January 21 Update: Avianca LifeMiles now allows mixed cabin awards, Air Canada International Bonus Miles offer and more!

Last update of the week (we're off tomorrow, so see you next week!)

News, Tips & Tricks
Early, early this morning we posted the details of Air Canada's new International flight bonus. At the time we had it up, Air Canada and Aeroplan still hadn't made their registration page live. Well good news is that as of this post going up you can now register for the offer. See the details below in Posts since our last update!

If you have ever taken advantage of the Avianca LifeMiles buy miles bonuses that we frequently post here on Rewards Canada and let you know that they are a great way to get Star Alliance flights for cheap you'll be happy with the latest news from the program! One sticking point with the program up until now is that they did not allow mixed cabin awards. Now they do which means more flights open up for you to use your LifeMiles. You will, of course pay the higher amount of miles of the highest fare class that is on your itinerary but at least you now have the option of using your miles in this fashion without having to book separate awards. (ie long haul Biz Class Canada to Frankfurt connecting to Rome in Economy) Source: One Mile at a Time

Kaligo, the third party hotel booking site that awards thousands of miles on stays has launched a mobile app for Apple iPhone users. Find out more here. and find tons of Kaligo bonuses on our Kaligo page

Qantas Frequent Flyer has reduced the number of Points and carrier charges required for selected Qantas International Economy Classic Flight Reward. They have also reduced the points required for selected International Economy Classic Flight Rewards with some of our partner airlines, including American Airlines®, Emirates and Fiji Airways. Find out more here.

Also in the bonus offers section check out the Le Club accorhotels bonus for stays in North America as it includes their hotels in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.


Posts since our last update:

• Air Canada Offers New Business Class Check-in Within a Lounge Setting at Toronto Pearson
  Air Canada launched a new service today for select travellers at Toronto-Pearson Airport. Now customers flying in business class…
• Air Canada: Earn up to 15,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on flights between Canada and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
  Last week we brought you the deets about Air Canada's North America flight promotion and now we bring you…

Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 15,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on select flights between Canada and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. More... Register and book by Mar 3 for travel until Apr 30, 16

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
- Earn up to 2,750 Bonus Gold Plus Rewards Points + 25 Free Points on rentals of 2 or more days at participating Hertz locations in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, USVI, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand only. More... Residents of the U.S. or Canada only Until Mar 23, 16

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Earn up to 40% Bonus JetPrivilege Miles when you buy JetPriviliege miles online. More... Until Feb 19, 16

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in North America, Central America and Mexico. More... Until Mar 15, 16

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles on TAP Portugal flights between New York or Miami and Lisbon (and v.v.) More... Until Mar 31, 16

Air Canada Offers New Business Class Check-in Within a Lounge Setting at Toronto Pearson

Air Canada launched a new service today for select travellers at Toronto-Pearson Airport. Now customers flying in business class or those who hold premium elite status can use a dedicated
Business Class check-in that is within a lounge setting:

"Business Class Check-in has landed at Toronto-Pearson International Airport. Starting January 21, 2016, select Air Canada customers will enjoy an exclusive check-in experience designed to make their move through Canada’s busiest airport faster and more efficient.
Equipped with 15 check-in counters, 2 customer service desks, 2 self-serve kiosks, and a dedicated seating area, our new Business Class Check-in service will get you on your way without delay.
For flights within Canada and international travel*, you can enjoy expedited Business Class Check-in if you’re:

• Travelling in Business Class or in the Premium Economy or Premium rouge cabins
• An Altitude Super Elite 100K, Elite 75K or Elite 50K member
• A Star Alliance Gold member

Within this new Business Class Check-in area, dedicated check-in counters and a concierge office will remain available exclusively for Altitude Super Elite 100K members.
Customers who are eligible for Priority Check-in (including our Altitude Elite 35K and Prestige 25K members, as well as select credit card holders) may use new dedicated Priority Check-in counters located in aisle 3 for domestic flights and aisle 5 for international flights."

