Dec 2 Update: Air Canada 30% Flight Bonus, Alaska Airlines Rocketmiles Bonus, JAL & Singapore Airlines Hilton Stay Bonuses

Just bonuses today as most of the day was spent out of the office!

News, Tips & Tricks
No news is good news


Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- 30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Air Canada flights to/from select cities Worldwide. More... Register and book by Jan 11 for travel Jan 7 - Apr 30, 15

airberlin topbonus
- Quadruple topbonus miles for stays at any participating Dorint Hotels in Europe. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Mar 31, 15

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- 3,000 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Mar 31 for stays until Aug 31, 14

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points on all qualifying stays at the BEST WESTERN Richelieu Lyon Part-Dieu More... Until Feb 28, 15

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 1,000 HawaiianMiles PER NIGHT for stays at The Modern, Honolulu. More... Until Apr 30, 15

JAL Mileage Bank
- Receive up to a 17,000 Mileage Bank Miles Discount on select JAL Mileage Bank International Award Ticket redemptions. More... Until Feb 29, 16
- Earn up to Triple Mileage Bank Miles when you stay at properties within the Hilton HHonors™ portfolio Worldwide. More... Until Feb 28, 15

Orbitz Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- $50 Bonus Orbucks when you book a Barcelo property in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, or Mexico as a prepaid, standalone hotel. More... Book by Dec 14, 14

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when you stay on a Best Available Flexible Rate at a participating Anantara property in Asia or the Middle East. More... Until Jan 31, 15
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when you stay on the Best Available Reate at a participating AVANI property in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mozambique, Thailand, Seychelles and Vietnam. More... U Until Jan 31, 15
- Earn up to Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you stay at properties within the Hilton HHonors™ portfolio Worldwide. More...   Until Feb 28, 15

TAP Portugal Victoria
- 40% Victoria Miles Discount for Victoria Award Tickets on nearly all TAP Portugal flights Worldwide. More... Book by Dec 12 for travel Jan 12 - Mar 19, 14

Virgin Australia Velocity (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Velocity Points for stays at the The Langham Sydney. More... Until Jan 31, 15

Today's Daily Update has been brought to you by

30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Air Canada flights to over 70 cities Worldwide

Air Canada has launched a new flight mileage bonus for flights to over 70 cities in the AC network. The 30% bonus is good for flights in the New Year (Jan 7 to Apr 30) but you need to register and book by Jan 11. Like all flight promotions from Air Canada, bookings made before today (Dec 1) do not count towards the promotion. Even if you don't know you travel plans yet you should register for this offer right away.

Offer Details
30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Air Canada flights to/from select cities Worldwide. To qualify, the roundtrip or two one‑way flight segments must be travelled in the eligible fare options: Tango; Flex; Latitude; Premium Economy Lowest & Flexible; Premium rouge; Business Class Lowest & Flexible.
Register Online (Registration is required) Register and book by Jan 11 for travel Jan 7 - Apr 30, 15

Dec 1 Update: Miles & More quadruple dip opportunity, oneworld enhances elite benefits, Air Canada Cyber Monday sale

First update of the week and the month gives us the following:

News, Tips & Tricks
Over on the FrequentFlyerBonuses.com blog we highlight a quadruple dip mileage earning opportunity by buying Best Western Travel Card. This offer is however from Miles & More (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss etc.) and is for buying gift cards in Euros so we didn't have a separate post for it here on RC but you should be able to take advantage of it nonetheless since the Travel Cards can be electronic and sent to your email. You'll have to incur a foreign exchange transaction fee however unless you use a card like the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card which has no forex fees. You can read all about the offer here.

oneworld alliance announced additional elite member benefits that took effect today. Those additional benefits are Priority baggage delivery for Emerald and Sapphire cardholders and Additional checked baggage allowance for Sapphire tier customers. Here are some more details from the oneworld press release:

Priority baggage delivery for Emerald and Sapphire cardholders

Most oneworld member airlines already aim to deliver as a priority checked baggage for their own top-level frequent flyers, along with other passengers flying in First or Business Class.
Now, this benefit is being extended to all frequent flyers with the equivalent of oneworld Emerald and Sapphire in any of the alliance member airlines' loyalty programmes when they fly in any cabin class with oneworld member airlines anywhere in the world.

