Sep 6 Update: United & Best Western offer for bonus miles + elite status, Aeroplan Avis Bonus, Air Miles bonus for Best Western stays

Last summary for the week, have a great weekend everyone!

News, Tips & Tricks
American AAdvantage members can now redeem their miles for flights on Brazilian airline TAM and can also now book award tickets online for Royal Jordanian Airlines. (HT: View from the Wing)

Couple of good bonus offers for Best Western stays added today to our bonus offer sections. The first is a stay bonus for the Air Miles program but the one grabbing all the attention is for United MileagePlus members. The bonus itself is ok at 500 miles but the nice part of the offer is the Gold Elite status in Best Western Rewards that is awarded after your first stay with this promotion. While Gold Status in Best Western Rewards isn't huge, it is still better than nothing. So even if you are not a United MileagePlus miles collector but would like to have Gold Status with BW I would recommend that you register for this offer (make sure you choose United as your primary earning preference in Best Western Rewards) complete the one stay to get the status and then go back to your regular earning preference for you future BW stays all the while enjoying the minor benefits that come along with Gold. Both the Air Miles and United offers can be found below in the bonus offers section.

Travel Deals
Expedia.ca: Discover Hawaii! Save up to 30%! - Expires 9/28/13

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn 500 Aeroplan Miles when you join Club Sobeys and provide your Aeroplan Number then shop for groceries and spend $20 or more on your next five shops at a Sobeys. More... Full details Until Nov 30, 13
- Earn up to Triple Aeroplan Miles when you rent an Intermediate (Group C) or larger vehicle for 2 or more days at participating Avis locations in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand. More... Until Sep 30, 13

Air Miles
- 40 Bonus Air Miles Reward Miles for each qualified stay at Best Western branded hotels in Canada, the United States, or the Caribbean Islands. More... Until Nov 30, 13

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus BusinessExtrAA points with American Airlines BusinessExtra Birthday promotion. More... Until Oct 31, 13
- Earn up to 30% Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you share AAdvantage miles between friends and family. More... Until Oct 10, 13

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus HawaiianMiles for stays at the Courtyard by Marriott Waikiki Beach. More...  Until Dec 31, 14

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn earn a $75 gift card of your choice when you stay 3 consecutive nights as an IHG® Rewards Club member at a Holiday Inn Resort® hotel in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. More... Until Nov 30, 13 Valid for residents of the U.S., Canada and Mexico only
- Earn earn up to a $100 prepaid MasterCard for stays at Holiday Inn Club Vacation locations. More... Until Nov 30, 13 Valid for residents of the U.S., Canada and Mexico only

Le Club accorhotels
- 100 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at any participating Accor Hotels property in Africa .More... Until Dec 31, 14
- Earn up to 800 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays of 2 nights or more at participating hotels in Belgium & Luxembourg. More... Until Sep 30, 13
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at any participating Accor Hotels property in Marseille. More... Until Oct 13, 13
- 4x Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at the Novotel Phuket Kamala Beach. More... Until Oct 31, 13

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer Miles and up to 33% on rentals Worldwide of 3 or more days off during the Hertz Global sale. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Mar 31, 14

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles for stays at the Altis Hotel, Altis Park Hotel, Altis Prime, Altis Suites, Altis Avenida Hotel or Altis Belém & SPA. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays between Nov 1 and Feb 28, 14
- Triple Victoria Miles for stays at the Hotel Vila Galé Collection Palácio dos Arcos. More... Book by Sep 30 for stays until Dec 30, 13
- Double Victoria Miles on Avis rentals of 2 or more days Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 13
- Double Victoria Miles on Europcar rentals of 3 or more days in Portugal. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Oct 12, 13
- Double Victoria Miles on Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Dec 13, 13

United MileagePlus
- Earn 500 Bonus MileagePlus miles and Best Western Rewards Gold Elite Status when you complete a qualified stay at any Best Western branded hotel worldwide. More... Sep 10 - Nov 19, 13 Valid for residents of the U.S. and Canada only




