December 9 Update: Air Canada reveals their annual Christmas video, more airlines added to AIR MILES flights & Hilton Honors improves their points expiry rule

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! 

 
Air Canada released their annual Christmas video this week which a nice whimsical animation about bringing people together

Air Canada is embracing the magic of the season with a new spot that shares a message of togetherness for the first holiday many Canadians will spend together in two years. Just like so many of us that have been apart, feeling like we have been living in a bubble, the video shows a story of two people who are separated by their glass snow globe.

WestJet providing a further extension on companion and other vouchers set to expire Dec 31 (You must register to have them extended!)

 

Good news came out this week from the team at WestJet Rewards as they have announced a further extension for most vouchers set to expire on December 31.  This is a wide ranging extension covering a wide variety of vouchers that are issued by the frequent flyer program from Companion Vouchers to Lounge Access Vouchers to Seat Selection Vouchers and more. The key factor this time however is the extension are not automatic. The onus has been put on the member to check their account to see if they have any vouchers with a December 31, 2021 expiry date and if they do they must register to have them extended.

Disappointment abounds in the new AIR MILES Flights booking platform

 
Now that the new AIR MILES Flights booking platform has been out for a couple of weeks and more people including ourselves have been able to test it out further it does seem like the general consensus is that it is bringing disappointment - at least for our readers that is.

December 8 Update: SCENE unavailable at select restaurants until December 13, stay 2 nights in Mississauga and get a $100 prepaid card, Finnair launching Seattle to Helsinki flights

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! 

 
One further Scene+ update made its way through our email. As a follow up to last week's news about Scene being unavailable the program let members know as well that as they prepare the upgrade members will not be able to earn or redeem points from today to December 12 at the following restaurants:

Swiss Chalet®, Harveys®, Montana’s BBQ & Bar®, East Side Mario’s®, Kelseys Original Roadhouse®, Bier Markt®, The Prime Pubs®.

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

 

Here are Rewards Canada's Top 5 Cash Back Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of December 2021. 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.

World of Hyatt Bonus Journeys: Earn 2,022 bonus points for every 2 nights (Jan 15 - Apr 20, 22)

Hyatt's next systemwide Bonus Journeys promotion is here and celebrates 2022 by awarding 2,022 bonus points for every two qualifying nights that World of Hyatt members complete. The great news is that the nights do not have to be consecutive so if you are someone who makes a lot of one night stays you don't have to worry as you'll earn the bonus after your second one night stay and so. Members can earn the bonus for up 20 nights or a maximum of 20,220 bonus points. Registration and booking is now open for stays made between January 15 and April 20, 2022. You do have to register by March 15, 2022. There is also an additional bonus for World of Hyatt credit cardmembers if you happen to have one of those U.S. cards. (see below).

OFFER EXTENDED 450 WestJet dollars + $0 companion fare when you get the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard

WestJet and RBC have extended the combined offer of 450 WestJet dollars  + $0 companion fare on the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard. The 450 bonus WestJet dollars are awarded when you spend $5,000 in the first three months and is available on new applications made until January 5, 2022. The $0 companion fare voucher is currently available for applications made until March 7, 2022, it is this latter voucher offer where the extension takes place and confirms our anticipation of them extending it if TD and Aeroplan extended their Buddy Pass offers which they did.

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

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Travel Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of December 2021! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards 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 two first year free cards on the list.

Receive four months of Apple Music for free with any Canadian World or World Elite Mastercard

Back in April 2020 Mastercard Canada launched new benefits that became available on all Canadian World and World Elite Mastercard. Those new benefits were free global WiFi from Boingo, a short lived stint with Foodora (not Mastercard's fault), a credit with Ritual and Mastercard Travel Rewards. After launching those new benefits and the loss of Foodora the promise of more exclusive offers for World and World Elite cardholders went dormant. For well over a year no new exclusive offers or benefits were added, that is until now. Actually, since about mid-October or so but I hadn't checked the offer page since the summer and now there is one new benefit afforded to eligible cardholders.

Here are the latest RBC Offers including statement credits for Sporting Life, Staples & Tommy Hilfiger

The RBC Offers program has once again added and extended half a dozen new promotions this week to bring their complete list of offers to 34.

Be sure to login to your RBC account right away to load these offers (if required) or get the promo codes if required. Personally I received all these offers on the WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard but I know most if not all should also available for RBC's most popular card the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card and most other RBC cards.