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

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the US Airways Share Miles promotion yesterday, Avianca LifeMiles has also brought back their 100% bonus on buying miles promotion. The offer runs until December 30 and 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. Also you have to have been an Avianca LifeMiles member as of December 3 to take part.

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!).

Some things to consider with the buy miles option before you pull the trigger is that their call center tends to be on the less helpful side so you are better off booking award tickets online which also means you are limited to the powers of that source, mixed class awards are not allowed unless you book each award ticket as separate one way flights and they have devalued the program without notice in the past so only buy these miles if you think you will use them in the next short while

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

Dec 2 Update: American tests out bidding for upgrades, Preferred Hotels Cyber Monday sale, Hyatt Times Square bonus

A quiet start to the week here on Rewards Canada:

News, Tips & Tricks
American Airlines is testing out a new paid upgrade offer whereby passengers can bid for upgrading their seat to Business Class. Essentially if you have an American Airlines booking you can make an offer to upgrade your seat starting 6 days prior to departure. Since this is a test it is only available on select routes and the system will tell you if your flight is eligible. Find all the details here.

Travel Deals
Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer members can save up to 40% and earn triple points for bookings made today only during their Cyber Monday sale. Full details

Bonus Offers
Hyatt Gold Passport
- 7,500 Bonus Gold Passport Points for stays of 2 nights or more at the Hyatt Times Square New York. More... Book by Dec 31, 13 for stays until Jan 31, 14 For Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum or Diamond members only

Iberia Plus
- 30% Bonus Avios when you convert Marriott Rewards points into Iberia Plus Avios. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles and free Wi Fi for stays at anyone of 22 Movenpick hotels in Europe that are booked online. More... Jan 1 - Mar 2, 14

SAS Scandinavian EuroBonus
- Triple EuroBonus Points when staying at least three consecutive nights or Double Miles for two consecutive nights at any Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts, Traders Hotel or Kerry Hotel at the Best Available Rate. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 14

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles for stays at the Altis Park Hotel, Altis Prime, Altis Suites, Altis Avenida Hotel or the Altis Belém & Spa .More... Until Dec 31, 13

Virgin America Elevate (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Elevate Points on weekend rentals of 2 or more days, or rentals of 5 or more days, at a participating airport or off airport location in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada or Mexico. More... Until Feb 28, 14

US Airways: Up to 100% Bonus on shared miles (Dec 2 - 6 only)

Last seen in October, the US Airways Dividend Miles bonus on sharing miles is back! This is the most lucrative buy miles offer out there but does have one stipulating requirement: you must miles in your account for the bonus to work. Unlike the offer in October this week's offer is tiered and the 100% bonus only kicks in when you transfer between 30,000 and 50,000 miles.

The tiered bonuses are as follows:

Share	Receive
10,000 - 19,000 Miles	50% Bonus Miles
20,000 - 30,000 Miles	75% Bonus Miles
30,000 - 50,000 Miles	100% Bonus Miles

Essentially what happens with this offer is that when you transfer points to a friend or family members account they will receive the bonus miles. Transfer 50,000 points they get a total of 100,000 miles and there is nothing stopping them from transferring 50,000 back to you so you end up with your original 50,000 back plus 50,000 bonus miles. The cost is 1 cent per mile + 7.5% tax + $30 processing fee which means at the 50,000 mile level it costs $567.50 or about 1.13 cents per mile. Transfer back for another $567.50 and for that $1135.00 you spent you now have enough miles for a business class ticket to North Asia. Have fun trying to buy that same ticket at that low of price! As you can see this is a great deal, if you have the miles in your account to transfer. Oh and if you don't have miles in your account to take advantage of this offer don't fret as another US Airways Dividend Miles Buy Miles offer will return in the coming weeks.

For complete details or to share miles visit here.

Marriott Cyber Monday Sale: Save 30% on stays at select locations in the U.S. & Canada

The deals keep coming for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend! The latest is a 24 hour sale for stays at over 300 Marriott hotels in dozens of cities across the U.S. and Canada. The Canadian locations are all in Dorval, Halifax, Richmond, Toronto and Vancouver.

