Earn 3x RBC Rewards Points at McDonald's with eligible RBC Visa credit cards

 

There is a new RBC Offers offer that came out last week that I caught on the RBC Rewards website as it is only for RBC Visa cards (not Mastercard so it doesn't show in my offers since I don't have a RBC Visa card) This offer provides 3x RBC Rewards points on all McDonald's purchases made with an eligible RBC Visa credit card. So most of you who hold an Avion card should be eligible. Simply login to your RBC accounts and navigate to the offers page and load the offer to your account. If you don't load the offer you won't get the bonus points. This offer is good for purchases made until November 9.

These offers have been added to our Guide to RBC Royal Bank 'RBC Offers'.

Offer terms:
This offer is not transferable. To take advantage of this offer, you must activate it by clicking the “Load Offer” button before you make your purchase. Once the offer has been activated, you will earn three times (3X) the RBC Rewards points you normally earn (“Bonus Points”) for every one dollar ($1.00) in purchases, including taxes, you make at participating McDonald’s locations in Canada where VISA is accepted (“Qualifying Purchase(s)”) between October 6 and November 9, 2020, inclusively (“Offer Period”) when you pay using one of your eligible RBC Rewards credit card(s) shown on this page (“Eligible RBC Rewards Card”). 

Here is the current list of all the RBC offers we are aware of at time of posting (if you know of any others please let us know!)

Merchant	Offer Details	Known cards to have this offer	Expires
	Get $15 off at Little Burgundy online or in-store with promo code when you spend $100 or more before taxes		Oct 14, 20
	Get a $10 statement credit when you rent a box for $99 on dresst.ca		Oct 15, 20
	Spend $40 at Indigo in-store or online using your eligible RBC Card, and you’ll get a $5 statement credit.		Oct 15, 20
	$35 off 1-800-GOT-JUNK services with promo code RBC35		Oct 30, 20
	Spend at least $199 at Petro-Canada on fuel, car wash or convenience store purchases in October and you will earn 2,500 bonus Petro-Points, or spend $399 or more on fuel, car wash or in-store purchases at Petro-Canada and earn 5,000 bonus Petro-Points when you pay with your linked RBC debit or credit card		Oct 31, 20
	Receive $50 off the cost of any Ownr service using the link via your RBC account		Nov 1, 20
	Get a 10% statement credit when you spend $15 or more		Nov 3, 20
McDonalds	3x RBC Rewards Points on all purchases	RBC Visa Cards	Nov 9, 20
	Get a $20 statement credit on any purchase over $100 online at www.altitude-sports.com		Nov 10, 20
	Spend $100 or more and receive a $10 statement credit when you dine in at The Keg Restaurant		Nov 15, 20
	Get a 10% statement credit at Ollie Quinn, in-store, when you make a minimum purchase of $150 in-store, including taxes.		Dec 17, 20
	Receive 10% off your next purchase at olliequinn.ca when you make a minimum purchase of $150, before taxes and shipping		Dec 17, 20
	Get a $50 statement credit when you spend $499.00-$999.99 and pay with an eligible RBC Royal Bank credit card. Get a $100 statement credit when you spend $1,000 or more and pay with an eligible RBC Royal Bank credit card.		Dec 30, 20
	Get 10% back when you spend $100 or more at Jewlr.ca. Offer ends December, 31 2020. Maximum statement credit of $50 for each transaction, up to 2 transactions*		Dec 31, 20
	Get 5% off at Hotels.com + Hotels.com Rewards. Book your hotels.com stay here (link has the RBC discount)		Ongoing offer

 

Key to the cards:

RBC Visa Infinite Avion

WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard

WestJet RBC Mastercard

For more details on or to apply for any of the RBC Cards listed above please visit Rewards Canada's RBC offers page.

October 14 Update: WestJet cuts majority of Atlantic Canada flights, American AAdvantage lowers elite qualifying requirements & Air Canada's U.S. flight schedule for November

 

Some unwelcome news from WestJet today as they have announced that they pulling the majority of their flights from Atlantic Canada. Granted this should have been expected with the Maritimes bubble that prevented most Canadians from travelling to the region. The only city that WestJet will operate to now is Halifax. (Source WestJet)

WestJet announced it will be indefinitely suspending operations to Moncton, Fredericton, Sydney and Charlottetown while significantly reducing service to Halifax and St. John's. The suspension eliminates more than 100 flights weekly or almost 80 percent of seat capacity from the Atlantic region starting November 2.

