November 16 Update: 20 Bonus AIR MILES for buying gift cards at Shell, China Southern leaving SkyTeam alliance and more!

Here's a good bonus that ties into our Holiday Shopping tips. Right now when you buy a $50 gift card at Shell you'll earn 20 bonus AIR MILES. Add in a card that has a multplier for gas station purchases (TD Aeroplan, Amex Gold Rewards etc.) and you're doing well. Find out more here

China Southern Airlines is leaving the SkyTeam alliance. The airline which does serve Toronto and Vancouver will leave the alliance at the end of the year. (Source One Mile at a Time)

 It's the season of giving! Help support Rewards Canada's Flight Here campaign for Give A Mile. Help us reach 100,000 miles to provide up to 4 flights of compassion. Find out more here!
Posts since our last update:

• 100% Bonus when you buy IHG Rewards Club Points until November 30
  IHG is once again offering a flat 100% bonus when you buy 5,000 or more points. This sale runs…
• WestJet Black Friday Sale - $99 each way between Toronto and Calgary, Edmonton or Halifax
  WestJet has launched their annual Black Friday sale that will feature different deals each day until November 23. Today…

Travel Deals
Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa
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
ANA Mileage Club
- Earn up to Triple Mileage Club Miles for stays at participating Dusit Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Triple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating AccorHotels in Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador and Paraguay. More... Until Dec 23, 18

Marriott Rewards
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Courtyard Bridgetown. More... Until Dec 31, 18
- 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Worsley Park Marriott Hotel & Country Club. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- 5,000 Bonus iPrefer Points per night, for up to 10 nights for stays at Preferred Residences Worldwide. More...Book by Dec 31 for stays until Mar 31, 19

Radisson Rewards
- Earn Double Radisson Rewards Elite Credit and Points when you stay in a premium room at all Radisson Collection™, Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Radisson RED®, Park Plaza®, Park Inn® by Radisson, and Country Inn & Suites® by Radisson hotels worldwide. More... Until Dec 28, 18

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- 5x Miles&Smiles Status Miles when you fly Turkish Airlines to or from the new Istanbul Airport. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

100% Bonus when you buy IHG Rewards Club Points until November 30

IHG is once again offering a flat 100% bonus when you buy 5,000 or more points. This sale runs until November 30.

The best price for buying points comes when you buy 30,000 or more points in one transaction. For example, buying 60,000 points (120,000 total with bonus) costs US$600 which means each point will only cost you 0.5 cents. That's up to 24 nights at IHG hotels if redeeming via the PointBreaks 5,000 point level, 12 nights at 10,000 and 8 nights at the 15,000 point level. Even at that highest level it is like you are buying each night for only US$75.  And remember a new set of PointBreaks should be coming out in less than two weeks so this can be a perfect time to buy some points.

 

Offer Details
100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy points online.  Minimum purchase of 5,000 points. Buy Points here Until Nov 30, 18


Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus point offers here!

WestJet Black Friday Sale - $99 each way between Toronto and Calgary, Edmonton or Halifax

WestJet has launched their annual Black Friday sale that will feature different deals each day until November 23. Today is the first day and you book travel between Toronto and Calgary, Edmonton or Halifax for as little as $99 each way! These fares at this price are very limited.  You can book these flights for travel until June 25, 2019
(Blackout dates: February 14-16, 18, March 8-9, 15-18, 21-24, 28-31, April 18-20, 22, May 16-18, 20, 2019)

Find out more and/or book this deal here!

If these routes aren't for you there are other featured deals that can be booked during the entire Black Friday sale period (or you can wait to see what specials come each day!)

November 15 Update: New Rewards Canada booking partners, contest to win a $50 gift card and more!

We've added a bunch of new partners to Rewards Canada's Travel Booking page! You can help support Rewards Canada by booking travel directly with these new partners of ours. Visit the Travel Booking page here. 

Centro Hotels

Falkensteiner Hotels

Oman Air

Plaza Premium

Want a chance to win a $50 gift card for MEC or REI? Check out this contest from Rewards Canada's friends Matt and Heather of the Reason 2 Roam blog. You have until December 3 to enter the contest and you can do so here.

 It's the season of giving! Help support Rewards Canada's Flight Here campaign for Give A Mile. Help us reach 100,000 miles to provide up to 4 flights of compassion. Find out more here!

Posts since our last update:

• AIR MILES Shop the Block is back - earn up to 2,000 Bonus Reward Miles when earning from multiple partners
  The annual AIR MILES Shop the Block event launched today and presents a really nice bonus mile earning opportunity.…
• Air France KLM Special Edition Promo Rewards - 3 days only to book discounted award flights out of Toronto & Vancouver to Europe
  Each month we bring you the details of Air France KLM's Flying Blue Promo Rewards, well that is each…
• Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shopping
  With a little over a month left to the big day for gift giving the push is on to…
• On this week's Podcast - Interview with Give A Mile's Kevin Crowe and all that goes into the 2018 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign
  Episode 48 - November 13, 2018 -- Interview with Give A Mile's Kevin Crowe and all that goes into…
• Convert HSBC Rewards Points to British Airways Executive Club Avios and receive a 35% bonus
  Now is the time for British Airways Executive Club transfers from Canadian credit cards! With this offer highlighted in this…

