AIR MILES Mega Miles Event: 1,250 Bonus Reward Miles when you use coupons at 5 different sponsors

The AIR MILES Mega Miles event launched on May 1st and presents a really nice bonus mile earning opportunity. If you meet the requirement of using Mega Miles coupons at 5 or more sponsors you'll be awarded with 1,250 Rewards Miles over and above the base miles and coupon bonus miles awarded. You'll want to get on this promotion sooner than later however as a maximum of 60,000 members (out of ~10 million) will receive the bonus and although the terms and conditions don't state it we assume they are first come first serve.

Now to earn bonus won't come cheap if you don't have an planned shopping this month at the participating sponsors. On the other hand if you do or can move shopping from one retailer to another that is an AIR MILES Sponsor than you can earn those bonus miles for your everyday regular spending.

The cheapest way we found to earn the bonus simply byy looking at all the details on the coupons would be as follows:
Spend $40 on beauty products at Rexall (80 Bonus Miles coupon)
Spend $60 at Michaels (6x Miles Coupon)
Spend $60 at The Children's Place (20 Bonus Miles Coupon)
Spend $75 at Staples (5x Miles coupon)
Spend $50 at Global Pet Foods (15 Bonus Miles Coupon)

So for $285 in spending you'll earn the 1,250 Bonus Mega Miles Miles plus your base amount plus the coupon bonuses for an additional 140 miles or 1,390 miles in total. We value AIR MILES Rewards Miles at an average of 13 cents each, so you are getting back $180.70 on your $285 in spending, honestly that's not a bad return. For some of you it may take more spending but as we mentioned before if this is shopping you are already planning on doing then jump on the Mega Miles event right away so that you can earn this bonus.

Find out more and print all your coupons here!

---

You can get 2,000 more AIR MILES Rewards Miles with the The American Express® AIR MILES®* Platinum Credit Card
• Earn a bonus of 2,000 AIR MILES reward miles when you charge a total of $500 in purchases to your Card within your first three months of Cardmembership
• 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 electronics to 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
Conditions apply

Club Carlson Elites earn 5,000 Bonus Gold Points on all eligible stays in June/July if booked by May 31

Club Carlson sent an email out this afternoon to all their elite members with this nice bonus. Guess it is a possible bandage to appease the masses who may have become angry with the hotel category changes announced over the weekend.

Offer Details
Earn 5,000 Bonus Gold Points on eligible Carlson Rezidor hotel stay Worldwide. Simpy book your stays online at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu or Park Inn. Book by May 31 for stays between Jun 1 - Jul 31, 15
Restrictions:
For Club Carlson Elite members only (you must be Elite at the time of reservation)

Terms & Conditions
The 5K Elite Summer Bonus Point Promotion ("Promotion") is valid for 5,000 bonus Gold Points^® ("Bonus Points") on each Eligible Stay booked between May 4, 2015 and May 31, 2015 and completed between June 1, 2015 and July 31, 2015. You must be a Club Carlson^SM Elite member at the time of reservation to participate in the Promotion. "Eligible Stay" is defined in the Club Carlson Terms and Conditions. Stays paid for using Points + Cash are not eligible for this Promotion. Bonus Points will be credited when the standard Gold Points are credited for the Eligible Stay

If you have The Platinum Card from American Express you get Club Carlson Gold status for free! If you haven't activated that feature yet from the card do so now as it can take a few days to a week or two before the status kicks in. If you don't have the card you could possibly still make the bonus by applying within a day or two and as soon as you receive the card go online to get your status!

Not an elite member or looking for other ways to earn even more Club Carlson points? Visit and bookmark our Club Carlson Bonus Gold Points page!

May 4 Update: Club Carlson 2015 Award Night Changes, Marriott eBreaks for 2 Canadian locations, 40% Bonus when buying Hyatt Gold Passport points

More hotel category award night changes in the news!

News, Tips & Tricks

The big news that came out over the weekend is yet another hotel program devaluation. Carlson Rezidor Hotels Club Carlson (better known as the program for Radisson Hotels, Country Inns, Park Plaza etc.) has released their list of hotel category changes for 2015. Almost every major hotel chain has put out category changes this year from the likes of IHG Rewards Club to Starwood Preferred Guest and others inbetween. The reason this could be considered a devaluation is that more hotels (over 200) are going up in price than are going down (over 100) but in general its not as major as it is in the U.S. as they had the beautiful perk of a free night with the U.S. based Club Carlson Visa where if you redeemed for one night with points you would get a second for free. That benefit for them ends on June 1st, the same day these category changes kick in. Since us Canadians never had that advantage the major hit for us are for those travelling to Europe who were looking to use Club Carlson points as that is where most of the hotels going up in categories are taking place. The dreaded category 7 hotels which were introduced with The last change from Club Carlson came in March 2014 goes from only 11 hotels to 78 hotels with this change and more than 40 of those are in Europe. Luckily, here in Canada the changes aren't that bad as we only see two hotels go up a category and two go down. You can find the entire list of hotel changes here.

Carlson Rezidor locations in Canada that are changing on June 1st

American AAdvantage members can now earn AAdvantage miles on all eligible fares for flights on Etihad. Prior to this change AA members could only earn miles on AA codeshare routes flown by EY.

Posts since our last update:

• Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on award tickets to Europe from Toronto
  Once again we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we continue…
• WestJet Rewards: 20% Bonus Dollars when converting RBC Rewards Points (RBC Avion cardholders only)
  On Friday we saw the return of the 20% bonus for transferring RBC Rewards Points to WestJet Rewards for Avion…

Travel Deals
Marriott's latest set of eBreaks for stays this coming weekend include two Canadian locations. Simply use promo code MEB when you book online at marriott.com These rates are valid for stays between May 7 and 10.

Bonus Offers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly Alaska Airlines between Los Angeles and Baltimore. More... Sep 9 - Oct 9, 15

Avianca LifeMiles
- Earn up to Triple LifeMiles when renting with Avis for 3 or more days in USA, Europe and Latin America. More... Until May 31, 15

Caribbean Airlines Caribbean Miles
- Earn up to 6x Caribbean Miles on Hertz rentals of 1 or more days in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Delta SkyMiles
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Skymiles when you stay at Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Park Plaza®, Park Inn® by Radisson, and Country Inns & Suites By CarlsonSM hotel worldwide More... Until Jul 31, 15

Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Boomerang Miles when you fly between Köln-Bonn, Stuttgart, Hannover, Berlin Hamburg, or Düsseldorf and Rome. More...Book by May 31 for travel until Jun 30, 15

Hyatt Gold Passport
- 40% Bonus Gold Passport Points when you purchase 10,000 points or more. More... Until May 31, 15

Orbitz Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Quadruple Bonus Orbucks when you book select flights to Savannah. More... Book by May 28, 15
- $40 Bonus Orbucks when you book select Savannah flight + hotel packages. More... Book by May 28, 15

Virgin Australia Velocity Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Velocity Points when you fly in Economy and Business Class on eligible Virgin Australia and South African Airways flights. More... Register by May 9 for travel between May 16 - Jul 31, 15
- 15% Velocity Points Discount when you redeem for reward Seats on any flight marketed and operated by Virgin Australia. More... Until Jun 30, 15
- 2,000 Velocity Points for stays of 3 or more nights at participating One&Only Resorts Worldwide (Australia excluded) More... Book by Jun 30 for stays until Sep 30, 15

WestJet Rewards
- 20% Bonus WestJet Dollars when you convert RBC Rewards Points (RBC Avion Cardholders only) to WestJet Rewards Dollars More... Until Jun 15, 15

Today's Bonus Offer Highlight is brought to you by:

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on award tickets to Europe from Toronto

Once again we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we continue to see Lufthansa Business Class options and once again we see the offer of a 50% discount on economy class travel on Austrian Airlines between Toronto and Austria. The Business Class offer is for travel this September and the Austrian offers are good for booking and travel by June 30th.

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip tickets from Toronto to Europe for only 55,000 miles in Business Class.  This is nearly a 48% discount off the normal Business Class award ticket price of 105,000 miles. As mentioned before the Austrian Airlines option is a full 50% discount on economy class which means an award ticket price of only 30,000 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. 

The crazy thing is that you can actually get the round trip Austrian Airlines ticket for only $5,000 in credit card spend (and a $120 annual fee). How so? As we usually mention in this post you can boost your Miles & More account with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. If you read our blog regularly you'll know that right now the card comes with a 20,000 Starpoint sign up bonus. When you convert those 20,000 Starpoints to Miles & More SPG will award you an additional 5,000 miles. Which gives you 25,000 miles but if you spend $5,000 on the card you'll have 25,000 Starpoints and the 5,000 Miles bonus giving you the 30,000 miles required for this flight. Of course fuel surcharges and taxes are extra.

