Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards: Canada-Europe Award tickets for up to 50% off

The latest set of Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo awards are out and this time there are only two Canadian cities included instead of the four we saw a few months ago.

What are the promo awards? The promo awards are a discount of 25-50% off the regular Flying Blue mileage requirement for select AF KLM flights in select cabins.  Due to increases in the regular award mileage requirements earlier in the year the promo awards not as grand as they used to be but overall are they are still considered a great deal when compared to the regular mileage requirements or even to what mileage would be required in other programs for a similar ticket. Here is an example of this increased rate: previously you could get a round-trip Montreal-Europe Business Class promo award ticket for 50,000 miles but now it will cost you 62,500 miles. Overall this is still a great deal but of course not as great as it used to be. To take advantage of an award ticket deal you must book your promo award ticket between Dec 29 for travel until Mar 31. More details can be found here.

The Toronto-Europe offer of only 25,000 miles round trip in Economy is a great deal and you could easily get this by transferring 20,000 Starwood Preferred Guest Starpoints into Flying Blue (they'll give you a bonus 5,000 miles for the 25,000). If you have the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express that means you can get a flight to Europe for only $20,000 in spending which is virtually unheard of for any other credit card in Canada. (taxes and fees not included of course)

Here are all the offers for flights out of Montreal and Toronto, the only two cities in Canada included in this round.

 

Dec 3 Update: Lindner Nights Free Points update, 3x Aeroplan Miles at the UPS Store and 15 other bonuses

Here is what we have for you today!

News, Tips & Tricks
Last week we mentioned the Lindner Hotels Nights offer of 2,000 points for simpy connecting a social media account to your Lindner nights accounts and we can tell you that we signed up for it yesterday and the points posted immediately. Now those 2,000 points can't get you a free night but they have cash+points offers of 2,000 points + a small Euro payment (three right now are 2,000 points + 45EUR) for a night at select hotels in Germany. When we checked what the night actually cost at one of the hotels it was 139EUR so this simple offer can save you at least 90EUR if you can stay in one of their locations. For more details on the offer see our post over on the FFB blog.

Travel Deals
Radisson Blu Flash Sale: Save up to 30% on B&B in rates in the U.K. and Ireland (must book by Dec 5)

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Triple Aeroplan Miles on every transaction you make at the UPS store. More... Until Dec 24, 13

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Save up to 50% with Promo Awards Save 25% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book by Dec 29 for travel until Mar 31, 14
- Quadruple Flying Blue Miles and up to 40% off at almost 900 participating Accor properties throughout France. More... Book by Jan 15 for stays Dec 21, 13- Jan 31, 14
- Double Flying Blue Miles for stays at Best Western Hotels in France. More... Jan 1 - Feb 28, 14
- Triple Flying Blue 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
- Double EuroBonus Miles for Europcar rentals of 3 or more days in France. More... Jan 6 - Feb 15, 14
- Double Flying Blue Miles when you rent a Sixt mid-size car in France. More... Book by Jan 15 for rentals Jan 9 - Mar 31, 14

airberlin topbonus
- Double topbonus Miles for stays at Dorint Hotels and Resorts. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- 2,500 topbonus Miles per rental with Sunny Cars. More... Book by Dec 31, 13 for rentals until Jan 31, 14

Avianca LifeMiles
- 100% Bonus LifeMiles when you buy LifeMiles online. More... Until Dec 30, 13 Restrictions Only available to those members who were joined before Dec 3

Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Earn Double Status Credits when you fly Qantas anywhere in Australia. More... Register and book by Dec 31 for flights until Jan 31, 14

Saudia Alfursan
- Triple Alfursan Milesfor stays at the Amwaj Rotana- Jumeirah Beach Residence- Dubai. More... Until Jan 31, 14
- Triple Alfursan 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

United MileagePlus
- Double MileagePlus miles when you fly nonstop on United or United Express® between Seattle and Los Angeles (LAX), Portland (PDX), San Francisco (SFO) or Anchorage (ANC). More... Register and book by Dec 31 for travel until May 31, 14
- 50% Bonus MileagePlus miles when you fly a trans-Pacific United flight to the U.S. or Canada. More... Register and book by Dec 31 for travel Feb 1 - Mar 31, 14
- Double MileagePlus miles when you fly between Tampa and any Copa Airlines destination. More... Dec 16, 13 - Feb 16, 14 Targeted offer - may not work for everyone

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.