October 23 Update: New pages on Rewards Canada, introducing the Air Canada Altitude Students program, free flight offer from Air India

Final update of the week! Have a great weekend everyone!

News, Tips & Tricks
Over night we added two new landing pages on Rewards Canada that help bring together more of our site in our efforts to make to site easier to navigate and find all our articles! The two new pages are table of contents pages for our Earning Stories and Redemption Stories series of articles. You can access these pages from the links to the left or via the main navigation menu on Rewards Canada under the 'Learn' tab.

Perfect timing for our ever growing features and news for students (see our Student's Guide to Points & Miles) as Air Canada has launched Air Canada Altitude Students. Now before you get too excited it isn't anything like the actual Air Canada Altitude Elite program but more so a discount program for students. The program is free to join if you are a Canadian post-secondary student and offers discounts such as 1 hour of free Wi-fi on board Air Canada planes that are Wi-fi enabled, a one time 10 to 15% discount on an Air Canada ticket, and discounts with Air Canada vacations. Chances are other promotions will come down the line as the program grows and learns what these students are craving. Find out more about the new Air Canada Altitude Student program here.

Expecting to travel within India a lot over the next two months? Then head on over on the FFB blog to see how you may be able to earn some free flights! Air India Flying Returns: Receive a free domestic flight after flying 6 to 10 domestic sectors

Vote for your favourite travel rewards credit card! Over 6,000 poeple have voted and would love to hear from you if you haven't voted yet. Vote here!


Posts since our last update:

• Air France KLM Flying Blue - Up to a 50% Bonus when buying miles and an example of how it can save you money
  Air France KLM's Flying Blue is once again offering a bonus on buying their miles. Usually buying FB miles…
  
  

Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Double Blue Credits when you fly Air France KLM to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco or to any destination in Italy. More...Until Dec 18, 15
- Double Flying Blue Miles at any property operated by Tulip Inn, Golden Tulip and Royal Tulip Luxury Hotels worldwide. More... Dec 1 - Feb 29, 16
- Double Flying Blue Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at The Park Inn by Radisson Istanbul Ataturk Airport. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double Flying Blue Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating new Radisson Blu hotel worldwide. More... Until Dec 15, 15
- 500 Flying Blue Miles PER DAY for Avis rentals in Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Asia. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals Dec 1 - Mar 31, 16
- Double Flying Blue Miles on all qualifying Enterprise Car rentals in in France, Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. More... Until Dec 18, 15
- Triple Flying Blue Miles for all Europcar rentals Worldwide except in USA and Canada. More... Book by Nov 30 for rentals until Dec 16, 15
- Double Flying Blue Miles for all Sixt rentals in Europe. More... Book by Dec 7 for rentals until Dec 15, 15
- Earn up to 50% Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you buy miles online. More... Until Nov 6, 15

Air India Flying Returns
- Receive a free return domestic ticket when you complete 10 domestic sectors (5 round trips) on Air India. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Receive a free return domestic business class ticket when you complete 6 domestic sectors (3 round trips) in business class on Air India. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Air Miles
- Earn 100 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles on new Uber accounts first ride in Canada. More... Until Nov 15, 15

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Earn up to 5x MilleMiglia Miles when you complete multiply flights with Alitalia, airberlin or Niki. More... Book by Nov 15 for travel until Dec 15, 15
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for all hotels booked via Venere. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- 1,500 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles on car rentals of 1 to 3 days with Maggiore in Italy. More... Until Nov 30, 15

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to Quadruple Asia Miles + 200 Miles for online booking when you rent a car at participating HERTZ locations in USA, Canada, Europe*, Australia, New Zealand or Asia. More... Until Jan 31, 16

JAL Mileage Bank
- Receive up to a 4,000 Mileage Bank Miles Discount on all JAL Mileage Bank Award Ticket redemptions between Tokyo (Haneda) and China. Receive up to 10,000 miles back if you fly on October 25th only. More... Oct 25 - Nov 30, 15
- 200 Bonus Mileage Bank Miles per night for stays at Hotel Nikko & JAL City Worldwide that are booked online via the special offer page. More... Until Mar 31, 16

Meridiana Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Avios when fly on Meridiana between Milan Linate and Munich. More... Until Nov 30, 15

National Emerald Club
- Emerald Club Status Match - National Car Rental will match your Avis or Hertz status with the equivalent level in Emerald Club. More... Ongoing

Air France KLM Flying Blue - Up to a 50% Bonus when buying miles and an example of how it can save you money

Air France KLM's Flying Blue is once again offering a bonus on buying their miles. Usually buying FB miles isn't a great proposition but if you can tie in buying them with one of their discounted promo awards offering up to 50% off award tickets you may just be able to out some value from this promotion.

Offer Details
Earn up to 50% Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you buy miles online.  Full details. Until Nov 6, 15 

• 2,000 Award Miles – 10% Bonus
• 4,000 to 8,000 Award Miles – 20% Bonus
• 10,000 to 28,000 Award Miles – 30% Bonus
• 30,000+ Award Miles – 50% Bonus

----

Here is an example of this buy miles bonus saving you some money:

You can buy 96,000 miles for EUR 1760. Those 96,000 miles will be enough to redeem for a discounted business class award ticket between Montreal or Vancouver and Europe (with a few miles to spare).

Looking at Jan 7-14, 2016 in business class you can get the discounted rate between YVR & CDG for 93,750 miles and C$719.84 in taxes and fees. To buy the miles will cost C$2680.59 (including 5% GST) and add in the taxes and fees on the award flight of C$719.84 for a total of C$3,400.43.

To buy the same tickets outright costs C$4,825.30. As you can see buying the miles can provide you a savings of over C$1,400 on these particular flights!

And remember the discount for these Flying Blue tickets is only 25% at this time, sometimes its 50% off so your savings could be even bigger!

Find many more Flying Blue bonus offers here!

October 22 Update: BMO World Elite Grand Cru offer returns, LifeMiles award chart changes, Finnair Transatlantic bonus

Nice to see more news and bonuses in our daily update!

News, Tips & Tricks
I want to thank everyone way down East who tuned in and called or emailed their questions for my appearance on CBC Maritime Noon. The 45 minutes went by quickly and I was told there were many calls and emails that they just weren't able to get to. So feel free to email them us! Simply visit our contact page to submit your questions.

WestJet's Boeing 767 has finally entered revenue service! It performed flight 655 between Toronto and Calgary this morning. (Source WestJet)

Thanks to Rewards Canada reader Stephen H for forwarding the details of the return of the Grand Cru BMO World Elite MasterCard offer. Looks like have really tighten their grip on it this time round as I'm guessing a lot of non-Grand Cru supporters applied for this amazing deal the last time it was offered. This time you have to attend the Grand Cru event/auction next week (Oct 29/30) to be able to apply for the card. If you are going to the event make sure you do apply for it! You get a 40,000 point sign up bonus (instead of 30,000) and the first THREE YEARS with no annual fee (that saves $450!!) Find out more about this offer here.

Many times over the past few years we have brought you details about buying Avianca LifeMiles and how you can use them for Star Alliance flights. Good news from that program today as they have reduced the miles required (how often do we see that happen!!) for award flights in Business Class or First Class between North America and Brazil (like Air Canada's flights) and between Brazil and Europe in all fare classes. (Source LoyaltyLobby)

Vote for your favourite travel rewards credit card! Let us know which cards you're partial to! Vote here!



Posts since our last update:

• Redemption Stories: Using WestJet Rewards Dollars and Diners Club Reward Points for WestJet flights
  Highlights from our SFO trip (www.instagram.com/rewardscanada)Back in July the Rewards Canada family took a vacation to San Francisco. This was…
• Rewards Canada to be on CBC Maritime Noon on October 22 - Get your reward program questions answered
  If you live in the Maritimes and are able to listen to CBC Radio's Maritime Noon tomorrow (Oct 22)…
• American Express Front Of The Line gets even better with a new multi-year agreement signed with Live Nation
  You may recall our post from nearly a month ago where we discussed what we think is one of…
  
  

Bonus Offers
Air New Zealand Airpoints
- Double Airpoints for every qualifying stay at any Choice hotel (Econo Lodge®, Comfort™, Quality™, Clarion® or Ascend Hotel Collection® member) in New Zealand. More... Until Nov 30, 15

Best Western Rewards
- Earn 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you download the new Best Western to Go Mobile® app and book your next stay at a Best Western hotel through the app or on a mobile device. More... Until Nov 22, 15

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Earn up to Triple Asia Miles for stays of 2+ nights at Harbour Plaza Hotels & Resorts across Hong Kong and China. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Finnair Plus
- Earn up to 125,000 Bonus Plus Points on all Finnair, British Airways, American Airlines or Iberia flights between North America and Europe. More... Until Jan 31, 16
- Fast Track to Silver Elite Status - fly one return Finnair Long Haul flight from Tallinn to Asia in Business Class, or two Long Haul return flights with the eligible booking classes to earn Silver Elite status. More... Register by Jan 31 for travel until Feb 29, 16

JetBlue TrueBlue (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple TrueBlue Points for stays at participating Morgans Hotel Group Hotels in the U.S. and U.K.. More... Book by Oct 30 for stays until Mar 31, 16
Orbitz Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 4x Orbucks when you book select flights on Japan Airlines between the US and Japan. More... Book by Nov 15, 15
- 4x Orbucks on select Korean Air flights to Sao Paulo, Manila, Bangkok, Hong Kong and more. More... Book by Nov 15, 15
- 4x Orbucks on select Alantis hotel + flight packages. More... Book by Nov 17, 15
- $50 Orbucks when you spend $1,000+ on Walt Disney World® tickets. More... Book by Nov 8, 15
- $60 Orbucks when you book select Norwegian Cruise Line purchases. More... Book by Nov 9, 15

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Double QMiles for stays at any participating Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts properties Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Double QMiles for stays in a Club room or Suite at Langham Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- 1,500 Bonus QMiles for stays at the Riyadh Marriott Hotel or the Courtyard by Marriott Riyadh Diplomatic Quarter. More... Until Dec 30, 15
- 1,000 Bonus QMiles for stays at the Marriott Marquis City Center Doha. More... Until Dec 30, 15
- Double QMiles for stays of 3 or more nights at Millennium & Copthorne Hotels in the Middle East. More... Until Nov 29, 15
- 3,000 Bonus QMiles on your first Rocketmiles booking More...Book by Dec 31, 15
- Double QMiles for stays at the Capital Centre Arjaan by Rotana.More... Book by Nov 30 for stays until Jan 31, 16
- Double QMiles for stays of 2+ nights at over 170 World Hotels locations Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 16

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Triple Miles&Smiles Miles for stays at Constance Hotels in Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives and Madagascar. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Mar 31, 16
- Double Miles&Smiles Miles for stays at all Titanic Hotels. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Redemption Stories: Using WestJet Rewards Dollars and Diners Club Reward Points for WestJet flights

Highlights from our SFO trip
(www.instagram.com/rewardscanada)

Back in July the Rewards Canada family took a vacation to San Francisco. This was quite a last minute decision on our part, it was late July and we really wanted to get away before our busy August. It was Sunday night and could travel later that week. Without going into all the search details on places we haven't been and within a few hours of home seeing we only had 3 full days we decided on San Francisco. The Rewards Canada family had never set foot in San Francisco unless you include the airport for connecting! This was an ideal location seeing that we had done Los Angeles (three times) Palm Springs and San Diego in the previous 14 months or so. Yes this is the power of miles and points, many of those trips were funded in part with loyalty programs!

Seeing that we only had three full days we wanted to ensure that we got to SFO in a short amount of time so it was decided that we would fly on WestJet's direct flights so we could use up some our WestJet dollars. As we were redeeming WestJet Dollars from multiple accounts I actually had to call in to WestJet to book the flights as you cannot redeem from multiple accounts online at the same time. The process was really simple as I just had to supply our WestJet Rewards numbers and told the agent we wanted to use our dollars for the flights. The cash portion was put on my Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard so we could also utilize Club Rewards points for a portion of the costs to make what would be an expensive flight purchase more reasonable.

WestJet Rewards redemption

Diners Club Club Rewards redemption

What initially began with flights costing $3,014.36  ended up only costing us $1,824.36. A great example of 'flexible' reward programs like WestJet Rewards and Diners Club Club Rewards. You don't have to wait until you have the full amount of points or miles. WestJet does require a balance of $25 to redeem if you don't hold one of their RBC MasterCards and that is why you only see three WestJet redemptions for the four of us travelling as my older daughter only had $24 in her account at the time of booking. You can also see however that we earned WestJet Dollars on the cash portion of the tickets which explains why my youngest daughter actually earned more on her flights than my wife or I as she redeemed less dollars. Also you may see that our Diners Club redemption was actually done nearly two months after the trip. Again another bonus of flexible credit card programs, you can continue to earn points on purchases and use them towards a past purchase. Depending on the card you carry you have anywhere from 90 days to 12 months after the charge is posted to use your points or miles!

Could we have utilized another reward program? Well I looked at using Aeroplan miles and all options required a connection with a lot longer travel time than the direct WestJet flights. With only 3 full days in San Francisco and this being a vacation, not business, we wanted to ensure we had the most time possible in SFO so the decision was made to go with the direct flights and enjoy more time in the Golden Gate city on the actual travel days.

Unfortunately the Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard is not available for new applications but you could use some of the following cards to do the same type of partial (or full) redemption towards the travel charge:

• American Express Gold Rewards Card
• Capital One® Aspire Travel™ World Elite MasterCard®
• mbna Rewards World Elite MasterCard
• Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
• TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
• and more. Simply look for "Any Travel Provider" in the Redemption Centre row of this chart: Travel Points comparison chart

Rewards Canada to be on CBC Maritime Noon on October 22 - Get your reward program questions answered

If you live in the Maritimes and are able to listen to CBC Radio's Maritime Noon tomorrow (Oct 22) I will be on there discussing rewards programs (travel, gas and retail) and answering questions for those who want to call in during the hour between 12pm and 1pm AT. I am excited to be on the show again as it has been a few years since I was last on this particular show. Get ready to talk miles, points, credit cards, benefits and more!

