June 14 Update: 7-Eleven 7Rewards to implement 90 day inactivity rule, Double Points at the Best Western Cambridge and more!

Further to our feature of "Expiry and Inactivity Rules of Canadian Loyalty Programs" Rewards Canada reader Adam B. advised us that 7-Eleven 7Rewards points will expire after 90 days of inactivity as of July 6. That's one of the shortest periods we are aware of for a Canadian program (Spriit Airlines in the US is 90 days). At least with 7-Eleven it is pretty easy to earn or redeem. Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

• Ampli, the newest Canadian loyalty program from RBC and WestJet
  RBC and WestJet announced a new partnership between the two companies yesterday via a new loyalty platform called Ampli.…
• Earn Quadruple Aeroplan Miles for Choice Hotels stays Worldwide until August 31
  Summer is always great for earning extra Aeroplan miles on hotel stays. The program always numerous bonuses with their…
• IHG Rewards Club Buy Points Flash Sale - 100% bonus for the next 3 days!
  It has been sometime since IHG Rewards Club has run a 100% bonus for buying their points! Well only…
• Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - June Edition
  One of the easiest ways to rack up lots of hotel points is to take advantage of the systemwide bonuses…

Travel Deals
Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Find out more here

Save up to 15 % on Marriott stays in Canada! Book at a participating hotel by July 1, 2018 for stays until July 31, 2018 and save up to 10% on best available rates!  Marriott Rewards® Members save up to 5% more. Find out more here.

Receive a $100 CAD resort credit each night of your stay at the Kananaskis Mountain Lodge. Book by Jun 30 for stays until Jul 31, 18 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 Canada / Aeroplan
- Quadruple Aeroplan Miles for stays at over 6,500 Choice Hotels worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 18

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points for Sunday-Thursday stays at the Best Western Plus Cambridge Hotel (Ontario) More... Until Jul 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Aegean Miles&Bonus
- 30% Miles&Bonus Discount on select award tickets within Greece and between Greece and Europe, the Middle East or Africa. More... Until Aug 31, 18

Aeroflot Bonus
- Earn up to 9,000 Bonus Miles when you rent with Avis for 3 or more days Worldwide More... Book by Jun 30 for rentals Jul 1 - Dec 31 18

AeroMexico Club Premier
- Triple Club Premier Points per stay at La Quinta properties in the U.S., Mexico, Central America and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Air New Zealand Airpoints
- Triple Airpoints Dollars for stays at Anantara Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Earn up to 2,500 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles for stays at Starhotels in Italy, Paris and London. More... Jul 1 - Aug 31 and Oct 15 - Dec 15, 18
- 4,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you rent a car with Maggiore for at least two days in Italy. More... Until Jun 30, 18

American AAdvantage
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles for stays at over 6,500 Choice Hotels worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 18
- Earn up to 6,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you make your first booking on PointsHound. More... Until Jul 31, 18

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points for stays at the Best Western Plus Anaheim Orange County Hotel. More... Aug 1 - Dec 20, 18

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios for Avis rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Jun 30 for rentals until Aug 31, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to 1,500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at any of 38 participating Accor hotels in Canada, USA, Mexico or Panama. More... Until Aug 31, 18
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at any MGallery Hotel Worldwide. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays Jul 7 - Sep 2, 18

Marriott Rewards
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at four participating Marriott Hotels in Puerto Rico. More... Until Aug 20, 18
- Earn a Free Night in a Category 1-5 hotel when you join Marriott Rewards and stay twice at participating hotels during your earning period. More... Ongoing

Follow Rewards Canada:

Ampli, the newest Canadian loyalty program from RBC and WestJet

RBC and WestJet announced a new partnership between the two companies yesterday via a new loyalty platform called Ampli. Of course the two companies already have an existing relationship and this program will go beyond that. The program, Ampli  (a play on Amplify) is set to launch later this year. The digitally based program will have merchant offers, bonuses and options to use those rewards via their participating merchants and "members who spend on RBC cards and fly with WestJet will further amplify their rewards"