Travel Deals
Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa

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
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for earning miles from various AIR MILES partners. More... Until Dec 27, 18

Other Bonus Offers
Copa ConnectMiles
- Earn up to 750 Bonus ConnectMiles on qualifying rentals of 3 or more days at participating Budget locations worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 19

IHG Rewards Club
- 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy 5,000 or more points online. More... Until Nov 30, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Triple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating AccorHotels in Africa and the Indian Ocean. More... Book by Dec 24 for stays Jan 12, 19

Marriott Rewards
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points PER NIGHT for stays at all participating Marriott Hotels in Arizona California Florida Georgia Illinois Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Michigan North Carolina Ohio Rhode Island Tennessee Texas Virginia Washington. More... Until Jan 4, 19
- 5,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Marriott Orlando Downtown. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

AIR MILES Shop the Block is back - earn up to 2,000 Bonus Reward Miles when earning from multiple partners

The annual AIR MILES Shop the Block event launched today and presents a really nice bonus mile earning opportunity. If you meet the requirement of using Shop the Block coupons at 3 or more sponsors you'll be awarded with up to 2,000 Rewards Miles over and above the base miles and coupon bonus miles awarded.

Bonuses are as follows:

Use 3 different offers Get 300 Bonus Miles
Use 5 different offers Get 1,000 Bonus Miles
Use 7 different offers Get 2,000 Bonus Miles

Now to earn the bonus won't come cheap if you don't have any planned shopping for next month and a half at the participating sponsors but then again it is Christmas shopping season! Also if you can, you could move some shopping you had planned from one retailer to another that is an AIR MILES Sponsor than you can earn those bonus miles for your everyday regular spending.


Here are the basic rules around this promotion:

The cheapest way we found to earn the bonus simply by looking at all the details on the coupons page (Alberta region) would be as follows:

1. Register to convert Hudson Bay Rewards points to AIR MILES (30 bonus Miles coupon)
2. Spend $50 at Global Pet Foods (10 bonus Miles coupon)
3. Spend $10 in-store at Shell (5 Bonus Miles coupon)
4. Spend $40 at Rexall (20 Bonus Miles Coupon)
5. Link your AIR MILES account to your Samsung Pay account by November 26 (75 Bonus Miles Coupon)
6. Spend $75 at Timber Mart (25 bonus miles)
7. Pick a spend $100 get 25 to 100 bonus miles offers (Safeway, Sobeys, IGA, airmilesshops.ca, etc.)

If you have a BMO or American Express AIR MILES Credit Card achieving the bonus can be easier as it will count as one offer if you make 25 or more in-store purchases on one of the cards (Opt in is required via the Shop the Block site)

That's $275 in spending to earn the 2,000 Bonus Shop the Block Miles but then you have to add in your base amount miles plus add in the non-spend offers and the coupon bonuses for an additional ~265 miles or so for 2,265 bonus miles in total. We value AIR MILES Rewards Miles at an average of 13 cents each for travel, so you are getting back $295 on your $275 in spending so that is a great return! If you strictly earn cash rewards, then you are looking at a return of about $238, still pretty decent for spending $275. For some of you it may take more spending but as we mentioned before if this is shopping you are already planning on doing then jump on the Mega Miles event right away so that you can earn this bonus.

Find out more and print all your coupons here!

Air France KLM Special Edition Promo Rewards - 3 days only to book discounted award flights out of Toronto & Vancouver to Europe

Each month we bring you the details of Air France KLM's Flying Blue Promo Rewards, well that is each month when Canadian cities are included. While the November edition did not see any Canadian cities the Flying Blue program has released a special 3 day edition of the Promo Rewards and this edition does include Toronto and Vancouver:

This special edition version of the Promo Rewards offer sees a flat rate redemption to anywhere in Europe from YYZ and YVR. This differs a bit from the regular version where there are various rates to various destinations in Europe. (See our last post on Promo Rewards as an example) The flat rates are 35,000 each way in Business Class from Toronto while Vancouver is 15,000 miles each way in Economy Class.

These are some pretty good redemption rates, the Business Class from Toronto is slightly higher than we have seen on occasion with Promo Rewards but all in all is still a great redemption rate and the same goes for the Economy Class rate from Vancouver.

Remember you have to book by November 16 for travel between January 1 and March 31, 19.

Find out more and book this offer here.

Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shopping

With a little over a month left to the big day for gift giving the push is on to start your Christmas shopping for friends, family and maybe even yourself! Whether it is shopping for gifts or for food and drink to entertain there are many ways to maximize the miles and points you earn holiday shopping. Ultimately you can make those reward dreams come closer by following one or more of our tips:

1. Shop via online shopping malls to earn miles & points plus take advantage of their bonuses!
2. Use your mileage/point earning credit card & your loyalty cards to Double or Triple Dip
3. Giving gift cards? Buy gift cards at credit card multiplier locations
4. Buying gifts at retailers without credit card multipliers? Use the gift card trick to earn more miles!
5. Use bonus offers to your advantage when buying groceries for the holiday season


6. Always remember to swipe your Loyalty Card and/or use your miles/points earning credit card

You can learn more about these tips and how to use them in our Top 6 tips for maximizing miles & points earning on your holiday shopping feature here!

