Nov 16 Update: 250 AAdvantage Miles/day with Avis, 50% Bonus Avios from Diners Club, $25 HBC Gift Card with Marriott in Canada

News, Tips & Tricks
Just bonus offers today!

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 10,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you purchase a Miele CM5200 Barista Coffee System directly from Miele. More... Until Jan 31, 13

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Super Saver Mileage Plan Reward Sale enjoy discounted Super Saver award travel between select California cities and Hawaii (16,000 miles one way); and between Portland and San Diego or Las Vegas (8,000 miles one way). More... Book by Dec 13, 12

American AAdvantage
- 250 Bonus AAdvantage Miles per day on rentals of 1 or more consecutive days at participating Avis airport locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Middle East, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. More... Until Dec 31, 12

British Airways Executive Club
- 50% Bonus Avios Points when you transfer your Diners Club Club Rewards Points to British Airways Executive Club. More... Until Dec 31, 12 Residents of Canada only

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles when you book hotel accommodation with Agoda.com and stay within the promotion period. More... Until Mar 31, 13


Etihad Guest
2,000 Bonus Guest Miles on all Avis rentals in Europe, the Middle East or Africa. More... Until Jan 31, 13

Hyatt Gold Passport
- Triple Gold Passport Points for stays at the Hyatt 48 Lex New York. More... Dec 21, 12 - Feb 28, 13

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios for stays of 3 nights or more at participating Hace Hotels in Spain. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- Double Avios when you rent with Europcar in Spain. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- Double Avios for prepaid Atesa rentals in Spain. More... Until Dec 31, 12

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Priority Club Points for individual hotel stays in China. More... Until Jan 31, 12

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for stays on "JAL Mileage Bank, Double Mileage Plan" at Imperial Hotel Tokyo. More... Until Feb 28, 13
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for stays at participating Peninsula Hotels Worldwide. More... Dec 1 - Feb 28, 13 except Chicago Dec 17 - Mar 31, 13

La Quinta Returns
- Earn up to Triple Returns Points for stays at select La Quinta locations in the United States and Mexico. More... Until Dec 6, 12

Marriott Rewards
- Receive a $25 HBC gift card per night and free breakfast for stays at participating Marriott hotels across Canada. More... Until Dec 30, 12
- 2,000 Bonus Points per night for stays at the SpringHill Suites Fairfax Fair Oaks. More... Until Jan 16, 13

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Nov 15 Update: Accor Hotel Sale up to 50% off, 5,000 Bonus Points for Park Plaza stays, 500 Bonus Mileage Plus Miles for online shopping

News, Tips & Tricks
For those of you traveling frequently between Toronto and Los Angeles on Air Canada you'll be pleased to know that they are reintroducing 767-300ER service on the route for two flights a day during the busy Christmas season and then once a day from February to April. This means if you are flying up front or get upgraded you'll get to enjoy the Executive First pods instead of the typical Domestic Executive class found on the rest of the LAX flights operated by a mixture of Airbus aircraft (Source: airlineroute.net)

In other Star Alliance news, Lufthansa is launching summer seasonal service between Vancouver and Munich on May 16, 2013. Another option for Star Alliance flyers out of YVR (or connecting via YVR) to earn miles on or to redeem miles for.

In case you missed them earlier today I had a post on Diners Club Canada removing the Priority Pass feature and I provided further detailed coverage on PointsPay, the technology that allows the conversion of loyalty points and miles into cash.

Once again in the Calgary area, Shell will be offering 50 Bonus Air Miles when you spend $50 or more ($20 of that has to be on fuel) This is valid Nov 17 and 18.

Travel Deals
Accor Hotels is running another great sale for stays at over 2,000 locations worldwide. If you are a member of their Le Club loyalty program you will get up to 50% and if you are not a member you can get up to 40% off. Worthwhile to join for free to get that extra 10%. Bookings must be made by Nov 22 for stays between Dec 15 and Feb 10. Visit Accor Hotels for more details.

Bonus Offers
Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 5,000 Bonus Gold Points and 40% off for stays on the Bed & Breakfast Package at select Park Plaza Hotels and art'otels in Europe. More... Book by Feb 28,13 for stays until Mar 31, 13

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Priority Club Points for individual hotel stays in Japan and South Korea. More... Until Jan 31, 12
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Priority Club Points for individual hotel stays in Southeast Asia and India. More... Until Jan 31, 12

United Mileage Plus
- 500 Bonus Mileage Plus Miles for every $250 you spend via Mileage Plus Shopping up to a maximum of 2,500 bonus miles. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Diners Club to remove Priority Pass feature

As I had mentioned briefly in a post earlier this month, I received a letter from BMO stating that they will be removing the Priority Pass feature from my and of course all current holders of the Diners Club card as of February 1, 2013.

