March 8 Update: Air Canada nixes Istanbul route, KLM Women's Day Seat Sale, Avis & Budget Aeroplan bonuses

News, Tips & Tricks
It appears that Air Canada has fully nixed their flight between Toronto and Istanbul that was supposed to resume at the end of April. If you were booked on this flight contact Air Canada or Aeroplan to be rescheduled on another flight like Turkish Airlines or perhaps Lufthansa via Frankfurt. (Source Routesonline)

Posts since our last update:

• Why you should still consider getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
  From the latter part of 2015 we've brought you all the details and drama surrounding the sale of Starwood Hotels…
• Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - earn lots of points while you sleep!
  One of the easiest ways to rack up lots of hotel points is to take advantage of the systemwide…
• SWISS Airlines Companion Special - 2 can fly in Business Class out of Montreal from C$2,781 each
  Finding business class flights to Europe from Canada. for under $3,000 seems to be limited to specials from airlines…

Travel Deals
KLM is celebrating International Women's day with a seat sale on flights from all their Canadian gateway cities. Book by March 9 for travel until April 16. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 3,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Avis rentals Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Budget rentals Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Other Bonus Offers
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- Double Gold Points is valid on rentals of one day or longer at participating Avis locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. More... Until May 31, 17
- Double Gold  points is valid on rentals of one day or longer at participating Budget locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. More... Until May 31, 17

Iberia Plus
- Triple Avios for stays at the hotel Banke Paris. More... Until Apr 30, 17
- 500 Bonus Avios for minimum 3 nights stay at the Hotel Jerez & Spa, Villa Jerez, Playa de la Luz or Duque de Nájera More... Until Apr 30, 17
- Double Avios when you book a Costa Cruise. More... Book by Apr 30 for sailings until Nov 30, 17

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S.. More... Until Apr 6, 17

Miles & More
- 1,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at Starwood Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- 500 Bonus QMiles for stays of 3+ nights at Marriott Hotels in Jordan. More... Until May 23, 17
- Triple QMiles on Sixt rentals of 5 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Mar 31 for rentals Apr 1 - Jun 30, 17

Saudia Alfursan
- Triple Alfursan Miles for stays at Atlantis, The Palm Dubai. More... Book by Mar 31 for rentals until Jul 31, 17
- Triple Alfursan Miles for Hertz rentals of 2 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Mar 31 for rentals until May 31, 17

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Quadruple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Hotel AbRi San Francisco. More... Book by Mar 31 for stays until Dec 31, 17
- Triple Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Cooper Hotel Conference Center & Spa Dallas. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Why you should still consider getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

From the latter part of 2015 we've brought you all the details and drama surrounding the sale of Starwood Hotels to Marriott Hotels This worried a lot of Starwood Preferred Guest members (SPG) as SPG tends to be more rewarding than Marriott especially in how they treat their elite members. In September of 2016 we learned many details of the Marriott takeover and overall everyone on both sides seemed to b happy with the linking of accounts, status matches and points transfers that were provided by Marriott.  Ultimately we know that SPG and Marriott Rewards will be merged into a new program sometime in 2018.  Until then, the SPG program is still one of the most valuable programs out there, in fact if you look at our Top 5 Travel Rewards Currencies for Canadians you'll see that SPG ranks 4th overall! The program is still prime for taking advantage of by loyal SPG members, Marriott Rewards members and even those not loyal to the brands but looking to rack up some more airline miles and this can be done by using the SPG Amex card.

That brings us to the topic of this post. We still are constantly asked whether applying for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express is still worthwhile. And the simple answer is yes! That is why we still ranked the card as the number 1 hotel card in Canada in our 2017 Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings! Seeing that you have nearly two years to use the points before an integration or amalgamation there is more than enough time to make use of the very valuable currency.

Here are the details of the card:

And here are just some examples of why this card still represents a great value and why you should still consider grabbing it:

Use the points for Starwood stays of course! We value Starpoints at well over 2 cents each so the sign up bonus is worth $400 at a minimum. If you apply for the card and put your $1,500 spending on it as soon as you can you'll get the 20,000 Starpoints on your first statement date and those will post to SPG within a day or two after that. Now the questions is what can those 20,000 Starpoints get you?