Simply book your stay in a participating hotel and you’ll save 30% off, for dates between December 20, 2013 and March 31, 2014. Must be booked by 11:59PM EST on December 2.

Click here for complete details or to book this offer!

Nov 29 Update: Last week of Shangri-La's Golden Cirlce Game (Free points!), American and US Airways set to merge, Worldwide bonuses

Final day of the week here on Rewards Canada. What does Friday hold in store? Read on to find out!

News, Tips & Tricks
This is the last week of Shangri-La's Golden Circle 3rd anniversary game! Be sure to enter to get the last 200 points (if you played right form the start then you'll have accumulated 1,200 points for free when you complete this last week). I messed up and missed week 4 so I will end up with 1,000 points which is still good for a free night at select Shangri-La locations or more than enough for a Food & Beverage credit. You can play the game here

WestJet is launching a new Ottawa to St. John's service next June. Timings are set to for easy connections to their new St. John's to Dublin flight. (Source: AirlineRoute.net)

The bankruptcy judge for American Airlines has approved the merger between AA and US Airways. It is the expected that the two airlines will officially merge on December 9. (Source: Bloomberg)

Travel Deals
Air France has put their Premium Economy class on sale for flights out of Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. Fares start at $1149 including all taxes and fees. Tickets must be booked by Dec 2 for travel Jan - Mar , 2014 and include a Saturday night. Find all the details at airfrance.ca

Bonus Offers
airberlin topbonus
- Double topbonus Miles on rentals at participating Europcar locations Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 14

Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double FlyerBonus Points when flying on eligible Japan Airlines flights Worldwide. More... Dec 1 - Mar 31, 14
- Double FlyerBonus Points for stays at the Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi. More... Until Dec 30, 13

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles when staying at least three consecutive nights or Double Miles for two consecutive nights at any Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts, Traders Hotel or Kerry Hotel at the Best Available Rate.More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Triple Asia Miles when you stay in an Executive Club Room or Suite for two consecutive nights or more at Swissôtel properties in Asia Pacific.More... Until Feb 28, 14

China Southern Sky Pearl Club
- Earn up to 3,000 Sky Pearl Kilometers for stays of two or more nights at the Langham Place, Guangzhou More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Triple Sky Pearl Kilometers when staying at least three consecutive nights or Double Kilometers for two consecutive nights at any Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts, Traders Hotel or Kerry Hotel at the Best Available Rate. More... Until Feb 28, 14

Etihad Guest
- 50% Bonus Guest Miles on all hotel reservations booked through PointsHound for the month of December. This bonus is in addition to the base earning rate of up to 5,000 miles per night! Etihad Guest members who book in the month of December will get an automatic upgrade to Level 2 Status on PointsHound for the first 3 months of 2014. More... Book between Dec 1 and 31, 13

Olympic Air Travelair Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 1,000 Bonus Travelair Miles when you join the Olympic Air Travelair Club More... Until ?

Scandic Hotels Friends
- Save up to 10,000 Points when you redeem your Scandic Friends points  for reward night stays between Dec 20 and Jan 31 at more than 80 selected Scandic hotels. More... Dec 20 - Jan 31, 14

Southwest Rapid Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Rapid Rewards Points when you shop online via the Rapid Rewards Shopping portal. More... Until Jan 5, 14

Emirates Business Class Companion Fare offer for flights out of Toronto

Emirates has launched a new companion offer for business class bookings on their Toronto-Dubai flights. The offer is for 2 to 8 people traveling together and gets progressively cheaper per person with the more people you book.  This could be a pretty good deal for those businesses that need to send a team of people over to the Middle East for meetings, consulting etc. Flights must be booked by Dec 3 for travel before Jan 10, 14. For complete details or to book visit Emirates.com/ca

Nov 28 Update: Lindner Nights added to RC, KLM Worldwide seat sale and a new ultra low cost carrier in Canada?

