September 1 Update: Minor change to mbna Alaska Airlines MasterCard, 1,000 Bonus SkyMiles for Starwood stays and more!

Almost forgot to put up today's update!

News, Tips & Tricks
To add to all the credit card changes we've already announced today there is one more to let you know about. There is a very small change to the mbna Alaska Airlines MasterCard. The sign up bonus of 25,000 miles will no longer be awarded upon approval rather it will be doled out on first purchase. Not a huge change at all. Looks like they want people to actually use the card for at least a purchase and not leave it at home only to utilize the sign up bonus and the companion ticket offer. Read our review of this hidden gem of a card.

Don't forget about our promotion where you can get a $250 Gift Card from Rewards Canada. Find out more here.





Posts since our last update:

• mbna Best Western MasterCard Changes - Gold status with 1st purchase, Diamond status with $10K of purchases, changes in point earning
  Our deluge of credit card changes for September continues! mbna has given their Best Western MasterCard a slight refresh…
• Air France KLM Flying Blue - Save 25 % on Business Class award tickets between YUL, YVR, YYZ & Europe for Nov/Dec Travel
  Wow! It is nice to see that some Canadian cities have returned to Air France KLM's Promo Awards. We…
• New TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Offer - 25,000 Bonus Miles, 50% discount on first year annual fee, $50 off + 3,000 Bonus Miles at Shop.ca
  As you may be well aware of the 25,000 Aeroplan Mile Bonus and First Year Free offer for the…
• Increased Sign Bonuses for BMO AIR MILES Cards - 800 Reward Miles for No Fee, 3,000 for World Elite
  And the fight for new customers begins! As we always see when summer vacation comes to a close and September…
• Reminder: IHG Rewards Club Accelerate launches today - Earn at least 50,000 Bonus Points or 2 Free Nights
  A friendly reminder that as of today your IHG stays will count towards your 'Accelerate' personal offers (and actually count…
  
  

Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- September Promo Awards - Save 25% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book by Sep 30 for travel between Nov 1 - Dec 31, 15

AIR MILES
- 3,000 Bonus AIR MILES when you apply for and receive the BMO AIR MILES World Elite MasterCard More... Until Nov 30, 15
- 800 Bonus AIR MILES when you apply for and receive the BMO AIR MILES MasterCard More... Until Nov 30, 15

airberlin topbonus
- Triple topbonus Miles for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15
- Quadruple topbonus Miles for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Oct 1 - Dec 31, 15

Delta SkyMiles
- 1,000 Bonus SkyMiles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating Starwood Hotels & Resorts in North and Latin America. More... Until Jan 31, 16

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to 15,000 Le Club accorhotels points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in France. More... Book by Sep 6 or between Sep  22 and Nov 30 for stays between Sep 1 - Dec 31, 15

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer miles and save up to 30% when you book a stay on the Early Booker Rate at any participating Kempinski hotel worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15
- Triple KrisFlyer miles for stays at the Cordis Hotel Hong Kong. More... Until Oct 31, 15 

mbna Best Western MasterCard Changes - Gold status with 1st purchase, Diamond status with $10K of purchases, changes in point earning

Our deluge of credit card changes for September continues!

mbna has given their Best Western MasterCard a slight refresh for the fall. The main changes happening to card are the additional points earning for using the card at Best Western properties as you'll now earn 5 points per dollar spent at BW properties, however the point earning on all other spending now drops to 1 point per dollar spent from 1.5. Definitely a downgrade on the regular spending. It appears they are really targeting big time Best Western users with this card now as not only does it earn more for BW stays but cardholders will now get Gold status on first purchase (rather than a one level elite status upgrade when reaching $6,000 in spend) and Diamond Status when spending $10,000 on the card within one year. Good news is the sign up bonus of 20,000 points remains.

Card details:

• Earn 1 Best Western Rewards® point for every $1 in eligible purchases‡
• Earn 5 Best Western Rewards® points for every $1 in eligible purchases at Best Western properties‡
• Earn 20,000 Best Western Rewards® points†† on your first purchase – enough for a free night stay
• You will be awarded "Gold Status" upon first use of your credit card and "Diamond Status" when you spend $10,000 in eligible purchases within one year◊◊
• No limit to the Best Western Rewards® points that can be earned using the credit card in a year
• Use your Best Western Rewards® points in many ways – hotel stays, dining, gift cards and more.
• You could get a 1.99% promotional annual interest rate† (AIR) on balance transfers✪ for the first 10 full months
Apply now for the Best Western Mastercard® Credit Card
Find out more and/or apply for the card here.

Air France KLM Flying Blue - Save 25 % on Business Class award tickets between YUL, YVR, YYZ & Europe for Nov/Dec Travel

Wow! It is nice to see that some Canadian cities have returned to Air France KLM's Promo Awards. We haven't seen any since April, so somewhat good news albeit not great as the discounts aren't the best for this set.  The offer this time is only for 25% off Business Class on KLM out of Vancouver and Montreal or on Air France from Toronto to anywhere in Europe. For some if you were planning to redeem anyways for flights during the promotional perioed you might as well grab the 25% if it works for you but in general its nothing to write home about!

Don't have all the miles? You could always consider transferring Starpoints earned via the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to Flying Blue. The card has a 20,000 Starpoint bonus right now which translates to 25,000 Flying Blue miles.
 
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.  To take advantage of this deal you must book your promo award ticket by September 30th for travel between November 1 and December 31st, 2015. More details can be found here.

New TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Offer - 25,000 Bonus Miles, 50% discount on first year annual fee, $50 off + 3,000 Bonus Miles at Shop.ca

As you may be well aware of the 25,000 Aeroplan Mile Bonus and First Year Free offer for the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card ended yesterday. It has now been replaced with this offer that still awards 25,000 miles however now it has 50% fee rebate in the first year which brings the cost of the card down to $60 and also adds up to $50 off at Shop.ca plus 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you use the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card at Shop.ca by December 31st. The take advantage of this offer you must apply by October 30th.

Offer Details
Earn 25,000 Aeroplan Miles and 50% off your first year annual fee when you apply for and receive the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card. Earn 15,000 miles when you complete your first purchase and an additional 10,000 miles when you keep your Account active and in good standing for 90 days. Plus Get a one-time discount of up to $50 at SHOP.CA, plus an additional 3,000 Aeroplan Miles when you use your TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card at SHOP.CA by December 31, 2015. Full details Apply by Oct 30, 15

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
Miles Earned: 1 Aeroplan Mile/$1.00
Bonus #1: 1.5 mile/$1 on gas, grocery and drugstore purchases
Bonus #2: Aeroplan Card and TD Visa can be used together at Aeroplan partner locations
Insurance: 15 Day Travel & Medical Insurance, Trip Cancel/Trip Interrupt, Delayed/Lost Baggage, Flight Delay, Collision Loss and Damage Insurance, Common Carrier (incl. Auto Rental), Purchase Security & Extended Warranty, Emergency Travel Assistance
Annual Fee: $120 Primary User, $50 Authorized User
Income Requirement: $60,000 or $100,000 household
Interest Rate: 19.99%
Minimum Credit Limit: $5,000

Air Canada Benefits:
o Your 1st checked bag is complimentary when travelling on an Aeroplan flight reward operated by Air Canada (for Primary Cardholder)
        o You get Priority Check-in when travelling on an Aeroplan flight reward operated by Air Canada (for Primary Cardholder)
        o You’ll enjoy Priority Boarding when travelling on an Aeroplan flight reward operated by Air Canada (for Primary Cardholder)

Increased Sign Bonuses for BMO AIR MILES Cards - 800 Reward Miles for No Fee, 3,000 for World Elite

And the fight for new customers begins! As we always see when summer vacation comes to a close and September starts, new credit cards come out, new offers for existing credit cards come out and existing cards get changed. Over the next few days we should see quite a bit of this action as the Canadian card issuers vie for your business!

Here are the first two changes we know of and they come to us from BMO and are for two of their AIR MILES co-brand credit cards.

BMO^® AIR MILES^®† MasterCard^®*

Apply now

• Limited time: Get up to 800 Bonus AIR MILES and there’s No annual fee
• Earn more reward miles when you use your card at Shell, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car
• 1 AIR MILES reward mile for every $20 that you spend on your credit card

BMO^® AIR MILES^®† World Elite^®* MasterCard^®*

Apply now

• Limited time: Get up to 3,000 Bonus AIR MILES
  - that's enough for 3 select short haul flights
• Exclusive 25% Flight Discount on all AIR MILES flights in North America with no blackout  periods
• 1 AIR MILES reward mile for every $10 that you spend on your credit card

Looking at these offers with our AIR MILES valuation of 11 to 15 cents per Reward Miles see the sign up bonus value of these cards increased to as high $120 for the no fee card (that's a pretty decent value for a card that costs you nothing!) and as much as $450 for the World Elite version. BMO definitely wants to win some market share with these two new offers!

Reminder: IHG Rewards Club Accelerate launches today - Earn at least 50,000 Bonus Points or 2 Free Nights

A friendly reminder that as of today your IHG stays will count towards your 'Accelerate' personal offers (and actually count towards Share Everything until Sep 7!) If you haven't registered do so now via the link below so that you don't miss out on this great points earning opportunity.

