Monday, March 5, 2018

Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Awards - Save 25% on Business Class award tickets between Calgary and Europe


The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Awards were released last week and this time we only see one Canadian city included. 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! However for us here in Canada the 50% offers are few and far between 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 May or June. We also show you below how you can utilize the current Flying Blue buy miles promotion to get the miles for this offer and save some cash over the full purchase price of an equivalent ticket.

The offer are for March is:
Calgary to Europe: 25% off Business Class on KLM

Offer Details:
March 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 Mar 31 for travel May 1 - Jun 30, 18

Here are all the details on this single offer:

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 and a nice way to top off your account for one of these awards.

Another option to pad your Flying Blue account to get these award flights would be to take advantage of Marriott's Travel Packages where you can get 7 nights and miles as follows (although these packages are less valuable than Package #1 options):

However as we mentioned in the very first paragraph, there is another way to get the miles for this offer. Right now through to March 19 you can earn up to 75% bonus Flying Blue miles when you purchase miles. You can buy enough miles for the round trip business class flight including all taxes and fees add for around C$3100.00. So ideally you'd only want to buy miles if the value of the ticket is more than $3,100 which many times it can be in the high $4,000 or $5,000 range (or higher as seen below)


Here is an example:
Calgary to Amsterdam departing May 8 and returning May 15:

Booking with promo awards brings the following (93,750 miles + 419.94 EUR):


or booking direct with KLM:


or any other airline:

What would you rather pay? $7,112.96 at a minimum or a little over $3,100 via the buy miles/promo awards avenue? I know lots wouldn't do either but this is an example of how buying miles can be advantageous especially if you do need to fly to Europe and have the budget to do so in business class.

Friday, March 2, 2018

British Airways Executive Club: 35% Bonus Avios when you transfer hotel points until March 31

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British Airways Executive Club has brought back their transfer bonus for moving points from hotel programs into Avios. The bonus is 35% and is good for most major hotel programs:  Marriott Rewards points, IHG Rewards Club points, World of Hyatt points, Shangri-La Golden Circle Award Points, Club Carlson Gold Points and Hilton Honors. With Starwood, when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints they'll automatically throw in 5,000 more Avios which will give you 33,750 Avios with this bonus! My mistake - SPG is not included this time but you can convert Starwood to Marriott but you'll only want to convert Marriott to BA using the Travel Package options. For details on some of the best ways to use British Airways Executive Club Avios read our article on Utilizing British Airways' Executive Club for flights in North America

Offer details:
35% Bonus Avios when you convert hotel points from Carlson Hotels, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Marriott Hotels, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts to British Airways Executive Club.  Full details. Until Mar 31, 18

Earn even more Avios! Find the most BA Executive Club Bonus Offers here! 

March 2 Update: WestJet news delayed, Priority Pass adds restaurant at JFK and Fairmont 3 for 2 offer

Well on Wednesday there was going to be some big news from WestJet but that has been delayed to sometime in spring apparently. As soon as we hear something that we care allowed to share we'll be sure to pass it along!

The latest trend for airport business class lounge access program Priority Pass is offering credits for eating at select restaurants in airports around the world. Most are located in the U.S. and the latest to be added is Bobby Van's Steakhouse in terminal 8 of New York's JFK Airport. So if your travels take you through that terminal you can enjoy a meal here and receive a US$28 credit for yourself and one for a guest. It your family has two Priority Pass cards (ie from two credit cards) you should be able to get multiple credits. Find out more about Priority Pass in our Guide to Business Class Lounge Access and find out more about the Bobby Van's offer here. (Source Doctor of Credit)


Posts since our last update:
Travel Deals
Fairmont Hotels: Enjoy three nights for the price of two Plus, daily breakfast at select Fairmont hotels or resorts. Full details & online booking


Marriott: Save up to 20% off weekend rates on Thursday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required) at various Residence Inns, Courtyards and TownePlace Suites locations in California. Full Details and online Booking Mar 8 - May 28, 18


Movenpick: Book your stay for a minimum of 2-nights and get 34% off! Full details & online booking

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 Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus per round trip flight in Premium Economy or Business Class on Air Canada or Air Canada Rouge.  More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone. Register and book by Apr 2 for travel until Aug 31, 18