Additional checked baggage allowance for Sapphire tier customers
Following the launch last year of an additional baggage allowance for the alliance member airlines' most loyal customers - those with the top tier oneworld Emerald status - now cardholders with the next highest status, Sapphire, will also receive an additional baggage benefit.
From today (1 December 2014), when travelling on any flight operated and marketed by any oneworld member airline, the following special baggage privileges will apply to all Sapphire cardholders:

• On international or domestic itineraries using the baggage allowance "weight" system - 15 kgs in addition to the ticketed Economy allowance.
• On international itineraries (including domestic sectors flown as part of international itineraries) using the baggage allowance "piece" system – a second bag, weighing up to 23 kgs, when the ticketed allowance is one bag.
• On purely domestic itineraries with flights using the baggage allowance "piece" system – the assurance of at least one piece of checked baggage, weighing up to 23 kgs, even when the regular ticketed allowance has no free allowance.

Customers travelling in First and Business Class cabins will in most cases receive an even greater free checked baggage allowance.
With all oneworld member airlines already granting Sapphire-level members of their own frequent flyer programme an additional baggage benefit when they fly on their "own" airline, today's move extends this privilege to when those customers travel on oneworld partner airlines.

Notes

1         For the full range of oneworld's services and benefits for frequent flyers and full details of these new baggage benefits, including frequently asked questions about the new Sapphire baggage benefit, see oneworld.com

2         Priority baggage delivery is not available on flights operated by British Airways.

3         The Sapphire baggage benefit does not apply to tickets issued using British Airways' "hand baggage only" fares. 

4         For domestic routes operated by LAN Airlines, Sapphire cardholders may check in up to two bags with a combined weight not exceeding 23 kgs. 

oneworld Elite Benefits as of December 1, 2014

Travel Deals
Air Canada has a Cyber Monday sale that offers 15% off Tango and Flex fares to anywhere Air Canada flies. Fares must be booked by 11:59pm in your local time zone tonight using promo code CYBERMONDAY. Valid for travel Jan 12 - Jun 15, 15. Find out more here.

Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Triple Flying Blue Miles for stays on the Warm Winter Package at participating Regent Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 15 - Feb 28, 15

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Triple Mileage Plan Miles for stays at the The Fairmont Kea Lani, Maui. More... Until Dec 19, 14

American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles for stays at participating Golden Tulip Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 15

Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 70% FlyerBonus Points Discount on all Bangkok Airways award tickets. More... Book by Dec 31 for travel Apr 20 - May 31, 14

Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Boomerang Miles when fly between Köln-Bonn, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf or Hannover and London (Stansted or Heathrow) More... Until Dec 31, 14

Miles & More
- Earn up to 6,500 Miles & More Miles when you buy Best Western Travel Cards. Earn 500 miles for every 75EUR up to a maximum of 1000EUR or 6,500 miles. More... Until Dec 23, 14

Oman Air Sindbad (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 20% Sindbad Miles Discount on Sindbad award tickets purchased between Muscat and Amman, Abu Dhabi , Bahrain, Bangalore, Bangkok, Beirut, Cairo, Colombo, Dammam, Dar-es-salam, Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Karachi, Kathmandu, London, Male, Milan, Munich, Muscat, Paris, Salalah, Tehran, Zanzibar and Zurich. More... Book by Jan 31 for travel until Mar 31, 15

Today's Daily Update has been brought to you by

Best Western Cyber Monday deal - $25 Travel Card totally for free, must be used by January 5

Best Western's Cyber Monday deal is a free $25 Best Western Travel Card that is sent to your email that can be used on any Best Western stay. The catch is you have only until January 5th to use the Travel Card and they can't be used on their cheapest fully prepaid rates. No matter what I would sign up for this offer even if you aren't planning a Best Western stay as of today but plans do change and a week from now you may need to and this will save you $25!

You can sign up for this offer here.