• Elimination of more than 100 weekly flights or almost 80 percent of seat capacity from the Atlantic region.
• Temporary closure and service to four Atlantic stations (Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton and Sydney).
• Halifax seat capacity will be reduced by 70 per cent year over year.
• The Atlantic provinces will retain three routes Halifax-Toronto, Halifax-Calgary and St. John's-Halifax.
• Service between Halifax and Toronto will operate with 14 weekly flights.
• Service between Halifax and St. John's will remain with 11 weekly flights.
• Service between Halifax and Calgary will remain with nine weekly flights.

 American AAdvantage unveiled some welcome news for their members today by offering extra status qualifying time, lowering of miles and spend requirements to earn status, additional reward for Platinum members and more. (Source American Airlines)

• AAdvantage® members will get a head start on earning elite status for 2021 with an extra three months to earn towards elite qualification.

• Members who use AAdvantage credit cards have an additional path to status.

• Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members rewarded for their loyalty with a new rewards menu.

• Elite members now enjoy benefits when traveling on a Basic Economy fare.

Here are the AAdvantage 2021 Tier Requirements:

 

Images via American Airlines

 

 You can earn 40,000 bonus PC Optimum points when you spend $125 or more online with Shoppers Drug Mart until Oct 15. Those 40,000 points are worth $40. Learn more about this offer 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 updated their planned Canada-US flight schedule for November. Service is still limited to three Canadian cities (Source RoutesOnline)
Montreal – Boston 5 weekly Embraer E175
Montreal – Chicago O’Hare 1 daily Embraer E175
Montreal – Newark 2 daily Embraer E175
Montreal – New York LaGuardia 1 daily Embraer E175
Montreal – Orlando 1 daily A320
Toronto – Boston 1 daily Embraer E175
Toronto – Chicago O’Hare 2 daily Embraer E175
Toronto – Fort Lauderdale 2 daily A319/320/321 (including rouge aircraft)
Toronto – Fort Myers 5 weekly A321
Toronto – Las Vegas 2 weekly A320/321
Toronto – Los Angeles 3 weekly 787-8
Toronto – Miami 3 weekly A321
Toronto – Newark 3 daily Embraer E175
Toronto – New York LaGuardia 2 daily Embraer E175
Toronto – Orlando 1 daily rouge A319/321
Toronto – Phoenix 2 weekly A319/320
Toronto – Tampa 2 weekly A321
Toronto – Washington Dulles 1 daily Embraer E175
Toronto – Washington Reagan 1 daily CRJ200
Vancouver – Las Vegas 3 weekly A320
Vancouver – Los Angeles 1 daily A321
Vancouver – Portland OR 1 daily Dash8-Q400
Vancouver – Phoenix 1 daily CRJ900
Vancouver – San Francisco 1 daily A320
Vancouver – Seattle 1 daily Dash8-Q400

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:

• Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in Calgary reopening on October 15
  Tomorrow will mark the day that Air Canada will re-open their third Maple Leaf Lounge in Canada. Following earlier…
• October 13 Update: The first Radisson Blu Hotel in Canada has opened in Toronto, Air India launching Vancouver-Delhi flights & five new bonus offers
    The first Radisson Blu Hotel in Canada has officially opened its doors. The Radisson Blu Toronto Downtown. This…

Deals:

Air Canada has launched a sun sale for those of you who are ready to escape winter! The offer provides 20% off on all base fares to select sun destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean and the U.S.. Book by Oct 16 for travel until Apr 30. Find out more here.

Earn $300 cash when you open a new Scotiabank Ultimate Package! Plus earn Scotia Rewards or SCENE Rewards points. Find out more here.

