The new Air Canada Aeroplan program revealed - it all goes live on November 8!

 

It’s hard to believe it has been three years now since Air Canada announced they weren’t going to renew their partnership with Aeroplan, which at the time was owned by Aimia and were set to create their own brand new frequent flyer program. Without going into all the nitty gritty of what transpired (if you are interested in the complete background check out The Air Canada Aeroplan Saga - All the resources you need) over the span of a many months  after that Air Canada along with TD, CIBC and Visa ended up buying Aeroplan from Aimia but they still promised a new program by July 2020. Now with three years of behind the scenes work the program is here. The majority of the details of the program have been revealed today and it will officially launch on November 8. It’s still called Aeroplan but with a new logo to better match its ownership by Air Canada and it really is, for the most part, a new loyalty program. As an Aeroplan employee told us, “this isn’t putting lipstick on a pig.” They really wanted to revamp the program in almost all respects and they have lived up to that promise.

For some more info here are further articles on the new Aeroplan program:

• American Express reveals the details for their new suite of Aeroplan cards 
• A closer look at the new Air Canada Aeroplan credit cards
• The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the new Air Canada Aeroplan program

It starts with a new logo and look for Aeroplan. You can see the logo at the top of this post and you’ll notice the ‘E’ is made up of the three stylized boxes which are taken from Air Canada’s new livery where they have the cockpit of each airplane painted in that same black shape. And of course the famous Air Canada Roundel has been added to provide the direct link to Air Canada.

 

Here's what the new Aeroplan membership cards will look like:

 

You'll also notice in the new program that the primary Aeroplan currency are no longer called miles - they will be called Aeroplan points. Your current Aeroplan miles will convert to the new Aeroplan points on a 1 to 1 basis. For Elite Status they will still call them Elite Qualifying Miles in terms of those miles required to achieve status.

 There is a lot to read in this post and if you aren't up for reading the entire thing here are the main take away points of the new program:

• No more carrier/fuel surcharges - the most you'll pay is a $39 booking fee for travel on partner airlines. Fly on Air Canada and there are none of those dreaded airline surcharges.
  
• Family Sharing - you will be able to create a group of 8 people to pool points from to make it easier to reach those reward goals
• An enhanced elite program - New benefits like Priority Rewards, Status Pass (share status benefits), additional elite qualifying miles and dollars earning options and more.
• Points earned on flights based on spend -  When you fly on Air Canada the points you earn will be based on what you spend on your base airfare. It will no longer be distanced based
• Dynamic Reward pricing on Air Canada - No more set reward pricing for flights on Air Canada and while overall reward flights should be cheaper some may not like the fact that some rewards may be more expensive
• You now have to pay for stopovers - if you want to have a stopover on your Aeroplan reward flight it will cost you 5,000 points per stopover
• Credit Card Enhancements - From first bag free to earning elite status miles and dollars, companion vouchers to rollover EQMs, the suite of Air Canada Aeroplan co-brand cards get some major boosts.
  

And now what everyone is waiting for here are all the details of the new program:

Flight Rewards

This is the part of the program most members have been concerned about. All across the internet and social media a major devaluation was expected on this front. In fact, that hasn’t happened. Air Canada wanted members to still get a lot of value out of the program and for the most part, members will get more value now. How so? They got rid of the biggest thorn in everyone’s sides. Those dreaded carrier surcharges when flying on Air Canada and even partner airlines. Yes that’s right, no longer will a 60,000 mile round trip reward ticket on Air Canada to Europe come with $600 to $800 in fees. If that flight is on Air Canada it will have no carrier surcharges and if it is on a partner airline there is simply a $39 booking fee. Yes those Lufthansa awards will now only have a $39 fee instead of three to four figure surcharges! This even brings more savings in as those fees had GST/HST charged on them and now since there are no fees on Air Canada flights they are reported as a true $0 flight to other authorities like the U.S., so there are actually less taxes paid from the U.S. side.

Now you are probably asking that there must be some sort of trade off. And there is. If you are redeeming points for flight on Air Canada there will no longer be a published reward chart. No more Classic Flight and Market Fare Rewards. Now it’s just a dynamic range of pricing for reward flights on Air Canada. Flight rewards will become distance based within and to/from various travel zones as follows (click on the images to see them bigger):

All points amounts are for one way travel

When you go to book a flight online for Air Canada only travel you’ll be presented with a realistic range of points required for a flight reward. Most will be at or near what we were accustomed to with Classic Flight rewards. Some will be cheaper, some will be more expensive but 80% of the flight rewards should fall into the range that Air Canada presents above. Just like the old Market Fare rewards you can book every seat available on Air Canada in any cabins with points and thanks to their new back end system flight rewards can be booked right on aircanada.com or the Air Canada app. No more having to go to two separate websites to compare flight rewards and cash flights. 

Overall most reward flights on Air Canada are now cheaper in the new program when you take into account an increase in points combined with a decrease in the extra fees you used to pay for. Executives from Aeroplan showed me a few examples where you may be redeeming $200 more in points for a flight but were saving $800 in fees. There were also other examples where both the points redeemed and fees paid were lower than they are in the current program. 

I wanted to take a quick look for myself and based on the new reward charts a one way economy class ticket between Toronto and London will run 35,000 to 60,000 points (so 70,000 to 120,000 roundtrip) versus 30,000 right now for Classic Flight rewards (60,000 round trip) and sometimes a heck of a lot more for Market Fare Rewards. If we take that round trip classic flight between Toronto and London right now you it would run you 60,000 Aeroplan Miles and $735.33 in fees. The same flight new program would likely be 70,000 points and about $204 in taxes. So you would be spending 10,000 more points (worth a minimum of 1.2 cents or $120 but could be higher depending on what you personally value each point at) but saving over $530 in fees.

So while it is dynamic in most cases when you look at the big picture rewards should actually come out cheaper. And to see what you may have to spend dynamically Aeroplan has a point predictor tool to help out that will show you the range of points you could expect to redeem for a flight.

Aeroplan will retain a flight reward chart for rewards on partner airlines and the good news is they are going to bring in even more airline partners both domestically and internationally! And we’ve already mentioned the best news, no longer will there be fuel or carrier surcharges You will only pay that $39 booking fee!

Stopovers
One benefit that Aeroplan has been greatly heralded for over the years was the category of stopovers. That is, the ability to stop over in a city on an award ticket to your final destination - and Aeroplan used to allow you to do it twice each direction or by having one stopover and one open jaw until they changed their back end systems and had to limit it to one of either as of September 2019.  In the new program you can book one stop over per direction, that is for every one way/single bound itinerary you can have one stop over. So if you book a simple round trip you can have two stopovers. Book three one way trips and you can have three stopovers and so on! It is however limited by the maximum number of segments you can book on a PNR and that 12 for any reward that includes Air Canada or a combination of Air Canada and a partner airlines.

But here's the catch to the new program's stopover rules - you have to pay 5,000 points for each stopover. Hypothetically speaking, if you redeem 120,000 points for a round trip flight but choose to add in one stop over that reward will cost you 125,000 points, two stopovers and you're paying 130,000 points. 

Finally one more change to stopover rules - you can no longer book stopovers on reward flights within the Canada or U.S.. That is if you are flying from Toronto to Los Angeles you can't have a stopover in Denver. However you can stopover in Canada or the U.S. if you end destination is outside of Canada and the U.S. For example going from Calgary to Hong Kong via Los Angeles will allow for a stopover in Los Angeles.

Award pricing discounts
The dynamic flight reward pricing for travel on Air Canada has discounted pricing available. How so? By having Aeroplan Elite Status and/or an Aeroplan credit card you can get preferred pricing. The points required for flight rewards may be discounted by a certain amount if you have one or the other. Have both and your discount is even bigger as you can avail of the discount from both!

Points plus Cash
When you go to redeem points for a flight reward you'll be presented with several options. You can choose to pay for the entire reward of base points plus taxes and fees with miles (they have this option now but they have made the points for taxes part much more affordable) you can pay the old school way of points for the base flight and cash for taxes and fees but now they will also provide several options where you can redeem less points and some cash to cover the base fare. This is similar to what we have seen with many hotel programs and even some airline programs that give you this option. This is a good method to use if you don't have enough points for a reward but still want to use them to bring down the cash portion of a flight.

Other rewards
You'll continue to be able to redeem Aeroplan points for non-flight rewards including hotels, car rentals, Air Canada Vacations packages, gift cards (soon to be electronic only so you'll get them right away!), merchandise (the catalog is being expanded greatly thanks to partnerships with new retailers) and more.

Earning Aeroplan Points

The one thing many Aeroplan members were predicting is that Aeroplan would move to earning points on flights based on spend rather than distance flown. And this seems to be the case come later in 2021. While Aeroplan right now is kind of a hybrid revenue earn model whereby the lowest fare classes earn less or no points and higher classes earn more, it is still based as a percentage of the mileage flown. This appears to be going away sometime next year and likely we'll be earning a set amount of miles per dollar spend on base airfare:

• Basic fares will earn 2x the base dollar amount spent as points
• All other fares will earn 3x the base dollar amount spent as points

Although you will begin to earn points on all fare classes the amount you earn will really depend on your spend and your elite status. Buy a cheap flight to Europe or Asia with no status and I forsee lower points earning but buy an expensive ticket with status and you'll likely earn more points. This is truly indicative of revenue based earn system where those who can spend more earn more.

All other earn methods remain such as credit card partners, hotels, car rentals, online shopping etc. Aeroplan has also stated they will be adding even more non-flight partners but do not consider themselves a coalition program anymore like their competitor AIR MILES

Aeroplan Family Sharing

Several frequent flyer programs around the world have a family option for their programs where members of the same family or household can share and combine points for awards. That’s where Air Canada Aeroplan’s Family Sharing comes in. Each family sharing account can have up 8 members and all the points earned can be shared (pooled) so that it is easier to reach potential rewards sooner. Members can redeem for rewards from their shared balance and if one of the members of the Family Sharing Account has status and/or an Aeroplan co-brand credit cards all members in the the group will benefit from the preferred pricing when redeeming for rewards. All members in the Family Sharing group will retain their own Aeroplan number and keep the miles they earn under that number. It’s only at redemption time when miles may be pulled from various accounts. This allows for family members to leave a group should they want and take their miles with them. Personally that will probably be the case in my family in the near future as the Rewards Canada kids are almost adults and if and when they go out on their own they may not want to pool anymore.

Points Expiration

As was already announced in July Aeroplan Points will now expire after 18 months of inactivity instead of 12 months. That additional 6 months should be enough for most to make sure they earn or redeem at least 1 mile to keep their account going. Plus if your account does become inactive you can have your lost point reinstated if you fly with Air Canada within 6 months or get yourself an Aeroplan credit card.

Change and cancellations

Now that Aeroplan is owned by Air Canada there aren’t problems of integration between two companies like before which means Aeroplan award tickets now follow Air Canada revenue tickets more closely. For example if you cancel an Aeroplan flight within 24 hours of booking you can do so with no charge which is the same as an Air Canada revenue ticket. After 24 hours and up to 2 hours prior to departure you can cancel or change any flight reward albeit a fee will apply. Good news you’ll get a full refund of all your points and all taxes, fees and surcharges.




Elite Status

Prior to Aeroplan being taken back by Air Canada there were two elite programs. Air Canada Alititude and Aeroplan Elite Status. Now there will just be one elite program, Aeroplan Elite which retains most of what Altitude was. Gone is the name Prestige, it will now be Elite 25K, 35K, 50K, 75K and Super Elite . Status members will get some new benefits, the ability to retain status easier and be able to share many benefits with friends and family. The first new benefit is Priority Rewards. These are a voucher that provide a 50% discount on the base points required for a flight rewards and members can earn up to 11 of these vouchers each year.

Each Priority Reward Voucher is earned based on the elite member's Status Qualifying Dollars (SQD) and their elite status each time they reach an SQD level. Vouchers are earned when members reach the 4,000, 7,000, 10,000 and 15,000 SQD thresholds and then for every 5,000 SQD after that up to 50,000 SQD. Vouchers are valid for one year after issue and can be used as follows based on your elite level:

• 25K - Voucher can be used for Canada / US Economy
• 35K - Voucher can be used for Canada / US Economy
• 50K - Voucher can be used for North America up to Premium Economy
• 75K - Voucher can be used Worldwide up to Premium Economy
• Super Elite - Voucher can be used Worldwide up to Signature/Business Class

Members who are 35K or higher as of November 8 will automatically receive Priority Rewards.

The next new elite benefit is Status Pass. Any member who is 50K or higher will have the option to select Status Pass as one of their Select Benefits as of March 2021. What is Status Pass? It's essentially a sharing of elite status benefits to family, friends and colleagues and they don't even have to be travelling with you.

Here is what those travelling on a Status Pass will receive:

• Priority Check-In
• 3 Complimentary Checked Bags, with Priority Baggage Handling
• Priority Security Clearance
• Maple Leaf Lounge Access
• Priority Airport Standby
• Priority Boarding
  

Looking to qualify for Elite Status? It can now be done without even flying! This is Air Canada's olive branch to those members who got elite status in the old Aeroplan program (not Air Canada Altitude) by shopping lots, using credit cards a lot etc.  If you earn 100,000 points through eligible transactions in a qualifying year you'll receive Aeroplan 25K status that is valid through the following year. Note that transfer from hotel programs and programs like American Express' Membership Rewards do not count towards those eligible points.

Aeroplan co-brand credit cards will also help you to achieve status as you can earn status qualifying miles and status qualifying dollars just by spending on eligible cards. Some eligible cards will also allow you to rollover unused SQM (whatever is left over your highest qualification level) and eUpgrades to the next year. Finally if you have an eligible card you'll get higher priority at the airport. What this means is that if you are waiting for an upgrade and it comes down to two 50K elites for that last business class seat and only one of them have an Aeroplan credit card, it will be that cardholder who gets that last upgrade!

