You can now convert Petro-Points to More Rewards Points

We've discussed the Petro-Points and More Rewards partnership several times on Rewards since it launched in 2016. Petro Canada is More Rewards largest nationwide partner and when they became partners you could link you More Rewards account to your Petro-Points account. Then when you made a purchase at any Petro Canada gas station or convenience store not only would you earn your Petro-Points but you would also earn More Rewards points. This is a great option to earn points in several programs at once, add in your credit card payment and your triple dipping on every Petro Canada purchase. Here are some of our past posts discussing the relationship and the programs themselves that you can read as time allows so we don't have to rewrite them here:

• How you can earn a 4% or higher return on lottery ticket and convenience store purchases
• Scotiabank More Rewards Visa Review
• The Top 4 Coalition Program Credit Cards for Aeroplan, AIR MILES, More Rewards & SCENE members
• Petro-Points get a makeover - easier to understand, now better for some, worse for others
    

Recently they expanded the partnership between the two reward programs by allowing you to convert Petro-Points to More Rewards points. 

The conversion rate runs 10,000 Petro-Points to 2,400 More Rewards Points. With this conversion you are actually gaining value in points if you redeem More Rewards points for travel! Granted its very little but still you get ever so slightly more value. The revised Petro-Points program runs on a simple 10,000 points = $10 redemption basis. When you convert to More Rewards that 2,400 More Rewards points is equivalent to approximately $10.08 (value of a More Rewards point is ~$0.0042 when redeeming for travel). Personally I would only covert to More Rewards if I was redeeming for travel as that provides the best value and wouldn't do so for merchandise or gift cards via More Rewards unless you only need a few more points to actually redeem then I would convert only enough to top off for that reward.

If you haven't linked your Petro-Points card to your More Rewards card you can do so here. Really you should be linking your cards no matter what.You can still earn the extra Petro-Points offered by the program by also linking your SPC, HBC Rewards, CAA or BCAA cards. 

Also seeing that there isn't a credit card available for Petro-Points right now you could always go for the More Rewards Visa (ranked the #1 No Fee Travel Points Card in Canada) as your main payment method at Petro-Canada.

Scotiabank More Rewards Visa Card

• Earn 5,000 Bonus More Rewards Points on approval and 10,000 Bonus More Rewards Points on first purchase if you apply by August 31, 2017
• Earn 6 More Rewards points for every $1 spent on purchases at participating More Rewards locations including Save-On-foods, PriceSmart Foods, Overwaitea Foods, Cooper’s Foods and Urban Fare stores and participating More Rewards partners such as Petro Canada and Panago.
• Earn 4 points for every $1 on other purchases everywhere else
• Redeem your More Rewards points for travel, groceries, gift cards, merchandise and more
• No annual fee and no earning or redemption caps.

May 25 Update: Amex drops minimum income requirements, National Bank Echo CashBack added to charts, Aeroplan Fairmont bonus

News, Tips & Tricks
American Express reached out to us to let us know that they no longer have a minimum income requirement on any of their card products as of today. Also The bankruptcy rule has become more lenient. They will only decline applicants who have filed for bankruptcy in the past 2 years rather than the current rule of 7 years. This is great news for students, low income earners and people looking to rebuild credit where income requirements or prior bankruptcy may have kept some people for applying for certain cards.

We have added the National Bank ECHO CashBack MasterCard to our Cash Back Credit Card comparison chart. Of note is the card's earning of 1.5% for online purchases. You can also cash out anytime your rewards balance hits $25 or more. Check out how it compares to others here!

This Saturday is once again a 20x Shoppers Optimum points day! If you are planning on shopping there hold off until Saturday!

Posts since our last update:

• Earning Stories: 2,500 Aeroplan Miles on an Avis SUV rental
  Welcome to the another post in the Earning Stories series right here on Rewards Canada. For years we have…
• British Airways Executive Club: Earn 2,000 Bonus Avios per stay at Hilton Hotels Worldwide
  One of the best non-Canadian programs for Canadians is British Airways' Executive Club. Here are links to just a…
• Earn up to 75 Bonus WestJet Dollars for travel to Las Vegas
  WestJet Rewards has brought back their ever popular Las Vegas bonus. There are two parts to the offer, a…

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada / Aeroplan
- 500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles and a $50 hotel credit for stays of 2 or more consecutive nights at Fairmont Hotels Worldwide.  More... Until Aug 31, 17

Other Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- Earn 2,000 Bonus Avios per stay at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. More... Until Aug 31, 17

Le Club accorhotels
- 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor hotels in Basel and Geneva. More... Book by Jul 16 for stays until Aug 24, 1 7

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 14,000 Bonus QMiles when you fly between Nice and Doha. More... Jul 4 - Sep 30, 17
- Receive up to 17,000 QMiles Discount when you redeem for an award ticket between Nice and Doha. More... Jul 4 - Sep 5, 17
- 50% Bonus QMiles on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo plus earn 1,000 bonus Qmiles on your first stay booked via Kaligo. More... Book by Jul 8 for stays until Dec 31, 17
- Double QMiles on Hertz rentals of 7 or more days at participating locations in UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Austria, USA, Canada, UAE, Norway, Denmark, Sweden. More... Book by Jun 15 for rentals Jul 1 - Oct 31, 17

Starwood Preferred Guest
- Double Starpoints for stays on the Luxury Experience at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok. More... Until Dec 31, 17

Follow Rewards Canada:

Earning Stories: 2,500 Aeroplan Miles on an Avis SUV rental

Welcome to the another post in the Earning Stories series right here on Rewards Canada. For years we have provided you with the details on earning points and miles (both regular earning and bonus opportunities) and these stories show the actual offers in action.

This earning story is for a rental we completed in Abbotsford earlier month. We rented a compact SUV for 4 days to get us around the Abbotsford area for the Volleyball Canada National Championships. I booked it using this promotion we had listed on Rewards Canada's Aeroplan Bonus Miles page:

Earn up to 3,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on Avis rentals Worldwide. Book online at Avis.com
Bonus Aeroplan Miles may be earned on qualifying rentals, at participating locations as follows:

• 1000 bonus miles on weekday rentals of 3 consecutive paid days or more, and on a weekend rental of 2 consecutive paid days or more. A weekend rental must be picked up after Thursday 4pm, local time. Available at participating locations worldwide.
• 1000 bonus miles on select vehicles, including Specialty (Group X), SUV’s (Groups W, F, Z, L), Vans (Group V), Luxury (Group H), Convertibles (Group K) and Premium (Group G) vehicles. Excludes Economy (Group A), Compact (Group B), Intermediate/Midsize (Group C) and Full size (Group D, E).  Available at participating locations in North America.
• 500 bonus miles on rentals that are prepaid at the time of reservation via avis.com/ca, or via the Avis Call Centre. Available at participating locations in North America.
• 500 bonus miles on Rental Option / Coverages purchased including: GPS by Garmin, Sirius XM Satellite radio (US only), Child Safety Seats, Travel Tab Adventurer, Extended Roadside Assistance (RSN), Loss Damage Waiver (LDW), Personal Accident Insurance (PAI), Personal Effects Protection (PEP), Additional Liability Insurance (ALI – US only). Bonus will be awarded one time only, per rental agreement, regardless of the number of Rental Options / Coverages purchased. Available at participating locations in North America.
• 500 bonus miles as a Status Member. A Status member are those with Aeroplan Silver, Black or Diamond status only.

The booking was simple via Avis.com and when we arrived much to our surprise instead of the Ford Escape or equivalent that we had booked they put us in a nice BMW X3. 

At the outset of the rental we ended up earning the 500 base Aeroplan Miles plus the 2,000 bonus miles from the offer (1,000 for 2+ weekend days and 1,000 for an SUV)

Here is a screen shot of the miles that posted:

Overall I think this was yet another good earning action for an inexpensive rental and is always nice to boost an account especially in this day and age when more and more programs are going revenue based  and making miles actually harder to earn by flying so you have to make use of these partner offers.

