May 8 Update: Podcast Episode 25, details of next Marriott MegaBonus, book Jet Airways via RC!

News, Tips & Tricks
Podcast episode 25 is here! This is the third episode in our interview series for the podcast. We interview Kevin Crowe, the founder of Give A Mile and discuss how it started, how you can help and what the future has in store. Subscribe to or download the podcast here.

The next Marriott MegaBonus details are out although you cannot register for it yet. Apparently you'll earn 2,000 points per stay starting with your 2nd stay and 2,000 bonus points when you stay at different Marriott hotel brands starting with the 2nd brand stay. We'll be sure to provide you with the registration link when it goes live on May 15th (or sooner since details are now leaked about the promo). The promotion will run May 27 to September 4th. I guessing we'll see something similar from SPG seeing that the last MegaBonus and Starwood promotions had the same base bonus offers. You can already start planning and booking your stays as both Marriott and SPG don't put in the rule of 'new bookings only' after the promotion starts.

We've added yet another new travel partner to our Book Travel with our partners page - you can now book Jet Airways flights directly with them. Whether it is on Jet Airways' flights out of Toronto or any other on their global network you can now book it via RC. Book direct here or check our travel booking page here.

Posts since our last update:

• Avianca is offering up to a 125% on buying LifeMiles & how it can save you nearly $5K on an Air Canada Business Class flight
  Avianca has brought back yet another great buy miles bonus. It is the standard offer of 100% bonus miles…

Travel Deals
Take advantage of city summer offers at Barcelo Hotels and visit destinations such as Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Prague, Bilbao, Granada, Seville, Malaga, Valencia, and many more, at the best rates. Choose your city hotel and enjoy a special discount of up to 30% off your stay. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 5x Club Premier Points for stays at any Choice Hotels Worldwide. More... May 15 - Aug 15, 17

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you earn miles from 2 to 4 select non-travel partners. More... Until Jun 15, 17

Avianca LifeMiles
- Earn up 125% LifeMiles when you buy LifeMiles online. More... Until May 30, 17

Icelandair Saga Club
- Double Saga Club Points on all JetBlue flights. More... Until Jul 7, 17

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at participating La Quinta locations in the U.S.. More... Until Jun 1, 17

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Avianca is offering up to a 125% on buying LifeMiles & how it can save you nearly $5K on an Air Canada Business Class flight

Avianca has brought back yet another great buy miles bonus. It is the standard offer of 100% bonus miles when buying at the lowest levels but they'll through in an additional 15% or 25% when you buy more miles.

Some people are reporting even higher bonuses of 35% and those tend to be those who have purchased miles before.

Not taking into account the potential 35% bonus, if you buy 101,000 miles or more with the 25% bonus you are buying LifeMiles for about US 1.47 cents each. That is a pretty amazing price for you can achieve with them as you can redeem for business class or first class on Star Alliance airlines like Air Canada, Lufthansa and ANA. Here is an example of the savings it can provide


Air Canada Toronto to Paris in Business Class on May 23:
Actual Cost to buy tickets:

Redeeming via LifeMiles:

If you buy the 101,000 miles from Avianca at the 1.47 cents you will get 227,250 miles which means you can easily use 63,000 of them for the redemption above. Total cost for that one flight? Only about C$1,000 (assuming 1.37 exchange rate from USD). So you are saving $4,989 from what Air Canada is charging! You could actually get yourself three of these flights with the 227,250 miles and have just under 40,000 miles left.

Now do you see why it can bee such a good deal?

Oh and to compare here is what the redemption looks like on Aeroplan:

A little less miles than what Avianca charges but and it's a big but (a little Sir Mix-A-Lot for you), look at Aeroplan's fees! Nearly 5 times what Avianca charges!

Offer details
Earn up 125% LifeMiles when you buy LifeMiles online. Full details Until May 30, 17
Buy from Up To Bonus you get
LM 1,000 LM 50,000 2x1
LM 51,000 LM 100,000 2x1 +15
LM 101,000 LM 200,000 2x1 +25%

Find many more Avianca LifeMiles bonus offers here.

