Air Transat becomes the next Aeroplan preferred airline partner

Aeroplan is on a tear right and are showing Air Canada they don't need the airline or the Star Alliance to succeed. Last week they rejected the bid for Air Canada et al to buy Aeroplan and added Porter Airlines as a preferred airline partner. Now today it has been announced that Air Transat will become a preferred partner as well.

As of July 2020 Aeroplan members will be able to earn and redeem Aeroplan miles on Air Transat flights and vacation packages.

"We are thrilled about this agreement in principle and look forward to Air Transat, recently recognized by Skytrax as the World`s Best Leisure Airline, partnering with Aeroplan for its members' leisure travel needs to some 60 destinations in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East," said Joseph Adamo, Chief Distribution Officer, Transat"

Key word here is Leisure Airline, Air Transat as most if not all of our readers show know is a charter/leisure airline for vacationing Canadian traveller with flights primarily to Europe and Sun destinations. However they do also offer flights between some major Canadian cities typically on their 737 aircraft.

Areas served by Air Transat

 
This is not an airline for the business traveller or frequent flyer but that's where Porter and hopefully a partnership with the oneworld alliance come in.

"Aeroplan continues to expand and enhance its member offering to provide Canadians with the best travel loyalty program experience come July 2020 including the flexibility to fly any airline, anywhere at any time. Preferred agreements, like the one announced today, coupled with bulk and block purchasing and stand-alone charters, unlock meaningful discounts supporting the delivery of great value to members on flight redemptions"

You could consider Air Transat as Aeroplan's replacement to Air Canada Rouge as these two airlines compete for the leisure traveller and currently many Canadians are redeeming miles on Rouge flights. So this announcement will fill the gap for this market, which makes up a large portion of Aeroplan's membership base. Hopefully they will have better availability on Air Transat's flights as we have always heard the gripes of trying to redeem for flights to places like Florida during busy times of the year!

There you have it, the next chapter in this ongoing saga has been revealed and we'll add it to our summary that we always remind our readers of where you can keep track of it all this news. on our

Hilton Honors extends global double points promotion to September 9, 2018

Hilton Honors has decided to provide a small extension to their global double points promotion. Originally advertised as ending on August 31 the promotion has now been extended to September 9.

Offer details:
Earn Double Points on all Hilton family of hotels stays Worldwide. Full details, online registration and booking (Registration is required)  Until Sep 9, 18

• For every $1 spent on stays, you’ll earn 10 Base Points, plus an additional 10 Bonus Points (5 Base Points plus 5 Bonus Points at Home2 Suite by Hilton and Tru by Hilton). Silver, Gold & Diamond members will earn their Elite Tier Bonus on top of that. 
• Excludes Hampton by Hilton Hotels in Mainland China.

Find many more Honors Bonus Points offers here

Aeroplan rejects Air Canada's bid, partners with Porter Airlines and is in talks with oneworld

 

Yesterday was the deadline for Aimia (the parent company of Aeroplan) to make a decision on the proposed takeover of Aeroplan by Air Canada, CIBC, TD & Visa. For the most part of the day it was quiet on the front of whether the bid would be accepted or rejected by Aimia. We finally got news just before 9pm Eastern that the bid was rejected. According to the press release from the Air Canada consortium they had been in talks with Aeroplan and actually sweetened the pot but in the end Aimia said no.

There were hints this would be the case as the day prior, on August 1st, it was revealed that Aimia was in talks with the oneworld alliance which consists of 13 airlines and several other partner airlines included American Airlines, British Airways and Cathay Pacific.  This potential partnership actually makes a lot of sense for both parties - Aeroplan would get access earn and burn access that its members would be accustomed to albeit with a different alliance and oneworld would get access to more Canadian consumers which they need as they are behind Star Alliance and SkyTeam in terms of presence in Canada.

