May 16 Update: Listen to Podcast Episode 27, Air Canada Business Class Seat Sale, 150 Bonus AIR MILES for hotel bookings

News, Tips & Tricks
Podcast Episode 27 is here! We interview Tony Chapman and get this well known speaker's thought on the Air Canada / Aeroplan split. Something tells me this is only the first of many podcasts where we'll covering this news! Download/subscribe to the podcast here!

Icelandair has announced they will make their Vancouver service year round. Great news for those of you using this to fly to Iceland or Europe because of their lower fares and free stopovers! The flight will also be increased to 3 flights per week from 2 in 2018. Source Icelandair

WestJet is offering more convenience to its members that check-in online. On May 1, WestJet Rewards members could draw the following right from their Rewards profile to expedite upgrade payment, TSA-pre or international flight passport pre-population. When checking-in, members will be asked to sign-in if they choose to automatically add Passport, Known traveler number (NEXUS), Email address and Credit card information to their check-in details. When a member uses online check-in and is signed into their profile, self-serve check-in will pre-populate relevant information for the check-in, making finding bookings, adding travel documents (when required) and payments (Plus seats, bags, etc.) much faster.

Just what everyone loves to hear, the head of AIR MILES made over $3 million last year. Granted he covers more than just AIR MILES but many collectors aren't happy about it regardless after what happened in 2016. (Source CBC)

Posts since our last update:

• Best Western Rewards Summer Promotion: Receive a $10 or $20 Gift Card PER NIGHT for all stays Worldwide
  We have highlights of Best Western's summer promotion that will launch next Monday. The new offer at first looks…
• IHG Rewards Club Buy Points Flash Sale - 100% Bonus until May 19, use it to save on your IHG stays!
  IHG Rewards Club is once again offering their great 100% bonus on buying their points. You only have until…
• The Ultimate High End Traveller Credit Card portfolio
  In this feature of Rewards Canada's Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate one for those who want…
• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Buy Miles Bonus of up to 50% - use it to fly on many world class airlines
  Alaska Airlines has launched yet another buy miles bonus and it is their best one ever - that is if…
• Ritz-Carlton Rewards - Double Points on all stays of 2+ nights at Ritz-Carlton Hotels Worldwide
  The final summer offer of Marriott's three loyalty programs is for those of you who are members of the…
• Starwood Preferred Guest SPG Take Three - Up to 3x Starpoints for your multiple night Starwood stays this summer
  Hot on the heels of the Marriott MegaBonus launch for Summer is the Starwood Preferred Guest summer promotion. Called…
• Marriott Rewards Summer MegaBonus - 2,000 bonus points per stay starting with 2nd stay + 2,000 more for multiple brand stays
  Marriott officially released their Summer MegaBonus promotion today along with SPG and Ritz-Carlton which they own and we'll detail…
• Air Canada to launch own loyalty program in 2020! Aeroplan should continue to be a partner
   There were hints of this somewhere a few months ago that negotiations were happening and they didn't seem to be…
• Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles for Accor Hotel stays Worldwide
  Aeroplan has joined AccorHotels Sweet Pillows World Tour promotion! We've posted lots of these offers to our bonus pages…

Travel Deals
Air Canada has a launched a huge business class sale for most destinations that they serve with planes featuring a business class cabin! Book by June 5 for travel over most of the summer! Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
AIR MILES (Canada)
- 150 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles when you spend $100 or more on your hotel stay booked via the AIR MILES Travel Hub. More... Book by May 31, 17 

Other Bonus Offers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Up to 50% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy miles online. More... The bonus offer varies per member. Until Jul 1, 17

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Avios on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo.  More... Book by Jul 11 for stays until Dec 31, 17

Iberia Plus
- 25% Avios Discount when you redeem for award tickets on select Iberia Express flights. More... Book by May 31 for travel until Jun 30, 17
- 50% Avios Discount when you redeem for award tickets on select Iberia Regional Air Nostrum flights. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in Australia. More... Book by May 31 for stays until Jun 30, 17

Marriott Rewards
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at participating Marriott Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. More... Register & book by Aug 30 for stays May 27 - Sep 4, 17

Ritz-Carlton Rewards
- Double Ritz-Carlton Rewards  points for every stay of two nights or longer at The Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts Worldwide. More... Register by Aug 30 for stays May 27 - Sep 4, 17

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Earn up to Triple Starpoints for stays of 2 or more consecutive nights at participating Starwood Hotels Worldwide. More... Register by Aug 30 for stays May 27 - Sep 4, 17


Follow Rewards Canada:

Best Western Rewards Summer Promotion: Receive a $10 or $20 Gift Card PER NIGHT for all stays Worldwide

We have highlights of Best Western's summer promotion that will launch next Monday. The new offer at first looks like their last promotion but their is one big difference. The $10 gift card that is awarded will not be per stay but rather per night! Plus it will include the typical 10% off for Best Western Rewards members. Seeing that you can get a lot of BW hotels for under $100 this can be quite a lucrative promotion! It gets even better for CAA members, that gift card is doubled to $20 per night!

