Here's a new one - KOHO targeting gamers with 5% cash back

Here's a new angle for accelerated card earn, KOHO the prepaid Visa card issuer has come out with a KOHO Gamer account. This new account will award 5% cash back on purchases made via gaming platforms. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time gaming platforms are being featured as a category to earn more. True there might be some overlap from other cards that offer accelerators on streaming and/or digital services but I don't how many of those cover Playstation, Xbox, Twitch, Steam and Nintendo.

December 3 Update: WestJet eyes Spokane service from Calgary & Vancouver plus Accor officially welcomes the Hotel Belmont Vancouver

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! 

WestJet is looking to start service to Spokane, Washington from Calgary and Vancouver via their regional arm WestJet Link operated by Pacific Coastal Airlines. Service to Spokane from Calgary has not been seen for a long time now after Air Canada (well Air BC and then Central Mountain Air) served the route in addition to United Airlines who briefly flew the route as well (I actually remember flying the route in the late 80s on United) (Source RoutesOnline)

The Aeroplan eStore 12 Days of Gifting returns from December 3 to 14

 

Aeroplan eStore's annual 12 Days of Gifting has returned. This promotion has a different online retailer each day during the 12 days with an bonus for shopping with them. On the launch day it's lululemon being featured with 10x points on all eligible purchases made today. The landing page for the offer does show which stores you can expect each day so you can definitely plan ahead here with any last minute Christmas shopping you have! Some of those stores included Sephora, Apple and Indigo.

Scene+ now set to launch on December 13

 

Scene+, the new combined program of Scotia Rewards and Cineplex SCENE was initially supposed to launch in November but technical difficulties behind the scenes 😁 meant it had to be delayed. At that time all the program told us was that is should happen by December 31. Overnight an email came from SCENE notifying members that they will be 'under construction' from December 4 to 12 in anticipation of launching Scene+ on December 13. 

Frontier Airlines: Elite Status Match from 15 airlines including Air Canada & WestJet plus 15 hotel programs

 
Frontier Airlines has brought back their very wide open status match opportunity that we saw in 2020. The airline has partnered with statusmatch.com to run the match again this year and it’s quite an easy one. The airline will match your status from 15 different airline or 15 different hotel programs. Both Air Canada and WestJet elite status is included. It’s pretty rare for an airline to match a hotel status, I believe WestJet Rewards was one of the first to do so back in 2016 (read about that here) however that required one flight. With Frontier’s offer there is no flight requirement. You simply have to pay a $49 processing fee for your status match and apply by December 21, 2021

December 2 Update: Earn 15x miles sitewide with AIR MILES Shops, Save 20% on Canadian North inter-community flights & Flying Blue extends status & points expiry pause

Here's your Rewards Canada Daily update! Your 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! 

If you missed out on some of the big bonuses for online shopping for Black Friday Cyber Monday don't worry as AIR MILES Shops is offering 15x the miles sitewide until December 5. Click here to learn more. 

Image via AIR MILES

Aeroplan adding Oman Air as its newest airline partner

 
During yesterday's event that Air Canada and Chase held to reveal their new U.S. co-brand card Air Canada also announced that two new airlines will be joining Aeroplan as partner airlines. Only one of those was revealed during the event and that airline is Oman Air. The airline becomes the 44th airline partner (45th if you separate Rouge from Air Canada as debated by Air Canada's Mark Nasr) and is the 10th new airline partnership added in the past 18 months or so.

Earn 50% bonus elite qualifying Flying Blue XP on all Air France & KLM flights for the first half of 2022

 
For the last half of this year Air France KLM’s Flying Blue has been awarding Double XP Elite Status credits on all their flights. This is something we have seen from numerous airlines in 2020 and 2021. From Alaska Airlines to Emirates to SAS and other airlines, these promotions are helping flyers achieve or retain status sooner due to most of them flying less during the pandemic. However not many airlines have revealed their plans for doing something similar into 2022. In fact prior to this new offer only SAS' systemwide elite earning bonus trickled into January. Now we have Air France KLM announcing they will award 50% bonus XP elite status credits on all eligible flights during the first half of 2022. This includes their flights to and from Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. While it may not be as big of bonus as we've seen here in 2021 it's great to see them offer something and also hints at the industry starting to rebound slowly. Now I wonder if Alaska and some of the others will extend or put out new offers as well!

The U.S. Chase Aeroplan World Elite Mastercard Credit Card is now available

We don't discuss U.S. based credit cards very often here on Rewards Canada but one card that we have watched a little more closely and discussed here on Rewards Canada is Aeroplan's new U.S. co-brand card. That card, the Chase Aeroplan® World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card is officially here now and open to applications. So if you are a Canadian playing the U.S. credit card game you'll definitely want to check this card out as it brings several items to the table you won't get on Canadian Aeroplan co-brand cards like instant 25K  elite status.

Your December points & miles agenda - these offers are all slated to end this month

 

Here is a list of promotions, offers and more that are slated to end during the month. Whether it's stay bonuses, registering for offers or signing up for a limited time credit card offer we'll have it here if it expires in this month.