Monday, November 6, 2017

30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points to Aeroplan until December 11

We see the return of another Aeroplan conversion bonus! Last seen this past summer, the hotel only transfer bonus is back but this time it's a flat 30% bonus miles instead of the flat 35% seen in the previous version. You have the make sure that you transfer enough hotel points to earn 5,000 Aeroplan Miles in your account by December 11 to get the 30% bonus which of course is lower than the summer promotion but what is good again is that the bonus is not tiered like we were used to prior to the summer and 30% is still a pretty good deal especially if you have you eyes on a flight reward in the next few months.

Most of Aeroplan's hotel partners are participating in the promotion so you can convert from any of the following to add to your final tally:
Your best bet for transfers is Starwood Preferred Guest of course since they transfer 1 to 1 to Aeroplan and if you transfer 20,000 Starpoints at one time SPG will throw in an additional 5,000 miles for 25,000 Aeroplan miles. With the conversion bonus you are actually looking at getting 32,500 Aeroplan Miles for the 20,000 Starpoints. Those miles can get you two short haul tickets so you can see the potential value in transferring Starpoints to Aeroplan.

Of course if you have points sitting in other hotel programs that you may never use or are about to expire you should look at transferring them to Aeroplan so that you actually get some value out of them!

Offer details:
30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert Hotel loyalty programs points to Aeroplan Miles.  Full details Until Dec 11, 17

Normally we would recommend getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card to be able to take advantage of this offer but seeing how there is only a one month window for it chances are getting that card and the points from would most likely happen after December 11th. You could look at getting the American Express Cobalt Card since it earns Membership Rewards points which you have access to immediately and start putting tons of spend on it in the 5x Food & Dining category and then convert whatever points you have to SPG shortly before December 11 and that will equate to 2.5 Starpoints per dollar spent.

Friday, November 3, 2017

Starwood Preferred Guest: Receive a 35% discount when you buy or gift Starpoints (until Dec 29, 17)

Last seen in the summer the great buy Starpoints offer of a 35% discount on the cost of the points has returned. Your yearly limit remains at 30,000 Starpoints so if you haven't bought any yet this year this could be the time to do. This offer brings the price down to US 2.28 cents each or just above 1.82 cents per airline mile if you take advantage of SPG's 5,000 mile bonus when converting 20,000 Starpoints at a time. A pretty good price seeing that you can get higher value out of the points if you redeem strategically either for hotel stays or award flights!

Have a look at our post from back in March on "Why you should still consider getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express" as it gives some examples of hotel stays where you could buy points and save some big money redeeming points for those stays instead of paying cash.

Offer details
Save 35% when you buy or gift 5,000 or more Starpoints online. Full details. Until Dec 29, 17

Find many more SPG Bonus offers here!

November 3 Update: Double Aeroplan Miles on First Air flights, last day for IHG 100% bonus on buying points & more!

Aeroplan members can earn double miles for flying on First Air. Simply book register and book by November 13 for travel until April 30, 18. Find out more here.


Today is the last day to buy IHG Rewards Club Points with a 100% bonus! This is one of the best 'buy points' offers out allowing you to get the PointBreaks hotels on the cheap. Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:
Travel Deals
No travel deals today!

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Hainan Fortune Wings
- 10% Bonus Fortune Wings Points when you book Hainan Airlines flights from Calgary or Toronto online via the Hainan website. Ensure you login before booking to be awarded the points. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Other Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- 500 Bonus Avios up to 25% off, free cocktail & breakfast + $25 hotel credit for stays on the Suite Moments package at the Fairmont Hotels in the Americas and Europe. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Mar 31, 18
- Triple Avios for hotel stays at Taj Hotels & Resorts. More... Until Mar 31, 18

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles for stays at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts in Asia. More... Book by Jan 17 for stays until Jan 31, 18

Iberia Plus
- 25% Avios Discount when you redeem for award travel on Iberia Express between Madrid and Nantes, Rennes or Toulouse. More... Dec 1, 17- Feb 28. 18
- 25% Avios Discount when you redeem for award travel on select Iberia Regional Air Nostrum flights. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 bonus Rewards points when you complete your first purchase of $25 or more via Marriott Rewards More online shopping portal. More... Until ?