While it is never a good thing to lose a benefit with a card, I would assume that many cardholders did not make use of it as much as,say, the BMO World Elite Cardholders, who also get Priority Pass with their cards. The reason I see behind this is that Diners Club has their own lounge program that now boasts access to over 450 lounges, many of which are the same ones offered by Priority Pass. It was only 3 or 4 short years ago that there was a different story for DC cardholders as the lounge program had dwindled down to less than 150 lounges worldwide with no access to any in Canada. This is why Priority Pass made sense back then but now that the lounge program has expanded so quickly in Canada and abroad it probably didn’t make sense for BMO to continue paying the annual Priority Pass fee for its members here in Canada.



Of course there will be some members bummed by this move if they travel lots to locations where Diners does not have a lounge presence and they made use of the Priority Pass access. I would assume Diners will continue to add lounges as they see fit to keep this card competitive in the Canadian market to ensure they do not lose their current cardholders as the card is not open to new applications yet.  



For me, at this time most of my travels take me to places that have Diners Club lounges so it is not a huge loss.  In particular, my home base of Calgary is covered for flights to the U.S. or out of Concourse D. And for what is becoming a more frequent destination for me, I also like that they added the Plaza Premium lounge in T1 of Toronto Pearson as before I had to access it with Priority Pass and the pay the single entry fee. 



I would love to hear from other current Diners Club cardholders to find out what you think about the loss of the Priority Pass program. Will it affect your lounge access to where you travel most frequently? Does this loss not affect you at all or if it does are you considering to switch to another card?

PointsPay – Turn your loyalty miles and points into cash

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Dominic Hofer, the CEO of LoyLogic about their mobile wallet initiative called PointsPay. 


PointsPay is a new technology aiming to help consumers redeem virtual currencies (miles and points) as a regular currency through its patented mobile e-wallet technology. At this time it is the most global and widely recognized mobile e-wallet and Hofer says they are confident the technology is solid as some extremely large Internet companies are attempting to copy them.  As they are the technology developer and provided, LoyLogic says that what this technology can do is the most exciting.



PointsPay is similar to PayPal as consumers will register a user ID at PointsPay and load their mobile e-wallet (available via iTunes) so they can use it online or via a prepaid Visa or MasterCard that users can request once they register at PointsPay. The major difference between PayPal and PointsPay is how you fund your account. Whereas PayPal is funded via your bank account or a linked credit card, PointsPay is funded by your loyalty program points or miles. There is an option to use a site like Points.com to convert your miles into cash in your Paypal account but once the transaction is done there is no going back. That is where PointsPay also differs from Paypal in that all points and miles accompany a member in a ‘cloud‘ like setting and you can load/unload your PointsPay account as you wish. So if there is an unused amount of currency in your PointsPay account it is pushed back to your loyalty program account at the same exchange rate seen when you ‘bought‘ the currency with your points or miles.



Hofer admits that the PointsPay option may not the be the best use of points but it does provide liquidity and flexibility of points or miles. Ultimately it will depend on the loyalty program as to how ‘worthwhile’ they make the PointsPay option since it is the program that sets the redemption ratio not PointsPay. For example, with Etihad Guest it costs 16,069 Guest Miles to load your PointsPay account with US$100. Those same 16,069 Miles can get you an AED500 Etihad Holidays Voucher that is worth roughly US$136. So it will come down to each users preferences as to how they want to use their miles. One good avenue for PointsPay is that if you have miles that are expiring soon and know you will not use them you might as well get something for them by loading up your PointsPay account.

Currently PointsPay has only one loyalty partner, Etihad Guest. The two partnered up earlier in the year to launch PointsPay and now that the technology is stable and established with Etihad Guest, you should see other programs launching the feature soon. A major U.S. travel loyalty program is apparently in the works and there has been interest from a Canadian loyalty company (I'm not sure which as it is most likely not Air Miles since they launched their own Air Miles ‘Cash’ feature earlier this year and when I asked Aeroplan, it wasn't on their radar) as well as others around the globe. Hofer stated their sales effort needs to be ramped up to garner more partners to make PointsPay a success and that should happen now that there has been a complete integration with Etihad Guest.



