Podcast Episode 74 - Discussing the new Aeroplan program with Air Canada's Mark Nasr & Derek Whitworth

 

Episode 74 - December 10, 2020
Discussing the new Aeroplan program with Air Canada's Mark Nasr & Derek Whitworth

In this episode Rewards Canada's Patrick Sojka sits down with Air Canada's Mark Nasr, Vice President, Loyalty & eCommerce and Derek Whitworth, Senior Director of Loyalty Products to discuss the new Aeroplan program. Now a month old we take a look at how the new program has been performing as well as how Air Canada and its members feel this first month has gone. We talk membership, new features coming to online reward flight bookings, credit cards, buddy passes and more! We also get the first news on the extension of Aeroplan's generous change and cancellation policy. Be sure to listen in to the final Rewards Canada podcast episode for 2020 to gain more insight to the new Aeroplan program!

American Express Canada brings us a no fee Membership Rewards Card! The Choice Card from American Express

 

American Express Canada launched a new no fee card today that earns Membership Rewards Points which happen to be the most valuable points in the Canadian market today! That card is the Choice Card from American Express TM and it comes with a welcome bonus is 10,000 Membership Rewards points when you spend $1,000 in the first three months. It looks like it doesn't really offer any insurance so this is a card meant for earning those valuable points without worrying about annual fees. I have reached out to American Express to find out if these are Membership Rewards First (Platinum Card), Membership Rewards (Gold Rewards Card) or Select points (Cobalt/Business Edge) or even something else as I can't find the details on Amex's site. That being said the way everything is worded on the landing page leads me to believe these will not be MR First or regular MR which means you can't convert to Aeroplan, British Airways or their other airline partners. There is also no mention of converting to hotels like the Cobalt Card's MR Select program so I'm wondering if they have made a third Membership Rewards level for this card.

December 8 Update: Qatar Airways announces partnership with Alaska Airlines along with a new Seattle - Doha route and earn yourself 500 free World of Hyatt points tomorrow

  Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard .

Qatar Airways announced a new route between Seattle and Doha today as well as a partnership with Alaska Airlines ahead of the latter airline joining the oneworld Alliance that Qatar is already a member of. That route will launch on March 15th and will operate 4 days per week. This is of particular interest to those who live in Western Canada as once Alaska Airlines resumes more flights to the five cities they used to serve Pre-Covid you should be able to use those flights to connect to this Qatar Airways flight. There are plans to have code-sharing in place some time in the future. Of course if you live in the lower mainland you have the great option of driving to Seattle once the land borders open up to non-essential travel. One of Qatar's biggest competitors, Emirates, already had code-shared on those Alaska Airlines Western Canadian routes and promoted that partnership heavily on their website and even at conferences. I remember one of the years that I attended the Global Petroleum Show here in Calgary Emirates had their own booth and were primarily promoting the Seatte gateway with their Alaska Airlines connection. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Qatar do the same thing and invest in promoting the Seattle route to Western Canadians.

Here is the schedule of the new route:

Seattle Flight Schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday
Doha (DOH) to Seattle (SEA) QR719 departs: 08:00 arrives: 12:20
Seattle (SEA) to Doha (DOH) QR720 departs: 17:05 arrives: 17:15+1

The partnership will also include reciprocal earning for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Qatar Airways Privielge Club members for flights as of December 15. Then on March 31st (when Alaska joins oneworld) there will be reciprocal redemption and elite status recognition.

Learn more here.

Image via Qatar Airways

---

 

Be sure to set a reminder for tomorrow if you want to score some free World of Hyatt points. Tomorrow is the Global Day of Gratitude and to celebrate Hyatt will give you 500 points for spending time with Headspace in the World of Hyatt app. Here's how it works:

•	Open the World of Hyatt app. If you don’t have it already, download it here.
•	Complete one of our custom Headspace exercises — Unwind, Reflect or Sleep.
•	Enjoy 500 Bonus Points just for nurturing your wellbeing.

Image via Hyatt

---

Give A Mile 2020 Flight Hero Christmas Campaign: Help Rewards Canada raise 50,000 points for flights of compassion We are now up to 30,000 points - thank you to everyone who has donated so far! Now we only need 20,000 more points!

Posts since our last update:

• Receive 25% bonus Elite Tier Miles when you convert Marriott or other points to Emirates Skywards
    Emirates Skywards has offered an array of bonus offers during the pandemic for transferring points, buying miles and…
• Amex Offers - Spend $25 with Amazon and receive a $5 statement credit
    An Amex Offers offer that everyone likes to see came back today. That is an offer for shopping…
• Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for December - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October…
• December 7 Update: New Amex Offer for Browns Socialhouse, RBC Avion offer of 8x points with Harry Rosen & new 6% back offer for the TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Card
   Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and…

Deals:

HSBC Premier Chequing Account Get up to $1,000* in cash back and rewards when you switch over to us by December 28, 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

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Aeroflot Bonus
- Double Bonus Miles when you book hotels via Booking .com More... Book by Dec 31, 20 for stays until Jan 31, 21