May 5 Update: British Airways will allow parents to be to extend status, Miles & More discounted tickets, Choice Hotels Bonus

News, Tips & Tricks
British Airways Executive Club has followed in the footsteps of Air Canada Altitude and several other programs as they will now allow to be parents to put their Executive Club elite status on hold for a year:

Executive Club Members who may be travelling less than usual as they’re on maternity, paternity or adoption leave will now also be offered a ‘status freeze’.  This means their membership will be put on hold for a year, so they don’t lose their hard-earned Executive Club Bronze, Silver or Gold status - even if they take fewer or no flights. 

Also when those parents enroll those children as part of a household account they''ll get 1,000 bonus Avios as a welcome gift. Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

• Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on Economy & Business Class award tickets to Europe
  As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This…
• Choice Privileges: 8,000 points when you complete 2 stays Worldwide from May 11 to July 31
  Choice Hotels has revealed the details of their Summer promotion and low and behold it is pretty much the…
• World of Hyatt: 30% Bonus when you purchase 5,000 or more points
  A new buy points offer from Hyatt came out this week. Not as good as the 40% we've seen…
• Great news! Quebec drops the mile/point value retention from proposed bill
  Last week we detailed the news of Quebec's proposed Bill 791 which would make points expiry and points devaluation…
• AIR MILES Mega Miles Event: Earn 1,250 Bonus Reward Miles when you use coupons at 5 different sponsors
  The annual AIR MILES Mega Miles event launched on May 1st and presents a really nice bonus mile earning…

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Choice Privileges
- Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points (enough for a $50 Gift Card) for 2 separate stays you complete at participating Choice Hotels Worldwide. More... For residents of the U.S. and Canada only May 11 - Jul 31, 17

Hyatt World of Hyatt
- 30% Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you purchase 5,000 or more points in one transaction. More... Until May 23, 17

Iberia Plus
- 8,300 Bonus Avios on Avis weekend rentals of 3 or more days of a minimum group C vehicle in Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. More... Until Jun 30, 17
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Avios for Budget rentals. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Double Qantas Points on eligible Japan Airlines domestic flights within Japan. More... Until Jul 31, 17

United MileagePlus
- 1,500 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you book a mid-size or larger car with Hertz . More... Until Jul 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save up to 50% on Economy & Business Class award tickets to Europe

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we see a lot more offerings than we have seen over the past few months as we see the return of some Business Class options! The business class option is only for Austrian's Toronto flights to cities in Austria while economy class is available on the Montreal Lufthansa flights.

The Lufthansa offers are for travel between Sep 1 and Oct 15  (must be booked by May 31) while the Austrian offers are good for  travel until June 30 (must be booked by May 31)

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip economy class tickets on Lufthansa from Montreal to Europ for only 30,000 miles. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles.  Granted the Lufthansa tickets will 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.
Some of the Montreal offers:

For business class between Toronto and Austria on Austrian, the discount is a bit below 50% as you need to redeem 55,000 miles for round trip flights that normally cost 105,000 miles.

Some of the Toronto Business Class options:

As we mention every time they have the 50% off economy offer is that you could in theory get the  tickets with grabbing a couple of credit cards and a $120 annual fee! - there aren't many cards that will get you a round trip flight to Europe for that amount of spend! 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 Starpoints 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. Yes but I need 30,000 points for the ticket right? Right 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 you account. Now you would convert 25,000 Starpoints to Miles & More as they'll give the 5,000 extra for that 30,000 miles and still have 5,000 to 11,000 Starpoints left over. Bad news is you have less than a month to book these offers so chances are you won't get all the points from these credit cards in time. If you don't have these cards but like offers like this we would suggest getting them right now so you could potentially travel later this year.

Simply book the offers seen here by May 31, 2017
Full details on this offer can be found here

Choice Privileges: 8,000 points when you complete 2 stays Worldwide from May 11 to July 31

Choice Hotels has revealed the details of their Summer promotion and low and behold it is pretty much the same offer we see from them. They word the promotions differently in terms of get a free night, get a $50 gift card etc. however the gist of the promos are the same, they will award you enough bonus points after you complete 2 separate stays to have 8,000 points after those stays. In this case it is the $50 Gift Card offer, which mean you can use those 8,000 points to redeem for one of the featured cards at the 8,000 point level instead of 16,000 points if you redeem by August 31st (they have shortened this promo by one month from last year). Your better option is to use those points towards a future award night or even conversion to an airline program to top off an account for an award ticket. 

