Save up to 50% on Economy and Business Class award tickets between Toronto or Montreal and Europe

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" discounted mileage awards!  This month we see a nice bump up in the offers that are available. First we see  the continuation of economy class offers on LOT from Toronto to Poland, we see economy class offers on Lufthansa to most of Europe from Montreal as well as business class offers to Europe on Lufthansa from Montreal as well.

These are good for travel on LOT until April 1 with bookings allowed until March 31 while Lufthansa is good for travel from July 1 to August 15 and must be booked by April 2

You can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip economy class tickets on LOT from Toronto to Poland for only 30,000 miles. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles and LOT does not charge a lot for additional taxes and fees so this is an ideal redemption to look at!

For Lufthansa economy class between Montreal and Europe, the discount is the same at 50% off or only 30,000 miles in total. Here is an example of some of the cities you can redeem for:

And for business class this month the offers are between Montreal and Eruope on Lufthansa, 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. And just a small example of the cities you can take in with this offer:

 As we mention every time they have the 50% off economy offer is that you could in theory get close to amount required to redeem for the tickets with grabbing a single credit card that has a $120 annual fee! 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 and 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. Of course if you spend $5,000 on the card that will easily boost you to the 30,000 miles required. That's enough miles to redeem for one of the economy class tickets in this offer.  If you have or had the Chase Marriott Visa then your in luck as you can go for the 25,000 Starpoint offer on the SPG card which with the additional bonus provided by SPG when you convert gives you enough miles for the economy class offer. Of course timing of getting the card now, spending and getting the points will likely not happen for this month but it sets you up for future offers.  Need to grab two tickets? You could choose to get one SPG card for yourself and you for your partner or spouse. If that's not your situation and want two tickets for yourself you could also grab The Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express as it also has 20,000 point sign up bonus and then you would ultimately be able to have 50,000 Miles & More miles not including spending for two tickets on LOT or one business class ticket on Austrian.

Full details on this Miles & More offer can be found here

March 8 Update: RBC Visa Infinite Visa Avion Resource Page, April 30 is the end date for the Avion offer & more!

We've created a page on our main site that lists all the RBC Visa Infinite Avion Resources we have as there have been quite a few articles and features about the card. You'll find them all on this page! Hopefully all of these articles listed together will make it easier for you to decide if you want to get the card. This our second compiled resource page after the Cobalt Card. We'll continue to follow suit and do the same for other cards that have numerous articles on the site!

And speaking of the RBC Avion Visa Infinite card, several people asked us about an end date for the really good new sign up offer on the card. RBC has got back to us and the offer will end on April 30.

Air Canada will launch new daily, seasonal Calgary-Palm Springs and Edmonton-Las Vegas Flights next winter. The Palm Springs flights are online mainline Air Canada aircraft while the Edmonton-Las Vegas flight will be flown by Rouge. (Source Air Canada)

Air Canada will also be launching new service to Kauai, Hawaii from Vancouver and will also double their capacity to the islands from Western Canada for the Winter 2018/19 season as the airline takes Rouge of routes and implements their new Boeing 737MAX on the routes. (Source Air Canada)

Posts since our last update:

• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for March
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of March! This is not…
• Highest ever sign up bonus out now for the RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card - Up to 35,000 Asia Miles
  As far as we call recall this new offer for the RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card is the…
• Exclusive offer for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express for Chase Marriott Premier Cardholders
  In a little over a week the Chase Marriott Visa card will come to a complete end. Now, there…

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
Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Earn 1,000 bonus JPMiles per sector flown on Jet Airways that is booked online including Jet Airways' flights out of Toronto. More... Until Mar 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Amtrak Guest Rewards
- Quadruple Guest Rewards Points per stay at La Quinta properties in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. More... Until Jun 30, 18

Etihad Guest
- 20% Bonus Guest Miles when you transfer points from phone plan, banking and hotel loyalty programs to Etihad Guest. More... Until Mar 31, 18