We know from the press release and the media event of this news that Petro-Canada and Chapters Indigo will be involved somehow - most likely as merchant partners. We know that the loyalty programs of all these merchants are not going away. The credit cards and other associated partners within each program will not change unless that programs chooses to change them (really the same day to day business that they have already been engaged in) This means Ampli will run over and above those programs. Since it is going to be digitally based, the first thought that came to my mind was Drop Rewards. It seems to be taking a page out of their book (and other similar app based rewards programs) but it also made me think of what American Express is doing in the U.S.. They killed off their short lived Plenti coalition program to move to the next generation of rewarding loyalty. They are piloting a program that rewards their cardholders with bonus Membership Rewards points for buying specific items from specific retailers - something we have seen from loyalty programs like AIR MILES (think Sobey's):

Customers will benefit by expanding the number of ways they can earn points. The program also helps Amex, by giving merchants another reason to keep accepting American Express cards, which tend to be the most expensive for merchants to process.

Credit card companies have long been able to reward spending at particular types of merchants, using what are known as merchant codes. That’s how credit cards are able to give extra points or cash back on gasoline, travel, hotels and other broad categories.

But targeting individual items on a store’s shelf was a tough barrier to break. Merchants’ inventory systems are different from company to company. AmEx says they were able to solve the problem using blockchain technology developed by Hyperledger. It enables AmEx and merchants to generate product-targeted offers while allowing merchants to keep their own inventory management systems. (Source Associated Press)

Whether Ampli will go the blockchain route will yet have to be seen but it does seem relevant to what they are trying to achieve. I have a feeling they aren't out to sell points like their main competitors - rather it's about collecting data, amplifying their own programs and keeping consumers within their circles with this additional marketing platform. We also know that they are out to capture the Aeroplan and AIR MILES disgruntees (not a real word but one I'll invent today) as can be gleaned directly from interviews with WestJet's Ed Sims and other media mentions. Overall it seems to be a hybrid of a coalition program (a mini-coalition program as we call them now, SCENE, Triangle etc.),  an app based program (think Drop) and perhaps they'll go the blockchain way like Amex is doing.

Do we need another program in Canada? No, not really but the reality is we are seeing the evolution of our market move from the several big players to the many smaller ones. Does it saturate our market? You bet it does. Will all the programs survive? Probably not. Will Canadians join them all? Yes they will, we like to be part of the all.

The good news is that for the next four to five years the Canadian consumer will be the winner. All this competition is good for us and all the programs want you to be part of them so there will be really good offers to lure you in. Then once Air Canada launches their own program in 2020 everyone will compete for a bit and settle down, by 2022 or 2023 we'll probably see these programs scale back their value and we'll all get mad and frustrated with them. We've seen it in the credit card market over the past few years. Everyone was out with amazing offers for everyday spend value or sign up bonuses and while there are a few outliers providing more value now (think Cobalt) most have been reducing the value of their rewards or sign up offers (BMO, TD, etc.) The same will happen with these programs. It's just the natural cycle of them.

Enough from me on this for now. I'd like to hear what are everyone else's initial thoughts on this new program?

Earn Quadruple Aeroplan Miles for Choice Hotels stays Worldwide until August 31

Summer is always great for earning extra Aeroplan miles on hotel stays. The program always numerous bonuses with their hotel partners and the latest is this offer for stays with Choice Hotels.

Once again you can earn 4x the Aeroplan miles for Choice Hotels stays until the end of August Remember there is no such place a Choice Hotel, that's just the parent company name for hotels like Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Econolodge, Clarion and more.

Offer details:
Earn Quadruple Aeroplan Miles for stays at over 6,500 Choice Hotels worldwide. Full details & online booking Until Aug 31, 18

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here.

IHG Rewards Club Buy Points Flash Sale - 100% bonus for the next 3 days!

It has been sometime since IHG Rewards Club has run a 100% bonus for buying their points! Well only about 4 months but still how dare they not have it any sooner! Anyways for the next three days you can score IHG Rewards Club points for only half a US cent each when you buy 26,000 or more points. The maximum number points you can buy depends on if you have bought any yet this year. If you haven't then you can buy 100,000 points and get 100,000 bonus points on top of that.