Offer details
Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points (enough for a $50 Gift Card) for 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 2 separate qualifying trips. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)
May 11 - Jul 31, 17 

World of Hyatt: 30% Bonus when you purchase 5,000 or more points

A new buy points offer from Hyatt came out this week. Not as good as the 40% we've seen the last few times but an alright offering if you need to top off your account for an award.

Offer details:
30% Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you purchase 5,000 or more points in one transaction. Full details Until May 23, 17

Find more World of Hyatt Bonus Points offers here

Great news! Quebec drops the mile/point value retention from proposed bill

Last week we detailed the news of Quebec's proposed Bill 791 which would make points expiry and points devaluation illegal. Good news is that on May 2nd, the Quebec government seems to have forgone with Bill 791 and are moving ahead with Bill 134 which no longer stipulates the points devaluation.

Overall this is great news as had Bill 791 actually been passed, loyalty programs would have found ways around the retention of mile and point value. Namely by not participating in Quebec like mbna chose with their Alaska Airlines credit card or by adjusting the earn rates on miles and points.

It does appear however that the mbna Alaska Airlines credit card is still available in Quebec at this time despite mbna telling us otherwise as when you go to the application page there is no stipulation that it is not. I'm going to reach out to mbna once again to see if I can get further clarification on what they told me last week.

As to expiry, Quebec will match Ontario with the law if and when the bill passes. Seeing that most programs removed their expiry rules after the Ontario bill passing the Quebec bill is more of a protectionist move for possible future changes to programs. It is possible other provinces may follow suit but with our two most populous provinces having the rule it is very unlikely loyalty programs will ever put in place expiry rules for the provinces and territories outside of Ontario and Quebec.

Thanks to our twitter follower @YulflyMontreal for letting us know about the new Bill 134!

AIR MILES Mega Miles Event: Earn 1,250 Bonus Reward Miles when you use coupons at 5 different sponsors

The annual AIR MILES Mega Miles event launched on May 1st and presents a really nice bonus mile earning opportunity. If you meet the requirement of using Mega Miles coupons at 5 or more sponsors you'll be awarded with 1,250 Rewards Miles over and above the base miles and coupon bonus miles awarded.

Now to earn bonus won't come cheap if you don't have any planned shopping this month at the participating sponsors. On the other hand if you do or can move shopping from one retailer to another that is an AIR MILES Sponsor than you can earn those bonus miles for your everyday regular spending.

The cheapest way we found to earn the bonus simply by looking at all the details on the coupons (Alberta region) would be as follows:
Spend $25 on almost anything at Rexall (50 Bonus Miles coupon)
Spend ~$28 on a minimum 25L purchase at Shell (10 Bonus Miles coupon)
Spend $40 at The Children's Place (10 Bonus Miles Coupon)
Spend $45 at Staples (5x Miles coupon)
Spend $50 at Timbermart or Global Pet Foods (25 Bonus Miles Coupon or 15 Bonus Miles Coupon)

That's $188 in spending to earn the 1,250 Bonus Mega Miles Miles but then you have to add in your base amount miles plus the coupon bonuses for an additional ~100 miles or so for 1,350 bonus miles in total. We value AIR MILES Rewards Miles at an average of 13 cents each, so you are getting back $175.50 on your $188 in spending, that is a great return. If you strictly earn cash rewards, then you are looking at a return of about $140, still pretty decent for spending $188. For some of you it may take more spending but as we mentioned before if this is shopping you are already planning on doing then jump on the Mega Miles event right away so that you can earn this bonus.

Find out more and print all your coupons here!