Club Carlson Cyber Monday Deal - 20,000 Points for US$70

Last Friday Club Carlson tweeted out that their Cyber Monday deal will be a 100% bonus on buying Club Carlson Gold Points. That offer is now live and is capped at a purchase of 10,000 points + the 100% bonus which equals 20,000 points for only US$70 plus GST/HST. You can take advantage of this great by logging into your account via this link http://www.clubcarlson.com/fgp/earn/points.do and purchasing the points by 11:59CST today!

Nov 28 Update: What happens to miles/points when you cancel your credit card, Air France Seat Sale, 13 bonus offers

Here are our news and bonus offer round up for the last day of this week and month!

News, Tips & Tricks
Fun Fact Friday: Did you know that our global website FrequentFlyerBonuses.com covers the most loyalty promotions out of all the major frequent flyer/travel points websites and blogs? In fact in a recent survey we conducted approximately only 30% of the offers FFB passes along to you are covered by other websites and blogs. And of those only thirty odd percent, FFB is the first to post these offers over 60% of the time! (and is first and only one for the other ~70%). If you are a global traveller and haven't visited FFB you should do so now and bookmark it! It is a valuable tool to have in your quest for more miles, more points and more rewards.

Reader question answered!

"I am just wondering if I lose my points that I get from the credit cards if I cancel the card?  I have a card with aeroplan points but I want to cancel it before the renewal fee comes into affect at the year mark"

With Aeroplan you won't lose the miles as long as they have posted to your Aeroplan account. Those miles typically post when your monthly statement is complete. If you cancel in between you may lose the miles just for that month depending on who issues the card but most will award you the miles for what you spent right up to cancellation. To make sure you don't lose any I would use the card right up to the statement date cut off then stop spending on the card and cancel it. For other cards with proprietary programs not connected to programs like Aeroplan, Air Miles etc. you may lose your miles/points when you cancel if you haven't used them. Depending on the card you may forfeit the points right when you cancel (so book travel before you cancel) while some others may give you up to 6 months after you cancel to use your points.

Air Miles is having a Super Bonus Event Black Friday Edition with bonus offers from Safeway, Michaels, Old Navy and more. You can access the offer details here.

And more news from the RC blog:

• Today Only: Earn 100 Bonus Air Miles for every $100 spent on gift cards at Safeway
  The great deal of 55 Air Miles for $50 Gift Cards ended yesterday (I ended up buying 6 cards for…
• Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards - Save 50% on Premium Economy award tickets between Toronto & Europe for Feb/Mar Travel
  For the second month in a row we are lucky to see Canada included in Air France KLM's Promo Awards…
• Why camp out in the cold when you can earn even more miles with Black Friday & Cyber Monday online shopping deals!
  The biggest shopping days of the year for the U.S. are Black Friday and Cyber Monday while here in Canada…

Travel Deals
Air France's latest seat sale has some of the lowest fares we've seen from them in a while. You can fly to Europe for as little as $606 round trip all in. Book by Dec 3 for travel Dec 29 - May 6. Book online at airfrance.ca

Bonus Offers
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 31 for travel between Feb 1 - Mar 31, 15

American AAdvantage
- Triple AAdvantage Miles for stays on the Warm Winter Package at participating Regent Hotels Worldwide.More... Dec 15 - Feb 28, 15

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles when you stay at any participating Ascott, Citadines or Somerset serviced residence. More... Dec 1 - Mar 31, 15
- Triple Asia Miles on purchases at any of the nine Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages in Europe. More... Until Jan 5, 14

China Southern Sky Pearl
- Double Sky Pearl Kilometers for stays at participating Best Western Hotels in China. More... Until Dec 31, 14
- Earn up to Quadruple Sky Pearl Kilometers for stays at Shangri-La Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 15

Miles & More
- 500 Bonus Miles & More Miles PER NIGHT for up to three nights for stays at participating Falkensteiner Hotels. More... Dec 1 - 31, 14
- Double Miles & More Miles for stays at Leonardo Hotels in Europe and Israel. More... Until Jan 31, 15
- Double Miles & More Miles for stays at participating Lindner Hotels in Europe . More... Until Dec 31, 14
- 10,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles when you subscribe to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. More... Dec 1 - 31, 14