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500 Aeroplan Miles for joining Club Sobeys & completing five $20 transactions

There have been numerous Aeroplan sign up bonuses since Club Sobeys launched a few years ago. I took advantage of one  when the program came to fruition, it also was 500 Aeroplan miles but I got those simply for joining.  Now they are making you do a little more work but in reality it should be difficult to earn these bonus miles if you are just joining Club Sobeys now. Here is the offer as it will appear on RC's Aeroplan Bonus Miles page later today:

Earn 500 Aeroplan Miles when you join Club Sobeys and provide your Aeroplan Number then shop for groceries and spend $20 or more on your next five shops at a Sobeys. You will be awarded 100 Bonus Aeroplan miles for each of those five transactions. Full details Until Nov 30, 13

Sep 5 Update: 1,000 Free Ethiopian Sheba Miles, Hertz Global sale bonus offers, BA & Qatar Airways frequent flyer partnership

Here is your Thursday update:

News, Tips & Tricks
FREE Miles!
You can get 1,000 free Ethiopian Airlines Sheba Miles simply for liking them on Facebook. If you are not a Sheba Miles member then you are in luck as you will get 1,000 miles just for joining the program which means in the course of just a few minutes you can have 2,000 Sheba Miles. Whether you will actually use these miles is up to as Ethiopian is a Star Alliance member but for most they may go unsused unless Sheba Miles joins a site like Points.com. See the bonus offer section below for details

Much like the Aloft Hotels news from a few weeks ago, Marriott has launched mobile check in at 300 of their North American locations. Mobile Check-In is now available to Marriott Rewards members exclusively at Marriott Hotels® in North America. With the app, you can:
• Check in from anywhere
• Receive an alert when your room is ready
• When you arrive, go directly to the Mobile Check-In desk, and we'll have your key waiting
More details can be found here. (Thanks to RC Reader Bill W for the details)

British Airways and Qatar Airways announced a frequent flyer partnership that came into effect on September 2nd ahead of Qatar Airways actually joining the oneworld alliance. The partnership offers reciprocal earning and redeeming benefits and I assume once Qatar is officially in oneworld, status recognition for lounge access and priority boarding.

Travel Deals
Another Air France sale, this time its called 'Back to School. Here are some sample Toronto fares for departure from October 16 to December 10, 2013 or December 25, 2013 to May 6, 2014. Tickets must be booked by Sep 17 at airfrance.ca
France, Spain, Sweden,  Denmark    $ 849
Israel, Lebanon    $ 1049
Senegal, Mauritius, Vietnam, China, Singapore, Guinea    $ 1249



Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn Double Aeroplan Miles when you park your vehicle at Vancouver International Airport’s Economy Parking Lot or jetSet Parking. Earn triple miles instead when purchasing your parking online. More... Until Nov 30, 13

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Double Flying Blue Miles and up to 33% off Hertz rentals Worldwide during the Hertz Global sale. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Mar 31, 14

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles for all stays booked on eligible rates at any Meritus Hotels & Resorts property in Singapore, Malaysia, China or Indonesia. More... Until Nov 30, 13
- Double Asia Miles when you stay for a minimum of two consecutive nights at the Best Available Rate at any Shangri-La hotel or resort, Traders hotel or Kerry hotels. More... Until Nov 30, 13
- Double Asia Miles when you stay at qualifying rates in eligible room types at any participating Sino Group property. More... Until Nov 30, 13

Ethiopian Sheba Miles
- 1,000 Bonus Miles for 'liking' Ethiopian Airlines official Facebook page. More..Until Sep 21, 13

EVA Air Evergreen Club
- Double Evergreen Miles and up to 33% on rentals of 3 or more days off during the Hertz Global sale. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Mar 31, 14

Gaurda Frequent Flyer (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to Triple GFF Miles on Avis rentals in Europe, Middle East, Africa, USA, Canada, Asia, Singapore, Australia or New Zealand. More.... Until Nov 30, 13

US Airways Dividend Miles
- 1,000 Bonus Dividend Miles when you make your first purchase on RocketMiles. More... Book by Dec 14, 13 for stays until Mar 31, 14





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Sep 4 update: BMO Rewards World Elite Update, Aeroplan & Volvo partnership offers more than 250 free miles, more bonuses!

