Hilton HHonors: 5,000 Bonus Points per stay until July 6th (over and above the current Double Points!)

Here is a great short term bonus from Hilton HHonors that will help you pad your account if you have stays over the next few weeks! The bonus is simply, 5,000 bonus points on all your stays by July 6th. The beauty of the promotion is that it can be combined with the current Double Points promotion valid at all Hilton HHonors hotels! You can find both offers listed below! (HT One Mile at a Time)

Offer details:
5,000 Bonus HHonors on all your eligible Hilton Hotel stays Worldwide. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking  (Registration is required) Until Jul 6, 15

Double HHonors Points or Double Airline Miles for eligible stays at participating Hilton Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking  (Registration is required) Unti Aug 31, 15

Jun 17 Update: AIR MILES introduces Stage Pass, Costco Canada Car Rentals, KLM WOW is Zagreb from $799

Here is your middle of the week update!

News, Tips & Tricks
AIR MILES has launched a new member benefit called Stage Pass which seems somewhat similar to American Express' Front of the Line benefit. According to the landing page, Stage Pass will offer the following:

• Reserved ticket access Get tickets to some of your favorite artists. Sometimes we'll even have tickets to select sold-out shows.
• Music is better when you bring a friend Get discounts on tickets and other special offers
• Special perks at select shows at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre.
• Social media surprises Make sure you follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
• VIP contests and experiences that only your AIR MILES® Collector Card can unlock!

Unlike Front of the Line where you can use cash or points, the AIR MILES Stage Pass benefit only appears to be miles only in terms of payment. For example the One Direction Concert in Winnipeg has a pair of tickets for 2,250 miles. At the time of posting you could also get tickets for One Direction or Kelly Clarkson in various Canadian cities or Ariana Grande in Ottawa or Toronto. Find out more here.

Not sure if this is really new but it is new to me so I'll pass it along. Costco Canada now has a rental car booking site like the U.S. Costco! I haven't tried out the booking engine yet but if the discounts are anything like the U.S. Costco travel services then I would recommend adding this site to your list as the Costco discounts can be significant. I have used the U.S. version on several occasions to save money on rentals. See the site here.

Posts since our last update:

• Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Thu-Sun stays at Marriott Hotels in Canada
  Offer Details: 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles PER NIGHT when you stay Thursday - Sunday nights at any one of…
• 100% Bonus on buying IHG Rewards Club Points until June 30th!
  The great 100% bonus on buying IHG Rewards Club points has returned! This offer brings the price of a…
  
  

Travel Deals
It's Wednesday so you know what that means! KLM Wild On Wednesday! This week it is Zagreb, only $799 from Eastern Canada or $949 from Western Canada. Book by June 18th for travel Oct 16 - Dec 10. Full details and online booking.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for round-trip flights to select destinations in Europe and to Osaka. More... Register and book by Jul 31 for travel until Sep 30, 15

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for stays at any Accor Hotel Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 26 for stays Jul 10 - Aug 31, 15

Hilton HHonors
- Fast Track to Gold Status forTravelocity Business customers when you complete four qualifying stays at Hilton Hotels Worldwide within 90-days of enrolling in this offer. More... Until ?

Marriott Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Delray Beach. More... Until Jul 3, 15
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays any night Sunday through Thursday at the SpringHill Suites Philadelphia Plymouth Meeting. More... Until Jul 3, 15
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at over 30 hotels in Florida. More... Until Jul 6, 15

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn EuroBonus points and Gold Points when you stay at Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson hotels in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 3,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 3 or more nights at participating Starwood Hotels in Greece. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Triple ROP Miles for stays at any Accor Hotel Worldwide. More... Jun 29  - Aug 31, 15

WestJet Rewards
- Double WestJet dollars when you fly between Halifax and Deer Lake or Sydney; Ottawa and Moncton or Toronto and Gander. More... Register and book by Aug 16 for travel until Aug 31, 15

Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Thu-Sun stays at Marriott Hotels in Canada

Offer Details:
500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles PER NIGHT when you stay Thursday - Sunday nights at any one of 64 participating Marriott Hotels in Canada. Maximum of 1,500 bonus miles per stay. Full Details and Online Booking   Until Sep 7, 15

100% Bonus on buying IHG Rewards Club Points until June 30th!