Tips for Car Rentals
- Watch the rates that include bonus miles - For us it is about 50/50 in terms of earning bonuses on rentals, many times rates are out there that are quite a bit cheaper and provide more value versus paying more and earning more miles. For a complete list of car rental bonus offers see this page on the main Rewards Canada site.
- Read the fine print - When a bonus offer is available be sure that your rental meets the criteria. Those are primarily minimum number of rental days and vehicle type. There are many promotions that don't get awarded on the smallest/cheapest vehicles.
- Join the Car Rental company's program - Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, National Emerald Club and others all provide great benefits such as dedicated check in counters, bypass check in counters and more.

You can find more Earning Stories listed here!

British Airways Executive Club: Earn 2,000 Bonus Avios per stay at Hilton Hotels Worldwide

One of the best non-Canadian programs for Canadians is British Airways' Executive Club. Here are links to just a couple of reasons why the program can be valuable for us:

• How to get select Canada to U.S. award flights faster by utilizing British Airways' Executive Club 
• How you can easily get a free flight between Toronto and Dublin, Ireland (pre taxes/fees) or 4 flights for $240+fees

So when a really good earning opportunity comes along for BAEC us Canadians should really take a good look at it. This time British Airways and Hilton have teamed up once again to offer a good bonus for Worldwide stays. The bonus of 2,000 Avios per stay is really decent and can be lucrative if you make those stays at some of the lower end, cheaper Hilton properties. The bonus can earned up to 5 times for a total of 10,000 bonus Avios.

Offer details:
Earn 2,000 Bonus Avios per stay at participating Hilton hotels Worldwide. Bonus is awarded for up to 5 stays for a total bonus of 10,000 Avios. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Until Aug 31, 17

Find many more bonus Avios offers here!

Earn up to 75 Bonus WestJet Dollars for travel to Las Vegas

WestJet Rewards has brought back their ever popular Las Vegas bonus. There are two parts to the offer, a flight only bonus and a flight+hotel booking bonus. The flight only offer is huge: 50 bonus dollars on round trip flights to Vegas. Book a flight and a 2 or more night stay at the Wynn Las Vegas or Encore booked via WestJet Vacations and you'll earn a total of 75 bonus WestJet dollars.

Offer details:
Earn up to 75 Bonus WestJet dollars when you book travel to Las Vegas. Earn 50 bonus dollars for round trip flights between Canada and Las Vegas. Earn 75 bonus dollars if you book a flight and a 2 or more night stay at the Wynn Las Vegas or Encore booked via WestJet Vacations. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required) Book by Jun 25 for travel until Mar 31, 18

And why not make your WestJet travels even more rewarding and enjoyable by taking advantage of our Exclusive offer for WestJet Rewards Silver Status when you apply for and receive the WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard! 

May 24 Update: Aeroplan Transfer Miles discount, new Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan partners, Shangri-La Toronto deal

News, Tips & Tricks
Aeroplan is once again running a discounted offer for transferring miles between accounts. Normally it costs 2 cents per mile to transfer to another account but until June 4th you can do so at 1.5 cents per miles. Still not the best deal but if you have some stagnant miles that can help another account reach an award level it may be worth it to do so. Find out more here.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has followed in the footsteps of Air Canada Altitude and British Airways Executive Club by offering Mileage Plan elite status members an option to extend status if you stop travelling for pregnancy or parental leave. Find out more here.

And if that wasn't the only good new from Alaska Airlines they have announced more ways to earn and burn miles. The ability to redeem Mileage Plan miles is now available on Condor. We mentioned this partnership a few months ago but at time only earning was available but now you can also redeem for flights on Condor. This is pretty significant seeing that Condor does fly between Calgary, Whitehorse, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax and Germany. Here is the award chart for using Mileage Plan miles on Condor from Canada to Europe:

They have also announced a new partnership with Finnair. Currently you will be able to earn Mileage Plan miles on Finnair flights (they do serve Toronto over the summer season) and eventually you'll be able to redeem on Finnair flights. For Finnair Plus members you can earn and already burn for flights on Alaska. (Source Alaska Airlines)

Posts since our last update:

• Scotiabank Platinum American Express - The sleeper card in the Canaidan premium card market
  One card that does not get too much attention on our site or many others is the Scotiabank Platinum American…

Travel Deals
A Bespoke Experience in Toronto at the Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto. When you book by 31 July for a stay through 30 September 2017, you'll receive: Complimentary high tea for two at the liveliest Lobby Lounge in the city Exclusive walking tour of downtown Toronto for two Members-only souvenir to always remind you of your stay. Find out more here.