To celebrate the successful launch of PointsPay they are running a contest where you can win 50,000 or 10,000 Etihad Guest Miles by telling them what crazy, fun, exciting and surprising way you found to redeem your points via PointsPay. The link to the contest is:
 http://www.pointspay.com/index.php/component/content/article?id=36

Nov 14 Update: Radisson/Country Inns 3 Day Sale, up to 100% Bonus Dividend Miles for Hotels & Car Rentals

I'm back from a couple of days off, well not from work but off from posting on the blog or updating the main Rewards Canada site

News, Tips & Tricks
If you missed it earlier today I posted details of Aeroplan's Media Day which was held in Toronto on November 13. Check it out for lots of pics of some of the more interesting non flight rewards from Aeroplan.

In the bonus offers there is a no-brainer bonus miles promotion if you credit your hotel stays and/or car rentals into a US Airways Dividend Miles account. With the possibility of earning up to 100% more miles there is no reason why a Dividend Miles collector shouldn't register for the promotion.

Travel Deals
Radisson and Country Inns by Carlson are running another 3 day sale where you can get 25% off stays at select locations in the U.S. and Canada until the end of November. For the list of hotels please visit Radisson or Country Inns. These rates qualify for the current Club Carlson up to 6,000 bonus points per night promomtion (register first before you book) plus your standard Club Carlson online booking bonus of up to 3,000 bonus points. So at a minimum you should be earning 3,000 bonus points on one of these stays if you have not completed any recently.

Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to 3,000 Avios when you stay in a Club Room or above at participating Langham Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 13
- Double Avios Points for stays at one of twelve participating Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 12

China Eastern Eastern Miles
- Triple Eastern Miles Points when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Emirates Skywards
- 1,000 Bonus Skywards Miles and free breakfast for two when you stay at select Marriott properties in Phuket. More... Until Jan 31, 13
- Triple Skywards Miles on rentals of 3 or more days at any Avis location in France. More... Until Mar 31, 13
- Triple Skywards Miles when you rent a vehicle at any Budget location in France. More... Dec 5 - 31, 13
- Double Skywards Miles when you rent a vehicle at any Budget location in France. More... Jan 1 - Feb 28, 13
- Triple Skywards Miles when you rent with Sixt in Thailand. More... Until Dec 31, 12

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club
- Earn up to 5,000 Bonus Priority Club Points for individual hotel stays in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu. More... Until Jan 31, 12

JetAirways JetPrivilege
- Triple JetPrivilege Miles when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. More... Until Nov 30, 12

Marriott Rewards
- 1,500 Bonus Points per night for stays at the Residence Inn Little Rock. More... Until Jan 20, 13
- 500 Bonus Points per night when you stay at one of any five participating Marriott locations in Atlanta. More... Until Jan 10, 13

US Airways Dividend Miles
- Earn up to 100% Bonus Dividend Miles on your hotel stays and car rentals that are credited to your Dividend Miles account. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 25% Bonus Flying Club Miles when you buy or gift Flying Club miles online. More... Until Dec 5, 12

Aeroplan Media Day

Yesterday was the annual Aeroplan Media Day where the loyalty program invites media, bloggers and others to meet with Aeroplan exec's & employees to let us know about their rewards, partners and future plans with Aeroplan.

The event was being held at Airship 37, a cool venue in its own right on the edge of downtown Toronto. Outside of the main entrance there were displays of some the Aeroplan merchandise rewards for the outdoors and a Fiat from Avis to highlight their partnership with Aeroplan.

As you enter into the first room of Airship 37 was set up somewhat like a airport departure lounge with continuous 'airport' announcements running on the sound system. There were also displays from Air Canada showcasing the past and present as AC celebrates their 75th Anniversary.

The second room had merchandise and experiential rewards grouped into regions like Paris and San Francisco.  Rewards that could be seen ranged from Kate Spade and Burberry bags to a display of their experiential reward from Essence Workshop in Montreal where you can redeem miles to create your own fragrance (starts at 16,500 miles). Other items included Me to We Jewellery created by Masaii Mamas (employing Kenyan moms!), guitars signed by whole slew of Canadian artists and bands, another one signed by Nickleback and a framed and signed photo of past Toronto Maple Leaf captains all available to Aeroplan members. According to Aeroplan, 25% of miles redeemed are now for non-travel rewards from their merchandise and experiential rewards catalogs. Some of the most popular rewards that members have been redeeming for include helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon and Napa Valley Wine Tours.

New partners Bentley and Birks also had some merchandise on display to show some of the items you can earn Aeroplan miles on when you purchase them.

