Miles & More up to 50% off Award Ticket Sale: Montreal/Toronto - Europe for only 30,000 Miles in Economy

Lufthansa Miles & More released their latest set of discounted mileage awards "Meilenschnaeppchen" back in April and they include flights out of Montreal on Lufthansa and Toronto on Austrian.

You can redeem Miles & More miles for economy class tickets between Montreal and 50+ cities in Europe for only 30,000 miles round trip as well as Toronto - Austria for the same amount! That's half off the normal price. There are also business class offers for Toronto-Austria on Austrian for only 55,000 miles instead of the regular 105,000 miles.  Granted all these tickets will also have fuel surcharges but this is still a pretty good deal when you look at it as a whole in terms of miles+cash outlay.

Simply book your tickets by May 15 for travel until June 15th.  Full details can be found here

If you don't have enough miles you can convert points from the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express (C$1 = 1 Miles & More Mile) however with only 10 days left to book the points may not transfer time. If you do try, remember your best bet is to transfer in 20,000 Starpoints increments as you'll get a 5,000 mile bonus meaning you'll get 25,000 Miles & More miles.

May 5 Update: Buy Miles bonuses from US Airways, Avianca, Alaska Airlines & Air France KLM plus many more other bonuses!

May is the month for buy miles bonuses!

News, Tips & Tricks
Czech Airlines OK Plus has eased up on their mileage expiry rules. The recent rules put in place about 2 or so years ago are being relaxed from 24 months to 36 months or none if you hold elite status or a credit card with the program.

Just minutes before this post we posted the newest buy miles offers from Avianca and US Airways, which are by far the two best offers out there but those aren't the only offers out there. We also added new buy miles bonuses from Air France KLM Flying Blue and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan to the bonus offers section. While it si not advisable to go out and buy a whole bunch of miles with these last two offers if you are only a few thousand miles short of an award in either program then it can be advantageous to take advantage of buying miles at this time to get the bonus. See the bonus offers section below for more details


Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Earn up to 50% Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you buy Flying Blue miles online. More... Until May 23, 14
- Double Flying Blue Miles for stays at any participating Anantara Hotels in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. More... Until Jul 31, 14
- Triple Flying Blue Miles for stays at Best Western hotels in France. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Double Flying Blue Miles for stays at any Tulip Inn, Golden Tulip and Royal Tulip property worldwide. More... Jul 1 - Aug 31, 14
- Triple Flying Blue Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at any participating Pan Pacific or PARKROYAL worldwide. More... Book by Jun 28 for stays until Jun 30, 14
- Double Flying Blue Miles on Avis rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide that are booked online. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- 100 Bonus Flying Blue Miles per day on Hertz rentals Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 27 for rentals until Sep 5, 14

airBaltic PINS (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 300 Bonus PINS on airBaltic round trip flights to Riga. More... Book by May 9 for travel May 30 - Jun 8, 14

airberlin topbonus
- Double topbonus Miles on all SriLankan flights Worldwide when flown in an eligible booking class. More... Register by May 31 for travel May 15 - Jul 1, 14
- Triple topbonus Miles for every qualifying stay at participating Choice Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 14

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Save 5,000 Mileage Plan Miles when redeeming for a round trip Mileage Plan Award ticket between select cities in California and Mexico. More... Book by May 25 for travel Sep 1 - Nov 18, 14
- Earn up to 35% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when buy or gift miles online. More... Until May 25, 14

Avianca LifeMiles
- 100% Bonus LifeMiles when you buy LifeMiles. More... Until May 30, 14

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles when you fly round-trip between Chicago, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, San Francisco or Vancouver and Hong Kong in Cathay Pacific’s First or Business Classs. More... Jun 1 - Aug 31, 14 Valid for residents of the U.S. only
- Double Asia Miles when you fly Cathay Pacific’s Economy Class between Colombo and Bangkok or Singapore, or onwards to Hong Kong. More... May 15 - Jun 30, 14 Valid for residents of Sri Lanka or the Maldvies only
- Double Asia Miles on all SriLankan flights Worldwide when flown in an eligible booking class. More... May 15 - Jun 30, 14

