Mar 7 Update: WestJet to offer Toronto-Phoenix flights, mbna Choice Privileges MasterCard increased bonus & 18 new bonuses

Here is the Friday round up: WestJet launches YYZ-PHX and mbna Choice Privileges sign up bonus increase are the two big headlines.

News, Tips & Tricks
WestJet announced new daily, non-stop service between Toronto and Phoenix that starts October 26, 2014. (Source: WestJet.com)
Schedule is as follows:

Flight	Departing	Arriving	Effective
1170	Toronto at 9:45 a.m.	Phoenix at 11:35 a.m.	October 26, 2014
1171	Phoenix at 12:20 p.m.	Toronto at 7:27 p.m.	October 26, 2014

Sri Lankan Airlines will officially join the oneworld alliance on May 1st of this year.

With the return of the 24,000 point sign up bonus for the Choice Privileges MasterCard we have updated our Travel Hacking 101 post to reflect this.

Gone is the up to 75,000 Aeroplan Mile offer for buying a Volvo however that has been replaced with a new 40,000 mile offer. See the bonus offer section for details.


Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 40,000 Bonus Aeroplan Miles when you purchase a 2014 Volvo S60, XC60 or XC90 R-Design model More... Until Apr 30, 14

American AAdvantage
- Earn up to 15,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles for round-trip travel on American between New York (JFK) and San Francisco. More... Until May 31, 14

British Airways Executive Club
- Double Avios for stays at the InterContinental Davos. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios for stays at any Langham Hotel in North America or the United Kingdom. More... Until May 31, 14
- Double Avios for stays of 2 or more nights at any participating Preferred Hotel Group Hotel Worldwide. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Ethiopian Airlines Sheba Miles
- Double Sheba Miles on Ethiopian flights between Addis Ababa and Vienna. More... Until Jul 31, 14
- Double Sheba Miles on Ethiopian flights between Addis Ababa and Shanghai. More... Until May 27, 14

Miles & More
- Double Miles & More Miles on all stays at Best Western hotels in Germany and Luxembourg which are booked at the special Partner Rate. More... Until Dec 31, 14

Oman Air Sindbad (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Double Sindbad Miles on Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Book by Mar 31 for rentals until Apr 30, 14
- Triple Sindbad Miles for every rental of 3 and more days at more than 4000 Sixt car rental locations worldwide. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- 25% bonus Sinbad miles at Joyalukkas outlets in Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and United Kingdom More... Until Mar 31, 14

S7 Airlines Priority (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn 1,500 Bonus Priority Miles on S7 Airlines flights between Novosibirsk and Moscow. More... Until Apr 15, 14
- Earn up to 1,000 Bonus Priority Miles on S7 Airlines flights between Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow. More... Until Apr 15, 14
- Double Priority Miles on S7 Airlines flights between Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Stash Hotel Rewards
- 500 Bonus Stash Rewards Points when you book "A Night in The Burg" package at the Craddock Terry Hotel Lynchburg. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Triple Miles&Smiles Miles for stays at all participating Kempinski Hotels Worldwide. More...   Apr 1 - May 31, 14

United MileagePlus
- Double MileagePlus miles on all qualifying roundtrips on United. More... Until May 31, 14 Targeted Offer - May not work for everyone

MBNA Choice Privileges MasterCard sign up bonus tripled to 24,000 points - No annual fee

For a limited time (until Jun 9, 14) MBNA is tripling the sign up bonus for the MBNA Choice Privileges MasterCard to 24,000 Privileges points. The bonus is enough points for 3 free nights at over 1,500 Choice Hotels locations in North America. For a list of Canadian properties that have reward nights at the 8,000 points or less level please see here. Considering there is no annual fee and if you don't mind an inquiry on your credit rating once again this isn't a bad offer to go for just to get the 3 free nights! Or you can convert them to Aeroplan at a rate of 5,000 Points to 1,000 Aeroplan Miles (so with this offer your are looking at 4,000 free Aeroplan Miles or other airline miles unless you can get to 25,000 points on your account to make it 5,000)