Rewards Canada readers, if you are flying out of YYZ today or over the next few days in AC Biz Class or of course if you hold status we'd love to hear about your experience using the Business Class check-in area. Feel free to comment below or send us an email with pics at info@rewardscanada.ca

Air Canada: Earn up to 15,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on flights between Canada and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Last week we brought you the deets about Air Canada's North America flight promotion and now we bring you their global offer! This offer sees bonuses awarded on a single roundtrip versus the North America offer of three segments and also includes all fare classes versus the North America offer of Flex or higher.

Offer Details
Earn up to 15,000 Bonus Aeroplan® Miles on select flights between Canada and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Register Online (Registration is required) Register and book between Jan 21 and March 3, 2016 for travel by April 30, 2016

Bonuses as follows:
On select flights between Canada and South America, Europe and Middle East:

• 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles Per round-trip flown in Tango, Flex or Latitude.
• 10,000  Bonus Aeroplan Miles Per round-trip flown in Business Class, Premium Economy or Premium rouge.

On select flights between Canada and Asia:

• 7,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles Per round-trip flown in Tango, Flex or Latitude.
• 15,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles Per round-trip flown in Business Class, Premium Economy or Premium rouge.

Eligible Routes:

January 20 Update: SPG boosts their Take Two promotion, using credit card points to pay award ticket taxes and fees, KLM Wild on Wednesday!

Nice mix of news, bonuses and travel deals today

News, Tips & Tricks
SPG's Take Two promotion has been upgraded! It still offers Double Starpoints + 250 Bonus Starpoints at select locations it has now been upgraded with additional bonuses once you reach 15 nights and 25 nights during the promotional period. If you have already registered for the promo you don't have to do anything to get the additional points.

READER QUESTION
New Rewards Canada reader Duane asked this question today:

"I saw a representative from Rewards Canada on Global this morning and he mentioned that you could pay the taxes of a aeroplan rewards flight with aeroplan points. We just booked 3 business class tickets to France and Spain for July 2016 using aeroplan points.  Our taxes were around $3300 and I paid it with my CIBC Aeroplan visa.  Is there a way to pay for the taxes with my points?  thanks."

Our response:

Unfortunately Aeroplan Miles cannot be used for the taxes and fees except for certain times of the year when they run a promotion for it.

What I was explaining on Global this morning was that we used Aeroplan Miles for the flights to Maui and charged the taxes/fees to my American Express Gold Rewards card. Once those charges showed up on my statement I redeemed my American Express Membership Rewards points against those charges. Any card that allows you to redeem points against a travel charge on your account (Amex Gold, Cap One Aspire, TD First Class etc) can be used to pay Aeroplan taxes and fees.

To see what cards can be used to pay for taxes and fees on Aeroplan, AIR MILES and other award tickets see this old post of ours (which surprisingly also came out of a Global interview!):  Which credit cards can be used to cover award ticket taxes, fees and surcharges?

and yes we were on Global Calgary this morning discussing our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings! Time went quickly and I wasn't able to discuss all the cards and tips that I wanted to but that's always the case with interviews, you'll never know where they will go! You can watch the video here.

Posts since our last update:

• New program added to Rewards Canada: First Hotels First Member - Receive 500 points free for joining
  Sure it may only appeal to a handful of you as this hotel chain is only in Scandinavia (and Spain)…

Travel Deals
KLM Wild on Wednesday is back! This week its Krakow for $799 all in from the East or $949 from the West. Book by Jan 21 for travel until May 6! Find out more here.

Fairmont Hotels has boosted their 'Moments' offer right now. You can now enjoy up to 30% off your stays at Fairmont locations around the globe. Find out more here

 


Bonus Offers
China Southern Sky Pearl Club
- Earn up to Triple SkyPearl Club Kilometers for stays at participating Mandarin Oriental Hotels Worldwide. More... Feb 1 - Apr 30, 16

First Hotels First Member
- First Hotels 500 Bonus First Member points when you join the First Hotels First Member program. More... Ongoing

Hilton HHonors
- Earn up to 80% Bonus HHonors Points when you buy points online. More... Targeted offer - may not work for everyone Until Feb 9, 16

