Earn up to 6,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Air Canada flights to Asia

Air Canada launched a new flight bonus promotion for travel to Asia last week. This offer provides up to 6,000 bonus miles for the flights we list below. Always great to have a bonus for flights that you may be planning (the bonus is available on bookings made prior to October 11) and maybe if you are flying alone. Why do we say that? We noticed a new term and condition on this offer that is a pretty shady move on Air Canada's part. Now I don't recall seeing this before but it is possible it has been on other bonus miles promotions but the term as we found now states that only the first person on a reservation earns the bonus.

The Bonus Aeroplan Miles for this offer will only be credited to the first passenger with their Aeroplan Number listed (appended) on the reservation. Should this passenger cancel his/her flights, the Bonus Aeroplan Miles will be awarded to the next passenger with their Aeroplan Number listed, which is now the first listed on the reservation.

Seriously Air Canada? Not only are you members already peeved about all your flight bonus offers being for new bookings only but to limit the bonus to the first person on the reservation? Way to reward a family that wants to fly to Asia with you. Guess if you want your family of four or however many to take advantage of this bonus you'll have to make separate reservations for each and have the PNRs linked afterward.

Offer details
Earn up to 6,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you book a round trip or two one way segments on Air Canada for travel between Canada and Asia. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)
Valid on new bookings only and awarded to the first passenger on a reservation

Valid routes:
Toronto to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo-Haneda, Tokyo-Narita.
Montreal to Shanghai, Tokyo-Narita
Vancouver to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo-Narita.


Bonuses as follows:

• 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles – Economy Standard; Economy Flex; Economy Latitude.
• 6,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles - Premium Economy lowest; Premium Economy flexible; Premium Rouge; Business Class lowest and Business Class flexible.

Find many more bonus Aeroplan miles offers here

On this week's Podcast - WestJet Platinum Elite Status and 787 routes, new BMO card offers, CIBC Aventura update & flying to Europe in Business Class for 53,000 miles

Episode 46 - October 15, 2018 -- WestJet Platinum Elite Status and 787 routes, new BMO card offers, CIBC Aventura update & flying to Europe in Business Class for 53,000 miles

We cover a lot of topics this week with the big news coming from WestJet with the announcement of theiir first long haul Boeing 787 Dreamliner routes along with the addition of a new top end elite status tier. We also look at the return of some first year free offers on some of BMO's top credit cards, the enhancements to the CIBC Aventura cards and we delve into Air France KLM's Flying Blue Promo Rewards and how that can be a great deal for Canadians. Enjoy!

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Links relating to this week's topic:

• WestJet Rewards introduces a new top elite tier - Platinum
  As part of WestJet's global strategy which included the unveiling of their 787 routes today, they have also announced…
• And the first long haul WestJet Boeing 787 routes are Calgary to Paris, London and Dublin
  A year and half ago WestJet announced they had ordered Boeing 787 Dreamliners and then five months ago we…
• Return of the best offer for an AIR MILES co-brand credit card - Up to 3,000 Miles, a companion ticket with no annual fee in the 1st year
  We see the return of the best ever offer for an AIR MILES credit card. Right now when you…
• BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard first year fee waiver returns with 35,000 point sign up bonus
  We mentioned in our last podcast that we should expect some better credit card offers to come out in October…
• CIBC Aventura Card enhancements coming on October 15 - Priority Pass with lounge visits, NEXUS credit and more
  CIBC has been a bank that has kind of sat on its laurels over the past few years with…
• Vancouver to Europe in Business Class for as little as 53,000 miles round trip with the latest Flying Blue Promo Rewards
  The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Rewards came out today and for this month we see all…

Earn 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for Best Western stays until December 15

For the fall Best Western is offering double points on all stays  but what if you don't stay at Best Western enough to make use of their BW Rewards program? Credit your stay to Aeroplan! Especially now that they have a fall promotion offering 500 bonus miles (750 total miles) for stays until the middle of December. For those keeping track, this offer is 250 miles lower than the summer offer 750 bonus miles.

Offer details:
Earn 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for each stay at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the United States, or the Caribbean Islands . Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Dec 15 18

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here.