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Earn up to Triple Royal Orchid Plus Miles when you stay at participating Okura Hotels & Resorts, Nikko Hotels International and Hotel JAL City Worldwide. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 15

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- 3,000 Bonus Miles&Smiles Miles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Jun 30, 14

Wyndham Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Shelborne Wyndham Grand South Beach. More... Until Apr 30, 15


Today's Daily Update has been brought to you by

Today Only: Earn 100 Bonus Air Miles for every $100 spent on gift cards at Safeway

The great deal of 55 Air Miles for $50 Gift Cards ended yesterday (I ended up buying 6 cards for 330 Air Miles) and now for today only, Safeway has come out with another deal. You will earn 100 Bonus Air Miles for every $100 spent on Gift Cards at Safeway up to a maximum of 500 Air Miles (or $500 spent). What makes this offer better in some ways than the 55 Air Miles deal is that the previous offer was limited to select retailers while this offer is for all gift cards other than Safeway, Pre Paid Credit Cards and LCBO gift cards. You can find all the details here but no coupon is required.

P.S.
Remember to use a credit card that earns extra miles or points on grocery store purchases!

Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards - Save 50% on Premium Economy award tickets between Toronto & Europe for Feb/Mar Travel

For the second month in a row we are lucky to see Canada included in Air France KLM's Promo Awards although there is only one option this month! These will be bookable as of December 1st and are good for award travel for February and March of 2015.  The offer this time is for 50% off Premium Economy Class between Toronto and Europe on Air France. Don't have the miles? You could always consider transferring Starpoints earned via the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to Flying Blue.

What are the promo awards? The promo awards are a discount of 25-50% off the regular Flying Blue mileage requirement for select Air France, KLM, Air Europa and Kenya Airways award tickets in select cabins.  Due to increases in the regular award mileage requirements some time ago the promo awards are not as grand as they used to be but overall are still considered a great deal when compared to the regular mileage requirements. To take advantage of this deal you must book your promo award ticket between December 1st and 31st for travel between February 1st and March 31st, 2015. More details can be found here.

Why camp out in the cold when you can earn even more miles with Black Friday & Cyber Monday online shopping deals!

The biggest shopping days of the year for the U.S. are Black Friday and Cyber Monday while here in Canada it has always been Boxing Day. In the last few years Canada has caught on to the whole craze and now we celebrate Black Friday and Cyber Monday as well.  While many people will choose to camp out at their favorite retailers for those amazing deals, most frequent flyers, mileage and points hounds will actually be happy at home relaxing in front of their computers to get their Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping done. Why? The almighty miles and points. That's why. When shopping online these people will be earning their regular credit card miles and points for purchases as they would in-store but will earn even more by shopping via online shopping portals. While many major loyalty programs have online shopping portals for shopping at your favorite retailers some stand out for the upcoming crazy shopping days as not only will you earn your base miles through the mall and you credit card miles but you'll also earn bonus miles that these portals are offering! At the time of posting it appears that many of the U.S. based programs have not released their Black Friday/Cyber Monday bonus miles offerings yet or who knows maybe they aren't having any any since they know people are going to shop anyways!

Here are RC's top 4 online mall bonuses for the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping frenzies!

Air Miles
One of the largest and longest running Canadian online portals, airmilesshops.ca has some big bonuses in store! You'll earn 10x reward miles offer valid on qualifying purchases of $20 CDN or more, excluding shipping, duty and taxes, made in a single transaction on top of additional bonuses for individual retailers. For example,  The Source has 15x the Air Miles, which means even on a small $20 purchase you'll earn 24 Air Miles, on a $100 purchase its 120 miles! Find all the details here.