Here is what Wednesday looked like on Rewards Canada and the world of travel rewards in Canada

News, Tips & Tricks
I posed this question to BMO yesterday and got an answer from BMO Corporate (the helpful Jerry305 on Flyertalk was able to provide the answer even faster):
"With the changes made to the BMO World Elite MasterCard will existing cardholder's accounts be doubled for points earned up to August 31st"

The answer is yes! So contrary to my guess yesterday, if you did sign up for the World Elite MasterCard with the 15K/20K sign up bonuses and had those points posted by August 31st those will be doubled due to the new redemption rate enacted on September 1. Had they not done this all existing cardholders would have essentialy lost nearly half the value of their points but now they are actually roughly ~5% with the doubling.

Also if you missed it earlier, Aeroplan and Volvo announced a new partnership and I mentioned in the post that you can 250 free Aeroplan miles for test driving a new Volvo. Well I read the terms and conditions closely and you can actually receive the bonus once every 30 days so technically speaking you can test drive once a month and earn 3,000 Aeroplan miles in year.

Travel Deals
Air Canada has 15% off promo code for flights to South America as part of their promotion of the Amazing Race Canada. Flights need to be booked by Sep 9 for travel Sep 16-Dec 16. More details can be found here

Bonus Offers
airberlin topbonus
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus topbonus Miles for stays at Best Western hotels in Germany and Luxembourg. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles (2,500 miles per stays) on every qualifying stay at IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Sep 1 - Nov 30, 13 


Air Miles
- Earn 1,200 Bonus AIR MILES reward miles with the American Express® AIR MILES®* Platinum Card. More... Until Nov 30, 13

American Express
- Earn 25,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points with the American Express Gold Rewards Card. More... Ongoing

Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com)
- Double Boomerang Miles when you book and fly on a BEST fare on select Germanwings routes. More... Book by Sep 30 for travel until Nov 30, 13

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 6,000 Bonus QMiles for Qatar Airways flights between Doha and Addis Ababa. More... Sep 18 - Nov 30, 13

SAS Scandinavian EuroBonus
- Double EuroBonus points on all Budget rentals Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 13

Ural Airlines Wings (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com)
- Double QMiles when you rent a car for 4 days or longer at Sixt locations Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 13

Aeroplan Volvo Partnership: 250 Free Aeroplan Miles for test driving a Volvo (and more if you buy/service one!)

Aeroplan has just announced a new partnership with Volvo Canada whereby members can now Aeroplan miles with the car company. If you are looking for free miles or need to keep your account active then this partnership is great as it offers 250 Aeroplan Miles simply for test driving a Volvo. Aeroplan members can also earn miles for buying/leasing a Volvo, accessories and even on servicing your Volvo.

Here is the earning structure as detailed in this morning's press release from Aeroplan:

• Test Drive – Earn 250 miles for a test drive of any new Volvo vehicle;
• Vehicle Purchase/Lease – On an ongoing basis members will be able to earn a minimum of 25,000 miles on all qualifying Volvo vehicles. In addition, from September 4th - October 31st, members can earn up to 75,000 miles for the purchase of a qualifying Volvo vehicle. See full details on specific models; 
• Vehicle Accessories – Earn 1 mile for every $1 spent for the purchase of Volvo parts and accessories;
• Vehicle Servicing – Earn 1 mile for every $1 spent on vehicle servicing.

Also from the press release: "To celebrate the launch of this exciting new partnership, Volvo will be offering Aeroplan Members some exclusive offers throughout September 4th – October 31st, including double Aeroplan Bonus miles for every $1 spent on all after sales vehicle services. "

For more details on the new partnership visit www.VolvoAeroplan.ca

Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles on all IHG stays this fall

If you are an Aeroplan mile collector you would have known that Summer 2013 presented tons of opportunities for earn bonus miles for hotel stays and it looks like that trend continues for the fall. Earlier today we had a separate post on the Aeroplan Starwood offer (which is the best of the bunch), the Aeroplan Best Western offer got mentioned in our daily update and now here is an IHG offer for the fall.  Here is the offer as it will appear on RC's Aeroplan page tomorrow:

Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles (2,500 miles per stays) on every qualifying stay at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Alliance Resorts,  Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn®, Holiday Inn Express®, Holiday Inn Resort®, Holiday Inn Club Vacations® hotels, Staybridge Suites® or Candlewood Suites® hotels Worldwide.  Full details, online registration and booking Sep 1 - Nov 30, 13 

Sep 3 Update: Lots of card changes from Amex and BMO, Icelandair announces Edmonton & Vancouver service, Aeroplan Best Western Fall offer

Lots happening today (and over the weekend) in the world of travel rewards and more in Canada!

News, Tips & Tricks
As we mentioned a few times in August, expect lots of changes to travel rewards credit cards in Canada this September and they are appearing very quickly! If you missed it earlier today, we already covered the positive change to the American Express Gold Rewards Card and the BMO Rewards World Elite MasterCard. But those are not the only two cards changing, here is a list of other new offers or changes:

American Express® AeroplanPlus®* Platinum Card / American Express® AeroplanPlus®*Gold Card is no longer available as of August 26th, 2020. For more information, please visithttps://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/credit-cards/aeroplan-cards/

.

The American Express Platinum Air Miles has a limited time sign up bonus of 1,200 Air Miles reward miles when you charge a total of $500 in purchases to your Card within your first three months of Cardmemberhsip. Offer is valid until November 30, 2013.

The BMO Air Miles World MasterCard also has a new limited time sign up bonus of 2,000 Air Miles Reward Miles. Earn 1,000 Bonus AIR MILES reward miles after your first card purchase and earn 250 Bonus reward miles each month you spend $1,000 for the first four months.

I'm sure there are even more offers that we have not found or not been made award of yet but as usual stay tuned right here on Rewards Canada for the all latest news .

In non-credit card news, Icelandair has announced new service between Edmonton and Reykjavik for Summer 2014. The flights will operate four times weekly from March 26 and continue until January 2015. They also announced Vancouver-Reykjavik service that will operate twice weekly from May 13 and continue until October 12. Always great to have more flights options to use points. You can always book their reasonably priced flights on a travel points credit card that you can redeem points for the charge or you can go the Icelandair Saga Club route. Outside of flying on Icelandair your best sources for Icelandair Saga Club points in Canada are via Hilton HHonors or the Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard. (Route news Source: Icelandair)

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 750 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for each qualified stay in Canada, the United States, or the Caribbean Islands that is booked on bestwestern.com. More... Until Nov 30, 13
- Earn up to 9,000 Bonus Aeroplan for stays at any Starwood Hotel & Resort Worldwide. More... Sep 1 - Dec 15, 13

airberlin topbonus
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus topbonus award miles and status miles when you fly on any airberlin group flight (AB, HG or 4T flight number). More... Register by Sep 29 for flights between Sep 12 - Dec 31, 13
- Earn Double topbonus miles on all routes in Germany and Europe. More... Register by Sep 29 for flights between Sep 12 - Dec 31, 13
- Triple topbonus Miles for every stay at participating Choice Hotels locations Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 13