Here is the offer I received for up to 58,000 bonus points:

Let us know what offer you received and we'll add it to this post and the offer details on our IHG Rewards Club page.

Offer Details
IHG Rewards Club Accelerate - Earn 50,000 or more IHG Rewards Club points when you stay at IHG Hotel stays Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Sep 1 - Dec 31, 15

August 31 Update: Delta to launch Edmonton-Seattle service, earn triple Aeroplan Miles or AIR MILES for Hilton stays in Canada

Here is your first update of the week however there isn't too much to pass along since it is the end of the month!

News, Tips & Tricks
Delta Airlines continues their expansion out of Seattle with the announcement of new non-stop service out of Edmonton! The once daily flights start on Dec 19. Great news for SkyMiles and Skyteam flyers in YEG! (Source: Airlineroute.net)

There is another great bonus from Hilton HHonors. One that offers Triple Aeroplan or Triple AIR MILES for stays in Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America. So if you travels are keeping you within our three coasts or the sunnier climates south of us outsitde of the U.S. this is an offer you should look at!. Find out more about the bonus and register for it here

Don't forget about our promotion where you can get a $250 Gift Card from Rewards Canada. Find out more here



Bonus Offers
Bangkok Airways FlyerBonus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to 7x FlyerBonus Points for stays at the Hansar Samui Resort & Spa More... Book by Dec 10 for stays until Dec 20, 15
- Triple FlyerBonus Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Imperial River house Resort Chiang Rai, The Imperial Mae Ping Hotel Chiang Mai or The Imperial Hua Hin Beach Resorl More... Until Sep 30, 15
- Double FlyerBonus Points for stays at the Salana Boutique Hotel More... Until Sep 30, 15

China Southern SkyPearl
- Double SkyPearl Club Kilometers for every RMB10 spent on your direct hotel booking when booking on HRS designated website. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Hilton HHonors
- Triple Airline Miles for stays at participating hotels and resorts within the Hilton Portfolio in Latin America, Caribbean and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 15

JetBlue TrueBlue (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- TrueBlue Mosaic Challenge - earn 3,750 base flight points in 90 days to earn Mosaic status through 2016. More... Register by Sep 7, 15

Marriott Rewards
- 25 FREE Rewards Points when connect your social profiles to your Marriott Rewards® account. More... Until ?

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles and a complimentary room upgrade at any participating Jumeirah hotel or resort in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Frankfurt, Kuwait, Maldives, Mallorca, London, Rome or Shanghai. More... Until Dec 15, 15
- 3,000 Bonus KrisFlyer Miles when you spend US$300 or more in a single booking with Kaligo. More... Book by Sep 30, 15

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

August 28 Update: 20x AIR MILES at Staples on Saturday, Double Aeroplan Miles for Shangri-La stays, Choice Hotels Fall Promo

Last update of the week!

News, Tips & Tricks
Don't forget about our promotion where you can get a $250 Gift Card from Rewards Canada. Find out more here.

This Saturday only you can earn 20 times the AIR MILES Reward Miles when you spend $100 or more at Staples. Perfect timing for that last minute back to school shopping! Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

• Choice Hotels Fall Promo: Earn A Free Night after two separate stays (up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points awarded)
  Choice Hotels Privileges is the next major hotel chain to release their fall systemwide promo and guess what? It's…
  
  

Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Double Aeroplan Miles for stays at any participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Sep 1 - Nov 30, 15

airberlin topbonus
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus topbonus miles when you book hotels via Kaligo. More... Book by Sep 30, 15

Choice Privileges
- Earn up to 8,000 Privileges Points when you complete 2 separate stays at participating Choice Hotels Worldwide. More... For residents of the U.S. and Canada only Sep 3 - Nov 11, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Belgium, Luxembourg or the Netherlands. More... Book by Sep 6 for stays until Sep 30, 15
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Novotel and Mercure hotels in Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Lithuania. More... For Silver, Gold and Platinum members onlys Sep 1 - Oct 31, 15

SAS EuroBonus
- 4,000 EuroBonus points for Avis rentals of 4 or more days Worldwide except Australia & New Zealand. More... Book by Sep 9 for rentals until Dec 31, 15

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer miles and a host of other benefits when you stay for at least two consecutive nights on the Suite Life package at Concorde Hotel Singapore. More... Until Sep 30, 15

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

Choice Hotels Fall Promo: Earn A Free Night after two separate stays (up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points awarded)

Choice Hotels Privileges is the next major hotel chain to release their fall systemwide promo and guess what? It's the same promo we saw in summer, spring and so on and so forth!! They word the promotions differently in terms of get a free night, get a $50 gift card etc. however the gist of the promos are the same, they will award you enough bonus points after you complete 2 separate stays to have 8,000 points after those stays. In this case it is the Free Stay offer in that you can use those 8,000 points to redeem for one night at over 1,500 of their locations that are at the 8,000 point redemption level.

