A busier day to close off the week! Aeroplan contest winner, not so good news from Avianca and Marriott…
News, Tips & Tricks
Congrats to Jason S. of Newfoundland who is the winner of our Aeroplan Turns 30 contest! Thanks to all of you who participated.
A few months ago we let you know about the beta launch of Marriott Rewards Plus Points
where you could earn points for completing social media activities.
When this new Marriott initiative posted it was quite easy to earn 2,000
Rewards points in a month with only 8 or so social media actions
however that has changed now and to earn the same amount of points will
require ten times that! I know I won’t be making the effort to complete
80 actions in a month as it a big time draw so this easy point earning
strategy will dwindle for me as I’ll get points each month for the
Marriott follows I already have but not as much as before. You can find
out more at www.marriottrewardspluspoints.com
Avianca LifeMiles sent out emails to their members
over the past 24 hours or so giving advance notice of some upcoming
award chart changes that take effect on October 15th. Kudos to them for
giving a heads up this time as they are notorious for making changes
without any advance notice but that is all they can get kudos for as it
seems that award flights in general may get more expensive. We say ‘may’
as the email and corresponding page on the LifeMiles website is quite
vague in what the changes will be. The page with the details shows what
redemptions will be on Avianca flights which for us Canadians only
affects their flights from Toronto which for example jump from 60,000
miles to 80,000 miles for flights to Barcelona all on Avianca metal. Here are the new award flight rates for Avianca flights out of Toronto:
However of more interest to all us and especially those who have taken
advantage of the numerous 100% bonus on buying LifeMiles is the Star
Alliance award chart changes. All they tell us is the following:
As for changes in air ticket redemption with Star Alliance member
airlines, these include increases up to 13.000 miles in Economy Class
and up to 26.000 miles in Business Class. Both cases apply for
roundtrip flights from North America.
For roundtrip flights from Mexico, there will be reductions up to
15.000 miles and increases up to 14.000 miles in Economy Class, also
reductions up to 20.000 miles and increases up to 28.000 miles in
Business class.
We are led to believe this is for flights to/from Europe as that is
where many of the ‘buy miles’ miles are being used but could be for
their entire Star Alliance chart as we don’t forsee them reducing rates
on European awards. Complete (well not so complete) details on the
changes can found here
Bonus Offers
Hilton HHonors
– 2,500 Bonus HHonors Points when you join HHonors and complete your
first stay at a Hilton Hotel in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany,
Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa, Sweden,
Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. More… Register and book by Aug 31 for stays until Dec 1, 14 Targeted Offer – May not work for everyone
Le Club accorhotels
– 500 Bonus Le Club Accorhotels Points and up to 40% off for stays at participating Accor Hotels in France More… Until Aug 31, 14
– Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Novotel Hotels in Poland More… Until Aug 29, 14
– Double Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Mercure & Novotel Hotels in Russia More… Until Sep 2, 14
– 2,000 Le Club Accorhotels Points for stays at participating Ibis hotels in the U.K. More… Book by Jul 27 for stays Jul 21 – Nov 2, 14
Miles & More
– Double Miles & More Miles when you fly on Brussels Airlines
between Brussels and Bari, Cagliari, Krakow, Montpellier and Seville. More… Until Aug 31, 14
Qatar Airways Privilege Club
– 1,000 Bonus QMiles for stays at Courtyard properties in United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. More… Until Sep 27, 14
Starwood Preferred Guest
– 35% Starpoints Discount on award night stays at 6 Starwood resorts Worldwide. More… Until Mar 3, 15
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
– Double Royal Orchid Plus Miles for stays of 2 or more nights on the
“Club and Suite Retreat” offer at participating Langham Hotels Worldwide
More… Book by Sep 15 for stays until Sep 21, 14
–
Double Royal Orchid Plus Miles for stays of 2 or more nights at participating Mandarin Oriental Hotels Worldwide. More…Until Sep 30, 14
–
Double Royal Orchid Plus Miles for stays of 3 or more nights at participating Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Worldwide. More… Until Sep 30, 14
– Up to Royal Orchid Plus Miles for stays at any selected Shangri-La
Hotel, Traders Hotel or Kerry Hotel when booking at the Best Available
Rate. More… Until Aug 31, 14
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