Up to a 50% bonus when you buy Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles

 

Alaska Airlines has launched a new buy miles offer that only runs for a week this time until September 20. The reason behind this is that they promised an offer that will start on  October 5 that will see an even bigger bonus for those who purchased miles during the promotion August. This time around the bonus once again ranges from 40% to 50% depending on how many miles you buy. Ideally you want to buy so you get that 50% bonus which means you’d have to buy 30,000 or more miles.  We’ve seen a 50% bonus a few times from Alaska and even 60% as part of a targeted mystery bonus over the past few months. With the 50% bonus you are buying Mileage Plan miles for 1.83 US cents each which is for the most part a really good price when you use the miles for premium travel on airlines like JAL, Cathay Pacific and others.

Offer details:
Receive up to 50% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy or gift  miles. Buy Alaska Miles Here  Until Sep 20, 20
Buy 3,000 – 29,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
Buy 30,000 – 100,000 miles, get a 50% bonus

Be sure to check out these other Mileage Plan offers as well:

• 50% Bonus Elite Qualifying Mileage Plan miles when you fly on Alaska Airlines. Full details
• 500 Bonus Mileage Plan Miles on Hertz rentals of 1 or more days in U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, and Mexico Full details & online booking
• Elite Status Match – Alaska Airlines will match your status earned from flying with select North American airlines. Register Online (Registration is required)
  For residents of the U.S. and Canada only
• Find these and many more offers here.

September 14 Update: You can now book Aeroplan reward tickets for Canadian North online, WestJet adds no charge COVID-19 Travel Insurance ahead of slightly expanded international flying schedule

 

Aeroplan members can now book Canadian North reward flights online on the Aeroplan website. Prior to this you had to call in to book reward flights and pay the phone in booking fee. This is nice little update to the program in your ability to search and book these famous flights online. They are famous as they tend to be very expensive and some of the routes like Edmonton to anywhere in the Northwest Territories price out as Short Haul flights within the Aeroplan program which means you are redeeming as little as 7,500 miles one way. (Source Aeroplan)
Here is the current Canadian North route map:

Images via Canadian North

WestJet announced late last week they will provide no-charge COVID-19 travel insurance for select air and vacation reservations. Remember this coverage doens't replace your regular travel insurance as it is only specific to COVID-19 as listed below. (Source WestJet)

For reservations made on or after September 18, 2020, any WestJet air-only reservation including WestJet Vacations bookings for travel to and from Mexico, the Caribbean (excluding the U.S.), Europe (including U.K.) and inbound to Canada will provide eligible guests no-charge COVID-19 travel insurance through new partner TuGo®. Coverage will be automatically applied at no additional charge to eligible guests at the time of purchase for travel until August 31, 2021 for up to 21 days. One-way travel reservations will also be eligible for coverage for up to seven days.

TuGo® Travel Insurance COVID-19 coverage for WestJet guests includes*:   

• Emergency medical and hospital costs for outbound travellers if diagnosed with COVID-19 while outside of Canada (excluding U.S) for up to a maximum limit of $100,000 CAD per insured person.
• Emergency medical and hospital costs for inbound travellers visiting Canada diagnosed with COVID-19 while in Canada up to the maximum limit of $100,000 CAD per insured person.
• Quarantine accommodation costs when the traveller tests positive for COVID-19 on the trip up to $150 CAD per insured person, per day to a maximum of 14 days for inbound and outbound reservations.
• Ambulance transportation and air evacuation costs related to COVID-19, up to the maximum limit of $100,000 CAD per insured person for inbound and outbound guests.
• COVID-19 repatriation costs in case of death of up to $5,000 CAD per insured person for inbound and outbound guests.
• One-way economy airfare for the return of one travelling companion and dependent children when air evacuated back home for treatment.

 

 

Airline Schedule Updates
A summary Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

WestJet revealed an updated fall schedule today that sees a few U.S. and International routes return on top of those they are already serving. (Source WestJet)

While the schedule is significantly reduced compared to 2019, several major routes have returned including non-stop service between Calgary and Palm Springs, Phoenix, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas along with the return of non-stop service between Toronto and Kingston and Montego Bay, Jamaica and Cancun. The airline is also reintroducing non-stop Dreamliner service from Toronto to London (Gatwick).

Remember to visit and bookmark our COVID-19 resource page where we are keeping you up to date with all the latest airline, hotel, lounges and loyalty program news, policies, closures and more.

 

Posts since our last update:

• New welcome offer of 100,000 PC Optimum points on PC Financial Credit Cards
    Another 100K credit card offer to let you know about! Thanks to Rewards Canada reader Cheryl T. for…
• Receive a 50% bonus when you buy Marriott Bonvoy points
    Marriott Bonvoy is now emulating SPG with regular buy points bonus offers of which the latest was revealed…
• Best Western’s fall promo is here: Get a $25 Best Western Gift Card for Each Night You Stay
    Best Western revealed their fall promotion today that will be in effect for stays starting on Monday. You…
• September 10 Update: Earn an extra stamp for bookings made via the Hotels.com app, further updated TD card offers & 30 bonus PC Optimum points at Esso & Mobil this weekend
    Receive an extra stamp when you book stays via the Hotels.com App by September 22 for stays until…
• 
  

Deals:

 

If you aren't using the Ampli Cash Back app yet you can get $5 when you download the app and join today with promo code AMPLI5 Find out more here

Lauco: The Smallest&Powerful 100W USB-C Wireless Charging. 8-in-1/12-in-1 Hub | 100W USB-C Power Delivery | 4K@60Hz Dual HDMI | 10W Wireless Charger | USB 3.1 10Gbps| SD/TF Card | 1Gbps Ethernet Find out more here.

SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. Find out more here

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

Best Western Rewards
- Receive a $25 Best Western Gift Card for each night you stay at Best Western hotels in the United States, Canada or the Caribbean. You can receive one gift card for each night up to four nights in total ($100 in gift cards) More... Sep 14 – Nov 23, 20

Other Bonus Offers

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Receive up to 50% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy or gift  miles. More... Until Sep 20, 20

Best Western Rewards
- Receive a $25 Best Western Gift Card for each night you stay at a Best Western Hotel in Australia or New Zealand. You can receive one gift card for each night up to four nights in total ($100 in gift cards) More... Sep 14 – Oct 19, 20

British Airways Executive Club
- 500 Avios per night for stays at participating Jumeirah Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Sep 30, 20

Marriott Bonvoy
- Receive a 50% Bonus when you buy 2,000 or more Marriott Bonvoy Points. The annual limit of points that can be bought per member. has been increased to 150,000 during this promotion. More... Until Oct 22, 20

Miles & More
- Earn up to Quadruple Miles & More Miles when you stay at Kempinski Hotels Worldwide. More... Book now for stays Oct 1 - Dec 31, 20

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Triple iPrefer Points for stays at any one of 12 participating Preferred Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 2 for stays until Dec 31, 21

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus EuroBonus Points when you rent with Avis in n Norway, Sweden and Denmark. More... Until Oct 31, 20

Saudia Alfursan
- Double Alfursan Miles on all eligible Hertz rentals Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 20


Follow Rewards Canada:

 

New welcome offer of 100,000 PC Optimum points on PC Financial Credit Cards

 

Another 100K credit card offer to let you know about! Thanks to Rewards Canada reader Cheryl T. for alerting us to the return of the 100,000 point offer on the PC Financial Mastercards. The last offer just came to a close at the end of August and this one launched on September 5 - so they didn't wait too long to bring it back.

 The offer is good for any one of the three cards in their portfolio:

• PC Financial Mastercard
• PC Financial World Mastercard
• PC Financial World Elite Mastercard
  

To receive the bonus you need to apply via this link and then make a single purchase in store or online at a Shoppers Drug Mart, Wellwise, or participating Loblaw banner store within 6 months of being approved for the card.

 Those 100,000 points once you receive them are worth $100 towards purchases made any participating PC Optimum stores like Loblaw banner stores (Loblaw, Real Canadian Superstore etc.) Shoppers Drug Mart and so on. 

The World Elite version of these cards is a strong point earner for purchases made at locations where you earn PC Optimum points but purchases made outside of that see an earn rate that is pretty average at only 1%. The same goes for the lower two versions of the cards - they aren't the strongest in the earn categories.  Both the World and World Elite cards avail of overall Mastercard Canada benefits like Mastercard Airport Experiences, free Boingo WiFi and an offer from Ritual. (Learn more here)

This offer is available for new applications made by October 2

Learn more about and apply for a PC Financial card here.

With the return of this offer this means there are two 100,000 point offers available to Canadians and you may wonder how do they compare? Well we already mentioned this is one is worth $100 and the other offer is for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard. That latter card's 100,000 point welcome bonus is worth $500 towards any travel or $300 in cash back rewards or even $800 or more if you convert to points to one of the card's airline partners. And considering the HSBC card is rebating the annual fee in the first year you can see there really isn't a comparison between these two 100K offers. The HSBC card wins hands down - even if you go with the cash back option! The main thing to note however is that you have to spend $5,000 on the HSBC card in 6 months rather than just one purchase with the PC Financial card.

Receive a 50% bonus when you buy Marriott Bonvoy points

 

Marriott Bonvoy is now emulating SPG with regular buy points bonus offers of which the latest was revealed today. From now until October 22 when you buy 2,000 or more Bonvoy points you’ll receive a 50% bonus.  Marriott has also increased the maximum number of points you can buy from 50,000 to 150,000 annually with this promotion. They have also taken away the maximum 50,000 base points per transaction limit which means you can buy all 150,000 points in one go. Marriott points are sold a flat rate so you are paying the same amount per point if you buy 2,000 points or 50,000 points. With a 50% bonus the per point cost drops to 0.83 cents (US). This is above the average value of around 0.7 cents (US) per points however given that you can easily achieve well over 1 cent per point on award night redemptions – more so if you take advantage of the 5th night free benefit it may be worth it to buy. However given the current situation with the pandemic a lot of the rates found at hotels around are depressed so do your due diligence first to see if it makes sense to buy points right now.

 

Offer details:
Receive a 50% Bonus when you buy 2,000 or more Marriott Bonvoy Points. The annual limit of points that can be bought per member. has been increased to 150,000 during this promotion. Buy Marriott Bonvoy Points here. Until Oct 22, 20

Check out these other Marriott Bonvoy offers to earn even more points:

• New Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card earn 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy™ points enough for 3 free nights at a Category 2 hotel after you charge $1,500 in purchases to your Card in your first three months of Cardmembership.* subject to change at any time
• 2,500 Bonus Bonvoy Points per stay at any participating Marriott Hotel Worldwide. Plus earn a one time bonus of 5,000 points when you complete 3 stays. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)
• Elite Status Match – For a limited time elite members of Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, ALL Accor Live Limitless and IHG Rewards Club can have their status matched in the Marriott Bonvoy program for 90 days. Then if you complete a set number of nights within those 90 days you’ll get to keep your Marriott Bonvoy status until February 2022. Full details & online registration
• Find our complete list of Marriott Bonvoy offers here

Best Western’s fall promo is here: Get a $25 Best Western Gift Card for Each Night You Stay

 

Best Western revealed their fall promotion today that will be in effect for stays starting on Monday. You can receive a $25 Best Western Gift Card for each and every night you stay at participating Best Western Hotels up to four nights in total. This follows closely to their summer promotions of gift cards and the reason why Best Western is keeping with this type of promotion especially given the current market situation is that there will be lots of breakage on these gift cards. That is, since they have an expiry date of March 31, 2021 the likelihood of many of them being redeemed is lower than they typically would see pre-COVID. No matter what though it is great promotion if you know you will use those cards before the end of March as so many hotel rates, especially in the smaller towns that Best Western has locations in, are depressed right now and to get $25 back on those rates provides great value.

Offer details:
Receive a $25 Best Western Gift Card for each night you stay at Best Western hotels in the United States, Canada or the Caribbean. You can receive one gift card for each night up to four nights in total ($100 in gift cards) Full details, online registration & booking. (Registration is required) Sep 14 – Nov 23, 20

• Each $25 Gift Card will expire and must be used at a Best Western branded hotel by March 31, 2021. The expiration date will be stated on the delivered Gift Card.
• Nights do not have to be consecutive
• Gift cards will be in USD for residents of the United States and the Caribbean Islands. CAD for residents of Canada. Members outside of the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands will receive a USD Travel Card.

September 10 Update: Earn an extra stamp for bookings made via the Hotels.com app, further updated TD card offers & 30 bonus PC Optimum points at Esso & Mobil this weekend

 

Receive an extra stamp when you book stays via the Hotels.com App by September 22 for stays until the end of March 2021. Find out more here.

In addition to the two new TD card offers we featured here on the blog yesterday (TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite & TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite) TD has also provided new offers on the TD Aeroplan Platinum Visa of up to 20,000 Aeroplan Miles, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Privilege of up to 50,000 Aeroplan Miles and extended the 10% cash back offer on the TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Card to December 6.

 Get an extra 30 PC Optimum points per litre at participating Esso and Mobil stations in Canada from September 10 – 13, 2020. Download the PC Optimum app to receive the offer. 

 

Airline Schedule Updates
A summary Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

Central Mountain Air has extended their Calgary to Kelowna and Vancouver to Kamloops routes through to November. These were originally only supposed to run for four weeks. (Source RoutesOnline)

Remember to visit and bookmark our COVID-19 resource page where we are keeping you up to date with all the latest airline, hotel, lounges and loyalty program news, policies, closures and more.

 

Posts since our last update:

• Heads up: Earn 3,000 Bonus Best Western Rewards points on all stays booked Sep 10-13 (Targeted offer)
    Here’s advance notice of an offer that will launch on September 10th. It’s the return of Best Rewards’…
• New welcome bonus of up to 60,000 TD Rewards Points with the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card
  A new offer came out today for TD's premier proprietary rewards cards, the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite…
• New TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card offer of up to 25,000 bonus miles and first year free
    With the new Aeroplan program only a few short months away from launching the marketing efforts from them…
• LifeMiles offering up to a 200% bonus when buying miles - huge opportunity to fly Air Canada or other Star Alliance airlines on the cheap
    UPDATE: If you access the offer via One Mile at a Time you can get the 200% right…
• Top 6 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for September - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 6 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of September…
• Amazing new welcome offer for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard - Up to 100,000 points with first year free! (Quebec gets 130,000 points with fee)
  HSBC has just come out with their biggest and best offer yet for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and…

Deals:

If you aren't using the Ampli Cash Back app yet you can get $5 when you download the app and join today with promo code AMPLI5 Find out more here

Lauco: The Smallest&Powerful 100W USB-C Wireless Charging. 8-in-1/12-in-1 Hub | 100W USB-C Power Delivery | 4K@60Hz Dual HDMI | 10W Wireless Charger | USB 3.1 10Gbps| SD/TF Card | 1Gbps Ethernet Find out more here.

SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. Find out more here

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

Hotels.com Rewards
- Receive an extra stamp when you book stays via the Hotels.com App. More... Book by Sep 22 for stays until Mar 31, 21

Other Bonus Offers

ALL Accor Live Limitless
- Double ALL Rewards Points on every event you organise and pay for. Maximum of 60,000 points per event. More... Until Mar 31, 21

Avianca LifeMiles
- Up to a 20% LifeMiles discount when your redeem for award flights on select Star Alliance routes. More... Book by Sep 25, 20

Iberia Plus
- Earn a minimum of 1,500 Avios when you rent a car with Avis for 2 or more days in Europe and the U.K.. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Dec 14, 20



Follow Rewards Canada:

New Hyatt promotion to offer up to 4x points on all stays + an extension to some existing offers

 

 

Hyatt Hotels reached out to us yesterday with the details of their next systemwide promotion that will be launching on October 1st. On top of this new promotion which Hyatt bills as their most rewarding opportunity yet they also announced the extension of some existing promotions.

The new systemwide promotion allows all World of Hyatt members from around to world to earn Triple Points on all stays Worldwide from October 1, 2020 to January 4, 2021 starting right with their first stay. The offer doesn’t end there however, those members who hold World of Hyatt credit cards will earn quadruple points on eligible spend at over 350 Hyatt Resort locations. Those properties will be revealed when the offer opens up for registration (this CC offer is pretty much for the US only but I know some Canadians do hold the US Hyatt cards!) This means members will earn between 15 an 20 points per US$ spent on their stays excluding any elite bonus points.

And the offer still doesn’t end with that. On top of all that for every tier qualifying night completed during the promotional period members will earn one Tier-Qualifying Night credit toward elite status the year in which they earn it and they will receive one bonus Tier-Qualifying Night credit toward elite status in 2021.The offer isn’t open for registration just yet but should be live on or just before October 1st and please note that you have to register for the offer by November 30 albeit stays booked prior to the promotion will count towards it as long as you are registered.

And as mentioned World of Hyatt is also extending registration and offer stay dates for three existing offers as follows:

• Free Nights on Sale – World of Hyatt members can receive 15% of their redeemed points back as Bonus Points when they redeem points for free night stays, now through January 4, 2021. World of Hyatt and Hyatt Credit Cardmembers can receive an additional 10% of their redeemed points back as Bonus Points, for a total of 25% of redeemed points back when used during the promotion period.
  • Members and Cardmembers have more time to register for the exclusive offer by December 1, 2020. Members can register here; Cardmembers can register here.
• Free Parking – Now extended for stays through January 4, 2021, free nights now include free parking for all World of Hyatt members on stays through January 4, 2021, and because members always enjoy waived resort fees on free nights, they’re truly free. Globalists will also receive free parking on eligible paid stays during the extended promotion period.
• Dine Local, Earn Triple Points – World of Hyatt members can continue treating themselves when dining close to home by earning triple points on eligible spend for dine-in, takeout or delivery (when not staying the night) at participating outlets at Hyatt hotels and resorts, now extended through January 4, 2020.

Top 5 Travel Credit Card Sign Up offers for September - These cards provide some of the best value out of their welcome bonuses

 

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of September 2020! 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 (welcome/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 some of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards. This month we see three first year free cards on the list

For the first time in a long time the card that has sat on top of this list has been dethroned! The Marriott Bonvoy American Express has to say good bye to first place thanks to the amazing new welcome bonus on the HSBC World Elite Mastercard. We also see the return of two TD cards to the list, the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card and the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card.

Editor's Note:
As travel is curtailed right now these offers are more forward looking and can and should be used towards your long term travel plans - whether that's later this year, next year or even beyond. Getting the cards now allows you to achieve the sign up bonuses as you wish and then continue to spend to build up those points and miles balances to make those future vacations that much better. - Or in the case of all the cards except the Alaska Airlines Mastercard you can also look at cash back or cash back equivalents like gift cards from each program if you are looking at short term financial help. If you are going for the latter focus on the cards that have no fee in the first year so that you can maximize your value.

Remember as well that you will find this list smack dab in the middle of the Rewards Canada homepage for easy reference!

Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for September (in order of welcome bonus value, calculated as minimum mile/points value minus annual fee)

HSBC World Elite Mastercard - 100,000 points (Apply here)
Minimum value: $500
This card offers a welcome bonus of 100,000 points, split between 20,000 on first purchase and 80,000 more when you spend $5,000 within 180 days of getting the card. The annual fee of $149 is waived in the first year as well meaning these points come to you at no cost other than card spend. The card has a lot of other good benefits like no foreign transaction fees to consider as well! Those 100,000 points are worth $500 in travel rewards but those points can also be converted to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.
Minimum Income: $80,000 personal or $150,000 household or $400,000 in assets at any Canadian Financial Institution

Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card - 50,000 Points (Apply here)
Minimum value: $380

The 50,000 points, awarded after spending $1,500 on the card in three months are worth at least $500 in our minds which means after subtracting the annual fee you are coming out ahead by $380. In reality you can pull even more value out of the card (into four figures) as we outlined in our post A look at how The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card provides huge value!  Don't forget you get an annual free night with the card as well on the card anniversary date, automatic Silver Elite status, 15 night credit towards the next elite status and more.
Minimum Income: N/A

Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard - 30,000 Miles (Apply here)
Minimum value: $330

This card offers a welcome bonus of 30,000 miles when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first three months of having it. This is one of the easiest bonuses to achieve and this card is one of the most churnable in Canada. There are really no problems in getting it 2-4 times in one year alone! Those 30,000 miles are worth no less than $330 when redeeming for economy class flights and just go up from there like the TD Aeroplan card.
Minimum Income: $80,000 Personal or $150,000 Household

OFFER EXPIRED TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card - 25,000 Miles

Minimum value: $300

After a few months hiatus the mainstay card for the Aeroplan program returns to the list with it's newest offer. The bonus is awarded as follows: 15,000 Aeroplan Miles when you make your first Purchase with your Card + 10,000 Aeroplan Miles when you spend $1,500 in the first three months of having the card.  Add in no annual in the first year on both the primary and 1st additional card and you get full value of the miles earned. Depending on how you redeem those Aeroplan miles should be worth no less than $300 but more likely closer to $800 or more! In fact if you take the per mile value from our post from late July 2019 this welcome bonus would be worth $1,800 or more.
Minimum Income: $60,000 Personal or $100,000 Household

 

OFFER EXPIRED TD First Class Visa  - 60,000 Points

Minimum value: $240
The First Class Visa Infinite Card makes it back onto the list this month with its latest offer as well. You receive 20,000 points on your first purchase and 40,000 more points when you spend $1,500 on the card in the first 90 days. The card also has rebates on the primary and first additional card for the first year. At a minimum the points are worth $240 towards any travel but are worth $300 if you choose to redeem via ExpediaForTD
Minimum Income: $60,000 Personal or $100,000 Household

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with anywhere from $1,750 to well over $2,500 in travel value. However 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. We don't really recommend getting all five in one month unless you know you can meet the minimum spend for them all at once, rather you'd want to pick one or two right now, perhaps another next month and so on.

Disclaimers:
American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information click the Apply now link.

Sponsored advertising. The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) is not responsible for the contents of this site including any editorials or reviews that may appear on this site. For complete and current information on any TD product, please visit the TD site. 

WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard everyday spending to count towards tier status for the next three months

WestJet is the latest airline to jump into the fray with a promotion that provides its members a way to earn elite status without even flying the airline! We've already seen offers likes this from Air Canada, Alaska Airlines and others but now it's WestJet's turn. Although they may seem late to the party sometimes it's not a bad thing to wait and see what others do. Now that WestJet has observed and learned from the others they have been able to develop a stay a home elite status boost offer that best suits the airline and it's members.