MBNA Choice Privileges MasterCard provides
• Up to 24,000 points - 8,000 points, enough for 1 free night upon your first purchase and an additional 16,000 points, enough for two more FREE nights upon making an eligible purchase by July 31, 2014.
• Up to 15 points for every $1 in eligible purchases at over 5,500 Choice Privileges locations in Canada, the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and Australasia2
• 2 points for every $1 spent on everyday eligible purchases‡
• No annual fee

Plus, get automatically upgraded to Elite Gold status, which gives you:

• The ability to book free nights 50 days in advance instead of 30 days
• A 10% point bonus on every eligible stay

For more details or to apply for the card please visit MBNA Canada.

Delta SkyMiles New Flight Award Chart for 2015 revealed

It appears that execs at Delta may have come to their senses after the firestorm they received from the announcement of the 2015 SkyMiles program which moves to a revenue based model. At the time of the release of the news they didn't reveal any details on the new award chart other than it was moving from a 3 tier structure to a 5 tier structure. As many have eluded to when you announce changes to a program but only reveal one side of it (in this case the earning side) but not the other (redemption side) how can a customer, an analyst or anyone else truly see the effect and value of the program. This boils down to our mantra we have preached for quite some time that it is all about the EARN and the BURN and you cannot look at just one side of a program (see our post: Remember people it's all about the EARN and the BURN)

Now Delta did give out some of the redemption details in the first announcement that they will offer one way awards at half the number of miles (same thing Aeroplan instituted earlier this year) and a cash+miles redemption option. But the big question that was lingering on everyone's minds was what is the primary 5 tier award chart going to look like. As we said in the intro, looks like the Delta execs came to their senses and have the released the chart early. You can find the complete PDF here but I have also included some screen shots. The good news is that its not as bad as many people thought it would be. In most cases there is no real increase in the number of miles required but in reality that's because most people won't be earning as many miles as they used to so it will take them longer to get the various redemption levels.

Screen shot of the Economy Class Award Chart

Screen shot of the Premium Class Award Chart

Other than the award amounts now being published we still don't know what availability will be like for the most coveted Level 1 (formerly Saver) levels. Delta claims there will be more seats available but only time will tell when these changes take effect on January 1st, 2015.

On the PDF Delta uses some creative wording to put a positive marketing spin on the chart:
Highlights include no price increases to our lowest Award redemption levels. Of the 44 Award level pricing changes, more than 95% are decreases.

What they don't say is that yes the lowest redemption amounts haven't changed and most Standard Awards have gone down in price but the question we need to raise is what will the availability of the Level 3 (nee Standard) award be? Will they lower that availability and force more people to redeem at the new level 4? Same goes for Level 1 (nee Saver) and Level 2. If so then no wonder they lowered many of the Standard amounts as it looks better to the naked eye. Only time will tell if this will be the case. We surely hope not as Delta really needs to have something good to happen here with consistent devaluations they have placed on the program over the past couple of years.

Mar 6 Update: Delta to cap SkyMiles earned on flights , Alitalia buy MilleMiglia miles bonus, 29 bonuses added in total

Thursday was pretty much about bonuses but we learn Delta will cap the SkyMiles earned on flights and U.S. Daily Getaways return

News, Tips & Tricks
The United States Travel Association and American Express in the U.S. are once again going to be running there very successful Daily Getaway promotion. The details will be revealed on May 12 and the actual sales take place from May 19 to June 20. Some of the offers are OK while others tend to be quite worthwhile and consist of travel discounts or the ability to buy points/miles are a great discount. Amex cardholders receive an additional 10% off pricing. Now the caveat for us Canucks is that these offers are meant for U.S. Residents only and some Canadian credit cards will not work however most Canadian American Express cards should work. Each offer is limited and are only available on a first come first serve basis. We'll keep you abreast of the offers as the get released. For more details see here

Gary Leff at View from the Wing points out that Delta is going to impose a cap on the number of SkyMiles that can be earned on flight in their new 2015 revenue based earning scheme. That cap is 75,000 miles per ticket. Gary points out that a Diamond Medallion member will not earn any miles after a ticket cost of $6818.18. With some of these flyers spending more than that the revenue based system will essentially be taking away miles from these members.