For example I can only buy 95,000 as 5,000 have already been bought earlier this year to keep my points from expiring:

This 100% bonus from IHG is always a good way to score some stays for really cheap, especially if you are redeeming for a PointBreaks hotel! Remember Canadians have to pay GST/HST on top of this amount since points.com is a Canadian company.
 



Here is an example of how this offer can save you some cash. The Holiday Inn & Suites Ottawa Kanata is part of the current PointBreaks so you only need 15,000 points to redeem for room in July. In this case you can actually redeem for a suite that costs $177.18 (non-refundable rate) or $194 (refundable rate) 15,000 points via the buy points deal costs about C$97.50+tax (about $102 to $110 total depending on which province you live in). That means you can save at least $65 for this stay. 

Offer Details
100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online.  Minimum purchase of 5,000 points. Buy Points here Until Jun 15, 18

Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus point offers here

Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - June Edition

One of the easiest ways to rack up lots of hotel points is to take advantage of the systemwide bonuses that come from many of the big chain programs and also from the lesser known programs. In fact, right now it should be rare for you NOT to earn a bonus. Unless you are staying at a boutique hotel or perhaps an Accor or Fairmont Hotel most other hotels out there have a bonus. So take advantage of it! These systemwide bonuses simply require you to register beforehand and they do not affect hotel pricing as long as you book a point eligible rate which are most rates out there. Of course booking through a third party site like Expedia or Rocketmiles does not count as most chains only award points on bookings that are made directly with them.  Without further ado here are all the current promotions that are available to everyone:

Provider	Offer	Validity Date
Best Western Rewards	Earn a US$20 Best Western Travel Card on your next Best Western stay Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Until Sep 3, 18
	For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Best Western page
Choice Hotels 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. Stay must be booked via ChoiceHotels.com, the Choice Hotels mobile app, or 800.4CHOICE at qualifying rates. Members will be awarded a maximum of 8,000 bonus points, depending on the number of base points earned for 2 separate qualifying trips. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Restrictions For Residents of the U.S. and Canada only	Jun 12 - Aug 17, 18
	For a complete listing of all Choice Privileges bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Choice page
Fairmont Presidents Club	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Fairmont bonus offers please visit Rewards Canada's Fairmont page
GHA Discovery	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all GHA Discovery bonus offers please visit Rewards Canada's GHA page
Hilton	Earn Double Points on all Hilton family of hotels stays Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) For every $1 spent on stays, you’ll earn 10 Base Points, plus an additional 10 Bonus Points (5 Base Points plus 5 Bonus Points at Home2 Suite by Hilton and Tru by Hilton). Silver, Gold & Diamond members will earn their Elite Tier Bonus on top of that.  Excludes Hampton by Hilton Hotels in Mainland China.	May 1 - Aug 31, 18
	For a complete listing of all Hilton HHonors bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Hilton page
Hyatt	Earn up to 1,000 Bonus World of Hyatt Points per night for stays at Hyatt hotels Worldwide.  Maximum of 25,000 bonus points awarded. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) - 500 bonus points per night for stays at Hyatt House or Hyatt Place - 1,000 bonus points per night at all other Hyatt brands.	Until May 15, 18
	For a complete listing of all Hyatt Gold Passport bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Hyatt page
InterContinental Hotels Group	IHG Rewards Club Accelerate: Earn 500 to 30,000 or more Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. Bonus varies by member  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	May 1 - Jul 31, 18
	For a complete listing of all IHG Priority Club bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's IHG page
Le Club accorhotels	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Best Western page
Marriott	Earn 750 Bonus Rewards Points per night for stays at participating Marriott Hotels and Resorts Worldwide starting on your third night.  Full details, online registration and booking. (Registration is required)	Register by Jun 30 for stays Apr 16 - Jul 20, 18
	For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Marriott page
Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer	Double iPrefer Points and up to 35% off for last minute stays at participating Preferred Hotel Group hotels Worldwide.  Full details & online booking	Until Dec 31, 18
	For a complete listing of all Marriott Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's iPrefer page
Radisson Rewards	Receive a USD $25 gift card of your choice when you stay 2 or more consecutive nights at a Radisson Hotel Group property in the U.S. and Canada. Full details & online booking The Treat Yourself promotion includes an option of a $25 Amazon.com (or Amazon.ca for Canadian residents) or Starbucks Coffee Gift Card under the terms and conditions described below and is available for new reservations at all Radisson Hotel Group hotels in the U.S. and Canada	Book between Jul 8 - Aug 2 for stays until Sep 3, 18
	For a complete listing of all Radisson Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Radisson Rewards page
Ritz-Carlton Rewards	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Shangria-La bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Ritz-Carlton Rewards page
Shangri-La Golden Circle	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Shangria-La bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Golden Circle page
Sonesta Hotels Travel Pass	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Sonesta Hotels bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Travel Pass page
Starwood Preferred Guest	Earn 250 Bonus Starpoints per night for stays at participating Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide starting on your third night.  Full details, online registration and booking. (Registration is required)	Register by Jun 30 for stays Apr 16 - Jul 20, 18
	For a complete listing of all Starwood Preferred Guest bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's SPG page
Voila Hotel Rewards	30% Bonus VHR points when you stay at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required)	Until Aug 31, 18
	Double VHR Elite Status Credit when you stay 2 or more nights at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required)	Until Jul 31, 18
	For a complete listing of all Voila Hotel Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's VHR page
Wyndham Rewards	Earn 15,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points when you complete 2 separate stays at participating Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Until Jun 30, 18
	For a complete listing of all Wyndham Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Wyndham page

