Air Canada announces service to Copenhagen from Toronto

Air Canada announced today it will launch service between Toronto and Copenhagen on Jun 24, 2010. The non stop daily flights will be operated with a Boeing 767-300ER with the new interiors.

Flight timings as follows:
Toronto-Copenhagen Dep 1715 Arr 0655+1
Copenhagen-Toronto Dep 1220 Arr 1450

Source: Air Canada

Air Canada relaunches seasonal service between St. Johns and London UK

Air Canada has announced that the will reintroduce direct non-stop service between St. John's Newfoundland and London Heathrow for the summer 2010 season. The flight this time around is better timed for connections in London and St. John's. The service will run daily between May 27 and Sep 26, 10

Flight Timings
St. John's - London Dep 2155 Arr 0625+1
London - St. John's Dep 1235 Arr 1435

Source Air Canada Press Release

Air Canada 2010 Top Tier Program Details

Air Canada and Aeroplan released the details of their 2010 Top Tier program today. For the first time in many years, it seems it is being met with cheers rather then jeers from some of Air Canada's Top Flyers. It appears that Air Canada has listened to them and made changes to some of the issues the Top Tier members had with the program. Here are some highlights:

- The 30% premium on IKK redemption (Super Elite Special Access to Aeroplan Reward Seats/J Priority Rewards) will be removed. This was put in place for 2009 and received a lot of negative feedback from Super Elites.

- Super Elites will be able to designate immediate family members who will be able to travel, unaccompanied by the member, on any international J Priority Rewards. Previously the member had to travel on the same reservation

- The J Priority Rewards are subject to capacity controls. According to Air Canada this will only affect a small number of flights typically during peak travel periods.

- Top Tier Upgrade remain relatively unchanged including the ability to upgrade from Tango Plus M and U fare classes.

- Electronic Upgrades are being developed so that paper certificates will not have to be carried. Not set date yet though.

- Air Canada/Aeroplan are evaluating a potential lifetime status program. Details will be communicated to those who qualify.

- Tier bonuses remain the same except now you can also earn them on United and Continental as of Jan 1, 2010, for example 100% (Super Elite), 50% (Elite), and 25% (Prestige) bonus

- seat selection privileges and 2011 re-qualification all remain the same.

You can find all the details on the 2010 Aeroplan Top Tier Program on the Aeroplan Website

The new Starwood Credit Card is an American Express

Although you can't sign up for it yet, SPG has announced that they have partnered with American Express to issue their new credit card in Canada after the termination of their partnership with MBNA Canada.

Few details are available yet but the card will earn 1 Starpoint per C$1 spent and will come with a 10,000 Starpoint sign up bonus. It will also offer some sort of accelerated point earning feature.

So far it does not look too bad although the 10,000 Starpoint Sign up bonus is a little on the low side compared to the U.S. equivelant or some of the higher end cards in Canada but that could be negated if the benefits and accelerated point earning are worthwhile.

More details can be found here

WestJet adds new routes, expands service on 19 others

CALGARY, Dec. 16 /CNW/ - WestJet today unveiled its flight schedule for
the summer of 2010, featuring five new routes and expanded service on 19
trans-border and international routes.
The summer schedule also includes new non-stop service between Vancouver
and Kitchener-Waterloo, Vancouver and San Francisco, Edmonton and Kamloops,
Edmonton and San Francisco, and Toronto and Puerto Vallarta.
Five Canadian cities will see seasonal routes become year-round, including:

- Vancouver to Los Angeles, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun
- Edmonton to Cancun
- Calgary to Phoenix, Palm Springs and Cancun
- Toronto to Atlantic City, Miami, Puerto Plata, Bridgetown, Cayo Coco,
Varadero, Turks and Caicos, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Cancun
- Montreal to Las Vegas and Cancun

Full details on the WestJet Press Release

Delta cuts Montreal - Cincinnati route

As part of the shrinking of their Cincinnati hub, Delta will be cutting service between Montreal and Cincinnati as of Feb 11, 10

Source: Airline Route Updates

Ethiopian Airlines to join Star Alliance in 2010

Following the successful integration of a partnership with Star Alliance founding member Lufthansa, Ethiopian is now setting it sights to get full membership in the Star Alliance. No exact date has been set but according to this article it states that the airline is set to join early next year.

Continental Announces New OnePass Elite Benefits

This was received this an email from Continental last week. The following new benefits are being offered for Elite levels in Continental's OnePass program:

System-wide Upgrades
Platinum Elite members who earn at least 100,000 Elite Qualification Miles (EQMs) or 120 Elite Qualification Points (EQPs) will earn four, one-way electronic System-wide Upgrade certificates. These certificates can be used in conjunction with any published fare on Continental, Continental Micronesia or Copa Airlines flights and are not subject to additional fees.

New Elite level — OnePass Presidential Platinum Elite
Presidential Platinum is a new invitation-only Elite tier designed to reward Continental’s top Platinum Elite members with some exciting new benefits. Members who achieve this level will be given all the benefits of a Platinum Elite member, plus top priority in Elite Upgrade recognition and flight standby, a dedicated VIP phone line and 25,000 bonus miles.

The initial spending qualification will be $30,000*, and Elite members will be able to track their eligible spending at continental.com starting mid-year 2010.

*$30,000 is the inaugural spend threshold for 2010. In subsequent years, this threshold may change in order to preserve the exclusivity of this program.

Rewards Canada on Newstalk 1010 tonight

If you live in the Toronto area or anywhere where you can listen online I am scheduled to be on Ryan Doyle's show tonight on Newstalk 1010 around 8:35EST. Be sure to listen if you can. No specific topic of yet just a general overview of Rewards Canada and what we do.

Air Canada 10% off flights to the U.S. when using a Visa card

Travel from January 6 to March 31, 2010! To get your exclusive discount, simply enter this promotion code when booking and pay with your VISA card: 4N6JQRV1

Offer ends December 31, 2009. Valid on published Tango Plus, Latitude, Executive Class fares

View the complete offer on Aircanada.com