Marriott 29 Ways to Stay contest - Enter to win free stays and free points (daily entry)

Marriott has finally launched their 29 Ways to Stay contest. It seems that it was delayed by almost a week but it found its legs and was launched yesterday. You can play everyday to win prizes and I missed entering yesterday but did enter today. I noticed they must still be having issues because after logging in and getting to the play the contest page there were some technical difficulties. You have to play a matching game and when the cards flipped over there was nothing - just a blank white space. That made it hard to match but after some random clicking it stated that a match was made where you answer a question. Two more matches (a total of 6 cards) after some random clicking garnered more questions and finally a win:

I won 50 points today! Woohoo! That is the most common prize for the whole contest although there are other point winning possibilities:

 And of course you have the bigger stay prizes:
(1) Grand Prize of twenty-nine (29) 2-night stays at each of the 29 brands and One hundred and seventy-four (174) 4-night stays

You can enter the contest here! 

 Let us know how it goes for you!  Did you win points? A free stay? Have blank cards like we did? Tell us in the comments section!

October 12 Update: Amex provides more details on Platinum Card travel credit, PC Optimum Spend Your Points Event, AIR MILES Take Off Shopping contest

Here is a follow up to the news about the annual travel credit for The Platinum Card from American Express. We ourselves had reached out to Amex for more details and here is the response. This should answer some of the questions we have received from our readers:

Confirming a change has recently been announced to the Platinum Card travel credit, which now sees CMs receiving the credit annually on the date of their account anniversary, instead of every January 1st. The change ensures that each CM has 12 months to use their travel credit as soon as they get their Platinum Card.

Current Cardmembers will see this change implemented on January 1, 2019. Those who have not yet used their 2018 credit are still able to redeem it until December 31, 2018. New Cardmembers as of October 2, 2018 will automatically receive the credit on the date of their account anniversary.

This weekend is a Spend Your Points weekend at Shoppers Drug Mart. If you so choose to redeem your PC Optimum points at Shoppers Drug Mart in-store or online. Find out more here.
Tier #1: Get $15 in extra value (15,000 PC Optimum points) when you redeem 60,000 - 120,000 PC Optimum points; Tier #2: Get $45 in extra value (45,000 PC Optimum points) when you redeem 130,000 - 240,000 PC Optimum points; Tier #3: Get $100 in extra value (100,000 PC Optimum points) when you redeem 250,000 - 500,000 PC Optimum points

 

American Express Cobalt Cardmembers can receive a $25 statement credit when they spend $125 in-store at a Levis store. If you got the email you are automatically registered for it.

Be sure to enter the AIR MILES Take Off Shopping contest! You could win 25,000 AIR MILES or lots of other prizes. No purchase is necessary but part of the game will give you different bonus for shopping online each day. For example I received a 2x miles offer today. Tomorrow it could be different. Find out more here.

WestJet's ULCC Swoop are planning service to Mexico from Abbotsford and Hamilton. These flights will launch in January 2019. (Source Routesonline)
Abbotsford – Mazatlan eff 20JAN19 2 weekly (Day 47)
Abbotsford – Puerto Vallarta eff 12JAN19 2 weekly (Day 26)
Hamilton – Cancun eff 14JAN19 3 weekly (Day 156)
Hamilton – Puerto Vallarta eff 08JAN19 2 weekly (Day 26)

Posts since our last update:

• IHG Rewards Club - Up to a 100% bonus when you buy points by October 31
  It's nice to see IHG once again offer up to a 100% bonus when buying points and for a…
• Additional bonuses added to the current Marriott MegaBonus promotion
  Marriott has finally got around to launching 29 Ways to Stay contest where you can win instant prizes of…

Travel Deals
Hertz is offering a free rental day on rentals of 5 or more days until the end of this month in the U.S. and Canada. Book online 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
N/A


Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- 3,000 Club Premier Points for stays at Best Western Hotels in Mexico. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays until Nov 30, 18

IHG Rewards Club
- Up to 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online. More... Until Oct 31, 18

Marriott / SPG / Ritz-Carlton Rewards
- OFFER UPDATED 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. Earn an additional 10,000 bonus points for stays at 10 brands and 29,000 bonus points if you stay at all 29 brands More... Register by Jan 7 for stays until Jan 31, 19

Follow Rewards Canada:

IHG Rewards Club - Up to a 100% bonus when you buy points by October 31

It's nice to see IHG once again offer up to a 100% bonus when buying points and for a longer period than last time as that was only a flash sale. 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!
 
