April 12 Update: Ottawa to include airline bumping in new legislation, 3,000 miles/points on 1st Rocketmiles booking, Air France seat sale

News, Tips & Tricks
The big news over the past few days has of course been the incident of the involuntary denied booking of a passenger on a United Airlines flight. The videos from on board the plane have gone viral, the doctor's past has been brought up although seemingly having nothing to do with the incident and more. Well hot on the heels of this news, Canada's Transport Minister has stated that new airline bumping rules will be part of the new air passenger bill of rights that will be tabled this spring. Bumping and denied boarding (voluntary/involuntary) have been big news the past few weeks. We were interviewed by Zoomer Radio just over a week ago discussing Air Canada bumping a lady off of a flight to Miami forcing her to miss a connecting flight and in turn a Galapagos cruise and then of course the news this week from United. Both the U.S. and Europe have rules and compensation amounts in place for people being bumped from flights. Canada does not and has allowed airlines to set their own rates in place but that looks like it will be set to change with the new legislation being proposed. (Source CBC)

This isn't the only news that our Transport Minister has been in the past day or so. He has also stated that new security measures are being taken for airline passengers from certain countries but wouldn't elaborate further. One can assume this affects flights similar to the recent electronics ban put in place by the U.S. and the U.K.. (Source CTV)

Rocketmiles has a short term first time booking bonus where you can earn 3,000 bonus miles or points in the program of your choice including Aeroplan. Simply book by April 14. Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

• Score lots of Club Carlson Gold Points by combining two great promotions
  Right now there are two Club Carlson promotions that can be stacked together to earn you lots of bonus…

Travel Deals

Air France has launched a new flash sale for their flights out of Canada. Book by April 17 for travel between May 7th -June 9th and September 12 - October 15th, 2017 (Funny how their ad mentions summer yet most of summer is not part of this deal) Find out more and book here.

• Montreal - Paris from $ 779
  
• Montreal - Venice from $ 819
  
• Montreal - Rome from $ 870
  
• Montreal - Athens from $ 905
  
• Toronto - Paris from $ 789
  
• Toronto - Venice from $ 849
  
• Toronto - Rome from $ 855
  
• Toronto - Athens from $ 879
  
• Vancouver - Paris from $ 1189
  
• Vancouver - Venice from $ 1255
  
• Vancouver - Rome from $ 1220
  
• Vancouver - Athens from $ 1405
  
• Vancouver - Dublin from $ 969

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Copa ConnectMiles
- Double ConnectMiles on qualifying rentals of 1 or more days at participating Budget locations in the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Iberia Plus
- 250 Bonus Avios for all stays at all NH Hotels Worldwide. More... Until May 15, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- 4X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Jun 30, 17

Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass
- Double Travel Pass Points for stays at all participating Sonesta Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by May 22 for stays until Jun 30, 17

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Triple Starpoints for SPG Pro members when you book three or more qualifying group or catering events at any of more than 1,300 hotels and resorts participating in the SPG® program. More... Book by Oct 31 for events until Dec 31, 17

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- Double Miles & Smiles Miles on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Dec 31, 17

Wyndham Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points + up to 20% off the Best Available rate when you book the Stay 2 & Save Rate offer at participating Wyndham Hotel locations Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 4 for stays until Sep 10, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Score lots of Club Carlson Gold Points by combining two great promotions

Right now there are two Club Carlson promotions that can be stacked together to earn you lots of bonus points on stays at Carlson Rezidor hotels Worldwide. Just a reminder Carlson Rezidor is just the parent company of hotels like Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Country Inns & Suites and so on.

The two promotions are their systemwide bonus of Triple Points + 5,000 more on Sunday/Monday as well as their mobile app booking incentive of 3,000 points. The Triple Points + 5,000 more can be earned multiple times up to a 100,000 point maximum while the mobile app bonus is a one time bonus.  The Triple Points offer requires registration while the app promotion does not.

Here is one example of how you can maximize this offer:
We looked at the Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Oakville for a 2 night stay over a Sunday and a Monday. The hotel runs on average C$98.10 (~$73 US) before taxes and fees.

That amount of points you'll earn for the two nights booked via the app is as follows:
Base Points (20/USD) =  2,920
Triple Points  (40/USD) =  5,850
Sun/Mon Bonus (5000/night) = 10,000
App Booking Bonus = 3,000

Giving you a total of 21,760 points for roughly C$200. You now have enough points for 2 nights at a Category 1 Hotel or 1 night at a Category 2 Hotel

Here's an example of how you can use those points
Traveling to Europe? You can get two nights at the Park Inn by Radisson Budapest for only 9,000 points per night where to going rate is C$127 per night.

Essentially that means you are coming out about $54 ahead with such a promotion since you paid $200 (and get a 2 night stay in Oakville) to get $254 hotel in Hungary.