Air France / KLM Flying Blue
- March Promo Awards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Calgary is included in this month. More... Book by Mar 31for travel May 1 - Jun 30, 18

American Express Membership Rewards

- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Amex Membership Rewards Points for Fixed Points Travel Program bookings. More... Until Mar 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Up to 40% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy miles online. More... Until Apr 9, 18

American AAdvantage
- 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles per qualifying stay at any Hyatt Place or Hyatt House hotel around the world. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 18

Qantas Frequent Flyer
- 1,000 Bonus Qantas Points when you rent a car with Avis in Australia for 3 or more days. More... Until Mar 29, 18
- 1,000 Bonus Qantas Points when you rent a car with Budget in Australia for 3 or more days. More... Until Mar 29, 18

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Double QMiles when you fly on any Qatar Airways flight in Business or First Class. More... Book by Mar 7 for travel until Feb 25, 19

Starwood Preferred Guest
- 1,000 Bonus Starpoints when you book a premium or suite room at any participating SPG® hotels in Asia Pacific. More... Book by Mar 17 for stays until Jul 31, 18

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Thursday, March 1, 2018

Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Amex Membership Rewards Points for Fixed Points Travel Program bookings

American Express is really making a big push for their Fixed Points Travel Program. For this month only if you make Fixeds Point Travel program bookings you can earn bonus miles (essentially a rebate) for doing so. The bonuses are as follows:


I'm not going to go into huge details of the Fixed Point Travel Program here as we have a whole other post on that which you can read here. Just know that the Fixed Point Travel Program is essentially a reward chart based redemption system like your traditional frequent flyer programs:


The portfolio of Membership Rewards’ earning cards provide various earning options, from 1 point per dollar spent to up to 5 points per dollar, which means you can fly for as little as $3,000 in spending depending on what card you have. Add in this discount and that drops to only $2,000 in spending to get the round trip popular short haul routes! This is assuming all that spend is made on the American Express Cobalt Card in the Eats & Drinks category that earns 5 points per dollar.

Also note as that these are actual revenue tickets for flights on whatever airline(s) you book. They are not your typical award tickets seen from your traditional frequent flyer programs. What does that mean? It means, in most cases, you'll earn frequent flyer miles for these flights with the respective program of your choice.


This offer is valid for bookings made until March 31 with no actual travel date restrictions other than what the airlines put on their tickets. To take advantage of this please see Amex's Fixed Point Travel Program page.

Terms and conditions of this offer:
1. You can redeem a fixed number of points to cover the base ticket price of eligible flights up to the applicable maximum base ticket price. The base ticket price (often referred to by airlines as the base fare) excludes taxes, fees and carrier surcharges. You will be charged for these additional costs and any dollar amount that exceeds the applicable maximum base ticket price. The Fixed Points Travel Program applies to airfares offered through American Express Travel Services Canada or on americanexpress.ca/travel. When you redeem points for an eligible flight, the full cost of the flight, including taxes, fees and carrier surcharges will be charged to your Card upon booking. Within 5-10 business days from the date of booking, you will receive a statement credit for the base ticket price up to the applicable maximum base ticket price. If your statement monthly cycle cut date falls between the date the transaction is recorded on your statement and the date the statement credit is processed, you will be responsible for paying your monthly statement in full. The statement credit will be applied against your next statement. Full terms and conditions for the Fixed Points Travel Program can be found at americanexpress.ca/fixedpointstravel.

2. This offer is only available to Basic American Express Consumer and Small Business Cardmembers enrolled in the Membership Rewards Program. Offer starts on March 1, 2018 at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (“ET”) and ends on March 31, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. ET and is valid only for new bookings made using a fixed number of Membership Rewards points (“points”) to cover the base ticket price of flights up to the applicable maximum base ticket price under the Fixed Points Travel Program. When you redeem 15,000 to 50,000 points towards the base ticket price of flights using the Fixed Points Travel Program, you will earn 5,000 bonus points. When you redeem 60,000 or more points towards the base ticket price of flights using the Fixed Points Travel Program, you will earn 10,000 bonus points. Only the fixed number of points redeemed towards the base ticket price using the Fixed Points Travel Program count towards the point thresholds. Points redeemed to cover the difference between the base ticket price and the applicable maximum base ticket price do not qualify for the offer. Points redeemed towards taxes, fees and surcharges are excluded. Total points required for a flight must be redeemed at the time of booking. Bonus points may take up to 6 weeks to be credited to the account. If an eligible flight booking is cancelled prior to the travel date, the bonus points credited will be reversed. Account must be active and in good standing. Limit of one offer per transaction during the offer period.

Air Canada: Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles per round trip flight in Premium Economy or Business Class (Targeted Offer)


Check your email today for this offer from Air Canada - if it's in there your targeted for it. If not, well you can try your luck with the link below to see if you can register for it.


This offer provides bonus Aeroplan miles for any flights you take on Air Canada in Premium Economy or Business Class. Complete 2 eligible segments and you'll earn 2,500 miles. Then every additional round trip flight or 2 segments after that will earn an additional 3,000 miles. There is no limit to the number of bonus miles you can earn.  Of course like all Air Canada flight bonuses this offer is not eligible for bookings made before today (March 1) and of course I just booked some eligible Business Class flights not too long ago - probably why I was targeted, to encourage me to book more premium class flights.

Offer details
Earn up to 3,000 Bonus per round trip flight in Premium Economy or Business Class on Air Canada or Air Canada Rouge.  Register Online (Registration is required ) Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone. Register and book by Apr 2 for travel until Aug 31, 18

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here.


Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Rocketmiles: 3,000 Bonus Miles/Points in the program of your choice for your first hotel booking made by March 2


If you have signed up with Rocketmiles but haven't booked with them yet you would have received this email! Even if you didn't or haven't signed up with them you can take advantage of this offer.

Offer details:
3,000 Miles/Points in the partner program of your choice including Aeroplan for your first stay booked via Rocketmiles. Stay must be booked via the special promotion page at www.rocketmiles.com/movies. The bonus can only be earned once per member. Book by Mar 2, 18

February 28 Update: 3 Great Scotiabank card offers coming to an end, Save up to 20% at select hotels in California & more!

Today is the last day to grab a few great Scotiabank credit card offers! Well it may be a day or two. One communication we have says these go into effect on March 3rd while some terms state March 1st so we are erring on the side of caution. The Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite Card (Cash back) will be losing the current sign up bonus of 5% back for the first free months however it will retain the first year annual fee waiver. The Scotiabank Gold American Express takes a major hit as it reverts to its standard sign up offer of 15,000 bonus points with an annual fee in the first year. So I would jump on the latter card today if you can since it has a 25,000 points and first year free.

Finally the Scotiabank Scene Visa card's bonus will drop back to its standard 2,000 points from 4,000 points. Here are the links for all the cards:


Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals
Save up to 20% off weekend rates on Thursday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required) at various Residence Inns, Courtyards and TownePlace Suites locations in California. Full Details and online Booking Mar 8 - May 28, 18


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
Fairmont President's Club
- 500 Bonus Airline Miles for stays on the Fairmont Suite Moments package at participating Fairmont Hotels in the Americas. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 18

Other Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- 500 Bonus AAdvantage Miles for stays on the Fairmont Suite Moments package at participating Fairmont Hotels in the Americas. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 18

Hilton Honors
- 5,000 Bonus Honors Points for stays of 2 or more nights at participating hotels in Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston within the Hilton Portfolio. More... Until Dec 31, 18
- 25,000 Bonus Honors Points when you complete 4 stays within 90 days at Hilton Hotels Worldwide. More... Targeted offer - may not work for everyone Until Jan 10, 19

Marriott Rewards
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 5 or more nights at the Domes of Elounda, Autograph Collection Crete. More... Mar 28 - Jun 20, 18
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the Residence Inn By Marriott Prescott. More... Until Mar 26, 18
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa or Renaissance Indian Wells Resort & Spa. More... Until Mar 25, 18
- 1,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays of 2+ nights at the Marriott Irvine Spectrum. More... Until Mar 18, 18

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Double ROP Miles for stays at IHG Hotels in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Singapore. More... Until May 31, 18

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Fairmont Hotels Suite Moments - 500 Bonus Miles, complimentary breakfast and a $50 hotel credit for stays in the Americas

Fairmont has launched their first Suite Moments offer for 2018. Like usual it gives bonus airline miles and some extra benefits. This time the bonus miles are the same at 500 miles while the benefits are a $50 hotel credit and complimentary breakfast. Also it only appears to be good for the Americas this time while the last offer also included Europe.