Offer Details
Up to a 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online.  Buy Points here Until Oct 31, 18
5,000 - 19,000 points = 40% bonus
20,000 - 29,000 points - 60% bonus
30,000+ points = 100% bonus

Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus point offers here

Additional bonuses added to the current Marriott MegaBonus promotion

Marriott has finally got around to launching 29 Ways to Stay contest where you can win instant prizes of points and stays. It is on the main landing page of the contest where Marriott explains that they have added more to their current MegaBonus promotion. The new portion of the MegaBonus Promotion will award members an additional 10,000 bonus points if they stay at 10 of Marriott/SPG/Ritz brands and 29,000 bonus points if they stay at all 29 brands.  Note that you won't find this new addition to the promotion on the main MegaBonus registration page.

Offer details
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. Earn an additional 10,000 bonus points for stays at 10 brands and 29,000 bonus points if you stay at all 29 brands Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Register by Jan 7 for stays until Jan 31, 19

Find many more Marriott/SPG/Ritz-Carlton promotions here

October 10 Update: Fly WestJet lie flat business class for about $1,600 one way, BMO Rewards pay with points rate and more!

Today has been all about WestJet and WestJet Rewards and we continue to talk about it a bit more here in our daily update. The tickets for the new Boeing 787 long haul flights are now available for purchase and fares from Calgary to London, Dublin and Paris start around C$360 each way for economy class, $1,000 for premium economy and $1,600 for lie flat business class. Look at those full fare business class fares though..... Also I couldn't find any low business class fares to LGW in April and May - guess that's based on what AC may be pricing their LHR flights for.

Another topic we discussed way back in January was BMO offering a pay with points feature that was coming soon to BMO Rewards. We missed the launch of it, it may have been a long time ago but who knows as we just came across it now. Anyways the feature is available and is offered at 15,000 points for $50 credit. This translates to a cash back return of 0.67% to 1% for the BMO Rewards World Elite Mastercard as that card earns to 2 to 3 points per dollar spent. Other cards will of course be less than that. Again BMO did themselves a disservice here with that option when you  compare this to a couple of other popular travel rewards cards that have this option: Amex Cobalt is 0.7 to 3.5% while the Scotia Amex Gold Card ranges from 0.67% to 3.2%. Sure on the low end they are similar but  Find out more here.

Posts since our last update:

• WestJet Rewards introduces a new top elite tier - Platinum
  As part of WestJet's global strategy which included the unveiling of their 787 routes today, they have also announced…
• And the first long haul WestJet Boeing 787 routes are Calgary to Paris, London and Dublin
  A year and half ago WestJet announced they had ordered Boeing 787 Dreamliners and then five months ago we…

Travel Deals
Emirates is offering special companion business and first class fares for flights out of Canada. They aren't exactly cheap but it is being marketed as a sale, maybe some of you can find use for it! 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
N/A


Other Bonus Offers
Etihad Guest
- 5,000 Bonus Guest Miles when you join Etihad Business Connect and complete two flights. More... Ongoing

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to Quadruple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in France. More... Book by Nov 16 for stays until Dec 31, 18

Saudia Alfursan
- Earn up to 5x Alfursan Miles when you rent with Hertz for 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for rentals until Nov 30, 18

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays at the Tetherow Lodges Bend. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays Nov 1 - May 15, 19

United MileagePlus
- Earn up to 1,750 Bonus MileagePlus Miles when you join MyPoints. More... Ongoing

Follow Rewards Canada:

WestJet Rewards introduces a new top elite tier - Platinum

As part of WestJet's global strategy which included the unveiling of their 787 routes today, they have also announced a new elite tier in the WestJet Rewards program. The new tier is Platinum and it marks a new top tier level for the frequent flyer program.

Here are the details of the new Platinum tier (along with the other tiers for comparison)

To reach the new Platinum status level you will need to spend $8,000 (before taxes/fees) with WestJet during your 12 month qualification period which based on the day you joined WestJet Rewards. For example if you joined May 12, 2018 you would need to reach $8,000 in spending by May 12, 2019 to receive Platinum status for the remainder of your qualifying year and the entire next qualifying year.