Triple Points + 5,000K Offer details
Earn Triple Gold Points for stays at any participating Carlson hotels worldwide.  Plus, you can earn an additional 5,000 bonus points Gold Points for each Sunday and Monday night* during an Eligible Stay during the Promotional Period for up to 10,000 additional bonus Gold Points. Register Online (Registration is required) then book online at at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu, Radisson Red or Park Inn Until Jun 30, 17
*Eligible Stays completed at hotels in Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will earn the 5,000 bonus points for stays on Saturday and Sunday nights.

Moblie App Bonus Offer details
 3,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete a stay booked via the Club Carlson mobile app. Full details Until Dec 31, 17

Find many more Club Carlson Bonus offers here.

April 11 Update: Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Cards, Save $400 + earn bonus miles on Air Canada Vacations Europe packages

News, Tips & Tricks 
Today we delve deeper into to Cash Back rewards space as we released our first ever Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings! It was a very close race between the top two cards and really boiled down to the sign up bonus and perks/benefits provided. Find out which cards came out on top in this newest annual feature on Rewards Canada!

Posts since our last update:

• American Express SimplyCash Preferred Credit Card now earns a straight 2% - making it the best Cash Back card in Canada
  As you may have seen earlier today we released our first ever Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings and taking…
• Rewards Canada reveals the Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2017
  For the past nine years we've ranked the top travel rewards credit cards here on Rewards Canada and many…
• 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…

Travel Deals
Air Canada Vacations is offering $400 off per couple and up to 10,000 bonus Aeroplan miles when you book a European vacation by April 30th for travel until the end of October. Find out more and book here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Asiana Club
- Earn up to Quadruple Club Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you book an air+hotel Marriott Vacations packages for 3 days or more in the Caribbean or Latin America. More... Book by May 1 for travel Apr 17 - Jul 15, 17

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays in a Tower Wing Deluxe Room at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore, More... May 16 - Jul 31, 17

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 25% VHR Points Discount when you redeem for an award night at a participating VOILÀ network hotel Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

American Express SimplyCash Preferred Credit Card now earns a straight 2% - making it the best Cash Back card in Canada

As you may have seen earlier today we released our first ever Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings and taking first place in the inaugural rankings is the SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express. Had we released the rankings early in March like we had originally planned this would not have been the case, first place would have actually gone to the mbna Rewards World Elite MasterCard. However we were advised by Amex that the SimplyCash Preferred was being enhanced, and that is word you have to be careful with in the loyalty industry since lots of times it is used to disguise a devaluation but that is not the case this time. The SimplyCash Preferred card is getting a true enhancement as American Express wanted it to be a market and that it has become. Gone is the 1.5% on the first $100,000 spending and 1.25% thereafter. In its place is an unlimited 2% back on all eligible purchases with no caps. Yes there are some slight negative changes but those are easily eclipsed by that 2% rate. What has become less on the card is the sign up bonus, the 5% introductory cash back rate on all purchases in the first 6 months is now capped at $300 instead of $400. Also the annual fee jumps from $79 per year to $99. To use those changes are tolerable since it can be easily made up with that additional 0.5% you earn on all spending. Good news as well for existing cardholders, you now get the 2% and you will be grandfathered at the $79 annual fee!

Hopefully you took heed from our cryptic tweet from mid-March to get the card then so that you will be grandfathered at the $79!

Even if you didn't grab the card before today it definitely should be on your radar now as it gives you a great introductory earn rate, a great everyday earn rate and it even includes a very good insurance and benefits package!

SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express

• New SimplyCashTM Preferred Card from American Express Cardmembers can earn 5% cash back on all eligible purchases (up to $300 cash back) for the first 6 months of Cardmembership
• Earn 2.0% cash back when your Welcome Rate ends
• No limit to the amount of cash back you can earn
• No annual fee for Supplementary Cards
• Access to memorable experiences with American Express Invites®
• Extensive insurance coverage and 24/7 Customer Service
• Insurance coverage and 24/7 Customer Service
• Optional Balance Transfer Offer to new Cardmembers – Enjoy a special 1.99% introductory interest rate on transferred balances in the first 6 months if you choose to transfer your other credit card balances to this American Express card at time of online application. There is no balance transfer fee at time of application.
• You can use Apple Pay on your eligible device to pay for goods and services at participating American Express contactless merchants
• American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information click the Apply now link. Offer subject to change without notice.


Conditions apply

Rewards Canada reveals the Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2017

For the past nine years we've ranked the top travel rewards credit cards here on Rewards Canada and many years ago we started providing coverage on cash back cards as well. What we never did was rank them. Well that has all changed now as Canada's leading loyalty and rewards resource, we are proud to announce our first ever Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Card rankings!

We'll be honest with you, these rankings were supposed to come out at the start of March but we learned about changes to two cash back cards in our market and that screwed everything up. Now that we know what the changes are that happened to the Tangerine Money Back MasterCard and the SimplyCash Preferred Card from American Express we're glad we waited.