And now today we get the biggest confirmed Aeroplan news yet that continues to show that Aeroplan wants to remain independent and that is they have officially partnered with Porter Airlines, Canada's third largest airline. Aeroplan will essentially become Porter's currency:

"...a comprehensive partnership designating Porter as a preferred Canadian airline to issue Aeroplan Miles on Porter routes effective July 2020. Porter will also become a redemption partner, as of the effective time of the agreement, offering up to 60% of seat inventory for the purchase of flights with Aeroplan Miles at fixed-rate prices. The arrangement includes an extensive cooperative marketing program targeting existing Aeroplan members, with an emphasis on members who travel on Porter routes."

You may be asking what happens VIPorter points at that time and the answer is also in the press release that VIPorter points will be converted in Aeroplan miles in July of 2020. Porter Airlines however will keep VIPorter running as their elite recognition program (just like Air Canada Altitude runs separate from Aeroplan) and it will continue to offer their elite members benefits such as priority boarding, complimentary seat selection and checked baggage allowances.

This partnership is great news for Aeroplan but it reality it isn't that huge for Aeroplan members as Porter is a relatively small airline flying to 16 cities in Canada (Ontario, Quebec & the Maritimes) and 7 cities in the U.S.. It doesn't mean much for Western Canada unless Porter gets its way to have the runway extended at their home airport (Toronto's Island Airport aka Billy Bishop Toronto City airport) so they can fly Airbus A220 airplanes (nee Bombardier CSeries) on longer routes to cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

It has definitely been another exciting 48 hours in the Air Canada Aeroplan soap opera and as we always remind our readers, you can keep track of it all on our Air Canada Aeroplan resource page.

August 2 Update: Emirates and Etihad adding more flights between YYZ & U.A.E., World of Hyatt partners with SLH Hotels and more!

On July 27th the Government of Canada announced expanded air agreements with Egypt and United Arab Emirates. Airlines can now fly up to 7x per week between Canada and Egypt and flights to/from UAE can be increased by 68%. It didn't take long for both major UAE airlines to take advantage of this news. Emirates will be increasing their flights between Toronto and Dubai to 5x per week from 3x come August and Etihad Airways will also boost their flight frequencies to 5x weekly this October. (Source Routesonline 1, 2)

Hyatt has announced a new hotel partnership for their World of Hyatt program. The partnership is with Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH Hotels) which is a collection of over 500 independently owned luxury hotels and it will offer World of Hyatt members to ability to earn and redeem points at participating SLH Hotels. The full partnership will be revealed later this year but what we know from the press release is that participating SLH hotels will have to be booked via Hyatt channels. SLH Hotels have one Canadian location, the Trout Point Lodge Nova Scotia in Kemptville. Overall this is great news for World of Hyatt as they have a relatively small portfolio compared to the other major hotel chains and having the ability to earn and burn at more places is always a plus. (Source Hyatt)

Posts since our last update:

• AIR MILES: Earn 50 Free Reward Miles with Samsung Pay + up to 25 miles per week for using Samsung Pay
  AIR MILES has partnered with Samsung Canada to offering AIR MILES with their Samsung Pay option. The thing is…
• 30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points until August 20
  We see the return of another Aeroplan conversion bonus! Last seen in Spring, the hotel only transfer bonus is…
• Negative changes coming to the popular MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard
  Still on the catch up tip here with past news. Late last week one of our followers on Twitter (thanks…
• Air Canada with TD, CIBC and Visa make a bid to buy Aeroplan back
  We continue with our catch up posts from last week with what was the biggest news of the week if…
• Last day to grab the RBC Visa Infinte Avion card with up to 25,000 points and no annual fee in the first year
  Today is the last day to grab the first year free and up to 25,000 RBC Rewards points offer for…

Travel Deals
Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Find out more here

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert Hotel loyalty programs points to Aeroplan Miles.  More... Until Aug 20, 18

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- August Promo Rewards - Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton are included this month. More... Book by Aug 30 for travel Sep 30 - Nov 29, 18