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Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for November

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of November! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition (sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the sign up bonus, but when most or all of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for sign up rewards. In fact all of the cards on this list for September are first year free so you can try them out at no cost and decide later on if the card is right for you. All the while earning the sign up bonus which can be used to subsidize your travels!

Same list of cards we saw in October! Only a slight change to the Scotia Gold American Express Card as it is now 25,000 points instead of 30,000 and now requires a $1,000 spend instead of $750.
 
Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for November (in alphabetical order)
BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard - 3,000 Miles  (Apply here)
The best ever sign up bonus for an AIR MILES co-branded card makes it into our Top 5 sign up list thanks to its 3,000 miles sign up bonus (worth ~$300 or more) no annual fee in the first year and a new companion ticket offer! Even you aren't a fan of AIR MILES the fact you can get 3,000 miles and them as cash rewards for no cost to you should be enough to go out and get this card

BMO BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard- 20,000 Points  (Apply here)
It's been awhile since this card has graced the top 5 credit card sign up offers! 20,000 points is your sign up bonus that is worth $200 in travel and since the card is first year free right now (they bill you $150 and then rebate after several months) that means your $200 in travel is free and yes you even get the Priority Pass access and 4 lounge passes included in that first year free. 

CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite (Apply Here)
Back into the list the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card offers a 15,000 Aventura Points sign up bonus worth anywhere from $150 to $300 depending on what type of flight you redeem for and since the annual fee of $120 (and supplementary cards are waived as well) those 15,000 points come at no cost to you.

Scotiabank Gold American Express Card - 25,000 Points  (Apply here)
A very strong card in the earn category for Gas, Grocery and Dining/Entertainment purchases, the current sign up bonus for the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card is 30,000 points when you reach $1,000 in spending in the first three months. That 25,000 points is equal to a $250 travel credit and since this card is a book anywhere card you can book the travel how you want when you want and when the charge shows up on your account you can redeem the points against the charge. The card normally has a $99 annual fee but of course that is waived in the first year during this promotion.

http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=rePwQEjA0OI&offerid=373814.23&type=3&subid=0TD First Class Visa Infinite Card - 50,000 Points (Apply here)
Its been awhile since this card has had a good sign up offer and now it has what we can recall as one of its highest bonuses of 50,000 points but that's not all it also has the first year fee waived! You get the standard sign up bonus of 20,000 upon approval and another 30,000 when you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days of having the card. Those 50,000 points translate to $200 worth of travel credits for any travel booking or $250 worth of travel for bookings made via Expedia For TD

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with $1,300 or so in travel credits but even if you only take on one or two you are helping your travel budget significantly at no cost other than regular credit card spend

Miles & More Award Ticket Sale - Save 50% on Economy class award tickets from Montreal to Europe


As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we see another good offering of economy award tickets! The offers are for departures on Lufthansa from Montreal to 72 destinations in Europe.

These are good for travel between Mar 1 and Apr 15 and must be booked by Nov 30.

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip economy class tickets on Lufthansa from Montreal to Europe 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 economy class offers:


Simply book the offers seen here by November 30, 2017 

Full details on this offer can be found here

Give A Mile 2017 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign - donate today to help reach 50 flights of compassion


Rewards Canada's charity partner Give A Mile has launched their annual Flight Hero Christmas Campaign. We have covered Give A Mile before on the blog but as a quick refresher here is what Give A Miles is all about:
Established in Calgary, Canada in February 2013, Give A Mile is dedicated to bringing together the terminally ill, or critically sick, with family members or close friends by crowdfunding airline flights through micro-donations of travel loyalty miles. We work across Canada. We are 100% donation model so all miles donated go to flights.  We are 100% volunteer team with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal of giving 1 billion miles to families that need these flights.  A federally registered not-for-profit agency in Canada, Give A Mile is recognized as a charity by Aeroplan’s Beyond Miles program, and offers tax receipts for money donations to donors through an agreement with the Place2Give Foundation.
For the 2017 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign Give a Mile's goals are to:

~ raise 3,000,000 loyalty miles
~ give 50 flights of compassion



Rewards Canada has signed on to be a Flight Hero for the 2017 campaign and our Flight Hero goal is to raise 100,000 miles to help fund 4 flights of compassion! 

We are asking our readers to help us reach that goal! We've donated 50,000 Aeroplan Miles and would love to have our readers pitch in as well. Whether it's 50 of you at 1,000 miles each or any other combination it doesn't matter! Help us help Give A Mile and Canadians in dire circumstances the flights they need to visit their loved ones.


Donate today via Rewards Canada's Flight Hero Page on Give A Mile

To donate simply click the link above and then click on Donate to this Story


You'll go through a couple of steps and be able to choose which program to donate from and once your donation is complete the total should be updated on the Give A Mile site within a few minutes.

Give A Mile and Rewards Canada appreciate and are very thankful for any and all donations!

Finally we ask that you comment below after you donate! Don't be shy, let us and our readers know how much you donated and feel free to pass along any comments or well wishes to Give A Mile!





Thursday, November 2, 2017

November 2 Update: Earn & Redeem Marriott Rewards points for online shopping, new Singapore Airlines premium products & 100 Free La Quinta points

Marriott Rewards has launched a new online shopping portal called Marriott Rewards More. Like many other online shopping portals you can earn points for shopping online with many retailers however what makes Marriott Rewards More different is that they also give you the option to redeem points for shopping with those same online retailers! For a limited time when you make your first purchase of $25 or more you'll receive 1,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points and if you still hold on to the Chase Marriott Premier Visa card you'll receive 25% bonus points on purchases made via More with the card! The list of Canadian retailers is relatively small right now but you can also switch to the U.S. offerings for a few more options. Oh and the redemption option is not a very good use of Marriott Rewards points unless you really want to use them for an online purchase but we'd advise against that.  Find out more here.


Singapore Airlines unveiled their new Suites and business class products that will be installed on their Airbus A380 fleet and be available on actual flights this December. Singapore Airlines has always been one of those aspirational redemption awards that many people dream of and save up for. Well it just got better with these new offerings. Gary Leff of View from the Wing details the Suites here and the Business Class here. Singapore Airlines left the Canadian market many moons ago but this is a product you may want to redeem for if travelling Europe to Asia or between Asia and Australia, or any other number of routes that the A380s will be plying. (Source Singapore Airlines)


Posts since our last update:
Travel Deals
Another great Lufthansa seat sale to pass along today! Fly from Toronto to Europe for just over $700! Find out more here.



Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air France / KLM Flying Blue
- November Promo Awards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book by Nov 30 for travel Jan 1 - Feb 28, 18

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
- 30% Bonus HawaiianMiles when you convert Diners Club Club Rewards Points to Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles. More... Canadian Residents only Until Nov 30, 17

Other Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios for hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by Dec 31, 17 for stays until Mar 31, 18

La Quinta Returns
- 100 FREE La Quinta Returns points when you download and log in to the La Quinta App. More... Until Dec 31, 17


Le Club AccorHotels
- Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Ibis and Novotel hotels in Madrid. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Marriott Rewards
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights at over 40 Marriott locations in Southern California. More... Until Jan 2, 18

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Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards - Save 25% on Economy Class award tickets between Vancouver & Europe


The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Awards went live earlier this week with only one Canadian offer versus to four or so we have seen for the past few months. With promo awards the discount ranges from 25 to 50% off the regular amount of miles required to redeem for these flights. As you can see just by the discount this can be a very good offer if you get 50% off for Business Class! As has been the case for probably a year or so for us we don't get any 50% offers for Canada departures but we do get 25% off which can definitely be utilized by some! While 25% isn't as good as 50% of course, it still is something to look at if you were planning travel to Europe for February.

