March 9 Update: Loyalty Program Diversification, WestJet doubles up London and more

Here is your midweek update!

News, Tips & Tricks
Last week we mentioned that Aeroplan partner Ethiopian Airlines was slated to add a 4th weekly flight between Toronto and Addis Ababa. Well it looks like that flight will not come to fruition and will remain at 3 flights per week. (Source Airlineroute.net)

Posts since our last update:

• To diversify or not to diversify - that is the question
  A question that has been asked by our readers and the media quite often is whether or not it is…
• WestJet Rewards: Double dollars on flights between Canada and London
  WestJet is responding to Air Canada's offer for Double Miles to London that launched last week with their own…

Travel Deals
Hilton HHonors members save up to 35% across Europe, Middle East and Africa in the Hilton Flash Sale with rates as low as $89.




Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Triple Club Premier Points for stays at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at Choice Hotels Worldwide. More...Until May 31, 16
- Earn up to Triple Club Premier Points for stays at La Quinta Inns and Suites. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Querétaro Juriquilla, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Villahermosa or the Courtyard Ciudad del Carmen. More... Until Apr 30, 16
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at NH Hotels in Mexico. More... Until Apr 30, 16
- Earn up 8,000 Bonus Club Premier Points on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Mar 31, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Club Premier Points for Starwood stays in Mexico, the Caribbean and the United States. More... Until Dec 31, 16

American AAdvantage
- Double AAdvantage Miles for stays at participating Country Inns & Suites in the United States. More... Until Apr 30, 16

Binter Canarias BinterMas (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double BinterMas points for stays at Barcelo Hotels in the Canary Islands. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- Double BinterMas points for stays at the Meliá Hacienda del Conde. More... Until Mar 31, 16

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- Elite Status Match Challenge - Earn Silver or Gold Fortune Wings status when you hold status with another airline and complete a set amount of flights with Hainan Airlines, Grand China Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, Lucky Airlines, a, Hong Kong Airlines ,Capital Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines and/or Alaska Airlines.More... Until Dec 31, 16

Marriott Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for up to 4 nights at participating Marriott Hotels in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky or Minnesota. More... Until May 31, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for up to 7 nights at 15 participating Marriott Hotels and Resorts in the Caribbean. More... Apr 1 - Jun 20, 16
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the at Renaissance St. Petersburg Baltic Hotel or Courtyard St. Petersburg Vasilievsky. More... May 1 - 31, 16
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. More... Until May 25, 16
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at 17 participating Marriott Hotels in Southern California. More... Until May 31, 16

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- 3,000 Bonus QMiles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Mar 31, 16

United MileagePlus
- Double MileagePlus Miles for stays at participating Country Inns & Suites in the United States. More... Until Apr 30, 16

Virgin Australia Velocity (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn up to Quadruple Velocity Points for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 6, 16
- Double Velocity Points for every dollar you spend on accommodation at Ayers Rock Resort. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 16

Follow Rewards Canada:

To diversify or not to diversify - that is the question

A question that has been asked by our readers and the media quite often is whether or not it is wise idea to diversify your loyalty program portfolio. The primary reason behind diversifying your loyalty program portfolio is just like diversifying any financial portfolio, to minimize risk. Too often we see loyalty programs make changes to their earning or redeeming rates which amount to the program being devalued. In an ideal world the answer to question is yes, you should make the most of any and all programs that you can. But in the real world this isn't always the case or possible.

If you are a frequent traveller, a big time credit card spender or happen to travel on your parents dime and use their credit rating to obtain the best credit cards then yes you most definitely should. You are in a place where diversification can benefit you and help you avoid devaluations seen from your traditional airline and hotel reward programs, and sometimes, though rare, from proprietary credit card reward programs.

But what about the typical Canadian? You know someone who has a family with two or three kids, mortgage payments, car payments, kid's activity obligations and so on with a household income between $40,000 and $150,000? Can you diversify? Should you diversify? The answer is still yes but with many more limitations.

If you fall into this bracket like most of us do, then read on. Even if you don't fall into this bracket, read on as there are still some tips you can probably make use of.

Continue on reading the whole article on the main Rewards Canada

WestJet Rewards: Double dollars on flights between Canada and London

WestJet is responding to Air Canada's offer for Double Miles to London that launched last week with their own Double dollars offer with essentially the same terms! This is great news for us Canucks, no matter what airline you fly on you should be able to boost your balance nicely! Unfortunately if you booked your WestJet flights prior to March 7th you are not eligible to earn this bonus.

Offer details
Double WestJet dollars when you fly on WestJet between Canada (YYC, YEG, YYT, YVR, YWG, YYZ) and London. Register Online (Registration is required) Register and book by Apr 15 for travel May 6 - Dec 31, 16

March 8 Update: Fortune Wings Elite Status Challenge, Hilton Flash Sale for Europe, Mid East & Africa, 12 new bonuses

Primarily just bonuses for you today!

News, Tips & Tricks
Over on the FrequentFlyerBonuses blog we detail a new Elite Status challenge from Hainan Airlines / Hong Kong Airlines Fortune Wings. Of note for us Canadians is that not only do Hainan flights count (out of YYZ/YYC) but so do Alaska Airlines flights. If you hold status with another airline you can get Fortune Wings status with as little as 6 flight segments. Find out more here!!