Hyatt World of Hyatt
- 1,000 Bonus World of Hyatt Points per qualifying night at Oasis home rentals. More... Until Jun 30, 18

Iberia Plus
- 25% Avios Discount when you redeem for award travel on Iberia Express between Madrid to Toulouse, Palermo or Mykonos. More... Book by Apr 30 for travel Apr 2 - Jul 31, 18
- 50% Avios Discount when you redeem for award travel on Iberia Regional Air Nostrum from Valencia to Bilbao, Malaga or Seville or from Bilbao to Santiago de Compostela or Vigo. More... Until Apr 30, 18
- Double Avios for stays at Derby Hotels in Barcelona. More... Until Apr 30, 18
- 400 bonus Avios for minimum 4 nights stay length in: Hotel Jerez & Spa, Villa Jerez, Playa de la Luz and Duque de Najera. More... Until Apr 30, 18
- 500 Bonus Avios on Budget rentals of 2 or more days Worldwide. More... Until Mar 23, 18

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Earn 1,000 bonus JPMiles per sector flown on Jet Airways that is booked online More... Until Mar 31, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- 4X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Apr 15 for stays until Jun 3, 18

Starwood Preferred Guest
-Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Starpoints for stays of 3+ nights at any participating SPG® hotels in Cambodia, Thailand or Vietnam. More... Book by Mar 19 for stays until Jun 30, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for March

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of March! 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 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!

BMO is on a roll with their no annual fee or annual fee waivers in the first year. They now take up three of the five spots for this month. That is also thanks to two major offers losing their first year free offer (the Scotia Gold American Express card and TD First Class Visa Infinite Card). The CIBC Aventura Visa card is even better this month with an additional 5,000 points and of course the new offer on the RBC Visa Infinite Avion has to be included here as the bonus is increased, it's first year free and there is no spend requirement to get the points!

Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for March (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 continues to be in the Top 5 sign up list thanks to its 3,000 miles sign up bonus (worth ~$300 or more) and no annual fee in the first year! Even if you aren't a fan of AIR MILES the fact you can get 3,000 miles and them use them as cash rewards for no cost to you should be enough to go out and get this card.

BMO Rewards Mastercard- 20,000 Points  (Apply here)

Included in the revamped BMO Rewards program that essentially sees the program devalued the BMO Rewards Mastercard has never been on this list before. It now makes the list because it actually has a limited time sign up bonus and the card has no annual fee so these 20,000 points (worth ~$142) come to you at no charge.  10,000 points are awarded after the 1st purchase and then 10,000 more if you can hit $1,000 in spending in the first three months.

BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard- 35,000 Points  (Apply here)

Revamped on January 15th with a reward program that is less rewards on your day to day spend the card still graces this list thanks to its sign bonus and first year free offer. The card now offer a 35,000 point sign up bonus that is worth $250 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 $250 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 - 20,000 Points (Apply Here)
The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card now offers up to a 20,000 Aventura Points sign up bonus worth up to $400 in travel depending on what type of flight you redeem for and since the annual fee of $120 (and supplementary cards are waived as well) those 20,000 points come at no cost to you.

RBC Visa Infinite Avion Card - 25,000 Points (Apply here)
A card not known for straying too far from its standard sign bonus comes out huge this month with a bonus that's 10,000 points higher than normal and offers the first year free! That means you can get 25,000 RBC Rewards points at literally no cost to use towards flights via the RBC airline redemption program or convert to other programs like WestJet (it's 250 WestJet dollars!), British Airways or Cathay Pacific.

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

Highest ever sign up bonus out now for the RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card - Up to 35,000 Asia Miles

As far as we call recall this new offer for the RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum card is the best one ever. The normal sign up bonus is 10,000 Asia Miles and we've seen bonuses of 15,000, 20,000 and even 30,000 last year. Now we see that increased even further here in early 2018 to 35,000 Asia Miles! Granted the bonus is split up and you'll have to hold onto the card for more than a year but then again this card is really targeted towards the frequent Cathay Pacific traveler so chances are they'll hold onto the card for sometime.