Bonus Offers
Alitalia MilleMiglia
- 250 Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you book a stay in an Italian Best Western Hotel and choose a Kids, Woman or Business Room. More... Until May 31, 14
- Double MilleMiglia Miles for weekend stays (Fri-Sun) at participating NH Hotels in Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands or Spain. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Earn up to 50% Bonus MilleMiglia Miles when you buy or gift miles. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Delta SkyMiles
- 2,000 Bonus SkyMiles for all Delta members on your first Gilt purchase of $50 or more. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Iberia Plus
- Double Avios when you fly on the following Iberia routes: From/To Madrid to Bilbao, La Coruña and Oviedo. From/To Madrid to Münich, Vienna or Zürich. From/To Madrid to Algiers (Algeria) or Lagos. From/To Madrid to Bogota, Buenos Aires and Mexico. More... Register by Mar 16 for travel until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios when you fly on the following Iberia Express routes: To / From Madrid to Alicante, Malaga, Jerez*, Santiago de Compostela, Seville or Vigo. More... Register by Mar 16 for travel until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios when you fly on the following Iberia Regional Air Nostrum routes: - To / From Madrid to Almeria, Granada, Jerez*, La Coruña, La Rioja, Murcia, Pamplona, San Sebastián, Santander, Valencia or Vigo**. - To/ From Barcelona to Burgos, Leon, Salamanca or Valladolid. - To/ From Bilbao to Alicante, Jerez, Santiago de Compostela, Valencia or Vigo. - To/From Valencia to Malaga or Sevilla. - To/From Oviedo to Sevilla or Valencia. - To/From Madrid to Bolonia or Turin. More... Register by Mar 16 for travel until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios on Derby Hotel stays in Barcelona or Madrid. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios for stays of 3 or more nights at select Hace Hotels. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- 800 Bonus Avios for every two night stays at all AC Hotels by Marriott in Spain, Italy and Portugal. And also get 200 Avios for registering for Marriott Rewards® when you complete your first stay (must register in person at the AC hotel). More... Until May 4, 14
- Triple Avios for stays at Melia airport hotels in Madrid. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios for stays at Melia hotels in Madrid, London, Rome, and Vienna. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios for stays at all NH Hotels Worldwide. More... Apr 1 - 30, 14
- Double Avios for stays at select NH Hotels in Spain. More... Until Mar 31, 14
- Double Avios for stays at Paradore Hotels in Spain. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios on Rusticae stays when you Rusticae & Friends Club. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios on all online prepaid Atesa rentals in Spain Mainland and Balearics. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Double Avios when you rent a commercial van from Atesa in Spain Mainland and Balearics. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Triple Avios on rentals of a Group C car or higher at Avis locations in Spain. More... Until Mar 30, 14
- Triple Avios on all Europcar rentals Worldwide.More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Triple Avios on all Hertz rentals of 3 or more days Worldwide. More... Until Apr 30, 14
- Triple Avios on all Sixt rentals Worldwide. More... Until Apr 13, 14

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
- 1,000 Bonus Mileage Bank Miles when you stay at selected Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Shanghai, Frankfurt, London, Rome and Baku. More... Until Aug 31, 14

Jet Airways JetPrivilege
- Double JetPrivilege Miles when you fly on Jet Airways between Mumbai and Paris. More... May 13 - Jul 14, 14
- Double JetPrivilege Miles when you fly on Jet Airways between Bengaluru or Hyderabad and Abu Dhabi. More... Until Apr 30, 14

Le Club accorhotels
- Earn up to 1,200 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at all participating Accor hotels in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. More... Book by Mar 18 for stays until Jun 30, 14