Here is your Thursday round up:

News, Tips & Tricks
We added a new hotel reward program to the arsenal of frequent guest programs that we cover on Rewards Canada. That program is for the German based Lindner Hotels and Resorts. The program is called Lindner Nights and right now if you join the program and link your account to your social media accounts they will give you 2,000 points for free! While not enough for a free night they do run cash+points offers and many of them right now only require 2,000 points plus a small cash amount. You can find the Lindner Nights page on Rewards Canada here and for more details on the Cash+Points offer see our post over on the Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog.

Aeroplan has a short term bonus for shopping at Home Hardware. From today until Saturday you can earn 3x the miles on for every $2 you spend at Home Hardware, Building Centre and Home Furniture locations. Full details

Looks like another group of ex airline execs are looking to start up a new airline here in Canada. JetLines, based out of Vancouver hopes to bring Ultra Low Cost flights (think Ryanair, Spirit Airlines etc) to Western Canada. It is unlikely they'll have a Frequent Flyer program at launch or perhaps ever as many of the ULC airlines don't offer one except for Spirit Airlines and few others. Source: Financial Post

Travel Deals
KLM has launched a pretty awesome Worldwide sale for flights out of Canada. London can be had for $825 all in and Dubai for $985 all in, both from Eastern Canada. For Calgary/Vancouver departures, $200 needs to be added to those fares. Many other destinations are also available. Tickets must be booked by Dec 2 for travel Jan 1 - May 6, 2014 and include a Sunday night. Find all the details at KLM.com

Bonus Offers
ANA Mileage Club
- Double Mileage Club Miles on purchases at any of the nine Chic Outlet Shopping Villages in Europe and receive an extra 200miles whenever you book the Shopping Express. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards points when you book a family room at participating Best Western Hotels in Denmark. More... Until ?

Emirates Skywards
- Earn Double Skywards Miles for stays at participating Hyatt Hotels in Europe, Middle East, Asia & Africa. More... Until Jan 31, 14

Finnair Plus
- Double Plus Points for Sixt rentals in the Netherlands, Germany, UK, France and Austria. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
- Double Gold Plus Rewards Points when you add Hertz NeverLost GPS, extras like SiriusXM® Satellite Radio, Pre-Pay the Fuel and Protection Plans. More... Valid for residents of the U.S. and Canada only Until Jan 31, 14

Hilton HHonors
- Double HHonors Points for stays at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Salt Lake City Airport  More... Until Feb 18, 14

Hyatt Gold Passport
- 2,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points plus special amenities at participating Hyatt hotels in Japan. More... Until Jan 17, 14

Lindner Hotels Nights
- 2,000 Bonus Nights Points when you link your Lindner Nights account with your social media account(s) More... Until Jan 31, 14

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays of 3+ nights at the West Inn & Suites Carlsbad. More... Until Feb 28, 14
- Triple Stash Rewards Points and 15% off Best Available Rate for stays of 3+ nights at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel New Orleans More... Until May 31, 14
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Kennebunkport Inn. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino Resort. More... Until Dec 31,

Air Miles: 10x or more Reward Miles on AirMilesShops.ca purchases until Dec 4

We can't leave out the Air Miles collectors form the maximizing your miles for holiday shopping! Their online shopping portal, airmilesshops.ca is also running an amazing Black Friday offer much like their Aeroplan counterparts and theirs is already live.

AirMiles Members who shop at any of the airmilesshops.ca participating retailers will earn a 10x the Air Miles Reward Miles on all purchases of $20 or more in single transaction plus you can even more bonus miles of 2 to 10x above for their selected Black Friday partners! The 10x + 10x retailers are Old Navy, the Gap, Banana Republic and the Source. The Air Miles offer runs until Wednesday Dec 4th.