The offer which officially launches on September 10th but is open for registration right away provides all members who hold a WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard with an elite tier qualifying spend boost of 10% of all their eligible purchases until December 9. This means if you go out and buy $250 worth of groceries, which by the way will still earn 2x rewards until the end of September with their Grocery & Dining accelerator (Read more about that here) you'll earn $25 in qualifying spend. Considering the airline has also extended the qualifying spend period of all members to the end of 2021 this boost should really make it a lot easier for a lot of members to reach that next elite tier. And don't forget that if you are flying WestJet any time soon you can still earn double qualifying spend on all eligible flights until December 15 which makes achieving status that much easier.

Recommended reading: WestJet extends top-tier status for Platinum, Gold and Silver members, extends qualifying period + they'll move to calendar year qualifying rather than basing it on join date

There are some rules and regulations to the offer of course - the most important of them are as follows:

• You have to register for the offer at: westjet.com/tierboost
• The maximum amount of qualifying spend you can earn will be achieving a 1-tier upgrade compared to your rewards tier as of September 10th, 2020. This means if you are Teal member you can boost up to Silver (ie $30,000 card spending will net you $3,000 in qualifying spend to get Silver status), Silver can boost to Gold and Gold can boost to Platinum.
  
  

  

  Qualifying spend requirements
  

  
  
• Platinum members are excluded from this promotion since they have no higher tier to achieve
• Eligible purchases made on a secondary card will receive qualifying spend boost that will be deposited in the registered primary cardholder’s account. Only the primary cardholder must register.
• The Offer Period will be divided into three tracking periods, each consisting of approximately 30 days:
  
  • Period 1: September 10 – October 9, 2020
  • Period 2: October 10 – November 9, 2020
  • Period 3: November 10 – December 9, 2020
    
• Qualifying spend will be based on the total amount of purchases made on your card in the period that you register in. Ex: If you register anytime between Sep 10th – Oct 9th, 2020 all your purchases for the entire period 1 and 2-3 will count. If you register in period 2, then only purchases made in periods 2 and 3 will count. Qualifying spend accruals will be posted 2 weeks after each period ends.

This promotion is also open to new cardholders who can register at any point during the campaign so the sooner you apply for the card the sooner you can start earning the elite tier boost. The card itself still has their best ever offer of $350 WestJet dollars as the welcome bonus. Be sure to register for this offer once you receive your card if you are just applying for it now. 

 

Learn more about and register for this offer here.

---

 

September 9 Update: The Ultimate Student Credit Portfolio, a better offer for the LifeMiles buy miles bonus and 2x RBC Rewards points on airbnb & VRBO bookings

 

Rewards Canada's Ultimate Student Credit Card Portfolio received a much needed update at the end of last week and it is perfect timing for those students returning to school right now. This portfolio looks at one American Express, one Mastercard and one Visa card that are best for students and when you combine them all they create the Ultimate Student Credit Card Portfolio. We see the Student BMO CashBack Mastercard take over the Mastercard position while the Scotiabank SCENE Card and SimplyCash from American Express remain in their respective positions. Check out the portfolio here.

 

 A quick update to our piece from yesterday about buying LifeMiles with a bonus and utilizing it for cheap flights on Air Canada and other Star Alliance airlines. It turns out there is an exclusive 'blog' offer from One Mile at a Time. His offer provides the 200% bonus on any amount of miles purchased from 1,000 miles and up. Much better than the standard offer of only getting a 200% bonus when you purchase 101,000 miles or more. This means our example of using 50,000 LifeMiles for an Air Canada flight in business class means you only have to buy those 50,000 miles (or less if you already have some LifeMiles) instead of double that amount. Find out more here.