AIR MILES
- 50 Bonus AIR MILES Reward Miles for adding your AIR MILES numbers to your account profile on Samsung.ca and then scan your AIR MILES Card through Samsung Pay when you shop at AIR MILES Partners and earn 5 miles each time you do this, up to 5 times per week for 25 miles. More... Until Dec 31, 18

Other Bonus Offers
British Airways Executive Club
- Up to 45% Bonus Avios when you buy or gift Avios. More... Until Aug 6, 18

Hyatt World of Hyatt
- Up to 40% Bonus World of Hyatt Points when you buy 5,000 or more points. Bonus varies by member. More... Until Aug 21, 18

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- Double Mileage Bank Miles for stays on select packages at participating Langham Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Double Le Club AccorHotels for stays at participating Accor Hotels in the UK and Ireland. Earn an additional 500 bonus points if you book via the Accor app. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays until Sep 30, 1

Shangri-La Golden Circle
- Double GC Award Points for stays at the Futian Shangri-La, Shenzhen. More... Until Aug 31, 18

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Earn up to 4x KrisFlyer Miles when you rent with Hertz Worldwide for three or more days. More... Book by Sep 30 for rentals until Oct 31, 18

Follow Rewards Canada:

AIR MILES: Earn 50 Free Reward Miles with Samsung Pay + up to 25 miles per week for using Samsung Pay

AIR MILES has partnered with Samsung Canada to offering AIR MILES with their Samsung Pay option. The thing is you don't actually have to pay for a purchase with Samsung Pay, you just have to show your AIR MILES card from your Samsung Pay wallet when shopping at an AIR MILES sponsor!

With this offer you'll receive 50 AIR MILES for adding your AIR MILES numbers to your account profile on Samsung.ca and then scan your AIR MILES Card through Samsung Pay when you shop at AIR MILES Partners and earn 5 miles each time you do this, up to 5 times per week for 25 miles.

This offer runs until December 31 which means from now until then you can earn upwards of 165 AIR MILES with Samsung Pay.

Click here for complete details on this offer

---

BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard
500 AIR MILES Bonus Miles after your first card purchase*
LIMITED TIME OFFER: Get a 1.99% introductory interest rate on Balance Transfers for 9 months*
- and there’s No annual fee
- Get 2x the Miles for every $20 spent at participating AIR MILES Partners*
- Get 1 Mile for every $20 spent everywhere else*
- Earn more reward miles when you use your card at Shell, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car
- Extended Warranty
- Purchase Protection
- Interest Rate: Purchases 19.99% Cash Advances 22.99%

30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert hotel loyalty program points until August 20

We see the return of another Aeroplan conversion bonus! Last seen in Spring, the hotel only transfer bonus is back and this time it's back up to the 30% level which is still lower than the flat 35% seen in July 2017. You have the make sure that you transfer enough hotel points to earn 5,000 Aeroplan Miles to get the 30% bonus. You'll have until August 20 to make any transfers and the 5,000 miles can be cumulative from multiple hotel programs - this is a good way to use up some of those orphaned hotel points you may never use if you are a frequent Aeroplan redeemer.

Most of Aeroplan's hotel partners are participating in the promotion so you can convert from any of the following to add to your final tally.

You'll notice IHG Rewards Club returns as a conversion partner. Many moons ago you could convert IHG Rewards Club points to Aeroplan but that was nixed when the IHG Rewards Club Mastercards were launched by Capital One here in Canada. Now that those cards are longer around, Aeroplan has renegotiated a new contract with IHG and the conversion option has returned!

You'll also notice that the best transfer option from past promotions, Marriott & SPG are not included this time so this promotion really only makes sense if you have points sitting in other hotel programs that you may never use or are about to expire so that you actually get some value out of them!

Offer details
30% Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you convert Hotel loyalty programs points to Aeroplan Miles.  Click here for full details Until Aug 20, 18

Hotel partner loyalty programs eligible for this promotion are: IHG Rewards Club, Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Coast Rewards, Radisson Rewards, Hilton Honors, Le Club Accorhotels (Accor hotels), Golden Circle Award (Shangri‑La), Wyndham Rewards.