What are Canada's Top Cash Back Credit Cards for 2017? Click here to find out!

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 Fairmont 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.  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 Triple Gold Points for stays at any participating Carlson hotels worldwide.  Plus, you can earn an additional 5,000 bonus points Gold Points for each Sunday and Monday night* during an Eligible Stay during the Promotional Period for up to 10,000 additional bonus Gold Points. Register Online(Registration is required) then book online at at Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns & Suites, Radisson Blu, Radisson Red or Park Inn  *Eligible Stays completed at hotels in Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will earn the 5,000 bonus points for stays on Saturday and Sunday nights.	Until Jun 30, 17
	3,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete a stay booked via the Club Carlson mobile app. Full details	Until Dec 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 World of Hyatt	Earn Double World of Hyatt Points on all Hyatt stays Worldwide and participating M life Rewards destinations starting with your second stay. Register Online (Registration is required)	Until Jun 30, 17
	For a complete listing of all Hyatt Gold Passport bonus point offers please visit FFB's Hyatt page
InterContinental Hotels Group	Earn up to 30,000 Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. You should be targeted for one of the offers below and you can only register for one. Be sure to check your travels and try to register for the one that works best for you. If that doesn't work pick the next best one! (Registration is required via the links below) Valid for residents in North, South and Central America Stay 2 nights & earn 3,000 Bonus points Stay 4 nights & earn 6,000 bonus points Stay 7 nights & earn 12,000 bonus points Stay 10 nights & earn 18,000 bonus points Stay 15 nights & earn 30,000 bonus points	Apr 16 - May 15, 17
	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.Registration is now closed 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	25,000 Bonus iPefer points when you download the iPrefer mobile app and make one booking via the app by April 21. Full details.	Book by Apr 21, 17
	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. Registration is now closed	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. Registration is now closed 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	No Offers at this time	--
	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, 18
	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, 18
	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

April 10 Update: American Airlines enhancing some Canadian flights, Fairmont Hotels Canada 150 deal, 60 Bonus AIR MILES at Rexall

News, Tips & Tricks
Welcome back to another week of Canadian loyalty rewards news, features and more on Rewards Canada. We do have a great new feature coming out tomorrow but you'll just have to wait for it! For those of you itching for the next podcast, it should be out in the next day or two. Jeff was enjoying a nice break in Mexico last week so we just recorded it today. Now onto the news!

American Airlines is enhancing some of their Canadian services, as their flights to Dallas Ft. Worth and Miami from Montreal are both moving from once a day service to twice daily while their Vancouver-Los Angeles service moves to mainline A319 service for one of the two daily flights. (Source Routesonline 1, 2)This is great news for AAdvantage, British Airways Avios and oneworld airline collectors in those cities. Remember that with British Airways Executive Club the Vancouver-LAX flights is only 15,000 Avios round trip and the two Montreal flights are only 20,000 Avios each. Compare this to 25,000 miles/points with most other programs and you can see why BAEC is a lucrative program for us Canadians. You can learn more about utilizing British Airways Executive Club for flights between Canada and the U.S. here.

15,000 Avios Round Trip Award Flights (30,000 in Business Class)

Montreal - Charlotte (on American Airlines)
Montreal - Chicago (on American Airlines)
Vancouver - Los Angeles (on American Airlines) 

Here's a coupon for 60 Bonus AIR MILES when you spend $40 or more at Rexall until the 12th.

Posts since our last update:

• 25,000 Bonus iPrefer points when you book via the new iPrefer app (equivalent to a US$50 reward)
  Preferred Hotel Group has launched a new mobile app for their iPrefer frequent guest program and to celebrate they…
• Flight Review: Air Canada AC901 Calgary - Kahului, Maui (YYC-OGG)
  We like to enjoy our time with family when travelling so I only review our odd hotel stay or even…
• Give A Mile - Crowdfunding miles to help families fly to see loved ones who are critically or terminally ill
  This is one of those posts that we love to write and it really puts meaning behind all the…

Travel Deals   
Fairmont Hotels is the latest company to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday! Simply book a 3+ night stay at any participating Fairmont Hotel in Canada and you'll receive a $150 credit valid at food and beverage, spa and golf outlets. Book by May 8 for stays until Dec 31st. Find out more and book here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 30,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you fly between the U.S. and Asia. More... Until May 31, 17

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 3,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete a stay booked via the Club Carlson mobile app. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Quadruple Asia Miles when you rent an Avis car for 2 or more days worldwide. More... Book by May 22 for rentals until Jun 30, 17

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Earn up to Triple JPMiles on all stays at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S.. More... Until May 4, 17

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- 25,000 Bonus iPefer points when you download the iPrefer mobile app and make one booking via the app. More... Book by Apr 21, 17

Follow Rewards Canada: