January 8 Update: Earn Double QMiles & Elite QPoints on all Qatar flights, Mastercard drops Mastercard from logo, Condor increasing YYC & YYZ flights

Qatar Airways is offering not only Double Qmiles on their flights but also Double Elite Qualifting QPoints. Be sure to register and book if your are planning on flying Qatar out of Montreal (or anywhere else for that matter). Bookings must be completed by February 28 and you have until March 5th to register for flights until the end of August! Find out more here.

Mastercard has updated their branding to drop the actual "Mastercard" name from their logo. The brand and logo will simply be the interlocking red and yellow circles that have become synonymous with the brand. I wouldn't expect replacement cards from MC issuers to be automatically sent out, rather you'll probably see it when you get replacement cards sent in the future or when you apply for a new card. (Source Mastercard)

 For next summer Condor Airlines (a Lufthansa subsidiary) will be increasing flights from Calgary and Toronto to Frankfur. Calgary moves to 4x weekly while Toronto jumps to 5x weekly. You can earn and redeem Miles & More miles or earn Alaska Mileage Plan miles for Condor flights but I figure most Canadians if they are choosing to travel on Condor would look at using proprietary credit card points for these flights. Condor is a Rewards Canada partner and you can book flights with them directly to help support RC. (Source Routesonline)

Posts since our last update:

• Save up to 50% on Economy and Business Class award tickets for spring travel between Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver and Europe
  As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" or Mileage Bargain discounted…

Travel Deals
Hilton APAC Year End sale - Save up to 25% when you book by Feb 2 for stays until Sep 30, 2019!

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
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles on all rentals of three days or longer at any Dollar location Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 19
- Earn up to 50,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you buy American AAdvantage Miles. More... Until Jan 31, 19

Avianca LifeMiles
- Earn up to 6x LifeMiles when you rent with Thrifty in the Americas or Europe. More... Until Dec 31, 19

Emirates Skywards
- Triple Skywards Miles for stays at participating Anantara Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Feb 29, 20

Iberia Plus
- 25% Avios Discount when you redeem for award flights between Madrid and Copenhagen, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Stuttgart, Berlin or Dublin. More... Book by Feb 28, for travel until Mar 31, 19
- Double Avios for stays at NH Hotels in Rome, Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, Mexico City, Rotterdam, Cologne, Marseille, Santiago (Chile), and any city in Andalusia. More... Until Feb 28, 19

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to Double QMiles and Double Elite QPoints when you book and fly with Qatar Airways. More... Book by Feb 28, register by Mar 5, for travel until Aug 31, 19

Saudia Alfursan
- 1,000 Alfursan Miles for Sixt car rentals Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 19

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 30% VHR Points discount when you redeem points for an award night at any participating Voila Hotel Rewards Hotel. More... Until Mar 31, 19



Follow Rewards Canada:

Save up to 50% on Economy and Business Class award tickets for spring travel between Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver and Europe

As we do each month we bring you the latest set Miles & More "Meilenschnaeppchen" or Mileage Bargain discounted mileage awards. This month all the offers are for flying on Lufthansa from Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver

Montreal
Lufthansa Economy and Business Class
Book by January 31 for travel between May 1 - June 15 , 2019

Toronto
Lufthansa Business Class
Book by January 31 for travel between May 1 - June 15 , 2019


Vancouver
Lufthansa Business Class
Book by January 31 for travel between May 1 - June 15 , 2019

With this offer you can redeem Miles & More miles for round trip business class tickets on Lufthansa from all three cities to 80+ destinations in Europe for only 55,000 miles. This is nearly a 50% discount off the normal award ticket price of 105,000 miles. Remember however Miles & More charges some major fees for redeeming miles on these flights so be sure you also check what a revenue ticket costs however remember this is for business class so even several hundreds of dollars in fees along with 55,000 miles could be the savings you are looking for.

Here are just some of the Business Class offers this month:

You can also choose to redeem 30,000 miles for round-trip Economy Class flights out of Montreal to 81 destinations in Europe. This is a 50% discount off the normal Economy Class award ticket price of 60,000 miles.

Here is an example of some of them:

Short on Miles & More miles? Your best bet is to convert Marriott Rewards points to Miles & More on a 3:1 basis plus you'll earn 5,000 bonus miles when you convert 60,000 points at a time. That means 75,000 points is all it would take to get one of these tickets if you don't have any Miles & More miles to your name.

If you don't have any Marriott Rewards Points you can get close to amount required to redeem for the tickets by grabbing some credit cards! How so? As we always mention in this post you can boost your Miles & More account with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to top off your account. Currently the card comes with a 50,000 point sign up bonus when you spend $1,500 on the card and then you could also grab The Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express as it also has 50,000 point sign up bonus and then you would ultimately be able to have 100,000 points not including what is earned on spending. Of course timing of getting the card(s) now, spending and getting the points will likely not happen for this month but it sets you up for future offers.  Need to grab two tickets for an itinerary? You could choose to get one SPG card for yourself and one for your partner or spouse.

Click here for full details on this Miles & More offer 

January 7 Update: Turkish Miles&Smiles extends mileage validity, Aer Lingus introducing intra-Europe lie flat business class & more!

Rewards Canada contributor Martin L. passed along this note from Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles. On December 31st, any miles that were three years old were set to expire (the program has a three year life span on miles) however due to some technical issues with their booking processes Turkish has extended the expiry date to January 15. So if you happen to have some older Miles&Smiles Miles check their website to see if there is anything you can redeem for rather than losing the miles!

Aer Lingus, which flies to Toronto and soon to Montreal will be adding lie flat business class seats to some of their European routes late in 2019. They will be utilizing some of their new A321LR aircraft that have the lie flat seats from Dublin to cities like London, Paris and Barcelona. This is a definite perk if you are flying Aer Lingus beyond Dublin from Canada! For the most part we have seen true business class disappear for intra-Europe flights so this will be a welcome change. (Source Irish Times)

WOW Air, the troubled Icelandic carrier officially nixed plans to fly to Vancouver next year. If you have purchases tickets for those flights you can get a refund from the airline or your credit card company. (Source Routesonline)

We are still looking for someone who would be interested in reviewing the newly opened Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in St. John's. If you are interested please email us at info@rewardscanada.ca (we do pay you for it!)

Posts since our last update:

• IHG Rewards Club 2019 Hotel Award Night Category Changes - 28 hotels in Canada affected
   As is always the case when a New Year comes around we can expect the usual changes from hotel programs…
• Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards - Save 25% on business class awards from Calgary or Toronto to Europe
  The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Rewards are out now and for this month we see two…
• IHG Rewards Club Rewards Nights. Faster. Earn 40,000 or more bonus points on your stays until April 15
  IHG Rewards Club becomes the second major chain to release their first quarter global systemwide bonus offering. It is…
• Up to 25% off Asia Pacific Hilton stays
  Hilton Honors members can to save up to 25% on stays across the entire Asia Pacific region when you…

Travel Deals
Hilton APAC Year End sale - Save up to 25% when you book by Feb 2 for stays until Sep 30, 2019!

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 France KLM Flying Blue
- January Promo Rewards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. Calgary and Toronto included this month. More... Book by Jan 31 for travel Mar 1 - Apr 30, 19

Other Bonus Offers
Avianca LifeMiles
- Earn up to 2,000 Bonus LifeMiles when you stay 2 nights at participating Marriott Hotels in Caribbean and Latin America. More... Until Jan 31, 19

IHG Rewards Club
- Earn 500 to 40,000 or more Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. Bonus varies by member. More... Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 15 - Apr 30, 19
- Receive a Free Night Award when you complete 2 nights at selected UK IHG hotels. Free night award must be redeemed by Oct 31, 19. More... Until Mar 31, 19

Le Club AccorHotels
- 1,000 Bonus Le Club AccorHotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in the United Kingdom More... Book by Jan 27 for stays until Mar 31, 19

Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer
- Earn up to 4,000 Bonus Safar Flyer Miles when you rent with Avis for 4 or more days worldwide. More... Book by Jan 31 for rentals until Jun 30, 19

Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Triple ROP Miles for stays at participaing Anantara Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 20



Follow Rewards Canada:

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IHG Rewards Club 2019 Hotel Award Night Category Changes - 28 hotels in Canada affected

 

As is always the case when a New Year comes around we can expect the usual changes from hotel programs of individual hotel locations moving up or down in free night award/reward categories. These aren't changes to the redemption amounts within categories though. We get our first experience in annual changes from IHG Rewards Club and they sure aren't giving lots of notice. These changes according to their PDF list of hotels changing will take effect on January 14. As is always the case with changes like this you'll want to try to book award nights at hotels that are going up in price right away and wait until the 14th to book ones that are going down in price. 

The 2019 changes sees nearly 700 hotels moving up or down in categories. It's not a huge amount, around 13% of their entire portfolio and 28 of them are in Canada. Of those 28, only 5 are going in down in award price while the other 23 are moving up. Most significant is the newly opened Kimpton Saint George Hotel in Toronto that moves from 40,000 points per night to 45,000 and the InterContinental Montreal moving from 45,000 to 50,000 points per night.  You can find the entire list here. This list can be attributed to FlyerTalk member Lionheart who discovered it a couple of days ago.

Here is the entire list of Canadian properties that are changing:

What are your thoughts of these changes? Will you be booking some hotels right away (or waiting for that matter?)

Air France KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards - Save 25% on business class awards from Calgary or Toronto to Europe

The newest set of Air France KLM's Promo Rewards are out now and for this month we see two of five Canadian cities they serve on the list.  With promo awards the discount ranges from 20 to 50% off the regular amount of miles required to redeem for these flights. As you can see just by the discount this can be a very good offer if you get 50% off for Business Class! However this month there aren't any 50% off offers for us Canucks like we saw last month. All we get is 25% off business class tickets out of Calgary and Toronto which can still be a good deal for cities like Athens or Brussels!

Offer details
January Promo Rewards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. Full Details
Book by Jan 31 for travel Mar 1 - Apr 30, 19
Calgary  - 25% off business class
Toronto - 25% off business class

Here are the mileage requirements for flying from the two Canadian cities to Amsterdam and/or Paris (the mileage amount will vary for other destinations in Europe)

And an example of some of the availability from Toronto to Paris:

 and Paris to Toronto:

Here's what a round trip on the above route looks like:

 But there are better opportunities for less miles for the business class offer from Toronto (same goes for Calgary)

There are lots other possible options to check out to see if this works for you and if you don't have enough miles for a Promo Reward your best bet is to convert Marriott Rewards points to Flying Blue on a 3:1 basis. Remember you'll earn 5,000 bonus miles when you convert 60,000 points at a time (a total of 25,000 miles per 60,000 points) That means 120,000 points will get you to 50,000 miles which is enough to cover any of the above on a one way basis.

If you don't have any Marriott Rewards Points you can always look at getting the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express to top off your account. Currently the card comes with a 50,000 point sign up bonus when you spend $1,500 on the card and then you could also grab The Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express as it also has 50,000 point sign up bonus and then you would ultimately be able to have 100,000 points not including what is earned on spending. Of course timing of getting the card(s) now, spending and getting the points will likely not happen for this month but it sets you up for future offers.  Need to grab two tickets for an itinerary? You could choose to get one SPG card for yourself and one for your partner or spouse and you'll have a lot more points!

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IHG Rewards Club Rewards Nights. Faster. Earn 40,000 or more bonus points on your stays until April 15

IHG Rewards Club becomes the second major chain to release their first quarter global systemwide bonus offering. It is essentially the same as previous Accelerate offers where the bonuses vary by member and you find out what your offer is after registering. Based on the wording of the promotion I received the base offer of earning up to 40,000 points.

Here is what I received as my offer:

I should actually be able to make a few of these bonuses as we learned our daughter's new volleyball team stays at Holiday Inn Express locations (her last one was Marriott) so maybe with those stays it will lead to better offers in future promotions as the bonuses tend to get better the more you stay with IHG. More than likely I will earn the 1,000 point mobile booking and the Stay More. Earn More 2,000 point bonus.


Let us know what offer you get in the comments below!

Offer details
Earn 500 to 40,000 or more Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you complete stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. Bonus varies by member. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Register by Mar 15 for stays Jan 15 - Apr 30, 19

Find many more IHG Rewards Club bonus points offers here!

Up to 25% off Asia Pacific Hilton stays

Hilton Honors members can to save up to 25% on stays across the entire Asia Pacific region when you book by February 2, 2019. The offer for non-members is only up to 15% off so it really makes sense to join Honors to get the additional discount seeing that it costs nothing to join the program.