Here are some ideas:

How about a night at The St. Regis Mauritius Resort in June:

Only 20,000 Starpoints for a Junior Suite with ocean view. If you pay cash, the non-refundable, prepaid rate is EUR755 or about $1074CDN!! That's almost a 5.4% return on your points. Go for two night with points + cash for 20,000 Starpoints and $360 USD (C$485) versus C$2,148 in outright costs. That's a savings of C$1663 or a value of 8.3 cents per point (16% when you earn 2 points/$ at Starwood & Marriott hotels) THAT'S HUGE!!!

How about a little closer to home? The Westin Grand Vancouver in August

  

Only 12,000 Starpoints per night for a superior suite. If you pay cash, the non-refundable rate is C$489 so you are getting ~4.1% per point in value.

Another amazing benefit from SPG is the ability to transfer the Starpoints to well over 30 airlines from around the globe including Aeroplan. What is even better is that SPG will bonus you 5,000 miles each time you transfer 20,000 Starpoints to any of their airline partners. This means the sign up bonus with the card is actually the equivalent of 25,000 miles with all but a couple of partners. Aeroplan is one those that you would get 25,000 miles. For most of us Aeroplan is the obvious choice but some other front runners are British Airways, Alaska Airlines, American AAdvantage, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Air France KLM Flying Blue.

Here is the full of transfer partners:

FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAM	EXCHANGE RATIO (STARPOINTS:MILES)
Aegean Airlines	1:1
Aeromexico Club Premier	1:1
Aeroplan/Air Canada	1:1
Air Berlin	1:1
Air China Companion	1:1
Air New Zealand Airpoints	65:1
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan	1:1
Alitalia MileMiglia	1:1
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club	1:1
American Airlines AAdvantage	1:1
Asia Miles	1:1
Asiana Airlines	1:1
British Airways Executive Club	1:1
China Eastern Airlines	1:1
China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club	1:1
Delta Air Lines SkyMiles	1:1
Emirates Skywards	1:1
Etihad Airways	1:1
Flying Blue	1:1
Gol Smiles	2:1
Hainan Airlines	1:1
Hawaiian Airlines	1:1
Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank	1:1
Jet Airways	1:1
Korean Air	1:1
LATAM Airlines LATAM Pass	1:1.5
LifeMiles® of Avianca	1:1
Miles and More	1:1
Qatar Airways	1:1
Saudi Arabian Airlines	1:1
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	1:1
Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus	1:1
United Mileage Plus	2:1
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	1:1
Virgin Australia	1:1

If airline miles and Starpoints don't appeal to you but Marriott Rewards points do, then this card is still for you. You can convert Starpoints to Marriott at a rate of 1 Starpoint to 3 Marriott Rewards Points which means the 20,000 Starpoint bonus is worth 60,000 Marriott Rewards points. This is in fact higher than any bonus out there for Marriott's own card in Canada. Another reason you may want to consider moving points over to Marriott are their Hotel + Air Packages. Granted you have to rack up more points than 60,000 but it is well known that these packages can provide amazing value as they give you 7 nights at a Marriott Hotel PLUS airline miles on top of that. Here is an example of the points requirements and what you get for them if you choose a program like Aeroplan:

Say you have the 270,000 Marriott Rewards Points and want to convert to Aeroplan you could convert directly and get 90,000 Aeroplan Miles but why would you do that when you can use this package and get 120,000 Aeroplan Miles plus 7 nights at a Category 1-5 hotel!
You can find out more about Marriott's Hotel+Air Packages here.

Finally you could just hold onto the points and keep collecting as you spend on the card and redeem for higher end hotels before 2018 or keep going for multiples of 20,000 Starpoints to transfer to an airline partner. Ultimately if you don't do any of that the points that you are holding onto will transfer into the newly merged program sometime in 2018.

Clich here to find out more or to apply for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card!

Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - earn lots of points while you sleep!

