November 18 Update: Lynx Air to become Canada's latest Ultra Low Cost Carrier and Wyndham Rewards offering 3x points for online shopping

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 which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points worth $500, has no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee in the first year! 

 
The on again off again ultra low cost carrier from Calgary's EnerJet looks to be finally taking off! News was released that the oilfield charter carrier will launch their new ULCC airline Lynx Air in 2022. They will start with three Boeing 737 Max aircraft based in Calgary and have a orders in place for up 46 planes in total. Basing in Calgary is a good option seeing that Flair and Swoop have chosen other cities as their hubs and the yet to launch Canada Jetlines will be based in Vancouver. Now this does raise the question can Canada support all these airlines? We have the two big players in  Air Canada and WestJet, then you have Porter who are in the midst of a big expansion that will see them flying nationwide and then all the low cost carriers Flair, Swoop, Lynx and Canada Jetlines. I'd like to be wrong but to me that seems over saturated for our market and feel we will see one or two of those go the way of Canada3000, JetsGo and Greyhound Air. Learn more about Lynx Air here.

AIR MILES Bonus Boom Boost starts today - earn up to 800 bonus miles + be entered to win up to 1 million miles

 Not only did AIR MILES launch their new AIR MILES Flights booking platform today (read our coverage in Part 1 and Part 2) they also launched Bonus Boom Boost today! This is an expanded take on their usual Bonus Boom promotions as the stakes are higher - that is bigger bonuses, a longer period to earn those bonuses and a chance to win up to 1 Million Reward Miles!

Air Canada's Black Friday Event is here with flight discounts & bonus points, online shopping bonuses, gift card bonuses and so much more!

 

While some airlines may only offer a discount for Black Friday Air Canada is a little different. They like to do it up and go all out with their Black Friday offers. We have discounts and bonuses for flying with Air Canada, bonuses for online shopping, discounts on vacations, car rentals and much more. We've listed them all below or you check them out on Air Canada's site.

The new AIR MILES Flights is here! A hands on look at the value of flights in the new program (Part 2)

Welcome to Part 2 of our coverage of the new AIR MILES Flights program. In Part 1 we highlighted once again what the new AIR MILES flights provides from dynamic pricing to booking in any fare class and more. As promised we said we would dissect the new dynamic rewards to see what value each AIR MILES Rewards Mile will have when compared to the old flights program.

The new AIR MILES Flights is here! New dynamic pricing model plus the ability to book any fare class, flights outside of Canada & more! (Part 1)

The much anticipated launch of AIR MILES new flight booking platform has finally happened! The new booking platform was first announced back in early October as part of a wider swath of changes to the programs however is the Flight portion where the biggest changes are happening! We covered most of what would be expected from the new AIR MILES Flights before but now have further details and insight into them.

WestJet confirms Calgary to London Heathrow flights will start in spring 2022

 
Back in March of this year news came out that WestJet had secured slots to serve London's Heathrow airport but at that time no news came out at all about the actual route starting. That all changes today as WestJet just announced service will start in spring of 2022 between Calgary and LHR! The service will be provided in addition to the existing Calgary, Halifax, Toronto and Vancouver to London Gatwick flights. 

New Amex Offers for United Airlines - Spend $400 and receive a $120 statement credit

 
Another great Amex Offer made its way out this morning. This one is for flights with United Airlines and provides a $120 statement credit if you spend $400 or more. I received it on the Platinum Card from American Express but it does show up on Amex's general shopping page which means it will be open to most if not all Amex cards.

November 17 Update: Flair Airlines announces flights to Mexico and a big update to Rewards Canada's Book Travel/Support page

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 which is currently offering a welcome bonus of up to 100,000 bonus points worth $500, has no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee in the first year! 

 

Flair Airlines announced another new route expansion this week as the airline move into the Mexico market! The airline will offer low-fare flights to Cancun and Los Cabos, Mexico, from Vancouver, Abbotsford, Edmonton, Ottawa, and Kitchener-Waterloo:

Coast Hotels: Receive a $20 e-gift card for every gift card purchase of $100 of more

 
Canada's own Coast Hotels is getting in on the business of providing an extra bonus for buying gift cards. Similar to what we've seen from Best Western and other hotel chains Coast Hotels is essentially offering a 20% bonus when you buy their gift cards. The hotel chain will give you a $20 e-gift card for every gift card purchase of $100 or more. 

Top 5 Small Business Credit Card Sign Up offers for November - 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 this month! 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 three 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 all of these cards since they earn Aeroplan points or Marriott Bonvoy points - both of which can provided some huge outsized value rewards!