There was also frequent break dancing exhibitions from Unity Charity, one of the charities benefiting from the Aeroplan Beyond Miles program. The charity helps impact the lives of youth across Canada and their goal is to raise 500,000 Aeroplan Miles so they can go across Canada to help youth become role models and leaders in their communities. If they reach 90% of the goal, Aeroplan will the donate the rest.

The highlight of my visit was sitting down with David Klein the VP of Marketing & Innovation for Aeroplan. We spent an hour talking about the ins and outs of Aeroplan, the benefits to members, the challenges the program has, current status of earning and burning Aeroplan miles and future enhancements to the program. Often one forgets the challenges seen by programs in running such a large program but the general consensus with most Aeroplan members is that they like what the program is doing in areas such as adding many more 'coalition' partners to earn miles with despite the many complaints seen about the lack of award ticket availability and the sliding scale ClassicPlus flights seen on the redemption side. One thing that many Aeroplan members don't know about as was pointed out by David is that because of the sliding scale of ClassicPlus flights some award flights to Europe this past summer actually priced out less than Classic flights because of the ultra competitive pricing seen on Transatlantic flights. I guess that the takes away the original wording of the program stating the ClassicPlus flights start at a 30% premium above Classic flights.

For the future they are constantly working on new technology and enhancements including one that may be seen soon to make searching and/or finding award flights easier than it is now. One item they are always working to make even better is their Aeroplan app and don't worry non-Apple users you should see an Aeroplan app soon as well.

All in all it was great to make it out to this years Aeroplan Media Day to learn more about the program and what they are planning for the future.

Nov 9 Update: up to 4x Avios @ Fairmont Hotels, 30% Bonus on buying Mileage Plan Miles, Warsaw City Bonus Highlight

A quiet day to end the week on RewardsCanada.ca plus the start of next week will be quiet as I'm off to the Aeroplan Media Day in Toronto. Watch for the site to come back to full steam on Wednesday.

News, Tips & Tricks
If you need to do some shopping at Rexall this is the weekend to do it as you can 300 bonus Aeroplan Miles for spending $30 or more in one transaction. The offer runs until November 11. More details can be found here

Over on the blog for my global site I featured Warsaw as this week's City Bonus Highlight. If your travels are taking you to the capital of Poland in the next little while check the post out to see if you can earn more miles and points.

Bonus Offers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- 30% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy or gift Mileage Plan miles online. More... Until Dec 21, 12

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 500 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you make a donation to the American Red Cross. More... Until Nov 30, 12

British Airways Executive Club
- Earn up to Quadruple Avios when staying at any Fairmont, Raffles or Swissotel Hotels & Resorts worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- 500 Bonus Avios Points when you stay two nights Thursday to Sunday at any one of over 54 Marriott locations in the U.K.. More... Book by Dec 21 for stays until Jan 31, 13

Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com)
- Double Boomerang Miles for Germanwings flights between Stuttgart and Milan, Manchester, London-Stansted or Bilbao. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- Double Boomerang Miles for all car rentals booked via Mietwagen.com. More... Until Nov 30, 12

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios when you fly Iberia between Madrid and Oviedo or Paris. More... Until Dec 31, 12


Malaysia Airlines Enrich (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com)
- Triple Enrich Miles when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. More... Until Dec 31, 12
- Double Enrich Miles when you stay at any participating IHG hotel in Australasia, Southeast Asia, Japan and the Middle East. More... Until Jan 31, 13
- Triple Enrich Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at Thistle Port Dickson Resort Thistle Johor Bahru. More... Until Jan 31, 13

South African Airways Voyager
- Double Voyager Miles for stays on the Winter Breaks offer at Kempinski Hotels in Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. More... Nov 15, 12 - Jan 15, 13

Vietnam Airlines Golden Lotus Plus (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com)
- Earn up to 2,000 Elite Status Qualifying Miles on flights from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City to Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya. More... Until Nov 30, 12

Nov 8 Update: New Priority Pass Lounge in YEG, Reactivate AAdvantage Miles, 1,000 Free HHonors Points for new members

News, Tips & Tricks
If you are not a member of Hilton's HHonors program you can get 1,000 Free HHonors points just for joining via the Alitalia offer below in the bonus offer section.

Priority Pass, the global lounge program that lets travellers pay to access over 600 business class lounges worldwide has added some new lounges to the program that would be of interest to Canadians. The first is the addition of the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge in New York's La Guardia airport and the second is the addition of Edmonton's Plaza Premium lounge. For more details on the program please visit PriorityPass.com.