The great 100% bonus on buying IHG Rewards Club points has returned! This offer brings the price of a point down to 0.575 of a cent if you buy 26,000 or more points. This per point price is less than the Points+Cash trick of buying points for 0.7 cents. If you choose to buy the maximum number of points, 60,000, it will cost you US$690 but of course you'll end up getting 120,000 points. That's 24 nights at IHG hotels if redeeming via the PointBreaks option which works out to  only $28.75 per night!

Offer Details
100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online. Full details. Until Jun 30, 15

Jun 16 Update: WestJet announces 767 service to London Gatwick, American Airlines reduces YVR/YEG-LAX, WestJet & AC route bonuses

It was a WestJet Air Canada Aeroplan kind of day on Rewards Canada!

News, Tips & Tricks
WestJet has announced their first Transatlantic 767 route and its London Gatwick! After several of the birds finish flying the winter Alberta-Hawaii season we all presumed Europe was on the horizon for them and now it is confirmed. Although the press release does not state what cities in Canada we are guessing that at least one city will be Calgary since the 767s will be based there. (Source: WestJet)

WestJet has also announced further increases for flights to Loreto, Mexico from Calgary, Puerto Vallarta and Palm Springs from Toronto as well as making Calgary-Yellowknife a year round daily service. (Source WestJet)

American Airlines is reducing service to Los Angeles from Vancouver and Edmonton for late summer/early fall and are in fact discontinuing the Edmonton service from September through to December. Always not great to see service reductions, means its harder to get those award seats via AAdvantage, British Airways and other oneworld carriers. (Source Airlineroute.net)

Posts since our last update:

• Double WestJet dollars for WestJet Encore's new Eastern Canada routes
  Today seems to be the day of flight bonuses! First WestJet, then Air Canada and now WestJet again! These…
• Air Canada: Up to 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on flights between Canada and Europe or Vancouver and Osaka
   Yet another summertime bonus for flying on Air Canada! So far we've seen a London bonus, a biz class within…
• Earn Triple WestJet dollars on flights between Halifax and Gander
  Yet another route launch bonus from the folks at WestJet. This time it is for their new Halifax to…
  
  

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles PER NIGHT when you stay Thursday - Sunday nights at any one of 64 participating Marriott Hotels in Canada. Maximum of 1,500 bonus miles per stay. More... Until Sep 7, 15

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Double Mileage Plan Miles when you fly Alaska Airlines between Los Angeles and Liberia or San Jose, Costa Rica. More... Oct 31 - Dec 12, 15

IHG Rewards Club
- 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Marriott Rewards
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the TownePlace Suites Ann Arbor. More... Until Jun 30, 15
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Residence Inn Philadelphia Conshohocken. More... Until Jun 30, 15
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points per night on Monday-Thursday, up to 6,000 per stay at the Courtyard Detroit Brighton. More... Until Jul 1, 15
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay including any night Sunday-Thursday at the Courtyard Virginia Beach Norfolk. More... Until Jul 1, 15
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Courtyard St. Petersburg Clearwater/Madeira Beach. More... Until Jul 3, 15

United MileagePlus
- 5,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you book a vacation package to Hawaii. More... Book by Jul 2, 15
- 5,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you book a vacation package to the Cayman Islands. More... Book by Jun 25, 15

WestJet Rewards
- Triple WestJet dollars when you fly on WestJet between Halifax and Gander.  More... Register and book by Aug 16 for travel until Aug 31, 15

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

Double WestJet dollars for WestJet Encore's new Eastern Canada routes

Today seems to be the day of flight bonuses! First WestJet, then Air Canada and now WestJet again! These are once again route launch bonuses from WestJet and are for their new Encore routes in Eastern Canada!