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
AeroMexico Club Premier
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at any Wyndham Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jul 15, 17

Philippine Airlines Mabuhay
- Earn up to Triple Mabuhay Miles for stays at participating Hilton hotels in Worldwide. More... Until Jun 30, 17

Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer
- 6,000 Bonus Safar Flyer Miles when you join the Safar Flyer program and complete your 1st flight. More... Until Jun 10, 17

Stash Hotel Rewards
- Triple Stash Rewards Points and a complimentary draft beer for stays at the Chalet View Lodge Graeagle. More... Book by Aug 1 for stays Jun 1 - Aug 31, 17
- Quadruple Stash Rewards Points plus a 500 point bonus for stays at The Inn at Union Square San Francisco. More... Until Dec 30, 17
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays at the The Firebrand Hotel Whitefish. More... Until Jun 30, 17
- Double Stash Rewards Points for stays of 2 or more nights at the Menger Hotel San Antonio. More... Book by Jun 30 for stays until Aug 31, 17
- Triple Stash Rewards Points $40 restaurant voucher and overnight valet parking for stays at the Hotel Andra Seattle. More... Book by Oct 30 for stays until Dec 31, 17


Follow Rewards Canada:

Scotiabank Platinum American Express - The sleeper card in the Canadian premium card market

One card that does not get too much attention on our site or many others is the Scotiabank Platinum American Express card. The card is a sleeper card. That is, there is little promotion of it, little talk of it but when you consider the benefits that come with it you can see why we call it a sleeper card.

We even reminded ourselves of the card, hence this post, when we released our Ultimate High End Credit Card portfolio a few weeks ago. We did consider the card but in reality the ultimate high end card is the Platinum Card from American Express so that card took the Amex slot for the portfolio. However you could give this card consideration if you don't need all the benefits and the heftier price tag from Amex's own offering.

This card isn't cheap as well but it is $300 less than The Platinum Card from American Express. At $399 the Scotiabank Platinum American Express Card falls into the realm of less than 10 cards in Canada that have annual fees over $150. That being said, this card fills a great niche for someone who may be a semi-frequent traveller that only travels maybe a half dozen times per year or so. Why is that? The card offers free Priority Pass membership, a US$99 value. Big deal you say, the BMO World Elite MasterCard and several Platinum Cards from American Express have this feature. However the Scotia Platinum American Express comes with 10 free lounge visits for the primary cardholder and 4 more for a supplementary cardholder. At US$27 a pop that's US$270 in savings for the primary cardholder. So really you have covered your annual fee with just the lounge access.

On top of that is the earning provided by the card. Just like its sibling, the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card, this card earn 4 points per dollar on eligible Gas, Grocery, and Dining/Entertainment spending. That's a 4% return that you can use towards any travel. Or you can use them for numerous other reward options included cash back via Scotia Rewards (see our post on the revamped Scotia Rewards program here)

You also get 30,000 bonus points on your first purchase with the card that's worth $300 towards travel. So let's add that up. $300 sign up bonus, US$99 Priority Pass membership and US$270 in lounge passes. That means in the first year you are getting close to $800 in value for the $399 annual fee. Each year after that you're annual essentially covers the lounge costs but then you have your rewards, insurance coverage and other benefits included. This card is actually a steal of deal.

Now do you see why consider this card the sleeper card? Not well known, but it really should be seeing how popular the Gold version of the card is.

Do you have this card? Are you considering it? Let us know below what you like about it! 

Click here to learn more and/or apply for the Scotia Platinum American Express Card.

May 23 Update: Listen to Podcast Episode 28, Air Canada Aeroplan Saga Summary Page and more!