Stays must be booked by February 2, 2019 for stays until September 30,  2019. Remember that you should also be earning up to Triple Points on these stays with the current fall Hilton Honors promotion that runs until January 3 and from January 4th you can earn 2,000 bonus points per with the Points Unlimited promotion. Find these and all other Honors bonus point promotions here.

Discount varies from 5% to 25% off Flexible Rate (BAR) or Breakfast Included Rate (B&B) across all participating properties. Hilton Honors members will receive an additional 10% discount for bookings outside of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.


Click here to take advantage of the Hilton APAC Year End sale
Here's just a small sample of the offers available:

December 20 Update: SPG Amex will have 15 elite night credit added early in 2019, United adding Toronto-San Francisco flights & more!

Earlier this year when the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express underwent some changes due to the complete integration of SPG and Marriott Rewards into one program it was noted in a letter from Amex that the card would soon offer qualifying night credits. When it was first announced it wasn't stated how many nights but at that time we assumed it would probably be 15 just like the extinct Chase Marriott Premier Visa card offered. Well there is now confirmation that the card will offer those 15 nights starting sometime early in the New Year and it will be an annual benefit. (Source Reddit)

United Airlines will be adding new service between Toronto and San Francisco. The flights that start on March 31, 2019 will operate twice daily and offer good connection times to United's Asia and South Pacific flights. Of course their Star Alliance partner Air Canada also serves the route and additions are always good for looking for routes to redeem miles for from Aeroplan, MileagePlus or other Star Alliance programs. (Source United)

 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:

• Earn 100% Bonus Aeroplan miles for flights booked today and tomorrow. Good for travel Jan 9 - Apr 3, 2019
  Air Canada has come out with an early Boxing Day offer of 100% bonus Aeroplan Miles (double miles) on…
• Earn 15,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points when you complete two stays in Canada
  Looks like this offer has been around for a couple of months but if you haven't seen it either…
• Air Canada opens new Maple Leaf Lounge at St. John's International Airport
  Air Canada opened a new Maple Leaf Lounge at St. John's International Airport yesterday. The new lounge is larger…
• Meet the Collectors: Frequent traveller retires, learn how he and his wife fund their travels now!
   Today we bring you our latest Meet the Collectors feature. These are interviews with our readers, who are everyday Canadians…

Travel Deals
Avianca offering flights from Toronto to Latin America for as little as $449 round trip! Book by Dec 24. Find out more here.

Hilton APAC Year End sale - Save up to 25% when you book by Feb 2 for stays until Sep 30, 2019!

IHG - Receive a $100 hotel credit when you stay 2 or more nights at participating InterContinental Hotels in the Americas. Book by Dec 31 for stays until Jan 31, 19 Find out more here.

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
Wyndham Rewards
- Earn 15,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points when you stay twice at participating hotels in Canada. More... Until Feb 19, 19

Other Bonus Offers
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- 800 Bonus Asia Miles with a spending of USD 300 or more in one transaction, with any merchant via the Asia Miles iShop. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Hilton Honors
- Earn 2,000 Bonus Honors points per stay at Hilton Hotels Worldwide plus earn an additional 10,000 bonus points for every 5th stay or 10th night completed More... Registration is now open for stay Jan 4 - May 5, 2019

Jumeiah Sirius
- Double Sirius Points for stays on the Leisure First Package at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers. More... Until Dec 31, 19

Saudia Alfursan
- 3,000 Bonus Alfursan Miles when you make your first hotel booking via Rocketmiles. More... Book by Dec 31, 18 for stays until Mar 31, 19

Wyndham Rewards
- Double Wyndham Rewards Points on up to five qualifying stays at Wyndham Rewards Hotels completed within 90 days of receiving your offer email. More... Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone Unknown End Date


Follow Rewards Canada:

Earn 100% Bonus Aeroplan miles for flights booked today and tomorrow. Good for travel Jan 9 - Apr 3, 2019

Air Canada has come out with an early Boxing Day offer of 100% bonus Aeroplan Miles (double miles) on all eligible flights that are booked today and tomorrow. The offer is good for flights flown between January 9 and April 3, 2019. Once again the terms state only the first person on a reservation gets the bonus (come on Air Canada, that's the worst term and condition possible, even worse than the New Bookings only that we see with all their promotions) so if you are booking for more than one person you'll either forego the miles for the rest of the people on your reservation or have everyone book their own flights.