Offer Details:
Earn up to 8,000 Privileges Points when you complete 2 separate stays at participating Choice Hotels Worldwide. Stay must be booked via ChoiceHotels.com, the Choice Hotels mobile app, or 800.4CHOICE at qualifying rates. Members will be awarded a minimum of 5,000 bonus to a maximum of 8,000 bonus points, depending on the number of base points earned from the two (2) separate qualifying trips. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Sep 3 - Nov 11, 15
Restrictions

August 27 Update: First Year Free on National Bank World Elite MasterCard, $250 Gift Card offer from Rewards Canada, Etihad 96hr sale

As the end of the month approaches there isn't much news to pass along and this is especially typical at the end of Summer. However September is always a crazy month! We already know of two credit cards that will have increased sign up bonuses, the launch of a new suite of co-branded credits cards and we're guessing there will be even more news over the next few weeks.

News, Tips & Tricks
Don't forget about our promotion where you can get a $250 Gift Card from Rewards Canada. Find out more here.

Sometime ago we brought you the details of National Bank of Canada's World Elite MasterCard which was has strong initial offering but that has now been made even better. The card that comes with a 30,000 point sign up bonus, up to $250 in airine fee coverage now has a first year free offer that waives the $150 annual fee if you apply by October 31st. Find out more here!

This change has also been reflected on our comparison charts:
Canadian Travel Credit Card Comparison: All Travel Rewards Credit Cards
Canadian Travel Credit Card Comparison: Travel Points Credit Cards



Posts since our last update:

• IHG Rewards Club: Double Airline Miles on all IHG stays Worldwide (Sep 1 - Dec 31)
  So far we have brought you the details IHG Rewards Club latest systemwide promotion called Accelerate. That promotion offers…
• Earn Quadruple Aeroplan Miles for IHG stays Worldwide - Sep 1 to Dec 31, 15
  Yesterday we announced the new IHG systemwide promotion 'Accelerate' for IHG Rewards Club members that offers 50,000+ bonus points…
  
  

Travel Deals
Etihad Airways has launched a 96 hour sale on their flights out of Toronto. Book by August 31st for travel until Dec 10 and save up to 30%. Find out more here.

Bonus Offers
Wednesday Bonus additions
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Quadruple Aeroplan Miles when you stay at IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Sep 1 - Dec 31, 15

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Earn up to 30,000 Flying Blue Miles for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Aug 28 - Oct 15, 15
- 2,000 Bonus Flying Blue Miles on your first hotel booking of 2 or more nights made with PointsHound. More... Book by Oct 26, 15
- Double Flying Blue Miles for stays at any participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Sep 1 - Nov 30, 15
- Double Flying Blue Miles and up to 25% off Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Mar 20, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you spend €500 or more on the same day at any of the nine Villages across Europe. More... Sep 1 - Oct 30, 15

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 20% Asia Miles Discount on Standard Awards online between Hong Kong and Boston, New York (Newark) or Los Angeles. More... Book by Aug 31 for travel Nov 1 - Dec 14, 15

IHG Rewards Club
- Double Airline Miles for stays at IHG Hotel stays Worldwide. More... Sep 1 - Dec 31, 15

Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer
- Double Safar Flyer Miles when you Royal Air Maroc between Casablanca and Doha. More... Sep 9 - Dec 9, 15

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Double Miles&Smiles Miles and up to 25% off Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Mar 20, 16

Thursday Bonus additions
airberlin topbonus
- Double topbonus miles on any mileage earning transactions with participating non-airline partners. More... Until Sep 30, 15

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Earn up to 40% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy or gift Mileage Plan miles online. More... Until Oct 6, 15

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to Quadruple Asia Miles on all stays at participating Hilton Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 15

Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to Quadruple GaurdaMiles on all stays at participating Hilton Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Oct 31, 15

Hilton HHonors
- 80% Bonus HHonors Points when you buy HHonors points online. More... Until Aug 31, 15

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Marriott 1,000 Bonus QMiles for Thursday or Friday stays at participating Courtyard by Marriott® hotels in the Middle East & Africa region. More... Until Sep 30, 15
- 1,000 Bonus QMiles on Avis rentals in South Africa. More... Until Sep 30, 15
- Double QMiles on Sixt car rentals Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 15
- 200 Bonus QMiles on Sixt car rentals Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints when you book and stay with any participating Starwood hotel or resort in Asia Pacific More... Valid for new SPG members only Until Nov 12, 15

Transaero Privilege (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple Privilege Points if you rent a Sixt luxury car in London. More... Sep 1 - Dec 15, 15

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