Tuesday, October 6, 2015

WestJet Rewards: 20% Bonus dollars when you convert RBC Rewards Points


Oct 13 UPDATE: This is open to all RBC Rewards members not just Avion Cardholders!

Yesterday we saw the return of the RBC Rewards transfer to WestJet Rewards! Those RBC Rewards points collectors who hold an RBC Avion credit card can transfer their points to WestJet Rewards and receive a 20% bonus on the total dollars deposited. This means for every 100 RBC Rewards Points transferred you'll receive $1.20 WestJet dollars. The offer runs until Nov 15, 15

Offer Details
20% Bonus WestJet Dollars when your convert RBC Rewards Points  to WestJet Rewards. Full details Until Nov 15, 15

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Monday, October 5, 2015

Air Canada: Up to 10,000 Bonus Miles on new flights to Dubai and Delhi

Air Canada has released new route launch bonuses for the upcoming new non-flights to Delhi and Dubai. The offer is essentially the same for both routes other than different first flight dates which of course correspond with the new flight launch dates.


Offer Details
Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you fly on Air Canada between Toronto (YYZ) and Dubai. Register Online (Registration is required) Register and book by Nov 26 for travel Nov 3, 15 - Feb 24, 16

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Offer Details
Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you fly on Air Canada between Toronto (YYZ) and Delhi. Register Online (Registration is required) Register and book by Nov 26 for travel Nov 1, 15 - Feb 24, 16

TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card
Earn 25,000 Aeroplan Miles and 50% off your first year annual fee when you apply for and receive the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card. Earn 15,000 miles when you complete your first purchase and an additional 10,000 miles when you keep your Account active and in good standing for 90 days. Plus Get a one-time discount of up to $50 at SHOP.CA, plus an additional 3,000 Aeroplan Miles when you use your TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card at SHOP.CA by December 31, 2015. Full details

LAST FEW HOURS: Rewards Canada Exclusive: Save 20% when you book WestJet Plus Fares to anywhere they fly


We are happy to have teamed up with WestJet again to bring you this special offer! Exclusive to Rewards Canada readers you can save 20% on Plus Fares to any of WestJet's 100+ destinations. Whether you are off the Regina or Honolulu, it doesn't matter, you can save 20%.

The exclusive codes for Rewards Canada readers for the 20% Plus fare discount on WestJet flights are as follows:

Promo code: REW05
Coupon code (web coupon no.): DW1U2GR

Simply visit westjet.com (in French here) and input the codes on the booking page to take advantage of the discount.
Book by Oct 5, 2015 (9:59PM MT) for travel Sep 21 - Dec 10 (Oct 8-13 are blacked out)

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for October

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of October! This is not a 'best' credit card list like our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card rankings but instead a look at cards that have very good acquisition offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the sign up bonus, but when most of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when not taking into account insurance packages and other non-reward benefits. In fact 4 of 5 cards on this list for October are first year free so you can try them out at no cost and decide later on if the card is right for you. All the while earning the sign up bonus which can be used to subsidize your travels! The only card that isn't first year free or discounted is the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. It has an annual of $120 but the sign up bonus of 20,000 Starpoints is worth no less than $400 depending on what you value Starpoints at.

The only change this month from September is pulling the TD Aeroplan Infinite card and replacing it with the National Bank of Canada offer. While the TD card has a decent bonus with the first year fee cut in half we feel it is eclipsed by the NBC offer and kept Starwood up since its 20,000 point sign up bonus is equal to the TD offer in terms of Aeroplan miles.
 

So here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for October (in alphabetical order)




American Express Gold Rewards Card - 25,000 Points (Apply here)
A mainstay offer here on Rewards Canada, the American Express Gold Rewards card has its first year fee of $150 waived and will award you 25,000 Membership Rewards points when you complete $500 in spending in the first three months. That 25,000 points is worth a $250 travel credit via Amex's TripFlex feature or can be converted to 25,000 Aeroplan Miles (1 Round trip Economy Award ticket within North America) or 25,000 British Airways Executive Club Avios (as much a 5 one way Economy Award tickets in North America, see this post for details.)


American Express Air Miles Platinum Credit Card - 2,000 Reward Miles (Apply here)
A newcomer to our monthly Top 5 sign up offers, the American Express Air Miles Platinum card comes first year free and comes with a 2,000 Reward Miles sign up bonus when you complete $500 in spending in the first three months. That 2,000 Miles is worth anywhere from $220 to $300 in flight value when you get around to redeeming them.


Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa - 30,000 Points  (Apply here)
The best no foreign transaction fee card in Canada makes it to this list due to a very strong acquisition offer. I mean who can complain with 30,000 points awarded on approval and a certificate for a free night stay at a Category 1-4 hotel for a potential of 5 free nights, all at no cost as the card has the annual fee waived in the first year! They also give you  a 15 night credit into the mix which automatically provides you with Marriott Rewards Silver Elite status. There is also a 50,000 Point offer meant only for Marriott Elite members which many non-elites have had success with when they apply for it. (You may or may not get the full 50k and if they find out you are not Elite you may only receive the 30k)




National Bank of Canada World Elite MasterCard- up to 30,000 Point (Apply here)
A newcomer to the list for this month! The NBC World Elite MasterCard has its $150 primary card and $50 supplementary card annual fees waived in the first year! It comes with 20,000 points when you activate the card which is worth up to $200 in travel and if you keep the card past 1 year (then you'll pay fees) you'll get 10,000 more points. The card also offers up to $250 in reimbursements for airport parking, airline baggage and seat fees.




Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express - 20,000 Starpoints (Apply here)
Still offering 20,000 Starpoints as its sign up bonus, this is the only card in this list that doesn't have the first year fee waived. That doesn't matter. This is by far the best hotel points card in Canada and Starpoints have huge value. The 20,000 Starpoint bonus when you spend $500 on the card is worth at least $400 when redeeming them for Starwood Hotel stays or you can convert them to airline miles in over 30+ programs and Starwood will kick in an additional 5,000 miles when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints at a time.



If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with over  $1000 in travel credits and hotel free nights but even if you only take on one or two you are helping your travel budget significantly at no cost other than regular credit card spend.

October 5 Update: Hilton Flash Sale for EMEA stays, American AAdvantage 20% Bonus from Marriott transfers and more!

Welcome to the first update of the week!

News, Tips & Tricks
If you haven't voted yet be sure you do so for your favourite travel rewards credit card in Canada! Vote here!

More Air Canada 787-9 news, as of May 2016 the new plane will be deployed on the Toronto-Zurich route. (Source Airlineroute.net)

Hilton HHonors
has now been providing continuous updates to hotels that move up or down in award night categories with the latest changes coming out last week. Most of the changes are in the U.S.. and no Canadian hotels were affected, all we had North of the border was the addition of two new hotels. See chart below for details. To find out about all the changes please see here.



Posts since our last update:

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Travel Deals
Hilton Flash Sale!  7 day flash sale across Europe, Middle East & Africa with rates as low as $89. This is the perfect excuse to book a weekend getaway before the holiday season! Hurry the sale ends Oct 11th!


Bonus Offers

American AAdvantage
- 20% Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you convert your Marriott Rewards points into American Airlines AAdvantage. More... Until Oct 31, 15

British Airways Executive Club
- Quadruple Avios for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Nov 30 for stays until Dec 31, 15
- Double Avios when you stay two or more nights at participating Radisson Blu, Radisson, Park Plaza and Park Inn by Radisson hotels in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America and Asia Pacific. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- 3,000 Bonus Avios on your first hotel booking made with Kaligo. More... Book by Dec 31, 15

Delta SkyMiles

- Double SkyMiles for stays at any participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

- Double Infinity MileageLands Miles when you rent a car for 5 days or more at participating Hertz locations in USA. More... Until Dec 14, 15

Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double EarlyReturns Miles & save up to $20 or $5 per day on Hertz Prestige and Adrenaline Car Collections in the U.S.. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double EarlyReturns Miles and a Free Upgrade on qualifying weekend and weekly rentals in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Germanwings Boomerang Club (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Boomerang Miles when you fly between Berlint, Hamburg, or Düsseldorf and Paris. More... Book by Oct 31for travel until Nov 30, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- 4X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at new Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 31 for stays until Nov 30, 15
- 3X Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at Accor Hotels in Santo Domingo. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Earn up to 400 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Northern Spain. More... Oct 15 - Dec 31, 15

Voila Hotel Rewards
- 25% VHR Points Discount for each award night at participating Voila Hotel Rewards hotels Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15




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Friday, October 2, 2015

October 2 Update: More interest rate increases, 15,000 Bonus Gold Points for Park Inn stays, 5 new Aeroplan bonuses

Last update of the week for you!

News, Tips & Tricks
If you haven't voted yet be sure you do so for your favourite travel rewards credit card in Canada! Vote here!