The total amount of miles received from the conversion of hotel loyalty program points into Aeroplan miles must be greater than or equal to 5,000 Aeroplan Miles in order to be eligible to receive the 30% bonus. 

Find many more Aeroplan bonus offers here

Negative changes coming to the popular MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard

Still on the catch up tip here with past news. Late last week one of our followers on Twitter (thanks @taftmorgan) alerted us to changes that are coming to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard. This was following by a bunch of emails from our readers (thank you David, Doug, Michael and others!) and several comments on our site about these changes along with screen shots of the letters detailing the changes. So first a big thank you to our loyal readership base for sending us all the details on the changes that are happening to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard. There are also changes happening to two other MBNA cards that we will cover in future posts.

First off the timing couldn't be worse - we just released our Top Cash Back Credit Card Rankings just a few weeks before this announcement and despite us having a relationship with MBNA this news was not passed along to us or to any other blogs/websites for that matter. They wanted to alert existing cardholders via the old fashioned way with a letter in the mail:

And here is what's happening to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard:

• As of September 1, 2018 the annual fee is being raised to $120 from $89 (or from $0 for some!). That's a sharp increase considering the big drop in reward point earning if you are choosing to redeem for cash back. There is also no word as to whether this increase in annual fee is being matched with an increased sign up bonus. The letter does state there are no changes to insurance the card offers or make detail of any new benefits - so this annual fee increase takes a big bite out of the card
• As of February 1, 2019 the cash back reward rate is being devalued. Currently the card earns 2 points per dollar spent and you can redeem 100 points for $1 which equates to a nice simple 2% return. Come February the card will still earn 2 points per $1 spend however the redemption rate will be 120 points for $1 with a minimum redemption of 6,000 points. This means the card will have an effective cash back rate of only 1.67%
• The good news is, the redemption for travel remains the same at 100 points to $1 which means if you redeem for travel (which most Rewards Canada readers do) you are still getting that 2% return however with some erosion thanks to that increased annual fee

For those who have this card mainly as a cash back card this is not good news. These negative changes will make the card drop from its 2nd place position in our Cash Back Rankings for 2019 unless of course other cards devalue to be worse than this one. Honestly if you are on the hunt for cash back you will be better off now with the Rogers World Elite Mastercard since it earns 1.75% cash back on most purchases (more on some others) has no annual fee and has a better insurance package than the MBNA card.

If you have the card or apply for it now you'll want to redeem for that cash back prior to February 1 and thankfully MBNA is being proactive with this and dropping the minimum redemption amount to 1,000 points from September 1st to January 31st:

Remember as well this is one of few cards that lets you redeem monthly for cash back - not once per year like many cash back cards so this lower rate should be taken advantage to cash out at your best return possible.

We have featured this card predominantly on our website in our various rankings, Ultimate Credit Card portfolios and other features since it is (was) basically the strongest Mastercard in the market for earn. These we'll have to re-evaluate and adjust some of those articles that use the card for the cash back redemption rate and not the travel redemption rate. Although since the main change isn't happening until 2019 we will keep the card as is on our Top Cash Back ranking but will have a disclaimer stating the fact the card will be changing. We ask that you are patient with as us we adjust all the relevant features on the site as required over the next few months and we'll let you know when they are completed via our daily update posts right here on the blog.

For your information here is the current offering for the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard - as you can see if you apply for it between now and August 31 you'll only $89 for the card, get the $100 bonus and earn 2% until the end of January at which point you could cash out and cancel the card if you like.


mbna rewards World Elite Mastercard 
Get all the features of the MBNA Rewards card with more earning potential
• Earn 2 MBNA Rewards point for every $1 in eligible purchases‡
• Get 10,000 bonus points after your first eligible purchase††
• No limit to the points that can be earned in a year, points don’t expire
• Redeem points for cash back, travel, brand-name merchandise, gift cards from top retailers and charitable donations
• Enjoy price protection** and concierge services**
• $89 annual fee
• Take advantage of a credit card that rewards you for who you are. Apply below for the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® credit card

Apply Online

If you currently hold this card we'd love to hear your thoughts on these changes! Are you going to keep the card or move onto to something else? Let us know below!

