Three days only! RBC Avioners can get 30% of their points back when redeeming for flights

RBC tells us that they want their Avioners to follow their passion for travel and use their points to see the world! To thank them, RBC is giving 30% points back when they redeem their next round-trip flight anywhere in the world from the RBC Avion Air Travel Redemption Schedule between September 17 and 19.

The offer is in the form of a rebate, so Avioners will need the full amount of points to redeem and afterwards, RBC Rewards will credit 30% of the points redeemed. For example if you redeem 15,000 RBC Rewards points for a short haul flight you'll get 4,500 points back afterwards. Redeem 100,000 for a flight to Asia or any other far flung place and you'll get an awesome 30,000 points back! Enough for two short haul flights!

As a reminder, here are the base point requirements on the RBC Avion Air Travel Redemption Schedule:

RBC Rewards, which is the rewards program that powers RBC Avion, is one of Canada's most popular proprietary credit card loyalty programs and a big offer like this shouldn't be discounted! If you have been planning on redeeming for travel in the fall, Christmas, or even spring break 2019, you may want to move that booking up to  take advantage of this offer.  Remember that you can book on more than 130 airlines at any time with no blackout periods, even during peak travel seasons with Avion.

As we discuss in our feature about Maximizing the value out of the RBC Avion Airline Award Chart you always want to try to push your ticket value to the maximum allowable on the chart to get the best value. However, if you are a value maximizer, you now have some leeway in redeeming flights that are not as close to their maximum ticket value and you'll still pull upwards of 2.33% or more out of your points. In fact if you can get a short haul flight right at $350 and and use the 4,500 points you are getting back from this offer on your next short-haul flight, you are getting a 3.3% return on the base ticket amount. That's a really good value. Of course taxes and fees still need to be paid, which you can, as always, still use your points for at a rate of 100 points to $1 (and still earn 30% back on these points if you book during the offer period). This is a great offer for anyone that’s a current Avioner who is looking to get the most out of their points!

We're happy to see RBC is taking the plunge into the world of reward rebates! It has proven to be very popular with airline and hotel programs and it only makes sense to have proprietary credit card programs get into the mix!

Log in to your RBC Rewards account to find out more about this limited time offer from RBC

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RBC Visa Infinite Avion

• Start Avioning Today! Get 15,000 Welcome Points upon approval†
• A low introductory interest rate of 1.9% for 10 months on balance transfers and cash advances
• Annual Fee: $120
• Earn 25% more RBC Rewards points on travel related purchases1 
• Book flights, hotel stays, cruises, vacation packages, car rentals with RBC Rewards site, powered by Orbitz
• Transfer your RBC Rewards points towards other eligible loyalty programs (WestJet Rewards, British Airways Executive Club Avios, American Airlines AAdvantage, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. Look for the transfer bonuses to the airlines several times per year!)
• Premium suite of insurances including trip cancellation3, trip interruption3, travel medical4, car rental insurance5
• Redeem your points toward your credit card balance using Payback with Points2
• Instantly save 3₵ per litre on fuel and earn 20% more Petro-Points and RBC Rewards points when you link your Petro-Points card to any RBC debit or credit card online.
• Up to a 2.3% return on your spending depending on which reward ticket you book
• Unwritten ability to redeem for Business Class tickets although at a lower rate of return when compared to the Avion Reward chart

September 14 Update: Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge opens in Saskatoon, free Stash Rewards points, Air Canada seat sale

Air Canada officially opened their 17th Maple Leaf Lounge in Canada yesterday at at Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport (Skyxe). The lounge seats up to 40 people and showcases Canadian design and art, including work by two Saskatchewan artists, Shawn Evans and Holly Friesen.

Photo courtesy of Air Canada

"The 137-square-metre lounge features such amenities as a full-service bar offering a wide selection of beverages, including Canadian wines and specialty coffees, a self-serve buffet area and comfortable seating with a view of the tarmac. Business travellers planning to work on site may also take advantage of the cyber counter equipped with PCs and colour printing, complimentary Wi-Fi and access to a large variety of digital newspaper and magazine content via the PressReader app.

The Skyxe Maple Leaf Lounge will operate seven days a week, and is conveniently located in the departure gate area, steps away from Air Canada's departure gates."

Looking at YXE's departures board most Air Canada flights depart from gates 4, 5, and 6 so this lounge is located conveniently for those gates. Winnipeg flights depart from 1A which is on the other end of the airport but then again YXE isn't big by any means so it isn't a major trek.

Related: Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access


If you are a Stash Hotel Rewards member check your email for a free 100 point offer. There is no link this time for this offer as they have made it that you have to click through from your email to get it.

Another bonus offer to watch for in your email. Cathay Pacific is sending out bonus miles offer to select members via email that offer up to 15,000 bonus Asia Miles for flying out of Canada to Hong Kong in Business Class or Premium Economy. Check your email for it to see if you qualify!

There will be an exciting 3 day promotion coming from one of Canada's larger proprietary credit card programs next week. We can't reveal the details today but be sure to check out our blog early on Monday for all the information!

Posts since our last update:

• Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - September Edition
  One of the easiest ways to rack up lots of hotel points is to take advantage of the systemwide…

Travel Deals
Air Canada launched what they call a surprise sale today for travel within Canada, to the U.S. and Sun destinations. Book by Sep 17 for travel until Dec 19 Find out more here

Radisson Blu Suite Sale - 20% off for non-members on Junior Suites and Suites. Up to 5% extra off for members. Book by Sep 16 for stays until Nov 30 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
- Double Aeroplan Miles for stays at all participating IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Sep 15 - Dec 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Amtrak Guest Rewards
- Double Guest Rewards points on all qualifying Amtrak travel. More... Sep 17 - Nov 17, 18

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points for stays at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. More... Sep 17 - Nov 18, 18

La Quinta Returns
- OFFER EXTENDED 350 Bonus Returns Points on qualifying rentals of 3 or more days at participating Budget locations in the U.S. and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to 6,000 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays of 2+ nights at Accor hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 7 for stays Sep 18 - Jan 14, 19
- Double Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Brazil. More... Book by Sep 30 for stays until Oct 31, 18

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Double Flying Club Miles for stays at the new Virgin Hotel San Francisco. More... Nov 15 - Jan 31, 19

Follow Rewards Canada:

Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - September 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	Double Rewards Points for stays at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)	Sep 17 - Nov 18, 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 free nights) 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 minimum of 5,000 bonus points and 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	Sep 12 - Nov 9, 18
	For a complete listing of all Choice Privileges bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Choice 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 up to Triple Honors Points for stays at Hilton family of hotels Worldwide. Earn Triple points on all luxury and resort stays, double points on all other stays.  Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Registered Hilton Honors members will earn double points per stay on all non-luxury and non-resort properties and will earn triple points per stay at any luxury or resort property during the promotion period. Waldorf Astoria® Hotels and Resorts and Conrad® Hotels and Resorts are considered luxury properties. See here for a full list of luxury and resort properties that qualify for the Triple Points promotion Excludes Hampton by Hilton Hotels in Mainland China.	Sep 10 - Jan 3, 19
	For a complete listing of all Hilton HHonors bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Hilton page
Hyatt	Earn up to 60,000 Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you stay 5 or more nights at all participating Hyatt Hotels worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Nights Bonus Points Earned Total Bonus Points Earned 5 + 2,500 = 2,500 10 + 5,000 = 7,500 20 + 10,000 = 17,500 30 + 17,500 = 35,000 40 + 25,000 = 60,000	Register by Oct 15 for travel until Nov 30, 18
	For a complete listing of all Hyatt Gold Passport bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Hyatt page
InterContinental Hotels Group	Double IHG Rewards Club Points + more for stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide starting with your second stay. Full details, online registration & booking. (Registration is required) The 'more' are bonuses that will vary by member that are similar to previous Accelerate promotions	Until Dec 16, 18
	For a complete listing of all IHG Priority Club bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's IHG page
Le Club accorhotels	Earn up to 6,000 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays of 2+ nights at Accor hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking. (Registration is required) Bonuses as follows: Your first stay (minimum 2 nights) = 500 Rewards points Your second stay (minimum 2 nights) = 2,500 Rewards points Your third stay (minimum 2 nights) = 3,000 Rewards points	Book by Oct 7 for stays Sep 18 - Jan 14, 19
	For a complete listing of all Best Western Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Best Western page
Marriott	Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Points for stays of 2+ nights at all participating hotels across the 29 brands of hotels worldwide. Earn 2,000 bonus points on all stays of two or more nights and 1,000 bonus points per brand, starting with your second brand. Full details, online registration and booking(Registration is required)	Register by Jan 7 for stays Sep 26 - Jan 31, 19
	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	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Radisson Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Radisson 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
Voila Hotel Rewards	Triple VHR points & Double Elite Status Credit when you stay at participating VOILÀ network hotels Worldwide. Register Online (Registration is required)	Until Nov 30, 18
	For a complete listing of all Voila Hotel Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's VHR page
Wyndham Rewards	No Offers at this time	--
	For a complete listing of all Wyndham Rewards bonus point offers please visit Rewards Canada's Wyndham page

September 13 Update: American Express discount for Air Canada flights, WestJet Flash Sale, up to 100 Bonus AIR MILES for Budget rentals

Check your emails once again for another discount for Air Canada flights from American Express. This one came for my Platinum Card from American Express and offers a 15% discount on Air Canada standard fares and up.

WestJet's ultra low cost carrier Swoop is planning to introduce flights between Hamilton and Montego Bay for the winter season. Subject to approval the twice weekly flights would start on December 16. (Source Routesonline)

Posts since our last update:

• Earn Double Aeroplan Miles for IHG Hotel stays until the end of the year
  Earlier this week IHG Rewards Club's fall promotion launched offering double points and more starting with your second stay.…
• Now live: Earn 35% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when converting points from Marriott/SPG between Sep 13-17
  A friendly reminder that this offer is now available with an updated link (and we've corrected the dates from our…
• Hotel Review: Aloft San Francisco Airport
  This is the final review of the Rewards Canada Maui trip from quite a few months ago. Here are the…

Travel Deals

WestJet has launched a one day flash sale today offering up to 20% off flights within or to Canada, the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, and on non-stop flights between Halifax and London (Gatwick) that are booked in Econo or Econo (Lowest) Find out more here

Radisson Blu Suite Sale - 20% off for non-members on Junior Suites and Suites. Up to 5% extra off for members. Book by Sep 16 for stays until Nov 30 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 MILES (Canada)
- Earn up to 100 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for rentals at participating Budget locations in the contiguous U.S. and Canada. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
American AAdvantage
- Up to a 35% discount when you buy American AAdvantage Miles. More... Until Sep 30, 18
- 3,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you make your first hotel booking via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Sep 30, 18

Emirates Skywards
- Double Skywards Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating Jumeirah Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 19
- 3,000 Bonus Skywards Miles when you make your first hotel booking via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Nov 30 for stays until Jan 31, 19

Marriott / SPG/ Ritz-Carlton Rewards
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at The Prince Sakura Tower Tokyo, Autograph Collection. More... Until Oct 31, 18

MEA Cedar Miles
- Earn up to Triple Elite Qualifying Cedar Miles when you fly MEA between Beirut and Madrid, Copenhagen or Doha. More... Sep 17 - Dec 19, 18

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus EuroBonus Points for Hertz rentals in Europe, the U.S., Canada, select African and Asian countries. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Dec 31, 18


Follow Rewards Canada:

Earn Double Aeroplan Miles for IHG Hotel stays until the end of the year

Earlier this week IHG Rewards Club's fall promotion launched offering double points and more starting with your second stay. However if you only have one stay planned or aren't someone who normally collects IHG Rewards Club points then you'll want to credit that stay to one of their airline partners and with a bonus if you can. So here you go, this fall you can earn double Aeroplan miles for all IHG stays starting on September 15 through to December 31.  Remember that you no longer earn a flat rate of miles per stay rather miles are awarded per US$1 spent, 1 to 2 miles depending on the brand which means you'll earn between 2 to 4 Aeroplan miles per US$1 with this offer.

Offer details
Double Aeroplan Miles for stays at all participating IHG Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking. (Registration is required)  Sep 15 - Dec 31, 18

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here and more IHG offers here.
 