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 30,000 Bonus QMiles for Qatar Airways flights between Doha and Dallas. More... Jul 1 - Sep 30, 14
- Earn up to 14,000 Bonus QMiles for Qatar Airways flights between Doha and Tokyo Haneda. More... Jun 18 - Aug 31, 14
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus QMiles for Qatar Airways flights between Doha and Hofuf. More... May 15 - Aug 31, 14
- Double QMiles on all SriLankan flights Worldwide when flown in an eligible booking class. More... May 15 - Jun 30, 14
- Double QMiles on Rocketmiles hotel bookings and stays in Miami. More... Book by Sep 15  for stays between Jun 10 - Sep 15, 14
- Triple QMiles and save 10% off Budget rentals of 4 or more days in Miami. More... Jun 10 - Sep 15, 14
- Quadruple QMiles for Sixt rentals in Miami that are booked online. More... Jul 10 - Sep 15, 14

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Earn up to Triple Victoria Miles + Silver Elite Status on TAP Portugal's new flights to Asturias, Belem, Belgrade, Bogota, Gothenburg, Hannover, Manaus, Nantes, Panama, St. Petersburg and Tallinn. In the case of travelling from Bogota or Panama if you fly in Executive you'll also receive Victoria Silver Elite status. More... Jul 1 - Sep 30, 14
- Double Victoria Miles for stays of 3 or more nights at the Tropical Manaus Ecoresort. More... Jul 1 - Sep 30, 14
- 100 Bonus Victoria Miles on all Avis rentals under 15 days Worldwide. More... Book by May 31 for rentals until Sep 30, 14

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Earn up to 100% Bonus Dividend Miles when you buy or gift Dividend Miles. More... Until May 25, 14

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 20% VHR Points Discount for award night stays at any participating Voila Hotel Rewards location Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 14

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

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the US Airways Buy Dividend Miles promotion, Avianca LifeMiles has also brought back their 100% bonus on buying miles promotion. The offer runs until May 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 including any bonuses. Also you have to have been an Avianca LifeMiles member as of May 5 to take part. (HT: One Mile at a Time)

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 devalued nearly a year ago. 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

US Airways: Up to a 100% Bonus when buying or gifting Dividend Miles

As we mentioned last week, US Airways was to launch their latest buy miles promotion on May 3rd and here it is:

Earn up to 100% Bonus Dividend Miles when you buy or gift Dividend Miles. Full details Until May 25, 14

Buy/Gift	Bonus
10,000 - 19,000 Miles	50%
20,000 - 29,000 Miles	75%
30,000 - 50,000 Miles	100%

The promo allows you to buy up to 50,000 miles (so 100,000 in total with the bonus) at 3.5 cents per mile (effective rate is 1.75 cents per mile) plus taxes of $131.25 for total of $1881.25 (1.88 cents per mile). Considering that can get you an International business class ticket with this many miles between that can cost a lot more than that, this is a good deal! We do advise to only purchase however if you know you are going to use to miles soon as it is never good to sit on the miles for a long time due to possible program devaluations that can come at any time. Since US Airways allows 3 day holds on award tickets you can always find the award flights you want before you buy the miles and therefore you don't have dole out a hefty chunk of change just in case you cannot find availability for your preferred award flights.

May 2 Update: IHG Rewards Club Stay X Get Y bonuses return, CIBC introduces Aerogold Visa Infinite Privilege, Triple Aeroplan Miles with Delta & Coast Hotels

The week comes to a close with the return of the famous IHG Stay X Get Y bonus offers!

News, Tips & Tricks
You can earn up to 10x the Air Miles at Rona until May 7th with this coupon. The offer is for 4x the Air Miles is you just use your Air Miles Card, 10x if you pay with a Rona card.

The IHG Rewards Club 'Stay X Get Y' bonuses have returned for the Summer! Although they are not called "Stay X Get Y" as that was a moniker given to them by the frequent traveller community, the "Reel Summer" promotion as it is called is just that. Technically these are targeted promotion codes but IHG keeps them very loosely targeted as most if not all members should be able to register for one of the offers. The list was compiled from the Flyer Talk thread discussing these promo codes. Definitely partake in these offers if you can!

Earn up to 15,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for a certain amount of nights or completing a certain amount of stays at participating InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo™, Holiday Inn®, Express by Holiday Inn™ and Holiday Inn Express® hotels worldwide, . Use the following codes to register online (use the smallest amount first or the one that matches your projected travel patterns and then go on to the next if you do not qualify, however once you do qualify for one you cannot sign up for any others):
Stay 3 Nights, Get 5,000 - Code 7093
Stay 3 Nights, Get 5,000 - Code 7057
Stay 4 Nights, Get 2,000 - Code 4988
Stay 7 Nights, Get 2,000 - Code 7048
Stay 7 Nights, Get 10,000 - Code 4989
Stay 7 Nights, Get 10,000 - Code 5989
Stay 8 Nights, Get 2,000 - Code 6339
Stay 8 Nights, Get 10,000 - Code 7052
Stay 8 Nights, Get 10,000 - Code 5155
Stay 10 Nights, Get 10,000 - Code 4985
Stay 10 Nights, Get 10,000 - Code 7055
Stay 12 Nights, Get 10,000 - Code 5156
Stay 12 Nights, Get 10,000 - Code 4987
Stay 15 Nights, Get 15,000 - Code 2113
Stay 18 Nights, Get 15,000 - Code 1029
Stay 18 Nights, Get 15,000 - Code 5153
Stay 18 Nights, Get 15,000 - Code 5163
Stay 18 Nights, Get 15,000 - Code 6340
Register online

CIBC let me know that the CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite card has had it's insurance benefits updated (finally after many years of being weaker in that category!) to match many of its competitors and of course it's brethren card from TD. The card will now include purchase protection and extended warranty benefits (although this does not show on the CIBC website yet)

Also from CIBC is the second Visa Infinite Privilege card in the market, the CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Privilege card which matches the TD version of the card. Same sign up bonus, same benefits on Air Canada (Priority Boarding, Priority Check In - which if you fly certain routes will be a lot of people, I swear on my latest YYZ-YYC flight more than half the plane had priority boariding!) Find out more here. The card will be added to our comparison charts over the next few days. (Thanks to loyal RC reader Bernard for the heads up!)

Travel Deals
Porter Airlines is offering up to 60% off their regular fares. This seems to be the new norm from Porter as almost all their seat sales were 50% off up until a few weeks ago. Book online by midnight tonight!

KLM has launched an extreme early bird sale for travel this fall and winter! Fares start as low as $895 all in for travel between Canada and Europe. Book online at KLM by May 7th.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Triple Aeroplan Miles for stays at any one of 12 participating Delta Hotels in Canada. More... Until May 26, 14
- Earn up to Triple Aeroplan Mileson all Coast Hotels stays in Canada and the U.S.. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- Triple Gold Points on Eligible Stays of two or more nights between at Country Inns & Suites By CarlsonSM hotels in the United States, Canada or Latin America. More... Jun 1 - Sep 1, 14
- 5,000 Bonus Gold Points for stays on the Park, Stay and Fly Offer at a participating Radisson Blu® or Park Inn® by Radisson hotel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More... Until Aug 31, 14
- Instant Club Carlson Gold Elite Status when you join the program. More... Until May 31, 14 Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone
- 10,000 Bonus Gold Points per night for stays at the Radisson Hotel Baton Rouge More... Until Dec 31, 14
- 10,000 Bonus Gold Points per night for stays at the Radisson Hotel Bloomington By Mall of America. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- 10,000 Bonus Gold Points per night for stays at the Radisson Hotel Roseville. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Delta SkyMiles
- 500 Bonus SkyMiles on any flight within Japan on any airline including JAL, ANA and Skymark. Eligible flights: Any and all regularly scheduled commercial flights within Japan, on any fare, in any class. More... Until Mar 31, 15