Offer Details
Double WestJet dollars when you fly between Halifax and Deer Lake or Sydney; Ottawa and Moncton or Toronto and Gander. Register Online (Registration is required) Register and book by Aug 16 for travel until Aug 31, 15

Air Canada: Up to 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on flights between Canada and Europe or Vancouver and Osaka

 Yet another summertime bonus for flying on Air Canada! So far we've seen a London bonus, a biz class within Canada bonus and now this bonus for almost all of Air Canada's Europe routes and Vancouver to Osaka

Offer Details
Earn up to 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for round-trip flights to select destinations in Europe and to Osaka. Book with Air Canada in a Tango, Flex, Latitude or Premium Economy fare, or with Air Canada rougeTM in a Tango, Flex, Latitude or Premium rouge fare. Register Online (Registration is required) Register and book by Jul 31 for travel until Sep 30, 15

Earn Triple WestJet dollars on flights between Halifax and Gander

Yet another route launch bonus from the folks at WestJet. This time it is for their new Halifax to Gander route and awards a straight Triple dollars bonus.

Offer Details
Triple WestJet dollars when you fly on WestJet between Halifax and Gander.  Full details and online registration (Registration is required) Register and book by Aug 16 for travel until Aug 31, 15

Jun 15 Update: Delta SkyMiles® & Capital One® part ways, tons of AIR MILES bonuses, Emirates and Porter Airlines team up!

Here is your first update of the week!

News, Tips & Tricks
Biggest news from last week is that Delta SkyMiles® & Capital One® have mutually agreed to end their co-brand relationship. This means the Delta SkyMiles® MasterCards® from Capital One® have been discontinued.


That leaves the following cards as your options to earn SkyMiles in Canada:
American Express Gold Rewards Card (C$1 = .75 - 1.5 SkyMiles)
The Platinum Card from American Express (C$1 = .93 SkyMiles)
Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard (C$1 = 0.80 SkyMiles)
Marriott Rewards Premier Visa (C$1 = 0.2 - 0.35 SkyMiles)
MBNA Best Western Rewards MasterCard (C$1= 0.30 SkyMiles)
Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express (C$1 = 1 SkyMile)


No word yet on whether Delta is shopping around for another card issuer. This isn't the first time a major U.S. Airline has left our market. A few years back American AAdvantage and TD parted ways. What can we say, our market is tough nut to crack! Outside of Aeroplan, AIR MILES, WestJet and our proprietary credit card programs there isn't a huge market. Sure you have niche markets like British Airways and Cathay Pacific but they don't get much of the pie. I am working on a proposal for a non-North American airline that is interested in launching a card here and all I can say it would be tough to gain market share outside of the niche market of ex-pats who would want to visit friends and family back in the home country. I would be suspect to believe that the Delta cards didn't even have that niche, just loyal SkyMiles® members since Air Canada and WestJet cover a lot of travel to the U.S. and Air Canada/Aeroplan alone have a big chunk of the International market.

---

Thanks to our reader Frank A. for letting us know that Metro is also offering AIR MILES bonuses for buying Gift Cards just like the Safeway offer we let you know about last week.

"Buy a participating $50 Card Get 65 AIR MILES Reward Miles See gift cards for details, terms, conditions and (if applicable) fees. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. Subject to availability. Some restrictions apply. See in-store or metro.ca for details. Participating Cards include: Bass Pro Shops, Sears, Roots, PetSmart and The Keg Steakhouse + Bar" 

Emirates and Porter Airlines announced a new interline agreement last week. "The agreement allows  passengers the convenience  to depart daily from Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) on Porter, connecting in Boston (BOS) or Washington (IAD), before continuing their journey to Dubai and beyond with Emirates." Source Porter Airlines

Here's another AIR MILES coupon for shopping at Rexall. This time 80 bonus Reward Miles when you spend $50. Valid until June 18. Get the coupon here.

And another AIR MILES coupon, this one is for Safeway. Spend $75 and get 115 bonus Reward Miles. Valid until June 18. Get the coupon here.

Posts since our last update:

• American Express Membership Rewards - Limited Time Fixed Price Redemptions via Amex Travel
  American Express appears to be testing the waters of fixed price redemptions with this limited time promotion via American…
  
  

Bonus Offers
COPA Airlines ConnectMiles
- 2,000 Bonus ConnectMiles when you join the ConnectMiles program. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Gulf Air FalconFlyer (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 50% FalconFlyer Miles Discount when you redeem for award tickets on any Gulf Air flight Worldwide. More... Until Jul 15, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- 300 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Bucharest. More... Jul 17 - Sep 6, 15