Offer details
Receive a $10 Best Western Gift Card PER NIGHT & 10% off for every stay at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) May 22 - Sep 4, 17

CAA Members Receive a $20 Best Western Gift Card PER NIGHT & 10% off for every stay at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required)
May 22 - Sep 4, 17

IHG Rewards Club Buy Points Flash Sale - 100% Bonus until May 19, use it to save on your IHG stays!

IHG Rewards Club is once again offering their great 100% bonus on buying their points. You only have until May 19th to buy them and if you purchase 5,000 or more points you'll get the number of points you buy doubled. As is always the case when buying at the 100% level, each point will only cost you 0.575 cents. If you choose to buy the maximum number of points, 60,000, it will cost you US$690 but of course you'll end up getting 120,000 points. That's 24 nights at IHG hotels if redeeming via the PointBreaks option which works out to only US$28.75 per night!

Offer Details
100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online.  Minimum purchase of 5,000 points. Full details. Until May 19, 17

Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus point offers here

Here is an example of how this can be utilized:

Holiday Inn Express Regina with the PointBreaks option:
You only need 5,000 points per night and you can buy 5,000 points to get 10,000 total with this bonus. The cost is US$67.50+GST or about $97 Canadian all in. We checked the middle of June and the 5,000 points was available while the best available (non-refundable rate) was $126 pre taxes. Right away you are saving nearly $80 as one night with the points purchase is only ~$48.00! That's a huge discount!

The Ultimate High End Traveller Credit Card portfolio

In this feature of Rewards Canada's Ultimate Credit Card Portfolios we look at the ultimate one for those who want to travel in style, experience luxury and get great benefits from their credit cards. It is well known from multiple surveys that those who are well off or at least those who can afford higher end credit cards are less interested in the points and miles earned on their cards but rather they are interested in the exemplary benefits that can make their travel around the globe unique and more luxurious. Both American Express and Visa have higher end cards that fit this bill while MasterCard has lagged behind somewhat but as we have always recommended you should carry a Visa, a MasterCard and an American Express card in your wallet so there is a MasterCard included in this portfolio. The reason why is that there are benefits, promotions and earning potential unique to each brand of credit card. We won't go into detail here as you can read all about it in our feature on how to Maximize your Miles and Points but here we outline one card from each brand that will help you high end travellers get those perks, benefits and one of a kind experiences. Ultimately there are various options that could be utilized for such a portfolio but we look at one card from each issuing family that we feel are the best fit for a high end traveller.

What is Rewards Canada's Ultimate High End Traveller Credit Card portfolio?
Continue reading this article on the main Rewards Canada website to find out!

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Buy Miles Bonus of up to 50% - use it to fly on many world class airlines

Alaska Airlines has launched yet another buy miles bonus and it is their best one ever - that is if you are targeted for it. We were, got the email this morning and after reading some other sites it seems many are targeted for the up to 50% bonus but there are some who are not and are getting lower options. If you get the 50% you definitely want to jump on this offer! With the 50% offer you are buying Mileage Plan Miles under US 2 cents a piece:

Seeing that you can redeem miles for premium class flights on British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Hainan, Korean Air and more, there are lots of options for you to use these miles. Remember it only takes 70,000 Mileage Plan miles to fly Cathay Pacific First Class from Canada to Asia one way! 70,000 miles using the bonus costs around C$1,900 Canadian:

For most of the year Cathay Pacific is charging just shy of $10,000 for the one way flight in first class:

So if you can find a first class redemption on Cathay via Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and the availability works for you, what you would rather pay? Just under $2,000 or just under $10,000? I know which I'd pick!

Offer details
Up to 50% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy miles online. Full details. Until Jul 1, 17
The bonus offer varies per member.

Find many more Mileage Plan offers here.

Ritz-Carlton Rewards - Double Points on all stays of 2+ nights at Ritz-Carlton Hotels Worldwide

The final summer offer of Marriott's three loyalty programs is for those of you who are members of the Ritz-Carlton Rewards programs. This is the simplest offer of the three and awards double points for every stay of 2+ nights. Easy peasy.

