May 12 Update: Shop.ca Aeroplan bonus extended and 4x AAdvantage Miles on National rentals

A quiet start to the week!

News, Tips & Tricks
The up to 16 Aeroplan Miles per dollar offer at Shop.ca has been extended to May 31st.

Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Double Club Premier Kilometers for stays of 2 or more nights at NH Hotels in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain or the United Kingdom. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Air China Phoenix Miles
- Triple Phoenix Miles Kilometers for stays at any participating Hyatt Hotel Worldwide starting with your second stay. More...   Until Aug 31, 14

American AAdvantage
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles when you rent a compact through full-size car at any participating National location in the United States. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- 5,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles after your second month as an Everything Energy customer. More... Residents of Texas only Ongoing

Best Western Rewards
- 500 Bonus Rewards points for stays at the Best Western Museumhotels Delft. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Delta SkyMiles
- 2,000 bonus miles and 2,000 Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) when you book and fly your next Delta or Delta Connection round-trip flight to and from anywhere. After that, each time you fly a Delta segment to or from LaGuardia (LGA) through July 10th for double miles and double MQMs. More... Until Jul 10, 14 Targeted offer - May Not Work for everyone

Marriott Rewards
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Renaissance Paris Vendome Hotel. More... Until Jun 30, 14

TAP Portugal Victoria
- 1,500 Bonus Victoria Miles when you become a Pestana Priority member and stay at the Pestana Hotel Bogota. More... Jul 1 - Sep 30, 14

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 3,000 Bonus VHR Points when you stay at participating Lexington Hotels in the U.S.. More... Until Jul 31, 14

Marriott Rewards introduces Plus Points - Earn up to 2,000 points per month via social media

Although it is in Beta version it looks like anyone can join Marriott Rewards new Plus Points which rewards members for connecting and interacting via social media. For a 'free points' offer it is quite rich in that you can earn up to 2,000 points per month! As this promotion runs until Nov 8th you can stand to earn up to 12,000 Marriott Rewards points.

To participate you register your Marriott Rewards number at www.marriottrewardspluspoints.com
then connect your various social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Four Square)

You can then earn points for performing various social media actions as follows:

Full steps taken straight from the Plus Points page

• Step 1: Connect your social profiles to your Marriott Rewards account, starting with Facebook.
• Step 2: Follow the social profiles of participating Marriott brands and properties on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare.
• Step 3: Earn Marriott Rewards points by:
  • Sharing or retweeting our posts to your Facebook or Twitter feeds each day
  • Checking into properties on Facebook or Foursquare every day you visit
  • Posting a photo each day to Instagram and tagging it with a property’s location
  • Using #LoveMarriottRewards, #RenHotels or #Autograph in your daily Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts
  • Liking and following select brands and properties in Facebook or Twitter

May 9 Update: Jet Airways spins off their JetPrivilege program, buy Avios bonus from British Airways, Home Hardware Aeroplan bonus

Friday is quiet on the news front, just have lots of bonuses to tell you about!

News, Tips & Tricks
Aeroplan has another short term bonus for shopping at Home Hardware. Until May 17th you can earn Triple Miles when you shop at Home Hardware, Home Building Centre and Home Furniture locations. Full details.

Jet Airways has spun off their JetPrivilege frequent flyer program into a separate entity much like Aeroplan.  For the time being the program will run the same as it has before for Jet Airways but one can guess as a stand alone loyalty program they will look to grow into a coalition model like Aeroplan but for the Indian market.

Bonus Offers
Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points for stays at the: BEST WESTERN Foreshore Motel Hobart. More... Until ?

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to 7,000 Bonus Avios when you purchase or gift Avios. More... Until Jun 1, 14

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles for stays in a suite at particiatping Peninsula Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 14
- Triple Asia Miles for stays of 2 nights or more at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Jul 31 for stays until Sep 30, 14

Hyatt Gold Passport
- 3,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Hyatt Regency London - The Churchill. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays until Dec 31, 14
- 1,500 Bonus Gold Passport Points for stays at the Hyatt Place Charlotte Downtown. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Iberia Plus
- Triple Avios for stays of 2 or more nights Monday-Friday at NH Hotels in Europe and South America. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Double Avios for stays at Paradore Hotels in Spain. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Avios when you subscribe to The Economist. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- 15% Bonus Avios when you transfer your Santander Recompensa points to Iberia Plus. More... Until Jul 31, 14 Residents of Mexico only

S7 Airlines Priority (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to Double Priority Miles for S7 Airlines flights between Khabarovsk and Yakutsk. More... May 21 - Jul 31, 14

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays of 2 or more nights in an Executive Room at the Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipei More... May 16 - Jun 30, 14

SriLankan FlySmiles
- Double FlySmiles Miles when you fly with SriLankan Airlines or a oneworld member airline Worldwide. More... May 15 - Jun 30, 14 This promotion is only applicable for travel with the all oneworld member airlines and oneworld affiliate airlines, except LAN Airlines, TAM airlines, US Airways and Finnair.

US Airways Dividend Miles
- 1,000 Bonus Dividend Mile every time you fly round-trip on American Eagle between New York LaGuardia and Charlottesville, Dayton, Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, Knoxville, Little Rock, Louisville, Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke, or Wilmington. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Wyndham Rewards
- 500 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points and save 25% on prepaid bookings made at least 7 days in advance at participating Wyndham Hotels Worldwide. More... Book between May 10 and Sep 30 for stays until Dec 31, 14

Earn 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Air Canada bookings made online by May 11th

A quick bonus offer note for our readers!

To celebrate Mother's Day Air Canada is giving 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles with every new booking made on aircanada.com using promotion code MOTHER2014.

Book any fare on Air Canada, Air Canada Express or Air Canada rougeTM for summer travel until August 24, 2014

Up to 2,000 Free Points for joining SAS Scandinavian EuroBonus

Disclaimer: For those outside of Sweden the points may not be guaranteed but it doesn't hurt to try this method if you are looking to join the EuroBonus program

Yesterday we posted this offer on RC's EuroBonus Bonus Points page:

Earn up to 8,000 EuroBonus points when you join the EuroBonus program. Full details
Earn 500 when you complete the form and join the program, earn an additional 1,500 for watching some videos and 6,000 more if you apply for and receive an SAS EuroBonus co-branded credit card.

The page that "Full details" leads to is in Swedish and we can't seem to find an English version and that is because we assume it is only meant for those living in Sweden. I gave it a try when signing up stating I was from Canada and that didn't work. So I changed my country to Sweden (you don't have to put in a house address just yet but you do have to put in mobile number, it seems any nine digits will work) and it let me sign for the program. That's step 1, which gave me 500 points.

Us Canadian's can ignore this next step - Step 2 is only for Swedes, they'll get 6,000 more points when they get a SAS EuroBonus co-branded credit card,

Step 3 is one that everyone else should be able to complete and that is for 1,500 more points for watching videos and answering questions. The only way to access those videos is from the welcome email you get from EuroBonus:

Click the link and it takes you this page which will have your name and EuroBonus auto populated so I can't just copy and paste the URL for you

When you finish each video you have to answer questions relating to the video, the good thing is since I don't understand Swedish the quiz lets you change your answer a couple of time until you have each one right! If you click too many wrong answers just watch the video again and then answer the questions.

The points from the videos and quiz also posted right away:

Now I have  2,000 points in my EuroBonus account, which means I'll only need 23 Avis rentals for a North American Award ticket or only 1,000 more to access one of SAS's business class lounges in Scandinavia!  I will eventually update my EuroBonus profile to my correct address and such but don't believe I'll need to do it until I get closer to redeeming.

May 8 Update: Air Canada to fly to Rio, Viva Wyndham All Inclusive offer, up to 10x Air Miles at Shell

Here is your daily update for this the 8th day of May!

News, Tips & Tricks
Yesterday we posted our commentary on No Foreign Transaction Fees on Credit Cards in Canada and why we haven't seen that benefit take off. Read it all here.