One of the easiest ways to rack up lots of hotel points is to take advantage of the systemwide bonuses that come from many of the big chain programs and also from the lesser known programs. In fact, right now it should be rare for you NOT to earn a bonus. Unless you are staying at a boutique hotel or perhaps an Accor or Hyatt Hotel most other hotels out there have a bonus. So take advantage of it! These systemwide bonuses simply require you to register beforehand and they do not affect hotel pricing as long as you book a point eligible rate which are most rates out there. Of course booking through a third party site like Expedia or Rocketmiles does not count as most chains only award points on bookings that are made directly with them.  So without further ado here are all the current promotions that are available to everyone:

Provider	Offer	Validity Date
Best Western Rewards	Receive a $10 Best Western Gift Card with every stay at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) Valid for North American residents only	Until Apr 30, 17
	For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's Best Western page
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson	Earn up to 100,000 Bonus Gold Points for stays at any participating Carlson hotels worldwide.  Register Online (Registration is required) then book online at at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu or Park Inn Stay 1 night, earn 5,000 bonus Gold Points Stay 2 nights, earn 10,000 bonus Gold Points Stay 4 nights, earn 20,000 bonus Gold Points Stay 8 nights, earn 50,000 bonus Gold Points Stay 20 or more nights, earn 100,000 bonus Gold Points	Until Mar 31, 17
	For a complete listing of all Carlson Hotels Club Carlson bonus point offers please visit FFB's Carlson page
Choice Hotels Privileges	Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points (enough for a free night) for every 2 separate stays you complete 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 maximum of 8,000 bonus points, depending on the number of base points earned for every (2) separate qualifying trips. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Restrictions For residents of the U.S. and Canada only	Mar 2 - Apr 27, 17
	For a complete listing of all Choice Privileges bonus point offers please visit FFB's Choice page
Fairmont Presidents Club	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Fairmont bonus offers please visit FFB's Fairmont page
Hilton	2,000 Bonus Honors Points per night on all eligible stays at any Hilton Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Until Apr 30, 17
	For a complete listing of all Hilton HHonors bonus point offers please visit FFB's Hilton page
Hyatt	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Hyatt Gold Passport bonus point offers please visit FFB's Hyatt page
InterContinental Hotels Group	Earn at least 30,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you stay at IHG Hotels Worldwide.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Jan 1 - Apr 15, 17
	For a complete listing of all IHG Priority Club bonus point offers please visit FFB's IHG page
Le Club accorhotels	No offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's Best Western page
Marriott	Double Rewards Points when you stay at Marriott Hotels Worldwide. Awarded on your first 3 stays during the promotional period. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required)	Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 16 - Apr 15, 17
	For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's Marriott page
Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's iPrefer page
Ritz-Carlton Rewards	Double Rewards Points when you stay at any Ritz-Carlton or Marriott Hotels Worldwide. Awarded on your first 3 stays during the promotional period. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required)	Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 16 - Apr 15, 17
	For a complete listing of all Shangria-La bonus point offers please visit FFB's Ritz-Carlton Rewards page
Shangri-La Golden Circle	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Shangria-La bonus point offers please visit FFB's Golden Circle page
Starwood Preferred Guest	Double Starpoints + Additional Starpoints when you stay at Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Awarded on your first 3 stays during the promotional period. Full Details, Online Registration and Booking (Registration is required) Additional bonus varies by member but here is an example: Starting on your fourth stay, you can earn up to 10,000 bonus Starpoints®: Achieve 10 nights and you'll earn 5,000 Starpoints. After 10 nights earn 500 Starpoints for each additional night, up to 5,000 Starpoints.	Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 16 - Apr 15, 17
	For a complete listing of all Starwood Preferred Guest bonus point offers please visit FFB's SPG page
Voila Hotel Rewards	5,000 Bonus VHR Points per stay at any Voila Hotel Rewards hotel Worldwide. Maximum of 100,000 bonus points awarded. Register Online (Registration is required)	Until Mar 31, 17
	For a complete listing of all Voila Hotel Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's VHR page
World Hotels Peakpoints	Triple Peakpoints or Triple Airline Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating World Hotels locations Worldwide. Full details	Until Mar 31, 17
	Double Peakpoints or Double Airline Miles for stays at participating World Hotels locations Worldwide that are booked at least 20 days in advance. Full details	Until Mar 31, 17
	For a complete listing of all Starwood Preferred Guest bonus point offers please visit FFB's Peakpoints page
Wyndham Rewards	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Wyndham Rewards bonus point offers please visit FFB's Wyndham page

SWISS Airlines Companion Special - 2 can fly in Business Class out of Montreal from C$2,781 each

Finding business class flights to Europe from Canada. for under $3,000 seems to be limited to specials from airlines like Air France and KLM and on the occasion from British Airways. So when another airline offers up sub $3,000 tickets it is newsworthy! Star Alliance airline SWISS (and Aeroplan partner) have launched this companion ticket special for travel in SWISS' great business class out of Montreal. You must book this offer by March 13th and you and your companion will travel in style to Europe for close to the same price usually charged for one ticket! This offer is good for Monday-Thursday flights for most of 2017.

Click here for complete details or to book this offer

Some sample fares and cities available with this offer

and a sample booking:

March 7 Update: Hilton Honors status match extended, Toronto-Rome for $879 on Alitalia and more!

News, Tips & Tricks
The Hilton Honors Elite Status Match that has been around for nearly a year or so (see our Honors page) that provides a match to preferred and elite status levels in other hotel programs has been extended. Status will be matched for 90 days and if you complete 4 stays in that time period you will receive the status until March 31, 19! Register Online (Registration is required)

If you need to shop at Rexall over the next few days you can get 50 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles with a minimum $30 purchase. Get the coupon here.

Posts since our last update:

• Some sort of apology letter from AIR MILES - the experience to get better but not the program itself
  Last week we did a radio interview with CJOB in Winnipeg discussing the sort of an apology letter from AIR…
• New TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite offer: Up to 25,000 Aeroplan Miles & 50% off first year annual fee
  As you may have seen on the main Rewards Canada site yesterday, the details of the new TD Aeroplan Visa…

Travel Deals
Not sure if I wanted to post since Alitalia is in financial turmoil at the moment but they do have some great fares to Rome from Toronto. In June you can fly for as little as $879 all in. Now you can book this and if they go under you'll get a refund from your credit card company but then of course you don't have your flight to Rome.... Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
AIR MILES (Canada)
- 40 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles on rentals of 3 or more days at Budget locations in Canada and the U.S. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Up to 30,000 Bonus Asia Miles when you apply for and receive the Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum Card. More... Residents of Canada only Until Apr 30, 17

Other Bonus Offers
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- Earn up to 50% Bonus Gold Points when you buy points online. More... Until Apr 6, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles for all stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 31, 17
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus Asia Miles on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by May 5 for stays until Dec 31, 17
- Earn up to Quadruple Asia Miles when you rent with Hertz in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand or USA. More... Book by Apr 30 for rentals until May 31, 17

Hilton HHonors
- 2,000 Bonus Honors Points for each night you stay at participating Waldorf Astoria™ or Conrad® hotels & resorts. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Dec 31, 17
- 5,000 Bonus Honors Points when you stay at least two nights at participating Waldorf Astoria™ or Conrad® hotels & resorts. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Until Dec 31, 17

IHG Rewards Club
- Double IHG Rewards Club Points for stays of 3 or more night at Holiday Inn Club Vacations Resorts in the U.S. More... Book by Apr 16 for stays until Jun 29, 17

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Double Starpoints for stays at the Element Kuala Lumpur. More... May 1 - ?

Wyndham Rewards
- Double Wyndham Rewards Points on qualifying rentals of 1 or more days at participating Budget locations worldwide. More... Until May 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save 50,000 miles on Business Class award tickets between Toronto & Austria

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we continue to see offers for Austrian Airlines flights out of Toronto - gone however are the economy class options that were supposed to stick around until the end of March. Instead we now have these business class offers!

These offers are good for travel until April 30, 2017

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip tickets on Austrian from Toronto to Austria for only 55,000 miles. This is a ~47% discount off the normal Business Class award ticket price of 105,000 miles.

Here are the offers:

Miles & More is a transfer partner of Starwood Preferred Guest which means you can easily transfer over Starpoints to get in on this offer. One transfer of 25,000 Starpoints and another of 20,000 will net you enough miles since Starwood kicks in an additional 5,000 miles for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred. You can easily get 20,000 Starpoints by applying for and receiving the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. Refer a friend or family member to get the SPG Amex as well and you get another 10,000 Starpoints. Then you get yourself the Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card with the 30,000 or 50,000 point sign up bonus. You can then convert those to SPG at a rate of 3:1 so you have now added 10,000 to 16,000+ more Starpoints to your account. Now you potentially have enough Starpoints to redeem for this offer!

Simply book the offers seen here by April 30
Full details on this offer can be found here

Some sort of apology letter from AIR MILES - the experience to get better but not the program itself

Last week we did a radio interview with CJOB in Winnipeg discussing the sort of an apology letter from AIR MILES. At the time of the interview on Tuesday, the letter had not been sent out to members but was scheduled to start going out on Wednesday March 1st. We received ours on March 2nd so we are assuming all members who have an email address on file with AIR MILES should have received it by now. But if you didn't or don't subscribe to their emails here is a screen shot of the one we received:

While it isn't an outright apology, the letter definitely leans that way. Some interesting notes to take from the letter is that they are committed to bringing a better AIR MILES experience. The key word is experience. What does that mean? Based on the the additional steps in the letter its better customer service, better communications and such. But no where does it say they are going the make the program itself better and there is good reason for that. They have already told us they need to make up for the lost economics due to not being able to expire our miles. According to some reports they have already increased some redemptions and we just have to wait and see what will happen to other redemption option prices. But of course no mention of actually making the program better in the letter of this gives AIR MILES free reign to do what they like with the actual program. I like how they throw in that last year they delivered more value in rewards than any other year... no duh! You had everyone panicking and they all redeemed for things they didn't want. That's why they delivered 'more' value in rewards.  Looks like AIR MILES is still trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

This will be a very interesting year for the AIR MILES program, overall the aura around them is still very negative with consumers however many will still collect and why not. I still collect them, I shop at Sobeys and Shell and will still pull out my AIR MILES card so that I can get something in return, no sense in not collecting them unless of course you shop at non AIR MILES retailers or refuse to visit AIR MILES retailers and I know some of you have chosen that last route!

What are your thoughts of the letter and the impression it leaves with you? Are you happy they sent this out? Does it make things better or is it too little too late? Sound off on the latest chapter of the AIR MILES saga by commenting below!

New TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite offer: Up to 25,000 Aeroplan Miles & 50% off first year annual fee

As you may have seen on the main Rewards Canada site yesterday, the details of the new TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card offer were released. The new offer is no longer first year free but does come with a 50% rebate on the first year annual fee. You'll earn 15,000 Aeroplan upon first purchase, then 10,000 more for keeping the account open and active and in good standing for 90 days. The key word there is active which we take as meaning you actually have to using the card not just keeping it in your wallet. You can even collect 5,000 more miles for a total of 30,000 miles if you add a supplementary card for $50. Of course if you have a TD All Inclusive banking plan you don't have to pay those annual fees.

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
• Receive a Welcome Bonus of 15,000 Aeroplan Miles with your first Purchase
• 10,000 Aeroplan Miles when you keep your Account open, active and in good standing for 90 days after Account approval
• 5,000 Aeroplan Miles when you add an Authorized User to your Account by June 14, 2017 (Authorized User must call and activate their Card by July 31, 2017)
• 50% Annual Fee Rebate for the first year (Primary Cardholder only) – that’s $60 in savings!
• Offer Valid until May 4, 2017
• Earn 1.5 miles for every $1 spent on eligible gas, grocery, drugstore and aircanada.com Purchases made with your Card.
• Earn 1 mile for every $1 you spend on all other Purchases on your Card.
• Earn miles twice when you pay with your TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card and present your Aeroplan Membership Card at over 150 Aeroplan partner brands and with 100 online retailers
• Your Aeroplan miles will not expire as long as you are a TD Aeroplan Credit Cardholder
• Enjoy an extensive suite of travel insurances for peace of mind on your next getaway.


Editor's Note:
We had a post late last week saying to grab the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card since it was losing its first year free offer with the same bonus offer. We read some of the information provided incorrectly on the bonus. Yes it is no longer free with only a 50% rebate in the first year however the sign up bonus is not 15,000 stated but rather the potential 25,000 miles as mentioned above. For some of you this is a better deal as those additional 10,000 miles along with the $60 annual fee in the first year are worth more than paying no annual fee and only getting 15,000 miles while for some of you no fee was still the way to go. If you applied for the old offer over the weekend and would rather pay th $60 to get the additional 10,000 miles we recommend calling TD to ask them to be considered for this offer and if they don't then when you get the card do not activate it, cancel it and reapply for the new offer as by not activating you are not accepting the bonus on the first purchase and are not subject to their 6 month rule.