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Up to a 50% discount when you buy or gift MilleMiglia miles online. More... Until Dec 24, 20

British Airways Executive Club
- 200 Bonus Avios per night for stays at IHG Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 21

Emirates Skywards
- 25% Bonus Skywards Tier miles when you convert miles/points from Air Miles (UAE), FAB, ADCB, Standard Chartered Bank UAE, and at Marriott Bonvoy™, Shangri‑La, Hyatt, and All – Accor Live Limitless hotels worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 21

Marriott Bonvoy
- OFFER EXTENDED 2,000 Bonus Bonvoy Points PER NIGHT for stays at all participating Courtyard Hotels in the U.S., Canada, Caribbean and Latin America More... Until Apr 4, 21

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Double KrisFlyer Miles when you rent a car with Avis for 3 or more days in North America (USA and Canada, excluding Alaska), Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Asia More... Book by Jan 31 for rentals until Feb 28, 21

Follow Rewards Canada:

Receive 25% bonus Elite Tier Miles when you convert Marriott or other points to Emirates Skywards

 

Emirates Skywards has offered an array of bonus offers during the pandemic for transferring points, buying miles and more. The latest is this one to boost your tier miles balance. When you convert points or miles from select coalition, bank or hotel programs they will give 25% bonus tier miles as well.  This means you’ll earn 1 Tier Mile for every 4 Skywards Miles you receive in your conversions. The great news with this offer is that the coveted conversion partner of many airline programs is included – that is Marriott Bonvoy. Marriott Bonvoy points convert 3 to 1 to Skywards Miles and when you convert 60,000 Marriott points at once Marriott will kick in an additional 5,000 miles. This means for 60,000 points you’d receive 25,000 Skywards Miles plus 6,250 Tier Miles. If you don’t have any status at all with Skywards and convert enough points/miles to receive the full 25,000 Tier Miles you’ll receive Silver Elite status in the program which includes business class lounge access in Dubai. For us Canadians we can't really take advantage of the financial partners (unless of course you have credit cards/bank accounts in the UAE) but can definitely use the four hotel programs that are part of the transfer bonus.

Amex Offers - Spend $25 with Amazon and receive a $5 statement credit

 

An Amex Offers offer that everyone likes to see came back today. That is an offer for shopping online at Amazon.ca - thanks again to Rewards Canada contributor Jeff W. who let us know he received some of these offers on his Marriott Bonvoy American Express card and Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. In our household we also received it on the Platinum Card and the Marriott Bonvoy card as well. No luck for the Gold Rewards Card or Cobalt cards (although that could be different for you!) That being said the offer does appear on Amex's general page for Amex Offers so you can try registering your card there should it not show up in your Amex Offers section of your account

Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for December - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October 2020!  This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards for small businesses 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 four first year free cards on the list! And remember this list is based on minimum value towards travel which we calculate as the minimum value of the welcome bonus less the annual fee. It is entirely possible to receive more value out of the welcome bonuses on some the cards below namely those like Aeroplan and Marriott. 

December 7 Update: New Amex Offer for Browns Socialhouse, RBC Avion offer of 8x points with Harry Rosen & new 6% back offer for the TD Cash Back Visa Infinite Card

 Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard.

Yet another Amex Offer was released today. Select cardmembers including those who have the Platinum Card, Marriot Bonvoy American Express Card and Scotiabank Gold American Exress Cards have been targeted to receive a $10 statement credit when they spend $60 or more with Browns Social House. Yuu'll find this offer and more on our Guide to American Express Canada 'Amex Offers' (Thanks to Jeff W. for the heads up!)

Top 5 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for December - These cards provide the best value out of their welcome bonuses

 
Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of December 2020! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Cash Back 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 six of the seven cards offering the first year free. Oh and this month we had to go with 7 cards instead of our usual 5 cards due to the four of them all offering the same welcome bonus.

OFFER EXPIRED Last day to apply - TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card with 10% cash back on all purchases with first year no annual fee for new cardholders

Today is the last day to apply for the current TD Cash Back Visa Infinite* Card offer of 10% cash back on all purchases made up to $2,000 in the first three months. On top of that they are waiving the first year annual not only for the primary card but also for the first additional card. This offer runs until December 6, 2020.

All told if you do spend that $2,000 in the first three months you are looking at $200 cash back and saving up to $170 in annual fees in the first year ($120 for the primary card and $50 for the first additional card). Remember if you have a TD All Inclusive bank account it also covers the annual fees on these cards as long as your bank account is active and in good standing.  

December 4 Update: New from RBC - The Avion Collection, Discounted More Rewards redemption offer for Save-On Foods & Aeroplan accumulation changes for Canadian North

 Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your daily dose (or near daily dose) of loyalty program, credit card and travel news, bonuses, deals and more. This update is brought to you by the HSBC World Elite Mastercard.

RBC has launched a new initiative for their Avion cardholders. Entitled 'The Avion Collection' RBC describes the Avion Collection as

"Bringing you curated travel ideas, exclusive value, insider tips, and unique experiences that will only get better over time. This is the start of an ever-growing catalog of value and inspiration, just for Avioners"