Air Canada announced yesterday a new non-stop flight between Toronto and Rio De Janeiro. The flights will operate three times weekly starting in December 2014. Source: Newswire

Travel Deals
Exclusive offer for Wyndham Rewards members: Save 35% when booking 3 nights or more at any Viva Wyndham All-Inclusive Resort when you book by May 31 and travel through December 15, 2014. PLUS kids under 12 years old are free for stays from June 1 to August 31, 2014. Full details

Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Triple Flying Blue Miles for stays at participating Accor hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 27 for stays until Jun 29, 14

Air Miles (Canada)
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Air Miles Rewards Miles with the BMO AIR MILES World MasterCard. More... Until Aug 31, 14
- Earn up to 10X Bonus Air Miles on your gasoline purchases at Shell stations across Canada. More... Until May 25, 14

American AAdvantage
- 3,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles + Instant Club Carlson Gold Elite Status when you complete a 2+ night stay at participating Carlson Hotels worldwide. More... Until Jul 15, 14 Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 50% FlyerBonus Points Discount on award tickets to any destination in the Bangkok Airways network. More... Book between May 15 and Jul 15 for travel May 20 - Jul 20, 14

Cyprus Airways Sunmiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple Sunmiles points on all Sixt rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Hyatt Gold Passport
- 5,000 Bonus Gold Passport Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Park Hyatt Vienna. More... Jun 2 - Aug 31, 14

Iberia Plus
- Earn up to 9,000 Bonus Avios on all Iberia flights Worldwide. More... Register by May 22 for travel until Jun 22, 14
- Double Avios on Iberia flights between Madrid and Los Angeles or Boston.  More... Register by May 31 for travel until Jun 30, 14
- Earn up to Triple Avios on select Iberia Regional Air Nostrum flights. More... Register by May 31 for travel until Jun 30, 14
- 25% Avios Discount for award tickets on select Iberia routes Worldwide.More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Double Avios on all eligible SriLankan Airlines flights Worldwide. More... (No Registration is required) May 15 - Jun 30, 14
- Double Avios on all eligible TAM Airlines flights Worldwide. More... . (No Registration is required) May 1 - 31, 14
- Double Avios on all eligible US Airways flights Worldwide.  More... (Registration is required) Until Jun 30, 14
- Double Avios on Derby Hotel stays in Barcelona, Paris or Madrid. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Double Avios for stays of 3 or more nights at select Hace Hotels in Spain. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Double Avios on all online prepaid rentals in Spain Mainland and Balearics. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- 1,000 Bonus Avios on weekend rentals at Avis locations in Spain. More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Triple Avios on all Europcar rentals Worldwide.More... Until Jun 30, 14
- Triple Avios on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide that are booked online. More... Until Jun 30, 14

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club points for stays at participating hotels across China. More... Until Jul 31, 14

Le Club accorhotels
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in the Middle East. More... Book by Aug 19 for stays until Sep 15, 14
- Earn up Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in China. More... Book by Jun 22 for stays until Jun 30, 14
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore. More... Book by Jul 14 for stays until Sep 30, 14
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at ibis, ibis Styles, Mercure and Novotel hotels in Swedenl in Sweden. More... Book by May 30 for stays until Jul 31, 14
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points and free breakfast for stays at participating Accor hotels in Bangkok.More... Book by May 24 for stays until Jul 31, 14

Marriott Rewards
- Marriott Getaway Bonus: Earn up to 45,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at any participating Marriott Hotel Worldwide. More... Register by Jul 31  for stays between Jun 1 and Aug 31, 2014

BMO AIR MILES World MasterCard sign up bonus increased to 2,000 Reward Miles

I think we've seen this offer before and we aren't sure if it is a response to Amex upping the bonus their Platinum Air Miles card but now you can earn up to 2,000 Bonus Air Miles Reward Miles with the BMO AIR MILES World MasterCard if you apply for the card by August 31st.  The bonus is tiered with 1,000 miles being awarded on your first purchase and the second 1,000 coming after you spend $1,000 in the first three months of having the card. That bonus it pretty decent as it translate to 2 short haul tickets or a nice balance boost to another redemption. Remember too that this card offers 25% off all Air Miles flight redemptions which no other card provides.  (Thanks to Randy M. for heads up!)