Now live: Earn 35% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when converting points from Marriott/SPG between Sep 13-17

A friendly reminder that this offer is now available with an updated link (and we've corrected the dates from our typo yesterday)

Aeroplan reached out to the frequent flyer blogger community last night with this exciting news about a much awaited transfer bonus from Marriott/SPG. It's been six months since we've last been able to convert Marriott/SPG points to Aeroplan with a bonus and this time the bonus is big but with very small window to do your actual transfer! What can this transfer bonus get you? Well Aeroplan provided us with some nice examples so we don't have to do the work!

Mile earning potential:

Convert                  Get

9,000 points = 3,000 Aeroplan Miles

+ 1,050 miles (35% bonus)

= 4,050 Aeroplan Miles

Convert                  Get

30,000 points = 10,000 Aeroplan Miles

+ 3,500 miles (35% bonus)

= 13,500 Aeroplan Miles

Convert                  Get

60,000 points = 20,000 Aeroplan Miles

+ 5,000 bonus miles from Marriott

+ 8,750 miles (35% bonus)

= 33,750 Aeroplan Miles

Convert                  Get

90,000 points = 30,000 Aeroplan Miles

+ 5,000 bonus miles from Marriott

+ 12,250 miles (35% bonus)

= 47,250 Aeroplan Miles

Convert                  Get

120,000 points = 40,000 Aeroplan Miles

+ 5,000 bonus miles from Marriott

+ 5,000 bonus miles from Marriott

+ 17,500 miles (35% bonus)

= 67,500 Aeroplan Miles

This is a great bonus to take advantage of if you know of some Aeroplan redemptions you may be planning in the near future. If you were someone like ourselves who converted points from the American Express Cobalt Card to SPG in hopes of a bonus like this well the time is here to pull out that huge value! I converted earlier in the year at 5 MR Select points to 2.5 Starpoints (7.5 in the new program) and add in the Marriott 5,000 bonus miles + 35% from this bonus and I would pull 4.21 Aeroplan miles per dollar spent on the card! That is some amazing value - now I may not actually convert. I have to look at our travel plans and see what makes the most sense and make sure it is done in the next few days. In any regard it really shows just one of the reasons why I rank the Cobalt card number one in Canada. Remember now the conversion rate is lower from the card with the new Marriott program that would put the earn rate at 3.375 Aeroplan Miles per dollar which is still better than any other card out there.

Offer details
35% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert points from Marriott/SPG/Ritz-Carlton to Aeroplan. Full details. Sep 13-17, 18

Find many more Aeroplan bonuses here.

Hotel Review: Aloft San Francisco Airport

This is the final review of the Rewards Canada Maui trip from quite a few months ago. Here are the other reviews from this trip:

• Flight Review: Air Canada Business Class AC8567/8568 Calgary - San Francisco (YYC-SFO)
• Flight Review: Hawaiian Airlines First Class HA41/42 San Francisco - Kahului, Maui (SFO-OGG)
• Hotel Review: San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront
• Hotel Review: The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas (Maui)
• Lounge Review: Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club - Kahului Maui

Photo courtesy of Marriott

As mentioned in the Marriott review we decided against staying at it for our return overnight hotel and decided to try the Aloft SFO. The primary reason for choosing this location was the late 4pm check out thanks to the Mrs.’ Platinum status,  the bed sizes plus the price was pretty good. Yes bed size. So many hotels in SFO have only double beds so it’s nicer to have something bigger when you have teenage kids. The Aloft features two queens in their rooms and the have adjoining rooms so we booked two for close to the price of one two doubles room at the Marriott SFO. That’s a pretty good deal and we were super happy we each got our own bed!

This was our first time trying out the Aloft brand which launched about a decade ago as lower priced vision of W hotels.

The hotel and brand have a Modern, Industrial feel that our teenage kids loved and thought was lots of fun. We got to the hotel pretty late as the Hawaiian Airlines flight from Maui arrives at 10pm into SFO. We took the free hotel shuttle from the international terminal that Hawaiian Airlines uses. We didn’t have to wait too long, perhaps 5 minutes for the bus to come and it had us to the hotel in less than 10 minutes as the Aloft is the first stop for that particular shuttle.

The rooms were pretty good - not a ton of space but good enough for an overnight for a couple. One room for a family of four with kids older than toddlers and it would definitely feel cramped. I’m glad we had the connecting rooms with two queens in each room. Overall the rooms were very clean and comfortable except for one part. One of the four Queen beds had stained sheets and not just one stain. It had a few stains, I’m not sure if it wasn’t changed out or if they were washed and had stains remaining - either way they probably should not have been on the bed.

A call down to the front desk saw new sheets and duvet covers brought up about 15 minutes later.

Once the new sheets were on we were able to enjoy our stay thanks the comfortable beds and pillows. And thanks to a shift in the winds at about midnight the planes the active runway right outside of the hotel moved to another so we weren't bothered with any take off noise overnight.

The bathrooms were clean and perfect for the overnight. No tubs, just large showers with good water pressure. Part of the bathroom was set out for a small closet space that had a curtain covering it along with the safe, coffee/tea station and some shelves that could be utilized.

Breakfast was included thanks to the Platinum status and we all tried the Berry’s Portable Breakfast pot - it was really sweet - too sweet even for our teen's sweet tooth! These pots were part of Marriott's innovation at the Aloft brand that came early in 2018.

Thanks to Mrs. Rewards Canada being an SPG Platinum member we received 4pm check out for both rooms which worked out great seeing that our flight to Calgary wasn’t until 8pm. This allowed us to go explore downtown SFO for most of the day with the primary destination being the Museum of Ice Cream.

We were having an amazing time downtown and realized that it would be tight to get back to the hotel by 4pm with traffic (using an Uber) so we called the hotel to let them know and they were more than happy to extend check out to 5pm! We eventually made it back just after 4:30 and made sure we were out as quick as possible before the 5pm check out time.

Overall I would pick this hotel over the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront even though it does not have a lounge - it has bigger beds and has a better feel to it. Still, in the four different hotels we have stayed at in San Francisco over the years we have yet to find one that has really wowed us! May have to stay at some of the really fancy ones closer to downtown - not the touristy ones near Fisherman's Wharf or the so-so ones near the airport.

Hotel details
Aloft San Francisco Airport (Book here)
Marriott Rewards Category: 5
Points required for a free night: 35,000 Points (Standard) 30,000 (Off-Peak) 40,000 (Peak)
Cash+Points Requirement: 17,000 Points + US140 (Standard) 16,000 Points + US120 (Off-Peak) 19,000 Points + US165 (Peak)

Talk to us! Have you stayed at the Aloft San Francisco Airport? What are your thoughts of the hotel? Or are you planning to and looking forward to it? Let us know below!  

September 12 Update: Aer Lingus to start Montreal-Dublin service (a great Avios redemption possibility), 5,000 Bonus Marriott Points in Victoria and more

Ireland's Aer Lingus announced their second Canadian destination today. Starting next summer they will offer direct flights between Montreal and Dublin with their new Airbus A321LR aircraft. The flights will launch on August 8, 2019 and operate daily. This is significant news for those of you using British Airways Executive Club and collecting up lots of Avios from the American Express Gold Rewards card, RBC Visa Infinite Avion and other credit cards as it represents one more route to use those Avios on! And the amount you need to use can be very little! During off season flights (which for Aer Lingus is most of the year) you can fly one way between Montreal and Dublin for only 13,000 Avios! You can read more about this awesome redemption option here (of course we'll need to update that article to include this new route!) (Source: One Mile at a Time)

Posts since our last update:

• WestJet to introduce a true Premium cabin on its 737s, a new elite tier and their own lounges
  We are finally getting confirmation from WestJet on many things that we have been reporting will happen with the airline…
• Marriott SPG Ritz-Carlton MegaBonus - Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Points per stay of 2+ nights Worldwide
  We finally have the very first global systemwide promotion from the combined Marriott/SPG/Ritz-Carlton program. Taking the name of Marriott's…
• Earn 35% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when converting points from Marriott/SPG between Sep 13-18
  Aeroplan reached out to the frequent flyer blogger community last night with this exciting news about a much awaited…
• Earn up to Triple QMiles on Qatar Airways flights out of Montreal
  Offer details Earn up to Triple QMiles on all Qatar Airways flights departing Montreal when you register and book…

Travel Deals
Seeing that we mentioned Aer Lingus above, why not take advantage of their intro fares on the new route that sees round trip flights starting as low as $739 all in from Montreal. Find out more here.