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
- Double Infinity MileageLands Miles on Avis rentals of 3 or more days in the US (excluding Alaska), Canada, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Guam or 4 days in New Zealand. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Executive Hotels Executive Rewards
- Double Executive Rewards Points for stays at the: Executive Royal Hotel Regina. More... Until May 31, 14

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 15,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for a certain amount of nights or completing a certain amount of stays at participating InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo™, Holiday Inn®, Express by Holiday Inn™ and Holiday Inn Express® hotels worldwide. More... May 15 - Sep 2, 14 Targeted Offers - May not work for everyone
- 10,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for stays of 2+ nights at the Hotel Indigo Rome – St. George.  More... Until Jul 31, 14
- 5,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you book a Reward Night using a combination of your IHG® Rewards Club points and cash. More... Until Jul 15, 14 Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone.

Scandic Hotels Friends
- 1,000 Bonus Scandic Friends Points per nights for stays at the Scandic Sundsvall Nord. More... Until Jun 19, 14

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Receive up to 50% GC Award Points Discount when you redeem for award night weekend stays with your GC Award Points at participating hotels. 30% off for Standard and Club rooms, and 50% off for Suites. More... Until Jul 27, 14

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- 50% Bonus Miles&Smiles Miles when you purchase Miles&Smiles Miles. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Miles&Smiles Miles when you children aged 2-12 years join Miles&Smiles Heroes.More... Ongoing
- Double Miles&Smiles Miles for all at Altinbas stores. More... Until Nov 1, 14

American Express AIR MILES Platinum Card sign up bonus increased to 1,500 Miles (Limited Time Offer)

American Express is offering limited time increased sign bonuses for their AIR MILES Platinum Cards of 1,500 Rewards Miles.  This is the highest offer yet for The Platinum card beating the 1,200 seen when the card got revamped last year. This is a pretty decent sign up offer, for example if you live in Ontario it can pretty much get you a round trip ticket (excluding taxes & fees) to anywhere on this map with some miles leftover (zones 4,5,6,7,9,10):

The American Express® AIR MILES®* Platinum Credit Card
• Limited Time Offer: Earn a bonus of 1,500 AIR MILES reward miles when you charge a total of $500 in purchases to your Card within your first three months of Cardmembership. Offer expires June 30, 2014!
• Enjoy your first year free
• Earn 1 reward mile for every $10 in Card purchases at AIR MILES®* Sponsors
• Earn 1 reward mile for every $10 in Card purchases at other eligible grocery stores, gas stations, and drugstores in Canada
• Plus, earn 1 reward mile for every $15 in Card purchases everywhere else
• Shop at participating AIR MILES Sponsors across Canada with your Card and show your AIR MILES®* Collector Card, and you can earn reward miles twice
• More than 1000 rewards to choose from! Redeem for a wide range of rewards - everything from movie tickets to electronics, travel and more
• 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.
Apply now

900 Free Alitalia MilleMiglia miles for joining Maggiore Club

Maggiore, the largest independently owned car rental agency in Italy is offering members of Alitalia's MilleMiglia program 900 miles just for joining their frequent renter program Maggiore Club. Joining is free which means the 900 miles are free as well. To ensure you get the miles you have to input your MilleMiglia number at the time of registration. Here is a screen shot of the first page of the registration showing you where you need to input your number.

The entire registration process is in Italian so we suggest you open up a second window and use Google Translate to help you along with the registration. For the box titled "N° Patente italiana:*" use your own Driver's Licence number even if it isn't Italian. It accepted my Alberta number no problem.

For complete details and to join Maggiore Club click here

Here is a screen shot from the English page stating the offer as well

May 1 Update: RBC Avion to British Airways Transfer bonus, JAL Mileage Bank introduces one way awards, SriLankan joins oneworld

The highly coveted RBC Avion transfer bonus to British Airways returns!

News, Tips & Tricks
The two big pieces of news today had their own posts right here on the RC blog, so no rehashing just links to them:

• 50% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back until June 30 
• Aeroplan Announces Exclusive Online Marketplace Partnership with SHOP.CA - Up to 16 Miles per $1 on your first purchase!

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank has introduced one way awards for flights on their partner airlines! (HT LoyaltyLobby)

SriLankan Airlines has joined the oneworld Alliance and to celebrate all the oneworld airlines are slated to offer bonuses for flying on UL. To keep track of them all as they are released please see my summary over on the FFB Blog: Summary of promotions celebrating US Airways, TAM & SriLankan joining oneworld.
 


Bonus Offers
Aegean Miles&Bonus
- Double Miles&Bonus Miles on Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. Rental must be booked online. More... Until Jun 6, 14

American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles on all SriLankan flights Worldwide when flown in an eligible booking class. More... May 15 - Jul 1, 14

ANA All Nippon Mileage Club
- Double Mileage Club Miles for stays at any participating hotel or resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. More... May 1 - Jul 31, 14

British Airways Executive Club
- 50% Bonus Avios for RBC Avion cardholders who convert their RBC Rewards Points into British Airways Executive Club. More... Until Jun 30, 14 Residents of Canada Only

Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple GFF Miles when you fly in Executive Class on Garuda Indonesia between Balikpapan and Jakarta, Surabaya, Makassar, Yogyakarta, Manado or Singapore. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Quadruple Boomerang Miles on all Sixt car rentals in England. More... Until May 31, 14

Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Double Frequent Flyer Points on all SriLankan flights Worldwide when flown in an eligible booking class. More... May 15 - Jun 30, 14

S7 Priority (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
-Double Priority Miles on all SriLankan flights Worldwide when flown in an eligible booking class. More... May 15 - Jul 1, 14

United MileagePlus
- 5,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles on your very first booking with Rocketmiles for stays of 3+ nights (ie you cannot have booked with Rocketmiles before)  More... Book by May 31 for stays until Dec 31, 14
- 1,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles on rentals for three days or longer at National locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Virgin Australia Velocity Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 10% Velocity Points Discount on any Reward Seat on flights marketed and operated by Virgin Australia. More... Book by May 31 for travel until Jun 30, 14

Aeroplan Announces Exclusive Online Marketplace Partnership with SHOP.CA - Up to 16 Miles per $1 on your first purchase!

Here is the latest and greatest method to earn Aeroplan miles:

Aeroplan Announces Exclusive Online Marketplace Partnership with SHOP.CA
Strategic Alliance offers unique member benefits

Montreal, QC, May 1, 2014 – Aeroplan today announced it has entered into a multi-year agreement with SHOP.CA, Canada's largest online marketplace shopping destination. This strategic alliance between the companies will enable Aeroplan Members to earn Aeroplan Miles on every purchase they make, with free shipping and returns across 27 product categories including electronics, sporting equipment, home furnishings and more. Members will be able to shop online and earn 1 Aeroplan Mile for every $1 spent and Distinction members will earn 2 Aeroplan Miles for every $1 spent on all purchases made at SHOP.CA.

In celebration of the partnership launch, Aeroplan Members will earn 15 miles for every $1 spent and Distinction members will earn 16 miles for every $1 spent for their first purchase on SHOP.CA until May 16th, 2014.

That's a pretty decent bonus for the next two weeks on your first purchase that has your Aeroplan number attached to it!

50% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back until June 30

I am happy to let you all of you RBC Avion cardholders (Infinite and Platinum) that the much coveted 50% transfer bonus for RBC Rewards points to British Airways Executive Club Avios is back! The promotion will runs from today to June 30th so now is the time to ramp up your spending if you have been planning to take advantage of this great transfer bonus! As always BA Avios are a great option for flights to Asia (via Cathay Pacific), short to medium haul within North America (Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, US Airways see this post here) and even though huge surcharges are added to their UK/Europe redemptions they can still be an alright value because of this bonus transfer based on your spend with the credit card (see my post about Earn & Burn for an explanation). As always though with any frequent flyer program you will have to be flexible in your options when redeeming due to seat availability issues (ie it may be hard to get tickets to Europe in Summer etc.) so take this into consideration before transferring.

Full details will be found here