Find out more about this offer here.

Terms of this offer:

• You must be an Aeroplan Member. If you are not an Aeroplan Member, you can visit the Aeroplan website (www.aeroplan.comExternal site which may not meet accessibility guidelines.) and enroll today. Membership is free.
• 100% Bonus Aeroplan Miles for eligible flights flown will be awarded for new bookings only made between December 21 and 22, 2018, by 19:59 Eastern Time inclusively, for travel on eligible flights between January 9, 2019, and April 3, 2019.
• To qualify as new, the booking must have been created for the first time during the eligible promotional period with a new reference number. Any booking made prior to the start of the promotion that is subsequently changed to include travel dates within the qualifying travel period will not be considered a new booking that is eligible for the promotion.
• 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.
• Only valid on eligible scheduled direct flights within Canada, from Canada to the U.S. and from Canada to sun destinations operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express® and Air Canada Rouge®, for travel between January 9, 2019, and April 3, 2019.
• To qualify for the 100% Bonus Aeroplan Miles, the eligible round trips or two one-way segments must be travelled in the following eligible fare options:
• 100% Bonus Aeroplan Miles – Economy Standard; Economy Flex; comfort; Economy Latitude; Premium Economy lowest; Premium Economy flexible, Premium Rouge; Business Class lowest; Business Class flexible.
• For example, for itineraries booked in an Economy Flex fare option, 100% of the bonus mileage will be assessed for every two segments. When booking an Economy Flex fare option and travelling from Vancouver (YVR) to Toronto (YYZ), basic mile accumulation amounts to 2,078 Aeroplan Miles per segment, for a total of 4,156 Aeroplan Miles per round trip. Based on the 100% Aeroplan Miles promotion, a member would earn an additional 4,156 Bonus Aeroplan Miles, which is based on the accrual percentage when purchasing an Economy Flex fare. For more information regarding earning Aeroplan Miles, please click hereExternal site which may not meet accessibility guidelines..
• 100% Bonus Aeroplan Miles will be applied exclusively towards miles earned based on the distance flown as per the fare mileage accrual rule. The class of service bonus miles and miles earned in conjunction with Altitude® Bonus Select Privileges are excluded. 
• To be eligible to receive the Bonus Aeroplan Miles, you must provide your Aeroplan Number when completing your purchase.
• A minimum of one round trip or two one-way segments is required to earn and qualify for the 100% Bonus Aeroplan Miles promotion.
• Valid on published fares and Flight Passes that are eligible for Aeroplan Mile accumulation. Offer is not valid when travelling on an Air Canada Unlimited Flight Pass.
• Not valid on published fares that do not allow for Aeroplan Mile accumulation.
• Bonus Aeroplan Miles are not Altitude Qualifying Miles and do not count towards Air Canada Altitude^TM status.
• Bonus Aeroplan Miles will be credited up to three weeks after the qualifying flights are completed.
• Upgraded flight segments (eUpgrades, Last-Minute Paid Upgrades, Star Alliance® Upgrade Awards, etc.) will be tracked for this promotion based on the eligibility of the original fare purchased. 
• Aeroplan Flight Rewards are not eligible for mileage accumulation.
• Bonus Aeroplan Miles cannot be sold and are non-transferable. They have no cash value and cannot be converted to cash or refunded if unused.
• Offer is subject to change at Air Canada’s sole discretion without notice; other conditions and restrictions may apply.

Earn 15,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points when you complete two stays in Canada

Looks like this offer has been around for a couple of months but if you haven't seen it either you still have almost two more months to take advantage of it! Simply register and then complete two separate Wyndham Hotel stays at Baymont by Wyndham, Days Inn by Wyndham, Howard Johnson by Wyndham, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham, Ramada by Wyndham, Super 8 by Wyndham, Travelodge by Wyndham, TRYP by Wyndham, Wingate by Wyndham, and Wyndham Garden locations in Canada and you'll receive 15,000 bonus Wyndham Rewards points. That's enough points to redeem for a free night at virtually any Wyndham hotel location Worldwide.

Offer details:
Earn 15,000 Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points when you stay twice at participating hotels in Canada. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) Until Feb 19, 19

Find more Wyndham Rewards Bonus Points offers here.