Offer details
500 Bonus Airline Miles, complimentary breakfast + $50 hotel credit for stays on the Fairmont Suite Moments package at participating Fairmont Hotels in the Americas.  Full details and online booking. Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 18
Bonus miles are awarded with Aeroplan, AAdvantage, Avios, Etihad Guest, Miles & More, and United MileagePlus.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

WestJet adds new lowest fare class: Econo (Lowest)

In the battle for the skies, WestJet announced today that they will also be launching their own version of Basic Economy fares that we have seen take off in the past few years in the U.S. and last week from Air Canada. These fares are really the barest of bare bone fares and are designed to compete with Ultra Low Cost Carriers who do the same and then charge for all the extras you could imagine. WestJet's is called Econo (Lowest) and unlike Air Canada, these fares are not only for flights within Canada but for some flights to the U.S. and Sun Destinations (routes will be announced over the next while). WestJet's are similar to AC's in that you don't have to pay for your carry on luggage but do have to pay for pretty much everything else. Here are the key points to WestJet's new Econo (Lowest) fares:

  • There will be limited availability and the routes have not been announced yet but that will come shortly (check westjet.com for available pricing)
  • You can cancel within first 24hrs only however no changes permitted at any time after that. That is you cannot cancel or changes these flights at all. What you book is what get. If you can't make your flight you forfeit anything you paid for it.
  • Companion vouchers can be redeemed for these fares but we're thinking these fares will be quite low and it really won't make sense to redeem vouchers for them. If redeemed on this fare they are subject to same rules that no changes are permitted (ie companion vouchers are forfeited if you can't take your flight)
  • Seat assignment is only available at check-in only, with applicable fees
  • No early/late show availability (even for Gold members)
  • No upgrade to Plus available (even for Gold members)
  • No rewards accrual or qualifying flight spend issued for WestJet Rewards members


This really isn't a fare for most WestJet Rewards members (basic or elite), its for the those who want the absolute bare bonus minimum and shop around for the lowest fare. For WestJet it is the competitive force for taking on AC's new fare class, Canada Jetlines, and Flair Airlines. One issue to take note of is that if one of these lower fares is available on a route where WestJet Rewards Member Exclusive Fares show up on as well, the latter may not show if the Econo (Lowest) is lower than it. For example, say Calgary to Victoria has a Member Exclusive fare of $99 and the Econo (Lowest) is $79 then you won't see the Member Exclusive fare in your flight search.

For more details on these fares check out the WestJet blog

Monday, February 26, 2018

February 26 Update: A WestJet kind of week, AeroMexico ending YYC service, 500 bonus Aeroplan Miles for Fairmont stays

I'm going to give you a warning - this is going to be a WestJet heavy week on Rewards Canada. As you may have already seen we launched a new exclusive offer with them for the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard today, full details of which can be found here. There is some news coming from them tomorrow which we'll cover and then as we mentioned last week, there will be a big announcement from them on Wednesday. So yes this will be WestJet kind of week on Rewards Canada.


AeroMexico is ending their Calgary to Mexico City service this April. The flight has only lasted about a year however they are partnered with WestJet and WestJet is going to start flying that route. If you have tickets booked for after the end date there is the likelihood you'll be protected and AeroMexico will put you onto WestJet since they are partners. (Source RoutesOnline)

Posts since our last update:

Travel Deals
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 Canada / Aeroplan
- 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for stays on the Fairmont Suite Moments package at participating Fairmont Hotels in the Americas. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 18


Other Bonus Offers
China Airlines Dynasty Flyer
- Triple Dynasty Flyer Miles for Avis rentals of 3 or more days in USA (exclude Alaska), Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. More... Book by Mar 31 for rentals until Apr 30, 18

Delta SkyMiles
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus SkyMiles with join and dine with SkyMiles dining. More... Until May 31, 18

Etihad Guest
- 500 Bonus Guest Miles for stays on the Fairmont Suite Moments package at participating Fairmont Hotels in the Americas. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until Jun 30, 18

Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings
- 500 Bonus Fortune Wings Points when you join the Fortune Wings program. More... Ongoing

Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass
- 300 Bonus Travel Pass Points for stays of 2 or more nights Sun-Thu at the Royal Sonesta New Orleans. More... Until Dec 29, 18



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