June 12 Update: Starbucks Rewards Stars can expire, contest for 60K IHG Rewards Club Points & targeted Air Canada flight offer for up to 200% bonus AP miles

Looking to boost your IHG Rewards Club balance? You may just be able to if you enter Money We Have's contest for a chance to win 60,000 IHG Rewards Club points. Very fitting for our readers! Simply go to Barry's site and comment on what your Canadian Bucket List travel destination is!

On our feature of "Expiry and Inactivity Rules of Canadian Loyalty Programs" Rewards Canada reader Harry B. let us know that as of April 1st Starbucks Rewards Stars will expire. We looked deeper into Ontario's legislation for the banning of expiring of loyalty points and yes there is a clause that if a program has no one reward option with a value of $50 or more they can expire their currency. Since Starbucks Stars can only be redeemed at 125 for a single drink or food item they have no reward option over $50 hence they can expire them. Use them up if you've been hoarding them. In reality, Starbucks is a reward program where hoarding is really necessary due to speed they can be earned and ease of redeeming. Personally I do hold onto to them for a bit of time, not long, but when I buy food items I redeem for them since it is a better return than redeeming for a drink. For example their new power bowls run over $8 and are a great item to use your free drink/food reward for!

Check your email for the latest targeted Air Canada flight offer - or use the link below in our bonus offers section and input your Aeroplan number to see if you are eligible to earn up to 200% bonus Aeroplan miles for premium class flights on select routes worldwide. Of course our next Air Canada flight is included and we're flying business class but it was booked before the promotion came out and as we all know all flight offers from AC/Aeroplan only count for new bookings. Darn that rule!

Typically by this time of each month we have posted the latest Miles & More bargain award ticket offers but this month there are not any for departures from Canada! Check back next month!

Posts since our last update:

• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for June
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of June! This is not…
• Flight Review: Hawaiian Airlines First Class HA41/42 San Francisco - Kahului, Maui (SFO-OGG)
  As you may have already seen we’ve put up a couple reviews for our Easter Trip to Maui and…
• Lounge Review: Plaza Premium Lounge - Edmonton International Airport (Domestic/International Departures)
  Another Bill W lounge review for you! Bill is a true road warrior, his work has him driving and flying…

Travel Deals
Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Find out more here

Save up to 15 % on Marriott stays in Canada! Book at a participating hotel by July 1, 2018 for stays until July 31, 2018 and save up to 10% on best available rates!  Marriott Rewards® Members save up to 5% more. Find out more here.

Receive a $100 CAD resort credit each night of your stay at the Kananaskis Mountain Lodge. Book by Jun 30 for stays until Jul 31, 18 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 Canada / Aeroplan
- Earn up to 200% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you fly in Premium Economy or Business Class on select flights and destinations within Canada, and between Canada, the US, Europe, Asia, South America, and Sun destinations. More... Targeted offer - may not work for everyone Book by Jul 6 for travel until Aug 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Finnair Plus
- Triple Plus Points for stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jul 31, 18

Hilton Honors
- 2,000 Bonus Honors Points for each night you stay at participating Waldorf Astoria or Conrad hotels & resorts. More... Targeted offer - may not work for everyone Until Dec 31, 18

Hyatt World of Hyatt
- 2,500 Bonus World of Hyatt points after every 5 qualified nights at any Grand Hyatt or Hyatt Regency hotel Worldwide. More... Register by Jul 15 for stays until Aug 31, 18
Marriott Rewards
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points when staying Thursday-Sunday nights at 7 Marriott properties across Australia and Fiji. More... Jul 1 - Aug 31, 18

Radisson Rewards
- 5,000 Bonus Radisson Rewards Points and up to 30% off when you book a stay at over 1,000 hotels Worldwide! More... Book by Jul 1 for stays until Jun 30 in the U.S./Canada or from Jun 25 - Sep 2, 18 for the rest of the world

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 30% Bonus Flying Club Miles when you buy miles online. More... Until Jun 19, 18


Follow Rewards Canada:

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for June

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of June! 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 just 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 the 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 you earn the sign up bonus which can be used to subsidize your travels!

Come on card issuers give us something new and exciting - that's just me thinking out loud as there are no change once again this month in the cards that are in this Top 5 list, however the 25,000 point offer for the RBC Visa Infinite Avion card has changed slightly. Read more about that offer here.

Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for June (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)
THIS OFFER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE
A new version of the 25,000 point offer is out now. Before it was an easy 25,000 points. Now it's 15,000 points + 10,000 more when you spend $1,000 in three months with no annual fee in the first year. Still a great offer even with the spend requirement and it still 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

Flight Review: Hawaiian Airlines First Class HA41/42 San Francisco - Kahului, Maui (SFO-OGG)

As you may have already seen we’ve put up a couple reviews for our Easter Trip to Maui and are trying to pump out all the reviews of this trip! We’ve covered the flights between YYC and SFO as well as the overnight stay on the way to Maui and now here we have our review of our flights on Hawaiian Airlines between SFO and OGG. Here’s a quick recap on how we got about flying this way to Maui instead of the direct flights out of YYC.

The Rewards Canada family made our annual pilgrimage to Maui, this time for Easter Break and for the first time in a long time we took connecting flights instead of flying direct. There were several reasons for this. First Air Canada rouged the Calgary to Kahului route so International Business Class pods are no longer available on the route and secondly since we were booking for Easter break which meant both Air Canada and WestJet were charging an arm and a leg for the direct flights! I started researching other options to get their comfortably and found Hawaiian Airlines was selling their first class (really business class but that’s what they call it for flights from the US mainland to the islands) but out of San Francisco. Not a big problem easy enough to fly to SFO from YYC and Air Canada has excellent pricing for business class there and back so it didn’t take long to book all the flights. The combination of AC business class and Hawaiian business calls came in at a price that wasn’t far off what WestJet and Rouge were charging! This was a good way to travel, try out a new airline and add in a day in SFO to our Maui trip

Now to the actual review of Hawaiian Airlines First Class!

We made sure the flights we booked on Hawaiian were on their relatively new Airbus A330 aircraft as they feature a newer business class cabin with lie flat seats. You can find these planes on the more popular routes between the US and Honolulu or Kahului out Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York and more. I checked most of the west coast cities for our trip and SFO priced out the best for Easter break. For flights out of the U.S. they classify the cabin as First Class while on their International flights to Australia, Japan etc. it is classified as Business Class.

Hawaiian Airlines does not have a lounge in SFO but with most of their departures being mid-morning and operating domestic flights you don’t have to arrive super early and really don’t need to hit up a lounge. Hawaiian does depart from the international terminal which means you could use the Air France KLM Lounge via Priority Pass.

The flight was scheduled to depart at 10am and boarding started at about 9:35am with those in First Class getting priority boarding. They board from door L2 so it’s a left turn to the premium cabin that has 18 lie flat seats. Since Hawaiian is primarily a leisure airline and there are not many single travellers flying the airline, the business class cabin is laid out in a 2-2-2 fashion for couples and families. Perfect for us as we are a family of four and for the flight there and back we grabbed seats 2CGHJ.

Almost as soon as we were seated we were offered drinks - a Mai Tai or POG. Both awesome options and very Hawaiian. On the flight there we started with POG, for those who have not been to Hawaii, POG is a staple juice of Passion, Orange and Guava juice.

For the flight back we took the mai Tais and also tried POG with Vodka and neither drink disappointed.

The seats themselves were quite comfy but I did find that when laying flat the space for the feet was quite narrow and I actually could not keep both feet beside each other comfortably, I had to cross them to fit better. Seats pairs have a privacy divider that can be extended up should you be traveling alone and don’t want to interact with whomever may be sitting beside you. A pillow and blanket were provided albeit both were small and light, more like something you would find in Economy class.

I also found the storage at the seat to be on the small side, you do have an area under the seat in front of you which I stuffed my laptop bag into but a good quarter of it was sticking out. It best fits a purse or something small like that. Each seat had a small personal reading LED lamp in addition to overhead reading lights, small storage on the side of your seat which was perfect for electronics or water bottles as well as 110V/USB plugs to charge electronics.

For in flight entertainment each seat has a retractable arm to which the flight attendants come by and  place an Apple iPad that’s loaded with TV shows and movies. Overall the selection was OK - not a ton of new releases but more than enough content for the 5 hour flight. You can choose to use your own headphones or use the noise cancelling headphones provided at no cost. Bose they are not, but overall quality wasn’t too bad.

Should your iPad get low on juice the airline does provide charging cables to power them up.
Overall the service provide onboard was impeccable - the flight attendants on both flights were very attentive! We were never short of drinks and the crews were all very friendly and eager to help. The attention to service was really good. As is customary on Hawaiian Airlines flights, the female flight attendants had the flowers in their hair.

Shortly after take off the first beverage service starts and as I mentioned above, in reality you have beverage service for the whole flight - the only difference with the after take off service is the addition of Mauna Loa Macadamia nuts. They are another Hawaiian staple and delicious to have alongside your drink!

Based on the menus the food for first/business class is developed by top Hawaiian chefs including one of our favourites from Top Chef, Sheldon Simeon. Alas our flight did not have any of his dishes. For our flight to Maui it had dishes by Chef Chai. I started with the cheese plate - can’t really mess that up and it was good. Our older daughter choose the Ahi and Salmon Poke which she enjoyed. All four of us chose the Sriracha chicken dish as our main. It looked better than it was as the chicken - as seems to be common when you fly - was rubbery. The sauce was OK but it really needed a gallon of it to help the poor chicken.

The flight back featured food by Wade Ueoka. We choose the Jidori chicken salad and the Meatloaf. These were a lot better than the food on the way Maui - edible and quite tasty. The POG pie was really good - one of the better deserts we have onboard in sometime.

After experiencing Hawaiian's premium class for the first time we may never fly direct again to the Islands (unless AC brings back an Internationally configured plane or WestJet puts their 787's on the route, both of which are highly unlikely now) as we really enjoyed the flights. The service, the comfort and overall feel of the flights were great. Sure it's not direct but the overnight stays add extra adventure to the travels and we have already talked about which city we'd connect in next time - so far San Diego is winning!

For most Canadians, if you don't live near Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary or Toronto you are going  to have connecting flights to get to Hawaii so this is something you can look at as many don't consider this option. If you are looking for a fun, Hawaiian themed and relatively well priced premium experience flying to Hawaii I would most definitely recommend flying Hawaiian Airlines on their A330's to the islands!