Earn up to 50,000 welcome bonus points when you get the best credit card in Canada - the American Express Cobalt Card

This is crazy and totally unexpected news for the American Express Cobalt® Card! As you know American Express announced some amazing changes to their Cobalt Card not too long ago that make this the best credit card in Canada even better. Yes they are charging more for it which has made some people unhappy but for the most part everyone seems ecstatic about the changes even with paying $2.99 more per month. So what if you don't have the card yet? Well you're in luck as American Express has just revealed the best ever welcome bonus offer for the card in it's four year history. That's what makes this crazy and unexpected - I don't think any of us thought American Express would come out with such an offer seeing how compelling and valuable the card is with its up to 5x points earn rate, its new 3x streaming services earn rate and most importantly now having the ability to transfer 1:1 to Air Canada Aeroplan and British Airways Executive Club.

Canadian Government to make COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for air, rail and cruise ship travel

 

Our federal government announced today that they intend to make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for air, interprovincial rail and cruise ship travel. On top of this all federal public service employees will be mandated to get the vaccine. 

Offer extended! Limited time welcome bonus on Tangerine Mastercards - 10% cash back for the first 2 months

 

Originally slated to end on Monday the limited time welcome offers for the Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card and the Tangerine World Mastercard have now been extended to September 14, 2021. When you apply for and are approved for either of these Tangerine cards you will earn 10% cash back on all purchases in the first 2 months. The 10% is capped on $1,000 of purchases for a total cash back reward of $100. After that 10% cap is hit or after 2 months the regular earn rate of up to 2% cash back kicks in.

Air France KLM unveils their newly renovated business class lounge at Montreal's Trudeau International Airport

August 11th saw the opening of the newly renovated Air France business class lounge at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport. The refreshed lounge near gate 57 in the international concourse is accessible to those flying in Business Class with Air France or KLM, to Flying Blue Gold and Platinum members, SkyTeam Elite Plus Members and drum roll please.... any one receiving or purchasing access via Plaza Premium! That's right the lounge is being operated by Plaza Premium so you can access the lounge without flying business class or having elite status!

You can now purchase annual benefits for flying on Emirates with Skywards+

 
Dubai based Emirates Airlines who flies to Toronto 5x weekly has introduced a new subscription based program that provides additional benefits when flying with the airline. Entitled Skywards+, the new program has three tiers ranging in cost from C$502 to C$1,256 per year with each higher level progressively adding more benefits. Those benefits range from bonus Skywards miles, discounts on flight rewards, lounge access passes and more - much of what you would see if you held elite status with the Skywards program. So with this program you are kind of buying yourself a hybrid elite status with the airline.

August 12 Update: Canadian airport business class lounges reopening update, another confirmed Cobalt multiplier location & Wayfair returns to Amex 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.

Here's a small update to the reopening of some airport business class lounges across Canada that has happened over the past few weeks:

• National Bank Airport Lounge at Montreal reopened on July 26
• Toronto Plaza Premium Lounge Domestic Departures Terminal 3 reopened on July 28
• Calgary Airport Aspire Lounge International reopened on August 10
• Montreal Air France Lounge operated by Plaza Premium Group opened on August 11 (we'll have a separate post coming about this lounge!)

RBC Avion to British Airways Executive Club transfer bonus has returned!

 

The transfer bonus to British Airways Executive Club for RBC Avion cardholders has made a come back after a long hiatus! Last seen in November/December of 2019 when the bonus was 50% (see our post here) it has now returned for the next month and half albeit with a 30% boost. This is the bonus level we had become accustomed from about 2015/16 on as prior to that it was almost always 50%. Even though it is only 30% this time it is still a very good offer to consider taking advantage of.

Four credit cards that can make flying with Flair Airlines even cheaper!

Flair Airlines has been making a big return to flying and even expanding as we slowly emerge from the pandemic. Touted as Canada's only independent Ultra Low Cost Carrier, Flair Airlines offers rock bottom prices on flights within Canada and shortly to the U.S.. Those rock bottom prices are for bare bones tickets - no carry on bags, no check bags, no seat selection and so on. Basically outside of the base ticket price you can pick and choose what services you want for your flights and pay for those accordingly. So while the base fares are cheaper than the competition once you start adding the extras the price can creep up to being equivalent to what Air Canada and WestJet are charging. So how can you save yourself some money - either just on the insanely cheap base fares or even those fares that include add ons? By utilizing a credit card that has high points earning value that can be redeemed for Flair purchases and cards that provide credits for additional fees charged by airlines.

August 12 Update: Scotia introduces flexible payment plans for their Visa cards, Air Canada adding Vancouver-Orange County flights & your weekly drug store bonuses

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.

 
Scotiabank has followed in the footsteps of other card issuers in Canada like American Express and CIBC by now offering an optional flexible payment plan for purchases over $100. Called Scotia SelectPay the new feature allows eligible Scotiabank Visa cardholders to turn eligible purchases of $100+ into installments. They can choose fixed installment plan of three, six, or 12-months and pay a flat fee with no interest. The example Scotia provides shows a 2% fee ($24) being applied to a $1,200 purchase. This makes carrying a balance on big purchases much more tolerable than the two figure interest rates but do know you do have to pay the full amount of the purchase within the fixed installment plan time frame you selected. Learn more aboust SelectPay here. To see what Visa cards Scotiabank offers please visit our Scotia page here.

Neo Financial tweaks their credit card offerings again including a lowering of the monthly fees for their Plus and Ultra cards

 

One of Canada's newest financial providers, actually I should say FinTech companies Neo Financial has tweaked their credit card offerings once again. It seems every few months they are changing things up - which can be both a good and a bad thing. Good in that they are flexible and learning the market as they go and are adjusting as needed, bad in that having someone grab their product(s) based on something they have only offered for a short period of time and are already switching it up which may leave a few people wondering if being with a new entrant like this is a safe and rewarding alternative to the traditional offerings. Read on the find out what those tweaks are.