Here is how the bonus works this time:
Step 1: 15,000 Asia Miles welcome offer upon card approval
Step 2: 10,000 Asia Miles when you spend $6,000 CAD in the first 3 months
Step 3: Another 10,000 Asia Miles after the first Anniversary of your card account opening

This new bonus, once earned after a year, provides enough miles to fly round trip in Economy Class on Cathay Pacific's 5th freedom flight between Vancouver and New York:

or even one way in Business Class:

Of course there are many more options out there as well on Cathay Pacific and any of their oneworld or other airline partners.

Click here to find out more about this offer or to apply for this card.

[EXPIRED] Exclusive offer for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express for Chase Marriott Premier Cardholders

THIS OFFER HAS NOW EXPIRED  

In a little over a week the Chase Marriott Visa card will come to a complete end. Now, there are two main types of people who have this card. Those who are Marriott Rewards members and were using it for the points and benefits that came with the card or those who got it for the no foreign transaction fee. If you are in the Marriott Rewards camp you may be asking how will I be able to earn points outside of Marriott stays after March 15? Well the answer to that is the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express.

If you have been collecting Marriott Rewards points and the program is your hotel program of choice then you should already know that Marriott owns Starwood and that you can link and convert points between the loyalty programs of both chains. This means you can use the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to actually earn Marriott Rewards points. How so? The American Express card will earn Starpoints for your purchases and then you can link your Starwood Preferred Guest account with your Marriott Rewards account. Once you do this you can convert the SPG Starpoints to Marriott Rewards points at a rate of 1 to 3. That's right you are technically earning three Marriott Rewards points for every one Starpoint earned on the credit card.

So what should I do if I have the Chase Marriott Premier Visa Card?
The good news is if you have the Chase Marriott Visa card, American Express has come out with an exclusive offer for you for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card as long as you have not had it before.

The offer sees the sign up bonus boosted by 5,000 Starpoints to 25,000 Starpoints (non-Marriott cardholders are offered 20,000 Starpoints) after meeting the minimum required spend on the card as well as a 8.99% balance transfer for the first 12 months, the latter of which I guess makes sense for anyone who has been carrying a balance on their Marriott Visa card.

Starpoints, the currency of Starwood Preferred Guest is one of the most valuable loyalty currencies on the market today and that extra 5,000 points is a sweet deal, adding at least $150 in value to the card. As we mentioned already, Starpoints easily convert to Marriott Rewards points, all you have to do is link your Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest accounts and then the transfers are easy. One Starpoint is worth three Marriott Rewards Points. What does that mean with the SPG Credit Card? That means the sign up bonus is equivalent to 75,000 Marriott Rewards points, the standard earn of 1 Starpoint per dollar spent is equal to 3 Marriott Rewards points and the 2 Starpoints per dollar spent at participating Marriott and Starwood Hotels is worth 6 Marriott Rewards points. The last offer of spend at their hotels has now been extended to July 31 from the previous end date of February 15.

Just so you know 75,000 Marriott Rewards is a really good sign up bonus! What can those points get you? It can get you at least 10 free nights at a Category 1 hotel within the Marriott Rewards program or even 2 nights at a Category 8 hotel if you catch a PointSavers Reward! Here is the Marriott Rewards free night chart:

The points can also be used at the higher Ritz-Carlton Hotels and 75,000 Points can score you one to three free nights at these posh hotels:

You can search all Marriott Hotels and their respective category placements here.

Of course you don't have to convert to Marriott Rewards right away, you can store the points in your SPG account for use at Starwood Hotels which once again, the sign up bonus of 25,000 Starpoints provides some huge value!

Recommended reading:

• Why you should still consider getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express 

This offer is only available to existing Marriott Rewards Visa Credit cardholders who do not already have the SPG card.

The Details of this specific offer are as follows:
• Applications accepted January 25 to April 18, 2018. Offer valid for existing Marriott Rewards Visa Cardholders who do not already have the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card and are residents of Canada.
•  Receive 25,000 Starpoints after you spend $1500 CAD in the first three months after opening their account.
•  8.99% on balance transfers for the first 12 months.

Here are all the regular details of the card:
You can find out more and apply for the card via this link: www.americanexpress.ca/spgrewards
 
“This post was sponsored by Amex Bank of Canada.  The views and opinions expressed in this blog, however, are purely my own.”

March 5 Update: Episode 40 of our Podcast now available for download, Club Carlson officially becomes Radisson Rewards and more!

Episode 40 of the Rewards Canada Round Up Podcast is here! You can listen to or download it on Apple iTunes, Google Play, our website and Soundcloud.  In this milestone episode we discuss the hot topic of No Foreign Transation fee credit cards, new IHG hotels in Canada, Hyatt's new stay promotion and the very valuable new RBC Avion Visa Infinite sign up bonus!

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Carlson Hotels and their Frequent Guest Program Club Carlson were going to be re-branded under the Radisson moniker. That change officially happened today with the company now being called Radisson Hotel Group and the FGP being renamed to Radisson Rewards. Most of the program remains the same save for two parts: Elite status qualifying and points earning on stays.

The Elite qualifying requirements have been relaxed, especially for reaching the first level, Silver:

• Silver Qualification: 9 nights or 6 stays (used to be 15 nights or 10 stays)
• Gold Qualification: 30 nights or 20 stays (used to be 35 nights or 20 stays) 
• Platinum Qualification: 60 nights or 30 stays (used to be 75 nights or 30 stays)  

This is good news if you are a Club Carlson Radisson Rewards regular as you can now qualify sooner. Remember as well if you have the Platinum Card from American Express you get Radisson Rewards Gold status automatically.
For points earning, the adjustment to easier elite qualifying doesn't come without any detraction as Silver and Gold members will now earn a little bit less on stays:

• Base earn rate: 20 points per US$ (no change)
• Silver earn rate: 22 points per US$1 (used to be 23)
• Gold earn rate: 25 points per US$1 (used to be 27)
• Platinum earn rate: 35 points per US$1 (no change)

Learn all about the new Radisson Rewards program here

Posts since our last update:

• 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…
• British Airways Executive Club: 35% Bonus Avios when you transfer hotel points until March 31
  British Airways Executive Club has brought back their transfer bonus for moving points from hotel programs into Avios. The…

Travel Deals
Contiki: 25% off Europe Trips on Select Departures from Canada with Contiki! 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 MILES
Get up to 500 AIR MILES Bonus Miles plus 3x the Miles on all your purchase in the first 3 months with the Shell AIR MILES MasterCard from BMO. More...

BMO Rewards
Get up to 20,000 BMO Rewards welcome points when you apply for and receive the BMO Rewards Mastercard. More...


Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 2,000 Bonus Club Premier Points for stays of 2+ nights at participating hotels in Latin America and the Caribbean. More... Until Dec 15, 18

American AAdvantage
- 750 Bonus AAdvantage Miles for stays at any Best Western Hotels worldwide. More... Until Apr 1, 18

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to 16,000 Bonus Avios when you fly between the U.K. and Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine. More... Until Jun 30, 18
- 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. More... Until Mar 31, 18

Delta SkyMiles
- Up to 1,000 Bonus SkyMiles on your 1st booking with airbnb. More... Ongoing

Stash Hotel Rewards
1,000 Bonus Stash Rewards Points when you book any hotel (including non-Stash Hotels) worldwide via Stash Rewards Travel. More... Book by Mar 31 ,18

Follow Rewards Canada:

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.

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

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!