Aeroplan: 5x to 10x the miles on all eStore purchases made Nov 29 - Dec 3

A lot of the posts here on Rewards Canada and our features in the media over the past few weeks have been about maximizing your miles for holiday shopping and this post is no different. Now that Canada has fully adopted the Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping frenzy seen in the U.S. it is not only the retailers putting many items on sale but the online e-malls offering up more miles or points for accessing those retailers via their shopping portal

Aeroplan has forwarded me their Black Friday/Cyber Monday offer for shopping via their portal eStore and it is a pretty decent offer! Members who shop at any of their participating retailers will earn a minimum 5x Aeroplan miles with some retailers going as high as 10x the miles! The offer runs between Friday November 29th and Tuesday December 3rd.

For me this is a Homer Simpson 'Doh!' moment as we have already done some our Christmas shopping via the portal at only 2x the miles. There is still some shopping left for us to do so we are going to make sure we get it done this weekend so that we maximize our miles on those purchases! We recommend you do so to!

Nov 27 Update: up to 4x Flying Blue Miles on Hertz rentals, News recap, Air Miles bonus for Best Western stays

Here is what the middle of the week brings on Rewards Canada:

News, Tips & Tricks
All of the news today had separate posts so here is a recap with links:

Tangerine Saturday returns on November 30 - Double Aeroplan Miles for CIBC cardholders

ATB Gold My Rewards Travel MasterCard 100,000 Point Sign Up Bonus - Classic case of "Remember people it's all about the EARN and the BURN"

Air Miles: 60 Bonus Reward Miles for Best Western stays in Canada, the U.S. and Caribbean


Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Earn up to Quadruple Flying Blue Miles on Hertz rentals in Belgium; Brazil; Canada; France; Germany; Italy; Luxembourg; Moroco; Netherlands; Qatar; Spain; United Kingdom; USA and Venezuela. More... Book by Dec 15 for rentals until Feb 28, 14

Air Miles
- 60 Bonus Air Miles Reward Miles for each qualified stay at Best Western branded hotels in Canada, the United States, or the Caribbean Islands. More... Nov 30 - May 4, 14

Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com)
- 150 Bonus FlyerBonus Points when you fly 6 one way sectors between Bangkok - Mandalay, Bangkok - Yangon, Bangkok - Nay Pyi Taw, Bangkok - Vientiane, Bangkok - Luang Prabang, Bangkok - Siem Reap or Bangkok - Phnom Penh. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- Double FlyerBonus Points on Budget rentals of three or more days in Thailand. More... Until Jan 31, 14

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles when you book and stay in a Club room or above at any Langham property Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 14

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Up to 66% Mileage Bank Miles Discount for JMB award tickets on all eligible Bangkok Airways flights systemwide in eligible fare classes. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Le Club accorhotels
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays on the "Winter Collection" offer at participating Sofitel Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jan 15, 14
- Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at any one of 6 participating Accor hotels in the French Alps. More... Until Dec 20, 13
- Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays of 2 or more nights at any one of 10 participating Accor hotels in Japan. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 14

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Points per stay at the Residence Inn Birmingham Downtown at UAB. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- 500 Bonus Points per stay at the Residence Inn Corona Riverside. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- 2,000 Bonus Points per stay at the Atlanta Marriott Norcross. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- 2,000 Bonus Points er stay including a Sunday, Monday or Thursday night at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Warner Robins. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- 2,000 Bonus Points per stay Sunday - Thursday at the SpringHill Suites Macon. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- 1,000 Bonus Points per stay Sunday - Thursday at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Cordele. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- 500 Bonus Points per stay Sunday - Thursday at the Residence Inn West Springfield. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- 2,000 Bonus Points per stay at the Courtyard Portland Downtown/Convention Center. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Philippine Airlines Mabuhay
- Double Mabuhay Miles for stays at the Dusit Thani Abu Dhabi More... Until Jan 30, 14
- Double Mabuhay Miles when you stay for two consecutive nights or more at participating Marco Polo hotels in Hong Kong, China or the Philippines. More... Dec 1 - Jan 31, 14
- Triple Mabuhay Miles when staying at least three consecutive nights or Double Miles for two consecutive nights at any Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts, Traders Hotel or Kerry Hotel at the Best Available Rate. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 14