Find out more or apply for the card here.

Marriott Getaway Bonus: Up to 45,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at Marriott Hotels Worldwide

Marriott's latest systemwide promotion launched yesterday, called the Getaway Bonus, it is very similar to their often seen MegaBonus promotions except that there are not free night certificate options this with this one only bonus points. We received the double points after the second stay. What offer did you receive?

Here is the offer as it will appear on RCs Marriott page later today with the variety of bonuses that we are aware of (Thanks to Flyertalk once again!)

Marriott Getaway Bonus: Earn up to 45,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at any participating Marriott Hotel Worldwide. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking Register by Jul 31  for stays between Jun 1 and Aug 31, 2014
Some of the Offer Variations:
- Earn double points after your second paid stay, up to 25,000
- 20,000 points when you stay 12 nights, + 10,000 more points after 18 nights, up to 30,000
- 25,000 points when you stay 15 nights, + 10,000 more points 20 nights, up to 35,000
- 35,000 points when you stay 20 nights, + 10,000 more points 25 nights, up to 45,000

Why 'no foreign transaction fees' hasn't proliferated in the Canadian credit card market

A few years ago you may recall that we asked all the major credit and charge card issuers in Canada whether they would follow the trend seen in the United States with cards offering no foreign currency transaction fees. At the time none of the major issuers said they would but since then we have seen one small player come into the market with no forex fees, Chase. Recently there has been a lot of chatter from people asking why it hasn't proliferated in Canada. I've had some of our readers email me, seen some bloggers and forum participants ask why we aren't seeing more issuers offer no forex fee.

I often asked that question myself and received the answer from a loyalty colleague of mine from Aimia when I spoke about the cobrand market in Canada at an industry conference last November. He had the same question as well and was able to get the information out of one of the major issuers as to why it isn't being considered and with the recent spate of emails and talk on the web asking the same question I thought I would share that information with you. Interesting to note when I brought this up at a recent meeting I had with a major issuer they simple nodded their heads in agreement with the following:

It has to do with revenue!
The primary reason we haven't seen the major card issuers in Canada go down the no forex fee road is simple, it comes down to revenue. The foreign exchange fee generates a lot of revenue for Canadian card issuers and when compared to the market in the U.S. it makes up a much larger piece of the pie. How can that be you may ask as we only have a tenth of the population of the U.S.? To start, per capita Canadians on a whole travel internationally more often than Americans do (this include our millions of trips to the U.S). While Americans tend to do more domestic travel than Canadians. That doesn't mean we don't, but in terms of percentage of credit card holders when comparing the U.S. to Canada, more Canadians travel abroad. Secondly and this is also a major reason, it’s shopping. Canadians make millions of cross border shopping trips into the U.S.,  and you don't hear of many Americans coming into Canada to shop. Then there's online shopping, the majority of online retailers are in the U.S. or sell their items in USD. Of course for Americans that makes it easy but for us it means a foreign transaction on our credit card. The amount of revenue that Canadian credit card issuers would have to forego is huge!

How does Chase do it then?

If Chase can offer no foreign transaction fees then how come other issuers can’t? The reason is that Chase is relatively new to the Canadian market and have a very small portfolio of card holders when compared to all other Canadian issuers. They needed a marketing tactic that would help grow that portfolio and Chase chose the no foreign transaction fee route. Ever wonder why Chase cards don’t have a very strong insurance and benefits package? That was the trade off, Chase had to decide what to offer and rather than follow suit with most other card issuers who offer big benefits they went the no foreign transaction route. It is a highly touted benefit of Chase’s Marriott Premier Rewards Visa, Amazon Rewards Visa and Sears Voyage MasterCard. You’ll see it in most if not all of their marketing materials for those cards. If and when Chase becomes a major player in the Canadian market don’t be surprised if they impose a foreign transaction fee on the card(s) with the largest amount of cardholders.

