May 10 Update: Air China $499 Mother's Day Sale and Podcast 26 is out: we talk WestJet 1000 bonus, RBC to AA devaluation + more

News, Tips & Tricks
This is a unique week in that we have two podcast episodes out! Episode 26 was released today and is our regular format of covering deals, news and more. In this episode we discuss the WestJet Rewards up to 1,000 bonus dollars offer, the AIR MILES Mega Miles offer, the RBC to AAdvantage miles devaluation and more. Download and subscribe to the podcast here!

Posts since our last update:

• Las Vegas Desert Lights | #WestJetVegasSurprise - WestJet lands two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles
  We saw hints of this during the past week on WestJet's social media channels and now all has been revealed:…

Travel Deals
Saw this google ad on our own site and thought wow! We need to pass this along. Air China is offering some crazy fares on their flights out of Vancouver and Montreal. If you book during Mother's Day weekend (May 12-14) you can fly to Asia for as little as $499! Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Double Asia Miles for stays in an Executive Deluxe room at Miramar Garden Taipei. More... Until Aug 31, 17

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Up to 50% Bonus JPMiles when you buy JPMiles online. More... Until May 31, 17


Starwood Preferred Guest
- Double Starpoints for stays at the Sheraton Roanoke Hotel & Conference Center. More... Until May 31, 17


Follow Rewards Canada:

Las Vegas Desert Lights | #WestJetVegasSurprise - WestJet lands two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles

We saw hints of this during the past week on WestJet's social media channels and now all has been revealed:

Airline lights up desert for guests on the way to Las Vegas

CALGARY, May 10, 2017 /CNW/ - WestJet announced today it set two GUINNESSTM WORLD RECORDS titles when the airline built and illuminated a kilometer-wide prize wheel in the Utah desert as flight 1118 from Toronto, descended into Las Vegas.

On board, one lucky guest received the Vegas trip-of-a-lifetime when their seat number appeared on the giant LED wheel.

WestJet keeps on pulling out all the stops to please its customers and in turn create a media heyday. Whether its their famous Christmas videos, April Fools Jokes or now this record breaking stunt, they sure know how to keep themselves in the limelight. And for those in the winning seat, well it was no small potatoes as this is what they got to take home:

The lucky recipient of the #WestJetVegasSurprise was given the following gifts:

$2500 USD shopping spree at The Forum Shops at Caesars in honor of their 25th anniversary
VIP Table at JEWEL Nightclub at ARIA Resort & Casino
Complimentary brunch at Herringbone at ARIA Resort & Casino
Future stay and pool cabana at Flamingo Las Vegas
Complimentary dinner for two at STK at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
2 VIP tickets to Blue Man Group with back stage meet and greet at Luxor Hotel & Casino
Two tickets to Cirque du Soleil
Two tickets to BAZ – Star Crossed Love at The Palazzo Las Vegas
Two night stay at The Venetian Las Vegas
Bose Headphones courtesy of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
Two round-trip flights from WestJet

 Kudos to WestJet for another brilliant marketing move!

Recent WestJet topics on Rewards Canada:

• WestJet Rewards: Earn up to 1,000 bonus dollars for flying across Canada!
  Tomorrow WestJet will launch an amazing flight bonus offer for travel within Canada. We are particularly excited about it…
• Rewards Canada Exclusive! Silver Status when you apply for and receive the WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard
  We are super excited to bring you another Rewards Canada exclusive! For the entire month of May you will…

May 9 Update: Does your credit card round up or down? RBC Avion to British Airways 30% bonus & more!

News, Tips & Tricks
Today is a no news is good news day! The two major pieces of news in the Canadian loyalty world have been covered in separate posts already so feel free to click on them below!

Tip of the day: Check to see how your credit card awards points on non-whole dollar purchases to see if you are missing out on miles and points. Some cards round down and others round up. Tha means some won't award points and miles on the cents portion of your purchase while others will round up if you hit the 50 cent mark. For example if you buy something for $28.79 some cards will only award you with whatever points or miles you are entitled to get for $28 while others will award you with points or miles for $29 since they round up at the 50 cent mark. Not a huge deal but I know when I'm buying gas on my American Express Gold Rewards card and the pump stops at $94.38 I'll top off to just over $94.50 to get those extra two points.

Posts since our last update:

• Happy Birthday Aurora Rewards! Celebrate with 3x Points for all Canadian North bookings until May 15
  Canadian North's FFP Aurora Rewards is celebrating its 3rd Birthday! Happy Birthday to the program of the north from…
• 30% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back until June 8, 17
   Many of you ask when this offer will return and as always we are proud to let you know the…

Travel Deals
British Airways has Toronto to Paris flights for as little as $798 for next fall and winter. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers

British Airways Executive Club
- 30% Bonus Avios when you convert RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club. More...  Until Jun 8, 17

Other Bonus Offers

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Quadruple Asia Miles for stays at any participating Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, AVANI Hotels & Resorts or PER AQUUM Hotels & Resorts worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- 4,000 Bonus JPMiles for every 3 stays or spend of Rs. 60,000 at over 50 participating ITC Hotels. More... May 10 - Sep 30, 17
- Double JPMiles on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Dec 31, 17
- Earn up to Triple JPMiles when you rent with Hertz at participating locations in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand or Asia. More... Book by May 31 for rentals until Jun 30, 17

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you book the Rise & Shine package at participating Raffles Hotels & Resorts worldwide More... Until Jun 30, 17
- 1,000 KrisFlyer Miles for stay of 2 or more nights at Sino/Fullerton Hotels in Hong Kong and Singapore. More... Until Jun 30, 17
- Earn up to 7X KrisFlyer miles and save 10% when you rent a car at participating HERTZ locations in USA, Canada, Europe*, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. More... Book by Jul 31 for rentals until Aug 15, 17

World Hotels Peakpoints
- Triple Peakpoints or Triple Airline Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating World Hotels locations Worldwide. More... 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. More... Until Mar 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

Happy Birthday Aurora Rewards! Celebrate with 3x Points for all Canadian North bookings until May 15

Canadian North's FFP Aurora Rewards is celebrating its 3rd Birthday! Happy Birthday to the program of the north from Rewards Canada! As part of the celebration all members can earn triple Aurora Rewards points for any bookings made between May 9 and May 15. Remember you'll also earn Aeroplan miles on Canadian North flights in addition to your Aurora Rewards points.

Offer details
3x Aurora Rewards Points for flights on Canadian North systemwide. Full details. Book by May 15

30% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back until June 8, 17

 Many of you ask when this offer will return and as always we are proud to let you know the much loved transfer bonus from RBC Rewards to British Airways Executive Club is back.  Bad news is the bonus is lower just like we saw last spring, only 30% versus the fall's 50%. The bonus is harder to find after RBC changed their website and the only  indication of it is the BA banner stating 'Bonus Offer' After some digging on FlyerTalk we were able to find out the full details.

The offer is for all of you RBC Avion cardholders (Infinite and Platinum) and runs until June 8th. Despite the BA devaluations and only being 30%, this promotion is still a decent deal as BA Avios are a great option for flights to Asia (via Cathay Pacific), short to medium haul within North America  (short haul offer is great on Alaska Airlines or American Airlines see this post here) and even though huge surcharges are added to their UK/Europe redemptions they can still be an alright value because of this bonus based on your spend with the credit card (see my post about Earn & Burn for an explanation). As always though with any frequent flyer program you will have to be flexible in your options when redeeming due to seat availability issues (ie it may be hard to get tickets to Europe in Summer etc.) so take this into consideration before transferring.

Also consider reading our post on  How you can easily get a free flight between Toronto and Dublin, Ireland (pre taxes/fees) or 4 flights for $240+fees
as this transfer bonus will work well. With the 30% you only have to transfer 20,000 RBC Rewards points to get to the 26,000 Avios level to redeem for these Dublin flights. Compare this to the 65,000 RBC Rewards points it would take to get the same flight and you can quickly see why there is value in the BA program. Heck if you have 65,000 RBC Rewards Points that's three flights to Dublin and back!

Full details on the transfer bonus can be found here

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

Follow Rewards Canada:

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: