January 13 Update: Canadian Points U update, Flexibility feature update, up to 1,000 bonus miles for Marriott stays in Europe

Here is your mid week update!

News, Tips & Tricks
Due to a last minute scheduling conflict, I will no longer be speaking at the first Canadian Points University this Saturday in Vancouver. Don't worry thought you'll be in good hands with the other speakers and be able to learn tons about the world of points and miles for Canadians. If you haven't bought a ticket yet you can still use our promo code of REWARD20 to save $30 on your ticket at pointsu.ca

We updated our feature on Travel Points Card Flexibility! Be sure to check out how Not all Travel Points and Hybrid Credit Cards are created equal!



Posts since our last update:

• Redemption Stories: Etihad Guest miles were going to expire, so I redeemed them for merchandise!
  Shot of my Powerocks charger on RewardsCanada's Instagram! What do you do when you have some miles in an account…
• BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard - Up to a $150 CashBack Bonus
  Sign up bonuses are few and far between for Cash Back credit cards in Canada. More often there are…

Bonus Offers
Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Triple Flying Blue miles for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Jan 24 for stays until Feb 14, 16

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Triple MilleMiglia Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at NH Hotels in Italy. More... Until Mar 31, 16

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles when you book hotels via Hotels.com. More... Book by Jan 31 for stays until Mar 31, 16
- Double Asia Miles and enjoy up to 25% off on car rentals of 3 or more days at participating HERTZ locations worldwide. More... Book by Jan 31 for rentals until Mar 31, 16

JAL Mileage Bank
- Double JMB Fly On Points when you fly JAL Business Class between Nagoya (Chubu) and Bangkok. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- 500 Bonus Mileage Bank Miles when you redeem and fly JMB award tickets on Fuji Dream Airways. More... Until Mar 31, 16

Le Club accorhotels
- 100 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays on the Extra Saver Package at over 300 Accor hotels in 28 countries. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in Czech Republic, Slovakia or Poland More... Book by Feb 29 for stays until Mar 31, 16

Marriott Rewards
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Airline Miles for stays at Marriott Hotels in Europe. More... Feb 1 - Apr 25, 16

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 3,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays in a suite at the W Bangkok. More... Until Dec 31, 16

Voila Hotel Rewards
- Triple VHR Points & Double Elite Tier Status Points when you stay at any participating Voila Hotel Rewards hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Double Elite Tier Credit for stays of 3 or more nights at any participating VOILÀ hotel worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- 250 Bonus VHR Points for each person you refer to the VHR program. More... Until May 31, 16

Redemption Stories: Etihad Guest miles were going to expire, so I redeemed them for merchandise!

Shot of my Powerocks charger on RewardsCanada's Instagram!

What do you do when you have some miles in an account you don't use very often and those miles are about to expire? You redeem them that's what! Such was the case with my Etihad Guest account. I had earned a bunch of miles in the account for free when they were running an offer for free miles for connecting your personal account to a business EtihadConnect account. Seeing that I wasn't earning Guest miles anywhere else and the best viable flight option was a short haul in the Middle East that wasn't happening anytime soon I wanted to find a redemption I could actually use. The logical redemption was for some merchandise. Yes I know, that goes against what we discuss right here on Rewards Canada in that merchandise rewards are some of the worst value redemptions you can take advantage of. But is that really so? NO! True, if you have an account where you gain lots of miles or points in like Aeroplan or AIR MILES for so many Canadians then yes, merchandise rewards tend to be a bad value. But if you have miles and points in an account you don't use very often and know you won't get to a travel award then merchandise rewards are totally worth it.

I knew I was never going to use those Etihad miles for a flight so rather than let them expire I redeemed them for merchandise via the Etihad Guest Reward Shop (quite an amazing reward store I must admit!). Was it a good value. Heck ya! Rather then getting nothing and the miles turning into dust with a value of $0 I redeemed them for a Powerocks Super Stone3 Dual USB portable charger. It was something we needed in our family to provide a power source for when are away from the house, hotel or car. It cost me 13,096 Etihad Guest miles which included express shipping from the UAE. Best I can tell this unit sells for around US$109 (~C$140) plus shipping and handling from several locations overseas.

My estimate is that if I was to buy this unit from one of those places I would be looking at about C$170 total. This means I received a value of roughly 1.3 cents per mile redeemed. This is actually a good rate for merchandise seeing that most programs have values of below 1 cent per mile but the fact I got all my Etihad Guest miles at no cost the redemption was worth more than that!!