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

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Up to 20% off when you buy or gift MilleMiglia miles online. More... Until Dec 31, 20

Marriott Bonvoy
- Earn up to 3,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points per stay at any one of 5 Marriott Hotels in Taipei. More... Until Nov 15, 20

Miles & More
- 1,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles when you make a hotel or car booking with a value of 200EUR or more via Hotels & Cars by Points. More... Book by Oct 31, 20
- 1,000 Bonus Miles & More Miles for every 5 nights you stay at hotels booked via Hotels & Cars by Points. More... Until Mar 31, 21

Red Lion Hello Rewards
- 10 bonus Hello Bucks when you complete stays at participating Red Lion hotels across the US and Canada. More... Book by Oct 22 for stays until Nov 15, 20

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you rent a car with Hertz for 5 or more days in in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand or Asia More... Until Dec 31, 20

World of Hyatt
- 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the UrCove Shanghai Jing'an More... Until Jan 30, 21
- 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt House Carlsbad More... Until Dec 30, 20

Follow Rewards Canada:

Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in Calgary reopening on October 15

Tomorrow will mark the day that Air Canada will re-open their third Maple Leaf Lounge in Canada. Following earlier openings at Toronto's D gates and Vancouver's C gates the Maple Leaf Lounge in Calgary will be open as of Thursday this week. 

"We are pleased to again welcome eligible customers to our Maple Leaf Lounge at YYC Calgary International Airport. We have extended our industry-leading biosafety measures already in place at our lounges in Toronto and Vancouver to our Calgary lounge, ensuring the safety of customers and employees alike. This includes electrostatic spraying as part of our significantly enhanced cleaning procedures for additional peace of mind, and new touchless processes, such as the ability to order individually prepared as well as pre-packaged food directly to your seat from your smartphone," said Andrew Yiu, Vice President, Product, at Air Canada.

 

"To mark the re-opening of our Calgary Maple Leaf Lounge, we're introducing a featured wine chosen by our sommelier Veronique Rivest and her selections, known as 'Veronique's Pick,' will be rolled out across the lounge network going forward. Her first pick is Cedar Creek Estate Chardonnay Okanagan Valley 2018, from BC's Okanagan Valley. Also new, customers now have meal options developed by three of our panel of celebrated Canadian Chefs at the same lounge, Chef David Hawksworth, Chef Antonio Park and Chef Jerome Ferrer, that pay tribute to local ingredients and support local suppliers. We are also very pleased to offer Calgary's acclaimed Village Ice Cream's locally hand-made artisanal ice cream as a delightful treat for our customers," concluded Mr. Yiu.

You may recall from our post in July about the reopening plans for Maple Leaf Lounges that food and beverage service is no longer buffet style but rather you can order via your mobile device and have it delivered to your table. 

Air Canada had previously mentioned they were planning on opening a lounge in Montreal by Labour Day but that has been pushed back with no news as to an actual opening date.

You can learn more about Air Canada's Service Offerings Changes here.

Recommended reading: Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class Lounge Access

Image via Air Canada

October 13 Update: The first Radisson Blu Hotel in Canada has opened in Toronto, Air India launching Vancouver-Delhi flights & five new bonus offers

 

The first Radisson Blu Hotel in Canada has officially opened its doors. The Radisson Blu Toronto Downtown. This hotel used to be the the Radisson Admiral Toronto-Harbourfront and it has undergone a massive renovation. The hotel opened up to the public yesterday and is now a Category 5 hotel in the Radisson Rewards program. This means it will cost you 44,000 points per night for a standard reward night or 66,000 for a premium room. 

 

However as you may have seen earlier on Rewards Canada today Radisson is offering a 25% points rebate on redemptions so if you redeem 44,000 points for a standard night you'll receive 11,000 back as a bonus. We checked availability and most nights for the next few months are available at the hotel at the 44,000 point level (33K if you book by Oct 25). Learn more about the first Radisson Blu Hotel in Canada here.

Here's an example of a redemption at The Radisson Blu Toronto Downtown:

44,000 points - well 33,000 if you take into account the 25% rebate for a $174.52 room. That's a return of 0.52 cents per point which is right inline with about what Radisson Rewards points are worth. At 44,000 points it wouldn't be worth redeeming for if you are a CPP (cents per point) watcher.
 

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 India (an Aeroplan partner) will be launching 3 times per week flights between Vancouver and Delhi as of October 25. (Source: RoutesOnline)

Image via Air India

LOT Polish Airlines will continue with 3 flights per week between Toronto and Warsaw for most of the fall and winter season . (Source RoutesOnline)

SWISS is also planning to continue with 3 flights per week between Monteral and Zurich for fall and winter. (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:

• Radisson Rewards: 25% points rebate when you redeem for award nights
   Now it's Radisson Hotels turn to have an award night sale! They have launched a 25% rebate offer when…
• Alaska Airlines will officially become part of the oneworld alliance on March 31, 2021
    First it was summer of 2021 then it was before the end of 2020 but now it appears…
• Receive a 100% bonus for buying Hilton Honors points until the end of the year
    Instead of running a 100% bonus for buying points every few weeks like we have seen over the…
• Fairmont Hotels Air Canada Altitude Member offer - Room upgrade, $50 hotel credit and daily breakfast for 2
    Yet another Fairmont Hotels offer to pass along! This offer is for those who are Air Canada Altitude…
• The Rewards Canada Weekly Wind Up for October 3 to 9, 2020
   Today we are starting a new feature here on Rewards Canada that seems to a popular blog thing to…
• Aer Lingus Flash Sale - Fly from Canada to Ireland for as little as $299 round trip including all fees
    A day late with this offer since it actually came out yesterday but there are still about 7…
• October 9 Update: Purchase Give A Mile's limited edition Pilsner to help fund flights of compassion, Amex Centurion Lounge in JFK now open & Turkish Airlines further delays Vancouver launch
   Shout to our friends at Give A Mile who sent us their limited edition Reservoir Pigs Pilsner brewed by…

Deals:

Earn $300 cash when you open a new Scotiabank Ultimate Package! Plus earn Scotia Rewards or SCENE Rewards points. Find out more here.

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

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Choice Privileges
- 25% Discount when you buy Choice Privileges points. More... Until Nov 6, 20

Melia Rewards
- 40% Bonus when you buy MeliaRewards Points. More... Until Oct 31, 20

Radisson Rewards
- 25% Rewards Points rebate when you redeem for award nights for stays at category 2 and up Radisson Hotel Group hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 25 for stays until Dec 20, 20

Saudia Alfursan
- 4,000 Bonus Alfursan Miles when you make your first hotel booking via Rocketmiles. More... Until Dec 31, 20

United MileagePlus
- Up to a 100% bonus when you buy MileagePlus Miles. Actual bonus varies by member. More... Until Oct 27, 20


Follow Rewards Canada:

Radisson Rewards: 25% points rebate when you redeem for award nights

 Now it's Radisson Hotels turn to have an award night sale! They have launched a 25% rebate offer when you redeem points for stays at Category 2 and up hotels worldwide. You do have to have the full amount of points at time of booking since this is not a discounted award night offer like Marriott’s but rather they’ll give you back 25% of the points will be credited back to you as a bonus. For those who aren’t looking to redeem for stays Radisson Rewards is also offering a 15% rebate when you redeem points for gift cards and prepaid cards.

Offer details:
25% Rewards Points rebate when you redeem for award nights for stays at category 2 and up Radisson Hotel Group hotels Worldwide. Full details & online booking. Book by Oct 25 for stays until Dec 20, 20

Here are some other Radisson Rewards offers to check out:

• Earn 5,000 Bonus Radisson Rewards points on each stay at all Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotels worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required)
• 100% Bonus when you buy Radisson Rewards points. Buy points here
• 3,000 Bonus Radisson Rewards points when you book your first two-night stay or more via the Radisson Hotels app. Full details
• Find these and other Radisson Rewards offers here.

Alaska Airlines will officially become part of the oneworld alliance on March 31, 2021

 

First it was summer of 2021 then it was before the end of 2020 but now it appears to be that Alaska Airlines will officially become a member of the oneworld alliance on March 31, 2021. 

Recommended reading: Alaska Airlines to join oneworld alliance and rehashes partnership with American Airlines 

As we mentioned in the above linked post there is both good and bad news to Alaska Airlines joining oneworld. The good news is the airline will gain more partners that you will be able to redeem Mileage Plan miles with. The Alaska's Mileage Plan program is a key program for Canadian miles aficionados thanks to its current breadth of partners, relative ease at earning miles (earned from tthe MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercards and Alaska's frequent buy miles bonuses) and amazing redemption rates for premium class travel on airlines like Cathay Pacific, JAL, Emirates and more - let alone award flights on their own metal starting at only 5,000 miles. It is these amazing redemption rates where the bad news will likely come in. Those 5,000 mile redemptions on Alaska will likely remain but the big question will be what will happen to their current partner redemptions and those actual non-oneworld partnerships? Here's what Alaska states about those partnerships:

Also, you might be wondering about our partnerships with our current Global Partners that are not a part of oneworld. We value the benefits those partnerships provide our guests, and we’ll continue to maintain them as long as it’s mutually beneficial to do so.