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Double Flying Club Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating The Red Carnation Hotel Collection properties. More...   Until Dec 31, 14
- Double Flying Cliub Miles when you stay a minimum of two nights at participating Preferred Hotels Worldwide. More...   Until Dec 31, 14
- Earn up to Triple Flying Club Miles on Avis rental of 3 or more days in the U.S. or Canada. More...   Book by Mar 31 for rentals until Apr 15, 14
- Double Flying Cliub Miles with a minimum spend of 500 euros or pounds at any of the 9 Chic Outlet Shopping Villages in Europe. More...   Until Apr 30, 14

Mar 5 Update: Popular Travel Hacking method shut down, Icelandair check in bonus, great LifeMiles transfer bonus

Death of a travel hacking method, great new bonuses and more are on tap today!

News, Tips & Tricks

Yesterday we lost a dear friend in the travel hacking world. The American Express Business Gold Rewards Card was 'refreshed' but in other terms went through a sort of devaluation for those who work the system, albeit without breaking any rules. This card used to offer 25,000 Bonus Membership Rewards Points as a sign up bonus when you spend $3,000 in the first three months but what made it a travel hacking favourite was the first year free option, which meant that other than regular card spend you would get those 25,000 Membership Rewards Points for free (translates to $250 travel credit, 25,000 Aeroplan Miles or 25,000 Avios). Well the first year free is gone which and the actual annual has been increased to $250 essentially wiping out the value of the sign up bonus which remains at 25,000 but which now requires $5,000 in spend in three months. The only added bonus in the card refresh is the ability to earn 1 bonus point (double points) for spending at select American Express merchants. There is a small list of participating merchants of which the cardholder chooses 3 to earn the double points at. Looks like they are taking a page out of the now defucnt conusmer Choice and ChoicePlus cards where you got to select 5 merchants for double points. This bonus on the Business Gold is capped at $250,000 in spend with those select merchants.

To see how this card compares with other business cards in Canada see our updated Business Card comparison chart. We have also updated our Travel Hacking 101 post to mark the loss of this card and bring the total amount of miles you can earn for free down to 65,000+ from 90,000+.

As we see too often with these travel hacks, they almost always come to an end and such is the case here as Amex has closed the door on this one. 

The 100% bonus on transferring LifeMiles is back. It is kind of like buying miles except you have to have the miles to start with and be able to transfer them to someone else. This works really well for family members who would redeem miles on behalf of their family anyways or if a friend is willing to have you transfer miles to their account and then back to you so you can ultimately buy miles twice. With the offer you are essentially buying the miles 1.5 cents per mile as the cost to transfer is US$15 per 1,000 miles. If you don't have LifeMiles you'll just have to wait for the next buy miles bonus that offers the miles at the same price. See the bonus offer section below for more details

Garuda Indonesia joins the Skyteam Alliance today. The national airline of Indonesia becomes the 20th member of the alliance.

Icelandair has launched a check in bonus of 500 Saga Club points for mobile, web or kiosk check ins. This is perfect timing for those flying on Icelandair's new route out of Edmonton (inaugural flight is today!)  See the bonus offer section below for more details

WestJet is expanding their code share services with Delta as part of their change of airports in New York for their flights out of Calgary. As of April 12th WestJet' Calgary to Big Apple service moves to JFK from Newark and they will code share with Delta on the following routes out of JFK:
New York JFK – Atlanta
New York JFK – Baltimore
New York JFK – Boston
New York JFK – Buffalo
New York JFK – Charlotte
New York JFK – Cincinnati
New York JFK – Cleveland
New York JFK – Indianapolis
New York JFK – Orlando
New York JFK – Philadelphia
New York JFK – Pittsburgh
New York JFK – San Juan
New York JFK – Washington Dulles
New York JFK – Washington Reagan
Westjet will also codeshare on Delta's upcoming Vancouver-Seattle route while Delta will add their code to on the following WestJet routes:
Calgary – New York JFK
Calgary – Prince George
Vancouver – Edmonton
Vancouver – Whitehorse
(Source Airlineroute.net)