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BMO AIR MILES MasterCard
500 AIR MILES Bonus Miles after your first card purchase
- and there’s No annual fee
- Earn more reward miles when you use your card at Shell, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car
- 1 AIR MILES reward mile for every $20 that you spend on your credit card
- Extended Warranty
- Purchase Protection

May 3 Update: WestJet 787s will have lie flat business class, six new Air Canada routes, use Accor points right at check out

News, Tips & Tricks
Yesterday we brought you the news that WestJet has ordered Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. At the time of posting we were unaware of the configuration of seats in the planes. Well according to WestJet they will be a three cabin plane meaning Economy, Premium Economy and a true Business Class with lie flat seats. We also learned that there are plans for WestJet to add their own business class lounges (not third party ones like Swissport)

Air Canada announced six new winter seasonal routes today. We see service to a third Australian city out of YVR, albeit for only three months and the introduction of Montreal to Lima which is Air Canada's first Southern Hemisphere service from YUL. (Source Air Canada)

Route	Seasonal Service	Aircraft	Frequency
Vancouver-Melbourne	Dec. 1, 2017 – Feb 4, 2018	Boeing 787-9 (mainline)	Four times weekly
Vancouver-Orlando	Dec. 20, 2017 – Apr. 8, 2018	Boeing 767-300ER (Rouge)	Twice weekly
Toronto-Belize City*	Dec. 15, 2017 – Apr. 13, 2018	Airbus A319 (Rouge)	Weekly
Toronto-St. Vincent*	Dec. 14, 2017 – Apr. 12, 2018	Airbus A319 (Rouge)	Weekly
Montreal-Lima*	Dec. 16, 2017 – May 27, 2018	Boeing 767-300ER (Rouge)	Twice weekly
Montreal-Phoenix	Feb. 22, 2018 – May 28, 2018	Airbus A319 (Rouge)	Three times weekly

For those of you who like us who still have the Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard, one of the transfer partners is ending their relationship with DC in June. As of June 16th World of Hyatt will no longer participate as a partner of Club Rewards.  This officially ends any means of earning Hyatt points in Canada on credit card spend.

Le Club AccorHotels will now let you redeem points right at check out instead of having to redeem for e-vouchers first. Simply ask at reception that you would like to redeem points towards your stay and you'll be able to redeem 2,000 points (and multiples there of) for 40EUR (or equivalent in local currency) off of your stay. Find out more here.

Rewards Canada is pleased to announce our latest partner, Loews Hotels! You can now book this hotel chain via our Book Travel with our partners page. I've personally stayed at two of their locations in Hollywood and Santa Monica and both are nice hotels. If you want to be in the thick of things in Hollywood including celebrity spotting then the Loews Hollywood is the place to stay at. You can also book Loews directly via this link.

We spotted David Morrissey during our 2nd stay at the
Loews Hollywood hotel. Better known as the Governor from
The Walking Dead.

Posts since our last update:

• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for May
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of May! This is not…
• Earn 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for making 3 Apple Pay purchases with a TD Aeroplan Visa Card
  A nice bonus for existing personal TD Aeroplan Visa cardholders and for any one who applies within the next…
• Give A Mile Mother's/Father's Day Campaign - Donate miles to help moms & dads connect with loved ones
  As you know Rewards Canada has partnered with Give A Mile, the miles and points crowd funding charity helping families…

Canadian Bonus Offers

Air Canada / Aeroplan
- 1,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you make 3 Apple Pay purchases with your personal TD Aeroplan Visa Card. More... Until May 31, 17

American AAdvantage
- 20% Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you convert Diners Club Club Rewards points to American Airlines AAdvantage miles. More... For residents of Canada only Until May 31, 17

Other Bonus Offers

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at any one of 30+ Marriott hotels across the Eastern U.S. More... Jun 1 - Aug 20, 17
- 10,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay 2 or more nights at any one of five participating Marriott Hotels in Paris. More... Jul 10 - Sep 10, 17
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the AC Hotel Mainz. More... Jun 1 - Aug 24, 17
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Renaissance Atlanta Airport Gateway Hotel. More... May 25 - Aug 17, 17

TAP Portugal Victoria
- Double Victoria Miles for stays at all Altis Hotels. More... Until May 31, 17
- Double Victoria Miles for stays on the Double Reward rate at participating World Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 18


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