Air Miles: 500 Bonus Rewards Miles for a $200 Safeway purchase!

Over the weekend I received an email from Canada Safeway with some bonus Air Miles coupons and within a few hours a few of our readers had tweeted and emailed us about it as well. Why is it such a big deal? It is one of the biggest one time shopping bonuses we have ever seen for shopping at Safeway. Normally we see 100 bonus miles for $100 or 300 bonus for $200 or more spent. Well for this week you can earn 200 bonus miles for the $100 or 500 bonus Reward Miles for that $200 or more! I wasn't too sure if this was targeted but it seems to be open based on the response from our readers telling us about it. Just remember to go shopping by December 24!

Earning 2.5 Air Miles per dollar spent is almost unheard of for Air Miles members so this is a huge bonus that comes at the right time, buying groceries for those Christmas dinners! If you don't think you can hit the $200, Rewards Canada reader Randy M suggests to "share the joy" by buying food for a food bank to get you over that $200 and ultimately you can feel good about the Air Miles you earned as you helped out the less fortunate!

To get the bonus miles you have to use a coupon and you can get those here.

IHG Big Win 2014 now open for registration - our offer is for 31,000 bonus points, what's yours?

Just tried logging into the new Big Win page on IHG and am happy to say it appears to be open for registration!

Earn IHG® Rewards Club bonus points or airline miles throughout the promotional period when you stay at any IHG hotel, including the InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo® Hotels, Holiday Inn® Hotels, Holiday Inn Resort® Hotels, Holiday Inn Club Vacations®, Holiday Inn Express® Hotels, Staybridge Suites® Hotels or Candlewood Suites® Hotels brands Worldwide. Members will be awarded with 1,000 bonus points or 500 miles for their first night’s stay. Members will begin to earn when they register and stay between January 1 and Apr 30, 2014.  To find out what your customized offer and register visit here

Here is the offer I received:
One Night Win: Stay at any IHG Hotel and earn 1,000 Points
Stay More and Earn More: Stay a total of 3 nights and receive 3,000 Points
Explore our brands: Stay at 3 different IHG brands and earn 7,000 points
Book with IHG: Book 2 separate stays through an IHG^® hotel website or mobile device to get our Best Price Guarantee and earn 2,000 points
Win in a Weekend: Stay 3 Saturday nights and earn 8,000 points
Win Big: Complete 5 of your offers and earn 10,000 points

My offers are pretty low as I hit only the 31,000 point mark whereas others will more than likely get higher offers. This time the Big Win isn't as easily achievable for me as certain portions like the "Win in a Weekend went from 2 Saturdays to 3 Saturdays but other parts have become easier such as "Win Big" and "Stay More and Earn More" require less steps. I really don't know if I will go for the Big Win for only 31,000 points but you never know as I don't really even know my schedule for the 2014 yet!

What offer did you receive? Feel free to share it with the Rewards Canada readership below and let us know if you are going to try for some or all of your offer.

Dec 13 Update: United removes SIA award space online, short term Air Miles bonuses, Petro-Points gift card bonus

Final day of updates this week! Bonuses and news are definitely slowing down as we approach the Christmas break!

News, Tips & Tricks
United Airlines MileagePlus announced via FlyerTalk that you will no longer be able to see Singapore Airlines inventory on their award flight search results on united.com and on the United Mobile App. You will have to call into United for availability and booking (and United has confirmed that they will NOT waive the phone in booking fee on these award tickets)

Here are some Air Miles coupons or deals that are short term (ie not added to our Air Miles page)
- Earn up t0 50 Bonus Air Miles at Rona (4 different coupons) See here.
- Earn 30 Bonus Air Miles at Staples on December 14 only when you spend $100 or more in store. Full details (no coupon needed)
- Earn 25 Bonus reward miles when you redeem you Air Miles at select AIR MILES Cash Sponsors. Full details (no coupon needed)

Petro-Points members whe subscribe to Petro-Points emails can collect 1,000 bonus points when you purchase any gift card at a Petro Canada by December 31, 2013

Travel Deals
AutoEurope is offering up to a 30% off sale for car rentals in Europe. Book online tby Dec 31 and receive up to 30% off of your rental car in Europe.