Credit Cards


As we already mentioned one of the big new benefits of having an Aeroplan credit card is lower pricing on the number of points required for flight rewards on Air Canada. On top of that any flight benefits the cards have will now apply to all Air Canada flights whether you book with points or cash. Prior to this most were only available on Aeroplan award flights.  And watch out WestJet, the Aeroplan cards now carry similar benefits to your credit card. Cards like the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card and American Express Aeroplan Card (and higher cards) will give you your first bag free on Air Canada flights for you and up to 8 people on the same reservation! 

Then if you get yourself a Visa Infinite Privilege Card or top end American Express Reserve card they will offer a companion fare as well, albeit you need to hit a spend level of $25,000 and not just have the card like WestJet’s. However the Air Canada companion fare is good for anywhere Air Canada flies globally so it does give you a lot more destinations to choose from. The voucher will operate similar to WestJet's with where the companion will pay $99 and up (plus taxes, fees, charges, and surcharges) depending on where the flight is to. The benefits don't stop there, Infinite Privilege and Reserve cardholders( both Primary and Additional) will now receive complimentary access to Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in North America and they can each bring one guest.

TD has also added Hotel/Motel Burglary Insurance and Mobile Device Insurance on all their Aeroplan cards  and NEXUS+ application fee reimbursement of up to $100 for the Primary Cardholder and Additional Cardholders for the Infinite and Infinite Privilege cards.

Cards will also have an elite status component whereby there will be improved status benefits with select co-brand credit cards as mentioned above from rollover SQM to additional SQM and SQD based on spend. The top end cards will let you rollover any unused SQM to the next year as well as give you 1,000 SQM and 1 SQS for every $5,000 in card spending. While the cards lower on the tier (Visa Infinite and Amex Platinum) will earn 1,000 SQM and 1 SQS for every $10,000 in card spending.

And there you have it! A very long and broad overview of the new Aeroplan program! Overall I'm very impressed with what they have done. In my virtual meeting with their executives last week you could hear the excitement from all of them as they feel this isn't a devaluation to the program being glossed over by several enhancements like we typically see. It is a definitely a rebirth of the program and you can tell they really wanted to keep the program valuable, relevant and rewarding to full gamut of Aeroplan members from Super Elite members to the member who only earns a few hundred miles here and there. I truly believe they have achieved this. Yes there are some drawbacks, that's a given and was to be expected but for the most part the program will be better for the entire membership base of 5+ million members whether you are frequent flyer, a frequent buyer or a seldom user - there is something for everyone. 

Click here to learn more about the program on Air Canada's site!

What do you the Rewards Canada community think about today's news? Let us know in the comment section below!

Podcast Episode 70 - COVID-19 and the airline refund situation in Canada

Episode 70 - August 10, 2020
COVID-19 and the airline refund situation in Canada

In this episode we discuss the biggest topic in travel that has arisen due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and that's the issue of Canadian travellers getting or not getting refunds for flights that were cancelled by Canadian airlines. We delve into the topic primarily by giving real world examples from our readers and listeners and how they have handled getting or not getting refunds, their success or lack thereof with credit card charge backs and more. Give it a listen today!

Click Here to download the podcast (mp3)

 

or Download/subscribe via:

 

Links relating to this week's topics:

• Provide your feedback on the airline refund situation in Canada for an upcoming episode of the Rewards Canada podcast - this was our initial call out for stories, give the comments section a read for all the details and links from our great community!
• My experience getting a refund from WestJet for cancelled U.S. flights - Rewards Canada's own experience
• Air Passenger Rights Canada - Consumer Advocacy Group fighting for Canadian travellers
• Petition to the Government of Canada - Petition pushing for federal jurisdiction to have airlines issue refunds
• CTA Statement on airline vouchers

Useful links provided by our readers:

• Mastercard Chargeback Guide (PDF)
• Mastercard Dispute Resolution Management During COVID-19 (Public Version)
• Air Passenger Protection Regulations: SOR/2019-150

Sample letter to use to write your MP:

Dear [NAME OF MP]

It has been years since I have felt the need to write to my MP or MPP with my concerns about government policy. I am normally able to accept that there will be some things I can agree with and some things I don't. I am writing today to tell you how upset I am at your government's lack of action on demanding Canadian airlines refund their passengers for services not provided.

I have supported you at the ballot box and even been to a rally during an election campaign but you will no longer have my support if your government continues to allow Canadian airlines to steal money from Canadians and offer useless in vouchers in their place. I am now forced to go through my credit card company and likely the courts to get my money back for flights that were cancelled by the airlines. It is obvious by the outrageous prices for future flights that the vouchers are essentially worthless and quite frankly illegal as the airlines provided me with nothing for the money I gave them.

The minister of transportation has clearly sided with the airlines and their billions of dollars in the bank against Canadians and potential voters. The airlines should use bankruptcy protection to allow themselves to restructure as airlines do all the time. I would never invest in an airline for this reason, but I do think that it is the shareholders not unwilling Canadians who should be paying for this. The minister seems concerned about their being an airline industry coming out of this crisis. Of course there will be. Let them restructure and create an industry that is suitable for a pandemic and post pandemic time.

I have no idea why your government seems to be against the consumer. You will likely be facing a difficult election next year as Canadians have the time to assess the governments successes and failures of the current crisis. There will be thousands of voters holding onto to useless vouchers putting their X beside another party because the Liberals chose to ignore them and their hard earned money that is sitting with airlines rather than helping them to survive this difficult pandemic.

1,000 Free Qatar Airways Privilege Club QMiles when you download their app and login

 

Over on our global site I posted about an  offer where you can earn 1,000 bonus Qmiles when you book Qatar Airways flights via their app (this is applicable to Canadians as well) however if you keep reading further down on the promotion page there is another offer. That offer states you’ll earn 1,000 Qmiles for simply downloading the Qatar Airways app and logging in to your Privilege Club account on the app.

Here is the terminology direct from Qatar Airways:

Not yet downloaded the Qatar Airways App? As a valued Privilege Club member, download the app by 12 August 2020 and you will also enjoy an additional 1,000 bonus Qmiles once you log in.

This is valid for new members or those members who have never used the app or haven’t logged in for 6 months or more and the offer runs until August 12.

Learn more about the app offers here.

Full terms and conditions:

Bonus Qmiles Terms and Conditions for Qatar Airways App Download and Login to the membership profile:

• This offer is only applicable to Privilege Club main members, who download Qatar Airways mobile app and login to the membership account
• Members who have logged into the Qatar Airways mobile app in the last 6 months will not be eligible for the bonus Qmiles
• App users who are not members need to enrol to the Privilege Club program as main member and login to their membership account to be eligible for the bonus Qmiles
• Promotion period for App download and login: 06 August 2020  to 12 August 2020
• Members will earn bonus Qmiles only once during the offer period
• Bonus Qmiles will be credited to the eligible members account by 20 August 2020.

August 6 Update: New Amex Offer for Wayfair, Air Transat cancels Western Canada flights to sun destinations (but offers refunds) & earn Skywards miles for online shopping

A new Amex Offers deal came out this week. Once again we see a statement credit promotion for shopping with Wayfair. Cardmembers who see the offer in their account and register for it will receive a $15 statement credit when they spend $100 or more with Wayfair. We received in our household on the American Express Cobalt Card and the Platinum Card. This offer has been added to our Guide to American Express Canada 'Amex Offers'

Image via American Express

Air Transat has decided to cancel flights from Western Canada to sun and U.S. destinations for the upcoming winter season. Flights from Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria are all affected. The good news however is Air Transat will be offering all customers who had booked such flights full refunds rather than vouchers. (Source CTV News)

Image via Air Transat

Emirates Skywards now has an portal where you can earn Skywards miles for online shopping. The portal has a U.S. or U.K. option, as such most Canadians will most likely pick the U.S. option and shop at stores that ship north to us unless you have a U.S. forwarding address where you can even shop at stores that don't ship here and still earn your Skywards miles. Visit the Skywards Miles Mall here.

Image via Emirates

Rexall is offering $15 back in Be Well points this weekend when you spend $75 or more. No coupon is required.

Image via Rexall

Airline Schedule Updates
A summary Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

Air Canada is planning to resume flights between Toronto and Tokyo as of October 2nd. (Source RoutesOnline)

The rest of Air Canada's international routes have also been updated. Check them out on RoutesOnline. Some flights of note are Calgary-London restarting on October 25, Montreal-Tokyo on October 26, Ottawa-London on October 25, Toronto-Dubai on October 25 and Vancouver-Delhi on September 2.

Pakistain International Airlines will resume flights between Toronto and Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore during the first week of September. (Source RoutesOnline)

 

Posts since our last update:

• Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for August - These cards provide some of the best value out of their welcome bonuses
  Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of August 2020! This…
• Earn 4x ALL Rewards Points + save up to 40% on stays at Fairmont Hotels in North America
  Fairmont Hotels have definitely been one of the more aggressive hotel chains over the past three months in pushing…
• August 5 Update: AIR MILES Mega Miles returns next week, American Express Cobalt Confirmed Multiplier Locations update & 40,000 bonus PC Optimum points for online beauty shopping
  Originally planned way back in March but postponed due to COVID the fan favourite promotion AIR MILES Mega Miles…

Deals:

WestJet has a Canada wide seat sale running until August 10. Save on travel to any of their 39 destinations in Canada for travel until December 16. Find out more here.

If you aren't using the Ampli Cash Back app yet you can get $5 when you download the app and join today with promo code AMPLI5 Find out more here

Enterprise: Enjoy a free rental upgrade on rentals until August 28, 2020 Find out more here.

Fairmont Hotels Stay Close - Buy Night 1 Get 1 Night free at select hotels in Canada, U.S. and Mexico. Find out more here

SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. Find out more here

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- August Promo Rewards – Save 20% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for an award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. More... Book by Aug 31 for travel Aug 1, 20 - Mar 31, 21

ALL Accor Live Limitless
- Quadruple (4x) ALL Rewards Points and up to 40% off for stays at participating Fairmont, Sofitel, Swissotel and 21c Hotels in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Caribbean. More... Book by Aug 31 for stays until Mar 31, 21

World of Hyatt
- OFFER MODIFIED 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt House Frankfurt Eschborn More...  Aug 31 - Dec 30, 20
- OFFER MODIFIED 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night at the Ambassador Chicago More... Aug 31 - Dec 30, 20
- OFFER MODIFIED 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt Place Indianapolis / Carmel More... Aug 31 - Dec 30, 20
- OFFER MODIFIED 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night at the Hyatt Regency Portland at the Oregon Convention Center or the Hyatt Centric Downtown Portland. More... Aug 31 - Dec 30, 20
- OFFER MODIFIED 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt House Nashville / Downtown - SoBro More... Aug 31 - Dec 30, 20
- OFFER MODIFIED 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt Place Amarillo - West More... Aug 31 - Dec 30, 20
- OFFER MODIFIED 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt Regency Frisco - Dallas More... Until Aug 30, 20
- OFFER MODIFIED 500 Bonus World of Hyatt points per night for stays at the Hyatt Centric Old Town Alexandria More... Aug 31 - Dec 30, 20

Wyndham Rewards
- 30% Bonus when you buy Wyndham Rewards Points. More... Until Aug 16, 20

Follow Rewards Canada:

Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for August - These cards provide some of the best value out of their welcome bonuses

Here are the Rewards Canada Top 5 Credit Card Sign Up offers for the month of August 2020! 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 (welcome/sign up) offers. As always when choosing a card you should always take other factors into account other than the just sign up bonus, but when some of these cards are first year free, they can and do pay off even when you grab them strictly for the sign up rewards. This month we see two first year free cards on the list

For this month the list is the exact same as July's list as there haven't been any significant changes to the higher end welcome offers in our market.

Editor's Note:
As travel is curtailed right now these offers are more forward looking and can and should be used towards your long term travel plans - whether that's later this year, next year or even beyond. Getting the cards now allows you to achieve the sign up bonuses as you wish and then continue to spend to build up those points and miles balances to make those future vacations that much better. - Or in the case of all the cards except the Alaska Airlines Mastercard you can also look at cash back or cash back equivalents like gift cards from each program if you are looking at short term financial help. If you are going for the latter focus on the cards that have no fee in the first year so that you can maximize your value.

Remember as well that you will find this list smack dab in the middle of the Rewards Canada homepage for easy reference!

Here are our top 5 credit card sign up offers for July (in order of welcome bonus value, calculated as minimum mile/points value minus annual fee)

Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card - 50,000 Points (Apply here)
Minimum value: $380

The 50,000 points, awarded after spending $1,500 on the card in three months are worth at least $500 in our minds which means after subtracting the annual fee you are coming out ahead by $380. In reality you can pull even more value out of the card (into four figures) as we outlined in our post A look at how The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card provides huge value!  Don't forget you get an annual free night with the card as well on the card anniversary date, automatic Silver Elite status, 15 night credit towards the next elite status and more.
Minimum Income: N/A

Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard - 30,000 Miles (Apply here)
Minimum value: $330

This card offers a welcome bonus of 30,000 miles when you spend $1,000 on the card in the first three months of having it. This is one of the easiest bonuses to achieve and this card is one of the most churnable in Canada. There are really no problems in getting it 2-4 times in one year alone! Those 30,000 miles are worth no less than $330 when redeeming for economy class flights and just go up from there like the TD Aeroplan card.
Minimum Income: $80,000 Personal or $150,000 Household

CIBC Aerogold Visa Infinite Card - 20,000 Miles (Apply here)
Minimum value: $240
 The bonus is awarded as follows: 15,000 Aeroplan Miles when you make your first Purchase with your Card + 5,000 Aeroplan Miles when you spend $3,000 or more in the first four billing periods. Plus your first year annual fee is waived! Depending on how you redeem those Aeroplan miles should be worth no less than $240 but more likely closer to $500 or more! In fact if you take the per mile value from our post from late July 2019 this welcome bonus would be worth $1,500 or more.
Minimum Income: $60,000 Personal or $100,000

WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard - 350 WJD (Apply here)

Minimum value: $231
 The WestJet RBC World Elite Mastercard actually requires the least amount of spend out of any of the cards on this list. Spend $1 and you'll get the 350 WestJet dollars bonus. You do have to pay the $119 annual meaning you come out $231 ahead. This card will earn 2x rewards on groceries and dining until August 31, 2020

Minimum Income: $80,000 personal or $150,000 household

If you went for all these cards you ultimately could end up with anywhere from $1,400 to over $2,500 in travel value. However 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. We don't really recommend getting all five in one month unless you know you can meet the minimum spend for them all at once, rather you'd want to pick one or two right now, perhaps another next month and so on.

Disclaimers:
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.

Sponsored advertising. The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) is not responsible for the contents of this site including any editorials or reviews that may appear on this site. For complete and current information on any TD product, please visit the TD site. 

Earn 4x ALL Rewards Points + save up to 40% on stays at Fairmont Hotels in North America

Fairmont Hotels have definitely been one of the more aggressive hotel chains over the past three months in pushing out offers to encourage travellers to stay at their hotels. If you are a regular reader of our blog you'll already know about their Stay Close offer that provides every 2nd night/room for free on stays at select hotels and now they have this new promotion called Take Your Time.

The Take Your Time offer is available at most Fairmont locations in North America (no Hawaii though) plus a select few other Accor family of hotels in the U.S. and Mexico. It provides up to a 40% discount on the best flexible rate plus quadruple ALL Accor Live Limitless points. This means you'll earn 100 points per 10EUR spent on your stays at these locations with the promotion. With a lot of Fairmont Hotels not being the cheapest places to stay at a multiplier like this can become very valuable.

A one night stay at the Banff Springs Hotels in the middle of August comes with a 10% discount which means rates start around C$450 or about 285 Euros. This means that one night stay will earn 2,850 points not including any elite bonuses if you hold status with the program. With the ALL program 2,000 points can be redeemed for 40EUR off a stay so the points earned are worth about 57EUR or about C$89. That's a decent rebate on the $450 stay.  But is this a good deal? Depends on the discount at the hotel. For example the CAA/AAA rate for the same night is only C$375. So $75 cheaper and base points earned are worth about $18 which means the CAA/AAA rate works out slightly better. This could be due to the fact the dates I checked only had a 10% discount with this offer. Chances are in the off season the discount will be 20% and if you are looking at other locations the discount can be as high as 40% so definitely do your homework and to make it easier for you each ALL reward point is worth 2 EUR cents each (about 3.15 cents Canadian)

Now to make sure you earn 4x points you need to book your stay(s) by August 31 but you have a long time to actually travel as you can book stays as far out as January 31 for city locations or March 31, 2021 for resort locations. The discount portion of the offer is good for bookings until December 31 however if you book between September 1 and December 31 you won't earn the 4x points.

Learn more about and book this offer here

August 5 Update: AIR MILES Mega Miles returns next week, American Express Cobalt Confirmed Multiplier Locations update & 40,000 bonus PC Optimum points for online beauty shopping

Originally planned way back in March but postponed due to COVID the fan favourite promotion AIR MILES Mega Miles will return next week! This is the promotion that offers bonus miles for shopping at various AIR MILES partners and then extra bonus miles for earning at multiple partners. This time the bonuses are 300 bonus miles for 3 partners or 1,000 miles for earning at 5 partners. The partners participating and offers do vary by region and will be revealed when the promotion starts on August 13. Find out more here.

Image via AIR MILES

Another small American Express Cobalt Card Multipliers update. This one comes from us as we enjoyed takeout from Flores and Pine a relatively new restaurant in Calgary that is highly acclaimed.

It codes properly as a 5x points merchant and not only that it falls under Amex's current Shop Small promotion so I was credited $5 for the purchase made there. See all the confirmed American Express Cobalt Multipliers here and learn more about Amex's Shop Small promotion here.

And speaking of Amex's Shop Small promotion - another merchant that surprised me a Shop Small merchant was Alberta's Hospital Home Lottery. They are one of the few lotteries that accepts American Express and after buying my tickets for it I received a $5 Shop Small credit with my Platinum Card.

This week's online shopping bonus for Shoppers Drug Mart is 40,000 bonus PC Optimum Points when you spend $125 or more. This offer is good for today and tomorrow. Find out more here.

Image via Shoppers Drug Mart

Airline Schedule Updates
A summary Canadian operations based on data from RoutesOnline and other sources. Remember that many of these route plans are subject to change and right now they are changing frequently!

Lufthansa will be moving to daily flights to Frankfurt from both Toronto and Vancouver this September while Montreal to Munich moves up to 5x weekly. (Source RoutesOnline)

SWISS is offering 3 flights per week between Montreal and Zurich for this month while moving to 5x weekly come September (Source RoutesOnline)

Remember to visit and bookmark our COVID-19 resource page where we are keeping you up to date with all the latest airline, hotel, lounges and loyalty program news, policies, closures and more.

 

Posts since our last update:

• You can now use Instacart to circumvent Costco's non-acceptance of Amex and to earn 5x points with the Cobalt Card
  Back in March we had our reader TitaniumTux let us know that Instacart was finally coding properly as an…
• July 31 Update: The 2% return on travel Envision World Mastercard now on Rewards Canada, hotel occupancy rates in Canada continue to rise slowly and seven new bonus offers
  Sometime ago our Facebook follower Jeremy B. introduced us to the Envision World Mastercard and I'm finally getting around…

Deals:

WestJet has a Canada wide seat sale running until August 10. Save on travel to any of their 39 destinations in Canada for travel until December 16. Find out more here.

If you aren't using the Ampli Cash Back app yet you can get $5 when you download the app and join today with promo code AMPLI5 Find out more here

Enterprise: Enjoy a free rental upgrade on rentals until August 28, 2020 Find out more here.

Fairmont Hotels Stay Close - Buy Night 1 Get 1 Night free at select hotels in Canada, U.S. and Mexico. Find out more here

SkipTheDishes - Sign up with this link to get $5 off your first order over $15. Find out more here

WealthSimple Trade:  Receive $5 when you deposit and trade at least $100 worth of stock with WealthSimple Trade. Find out more here (We will also receive $5 when you receive $5)

Rewards Canada receives a small commission when you use any of the above offers. You don't have to chose to use our links but we thank you in advance if you do.

Canadian Bonus Offers

N/A

Other Bonus Offers

IHG Rewards Club
- Receive a free night (worth up to 40,000 points) when you enroll in or renew an InterContinental Ambassador membership and stay once at an InterContinental, Kimpton or Regent Hotel. More...   Enroll/join/stay by Nov 15, 20
- OFFER EXTENDED 100% Bonus IHG Rewards Club Points when you buy 3,000 or more points. More...  Until Aug 14, 20

Turkish Miles&Smiles
- 1,000 Miles&Smiles Miles when you stay of 2 nights or more at Avec Hotel More... Until Dec 31, 20

United MileagePlus
- Up to a 100% bonus when you buy MileagePlus Miles. More... Until Aug 27, 20

World of Hyatt
- Receive one night free for every night your redeem points for stays at Miraval Resort & Spas. More...   Until Dec 31, 20

Follow Rewards Canada:

You can now use Instacart to circumvent Costco's non-acceptance of Amex and to earn 5x points with the Cobalt Card

Back in March we had our reader TitaniumTux let us know that Instacart was finally coding properly as an eats and drinks merchant with American Express.  At that time we wrote about how you could Use Instacart to circumvent Loblaw stores non-acceptance of Amex and to earn 5x points with the Cobalt Card. Now the same rule applies to Costco as last week they announced a new same day delivery option powered by Instacart. That means you can now earn your American Express Cobalt Card category multiplier for shopping at Costco and here's the really good news. When you do shop via Instacart YOU DON"T HAVE TO BE A COSTCO MEMBER.  Now the trade off is that the pricing via Instacart won't be the same as in store at Costco or even if you shop for the regular Costco.ca items for delivery in 2 days or longer. So in reality this option is best for the grocery items that you cannot order regularly through Costco and of course for those who are not members and don't want to pay for a membership. Even with the higher pricing via Instacart I'm sure there are savings to be had utilizing this method over shopping at other stores and then on top of that you'll earn your rewards from whicheve.r card you use to pay for the transaction.

You have two options for the delivery service in terms of ordering, you can do so via Instacart or via Costco's website:

Customers can begin shopping from Costco via Instacart today by going to https://www.instacart.ca/store/costco, opening the Instacart app on their mobile device, or visiting Costco's member-only ecommerce site at http://sameday.costco.ca. From there, customers select their city and Costco warehouse, and can begin adding items to their Instacart grocery cart. An Instacart shopper will pick and deliver the order within the customer's designated timeframe.

I went through the process of setting up the same day shopping on Costco's website and rather than completing a new profile I simply imported data from Instacart:

The only credit card I have saved on Instacart is the American Express Cobalt™ Card  as it earns 5x points with Instacart which translates to a 5% cash back return on those purchases until the end of September.  The 5x points for eats & drinks is limited to $30,000 annually. Once you are at 1,000 points you can start redeeming and those 1,000 points will net you a $10 statement credit until September 30 (it drops to 1,000 points = $7 after that or a 3.5% return)  Of course for travel it is always a minimum 5% but can get as high as 10% with Amex's Fixed Points for Travel option.

Do note that when you shop at Costco via Instacart you will not earn your Costco Executive Membership 2% return. Also of note is that some sale prices that may be available in store may not be available via Instacart. This really is the trade off - if you are willing to go shop in store you'll enjoy more savings however if you are not a member or don't want to set foot in a physical store just yet this is a great new option

Learn more about this new partnership here: https://www.instacart.ca/store/costco or  http://sameday.costco.ca.