News, Tips & Tricks
Podcast episode 28 is out now for you to download and listen to! In this episode we discuss even further the split between Air Canada and Aeroplan and have tips and insight on it, we talk about the Marriott and SPG summer promos and also delve into our Ultimate High End Credit Card Portfolio. You can download, listen to and subscribe to the podcast here.

Much like the landing page we had for the Air Miles Expiry stories last year, we have created one for the Air Canada Aeroplan saga. Seeing that we are three years out from the actual split we have a feeling this page will be well used for the next 36+months! This page has links to our articles plus links to many of the pieces in the media on the subject. Be sure to bookmark it! You can find the page here.

Posts since our last update:

• Further thoughts, insight and tips on the split between Air Canada and Aeroplan
  This is our second post covering the big news this month in the Canadian loyalty space of Air Canada…

Canadian Bonus Offers
N/A

Other Bonus Offers
Aer Lingus Aer Club
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Avios on all your hotel stays booked via Kaligo. More... Book by Jul 11 for stays until Dec 31, 17

airberlin topbonus
- Triple topbonus Miles for stays at Best Western Hotels in Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republik, Slovenia or Slovakia. More... Until Aug 31, 17

American AAdvantage
- Quadruple AAdvantage Miles for stays at Best Western Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Jul 2, 17

SAS EuroBonus
- Earn up to 10,000 EuroBonus Points on Avis rentals in Europe, The Middle East, Africa, Asia, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. More... Book by Jun 30 for rentals Jun 15 - Dec 31, 17



Follow Rewards Canada:

Further thoughts, insight and tips on the split between Air Canada and Aeroplan

This is our second post covering the big news this month in the Canadian loyalty space of Air Canada launching their own program apart from Aeroplan. The first post covered the breaking news and touched upon some of our initial thoughts. Since then we have conducted over a dozen media interviews on the subject which has allowed us to delve even deeper into the subject and we wanted to give you a further update on this developing news story. What we can guarantee is that this won't be the last post covering the topic, in fact it will probably be front and center for the next three years!

Why did Air Canada do this? In our numerous interviews last week and this week we've put it out there that there are most likely several reasons why Air Canada has decided to launch its own program. Some but not all of those educated guesses are as follows:

• It is well known that frequent flyer programs are big revenue generators. That's why Air Canada sold Aeroplan. They made a lot of money off of the sale to help them out when times were tough. Now, Air Canada only sees revenue by selling seats at a discount to Aeroplan. They don't see the very lucrative credit card and other partner revenues. By bringing the program back in house they have access to way more revenue and profits
• The disconnect between Aeroplan and Air Canada saw some loyal Air Canada travellers jump ship to other airlines and other airline programs. I mean when you've been loyal and spent lots of money on an airline and then all of sudden you have to compete with millions of other members to get award seats because your frequent flyer program became a frequent shopping program? That does not make a happy customer especially one who has spent a lot of money flying your airline. By bringing the program back under their control it should mean more seat inventory for the loyal Air Canada traveller as those seats will be available to them first and then to programs like Aeroplan and AIR MILES. 
• WestJet going full bore on premium classes. WestJet has already stated that they are putting a true business class on their new Boeing 787's and are exploring opening their own airport lounges. Air Canada will be in a fight for that high profit premium passenger and by having an in-house frequent flyer program they can utilize that program to try to keep attrition to WestJet at a minimum.

What about the current frequent flyer who is sitting on hundreds of thousands if not millions of Aeroplan miles? Won't they be mad at the lack of redemptions come 2020 even though they have been loyal to Air Canada and collected Aeroplan miles as part of being loyal? This is going to be tough and Air Canada may have to provide some sort of incentive package to their loyal elite flyers. I mean all of sudden they can't use those thousands of miles on Star Alliance partners? That's bad juju. Perhaps Air Canada will pad their loyal flyers account with some miles to begin with, or they may put in place some sort of transfer option although as we know from the news provided by both Aeroplan and Air Canada there will be no way to transfer between the two programs, at least for the time being.

What options do I have and what should I do now?