Bonus Offers
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for stays at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore, Marina Mandarin Singapore or Meritus Pelangi Beach Resort & Spa, Langkawi. More... Jan 1 - Mar 31, 14

Norwegian Reward (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple Cash Points on Norwegian flights between London and Alesund, Aalborg, Bergen Gothenburg, or Stockholm; Liverpool or Edinburgh and Copenhagen More... Book by Dec 20 for travel Jan 1 - Feb 28, 14

Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle
- Triple GC Award Points when staying in the Valley Wing at the Shangri-La Hotel, Qingdao. More... Jan 1 - Mar 31, 14
- Triple GC Award Points when staying in a Executive Suite or Premier Suite at Traders Hotel, Manila. More... Dec 30, 13 - Mar 20, 14

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Earn up to Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you rent with Avis in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. More... Until Jan 31, 14

Sun Country UFly Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double UFly 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

United MileagePlus
- Double MileagePlus Miles 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

Dec 12 Update: Air Canada chooses 737 Max for narrow body fleet, British Airways enhances Household accounts, Bonus Points at Four Points Edmundston

Today's update is running a bit late.....

News, Tips & Tricks
Air Canada has announced that they have selected the Boeing 737 Max series of aircraft to replace their narrow body Airbus fleet. Deliveries of the aircraft are scheduled for 2017-2021. Some frequent flyers are already unhappy at this move as the 737 Max's fuselage is narrower than the Airbus A320NEO aircraft that were also being considered which may mean narrower seats. (Source: Air Canada)

British Airways Executive Club had a great announcement for their members who have household accounts or have been considering them. Previously members of BAEC who created household accounts could only redeem their pooled Avios for those members who held the same address as the primary member. Now members can name up to 5 family and/friends who are not in the same household to be part of the household account. One caveat is that once you add a member, they have to stay on the account for six months before you can remove them. (Thanks for Rewards Canada reader Fred for the details) More details on household accounts can be found here.

SAS Scandinavian EuroBonus members will earn the double the standard points on Best Western stays starting January 1, 2014. Currently those members who credit BW stays to their accounts earn 300 point per stay but that will increase to 600 in the New Year. (Source: SAS)

Travel Deals
AutoEurope is offering up to a 30% off sale for car rentals in Europe. Book online tby Dec 31 and receive up to 30% off of your rental car in Europe.

Bonus Offers
Etihad Guest
- Double Guest Miles on Etihad flights between Abu Dhabi and Zurich. More... Jun 1 - 30, 14
- Double Guest Miles on Etihad flights between Abu Dhabi and Medina. More... Feb 1 - Mar 2, 14

Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 25% GFF Miles Discount orn Economy and Executive Class Award Tickets for all Garuda Indonesia domestic routes. More... Until Mar 10, 14

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Fly On Points (Status Qualifying Points) on Japan Airlines flights between Tokyo and Frankfurt. More... Jan 1 - Dec 31, 14

Shangri-La Hotels Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Traders Hotel, Penang. More... Jan 1 - Mar 31, 14

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 3,000 Bonus Starpoints when you stay in a suite at participating Starwood Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- 500 Bonus Starpoints for Thursday - Sunday stays at the Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel. More... Until Dec 30, 13
- 500 Bonus Starpoints for stays at the Four Points by Sheraton Edmundston. More... Until Dec 31, 13
- Earn up to 1,500 bonus Starpoints with any spa treatments* at Shine Spa in Macau. More... Until?
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 2+ nights at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel Atlanta Airport. More... Book by Dec 14 for stays until Mar 31, 14
- Earn up to 1,250 bonus Starpoints with the Park Sleep Go package at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel Atlanta Airport More...Until Dec 30, 13

5,000 Bonus Miles for Rocketmiles bookings of 3+ consecutive nights

Rocketmiles keeps doling out the bonuses! Here is the latest one from them for 3+ night stays:

The promotion awards 5,000 Bonus Miles or Points  in the program of your choice that is partnered with Rocketmiles for stays or 3 or more consecutive that are booked by December 18 and completed by April 1, 2014. You must book your stay via the special promotion page at www.rocketmiles.com/winter  but if you are not a member of Rocketmiles yet you can join via our referral link to earn 1,000 more miles on your first booking and we'll get a referral credit of the same amount. So if this will be your first time using Rocketmiles you should be able to get 6,000 bonus miles over and above what they award for the 3+ night stay itself.

IHG Big Win Returns for 2014

Hot on the heels of the end of the first ever Big Win promotion from IHG Rewards, the pre-registration for the next incarnation of  “The Big Win” promotion will begin on Dec. 16, 2013 here. The page is not live yet but should be sometime over the weekend. Details of the promotion also aren't out yet but should be when the The Big Win page goes live. All we can tell you is the promotion starts on Jan 1 and ends April 30, 2014.  We can only assume the offers will be individually tailored to each member as we saw in the first version of The Big Win.

From IHG:
Once registered, members will begin earning IHG® Rewards Club points or airline miles when they stay at any IHG®-branded hotel between Jan. 1 and April 30, 2014. This includes the InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo® Hotels, Holiday Inn® Hotels, Holiday Inn Resort® Hotels, Holiday Inn Club Vacations®, Holiday Inn Express® Hotels, Staybridge Suites® Hotels and Candlewood Suites® Hotels brands.


You can pre-register for the offer here starting on Dec 16, 2013

Dec 11 Update: Mileage Plan expands EQM earning, Delta SkyMiles actually enhances their Elite Program, ANA to start Vancouver-Tokyo Service

Lots of news to bring you here in the middle of the week!

News, Tips & Tricks
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan keeps getting better in our eyes! The latest announcement from them sees Mileage Plan members being able to earn miles and segments towards Elite Qualification on flights taken with all of their international partner airlines including: British Airways, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and Fiji Airways beginning January 15, 2014. Full details

Delta Airlines SkyMiles has improved their Elite level program with several changes taking place March 2014. Quite possibly the best change is that these new Upgrades are available on nearly all paid fare classes whereas the previous Systemwide upgrades could only be used on the most expensive economy fare classes plus these new upgrades are confirmable in advance so that you don't have to play the upgrade lottery a few days before your flight or at check in.

Beginning March 1, 2014, Systemwide Upgrades will be replaced by Global and Regional Upgrades as a Choice Benefits selection. Global Upgrades are available on all routes and Regional Upgrades are available on the same routes as Medallion Complimentary Upgrades, but have a higher priority. Both can be used on all Economy Class fares except for E, allowing you more redemption options and convenience.

• Diamond Medallion members may choose either four (4) Global Upgrades or eight (8) Regional Upgrades.
• Platinum Medallion members may choose four (4) Regional Upgrades.
  
• You may continue to select Systemwide Upgrades as a Choice Benefit through February 28, 2014.

Also, we are pleased to announce new Choice Benefits options to select from beginning March 1, 2014. Complimentary Global Entry will be added as an option for members who wish to save time re-entering the U.S. or going through security. Diamond Medallion members can select two Global Entry application vouchers as a Choice Benefits selection and Platinum Medallion members can select one.

Diamond Medallion members may also select two Tiffany & Co. premium luggage tags as a Choice Benefits selection beginning March 1, 2014.

For more information about Global and Regional Upgrades, click here.

ANA All Nippon has announced new service between Vancouver and Tokyo Haneda. This represents the airline's first route into Canada and allows for more earning and redemption optoins for Aeroplan, MileagePlus and other Star Alliance members in Canada. The flight will operate daily with a Boeing 767-300. For years Rewards Canada has tracked ANA Mileage Club bonus mile offers in our bonus section even without them serving Canada since they were a Star Alliance partner. ANA typically has route launch bonuses for their Mileage Club members so hopefully this will be the case with their new YVR flight. Keep an eye out on our Mileage Club page for any and all Mileage Club bonuses. (Source: Airlineroute.net)

British Airways has announced that a second Canadian city will be getting Boeing 787 service and that city is Rewards Canada's hometown of Calgary! BA's current 767 offering on the route will be replaced with the 787 as of July 5. Great news for Executive Club members in Alberta. Source: British Airways)

On another good Star Alliance note, LOT Polish Airlines will be increasing their Toronto-Warsaw service for summer of 2014 to 9 flights per week.(Source Airlineroute.net)

In the world of Cash Back credit cards the Capital One® Aspire Cash™ Platinum MasterCard® lost it's 25% extra cash rewards annual bonus as of yesterday. You'll find this change reflected on our Cash Back Credit Card Comparison Chart and on our Capital One®  page 

Travel Deals
AutoEurope is offering up to a 30% off sale for car rentals in Europe. Book online tby Dec 31 and receive up to 30% off of your rental car in Europe.

Bonus Offers
Air Miles
- Earn up to 10X Air Miles for buying gas at participating Shell locations across Canada. More... Until Jan 5, 14

airBaltic BalticMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double BalticMiles Points on all hotel reservations booked through PointsHound.com (plus earn 1,000 bonus points on your 1st booking if you join via our referral link by Dec 31, 13) More... Until Jan 15, 14
- Double BalticMiles Points for stays of two nights and more that are booked at least 20 days in advance at participating World Hotels locations Worldwide.More... Until Feb 28, 14

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Double Elite Qualifying Miles when you fly between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, San Jose or Seattle. More... Register by Jun 15, 14 for travel Jun 9 and Aug 1, 14
- Double Mileage Plan Miles for stays at all participating Coast Hotels in the U.S. and Canada. More... Dec 15 - Jan 31, 14

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 50% Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you book a hotel via venere. More... Book by Dec 18, 13

SAS Scandinavian EuroBonus
- Double EuroBonus Points for stays at the Sheraton Stockholm Hotel. More... Until Jan 31, 14

Southwest Rapid Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Save up to 25% when you buy or gift Southwest Rapid Rewards points online. More... Until Dec 22, 13

WestJet Christmas Miracle: real-time giving (Must see video)

If you have been anywhere near any social media over the past two days then chances are you have seen this great WestJet video. Reminds me of Aeroplan's Bentley promotion done a few months ago where everyone on an Air Canada flight received a new piece of luggage but this one gets even more personal and exciting as Santa grants these WestJet guests with the presents they want for Christmas! Kudos to WestJet. Great Work!