Simply book the LH Business Class offers by May 31st or the Austrian offers by June 30th.  
Full details on this offer can be found here

WestJet Rewards: 20% Bonus Dollars when converting RBC Rewards Points (RBC Avion cardholders only)

On Friday we saw the return of the 20% bonus for transferring RBC Rewards Points to WestJet Rewards for Avion Cardholders. This is the exact same promo that was around in November 2014 but is lower than that seen at about this time last year of 25%.  While not as lucrative as the 50% Transfer Bonus we see for British Airways that should be coming up in June or July this offer can really make sense for a lot of Canadians who have no interest in what the British Airways Executive Club program can provide. With this offer you'll get the bonus and in return you can redeem those WestJet Dollars on any WestJet flight and it can even be a partial redemption unlike most FFPs which require you to have the full amount of miles at time of redemption.

With this promo you'll get 1.2 WestJet Dollars for every $100 RBC Rewards Points converted. Essentially a 1.2% return on your spending which isn't great but say you only have 10,000 RBC Rewards Points right now, you can't redeem that for more than a value of more than 1% with RBC Rewards so you would get more value out of the WestJet transfer. This really only makes sense if you want to save on some upcoming travel with WestJet however. If you don't have travel planned in the next few months your best bet is to hold onto to those RBC Rewards Points for redemption via their Avion Award chart or conversion to British Airways.

Find all the details on this promotion here.

May 1 Update: Rexall Bonus AIR MILES offers, WestJet adds Abbotsford-Las Vegas, 14 new bonuses

Final update of the week:

News, Tips & Tricks
Couple of Rexall AIR MILES Rewards Miles Bonuses to let you know about. 50 Bonus Miles when spending $50 between May 1-3 and 100 Bonus Miles when spending $50 or more on cosmetics, Derm skin care, fragrances or specialty bath products. Find out more here.

The Aeroplan transfer bonus we brought you earlier in the week has been extended from May 24th to May 31st.  Find out more here.

WestJet is adding a new service between Abbotsford and Las Vegas. The service will launch on Oct 29th and will operate twice weekly. Another route for you to earn and burn WestJet Rewards dollars or burn your proprietary credit card rewards points on! (Source WestJet)

Posts since our last update:

• IHG Rewards Club Latin America Reward Night Sale - 50% off for stays in May if booked by May 8
  Here is a great redemption offer for IHG Rewards Club hotels in Latin America, granted it ain't no PointBreaks…
• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for May
  Here are the Rewards Canada's  Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of May! This is not…

Bonus Offers
Aeroflot Bonus
- 1,000 Bonus Miles PER NIGHT for stays at Gloria Hotels. More... Until Oct 31, 15
- Double Bonus Miles for stays at Maxima Hotels. More... Until Aug 31, 15

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus AAdvantage miles when you stay at Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Park Plaza®, and Park Inn® by Radisson Worldwide. More... May 1 - Jul 31, 15

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points for stays at select Best Western Hotels in Australia. More... Until ?

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to Triple Asia Miles for stays at participating Mandarin Oriental Hotels Worldwide. More... Jul 1 - Sep 1, 15
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Asia Miles on pre-paid car rentals with Rentalcars.com. More... Until May 31, 15

Delta SkyMiles
- Instant Gold Medallion Status and Delta Sky Club membership for two months. More... Targeted offer - May Not Work for everyone Until May 9, 15

Etihad Guest
- Earn up to Triple Guest Miles for stays at any participating Accor Hotel Worldwide. More... Book by May 15 for stays until Jun 15, 15
- 50 Bonus Guest Miles per review when you write and submit your own review for a hotel you have stayed at on Holiday Check. More... Until May 25, 15

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the SpringHill Suites Dallas Lewisville. More... Jul 9 - Sep 30, 15
- 500 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the TownePlace Suites Rochester. More... Nov 1 - Dec 31, 15
- 500 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the TownePlace Suites Rochester. More... Aug 16 - Oct 31, 15
- 500 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the TownePlace Suites Rochester. More... Jan 1 - Mar 25, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for Sunday to Thursday stays at the Residence Inn Orlando Convention Center. . More... Jul 19 - Sep 30, 15

IHG Rewards Club Latin America Reward Night Sale - 50% off for stays in May if booked by May 8

Here is a great redemption offer for IHG Rewards Club hotels in Latin America, granted it ain't no PointBreaks but still a great deal if you want to head to any of these locales this month!