 

Posts since our last update:

• Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on Economy Class award tickets to Austria from Toronto
  As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This…
• Earning Stories: 2,500 Aeroplan Miles on a Hertz SUV rental in Maui
  Welcome to the next post in the Earning Stories series right here on Rewards Canada. For years we have…

Travel Deals
Hilton HHonors members save up to 35% across Europe, Middle East and Africa in the Hilton Flash Sale with rates as low as $89.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 4,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you join Coast Rewards and complete stays at Coast Hotels in Canada and/or the U.S. More... Until May 31, 16
- Double Aeroplan Miles when you shop online at Costco.ca. More... Until Mar 27, 16
- Earn up to 55,000 Aeroplan Miles with the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card. More... Residents of Canada only Until May 27, 16
- Earn up to 20,000 Aeroplan Miles with the TD Aeroplan Visa Platinum Card. More... Residents of Canada only Until May 27, 16
- Earn up to 35,000 Aeroplan Miles with the TD Aeroplan Visa Business Card. More... Residents of Canada only Until May 27, 16

airberlin topbonus
- 1,000 FREE topbonus Miles + 50% off your first Award Flight when you become a Heinemann and Me member for free. More... Until Apr 30, 16

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you book hotels via Kaligo. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Dec 31, 16

Etihad Guest
- 1,000 FREE Guest Miles + Silver Elite Status after your 1st Flight when you become a Heinemann and Me member for free. More... Until Apr 30, 16

Hilton HHonors
- 1,000 Bonus HHonors Points PER NIGHT for all eligible stays at participating Hilton Hotels Worldwide. Valid for FedEx Employees only. More... Until Apr 30, 16
- Fast Track to Silver or Gold Status for FedEx employees. More... Until ?

IHG Rewards Club
- 10,000 Bonus HG Rewards Club Points when you book the “10,000 Reasons to go to HK” Bonus Points Package for 3 consecutive nights or more at a participating hotel in Hong Kong or Macau More... Until Jun 30, 16

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Le Club accorhotels points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in France. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until May 31, 16

Follow Rewards Canada:

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on Economy Class award tickets to Austria from Toronto

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we see only a 50% discount on economy class travel on Austrian Airlines between Toronto and Austria. These Austrian offers are good for booking and travel until Mar 31, 16

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip tickets on Austria from Toronto to Austria for only 30,000 miles. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles. 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 March 31st .  
Full details on this offer can be found here

Earning Stories: 2,500 Aeroplan Miles on a Hertz SUV rental in Maui

Welcome to the next post in the Earning Stories series right here on Rewards Canada. For years we have provided you with the details on earning points and miles (both regular earning and bonus opportunities) and these stories show the actual offers in action.

This earning story is for a rental we completed for our family and friends in Maui this past February. We rented a 7/8 passenger SUV for 10 days to get us around the beautiful island. I booked it using this promotion we had listed on Rewards Canada's Aeroplan Bonus Miles page:

There is another similar offer on our page that offered 2,500 bonus miles on a rental of 5+ days that we added to the site after I had already booked the SUV and when I tried to re-book with this new offer no 7-8 pax SUVs were available. The rate we originally paid was as good or better than the no bonus mile rates and I was also surprised to see that Hertz was cheaper than most other car rental companies for this type of vehicle which made booking this offer a no brainer! On top of that we were supposed to put into a Ford Explorer or similar vehicle but we got upgraded for free to an Infiniti QX80 with all the bells and whistles! The booking was simple via Hertz and I also provided my Hertz Gold Plus Rewards number so that we could use the typically shorter line for members at the OGG car rental counter.

At the outset of the rental we ended up earning the 500 base Aeroplan Miles plus the 2,000 bonus miles from the offer

Here is a screen shot of the miles that posted:

Overall I think this was a good earning action for a rental we needed to have no matter what! We like to rent SUVs but I could see people getting an even better return on a promotion like this by renting a smaller vehicle that does not cost as much!

Tips for Car Rentals
- Watch the rates that include bonus miles - For us it is about 50/50 in terms of earning bonuses on rentals, many times rates are out there that are quite a bit cheaper and provide more value versus paying more and earning more miles. For a complete list of car rental bonus offers see this page on the main Rewards Canada site.
- Read the fine print - When a bonus offer is available be sure that your rental meets the criteria. Those are primarily minimum number of rental days and vehicle type. There are many promotions that don't get awarded on the smallest/cheapest vehicles.
- Join the Car Rental company's program - Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, National Emerald Club and others all provide great benefits such as dedicated check in counters, bypass check in counters and more.

You can find more Earning Stories listed here!

March 7 Bonus Offer Highlight: Etihad Silver Elite Status with just 1 flight, Bonus Aeroplan Miles on London flights and more

Welcome to another week on Rewards Canada!

