RBC to WestJet transfer bonus returns - 10% bonus until November 15

The RBC Rewards transfer bonus to WestJet is back until November 15. Once again it is only a 10% bonus but many of you who jumped on the RBC Visa Infinite Avion first year free offers with 25K bonus points earlier this year have been waiting on this offer! With the 10% transfer bonus you'll receive 1.10 WestJet dollars for every 100 RBC Rewards Points transferred. Find out more here.

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Great offer for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard - Up to 75,000 bonus points + first year annual fee waived

Of course only a few hours after we posted our Top 5 Credit Card sign up offers for October a new offer gets released that should be in that list! No matter, it gets its own post since it is a really good offer and will no doubt be on the list for November.

The offer is from HSBC for their relatively new World Elite Mastercard. This is not their 'Premier World Elite' which is meant for people who bank at HSBC but rather this card is for any Canadian and it is essentially the same as the Premier version. When HSBC launched this card earlier this year it became obvious they didn't want to only market their credit cards to those who bank with them, rather they now want to get into the entire lucrative Canadian credit card market. It is about time they did as Canadians, slow as they may have been to adapt, are learning they don't have to get credit cards from the bank they bank with, rather they can get whatever card they like and HSBC wants part of that pie.

Now enough backgrounder and on to the details of this great offer!

Up until the end of the year you can apply for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and get up to 75,000 bonus HSBC Rewards Points along with having the first year $149 annual fee waived.  The bonus is awarded as follows:

• 20,000 Welcome Bonus
• Earn additional points when you charge the following amounts to your card within 120 days of account opening :
  

  When you charge :	You will earn an additional :
  $1,000 to $4,999	+ 5,000 Points3
  $5,000 to $9,999	+ 25,000 Points3
  $10,000 or more	+ 25,000 Points3

The 75,000 points once achieved are worth $375 in travel rewards but this card isn't just a travel points card, it is actually a Hybrid Card. This means points can also be converted to partners outside of HSBC Rewards. In this card's case, they can be transferred to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. The points convert as follows:

• 2.5 points to 1 Avios
• 3 points to 1.35 KrisFlyer Miles 
• 3 points to 1.2 Asia Miles 

This means the sign up bonus is worth 30,000 Avios in British Airways Executive Club which if you have followed us for sometime now know that is a good amount for a lot of various redemptions. Here are some options to check out

• How to get select Canada to U.S. award flights faster by utilizing British Airways' Executive Club 
• How you can easily get a free flight between Toronto and Dublin, Ireland (pre taxes/fees) or 4 flights for $240+fees 

 The sign up bonus isn't the only good feature about this card however. It is one of only eight cards in Canada that has No Foreign Transaction fees, it also comes with a $100 annual travel enhancement credit (to use on bag fees, seat selection etc) and like most World Elite Mastercards in Canada it has airport lounge access membership via LoungeKey.

Overall an amazing new offer from HSBC to get people to try out their card and services!

Also note the first year free waiver option is not available for Quebec residents so instead they offer up to 105,000 bonus points for getting the card and simple holding on to it!:

HSBC World Elite Mastercard

• Earn up to 75,000 Bonus HSBC Rewards Points when you apply for and are approved. 20,000 points awarded upon approval. Then spend the following within 120 days to earn bonuses as follows: $1,000 - $4,999 = 5,000 bonus points, $5,000 -$9,999 = 25,000 bonus points, $10,000 or more = 25,000 points
• Annual Fee: $149 (Waived in the first year)
• Earn 3% in travel rewards on all eligible travel purchases (6 Points per $1) and 1.5% in travel rewards on all other eligible purchases (3 Points per $1).
• No Foreign Transaction Fee
• Transfer your HSBC Rewards points towards other eligible loyalty programs (British Airways Executive Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles)
• Complimentary membership in Mastercard Airport Experiences provided by LoungeKey
• $100 annual travel enhancement credit (to use on bag fees, seat selection etc)

October 16 Update: Update to No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards for Canadians feature, Lufthansa lounge in DTW now part of Priority Pass & more!

We made a small update to our No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards for Canadians feature. We have now added the HSBC World Elite MasterCard to the list. There are now eight true no FX fee cards in Canada. Granted 6 of those 8 are essentially various version of each other  (Brim and HSBC)  Check out the feature here.

 For those of you in Southwestern Ontario who use Detroit as your jumping off point for your travels around the world there is good news from the latest Priorty Pass Lounge update email. The Lufthansa Business Lounge in the North Terminal of DTW is now a Priority Pass lounge.  For sun seekers you now have access to the VIP Lounge Puerto Vallarta International as well. Learn more about Priority Pass (included our exclusive discount offer) and other business class lounge access options in our Guide to Business Class Lounge Access.

Posts since our last update:

• Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles for Choice Hotels stays Worldwide until December 31
  Aeroplan's next bonus with Choice Hotels is here and they have made it one of the best yet. Normally…
• United MileagePlus: 30% bonus when you convert hotel loyalty points to MileagePlus Miles
  United MileagePlus has brought back their bonus for transferring hotel loyalty program points to MileagePlus. The bonus is 30%…

Travel Deals
Air Canada is offering 20% off economy class flights to Europe. Bookings must be made today for travel Nov 1 - Jun 15. 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 5x Aeroplan Miles for stays at over 6,500 Choice Hotels worldwide. More... Until Dec 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 Nov 30, 18
- 50% Miles&Bonus Miles when you buy miles. More... Until Oct 31, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Earn up to 600 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Miles & More
- 500 Bonus Miles & More Miles for stays at participating Mercure, Novotel or Novotel Suites hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays until Dec 31, 18

Radisson Rewards
- 5,000 Bonus Points for every stay of 2 nights or more booked at any participating Radisson Collection hotel. More... Until Feb 28, 19

United MileagePlus
- 30% Bonus MiileagePlus Miles when you exchange hotel points for award miles. More... Maximum bonus is 25,000 miles Until Nov 30, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles for Choice Hotels stays Worldwide until December 31

Aeroplan's next bonus with Choice Hotels is here and they have made it one of the best yet. Normally ranging from 2 to 4x miles the bonus sees a boost to 5x miles for the remainder of the year!

Offer details:
Earn 5x Aeroplan Miles for stays at over 6,500 Choice Hotels worldwide. Full details & online booking Until Dec 31, 18

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here.

United MileagePlus: 30% bonus when you convert hotel loyalty points to MileagePlus Miles

United MileagePlus has brought back their bonus for transferring hotel loyalty program points to MileagePlus. The bonus is 30% and they will award up to 25,000 bonus miles in total after you have completed all your transfers. Your best conversion bet is from Marriott/SPG but also IHG thanks to the latter's buy points bonus.With this bonus you could actually 'buy' MileagePlus miles for just over US 1.9 cents each with the current IHG Rewards Club buy points bonus. You can buy 200,000 points for US$1,000 with IHG and then convert those to MileagePlus. The 200,000 converts to 40,000 MileagePlus Miles and the 30% bonus boosts that to 52,000 miles.

Offer details
30% Bonus MiileagePlus Miles when you exchange hotel points for award miles Full details and online registration.  Until Nov 30, 18
Maximum bonus is 25,000 miles

Find many more MileagePlus bonus miles offers here.

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.