The key benefits of the new Platinum tier are:

• 8% earn rate on WestJet flights. That's a pretty big return that only gets bigger if you tie that in with the 2% earned on the WestJet World Elite Mastercard for a total return of 10%! 
• Double the WestJet dollars on partner flights (Delta, Air France, KLM etc.)
• 3 free checked bags
• Unlimited advance seat selection
• 10 lounge access vouchers (word is this will be changed to unlimited in the New Year for both Platinum and Gold)
• Highest Priority for complimentary upgrades to Premium (not including Europe flights which is too bad!)

The new Platinum tier and changes to other tiers will come into place later this year or early in 2019. We are advised to keep an eye out on westjet.com/platinum for all the details.

Along with the Platinum announcement comes some changes to the other tiers. Those changes are as follows:

Teal members will lose 1/2 a percent earn on WestJet flights - currently they earn 1% but that will drop to 0.5% when all these changes take effect. This is unfortunate seeing that we figure most of the 5 million+ WestJet Rewards members are only Teal and fly very irregularly but I guess that has been put in place so cover the 8% that will be earned by Platinum members.

Silver members see the addition of these benefits over and above what they currently receive:

• An additional checked bag, for a total of two free checked bags
  
• Priority check-in and bag drop
  
• Zone 2 boarding privileges
  
• Access to complimentary upgrades to Premium with the purchase of
  EconoFlex fares
  

Gold members will now receive the following including what they are already used to:

• Two additional advance seat selection vouchers
  
• Early access to purchase an upgrade to Premium as an ongoing benefit
  
• Higher priority for complimentary upgrades to Premium with the purchase
  of EconoFlex fares 
  

Finally,  Milestone awards will also get an improvement. The first award will continue to be issued at $4,000 in qualifying spend, however, it will be expanded for travel to anywhere in WestJet’s network, instead of only within Canada. Subsequent milestone awards will be issued at every $2,000 thereafter, meaning you’ll be receiving milestone rewards faster than ever before. All milestone awards issued will be WestJet-wide companion vouchers, valid for travel in Economy or Premium.

 You can learn more about this Platinum and all other WestJet Elite tiers here.

I think it is a smart move by WestJet to introduce this new tier as there have been a lot of Gold freebies given out to build up the elite tier levels in the program and now it is time to offer those who do fly with WestJet a lot to receive recognition for that. As the program evolves I do hope more benefits are afforded to the higher tiers like upgrades for Europe and other international flights and recognition with WestJet airline partners (likely to come with the Joint Venture with Delta)

What are everyone's thoughts on this new tier and the changes to the other tiers? Do you think you'll achieve Platinum? Will you now focus more on WestJet flights to reach that status or do you feel this isn't enough to make you shift your travel to WestJet?

---

And the first long haul WestJet Boeing 787 routes are Calgary to Paris, London and Dublin

A year and half ago WestJet announced they had ordered Boeing 787 Dreamliners and then five months ago we were introduced to what their 787's will look like on the inside and out.

All along however what we did not know is where WestJet would fly them. We know that to get ETOPS rating it needs to be flown on some shorter routes to start (our guesses were between YYC/YVR and YYZ) but the big question was where internationally they will go. WestJet already serves a few destinations in Europe and many of their earnings calls and annual general meetings talk about Asia and Australia but there have not been any definitive answers.  Another of our guesses was Paris from places like Calgary and/or Toronto. This route would make a lot of sense since WestJet already serves the city - it was even mentioned that the current Halifax-Paris route was set in place as training and learning ground for future flights to the city. You go to many frequent flyer, avgeek and other forums and there are threads dedicated to guesses as to what the routes would be. With all this WestJet has done a very good job at keeping the destinations a secret so that they could be revealed today during their big breakfast bash detailing WestJet's global future in Alberta at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. However some routes were filed on Tuesday (Source Routesonline)

Were you guessing? Want to see if you were right? Here are the long haul routes WestJet will initially fly with the 787:

• Calgary to London Gatwick starting on April 29 (Daily service)
• Calgary to Paris starting on May 17 ( 3 to 4x weekly service)
• Calgary to Dublin starting on June 1  (3 weekly service)

All these routes should go on sale today, including their new lie flat business class pods for the flights starting on April 28



Did you guess right for the routes? Are you excited with today's announcement? Let us know in the comments section below!