• Stay put - at least for a little while and keep going on with Aeroplan as if nothing is happening. Keep earning those miles and keep redeeming them. The good news is you'll be able to use Aeroplan miles on Air Canada flights post-divorce. Bad news is we don't know what other airlines will be available to Aeroplan. As I mentioned in many of my interviews Aeroplan is most likely already negotiating with other airlines to bring them on board. It makes sense for those other airlines to do so. Will we see all the Star Alliance airlines with Aeroplan? No but there is a possibility of some of the larger airlines with lots of service to Canada like Lufthansa and United negotiating other contracts with Aeroplan. And why not. Aeroplan has access to over 5 million members and those airlines can utilize Aeroplan to fill empty seats and at least getting some sort of return from Aeroplan rather than letting a seat go unsold. Aeroplan knows these airlines well and these airlines know Aeroplan well. It makes sense for some of them to be part of Aeroplan. The relationship however will take on a role similar to AIR MILES who do have partnerships with several Star Alliance airlines like Air Canada, Lufthansa and Air New Zealand and access to seats will be limited but the option is there.
• Use up your Aeroplan miles as soon as you can and start planning to use another reward program. We cover some of those in the next two points.
• Hoard points in a program that may convert to the future Air Canada program - This is a speculative move but seeing that the new Air Canada program will be more of a true frequent flyer program it will have partnerships with other travel providers like hotels. You could switch to a hotel point earning credit card and try to funnel as many points to these programs. There are only three hotel credit cards in Canada from Marriott, Starwood and Best Western. Starwood has and is the best option for earning potential future miles for the future Air Canada program as their points typically transfer at a 1:1 rate to airlines. However the downside of this is Starwood Preferred Guest will no longer be around sometime in 2018 as their parent company Marriott will merge SPG into Marriott Rewards. The good news is that you will get 3 Marriott Rewards points (or whatever the new combined program may be called) for every Starpoint you have which makes conversion from Marriott to an airline more tolerable, especially if you take on one of their nights+flights packages.
  
  There is also high likelihood that American Express Membership Rewards will be a partner of the new Air Canada program. Again being speculative as there has been no announcement and it's too early in the development stages of Air Canada's program to say so. However Amex has a long standing relationship with Air Canada and Aeroplan so there is a good chance they would be a partner as well. Worst case scenario if you are collecting Membership Rewards points to eventually convert to the Air Canada program and that partnership never develops you have other options to use those Membership Rewards points, whether its Use Points for Purchases or converting to another airline like British Airways Executive Club
  
• Move to a totally different program that isn't affected by moves like this. What we mean here is going to a proprietary credit card program which have discussed time and time again on Rewards Canada and in fact discuss Why proprietary credit card reward programs are the best option for most Canadians. Whether you are a frequent loyal Air Canada traveller or a frequent shopper utilizing Aeroplan you can look at a proprietary program like Scotia Rewards as your program for the next three years and beyond. Taking Scotia Rewards as an example, loyal Air Canada travellers could look at using the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card which offers a rich earn rate of four points per dollar spent on your everyday purchases at gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and entertainment. Then when 2020 comes you can book Air Canada flights with the card and then redeem the points you have earned over the years for those flights (You can redeem for up to one year after you've paid for your travel). You’ll earn the new Air Canada loyalty program miles for the flights and elite status qualification since they are revenue tickets that you bought from Air Canada. All the while you are subsidizing the costs of the flight(s) with the Scotia Rewards points because you have the flexibility to book your travel through Scotia Rewards full service agency or any travel provider of your choice - you choose. This could be considered a stop-gap measure until the new program comes to place and launches an Air Canada credit card but we would recommend keeping the card since it can be used to pay for taxes and fees as well as any travel you may have outside of Air Canada (i.e. hotels, car rentals etc.)

We would love to hear everyone's continued thoughts on the subject! There were quite a few comments on the first post and we're guessing that now that we are week in most of you have had more time to digest this news and start developing a plan on what you are going to do. So what are you going to do? Are you going to follow some of the points we listed above? Is there something we didn't cover that you thought of? Let's keep the discussion going below!