WHAT:    Get 50 percent off IHG® Rewards Club Reward Nights

WHEN:    Book noon EST May 1 – noon EST May 8, 2015 for stays May 1 – May 31, 2015

WHERE:  At participating IHG hotels in resort destinations across Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean

Full details and online booking can be found here. 

Participating Hotels:

InterContinental Cancun Resort

Holiday Inn Resort Acapulco

Holiday Inn Express Puerto Vallarta

InterContinental Panama Playa Bonita Resort & Spa

Holiday Inn Resort Puerto Vallarta

The Holiday Inn Express Cabo San Lucas

     

Crowne Plaza Acapulco

Holiday Inn Resort Aruba

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for May

Here are the Rewards Canada's  Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of May! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the sign up bonus, but when most of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when not taking into account insurance packages and other non-reward benefits. In fact all 5 cards on this list for April are first year free so you can try them out at no cost and decide later on if the card is right for you. All the while earning the sign up bonus which can be used to subsidize your travels!

The only change in this list from April was the replacement of the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit from American Express (which still deserves honorable memtion) with the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card as the TD card offer is slated to end on May 8th so those who don't have it or were unaware of this offer get this boost to get, not to mention it now makes this list of cards 5 for 5 with no first year free.

So here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for May (in alphabetical order)

American Express Gold Rewards Card - 25,000 Points (Apply here)
A mainstay offer here on Rewards Canada, the American Express Gold Rewards card has its first year fee of $150 waived and will award you 25,000 Membership Rewards points when you complete $500 in spending in the first three months. That 25,000 points is worth a $250 travel credit via Amex's TripFlex feature or can be converted to 25,000 Aeroplan Miles (1 Round trip Economy Award ticket within North America) or 25,000 British Airways Executive Club Avios (as much a 5 one way Economy Award tickets in North America, see this post for details.)

BMO Rewards World Elite MasterCard - 30,000 Points (Apply here)
Quite possibly the best Travel Points card now available in the market, the BMO Rewards World Elite MasterCard also has a $150 annual fee but that is waived in the first year too! The sign up bonus is 30,000 BMO Rewards Points which is worth $300 toward travel booked via BMO Rewards.  There is no minimum spend so as soon as you are approved you should have access to that travel credit!

Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa - 30,000 Points  (Apply here)
The best no foreign transaction fee card in Canada makes it to this list due to a very strong acquisition offer. I mean who can complain with 30,000 points awarded on approval and a certificate for a free night stay at a Category 1-4 hotel for a potential of 5 free nights, all at no cost as the card has the annual fee waived in the first year! They also give you  a 15 night credit into the mix which automatically provides you with Marriott Rewards Silver Elite status.

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card - 25,000 Miles (Apply here)
Also seeing an increased sign up bonus and the first year fee waived, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card had a tough start trying to break into a market saturated with so many cards and competing against its CIBC equivalent. The card now seems to be gaining some traction and with offers like the current 25,000 Aeroplan Miles sign up bonus (15,000 upon approval, 10,000 when you spend $1,000) and the first years $120  fee waived, I'm sure you can see you why.

TD First Class Visa Infinite Card - 40,000 Points (Apply here)
Now seeing an increased sign up bonus and the first year fee waived, the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card has also been a good card with a simple 1.5% return on all your spending that can be redeemed for any travel that is booked on the card. The regular sign up of offer 20,000 TD Rewards Points has now been boosted to 40,000 (20,000 upon approval, 20,000 when you spend $1,000) and the first year $120  fee waived which means you essentially get $200 of travel for free.

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with at least $1000 in travel credits and hotel free nights but even if you only take on one or two you are helping your travel budget significantly at no cost other than regular credit card spend.

Apr 30 Update: 1,000 Free AAdvantage Miles, newest Flying Blue Promo Awards and a throwback to a 2003 newsletter!

Primarily points and miles earn and burn offers today!

News, Tips & Tricks
Check out the American AAdvantage Free Miles offer listed below if this is a program you have miles in but don't utilize very often. Promotions like these are great at keeping your account current.