Bottom line is that if you have miles or points expiring in an account where you can't use them for travel reward or convert them to another program then redemptions like these make sense. It also shows that you should sign up for all those 'free miles/points' offers out there as you never know when you may just build up some of those oddball reward program accounts to a high enough balance to at least redeem for something!!

BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard - Up to a $150 CashBack Bonus

Sign up bonuses are few and far between for Cash Back credit cards in Canada. More often there are fee waivers or increased category bonuses for a select amount of time when you first get a card. So when an actual sign up bonus arises it is newsworthy!

In this case it is for the BMO CashBack World Elite MasterCard and the offer sees new cardholders receive up to $150 in cash back. The $150 cash back bonus is broken down as follows:

Receive $50 in CashBack rewards after your first purchase, plus an additional $100 when you spend $3,000 in the first three month.

So you have to spend at least $1,000 a month on the card and seeing that it is a World Elite card that shouldn't be hard for the applicants who go for the card as they need to have $70,000 individual income or $120,000 combined household income.

In reality, you get $30 in the end as the card does have an annual fee of $120, so you could think of this as a first year free + $30 bonus cashback. The card does have a full suite of insurance benefits included which are great for travelling and the 1.75% back is a decent straight return for a cash back card. 

Card Details
· Get up to $150 CashBack BONUS*
· Earn 1.75% CashBack on ALL card purchases* without restrictions*!
· Complimentary Roadside Assistance Program*
· BMO CashBack World Elite Travel and Medical Protection*
· Extended Warranty Plus*
· Purchase Protection Plus*
· FREE additional cards BMO Concierge Service*
· 19.9% interest rate
· $120 annual fee
Apply online

January 12 Update: Travel Hacking 101 updated, American Express revises referral program, great Club Carlson bonuses

Not great news for those of you refer friends to Amex cards so you can get the bonuses!

News, Tips & Tricks
We updated our Travel Hacking 101 post. With current offers you can earn 115,000+ Aeroplan Miles or 75,000 British Airways Avios for free. Read the update here.

If you are an American Express Gold Rewards card holder  you can no longer refer people to the card and get a bonus for it. Only The Platinum Card from American Express (and other we believe other Platinum Cards like AeroplanPlus) and the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express carry the referral offers still.

Posts since our last update:

• Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save 50% on Economy Class award tickets to Europe from Montreal and Toronto
  As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This…
• Trio of Club Carlson Bonuses offering up to 20,000 Bonus Gold Points & Silver Elite Status
  Yesterday Club Carlson sent out emails to many of their members with some targeted stay offers depending on whether you…

Bonus Offers
airberlin topbonus
- Double topbonus Miles on Sixt Car Rentals Worldwide. More... Book by Jan 31 for rentals until Jun 30, 16

Amtrak Guest Rewards
- Triple Guest Rewards Points for stays at La Quinta Inns and Suites in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. More... Until Feb 29, 16
- 3,000 Bonus Guest Rewards Points on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Double Guest Rewards points on qualifying rentals of 3 or more days at participating Budget locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Apr 30, 16
- 6x Guest Rewards points when you rent with Enterprise at participating locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Feb 29, 16
- 6x Guest Rewards points on all Hertz rentals at a participating airport and off airport locations in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. More... Until Feb 29, 16

Avianca LifeMiles
- Double LifeMiles when renting with Avis for 3 days or more in the USA and Latin America. More... Until Jan 31, 16
- Double LifeMiles when renting with Budget for 4 days or more in the USA and Latin America. More... Until Jan 31, 16
- Earn up to 6x LifeMiles when you rent with Hertz in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. More... Until Mar 31, 16

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 20,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete 7 nights at Carlson Rezidor hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Mar 31, 16
- Earn up 20,000 Bonus Gold Points when you stay at Carlson Rezidor hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Mar 31, 16
- Earn up 20,000 Bonus Gold Points and Silver Elite Status when you stay at Carlson Rezidor hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Mar 31, 16

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles when you shop at any Chic Outlet Shopping Villages in Europe or China. More... Until Feb 29, 16

China Eastern Eastern Miles
- Double Eastern Miles Points when you shop at any Chic Outlet Shopping Villages in Europe or China. More... Until Feb 29, 16