Bonus Offers
Air Canada Aeroplan
- 150 Bonus Aeroplan Miles every time you spend a minimum of $50 at The UPS Store. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Air France KLM Flying Blue
- Earn 3,000 Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you join the Flying Blue program and complete your first Air France, KLM or any SkyTeam partner flight by June 15, 2014. More... Join by March  31, 14 Residents of Canada only

American AAdvantage
- Up to a 30% discount when you transfer AAdvantage Miles to another AAdvantage member. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Avianca LifeMiles
- Double LifeMiles when you transfer your LifeMiles to another members account. More... Until Mar 17, 14

Best Western Rewards
- Double Rewards Points on all qualifying stays at the Best Western Hotel Gap. More... Until May 31, 14

Icelandair Saga Club
- 500 Bonus Saga Club Award Points every time you check in for your Icelandiar flight using mobile, web or kiosk services. More... Until Jun 1, 14

Taj Hotels InnerCircle
- Earn up to 2,200 Bonus InnerCircle points when you subscribe to The Economist. More... Until ?

Wyndham Rewards
- Earn up to 20% Bonus Wyndham Rewards Points when you buy or gift Wyndham Rewards points. More... Until Mar 31, 14

Air France KLM 3,000 Flying Blue miles sign up bonus for Canadians returns!

Today sees the return again of the Canadian Air France KLM first flight bonus when you join their Flying Blue program. The last offer just ended on January 31st so it hasn't been too long since we last saw it! This is a duplicate of that promotion and the past summer offer and as such is unlike most other AF KLM sign up bonuses as this one is not limited to AF KLM flights but is open to any SkyTeam flight! So you can fly Delta, Korean, Czech Airlines, or any other SkyTeam airline to earn this bonus. 

Here is the offer as it will be posted on the Rewards Canada's Flying Blue Bonus Miles page later today:

Earn 3,000 Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you join the Flying Blue program and complete your first Air France, KLM or any SkyTeam partner flight by June 15, 2014. Use promo code SP14 when you join the Flying Blue program online at KLM.com (CA). Join by March  31, 14
Restrictions:
Residents of Canada only

Can't make use of this promotion? Be sure to visit our Flying Blue Bonus Miles page for other flight,  hotel, car rental and other mileage bonuses!

American Express® Gold Credit Card with Cash Back Re-launched!

Some of you have been lucky enough to still hold this card since it was cut from the public portfolio back in 2008 and we are pleased to pass along the news that the American Express® Gold Credit Card with Cash Back has returned for public applications! The card is a good option for those people who don't want a travel rewards card or need to supplement their credit card portfolio with a cash back card.

For those of you who do have the card you'll recall the card was revamped in 2011 with the addition of $99 annual fee and a $100,000 cap on the 2% earn rate both of which still remain on the card.The complete earn rate on spending is tiered as follows:

0.5% on annual spend up to $2,500
1.0% on annual spend between $2,501 and $5,000
2.0% on annual spend between $5,001 and $100,000
1.0% on annual spend above $100,000
No cap on cashback that can be earned



Based on these tiers once you get to about $33,000 in spend this card jumps ahead of the pack in the cash back category in terms of cash return (albeit for some cards like the Scotia Momentum it will depend on your category bonus spending)

The cash back is awarded annually as a statement credit on your account.

The card also offers $100,000 in Travel Accident Insurance, Buyer’s Assurance Protection Plan and Purchase Protection Plan and of course the famous Front of the Line benefit.

Is this a card you might consider if you are not interested in travel rewards or are looking to supplement your primary travel rewards card with a cash back one? Let us know what think! We'd also love to hear from those of you who do have the card and how it has been for you.

You can learn more or apply for the card here.