On this week's Podcast - Interview with Give A Mile's Kevin Crowe and all that goes into the 2018 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign

Episode 48 - November 13, 2018 -- Interview with Give A Mile's Kevin Crowe and all that goes into the 2018 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign

Rewards Canada's Jeff Fredericks interviews Give A Mile's founder Kevin Crowe. They discuss what the charity is about, what they have achieved and what they are hoping to raise for the 2018 Flight Hero Christmas campaign.

Click Here to download the podcast

Or download/subscribe via:

Links relating to this week's topic:

Give A Mile 2018 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign - donate miles today to help reach 50 flights of compassion

Rewards Canada's charity partner Give A Mile has launched their annual Flight Hero Christmas Campaign…

Convert HSBC Rewards Points to British Airways Executive Club Avios and receive a 35% bonus

Now is the time for British Airways Executive Club transfers from Canadian credit cards! With this offer highlighted in this post there are four, count it, four different transfer bonuses to the BAEC program!

Thanks to Thomas once again (our resident HSBC Rewards helper) for giving us the details on this transfer bonus. Right now HSBC card holders can convert their HSBC Rewards points to British Airways with a 35% bonus.

Normally you would redeem 25,000 HSBC Rewards Points for 10,000 Avios

but with this offer that brings it up to 13,500 Avios for those 25,000 points. This equates to 1.62 to 3.24 Avios per dollar spent on the World Elite version of their Mastercards! Now is definitely the time to convert if you can and have a use for Avios. This offer runs until November 30.

Related: HSBC World Elite Mastercard review

Here are the three other transfer bonuses that you can also take advantage of:

• Convert Diners Club Club Rewards Points to British Airways Executive Club Avios and receive a 40% bonus
• 30% Transfer Bonus for RBC Rewards (Avion only) to British Airways Executive Club is back until December 31 
• Amex Membership Rewards: 30% Bonus Avios when transferring to British Airways Executive Club

November 9 Update: Canadian North adding wireless IFE, Aeroplan Air Canada Getaway Bonus nixed for 2019, 10x Plum Points at Chapters Indigo

Canadian North will be adding wireless in-flight entertainment on select flights starting in January 2019 that are serviced with four of their 737s. If all goes to plan and the service is well received it will be expanded to all 16 of their aircraft. (Source Canadian North)

This exciting new inflight amenity, which utilizes Global Eagle’s portable Airconnect Go system, will initially be available on four Canadian North Boeing 737-300 aircraft, with service to be offered to passengers on the following daily scheduled flights:

• Flights 436 and 437 - Iqaluit ⇄ Ottawa

• Flights 444 and 445 - Edmonton ⇄ Yellowknife ⇄ Norman Wells ⇄ Inuvik

Aeroplan has updated one of the benefits of the Aeroplan status program: "As of January 1 2019, the Air Canada Getaway Bonus benefit will no longer be available" All other benefits will remain the same (Source Aeroplan)

For the next four days you can earn 10x Plum Points for all online purchases of $40 or more in-store or online at Chapters Indigo. This offer ends November 12. Find out more here
(or go through Aeroplan estore where they have 5x miles right now for Indigo purchases!)

It's the season of giving! Help support Rewards Canada's Flight Here campaign for Give A Mile. Help us reach 100,000 miles to provide up to 4 flights of compassion. Find out more here!

Posts since our last update:

• Book hotel stays in Vancouver, Calgary & Edmonton and receive American Express or Amazon gift cards
  You may recall many of our posts in the past about BeVancouver - the website tied in with Vancouver Tourism…
• Summary of all current buy miles/points bonuses and discounts - 12 current offers
  We've had quite a few buy miles and points bonuses released over the past couple of weeks and as always…

Travel Deals
Hilton Winter Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa

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
American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 50,000 Bonus AAdvanage Miles when you earn miles from select AAdvantage partners.More... Until Dec 31, 18

Iberia Plus
- Triple Avios for stays at participating Accor Hotels Worldwide More... Until Dec 31, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Triple Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating MyResorts by Le Club AccorHotels in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and French Polynesia. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays Jan 31, 19

Marriott Rewards
- 2,500 Bonus Rewards Points per stay at the Courtyard Luton Airport. More... Jan 1 - Mar 26, 19
- 4,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays of 2+ nights at the at the Roomers Munich, Autograph Collection Munich. More... Jan 1 - Mar 26, 19

Miles & More
- 500 Bonus Miles & More Miles when you download and log in to the Miles & More app for the first time. More... Ongoing

Rocketmiles
- 3,000 Bonus Miles / Points with the Rocketmiles partner of your choice for booking at select properties Worldwide. More... Book by Nov 13 for stays until Mar 31, 19

Follow Rewards Canada: