The offer runs until August 31 and unlike the tiered US Airways promotion the LifeMiles offer basically doubles any amount you buy up to 75,000 miles for a total of 150,000 miles (or 1.5 cents per mile). Remember you are only allowed to buy up to 150,000 miles in a calendar year.

Avianca 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 105,000 miles and Asia for 125 - 130,000 miles you can travel 'luxuriously' for a lot less with this deal. What used to be a decent feature of LifeMiles is their Cash + Part Points option but that was recently devalued. 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 about 1.56 cents per mile (used to be 1.25 cents!).

What's the catch? You had the have been a LifeMiles member as of Augsut1 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