Yesterday we let you that BMO was increasing interest rates and now Scotia has as well. They have adjusted the balance transfer and cash advance rate for the majority of their credit cards, from 21.99% to 22.99%


Posts since our last update:




Bonus Offers

Air Canada / Aeroplan
- Triple Aeroplan Miles for stays at any Coast Hotels in Canada or the U.S. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- OFFER EXTENDED 3,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Dec 31, 15
- 5x Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you spend $100 or more at Bentley. More... Until Oct 12, 15
- Earn up to 10,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you sign up for a Direct Energy price plan. For residents of Alberta only. More... Until Oct 31, 15
- Earn up to 12,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles with Unlimited Internet and Home Phone from Primus Canada. More... Until ?

Alitalia MilleMiglia
- Triple MilleMiglia Miles for stays at over 2,800 Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Oct 24 for stays until Dec 30, 15
- Double MilleMiglia Miles when you stay in a Best Western Business Hotel in Italy More... Until Oct 31, 15 
- 500 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you make your first booking on PointsHound.com. More... Until ?
- OFFER EXTENDED 3,000 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles on your first Rocketmiles booking More... Book by Dec 31, 15

Amtrak Guest Rewards
- Double Guest Rewards Points & save up to $20 or $5 per day on Hertz Prestige and Adrenaline Car Collections in the U.S.. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double Guest Rewards Points and a Free Upgrade when you rent an Economy through Full Size car on qualifying weekend and weekly rentals in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Binter Canarias BinterMas (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double BinterMas points for stays at the Barceló Santa Cruz , Barceló Teguise Beac or Barceló Margaritas. More... Until Oct 31, 15
- Double BinterMas points for stays at Iberostar Hotels in Tenerife. More... Until Oct 31, 15
- Double BinterMas points for stays at the Sol la Palma, Sol Puerto Playa, TRYP Princesa Dácil, Meliá DUNAS or Meliá Tortugas. More... Until Oct 31, 15

Carlson Hotels Club Carlson
- 15,000 Bonus Gold Points when you complete an eligible Stay at any Park Inn by Radisson hotel in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Triple Asia Miles and US$50 credit for stays at Raffles Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Dec 15, 15
- Quadruple Asia Miles when you book a stay at eligible rates at Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) properties. More... Until Jan 31 16

China Southern Sky Pearl
- Double SkyPearl Club Kilometers for stays at any participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15

Delta SkyMiles
- 250 Medallion Qualification Miles and Double SkyMiles when you complete a qualifying stay of two nights or more at any hotel in the Hilton Portfolio Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 15

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to Triple Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Accor Hotels in Skopje or Sofia. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- 150 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays participating Mercure and Novotel Hotels in France. More... Until Dec 31, 15




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Visa Infinite Privilege changing to Priority Pass as lounge access provider from October 15

Current and new holders of Visa Infinite Privilege cards in Canada (TD Aeroplan, RBC Avion, CIBC Aerogold) should be receiving notice that as of October 15th your airport lounge access provided is changing. Currently access is provided via the Airport Angel program but as of October 15th that is changing to the larger and most popular global program Priority Pass.

Visa Infinite Privilege cardholders will have the $99 annual fee of the basic Priority Pass membership covered and will also receive 6 free lounge access visits per year. Those visits are typically valued at US$27 each, so you are looking at over $250 in value per year from the Priority Pass benefit.

Overall its not a huge change but I believe this adds a touch more value to Visa Infinite Privilege cards in Canada as Priority Pass does have a larger lounge base than Airport Angel.


Thursday, October 1, 2015

October 1 Update: Vote for your favourite Travel Rewards Credit Card, credit card rates and fees to climb + 18 new bonuses

Big day here at Rewards Canada with the launch of the 2015 Canada's Choice portion of our Top Travel Rewards Credit Card feature!

News, Tips & Tricks
Canada Votes!
Vote for your favourite travel rewards credit card here!


BMO is increasing the interest rates charged on many of their cards to 19.99% from 19.9% except the BMO World Elite which goes down from 20.5% to 19.99%. We will see this from lots of card issuers as the 6 month grace period of no changes to card pricing and rates due to the interchange agreement has come up! You're going to see changes in many cards now in terms of rates and annual fees. All of these changes will be reflected shortly in our Credit Card comparison charts.



Posts since our last update:



Bonus Offers


American AAdvantage
- 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles when you make your first booking on PointsHound.com. More... Until ?
- Double AAdvantage Miles & save up to $20 or $5 per day on Hertz Prestige and Adrenaline Car Collections in the U.S.. More... Until Dec 31, 15
- Double AAdvantage Miles and a Free Upgrade when you rent an Economy through Full Size car onqualifying weekend and weekly rentals in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. More... Until Dec 31, 15

British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios for stays at any participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- 50,000 Bonus Avios when you apply for the RBC British Airways Visa Infinite card. More... Until Nov 15, 15

China Eastern Eastern Miles
- Double Eastern MIles Points for stays at any participating Shangri-La Resorts Worldwide. More... Until Nov 30, 15

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios for a 3 night stay at participating Hoteles Andaluces con Encanto. More... Until Oct 31 , 15
- 2,000 Bonus Avios when you stay on Thursday-Sunday nights (Friday or Saturday required) at any one of Marriott’s 11 Paris hotels. More... Oct 7 - Dec 29, 15 
- 40% Bonus Avios when you transfer your Marriot Rewards points to Iberia Plus. More... Until Oct 31, 15 
- 40% Bonus Avios when you transfer your Melia Rewards points to Iberia Plus. More... Until Oct 31, 15 
- Triple Avios for stays at Paradores hotels. More... Until Oct 29, 15 
- Double Avios on Avis car rentals in Spain. More... Until Oct 31, 15
- 30% bonus Avios when you buy Avios online. More... Until Oct 4, 15

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles for stays at all Lindner Hotels in Europe. More... Until Nov 30, 15
- Double Miles & More Miles on Budget rentals of 2 or more days in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the USA and Canada. More... Book by Oct 31 for rentals until Dec 12, 15

Orbitz Rewards (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn 4x Orbucks when you book select Condor flights to Frankfurt, Rome, Berlin, London, Munich or Amsterdam. More... Book by Oct 28, 15
- 2x Orbucks when you book select Florida flight + hotel packages to destinations like Miami, Ft. Myers, Orlando and more. More... Book by Oct 28, 15

Preferred Hotel Group iPrefer
- Double Airline Miles for stays of two or more nights at Preferred Hotel Group Hotels Worldwide. More... Until Mar 31, 16

SAS EuroBonus
- 50% EuroBonus Points Discount on select award flights with SAS. More... Book by Oct 6 for travel Nov 3 - Mar 16, 16




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Today's Bonus Offer Highlight is brought to you by:

Canada's Choice - Vote for Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards 2015

It's that time again!

Back in March we released our annual rankings of Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards, and for the fourth year in a row we are now asking you Canada to vote for your favourite Travel Rewards Credit and Charge cards!

Voting is now open for the 80+  cards in the five major travel rewards credit card categories. Most new cards that have come onto the market are included and those that are gone have been removed!  Once again we've made the survey one page in length instead of five so it is easier to find the cards you like in each category.

So make sure you let your voice be heard and head on over to Canada's Choice - Vote for Canada's Top Travel Rewards Credit Cards 2015 and place your vote!

WOW Air: $99 all in between Toronto or Montreal and Iceland!!

A few short weeks ago we let you know that ultra low cost Icelandic carrier WOW Air announced new service between Canada and Iceland. At the time prices had not been released however whenever they enter a new market they are low. We know in the U.S. their launch prices were $99 each way and figured in Canada it would be $149 but we were wrong! The launch prices are only C$99 between Toronto or Montreal and Iceland! Or go to mainland Europe via Iceland for only $149 each way!


And we checked to make sure and you bet there are seats available at the $99 ALL IN level!
Now what you have to remember however is that WOW Air charges fees for almost everything else so unless you are just taking a carry on to Iceland your fares will be more than this in the end. Still you can end up travelling to Iceland or Europe for very cheap!

Here are examples of the extra charges:


Now think about this, at $99 each way all in you can fly to Iceland for $198. Take a card like the American Express Gold Rewards card that has 25,000 point sign up bonus that is equivalent to a $250 travel credit. So you go to wowair.ca to book your flights with the Amex Gold Rewards card using your sign up bonus to put a credit towards that charge when it shows up and voila, your flights were free and you still have $52 worth of points to use towards extra charges!

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American Express Gold Rewards Card
• New American Express® Gold Rewards* Cardmembers can earn a Welcome Bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards® points - our HIGHEST Gold Rewards Card offer - just by making $500 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership
• No Annual Fee for the first year; $150 Annual Fee thereafter*
• That's enough for a round trip flight to almost anywhere in North America
• Transfer your points to frequent flyer programs, or 1:1 to Aeroplan®* and Avios
• Earn double points on eligible travel and everyday purchases
• Charge any travel to your Card theøaern pay for it with points
• 1 Free Supplementary Gold Rewards Card (a $50 value*) to help you earn points faster
• American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information click the Apply now  link.
• *As a Charge Card, the balance must always be paid in full each month. 30% annual interest rate applies to balances not paid in full.
Conditions apply
Apply Now
* Canadian Residents Only