Surprising value out of Amex's new no fee card when you use it for Marriott stays

Last week on December 9th American Express re-launched their Choice Card from American Express. This was a card that was offered nearly a decade ago and shut down for new applications after only a few years of being in the market. The launch of this card marks American Express Canada's reentry into the no annual fee card space with a card that earns Membership Rewards points. The only other no annual fee cards that Amex offers currently are the SimplyCash Card which is a cash back card and the Essential card which is low interest card with no rewards. 

And contrary to what you might read on some forums - this card has its place and it can provide suprisingly good value!

Air Canada Aeroplan and Chase are launching a co-branded Mastercard in the U.S.

This post is for our readers from the U.S. and of course for our Canadian readers who play the U.S. credit card game! Air Canada just announced they will be partnering with Chase in the U.S. to offer an Air Canada Aeroplan Mastercard in the U.S. This will mark the airline program's reentry into the U.S. market and not only will there be an Aeroplan co-brand card with Chase, Aeroplan will also become a partner in Chase's Ultimate Rewards program.

December 11 Update: Alaska Airlines reveals oneworld benefits for Mileage Plan elite members, American Airlines to offer Elite Choice Rewards & changes to Avianca's LifeMiles program

 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.

 
Earlier this week Alaska Airlines revealed what their Elite Mileage Plan members will receive as oneworld tier status in the global alliance. The airline officially joins oneworld on March 31, 2021 and the matching oneworld tier status happens automatically at that time. Here is how the status will line up:

Air Canada Gifts with Travel Promo - Double Points, Free Checked Bag or Free Seat Selection when booking Air Canada flights (Book by 12/15, travel by 6/30)

 

Earlier this week Air Canada came out with another holiday offer - this time for booking flights within Canada, to the U.S. or to Sun Destinations. They provide three promo codes that you can choose from that will provide you with your choice of free checked bags, free seat selection or double Aeroplan points. Depending on what fare class, what your elite status is and even which Aeroplan credit card you hold can help you determine which promo code to choose if you are planning on booking any flights. The codes are as follows (click to make larger):

Air Canada Aeroplan Elite Status Priority Rewards explained

One of the new features that came with the revamped Air Canada Aeroplan program is the Priority Rewards benefit for elite status members. This exclusive new perk provides a 50% points discount on any flight reward that the elite member chooses to use it for. Their are limits as to what class and where the members can use them for based on their elite level. Those are as follows:

25K & 35K: Economy travel within Canada and between Canada and the U.S.
50K: Economy and Premium Economy travel within North America and to Sun destinations
75K: Economy and Premium Economy travel worldwide
Super Elite: Up to Signature/Business Class travel worldwide

As you can see the best option is reserved for the airline's best customers but even with that being said  Priority Rewards can provide great value for any level of elite member.

The Priority Reward vouchers are awarded to elite members each time they hit specific SQD thresholds:

Earn a voucher when you cross the 4,000, 7,000, 10,000 and 15,000 SQD thresholds, and for every 5,000 SQD earned above 15,000 SQD – up to a maximum of 50,000 SQD.

Vouchers do have to be used to book a flight within one year of them being awarded.

Once you have your vouchers they are really easy to use and can be redeemed on the Air Canada site or via the App. The vouchers will show up under the benefits tabs when you login to your account:

Image via Air Canada

And once you have reward booking search up you simply have to click on 'Select Priority Rewards' to see the discount applied to your search options

Image via Air Canada

Our resident 50K contributor Bill W. provided some screenshots of his Priority Rewards on how they look in his dashboard and to show them in action on a dummy booking between Vancouver and Honolulu.

 

Here's what a Vancouver to Honolulu reward flight looked like without a Priority Reward for an Air Canada 50K elite status member with an Aeroplan co-brand credit card:

and here is the same booking with a Priority Rewards voucher:

As you can see it prices out at exactly 50% of the initial points requirement for Economy Class. As Bill noted to me he wouldn't redeem it for this particular flight as the initial points requirement is big and since he is a 50K elite member he would be better off using it on a route that has Premium Economy class.  As mentioned earlier in the article if you are Super Elite you can use the voucher for business class as well for flights Worldwide so they get the full gamut of reward options to price out at 50%. As a Super Elite you most definitely would want to use the voucher for long hail international travel in business class but do watch those expiry dates on them - if long haul travel isn't in the picture due to the pandemic then look at somewhere closer where you can utilize the voucher, still in business class of course!

You can learn more about Air Canada's Priority Rewards here and also check out this video on YouTube about them:

Title Image via Air Canada

December 10 Update: Aeroplan extends generous refund policy to February 28, Choice Card from Amex added to site & an update to the Top 5 Cash Back offers

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.

 
The generous Aeroplan refund policy that allows you to change or cancel existing or new reward flights booking with a full refund of miles and the fees/taxes paid going back to your credit card is being extended to Feb 28, 21. This was revealed to us by Air Canada while recording the latest episode of our podcast that was released earlier today. Give it a listen here!

Image via Air Canada

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

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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

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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.