March 6 Update: Podcast Episode 18, CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite with 4% back on all spending & Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer changes

News, Tips & Tricks
Episode 18 of our weekly round up podcast is out! We discuss the WestJet trans Canada bonus, the Scotia Amex Gold increased sign up bonus and converting Aeroplan Miles to RBC Avion! Listen to the podcast here!

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer announced last week that there will be some changes coming to the program on March 23rd. KrisFlyer isn't a huge program for us Canadians especially after they stopped flying here many moons ago. However some of you may make use of the program either by flying SQ outside of Canada, crediting Air Canada & Star Alliance flights to SQ or transferring hotel points like SPG's Starpoints to KrisFlyer. So these changes will be of interest to those of you who do use this program. The biggest and worst change is the loss of th 15% discount for booking awards online, everybody loved this option! Fuel and other surcharges for award flights on Singapore Airlines are being nixed however most standard mileage amounts for award tickets are going up to accomodate for this. Here is an example provided by Singapore Airlines on pricing for the Singapore-San Francisco route (note that the old amount does not include the 15% off for online redemption.) In general, due to the loss of the 15% discount the new award chart requirements are a devaluation to the KrisFlyer program even with the removal of the fuel surcharges. Find out more about these changes here

Posts since our last update:

• RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card sign up bonus increased to 30,000 miles (Apply by April 30)
  The larger sign up bonus for the RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card that we saw last year has…
• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for March
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of March! This is not…

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan - Please note the below TD Aeroplan offers are not live yet!
- Earn up to 25,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles and 50% off the first year annual fee when you apply for and receive the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card. More... Until May 4, 17 Residents of Canada only
- Earn up to 50,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you apply for and receive the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege Card. More.. Until May 4, 17 Residents of Canada only

CIBC
- 4% cash back on all your spending up to $5,000 over the first 6 statements and first year free with the CIBC Dividend Visa Infinite. More... Until Mar 31, 17

Other Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- Triple AAdvantage Miles per stay at La Quinta properties in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. More.. Until Jun 30, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating AccorHotels in Spain and Portugal. More... Book by Apr 7 for stays until May 14,17
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating AccorHotels in Egypt and the Middle East. More... Book by Apr 10 for stays until May 25, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay any night Friday-Sunday on the "Reopening Offer" at the Renaissance Paris La Defense Hotel. More... Until Apr 28, 17
- 3,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Courtyard by Marriott Shin-Osaka Station. More... Until May 17, 17
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay any night Friday-Sunday at the Turnberry Isle Miami, Autograph Collection. More... Until Apr 30, 17
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points per night at any one of four Courtyard or Residence Inn & Marriott hotels in Las Vegas. More... Until Apr 9, 17

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Double Starpoints for stays at the Four Points by Sheraton Melbourne Docklands. More.. Mar 28 - Sep 28, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card sign up bonus increased to 30,000 miles (Apply by April 30)

The larger sign up bonus for the RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card that we saw last year has returned!

This new bonus is enough miles to fly round trip in Economy Class on Cathay Pacific's 5th freedom flight between Vancouver and New York:

or even one way in Business Class:

Of course there are many more options out there as well on Cathay Pacific and any of their oneworld or other airline partners.

The 30,000 Asia Miles bonus is split into two parts. You'll get 15,000 miles upon approval and then you have to spend $7,500 on the card in the first three months to receive the next 15,000 miles. That's a little bit of a steep spend amount compared to other cards but definitely achievable for many. If you do want to take advantage of this offer be sure to apply by April 30th.

Click here to find out more about this offer or to apply for this card. 

RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card privileges:

Card spend	Earn rate1
Local spend2	CAD1 = 1 Miles
Foreign currency spend3	CAD1 = 1.25 Miles
Cathay Pacific tickets purchased online4	CAD1 = 2 Miles
In-fight purchases (minimum net purchase of 500 HKD)5	HKD5 = 2 Miles

• Enjoy comprehensive insurance coverage
  • Travel at ease, with coverage that includes Out of Country/Province Emergency Medical Insurance⁶, Travel Accident Insurance⁶ and more!
• Receive membership to Cathay Pacific’s Marco Polo Club
  • The first year complimentary Green Tier membership for the primary cardholder to the Marco Polo Club includes amazing perks like priority boarding and extra baggage redemption.