Aeroplan eStore
Getting noticeably less play than their new big shopping partner, Shop.ca, the Aeroplan eStore is still around and they're also having a Black Friday offer for online shopping. All purchases will earn 5x the miles per dollar spent and if you hold Distinction status you'll earn your relevant Distinction bonus over and above the 5x miles. Find all the details here. (oh and if you choose to shop via Shop.ca they have lots of Black Friday specials and you'll earn 5x the miles if it is your first purchase with them)

RBC Rewards eMall
One of the newest online portals in Canada, the RBC Rewards Mall is only for RBC credit card holders and they have quite the deal! Cardholders will earn up to 15x the RBC Rewards Points for online purchases made via RBC Rewards eMall. Since they state 'up to 15x' it seems like the bonus depends on the retailer, so some many not have any bonus while others will have the whopping 15x! Find all the details here.

Great Canadian Rebates / ebates.ca
Not into points or miles? You can always choose to earn cash back via the online portals that offer a rebate on online purchases. The two biggies in Canada are GreatCanadianRebates.ca and ebates.ca. ebates.ca will be awarding double cash back on Black Friday purchases, we have not seen what GCR is planning.

Nov 27 Update: SAS EuroBonus 2015 Mileage Earning Changes and JAL Mileage Bank 2015 Program Changes, Coast Hotels Pink Friday Sale

More programs changes being revealed, not so good news for JAL Premium Class travel out of YVR.

News, Tips & Tricks
SAS Scandinavian EuroBonus is the next airline to release mileage earning changes for 2015. Unfortunately those flying on the cheapest fares including some of the higher SAS Plus categories won't earn as many EuroBonus points. The only flights where there seems to be an increase in mileage earning is long haul business class. The good news is that Elite Status qualification is lowered! Point requirements for Gold status: 45 000 Basic points (previously 50 000) or 45 one-way trips (previously 50), for Diamond status: 90 000 Basic points (previously 100 000) or 90 one-way trips (previously 100) (Source SAS)

EuroBonus 2014 Chart

EuroBonus 2015 Chart

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank have also released the details of their 2015 program. Some the major highlights include

• JAL International First Class and Business Class award tickets mileage requirements are changing, see the charts below for flights from Vancouver and other North American cities to Japan (not until Nov 1, 2015, now that's advance notice!!). As you can see business and first class are seeing major increases except on select days of the week and the lowest discount economy goes lower!
• one way International award flights now only costing half the miles of a round trip flight.
• new phone in fees for changing award ticket reservations
• using miles to pay for excess baggage fees
• award tickets will be able to be changed to the next higher class without the mileage reinstatement fee (Source JAL)

2014 Chart

2015 Chart

Travel Deals 
Coast Hotels Coast Rewards members can save up to 40% off stays booked during their Pink Friday sale. Find all the details here.

Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 1,000 Bonus Club Premier Kilometers for any stay booked on PointsHound. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Hilton HHonors
- Earn up to 50% Bonus HHonors Points when you buy you points online. More... Until Dec 22, 14

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn 2,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you join the IHG Rewards Club Program. More... For Residents of the U.S. and Canada only Until Dec 7, 14

Le Club accorhotels
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in the Asia Pacific region. More...Until Feb 28 ,15
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor hotels in Italy, Greece or Israel. More... Book by Dec 20 for stays until Feb 1, 15
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor hotels in Portugal. More... Book by Dec 16 for stays until Jan 11, 15
- 870 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at the Francis Hotel Bath. More... Book by Feb 22 for stays until Mar 31, 15
- 575 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at any participating Accor Hotels in the U.K.. More... Book by Mar 3 for stays Dec 12 - Apr 13, 15

Marriott Rewards
- 7,500 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay two nights or more at 5 hotels in the New Orleans area. More... Until Jan 11, 15
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you use a Marriott Rewards Credit Card for stays at participating Marriott Hotels in the U.K.. More... Jan 1 - Mar 31, 15

Oman Air Sindbad (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Sindbad Miles on Oman Air flights between Muscat and Amman, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Bangalore, Bangkok, Beirut, Cairo, Chennai, Cochin, Colombo, Dammam, Dar-es-Salam, Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jeddah, Karachi, Kathmandu, London, Madinah, Male, Milan, Munich, Muscat, Paris, Salalah, Tehran, Trivandrum, Zanzibar and Zurich. More... Until Dec 31, 14

United MileagePlus
- Triple MileagePlus Miles for stays on the Warm Winter Package at participating Regent Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 15 - Feb 28, 15



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