Two new WestJet Rewards benefits coming soon - new milestone benefits to gift Gold Status for one flight and exchanging companion vouchers for lounge access

 

Today is a big news day for WestJet as make a push for their program prior to Air Canada's official launch of the new Aeroplan program on Sunday. This is the third and final post covering all the news coming out of WestJet today and it is for Gold/Platinum Elite Tier members and WestJet World Elite credit card holders. There are two new benefits that will be coming soon to the program as follows:

• New tier milestone choice benefit being able to gift one-time Gold status to someone for a round-trip flight that they can take on their own (applies to $6,000 milestone award and at $8K and every $2k after that) – This is a benefit for Gold and Platinum tier members
•  The ability to exchange your WestJet RBC World Elite companion voucher for lounge access (including our own Calgary flagship Elevation lounge) 

For the next week you can share your WestJet companion vouchers with others

 Back in March WestJet announced they were extending the validity of companion vouchers that were set to expire during the height of the pandemic. These are the vouchers that come from the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard and WestJet RBC Mastercard or are issued as Elite Tier Milestone awards. The new expiry date set on those vouchers was January 31 and it appears WestJet will be holding true to that date. We had hopes they would extend them further but as of right now that doesn't seem to be the case as is worded in this limited time promotion that launches today.

WestJet Member Exclusive Fares are back - now with access to Premium & Business Class fares (And they are pricing at 35% off until the end of the year)

 

Back in June WestJet paused access to their Member Exclusive Fares so that they could revamp and enhance this somewhat unknown but very valuable redemption option for WestJet Rewards members. If you are unfamiliar with their Member Exclusive fares you can think of them as WestJet's fixed price redemption option that was in the vein of your classic flight reward charts from programs like Aeroplan, AIR MILES and most other frequent flyer programs. Essentially you would pay a flat rate of WestJet dollars for a flight on WestJet or even WestJet's partner airlines like Air France, Delta, KLM and Qantas. Prior to the pause flights in Canada or to the U.S. typically ran 99 WestJet dollars for short haul (although we are seeing that as low as 63 right now) or 125 WestJet dollars each way for long haul, to Europe for as little as 349, Asia for 599 and Australia for 629.

Choice Hotels Vacation in Paradise Sweepstakes - enter for a chance to win a trip for 4 at a Dreams Resort & Spa destination + other prizes

 Choice Hotels has added yet another marketing move for the promotion of their newly integrated AMResorts brands of Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets, Breathless, Dreams, Now and Sunscape Resorts & Spas. The first move was the 50,000 bonus points + free night offer + credits and more for stays at these locations, see below for offer details. This time it is a contest that is actually open to us Canadian (not Quebec though, sorry) and the grand prize is a four night trip for 4 at a Dreams Resort & Spa destination + a $2,000 prepaid card. There are weekly prizes as well of 4-night stays for 2 at an all-inclusive luxury resort + a $1,000 prepaid card. As is usual for contests in Canada, if one of us wins we have to answer a mathematical skill testing question.

You can learn more and rnter the contest here! 

Be sure to also check out some of these Choice Hotel deals:

• Earn up to 8,000 Bonus Privileges Points after every two separate qualifying stays at participating Choice Hotels Worldwide. Full details, online registration & booking (Registration is required) Until Nov 15, 20
• Earn 50,000 Choice Privileges Points plus a free night, plus a future free night, resort credit and more when you book a stay at Zoëtry® Wellness & Spa Resorts, and Secrets®, Breathless®, Dreams®, Now® and Sunscape® Resorts & Spas brands. Full details and online booking.  Book by Nov 10 for stays until Dec 22, 21
• 25% Discount when you buy Choice Privileges points. Buy points here.   Until Nov 6, 20
• Click here to see Rewards Canada's complete list of Choice Hotels offers

Image via Choice Hotels

November 4 Update: Two days left to book Aeroplan rewards at the old rates, last few days to get on the Amex Aeroplan wait list, 50K PC Optimum points online shopping bonus

 

Today's update contains several reminders! This is your last chance to book Aeroplan rewards at the old mileage levels - come Friday evening you will no longer be able to book flight rewards and non-air rewards. If you have been on the fence about booking award flights there is no harm in doing so to lock them in since Aeroplan's generous refund policy will allow to cancel those flights with full refund of miles (points as of November 8) and a full refund of the taxes and fees so long as you cancel by December 31. Some actions with Aeroplan and Air Canada have been suspended already until the transition to the new program is complete. Learn more here.

Earn an additional 5 points per dollar on Marriott purchases with the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card

American Express Canada and Marriott have teamed up to provide a limited time points earning boost for holders of the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card. From now until January 3, 2021 cardmembers can earn an additional 5 Marriott Bonvoy points per dollar spent with Marriott. This means you would earn 10 points per dollar spent as the card's base earn rate on Marriott purchases is 5 points per dollar. That's a huge boost and the crazy part of the promotion is that non-Marriott stay purchases such as buying Marriott gift cards or merchandise purchases from Marriott count as well. So even if you aren't planning any Marriott stays in the next two months you could always order gift cards from them for those future travels of yours. The promotion is open to all Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Cardmembers including those who apply for and receive the card during the promotional period.

It's back! The 35% bonus for converting HSBC Rewards Points to British Airways Executive Club

 
Just in time for those who have already earned their amazing 100,000 bonus points (or 130,000 if you are in Quebec) from the HSBC World Elite Mastercard comes their fall transfer bonus to British Airways. Just like in previous years the bonus is 35% and is good for transfers made until November 30, 2020.

You can buy yourself oneworld elite status with Finnair's latest buy points offer of up to 100% bonus points + 25% bonus tier points

 Finnair launched their best ever buy points bonus today - and while Finnair Plus' program is one that most Canadians don't think about as they only have seasonal flights out of Toronto - the airline is part of the oneworld alliance so this offer may be of use to some oneworld flyers.

What makes the offer worthy of its own post beyond our typical listing of it in our bonus offer pages (Rewards Canada does have a Finnair Plus bonus points page here) is the bonus tier points portion of it. Right now when you buy Finnair Plus points you can receive up to 100% bonus Plus Points AND 25% bonus tier points. Here's where things get interesting - the 25% bonus tier points is on the entire amount you receive from buying points - that is the base amount plus the bonus. So if you buy150,000 Finnair Plus Points you'll end up with 300,000 points and 75,000 Tier Points! Those 75,000 Tier Points will automatically give you Finnair Plus Silver Status which provides oneworld Ruby status and you would only be 5,000 Tier Points shy of Gold and 75,000 shy of Platinum. Both of which you can achieve with this buy points offer. How so? Read on...

November 3 Update: Guide to Credit Card Cash Back Liquidity updated, Cobalt Card also gets Sandman & Sutton Place Hotels offer + more Cobalt multipliers

 

We've updated a feature we launched early on during the pandemic - that feature is our Guide to Credit Card Cash Back Liquidity. This useful article provides details on how soon you can redeem for cash back from most cash back cards and travel rewards cards with cash back options in Canada. The feature also details the minimum amount of spend required to be able to redeem. This update covers the changes in the cash back options for BMO Rewards Cards from 15,000 points for $50 to 200 points for $1 and a couple of other small changes. The next big update to the feature will likely happen in February when CIBC switches to instant redemption over annually. Check out the feature here.

Yesterday I let you know about the new Sandman Hotels and Sutton Place Hotels Amex Offers that came out for the Platinum Card and Scotiabank Gold American Express. Looks like the American Express Cobalt Card also gets the offers. For more details see our Guide to American Express Canada 'Amex Offers'

 

Continuing on the subject of the American Express Cobalt Card - I have a couple more multiplier updates from Calgary. Blanco Cantina (several Calgary locations) and Abbey's Creations an ice cream shop in NW Calgary both fall into the 5x points category. Check out the American Express Cobalt Card Confirmed Multiplier Locations 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!

No route news today.

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:

• November 2 Update: WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard offer of 350 bonus dollars extended, Scotia lowers the welcome bonus on the Passport Visa Infinite Card & Top 5 Mastercard Cards to use at Costco updated
  WestJet and RBC have extended the current increased welcome bonus of 350 WestJet dollars on the WestJet RBC World…

Deals:

HSBC Premier Chequing Account Get up to $1,000* in cash back and rewards when you switch over to us by November 30, 2020 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

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Other Bonus Offers

Aer Lingus AerClub
- 45% Bonus Avios when you buy Avios online. More... Until Nov 15, 20

Aeroflot Bonus
- 25% Bonus Miles when you convert Radisson Rewards points to Aeroflot Bonus miles. More... Until Dec 31, 20

AeroMexico Club Premier
- Triple Club Premier Points for stays at select NH Hotels in Mexico More... Book by Nov 13 for stays until Dec 30, 20

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Double Flying Blue Miles when you book hotels with Booking .com More... Book by Nov 9, 20

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Up to 50% bonus miles and up to 20% off when you buy or gift MilleMiglia miles online. More... Until Nov 25, 20

ALL Accor Live Limitless
- 2,000 Bonus ALL Rewards Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Brazil. More... Book by Dec 31 for stays until Jul 31, 21

Finnair Plus
- Up to 100% Bonus Plus Points & 25% bonus tier points when you buy points. More... Until Nov 16, 20

Follow Rewards Canada:

November 2 Update: WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard offer of 350 bonus dollars extended, Scotia lowers the welcome bonus on the Passport Visa Infinite Card & Top 5 Mastercard Cards to use at Costco updated

WestJet and RBC have extended the current increased welcome bonus of 350 WestJet dollars on the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard to November 11th. That's only a 12 day extension from the original October 31 end date. We don't have any details yet of what will come on November 12. As always it is a gamble - do you go for it now and secure a really good welcome bonus or wait with the hope of something better coming along. Learn more about the current offer here.

 

 In a surprising move when the credit card market is heating up here in Canada Scotia has lowered the welcome bonus for the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite Card by 5,000 points. Right now when you apply for the card you'll get 20,000 bonus points when you spend $1,000 on the card within the first three months and an additional 10,000 points if you can spend $40,000 in the first year. Learn more here.