News, Tips & Tricks
Over on the Frequent Flyer Bonuses blog we detail the newest Heinemann & Me offer for free miles. We have talked about this recurring offer in the past (we received 1,000 free miles from it a few years ago) but now it has been taken to a new level. If you have not joined Etihad Guest yet and are planning a flight with Etihad, whether it is out of Toronto, the U.S. or anywhere else worldwide, join now via this offer and you'll get Silver Elite status with just one return economy class flight or a one way flight in business or first class. Find out more here!!

 

Posts since our last update:

• Earn up to 4,500 Bonus Aeroplan when you join Coast Rewards and complete Coast Hotels stays
  Coast Hotels has launched a new acquisition and stay campaign to garner more Coast Rewards members who select Aeroplan…
• Air Canada: Double Aeroplan Miles for flights between Canada & London Heathrow
  Air Canada appears to be making another strike at WestJet's upcoming service to London. Not only are they launching…

Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Double Aeroplan Miles for your round-trip Air Canada flight (or two one-way segments) between Canada (YVR, YYC, YYZ, YOW, YUL, YHZ, YYT) and London Heathrow. More... Register & book by Apr 15 for travel until Dec 31, 16

American AAdvantage
- Triple AAdvantage Miles for stays at participating Radisson Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Apr 15, 16

JetBlue TrueBlue (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 600 Bonus TrueBlue Points per day on qualifying rentals with a minimum of three or more consecutive days at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America, and Caribbean. More... Until Apr 30, 16
- Double TrueBlue Points on qualifying rentals of 1 or more days at participating Budget locations in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. More... Until May 31, 16

Le Club accorhotels
- Double Le Club accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Australia, New Zealand or Fiji. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until May 31, 16
- Earn up to 500 Bonus Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in the Middle East and Egypt. More... Until Apr 30, 16

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Double Starpoints for stays on the grand opening offer at the St. Regis Macao, Cotai Central. More... Book by Mar 31 for stays until Jul 15, 16
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays at Starwood Hotels in the New York City area. More... Until Mar 15, 16
- Triple Starpoints and up to 20% off for stays at the SLS Las Vegas. More... Until ?

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 2,500 Bonus Flying Club Miles when you spend your first £75 with Heathrow Rewards. More... Until Mar 31, 16
- 100 Bonus Flying Club Miles when you join Heathrow Rewards More... Ongoing


Be sure to follow Rewards Canada:

Earn up to 4,500 Bonus Aeroplan when you join Coast Rewards and complete Coast Hotels stays

Coast Hotels has launched a new acquisition and stay campaign to garner more Coast Rewards members who select Aeroplan as their earning preference. The offer is pretty decent, earn 2,500 bonus Aeroplan miles when you join the program and complete your first stays. Complete a second stay within the promotion period to earn an additional 2,000 bonus miles.

Offer details
Earn up to 4,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you join Coast Rewards and complete stays at Coast Hotels in Canada and/or the U.S. Earn 2,500 bonus miles on your first stay and 2,000 bonus miles on your second stay. Full details Until May 31, 16

Air Canada: Double Aeroplan Miles for flights between Canada & London Heathrow

Air Canada appears to be making another strike at WestJet's upcoming service to London. Not only are they launching Rouge service between Toronto and Gatwick they are now doubling up the miles earned on their Canada-London Heathrow routes for the remainder of the year! Simply register and book by April 15 for travel until December 31.

Offer Details:
Double Aeroplan Miles for your round-trip Air Canada flight (or two one-way segments) between Canada (YVR, YYC, YYZ, YOW, YUL, YHZ, YYT) and London Heathrow. Register Online (Registration is required) Register & book by Apr 15 for travel until Dec 31, 16

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here if you can't take advantage of this one!

March 4 Update: Ethiopian Airlines adds more Toronto flights, United MileagePlus Rocketmiles 1st booking bonus and more

 Pretty much just bonuses for you today!

News, Tips & Tricks
Ethiopian Airlines, the Aeroplan partner and Star Alliance airlines is increasing their service between Toronto and Addis Ababa. Starting this July they will be adding a fourth weekly flight.This is good news for Aeroplan members as every additional flight provides that little extra room for potential award flight bookings. (Source Airlineroute.net)

Posts since our last update:

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Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Triple Club Premier Kilometers starting with your second stay at Wyndham Hotel Group hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 31, 16

Air France KLM Flying Bue
- Double Flying Blue Miles when you fly KLM between Valencia and Amsterdam. More... Apr 23 - Jul 23, 16

Etihad Guest
- Earn up to Triple Guest Miles when you fly Etihad Airways and/or airberlin on select flights around the globe. More... Register & book by Mar 20 for travel until Jun 30, 16
- Triple Guest Miles for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 12, 16

Miles & More
- Triple Miles & More Miles on Hertz rentals of 1 or more days at participating HERTZ locations worldwide. More... Book by Mar 31 for rentals until May 31, 16

Southwest Rapid Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- 3,000 Bonus Rapid Rewards Points on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Apr 15, 16

United MileagePlus
- 3,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Jun 30, 16

Wyndham Rewards
- Double Wyndham Rewards Points on qualifying rentals at participating Avis locations worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 16
- Double Wyndham Rewards Points on qualifying rentals at participating Budget locations worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 16