Air Canada with TD, CIBC and Visa make a bid to buy Aeroplan back

We continue with our catch up posts from last week with what was the biggest news of the week if not the year now and that was the news that Air Canada along with TD, CIBC and Visa making a bid to buy Aeroplan from Aimia!

The news, when it was released was surprising but in reality it it makes a lot of sense for this consortium of four companies to attempt the buy out of Aeroplan.  Here are just some of the reasons why:

• With the programs splitting you have a lot of loyal Air Canada frequent flyers who are sitting on hundreds of thousands of Aeroplan miles that they will not be able to use as they have become accustomed to come July 2020. If the takeover works Air Canada has explicitly stated that Aeroplan miles will convert 1:1 to their new program. They would be taking away the factor of having a lot of PO'd members now having 0 mile balances in a new program and tons of miles in a program they may not want to use. We mentioned in the past that Air Canada would maybe have to dole out some miles in the new program to these elite frequent flyers to appease them and this would negate the need to do so
• It essentially lets the new Air Canada program start with 5 million members rather than starting from 0. 
• With Aeroplan's promising announcement from the week before and the majority of Aeroplan members not being Air Canada frequent flyers, Air Canada stood at a place where they may not have been able to attract those members over to their program. Again it goes back to starting from scratch and not having an attractive membership base
• It removes the necessity to compete against Aeroplan
• The credit card issuers will also have access to those 5 million members rather than the small amount Air Canada would initially see and they won't worry about having to lose cardholders to the new Air Canada program should Air Canada choose to go with a different bank and perhaps a Mastercard as their co-brand card. Both TD and CIBC have a lot invested in Aeroplan so it makes sense for the banks to try to keep all those customers.

The consortium has given Aimia until August 2nd to respond and I have a feeling Aimia may reject this offer in hopes of getting a better offer from the group of companies. As a company, Aimia stands to lose their major portfolio should they sell Aeroplan as in 2017 Aeroplan represented $1.3 billion of Aimia's $2 billion in billings so they will want to get as much value out of it if they sell Aeroplan.

If this deal does go through there are both pros and cons for consumers. The pro is not having to burn all your Aeroplan miles before 2020 and being able to continue to use them on Air Canada, Star Alliance and other airline partners for Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First class redemptions with the latter premium classes still providing an out sized value for the miles redeemed. Members could relax and continue on as normal with their earning and burning of miles. The con to this deal is the loss of that potential competition. We've stated quite a few times over the past year with the introduction of a new Air Canada program the market in Canada will boom with offers for the consumer and not just from Aeroplan and Air Canada, from other programs looking to take advantage of the split and there is also one other potential huge con or loser in the deal and it is the one piece that many people did not cover and that is where is American Express in all this. Currently American Express' contract with Aimia will run until June 29, 2020 and there is a very good chance that may not be extended after that date if this proposed takeover happens. Seeing that you have two major banks combined with Visa looking to buy the program, chances are they will not want a competitor who can offer richer rewards to be part of it. Of course if Aimia does not accept this or any future offer and continues on the split course then chances are Amex will still be part of Aeroplan's and/or Air Canada's future plans come July 2020.

That's about it in a nutshell, we just have to wait two more days to see what happens with the continuing drama of the Air Canada Aeroplan saga. Speaking of saga be sure to check out our resource page that covers everything and anything of the Aeroplan Air Canada split.

Last day to grab the RBC Visa Infinte Avion card with up to 25,000 points and no annual fee in the first year

THIS OFFER IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Today is the last day to grab the first year free and up to 25,000 RBC Rewards points offer for with the RBC Visa Infinite Avion card! As of August 1st the card will revert to its standard offer of 15,000 points with a $120 annual fee but come with a special low interest rate for balance transfers and cash advances....
Here is the current offer:

July 30 Update: Three Canadian Hotels in the latest IHG PointBreaks, some BMO card changes coming and playing catch up!

Rewards Canada was off last week for some R&R but of course that was interrupted with the Air Canada news that they along with TD, CIBC and Visa want to buy Aeroplan from Aimia so we did a lot of interviews about it from Southern California! We'll have full coverage of that news tomorrow and we'll also play catch up on other news from mbna (not good news), Aeroplan (the transfer bonus is back), WestJet and more.

 Last week the newest IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks were released, we prescheduled our post as we were travelling when it went live so we couldn't cover what Canadian hotels were on the list and really not much was missed. Only three Canadian hotels were included this time at the 10,000 point level. The Holiday Inn Calgary-Airport, Holiday Inn Express & Suites Terrace and Staybridge Suites London are the hotels being offered at a discounted rate. You can find all the details here.

Jsut a heads up - some BMO credit cards will have some slight changes coming to them on August 8th. Keep an eye out on our blog for that news in a little over a week!

Posts since our last update:

• August 18 is the confirmed date for the new combined Marriott Rewards Starwood Preferred Guest program
  Rewards Canada is back from vacation and of course last week was filled with more news than we typically…
• WestJet Rewards Gold Status Match offer
  WestJet has brought back its Canadian status match offer! If you have Air Canada Altitude status you can match…
• Hotel Review: Best Western Plus Moosomin Hotel, Saskatchewan
  We welcome another hotel review from Rewards Canada contributor Bill Wheatley: The Best Western Plus Moosomin Hotel is located…
• NOW LIVE: IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks - book hotels for only 5,000 to 15,000 points per night until Sep 30, 18
  The latest IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks hotel are now available for booking for 5,000 points to 15,000 points per…
• Amex Membership Rewards to the new Marriott Rewards/Starwood Preferred Guest program conversion rate is here!
  A question that has been asked by many and to which I have not had the answer to is 'What…
• Aeroplan reveals more details of the program post July 2020 - most economy redemptions remain the same, charter flights and conversion to other frequent flyer programs
  Late yesterday evening Aeroplan sent out a press release and posted a video giving us a better picture of…
• Summary of global hotel systemwide bonus points promotions - July Edition
  One of the easiest ways to rack up lots of hotel points is to take advantage of the systemwide bonuses…

Travel Deals
Save up to 15 % on Marriott stays in Canada! Book at a participating hotel by August 1, 2018 for stays until August 31, 2018 and save up to 10% on best available rates!  Marriott Rewards® Members save up to 5% more. Find out more here.

Hilton Summer Sale - Save up to 25% on weekend stays in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Find out more here

Remember to visit Rewards Canada's Travel Booking site to book travel directly with many of your favourite airlines, hotels and more!

Canadian Bonus Offers
WestJet Rewards
- Gold Elite Status Match - If you hold Air Canada Altitude status you can receive a status match to WestJet Gold Elite status. More... Until Aug 31, 18


Other Bonus Offers
Aegean Miles&Bonus
- Up to 40% Miles&Bonus Miles when you buy miles. More... Until Aug 30, 18

AeroMexico Club Premier
- Double Club Premier Points for stays at over 6,500 Choice Hotels worldwide. More... Aug 1 - 31, 18

British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios for stays at participating Mandarin Oriental Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Sep 30, 18

IHG Rewards Club
- IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks Redeem only 5,000 to 15,000 points for stays at select hotels Worldwide. Offer and participating hotels are subject to change at any time. More... Until Sep 30, 18

Le Club AccorHotels
- Triple Le Club AccorHotels for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Queenstown. More... Book by Aug 19 for stays until Sep 30, 18


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