Current Chase cards that offer no foreign transaction fee:

Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa
Amazon.ca Rewards Visa Card
Sears Financial MasterCard
Sears Financial Voyager MasterCard

Screen shot from the Chase Marriott application page

Will other issuers ever offer No Foreign Exchange?

Above we state if Chase can offer no foreign transaction fees then how come other issuers can’t? It’s not that they can’t, they would if the could. Believe me when I tell you that the product managers for many cards in Canada have tossed around and pushed the idea internally only to be shut down by the financial controllers as that forex fee makes them a lot of money and that is what this business is about, making money.

In general the Canadian credit card market is one of the most sophisticated and ahead of the times, our cards have pretty much maxed out on the rewards and benefits they offer. That’s why the trend in the last couple of years has been first year free, enhanced travel benefits (think The Platinum Card from Amex, the Amex Air Miles Reserve, TD and CIBC Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege) as the adders or differentiators for new or revamped cards. Now that those are being maxed out what’s left? No Foreign Transaction fees is one for that matter and as we stated a few years ago the first major card issuer to go this route stands to take a big chunk of the Canadian market. Will they lose revenue? Possibly as we don't know the actual numbers card issuers make off the fee but possibly not, there could be an equal trade off, the loss of revenue from foreign transaction fees could be made up by volume as the more cardholders you have the more transactions there are and of course the banks make money off each of those transactions.

I’m not holding my breath however. I don’t think we’ll see any of the major issuers go this route soon. I hope I’m wrong but they need to make money and with some card offers being very rich in terms of rewards and benefits (which annual fees can’t even cover) the only way they can make that money is on their merchant and foreign transaction fees.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic! Feel free to comment below!

May 7 Update: WestJet releases iPhone app, Miles & More buy miles bonus, World Hotels Peakpoints sign up bonus

It's app-bout time as WestJet states it and US Airways award tickets on BA without surcharges is dying quickly!

News, Tips & Tricks
WestJet finally released an app for the iPhone yesterday! Here is an excerpt from WestJet's press release

Now guests can book new flights, add existing reservations, check in for upcoming flights and get flight status information while also enjoying extras like seamless Passbook integration, exclusively available for iPhone users. Subscribers can also keep a list of all the great places they've visited under past trips and view a real-time countdown for the next getaway. The WestJet app for iPhone is designed to provide guests with a personalized travel experience in an easy-to-navigate format.

I downloaded the app at the time of writing this and in its current version it seems pretty decent for having it for electronic boarding passes, keeping track of trip information and even booking flights. The one thing missing however is access to your WestJet Rewards account which I'm sure many of our readers would like! Hopefully one of our readers who works at WestJet can comment as to whether this be a future integration into the app.

Last week news spread like wild fire that you could use US Airways Dividend Miles to book tickets on British Airways without fuel surcharges but it looks like that will change very soon as US Airways has sent a memo to their agents about the charges. So if yo book an award ticket online you might avoid charges but if you call in chances are you'll have to pay them. The online booking engine will likely do so soon however. (Source One Mile at a time)


Bonus Offers
Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards points for stays at the BEST WESTERN Premier Kasteel De Vanenburg. More... Until Aug 31, 14

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club points for stays at participating hotels across Europe. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Marriott Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at one of four participating Gaylord Hotels in the U.S. More... Jun 1 - Aug 24, 14
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel. More... Until Jun 8, 14

Miles & More
- 20% Bonus Miles & More Miles when you purchase 20,000 Miles & More miles that are used immediately for an award ticket. More... Until Jun 30, 14

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 8,000 EuroBonus points when you join the EuroBonus program. More... Until ?

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer miles when you rent serviced offices in more than 100 countries around the world, plus receive a complimentary Businessworld Preferred Card for 15 visits to any Regus business lounges globally. More... Until Jun 30, 14

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Earn up to Triple Royal Orchid Plus Miles when you stay at properties within the Hilton HHonors™ portfolio Worldwide. Earn triple miles in Asia Pacific, and double miles anywhere else worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 14

World Hotels Peakpoints
- 300 Bonus Peakpoints when you join World Hotels' Peakpoints program. More... Until May 24, 14