The latest set of Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards are out however this time there are none for Canada. That being said there are some great intra-Europe options if you are heading to Europe this summer but haven't decided on travel within the continent. Some more details can be found here. Remember your best bet for earning Flying Blue Miles in Canada without actual flying is with the Starwood Preferred Guest®* Credit Card from American Express Current sign up bonus is 20,000 Starpoints which translates to 25,000 Flying Blue Miles which is more than enough for some of those flights within Europe!

Throwback Thursday!
Here is a look at the 10th issue of the Rewards Canada News newsletter from February 6th, 2003. This is the earliest issue we have online as 1-9 were generated only as emails and not actual HTML webpages.

Posts since our last update:

• 1,000 Free American AAdvantage Miles with AAdvantage University
  This new offer is making buzz around the frequent traveler world since its free miles! Thanks to the Flight…
• Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Carlson Rezidor Hotel stays Worldwide
  Earn up to 2,500 Aeroplan® miles when you stay at Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Park Plaza®, Park Inn® by Radisson,…

Travel Deals
KLM had an error with yesterday's Wild on Wednesday offer  The flights to Belfast start at $799 rather than $699 as the initially advertised. This offer is all in for departure between May 7th and June 18th 2015 or between September 11th and October 15th 2015. Simply book by April 30th Find out more and book here!



Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn up to 2,500 Bonus Aeroplan miles when you stay at Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Park Plaza®, Park Inn® by Radisson, and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson hotel Worldwide. More... May 1 - Jul 31, 15

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- May Promo Awards - Save 25% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book between May 1 - 31 for travel between Jul 1 - Aug 31, 15
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Flying Blue Miles for stays at participating Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 14 for stays until Jun 28, 15
- Earn up to Quadruple Flying Blue Miles for stays at Best Western Hotels in Europe. More... May 1 - Jun 30, 15
- Double Flying Blue Miles at any property operated by Tulip Inn, Golden Tulip and Royal Tulip Luxury Hotels worldwide. More... May 1 - Jun 30, 15
- Earn up to Quadruple Flying Blue Miles for Europcar rentals Worldwide (except USA and Canada). More... Until Jun 1, 15

American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles for Country Inns & Suites stays in the U.S. More... May 1 - Jun 30, 15

ANA Mileage Club
- Earn up to Triple Mileage Club Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... May 1 - Aug 31, 15

Emirates Skywards
- Earn a free award flight to Dubai when you fly Emirates five times to selected destinations in Asia from Nigeria (Lagos, Abuja), Ghana (Accra), Algeria (Algiers), or Morocco (Casablanca) More... Until Oct 10, 15

Frontier EarlyReturns (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double EarlyReturns miles for Country Inns & Suites stays in the U.S. More... May 1 - Jun 30, 15

Hilton HHonors
- 5,000 Bonus HHonors Points when you stay three nights at the Embassy Suites San Juan - Hotel & Casino. More... Until Jul 15, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays of 2 or more nights at participating Accor Hotels in in Paris and Ile de France. More... Until May 31, 15

Miles & More
- 4,500 Bonus Miles & More Miles for stays at Design Hotels Worldwide. Bonus limited to the first 500 bookings. More... Book between May 1 - 31 for stays May 1 - Dec 31, 15
- Double Miles & More Miles for stays at all Mövenpick hotels across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. More... May 1 - Jul 31, 15
- Triple Miles & More Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at anyone of 4 Vienna International Hotels in Prague. More...May 1 - Jul 31, 15
- 9,000 Miles & More Miles when you subscribe to Welt am Sonntag. More... May 1 - 31, 15

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Up to 50% QMiles Discount on Qatar Airways Privilege Club Award ticket redemptions for various routes via their "Easy Deals" offer. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Southwest Rapid Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Rapid Rewards Points for Country Inns & Suites stays in the U.S. More... Until May 31, 15

United MileagePlus
- Double MileagePlus Miles for Country Inns & Suites stays in the U.S. More... May 1 - Jun 30, 15

1,000 Free American AAdvantage Miles with AAdvantage University

This new offer is making buzz around the frequent traveler world since its free miles! Thanks to the Flight Deal, who seemed to be the first bring the news out we learn that by partaking in the American AAdvantage University you can earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles for watching some videos and answering some questions. Find out more and earn your free miles here. What we are unsure of is if the miles from the University portion are only available to U.S. residents only (the contest portion most definitely is) or if anyone globally can enter. Of courese we're in Canada and completed the videos, now we just have to wait to see if the miles post The promotion runs until June 12.