British Airways Executive Club
- 25% Bonus Avios when you convert your hotel loyalty points into Avios. Participating hotel partners are Carlson Hotels, Hilton Hotels, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Marriott, Shangri-La, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Oct 15, 13

Choice Hotels Privileges
- Earn up to 8,000 Privileges Points when you complete 2 qualifying stays at Choice Hotels Worldwide.  More... Sep 5 - Nov 13, 13: Valid for Residents of the U.S. and Canada only

Emirates Skywards
- Double Skywards Miles on Emirates flights to and from Stockholm. More... Book and register by Oct 15 for flights Sep 4 - Dec 31, 13

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for stays on the Short and Suite package at participating Raffles Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 30, 13




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Aeroplan & Starwood Promo: Earn up to 9,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles (stackable with SPG's Take Two)

Very to similar to last Fall's Aeroplan Starwood promo (see here and here) comes another promotion to earn extra Aeroplan miles on your Fall 2013 Starwood stays. The beauty of this promotion is that you do not have to set Aeroplan as your earning preference with Starwood Preferred Guest which means you can earn your regular Starpoints for your stays and any possible bonuses from promotions such as the current SPG Take Two promotion.  If you have multiple nights/stays planned with Starwood this fall this promotion is a no brainer as it simply gives you an extra bonus for those stays. Here is the promo as it will appear on RC's Aeroplan page later today:

Earn up to 9,000 Bonus Aeroplan for stays at any Starwood Hotel & Resort Worldwide. Earn 5,000 Bonus Miles after you complete 5 nights, 2,000 more miles after you complete 7 nights and 2,000 miles when you complete 9 nights for a total of 9,000 Bonus Aeroplan miles. Full Details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Sep 1 - Dec 15, 13

BMO Rewards World Elite MasterCard sign up bonus increased to 30,000 points ($300 value)

As we correctly guessed in August, to account for the change in the redemption ratio on the BMO World Elite MasterCard, the sign up bonus has been increased to 30,000 points (or a $300 travel credit value). 

To remind you of the changes on the card the card now offers 2 points per dollar spent and a new redemption ratio of 100 points = $1 in travel credit. Which means this card has moved from 1.9% return to a 2% return. I hope that many of you waited to apply for this card since we posted the info in August as your sign up bonus will only be worth $150 (or $200 if you used the special golf link offering 20,000 points). For more details on the card please visit here.

American Express Gold Rewards Card - Sign up bonus increased to 25,000 Points!

Canada's Top Hybrid Travel Rewards Card according to our rankings for three years in a row and honestly one of the best cards overall in Canada now comes with a larger sign up bonus. There were numerous times I bugged American Express to increase the bonus on the American Express Gold Rewards card and they didn't budge on the original 15,000 Welcome Point bonus until recently when they introduced the 20,000 Point bonus when a 'friend' referred you to the card. Well as of today, the new sign up bonus trumps both those offers and is now 25,000 Welcome Points. What does that equate to? Well a $250 credit towards any travel via the Membership Rewards TripFlex feature or an Aeroplan Classic Flight award in North America or two round trips between Toronto and New York if you convert those points to British Airways Avios (well you really only need 18,000 points for that).  For more details on this offer or to apply for the card please visit amex.ca

Here are more details on the card:







• Earn a Welcome Bonus of  25,000 Membership Rewards® points - our HIGHEST Gold Rewards Card offer - just by making $500 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership.
• No Annual Fee for the first year; $150 Annual Fee thereafter*
• That's enough for a round trip flight to almost anywhere in North America
• Transfer your points to frequent flyer programs, or 1:1 to Aeroplan®* and Avios
• Earn double points on eligible travel and everyday purchases
• Charge any travel to your Card then pay for it with points
• 1 Free Supplementary Gold Rewards Card (a $50 value*) to help you earn points faster
• American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information click the Apply now  link.
• *As a Charge Card, the balance must always be paid in full each month. 30% annual interest rate applies to balances not paid in full.

Conditions apply