Offer details:
Double Ritz-Carlton Rewards  points for every stay of two nights or longer at The Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking. (Registration is required) Register by Aug 30 for stays May 27 - Sep 4, 2017

Starwood Preferred Guest SPG Take Three - Up to 3x Starpoints for your multiple night Starwood stays this summer

Hot on the heels of the Marriott MegaBonus launch for Summer is the Starwood Preferred Guest summer promotion. Called Take Three, SPG will award up to triple Starpoints for each stay of 2 or more nights at participating Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Weekday stays (Mon-Thu) earn double Starpoints while Weekend stays earn Triple Starpoints.

Offer details
Earn up to Triple Starpoints for stays of 2 or more consecutive nights at participating Starwood Hotels Worldwide. Weekday stays (Mon-Thu) earn double Starpoints while Weekend stays earn Triple Starpoints. Full details, online registration & booking (Register Online) Register by Aug 30 for stays May 27 - Sep 4, 17

Find many more Starpoints bonus offers here!

Marriott Rewards Summer MegaBonus - 2,000 bonus points per stay starting with 2nd stay + 2,000 more for multiple brand stays

Marriott officially released their Summer MegaBonus promotion today along with SPG and Ritz-Carlton which they own and we'll detail those bonuses after this one. Marriott's Infinite Points MegaBonus will reward any one who can complete multiple stays this summer as the bonus doesn't kick in until your 2nd stay. That bonus is 2,000 when you complete your second stay at any Marriott Hotels Worldwide and then also after that 2nd stay you can get an additional 2,000 points for each new brand of hotel under the Marriott banner that you stay at. So if you stay at a Marriott first and then complete a second stay at a Courtyard you'll earn the 2,000 bonus points for completing 2 stays and you'll get 2,000 points for having a new brand on that second stay. Have a third stay at a Residence Inn? Well that's an additional 4,000 bonus points and so on!

Offer details
Earn up to 4,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at participating Marriott Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Earn 2,000 bonus points on each stay starting with your 2nd stay and earn 2,000 bonus points for each brand of Marriott hotel you stay at starting with your 2nd brand. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Register & book by Aug 30 for stays May 27 - Sep 4, 2017

You can find many more Marriott Rewards bonus offers here!

Air Canada to launch own loyalty program in 2020! Aeroplan should continue to be a partner

 There were hints of this somewhere a few months ago that negotiations were happening and they didn't seem to be going so well. I didn't want to believe it and thought, no they'll hash everything out. Now we have confirmation that Air Canada and Aeroplan will part ways in 2020! They didn't hash everything out although Aeroplan appears to want to continue to negotiate but Air Canada seems like they want to have their own program.

From the Air Canada new release:

Air Canada today announced its decision to launch its own loyalty program in 2020 upon the expiry of its commercial agreement with Aimia, the operator of Aeroplan. Effective June 30, 2020, Aeroplan will no longer be the loyalty program for Air Canada. Aeroplan has been independently owned and operated by Aimia for almost a decade. By operating its own loyalty program, Air Canada will be better able to strengthen its customer relationships and deliver a more consistent end-to-end customer experience.

• Aeroplan members can continue to earn and redeem Aeroplan Miles
• Air Canada committed to business as usual through 2020, with smooth transition to new program
• Air Canada intends to continue to offer Aimia redemption seats post-2020
• Strengthening Air Canada customer relationships and service at core of decision

From the Aeroplan news release:

Aimia and Air Canada have been engaging in discussions and the tenor of the very recent discussions leads Aimia to the belief that Air Canada does not currently intend to renew its partnership with Aeroplan on its expiry in June 2020. The existing agreement and Air Canada's purchasing commitments to Aimia remain in place until June of 2020.

Aimia strongly believes that a renewal of the company's long-term partnership would be the best and least disruptive option for both companies' customers, in particular Air Canada's frequent flyers. While Aimia remains open to further discussions with Air Canada, the company's strategic planning had already contemplated other post-2020 alternatives in parallel with the goal of ensuring that Aeroplan members retain access to a strong redemption offering around air rewards in the future. Given the state of current discussions, we will continue to pursue these alternatives actively.

This is one thing I'm sure Canadians never expected. I mean Aeroplan was one of the very first loyalty programs in Canada and it was launched by Air Canada as a true frequent flyer program. It was later on when Air Canada spun it off as a separate entity that we saw Aeroplan grow into what it is today, a coalition program for Canadians as they challenged AIR MILES for the retail loyalty space. It was that spinning off as a separate company that also put Aeroplan in this position.

Air Canada has their elite recognition program, Altitude, which seems like it will be developed into the new loyalty program. Whether it will have a brand new name and or not we don't know. That doesn't really matter though as current or future up to 2020 Altitude members will have their status (including life time status) brought over to the new program.

More excerpts from Air Canada's press release:

During this period, Aeroplan members can continue to earn and redeem miles in accordance with the Aeroplan program:

• Before the new Air Canada program launches in June 2020, members will be able to earn and redeem Aeroplan Miles for Aeroplan Rewards, including flights with Air Canada and our Star Alliance partners in accordance with the Aeroplan program.
• After June 2020, miles earned from Air Canada and Star Alliance flights will be credited to the new program, with customers able to redeem those miles for rewards including Air Canada and Star Alliance partner flights.
• Aeroplan miles earned up to June 2020 will stay in Aeroplan members' accounts, and will continue to be subject to the conditions of their program.
• Air Canada intends to continue to offer Aimia redemption seats for Aeroplan members after June 2020, with pricing competitive with other third-party rewards programs.
• The airline's most frequent flyers will continue to enjoy Air Canada Altitude status recognition and its associated range of travel privileges, based on their annual flight activities with Air Canada and the Star Alliance member airlines. All Million Mile program qualification activity and status will also be honoured in the new program.
• Air Canada intends to implement near-term improvements to Air Canada Altitude and other elements of the customer experience.

We can remain hopeful that while Aeroplan will not be the Frequent Flyer program of Air Canada, it will continue on as a coalition program in Canada just like AIR MILES. Current and future members will be able to continue to redeem miles on Air Canada beyond 2020 but Aeroplan will operate like some of Aeroplan's non Star Alliance partners. Some questions that will need to be answered as 2020 approaches:

• Will Aeroplan have access to Star Alliance members award inventory or will that become exclusive to Air Canada's new program? If not then Aeroplan will have to start negotiating separate agreements with any other potential airlines they want to have partnerships. Technically speaking, Aeroplan could approach WestJet and become a partner, just like AIR MILES has both airlines. Highly doubtful but possible.
• What will TD think? They just spent a crap load of money to become the primary bank issuing Aeroplan credit cards and they'll likely see an exodus of cardholders in three years. I'm guessing TD's already seeing how they can win the RFP for the new Air Canada program.
• Will Amex partner with both? Amex is always in a unique position that they can usually also offer ties to a loyalty program even when that program has a major deal with a Visa or MasterCard issuer

I can't say that I'm 100% surprised this happened. Aeroplan used to be Air Canada's Frequent Flyer program but then became a coalition program and really lost its way as a frequent flyer program. While it was industry leading when it was spun off, and several other airlines followed suit by spinning off their loyalty programs, it meant the program went away from what it was originally designed to do, reward loyalty for flying on that airline.

The new Air Canada program will do that. I envision a throwback to the original frequent flyer model. You'll earn miles for travel related actions (Flights, hotels, car rentals) and credit card spend. Chances are Air Canada's new program will not be getting into the shopping/retail market seeing that Aeroplan, AIR MILES, More Rewards, SCENE and hosts of other programs already compete for that space. Air Canada will likely make the program very lucrative to start, not to steal away Aeroplan customers but to bring back flyers they have lost to programs like British Airways Executive Club, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, United MileagePlus and others. This will be a new marketing tool for Air Canada to encourage people to come back and fly AC over other airlines as Aeroplan does not do that for them right now.

In many ways this is good news for Canadians. The marketplace will become more competitive, especially for credit card sign up offers and we all know that outside of being a frequent traveller, credit card sign ups and spend are the easiest way to accumulate those rewards! What will likely be the bad part for Canadians is those who have huge Aeroplan balances if they lose access to Star Alliance flights. Yes you can redeem on Air Canada but you'll be stuck paying exorbitant fees on many of those flights!

What are everyone's thoughts? Is this good news? Bad news? What do you see happening? We encourage you to start the discussion in the comments section below.

Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles for Accor Hotel stays Worldwide

Aeroplan has joined AccorHotels Sweet Pillows World Tour promotion! We've posted lots of these offers to our bonus pages from other programs and as of yesterday Aeroplan became one of them! From now until July 15th you can earn triple Aeroplan miles on all your Accor stays including those Novotel and Sofitel hotels in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. Simply make sure you book your stay by June 30th to take advantage of the offer. And one lucky Aeroplan member who does complete an Accor stay will be picked to win 50,000 Aeroplan miles!

Offer details
Earn Triple Aeroplan Miles for all stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide. Full details & online booking Book by Jun 30 for stays until Jul 15, 17
Be sure to select automatic conversion to convert your Le Club AccorHotels points into Aeroplan in your Le Club AccorHotels account preferences

Find many more Aeroplan bonus mile offers here!