Marriott Rewards
- Marriott MegaBonus: Earn free nights and/or bonus Rewards Points for stays at any participating Marriott Hotel Worldwide. More... Register by Apr 15 for stays Feb 1 - May 15, 16

Starwood Preferred Guest
- OFFER UPDATED - Double Starpoints + up 10,000 Bonus Starpointsfor stays of 2 or more nights at all Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Select hotels from around the world will also award 250 bonus Starpoints per night.  More... Register and book by Apr 10 for stays Jan 11 - Apr 30, 16

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Sunset Marquis West Hollywood. More... Until Feb 29, 16

United MileagePlus
- Double MileagePlus Miles for stays at participating Fairmont Hotels & Resorts worldwide when booking select Fairmont Experiences. More... Ongoing 

New program added to Rewards Canada: First Hotels First Member - Receive 500 points free for joining

Sure it may only appeal to a handful of you as this hotel chain is only in Scandinavia (and Spain) but there are Canadians traveling there and so we add them to Rewards Canada. Today marked the addition of First Hotels First Member program to our bonus offers section. Currently there is only one bonus and that is 500 points for joining the program. There you go. 500 free points.

When you join the program you'll also receive a special code giving you 15% off your First Hotels stays as long as you book online. That's a pretty decent benefit in its own right.

When you stay you'll earn 1 point per 1 local currency spent on stays at their hotels. The program also has elite levels when you hit 10 nights in a year (Platinum) and 30 nights (Black) which provide additional benefits like late check out, free upgrades and more.

First Hotels are part of the Global Hotel Alliance which has their own frequent guest program called Discovery. The good thing about joining First Member is that you are automatically enrolled in Discovery if you are not a member already. 

You can find out more about the sign up offer and this program here.

January 19 Update: Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards for 2016, United ends St. John's service, Marriott MegaBonus returns!

Big day today on Rewards Canada!

News, Tips & Tricks
Of course its a big day here on Rewards Canada as we released our 8th annual Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards rankings! This year we took an additional step in the rankings by adding a new category, Overall Top Travel Rewards Card and that category was taken by the American Express Gold Rewards Card. Yes we do believe this the best overall card in Canada for travel rewards! Find all the rankings here!

Did you know that Rewards Canada was one of the very first websites in Canada to actually rank credit cards?

Almost as soon as they started they stopped. Roughly two weeks ago we let you know about the new Ultra Low Cost airline here in Canada called newleaf. The airline, as we mentioned, was actually planning to use Kelowna based Flair Air to operate their flights for them. Well it looks like that combination is coming under the scrutiny of the CTA as newleaf will not be launching on February 12th as originally planned and will be providing full refunds to anyone who has booked flights with them. Newleaf does state they will be back but when we do not know. Thanks to my wife for alerting me to this! Link to their notice

Not so good news for those of you in St. John's who like to use your Aeroplan miles (or other Star Alliance airline miles) for United's flight to Newark as the route is being canceled at the start of February. (Source Airlineroute.net)



Posts since our last update:

• Marriott MegaBonus returns: Earn free nights and/or bonus Rewards Points for stays Feb 1 - May 15, 16
  We let you know a little over a week ago that the newest version of Marriott's MegaBonus was set…

Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 4,000 Bonus Club Premier Kilometers on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Until Mar 31, 16

AIR MILES (Canada)
- 7x AIR MILES Reward Miles on all Shell fuel purchases in Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points on all qualifying stays at the BEST WESTERN PREMIER Kapital Opera - Paris or the BEST WESTERN PLUS Hotel Massena Nice - Nice More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Double Rewards Points on all qualifying stays at the BEST WESTERN PREMIER Opera Liege - Paris More... Until Feb 29, 16