The offer this month is are:
Vancouver to Europe: 25% off Economy Class - Book by Nov 30 for travel Feb 1 - 28, 18


Offer Details:
November Promo Awards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. Full Details Book by Nov 30 for travel Jan  - Feb 28 18

Here are all the details on the Canadian offer available for booking this month:


Don't have all the miles? You could always consider transferring Starpoints earned via the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to Flying Blue. The card has a 20,000 Starpoint bonus right now which translates to 25,000 Flying Blue miles which is more than enough to get a one-way ticket at a low cost:

Look at Vancouver to Paris on February 16th one way in Economy Class:

To buy the ticket is over C$1,400:

To redeem miles with this offer for the same flight it would be 18,750 miles + EUR 81.34:

Let's take the EUR 81.34 (~$122 Canadian) and add that to the $120 annual fee on the SPG card for a total of $242 to get a flights worth nearly 7 times that. Now that's making use of your miles! Of course this is for example purposes only as chances are by the time you apply for the card, receive and get the points after meeting the minimum spend it will be past the November end date of this offer but no matter what it affords you the option in the future since SPG Starpoints are so versatile and can not only be converted to Air France KLM Flying Blue but over 30 other airlines.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard changes now live - Lounge Access, Concierge Service and a new look!

As reported back in August the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard would be undergoing changes and those changes are now live! For the most part the changes are good however with change there has to be some compromise so to cover all the new benefits the annual fees on the cards are increasing.

First off there is fresh new card art that will be issued for new cards and upon card renewal for existing cardholders, starting November 1st.  The Basic card is now silver and the World Elite card looks is silver and black. Much easier to differentiate between the two now:

Here are all the new features and benefits that are now available on the cards 
  • A permanent Petro-Canada fuel savings offer: You’ll need to link your WestJet RBC Mastercard and instantly save 3¢/L on fuel and always earn 20% more Petro-Points at Petro-Canada locations. For more details, visit: rbc.com/petro-canada 
  • WORLD ELITE ONLY: Mastercard Airport Experience provided by LoungeKey. Includes: Access to 800+ worldwide airport lounges. Members will need to download the app and link a credit card to it to pay for lounge entries. Entry to any of the lounges will cost $27US per entry/person. 
  • WORLD ELITE ONLY: Access to exclusive offers to airport retailers, including duty free shops; exclusive member access to the Mastercard Airport Experience app.
  • WORLD ELITE ONLY: Mastercard Concierge Service. Exclusive last-minute access to favourite restaurants, event tickets and more; available 24/7 via toll-free number
And of the new fees now tied into the card:
  • $119 for the primary card ($99 previously)
  • $59 for supplementary cards ($49 previously)
  • Household income requirement has also increased
Of course nothing else changes on the card, the 250 WestJet Dollars bonus, Companion Vouchers, and First Bag free all remain on the World Elite card.



Great new offer on the Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite card - 5% back for first three months & first year free

When you had two great offers for a card that ran separately over a certain time and both worked well what should you do? Combine them! Why not? That's exactly what Scotia has done with its Momentum Visa Infinite Card to help the card compete in the hot cash back market right now! They took the start of the year offer of 5% cash back on all purchases for the first three months of having the card and have now combined it with the Spring/Summer offer of having a first year annual fee waiver.

The new offer that launches today will see you earn 5% on all eligible purchases for the first three months after which you will have your usual 4%, 2% and 1% returns and with the annual fee waived in the first year it won't cost you anything to give this card a shot. This offer is valid for applications made up until Feb 28, 18

This card ranked third overall in our 2017 Top Cash Back  Credit card rankings.

Here are some details on the card:

Scotia Momentum® VISA* Infinite card

Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases for the first 3 months. Plus, annual fee waived for the first year.
• 4% on eligible gas station and grocery store purchases
• 2% on drug store purchases and recurring bills
• 1% cash back on all other
• VISA Infinite Complimentary Concierge Service – available 24/7
• Access to VISA Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection
• VISA Infinite Dining Series – Unique dining experiences in some of Canada’s top restaurants
• Special access to unique offers and experiences
• Rental car collision insurance
• Purchase security and extended warranty protection
 Apply Now