Marriott Enjoy 20% off leisure rates at beautiful vacation destinations worldwide when staying Sunday-Thursday nights. Choose from 60 resorts across the U.S., Caribbean, Europe or Southeast Asia for your fall getaway. Full Details and online Booking Sep 16 - Dec 6, 18

Air Canada has launched their Worldwide Fall Seat Sale a day after WestJet's. Book by September 12! Find out more here

Planning to book a flight on Etihad out of Toronto? (or anywhere else for that matter) then you should book via their moblie site over the next week as you can enjoy 10% Off on all Etihad flights, across the Etihad network until 12th September 2018. Users must purchase on Mobile with code AMXD0830. Find out more here
 
Radisson Blu Suite Sale - 20% off for non-members on Junior Suites and Suites. Up to 5% extra off for members. Book by Sep 16 for stays until Nov 30 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
- 35% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert points from Marriott/SPG/Ritz-Carlton to Aeroplan. More... Sep 13-18, 18

Marriott / SPG/ Ritz-Carlton Rewards
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay 2+ consecutive nights at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort. More... Booking Until Nov 23, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Bonus Miles for stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide More... Until Nov 15, 18

Finnair Plus
- Earn up to Quadruple Plus Points for stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays until Dec 31, 18

Marriott / SPG/ Ritz-Carlton Rewards
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Points for stays of 2+ nights at all participating hotels across the 29 brands of hotels worldwide. More... Register by Jan 7 for stays Sep 26 - Jan 31, 19
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points when you stay 2+ consecutive nights at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort. More...Booking Until Nov 23, 18

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to Triple QMiles on all Qatar Airways flights Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 18 for travel until May 31, 19

Follow Rewards Canada:

WestJet to introduce a true Premium cabin on its 737s, a new elite tier and their own lounges

We are finally getting confirmation from WestJet on many things that we have been reporting will happen with the airline and the Rewards program in the near future. Rather than us having a crystal ball, everything we have wrote about in the past were not guesses but rather what WestJet representatives have been telling Rewards Canada. Now over the past two weeks several emails have been sent out by WestJet to its members outlining many of these details.

True 2x2 Seating in Plus
Ever since we posted our video and review of WestJet's Boeing 737 MAX first flight last fall we knew the airline was going to eventually move to a true Premium Economy product in the Plus cabins of the 737 fleet. This news was confirmed several weeks ago by WestJet. What this means is two bigger seats with larger centre consoles rather than the current 3 regular economy class seats with the middle seat blocked off. It also means a divider between the Plus cabin and the Economy Class cabin. There will also be enhanced service with different menu offerings seeing that the 737 MAX aircraft are outfitted with onboard ovens.

You can learn more about the new Plus Cabins here and even watch this video about the new configuration:

The new cabin will debut this fall on WestJet's newest Boeing 737 Max aircraft that are scheduled to be delivered soon and will then be retrofitted onto existing aircraft in 2019.

then this morning came an email from WestJet Rewards with the following news:

New Elite Tier above Gold + more Gold  & Silver benefits
There will be a new Elite Tier level coming in the program that will be higher than Gold. I can't remember when we mentioned this on the site (maybe we didn't) but it's coming soon. Here are the basics from the email:

"Soon, we will be unveiling a new tier above Gold, along with new and enhanced benefits for our Silver and Gold members. This growth represents some outstanding opportunities— especially for those looking for more exclusive premium experiences."

This new tier makes sense as WestJet has doled out lots of Gold status that offers some good benefits but with the airline becoming more of a full fledged business carrier they will want a top level with even more benefits that can compete with Air Canada Altitude's Super Elite 100K and Elite 75K and perhaps attract some of those high revenue customers.

WestJet Lounges
Also covered a few times before, today's email confirms WestJet is going to operate their own business class lounges. Currently they have agreements with some third party lounges which will continue at airports they won't have their own lounges in. From the email:

Comfort. Style. Innovation. You deserve a premium lounge experience and we’re excited to deliver it.
Coming soon.

That's it for the WestJet news! Personally I think this is great for the airline as it moves to be a global competitor and partner to a lot of great airlines from around the world.

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