RBC Avion cardholders can earn 2x RBC Rewards points on airbnb or VRBO bookings. The offer is good until November 10. Find out more here

Airline Schedule Updates
A summary Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

Air Canada has cancelled more international flights for the upcoming winter season as follows. (Source RoutesOnline)
Calgary – Los Cabos
Calgary – Puerto Vallarta
Montreal – Holguin
Montreal – Port-au-Prince
Montreal – Puerto Plata
Montreal – Toulouse
Ottawa – Varadero
Toronto – Barcelona
Toronto – Belize City
Toronto – Copenhagen
Toronto – George Town
Toronto – Holguin
Toronto – Madrid
Toronto – Puerto Plata
Toronto – Quito
Toronto – Samana
Vancouver – Auckland
Vancouver – Melbourne
Vancouver – Orange County

Pacific Coastal Airlines is looking to resume flights between Victoria and Prince George in October (Source RoutesOnline)

Icelandair has cancelled pretty much all their flights to Canada except for Toronto right through to October of next year. Seeing that it is for such a long period there is a chance this could change but for now Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver flights are all gone. (Source RoutesOnline)

Remember to visit and bookmark our COVID-19 resource page where we are keeping you up to date with all the latest airline, hotel, lounges and loyalty program news, policies, closures and more.

 

Posts since our last update:

• Heads up: Earn 3,000 Bonus Best Western Rewards points on all stays booked Sep 10-13 (Targeted offer)
    Here’s advance notice of an offer that will launch on September 10th. It’s the return of Best Rewards’…
• New welcome bonus of up to 60,000 TD Rewards Points with the TD First Class Visa Infinite Card
  A new offer came out today for TD's premier proprietary rewards cards, the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite…
• New TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card offer of up to 25,000 bonus miles and first year free
    With the new Aeroplan program only a few short months away from launching the marketing efforts from them…
• LifeMiles offering up to a 200% bonus when buying miles - huge opportunity to fly Air Canada or other Star Alliance airlines on the cheap
    UPDATE: If you access the offer via One Mile at a Time you can get the 200% right…
• Top 6 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for September - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 6 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of September…
• Amazing new welcome offer for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard - Up to 100,000 points with first year free! (Quebec gets 130,000 points with fee)
  HSBC has just come out with their biggest and best offer yet for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard and…

Deals:

If you aren't using the Ampli Cash Back app yet you can get $5 when you download the app and join today with promo code AMPLI5 Find out more here

SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. Find out more here

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

Air Canada Aeroplan
- Earn up to 50,000 Aeroplan Miles when apply for and approved for the TD® Aeroplan®Visa Infinite Privilege* Credit Card. More... Until Nov 7, 20 For residents of Canada only
- Earn up to 25,000 Aeroplan Miles when apply for and approved for the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card More... Until Nov 7, 20 For residents of Canada only
- Earn up to 20,000 Aeroplan Miles when apply for and approved for the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Platinum* Card More... Until Nov 7, 20 For residents of Canada only

Other Bonus Offers

Avianca LifeMiles
- 200% bonus when you buy LifeMiles. More... Until Sep 25, 20

ALL Accor Live Limitless
- Triple ALL Rewards Points for stays at Accor Hotels Worldwide when you book that stay via Flight Centre. More... Until Nov 30, 20
- Double ALL Rewards Points when you book the Swissoffice package at the Swissotel Chicago.  More... Unknown end date

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to 18,000 Bonus Avios when you subscribe to The Economist. More... Until Oct 31, 20

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios when you stay at any Paradores Hotel in Spain. More... Until Oct 31, 20

JAL Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for stays at the Tokyo Bay Shiomi Prince Hotel. More... Oct 1 - Dec 31, 20

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when you book a stay at the Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore. More... Until Dec 20, 20

WestJet Rewards
- Earn Double Elite Qualifying Spend on all eligible WestJet flights. More... Book between Sep 4 and 30 for travel until Dec 15, 20

World of Hyatt
- 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt House Kanazawa or the Hyatt Centric Kanazawa More... Until Oct 30, 20
- 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt Place Altoona / Des Moines More... Until Sep 29, 20
- 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at The Last Hotel St Louis More... Until Sep 29, 20

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