So as long at is beneficial they will remain and if the current loyalty space is any indicator I don't think Alaska will lose many of those non oneworld partners. The reason why is that in recent years we've actually seen a trend of alliance airlines partnering with airlines from competing alliances or airlines that have no allegiance. Both Aeroplan and Lufthansa's Miles & More added long time competitor and oneworld carrier Cathay Pacific as a partner and we've also seen Aeroplan add the likes of Etihad and Vistara which are non-alliance airlines. Currently Alaska has one Star Alliance partner (Singapore Airlines) and one SkyTeam partner (Korean Air) both of whom I feel have beneficial relationships with Alaska - if we were to lose one I would wager a guess on Singapore Airlines since they are closely matched with Cathay Pacific. I don't think they'll drop Emirates as a partner either - Alaska provides a good feed to Emirates west coast US flights and vice versa. In fact I do see each of their current non oneworld partnerships as being quite beneficial. Hopefully I'm not wrong and Alaska will continue to partner with all of these airlines.

Now on to the actual redemption of miles for those partner airlines. This is where the inevitable bad news will lie. Although it is just speculation one can only imagine that Mileage Plan will do away with an award chart for each individual partner and make one set chart for oneworld redemptions that would also likely cover their non-oneworld partners. It is also being assumed that the redemption amounts that will be higher than what they are now. Now, while nothing has been published to corroborate this we can go on past experience from other airlines joining alliances that this will happen. Remember back in the early 2000s when several SkyTeam airlines had the best redemption rates between Canada and Hawaii (namely Air France, KLM & Czech Airlines) that went away quickly once the alliance blossomed and all the airlines began bring the award charts more inline with other partners who ultimately were charging more miles (Delta is one example). Ultimately this means you'll want to book some of those best Mileage Plan redemptions sooner than later - the 70K Cathay Pacific first class award, 60K JAL business class award and so on. If you book now you can book travel to roughly this time next year and of course if you book in January you can book something into 2022. You should have right up until March 30 to do so but there's no rules in place that Alaska can't issue new reward charts for their partner airlines prior to that date.  

Overall let's hope there will be more good news out of Alaska joining oneworld than bad and that if and when Alaska reveals new redemption rates for their partner airlines that they aren't far from what they are now.

Learn more about Alaska's joining oneworld here.

Receive a 100% bonus for buying Hilton Honors points until the end of the year

 

Instead of running a 100% bonus for buying points every few weeks like we have seen over the past few months it appears Hilton has said screw it let's just offer it for the rest of the year. That's right you can earn the 100% bonus for buying Hilton Honors points right through to December 31. You can buy up to 160,000 points annually so if you have not bought any points this year you can max out with this offer at 320,000 points. And some members have been lucky enough to be targeted w with 5,000 bonus points for buying any amount points. Those who get the targeted offer can buy 1,000 points and get the 5,000 bonus points or buying 160,000 and end up with 325,000 points. Also with this version of the offer Hilton has lowered the threshold at which the award the 100% bonus points. Previously the 100% bonus typically kicked in at the buy 10,000 points level but right now it has been lowered to the 5,000 point level.

 

This flat rate bonus of 100% when you buy 5,000 or more points means you are paying US$ 0.5 cents per point. In the past this is usually a good rate as you could easily redeem at values of 0.8 cents or more but with hotel cash rates severely deflated right now due to COVID-19 you'll definitely want to run your numbers first to see if buying points for stays in the next few months is worth it.

Offer details:
100% Bonus when you buy 5,000 or more Hilton Honors points online. Buy points here Until Dec 31, 20

Here are some more Hilton Honors bonus points offers to check out:

• Double Honors Points & Double Elite Night Credits per stay at Hilton Hotels worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required)
• 500 Bonus Honors points per day for rentals at participating Alamo, Enterprise and National locations worldwide. Bonus awarded for up to 9 days.   Full details and online booking
  
• Find our complete list of Honors bonus offers here.