Oh and there are a few behind the scenes videos of the making of the above!
Santa Bloopers


Here's Richard B from WestJet obviously still sporting his Movember 'stache!

Dec 10 Update: B.C. bans loyalty incentives on prescriptions and Executive Hotels bonuses for December

Tuesdays tend to be a relatively quiet day in the loyalty world, especially in December but we do have one big piece of news for you in regards to earning points and miles on prescriptions in B.C.:

News, Tips & Tricks
Randy M, a loyal Rewards Canada reader for years has been keeping me abreast of the recent ban of awarding loyalty points and miles on prescriptions in British Columbia. The ban took effect on December 2nd and has already spurred a lawsuit by Canada Safeway and Thrifty Foods against the action taken by the B.C. Government. I know Alberta was looking into this but shelved the idea due to a real lack of data showing that prescriptions were only filled for points when they weren't actually needed. I can only recall one such time where this may have been the case and that was when Rexall offered 15,000 Aeroplan Miles for transferring and filling your first prescription with them on a single Saturday. Say what? A short haul flight for as low as a dispensing fee? Yes that happened but it hasn't happened again as Rexall was overwhelmed by the response. This is an extreme case however and is probably the reason behind some of these actions as I'm sure many other pharmacies saw a bunch of prescriptions being transferred out that day! However on a day to day basis the typical rewards offered usually aren't enough for people to transfer prescriptions back and forth. Most pick one location (with or without rewards and stick with it) I know personally I haven't moved my prescriptions around to take advantage of incentives and go to my pharmacy as a matter of convenience.  As a disclaimer that is a Sobey's Pharmacy so I do earn Aeroplan Miles with them. 

Randy has forwarded me a few articles and some of his research as this affects him greatly. He stands to lose about 1,200 Air Miles Rewards Miles a year with the ban, being a pensioner he relied on those miles to fly his kids out to visit him. He has even been quoted in a recent article about the ban (see here). Rewards Canada will provided a more detailed post about this in the near future as I reach out to different parties to provide feedback. In the meantime I'd love to hear from all of our readers what their thoughts are of this ban in B.C. and how it might affect the loyalty industry as a whole across Canada. Feel free to leave your thoughts below.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 5x Aeroplan Miles when you purchase sound equipment from Bose stores in Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Executive Hotels Executive Rewards
- Earn up Triple Executive Rewards Points for stays select Executive Hotel locations in Canada and the U.S. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to 1,500 Boomerang Miles and 33EUR Germanwings Voucher when you book an Airbus A320 Flight Simulator session at any one of Flightdecksystems locations in Europe. More... Until Dec 31, 13

Oman Air Sindbad (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Sindbad Miles on all eligible stays at Golden Tulip locations Worldwide. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 14
- Triple Sindbad 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
Oman Air Sindbad
- Double Sindbad Miles for Avis rentals of 3+ days in UAE, Kuwait, KSA, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland & UK. More... Until Jan 31, 14
- 25% Bonus Sindbad Miles at Joyalukkas outlets in Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and United Kingdom. More... Until Dec 31, 13

S7 Airlines Priority (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Priority Miles for stays at the Marco Polo Hotel St Petersburg. More... Dec 29 - Jan 3, 14

PointsHound: Double-Up Hotels expanded and increased first time booking bonus of 1,000 Miles/Points

We got an email late last night from the team at PointsHound letting us know that they expanded the Double-Up program to include eligible rates from hotel brands participating in the Club Carlson and Wyndham Rewards frequent guest programs. This amounts to another 5,000 Double-Up rates at hotels in U.S. destinations.

What is Double-Up?
Double-Up refers to a specific rate type that gives members of major hotel loyalty programs the opportunity to earn frequent guest points, status credit and elite benefits in addition to the frequent flyer miles awarded by PointsHound.

Essentially with Double-Up rates you get the best of both worlds on your hotel bookings!

As a show of their appreciation of Rewards Canada's support of PointsHound since their inception the first time booking bonus for new members has been increased to 1,000 miles for those who join via our referral link. The normal bonus is 250 miles for referrals via most referrers save for a few other bloggers who have also been extended this increased referral bonus offer from PointsHound.  To get the 1,000 Bonus Miles/Points simply make your first booking before the end of the year after you signed up via our referral link.