Hilton HHonors
- 15,000 Bonus HHonors Points when you stay 2 or more nights at any Hilton Hotels Worldwide within 90 days of registering. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Jan 12, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays of 2 or more nights at participating ibis and ibis Styles hotels Worldwide that offer ibis BUSINESS More... Jan 25 - Mar 28, 16
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at ibis, ibis Styles, Novotel and Mercure hotels in Italy, Greece and Israel. More... Book by Feb 12 for stays until Feb 28, 16
- Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, ibis and ibis Styles hotels in Italy, Greece and Israel. More... Book by Mar 31 for stays Feb 29 - Jun 5, 16
- Earn up to Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays of 2 or more nights at participating Accor Hotels in Japan. More...Book by Feb 29 for stays until Apr 28, 16

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles for stays of 3 or more nights at the Dom Pedro Garajau or the Dom Pedro Baía. More... Until May 31, 16

Virgin America Elevate (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Elevate Points on all Virgin America flights systemwide. More... Until Feb 29, 16

Virgin Australia Velocity (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to 4x Velocity Points for stays at participating Shangri-La Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 29, 16

Marriott MegaBonus returns: Earn free nights and/or bonus Rewards Points for stays Feb 1 - May 15, 16

We let you know a little over a week ago that the newest version of Marriott's MegaBonus was set to return today, at least for registration, as stays only start counting on February 1st. Well here it is! It is now open for registration and as always we're looking forward to our readers letting us know which offer you received from Marriott and if you unlock your bonus points offer please let us know as well!

We received the following offer:

• Win #1: Earn a free night after two stays (Category 1-5)
• Win #2: Unlock your new bonus points offer – and register when it appears in your online account
• Win #3: Every stay counts at 4,000+ hotels worldwide

Offer Details:
Marriott MegaBonus: Earn free nights and/or bonus Rewards Points for stays at any participating Marriott Hotel Worldwide. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking ( Registration is required) Register by Apr 15 for stays Feb 1 - May 15, 16

January 18 Update: 5,000 Bonus Gold Points for Club Carlson stays, big Finnair PointsHound bonus and Amex Travel Hotel sale

Welcome to another week of all things pertinent for Canadians to be rewarded!

News, Tips & Tricks
Quiet on the news front today!

Some of you may be recovering from attending the Canadian Points University over the weekend. As you may know we had a last scheduling matter that prevented us from coming out and speaking. Hopefully things work out for the next Points U! I'm sure those of you who did attend learned a lot of the ins and outs of making the most of your travel rewards programs!



Posts since our last update:

• Club Carlson - 5,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete stays at two of their brands anywhere in the world
  This email came through about half an hour ago. A new bonus from the folks at Carlson Rezidor hotels…

Travel Deals
American Express Travel is once again running a major hotel sale. You can save up to 40% on bookings at select hotels until Feb 29, 16. Find out more here.

SWISS is offering some decent fares on their flights out of Montreal. Fly to Europe for as little as $817 all in. Find out more here.

Bonus Offers
Carlson Rezidor Hotels Club Carlson
- 5,000 Bonus Gold Points when you stay at two different Carlson Rezidor brands anywhere in the world More... Until Mar 31, 16

Finnair Plus
- 10,000 Bonus Plus Points on hotel stays booked via PointsHound. More... Until Jan 31, 16

IHG Rewards Club
- 3,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points for Platinum Members on your next stay at IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until ? Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

Oman Air Sindbad (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to 4x Sindbad Miles for stays at participating Shangri-La Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 29, 16
- Double Sindbad Miles for stays at the at Swiss-Belhotel Sharjah. More... Until Feb 28, 16

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Double iPrefer Points for stays at AKA Serviced Residences in North America and Europe. More... Until Mar 31, 16

TAP Portugal Victoria
- 2,000 Victoria Miles for stays of 3 or more nights at the PortoBay Liberdade Lisbon. More... Until Feb 15, 16
- Triple Victoria Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 29, 16

Club Carlson - 5,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete stays at two of their brands anywhere in the world

This email came through about half an hour ago. A new bonus from the folks at Carlson Rezidor hotels that is open to everyone (unlike the Trio of Bonuses last week). Simple offer of 5,000 bonus points when you complete stays at two of their hotel brands.

Offer Details
5,000 Bonus Gold Points when you stay at two different Carlson Rezidor brands anywhere in the world. 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