Marriott Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at Courtyard, Marriott and Renaissance locations in Brussels More... Until Jun 30, 15
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights in a Superior, Superior with Balcony or Concierge level rooms at the Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour, More... Until Jun 30, 15
- 3,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Berlin Marriott Hotel. More... Until Aug 30, 15
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Threadneedles, Autograph Collection® hotel London. More... Jun 19 - Aug 31, 15
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the SpringHill Suites Denver North/Westminster. More... Until Jun 30, 15

Orbitz Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to 4x Orbucks when you book select Virgin Australia flights to Sydney and beyond. More... Book by Jul 5, 15
- $15 Bonus Orbucks when you book select Las Vegas hotel + flight packages. More... Book by Jun 28, 15

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Earn up to Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you stay on the Best Available or Bed&Breakfast rate at any participating Mandarin Oriental hotel Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 15
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when you book a stay of at least two consecutive nights at a room under ‘The Main’ category, or triple KrisFlyer miles for a room under the ‘EXECUTIVE HOUSE ZEN’ category in Hotel New Otani Tokyo. More... Until Jul 31, 15
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when you stay for at least two consecutive nights at a participating Park Regis hotel anywhere in the world. More... Until Jul 31, 15
- Double KrisFlyer Miles for stays of 2 or more consecutive nights at participating Preferred Hotel Group properties Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 15
- Earn up to Quadruple KrisFlyer Miles for stays at any participating Shangri-La hotel or resort Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 15
- Double KrisFlyer Miles and a 20% discount when you book at least 20 days in advance for a stay of two consecutive nights or more at any participating Worldhotels property worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 15

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

American Express Membership Rewards - Limited Time Fixed Price Redemptions via Amex Travel

American Express appears to be testing the waters of fixed price redemptions with this limited time promotion via American Express Travel. Along the same line as RBC Avion or CIBC Aventura you can redeem a set amount of points up to a maximum ticket price then pay for taxes and fees with your card or points. Now if you recall just over a week ago we released our special feature on flexibility and called out programs like Avion and Aventura as being the least flexible with charts like these as you can potentially lose value if the ticket price is way lower than the maximum set out. Same thing goes here, if you redeem points for a really cheap ticket on one of the four eligible routes, you're losing value. However, where American Express differs is they allow you to choose to the fixed points redemption or the TripFlex option. So if we take the Vancouver-Calgary option and the base ticket price is more than $250 you would use the Fixed Point Redemption but if the base ticket price is less than $250 you would just charge the flight to your American Express Gold Rewards Card or The Platinum Card from American Express and then when the charge shows up on your account you then use the TripFlex option to redeem points against it. Whereas Avion and Aventura your stuck redeeming the fixed rate of points regardless of the price of the ticket.

At the moment there are only four routes eligible for this Fixed Point option and they are available until October 30th.

Redeeming your points with the Fixed Points Redemption Option is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
	Visit americanexpress.ca/travel and log in to your account.
	Search for one of the eligible round-trip economy class routes. If you have sufficient Membership Rewards points to cover all travelers on your itinerary at the fixed points amount, the Fixed Points Redemption Option will be presented.1
	Redeem the fixed points amount indicated towards the base ticket price. The taxes, fees, carrier surcharges, and any amount above the maximum base ticket price will be charged to your Card.1
Plus, the Fixed Points Redemption Option can be combined with TripFlexTM rewards!2 Once the travel purchase is posted to your account, you can then redeem points for the taxes, fees, carrier surcharges, or any amount above the maximum base ticket price using TripFlex rewards.2

Testing this offer we definitely found some flights where TripFlex was simply the better offer as the base fares were below the Fixed Price equivalent but there were others were the Fixed Point worked out better:

 

With this Fixed Points option above your 40,000 points gets you $561.00 in value whereas TripFlex would only get you $400 and you fly on a Boeing 777!

 

With this Fixed Points option above your 25,000 points gets you $264.00 in value whereas TripFlex would only get you $250.

Ultimately if you redeem via Fixed Price Redemption or TripFlex or both you should earn Aeroplan Miles on these flights (or WestJet Rewards dollars if you choose WestJet) as these are paid revenue tickets!

Are you going to take advantage of this offer? Since this runs over the busy travel season I personally may just look into it for the YYC-YVR flight.