American Express Front Of The Line gets even better with a new multi-year agreement signed with Live Nation

You may recall our post from nearly a month ago where we discussed what we think is one of the unsung benefits of American Express Cards: Front Of The Line which is part of the overarching Amex Invites program. Further to that post, we have great news to pass along to our readers and American Express Cardmembers (present and any future).

As part of the Live Nation partnership, the guaranteed number of concerts that American Express will be able to provide advanced ticket access to will increase, along with great, quality seats through a reserved allotment of tickets once the public sale begins. Amex will also continue to be the lead sponsor at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, providing early entrance to the venue, and access to the exclusive lounge and promotional activities. 

As big time users and fans of the Front Of The Line program, we here at Rewards Canada couldn't be happier. Our first Front Of The Line experience was just over four years ago when our family was on vacation in Toronto and we got Front Of The Line tickets to see Selena Gomez at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. The experience was great as we also got to use the exclusive entrance reserved for Amex Cardmembers and use the exclusive lounge. It’s only fitting that at the time of this new announcement of the expanded partnership, that we once again used Front Of The Line on October 14th to buy Selena Gomez tickets for her latest world tour and her stop in Calgary in May! Since our first Front Of The Line Experience in 2011, we have used the service no less than a dozen times and expect that to grow faster now that the number of concerts are being increased!

Here are some interesting stats about Front of the Line as provided by Amex:

• Amex has seen a 132% increase in events they provide early access to between 2012 and 2014
• Hundreds of events forecasted for this year
• Hundreds of thousands of tickets forecasted for this year – biggest year ever!
• For 26 years, American Express has been a key player in bringing Canadians access to events across the country, partnering with over 20 entertainment organizations to deliver an unmatched breadth of access to Cardmembers
• Other partners include Mirvish Productions, Roy Thomson Hall/Massey Hall, Broadway Across Canada, eOne Entertainment, Taste of Toronto and more

Have you used Front of the Line? If so what were some of your favourite concerts or moments that came as a result of the service?

You can learn more about American Express' Front of the Line service at amexinvites.ca/

Related: Front of the Line - The unsung benefit of American Express Cards

---

American Express Gold Rewards Card
• New American Express® Gold Rewards* Cardmembers can earn a Welcome Bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards® points - our HIGHEST Gold Rewards Card offer - just by making $500 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership
• No Annual Fee for the first year; $150 Annual Fee thereafter*
• That's enough for a round trip flight to almost anywhere in North America
• Transfer your points to frequent flyer programs, or 1:1 to Aeroplan®* and Avios
• Earn double points on eligible travel and everyday purchases
• Charge any travel to your Card theøaern pay for it with points
• 1 Free Supplementary Gold Rewards Card (a $50 value*) to help you earn points faster
• 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.
• *As a Charge Card, the balance must always be paid in full each month. 30% annual interest rate applies to balances not paid in full.
Conditions apply
Apply Now
* Canadian Residents Only

Learn more about this or other American Express cards at rewardscanada.ca/amex.html

October 21 Update: 5x Aeroplan Miles for eStore purchases, using Avis to earn an AirAsia award flight, KLM Wild on Wednesday offer

Somewhat quiet day in the world of travel rewards!

News, Tips & Tricks
Aeroplan is once again offering 5x Miles on purchases made via the Aeroplan eStore online shopping portal. This is a short term bonus that ends on Ocotber 26. Find out more here.

Over on the blog for our global site we outline how you can earn an short haul AirAsia award flight in Asia with only 2 Avis rentals. Find out more here.

Vote for your favourite travel rewards credit card! Nearly 6,000 poeple have voted and would love to hear from you if you haven't voted yet. Vote here!


Posts since our last update:

• N/A
  

Travel Deals
Its Wednesday so that means we bring you KLM's Wild on Wednesday offer. This week the destination is Beirut and you can get there for $899 all in from the East or $1,049 from the West. Find out more here.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Hertz rentals in Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the U.S. More... Until Dec 31, 15

AirAsia BIG (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 2,500 Bonus BIG Points on all qualifying Avis rentals in select Asian countries. More... Until Dec 31, 15

American AAdvantage
- 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles on National Car rentals of 2 or more days in the United States and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Amtrak Guest Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Guest Rewards Points for weekend stays at participating Starwood Hotels & Resorts in North and Latin America. More... Until Jan 31, 16

ANA Mileage Club
- Earn up to Triple Mileage Club Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 16

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn up to 60% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online. More... Until Nov 6, 15

Royal Brunei Royal Skies (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple Royal Skies Miles for car rentals booked via rentalcars.com More... Until Nov 30, 15

SAS EuroBonus
- 1,000 Bonus EuroBonus points per night for stays at Elite Hotels. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- Triple EuroBonus points on Sixt rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Nov 1 - 30, 15

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