Etihad Guest
- Earn up to 20,000 Bonus Guest Miles when you book hotels via Kaligo. More... Book by Mar 31 for stays until Dec 31, 16

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S.. More... Until Feb 4, 16

Le Club accorhotels
- 750 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays of 2 or more nights at Accor Hotels in Australia, Brazil, Thailand, Fiji, French Polynesia or New Zealand. More... For Platinum Members only Book by Jan 31 for stays until Feb 29, 16
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays of 2 or more nights at Accor Hotels in Australia, Brazil, Thailand, Fiji, French Polynesia or New Zealand. More... Book by Jan 31 for stays until Feb 29, 16
- 150 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays on the B&B package at participating Mercure, Novotel, Suite Novotel hotels in France. More... Until Dec 31, 16
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points when you stay at two separate Accor hotels in Spain and Portugal. More... Book by Mar 11 for stays until Mar 17, 16
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in Switzerland. More... Book by Feb 29 for stays until Apr 11, 16



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

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save 50% on Economy Class award tickets to Europe from Montreal and Toronto

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we see only Economy Class options for flying out of Montreal from Lufthansa and a 50% discount on economy class travel on Austrian Airlines between Toronto and Austria. The Lufthansa offers are for travel between May 1 and Jun 15, 16 (must be booked by Jan 31) while the Austrian offers are good for booking and travel until Mar 31, 16

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip tickets on Lufthansa from Montreal to Europe for only 30,000 miles. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles. The Austrian Airlines option out of Toronto is also a full 50% discount on economy class. 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 economy class tickets 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. Currently 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 offers seen here by January 31st (Lufthansa) or March 31st (Austrian).  
Full details on this offer can be found here

Trio of Club Carlson Bonuses offering up to 20,000 Bonus Gold Points & Silver Elite Status

Yesterday Club Carlson sent out emails to many of their members with some targeted stay offers depending on whether you are an elite member or a standard red member. Based on the number of offers you really should be able to register for at least one of these offers!

20,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete 7 nights at Carlson Rezidor hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required) then book online at at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu or Park Inn
Until Mar 31, 16
You must be a Club Carlson Silver, Gold or Concierge Elite member to participate
Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

Earn up 20,000 Bonus Gold Points when you stay at Carlson Rezidor hotels Worldwide. Stay two times, earn 10,000 bonus points Stay three times, earn 20,000 bonus points. Register Online (Registration is required) then book online at at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu or Park Inn
Until Mar 31, 16
You must be a Club Carlson Red member to participate
Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

Earn up 20,000 Bonus Gold Points and Silver Elite Status when you stay at Carlson Rezidor hotels Worldwide. Stay three times, earn 10,000 bonus points and Silver Elite status Stay four times, earn 20,000 bonus points and Silver Elite status. Register Online (Registration is required) then book online at at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu or Park Inn
Until Mar 31, 16
You must be a Club Carlson Red member to participate
Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

January 11 Update: American Express AeroplanPlus Card Updates, Double KMs on AeroMexico's Toronto-Mexico City route and more!

Welcome to another week here on Rewards Canada!

News, Tips & Tricks

American Express® AeroplanPlus®* Platinum Card / American Express® AeroplanPlus®*Gold Card is no longer available as of August 26th, 2020. For more information, please visithttps://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/credit-cards/aeroplan-cards/

WestJet is finally flying their 767's between Canada and Hawaii! The airline received ETOPS certification at the end of 2015 which meant they had to lease an Omni Air 767 for about a month for the routes. This exciting news for those WestJetter's flying to Hawaii now! The first flight was from Edmonton to Maui on this past Sunday. (Source WestJet)

In the bonus offers section check out the new AeroMexico flight bonus offer that sees them offering Double Club Premier Kilometers on their Toronto-Mexico City route!

Posts since our last update:

• Qatar Airways Travel Festival - Triple QMiles b/w Montreal & Doha, up to 50% and a chance to win 100K QMiles on all flights Worldwide booked by January 17
  Qatar Airways has launched a week long promotion called the Qatar Airways Travel Festival. This promotion has three parts…
• Hurry up and grab the American Express AeroplanPlus Gold Card by January 10th for 25,000 Aeroplan Miles
  Although this card has been somewhat off of people's radars for about a year as the first year free…
• American AAdvantage offering Executive Platinum status for those who have United Premier 1K status - no challenge required - meant for Brazil but others are getting it!
  I originally posted this on the Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog but think it is newsworthy enough for us here in…

Travel Deals
To celebrate their new route between Toronto and Amsterdam, Jet Airways is offering a great introductory rate of $788 all in. Simply book by Jan 15 for travel after Mar 27. Find out more here.

Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Double Club Premier Kilometers when you fly AeroMexico between Mexico City and Leon, Bajio, Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, Tapachula, Panama or Toronto. More... Until ?

Air Canada / Aeroplan
- New American Express AeroplanPlus Reserve Cardmembers earn 60,000 Welcome Bonus Aeroplan®* Miles after you spend $3,000 in your first three months of Card membership. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- New American Express AeroplanPlus Platinum Cardmembers earn 50,000 Bonus Aeroplan®* Miles after you spend $1,000 in your first three months of Card membership. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- New American Express  AeroplanPlus Gold Cardmembers, earn 15,000 bonus Aeroplan Miles after you spend $500 in your first three months of Cardmembership. More... Ongoing

American AAdvantage
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles plus, save up to 35% on Hertz rentals of 1 or more days in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles on rentals of a compact car or larger vehicle for three days or longer at all worldwide Thrifty Car Rental locations. More... Until Dec 31, 16

Marriott Rewards
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay 3 nights or more at the SpringHill Suites Old Montreal. More... Feb 15 - Apr 30, 16

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays in a Horizon Club Room at the Shangri-La, Shenzhen. More... Jan 15 - Feb 29, 16

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at The Cliff House at Pikes Peak Manitou Springs. More... Until Feb 29, 16
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at The Lord Jeffery Inn Amherst. More... Until Feb 29, 16
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays at The Kenilworth. More... Until Feb 29, 16
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Park South Hotel New York, More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Menger Hotel San Antonio. More... Book by Jan 31 for stays until May 31, 16

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victora Miles and enjoy up to 25% off on car rentals of 3 or more days at participating HERTZ locations worldwide. More... Book by Jan 30 for rentals until Mar 31, 16

United MileagePlus
- 3,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Mar 31, 16

Qatar Airways Travel Festival - Triple QMiles b/w Montreal & Doha, up to 50% and a chance to win 100K QMiles on all flights Worldwide booked by January 17

Qatar Airways has launched a week long promotion called the Qatar Airways Travel Festival. This promotion has three parts to it. Bonus Miles (3x miles between Montreal & Doha and all other flights), discounted flights and a chance to win miles! All of the offerings require you to book by January 17th for travel January 19th - December 15th, 2016.

The seat sale portion offers up to 50%* off selected destinations and Companion offers available on Business Class bookings.

For complete details and to take advantage of this offer see here.

Hurry up and grab the American Express AeroplanPlus Gold Card by January 10th for 25,000 Aeroplan Miles

American Express® AeroplanPlus®* Platinum Card / American Express® AeroplanPlus®*Gold Card is no longer available as of August 26th, 2020. For more information, please visithttps://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/credit-cards/aeroplan-cards/

American AAdvantage offering Executive Platinum status for those who have United Premier 1K status - no challenge required - meant for Brazil but others are getting it!

I originally posted this on the Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog but think it is newsworthy enough for us here in Canada as I know there a few of you here in the Great White North who are United Premier 1Ks! Try out the Skype call to AA Brazil to see if you can get your UA 1K matched to AA EXP!

Thanks to long time FFB supporter Eloy who runs the Brazilian miles blog Mestre Das Milhas who let us know about this status match! Most of you know about American AAdvantage Status challenges that carry a fee of $120 for Gold or $200 for Platinum and require earning a set amount of EQMs within 3 months (See this FlyerTalk thread for complete details) but if you hold United Premier 1K status and live in Brazil you can get matched right up to EXP.

Eloy reached out to AAdvantage and they have confirmed that they are matching United Premier 1K Status to their own Executive Platinum! We're not sure how long this offer will last so you better do it now and not wait as it could be pulled at any time. You can read Eloy's post about this offer here (use Google Translate if you don't read Portuguese). There doesn't appear to be a web page for this offer rather you have to call in to AAdvantage Brazil to request the match and if the agent doesn't know about it, hang up and call back and hope you get another agent!

UPDATE!!! According to Eloy you may not have to be from Brazil to get the status match! You just have to contact AA in Brazil!!

@Real_Eloy message to me on Twitter