If you are an American Airlines AAdvantage member that has lost miles due to them expiring, you have a chance to buy them back as follows:

Eligibility
Miles that expired on or after December 31, 2002 are eligible for reactivation
There's no limit to the number of expired miles you can reactivate
The price to reactivate miles is $200 - $600 (subject to 7.5% federal excise tax), depending on the number of miles reactivated
This offer is available through December 31, 2012

Reactivate Miles
Contact AAdvantage Customer Service at 1-800-882-8880 (ask for "AAdvantage Account" at the Main Menu)
Reactivate rates are as follows, plus 7.5% federal excise tax
$200 - to reactivate 1 - 50,000 expired miles
$400- to reactivate 50,001 - 75,000 expired miles
$600 - to reactivate more than 75,000 expired miles
Rates are charged based on the total number of miles reactivated from one account at one time, regardless of when the miles expired

Of course it would not be worth to reactivate several thousand miles but if you were unlucky enough to lose large amounts of miles due to expiry then this isn't that bad of deal. If you reactiviate 50,000 miles for $200 you essentially have enough miles for two economy class tickets in North America that are worth more than that $200 (of course not taking into account what those expired miles cost you in the first place) or there is also good value if you can use the miles to boost your balance to redeem for an international business class or first class ticket.

Big shouts out to Rob Carrick once again as he provided coverage for my Canada's Choice rankings on the Globe & Mail website today.

Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you book an AMResorts Book a Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets, Dreams, Now, or Sunscape Resorts & Spas package through Air Canada Vacations. More... Until Dec 15, 12
- Earn up 5,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you book a getaway at Sandals and Beaches resorts. More... Until Nov 30, 12

Air China Phoenix Miles
- Triple Phoenix Miles Kilometers when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Earn up to 6,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles + 1,000 HHonors points when you stay at any participating Hilton Worldwide. More... Until Jan 31, 13

American AAdvantage
- 3,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you purchase a new annual Admirals Club membership. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Delta SkyMiles
- 1,500 Bonus Medallion Qualifying Miles SkyMiles when you purchase or renew a one-year or three-year Delta Sky Club membership. More... Until Dec 31, 12

Etihad Guest
- Double Guest Miles for stays at the Sands Hotel Abu Dhabi. More... Until Dec 31,12
- Double Guest Miles for stays at the PARKROYAL Darling Harbour, Sydney. More... Until Jan 31, 13

Gulf Air Falconflyer (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Triple Falconflyer Miles for every car rental of 5 days or more at Sixt locations Worldwide. More... Until Dec 15, 12
- Double Falconflyer Miles for stays at the Centro Capital Centre – Abu Dhabi. More... Until Dec 30, 12

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Earn up to 40% JetPrivilege Miles Discount when you purchase JPMiles online. More... Until Mar 31, 13

Korean Air SKYPASS
- Triple SkyPass Miles when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio. More...Until Dec 31, 12

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Triple KrisFlyer Miles when you stay at any participating hotel and resort in the Hilton Worldwide portfolio.More... Until Dec 31, 12

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Double Flying Club Miles for stays at select Taj Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 15, 12

American Express Membership Rewards Travel Partner Changes

As I was writing my review of the new ChoicePlus Card from American Express I noticed some changes to the Frequent Traveler Participants of the American Express Canada Membership Rewards program. Simply put these are the frequent flyer and frequent guest programs you can transfer your Membership Rewards points to.

First off, you may recall that back on August 28th I announced Etihad Guest as the newest partner of Membership Rewards but when I logged in on Sunday I noticed they were gone from the list. Turns out there are some technical issues with the transfers. Amex is currently testing their fix and the option should be back up next week..

Also gone from the list is InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club. This second removal I'm not too surprised about as IHG Priority Club has their own credit cards in Canada now.

The final change is also on the hotel side and I noticed this when I was writing the aforementioned review that 1,000 Membership Rewards points now equals 1,000 Hilton HHonors points. Previously 1,000 Membership Rewards points would only get you 900 HHonors points. Any increases in the amount of points you receive for transfers is always a good thing. I personally value Hilton HHonors points at about 0.75 cents each so you are getting a little more value out of your MR points although its still not a great value unless those points were earned via the 2x category bonuses on the American Express Gold Rewards Card which means you would be getting 1.5 cents per MR point. Of course the option of being able to transfer is great if you need to top off your HHonors account to get an award whether or not that Membership Rewards points cost you 50 cents or one dollar.

MBNA Best Western MasterCard sign up bonus increased to 40,000 points (8,000 Aeroplan Miles)

This offer is no longer available