We will also be adding this card to our Cash Back Credit Card comparison chart over the next few days so you can see how it compares to others in this category

Mar 4 Update: Amex Gift Cards for YVR stays, week long Airmilesshops bonus, Hilton airline bonus for Latin America stays,

New routes, free miles and Amex Gift Cards for YVR stays round out today's update:

News, Tips & Tricks
Canadian North will be launching summer seasonal service between Iqaluit and St. Johns/Halifax. The flights will run from Jun 20th to Sep 5. Canadian North is an Aeroplan partner so you can earn or redeem miles for these flights. (Source: Airlineroute.net)
Schedule:
5T401 YFB1715 – 2130YHZ2215 – 0025+1YYT 733 5
5T400 YYT1200 – 1315YHZ1400 – 1615YFB 733 5

There is a free miles offer from South African Airways, caveat is that you are supposed to be 8 years old to get it! See our bonus offer section below for details

Airmilesshops.ca is running a short term bonus of 5x Air Miles Rewards miles on qualifying purchases of $20 or more before taxes made via the online shopping portal. The offer runs until March 11. More...

Travel Deals
Not too long ago we let you know about an American Express Gift Card offer for staying at select hotels in Vancouver. We are happy to let you know that they have a new offer now running that once again awards American Express Gift Cards for stays in YVR. This time the value of the gift card is based on the class of hotel you stay at. You must book by March 14 for stays until April 30. Click here for full details and online booking. Be aware however that the rates are pre-paid and non-cancellable. Gift cards are awarded as follows.

• Bookings at 2 through 3.5 Star Hotels: Guests will receive a $75 AMEX Prepaid Gift Card
• Bookings at 4 Star Hotels: Guests will receive a $100 AMEX Prepaid Gift Card
• Bookings at 4.5 and 5 Star Hotels: Guests will receive a $125 AMEX Prepaid Gift Card

Bonus Offers
airberlin topbonus
- Triple topbonus Miles for stays at participating Accor Hotels Worldwide. More... Book by Apr 30 for stays until May 31, 14

Delta SkyMiles
- 25,000 Bonus SkyMiles after 5 paid stays at any of 3,700+ participating Marriott hotels worldwide. More... Until May 31, 14

Hilton HHonors
- Double Airline Miles for stays at participating hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio in Latin America and the Caribbean. More... Until Apr 30, 14

JetBlue TrueBlue (on FrequentFlyerBonuses.com only)
- Earn 5,000 TrueBlue Bonus Points when you register for TrueBlue, then book and fly a JetBlue flight (one-way or roundtrip) More...   Until Apr 30, 14

Qatar Airways Privilege Club
- Earn up to 14,000 Bonus QMiles for Qatar Airways flights between Doha and Edinburgh. More...   May 28 - Aug 31, 14
- Earn up to 6,000 Bonus QMiles for Qatar Airways flights between Doha and Sabiha. More...    May 22 - Aug 15, 14
- Double QMiles and 15% off the best available rate when you book and stay at selected Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Maldives, Shanghai, Istanbul, London, Frankfurt, Mallorca and Baku. More...   Until Aug 31, 14
- 1,500 QMiles for stays at selected Langham properties worldwide. More...   Until May 31, 14
- 1,000 Bonus QMiles for stays at participating Courtyard by Marriott® hotels in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Kuwait. More...   Until May 3, 14
- Double QMiles for stays at the Salalah Rotana Resort. More...   Until Dec 31, 14
- Double QMiles and save up to 35% on Budget rentals in Australia, Canada, Turkey, Qatar, United States, Bahrain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. More...   Until Aug 31, 14

South African Airways Voyager
- Double Voyager Miles when you fly on SAA Airlink between Johannesburg and Bloemfontein, Kimberley and Gaboronee. More...   Until May 31, 14
- 8,000 Voyager Miles to all 8 year old kids that join the Voyager programme during the month of March 2014 in celebration of SAA’s 80th Birthday. More...   Until Mar 31, 14

Voila Hotel Rewards
- Earn up to 50% Bonus VHR Points when you stay two or more times at any VOILÀ network hotel Worldwide. More... Until May 31, 14