October 15 Update: CIBC Aventura new card benefits launch today, save 15% off Air Canada sun destination flights and more!

The new benefits associated with CIBC's Aventura cards launched today. You can now go apply for NEXUS (or renew), charge it your Aventura card and have that fee rebated. You will also now get to register for your free Priority Pass membership which will come with 4 free lounge visit passes each year. You can read all about the new benefits on the cards in our post CIBC Aventura Card enhancements coming on October 15 - Priority Pass with lounge visits, NEXUS credit and more.

Remember though while the addition of these benefits are great for the card (especially the NEXUS rebate) the Aventura Rewards program has not changed with the latest enhancements and in our opinion is not as good or as flexible as some other options out there. I would recommend reading our article Not all Travel Points and Hybrid Credit Cards are created equal to see why we think this.

Air Canada made some great international flight updates to their Vancouver hub. The flights to Delhi will move to daily year round service in June 2019, Melbourne will also go year round 4x weekly and the summer seasonal Zurich flight will be bumped up to 5x weekly (Source Air Canada)

Check your email for an offer from Emirates Skywards for an exclusive booking bonus. This email was sent out to members who had linked their Skywards accounts with their SPG accounts for Your World rewards.

Posts since our last update:

• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for October
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October! This is not…
• 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…
• 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…
• 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…
• 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…

Travel Deals
Air Canada launched a 48 hour sale offering 15% off base fares to all sun destinations. Book by Oct 16 for travel until Apr 30. 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
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 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. More... Book by Nov 8 for travel until Apr 24, 19
- Earn 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles for each stay at Best Western Hotels in Canada, the United States, or the Caribbean Islands. More... Until Dec 15 18

Other Bonus Offers
Aer Lingus AerClub
- 1,000 Bonus Avios on your next hotel stay booked via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Jan 15 for stays unitl Mar 31, 19
- 500 Bonus Avios when you make your first online purchase via the AerClub eStore. More... Until Oct 21, 18

Aeroflot Bonus
- Double Bonus Miles for stays at participating Jumeirah Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 19
- Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Miles for Avis rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for rentals until Dec 31, 18

Copa ConnectMiles
- OFFER EXTENDED Earn up to 1,000 Bonus ConnectMiles on qualifying rentals a t participating Avis airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Aruba, Curacao, Trinidad, Bahamas, St. Maarten, Haiti, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. More... Until Jan 31, 19

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Triple iPrefer Points when you stay at any of 112 Preferred Hotel Group hotels named among Condé Nast Traveler's 2018 Readers' Choice Awardsg Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays until Mar 31, 19

SAS EuroBonus
- 6,500 Bonus EuroBonus Points for Avis rentals of 3 or more days in Europe, The Middle East, Africa, Asia, USA and Canada. More... Book by Oct 31 for rentals until Apr 30, 19

Follow Rewards Canada:

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for October

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October! 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. For the second month in a row we have included one card with an annual and that's strictly because of the value of the sign up bonus. The other four cards have no annual fee so you can try them out at no cost and decide later on if the card is right for you.

BMO dominated this list for the better of the first half of 2018 and they are now back to taking 3 of 5 spots for this month. The return of the first year free offers on the BMO AIR MILES World Elite and Rewards World Elite Mastercards are what help BMO dominate this list.

Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for October  (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 makes it back to our 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! Add in a free companion fare when you redeem for flights and the value jumps even higher. 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. Please note: new Collectors have Miles automatically deposited into their Dream Account, not their Cash account.

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

Now a mainstay on the list with its not very limited - limited time offer, the BMO Rewards Mastercard has no annual fee so the 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 rewarding on your day to day spend the card still returns to this list thanks to its sign bonus and first year free offer. The card offers 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 LoungeKey access and 4 lounge passes included in that first year free. 

CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite - 15,000 Points (Apply Here)
The CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite card now offers a 15,000 Aventura Points sign up bonus worth up to $300 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 15,000 points come at no cost to you. The current offer also includes a $100 travel credit if you book travel via CIBC!

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express - 50,000 Points (Apply here)
The sign up bonus for this card is 50,000 points when you spend $1,500 on the card and it is worth at least $400 when redeeming them for Marriott or Starwood Hotel stays. You can convert them to airline miles in 40+ programs and Marriott/Starwood will kick in an additional 5,000 miles when you transfer 60,000 points at a time.

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with nearly $1,100 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

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: