Canadian Travel Hacking

Month: June 2018

  • MBNA Alaska Sign-up Bonus increased to 30,000 Alaska Miles

    MBNA has a great promo on now where they are giving 20% more bonus miles for meeting the minimum spending.
    If you access the offer from Great Canadian Rebates, you will see that they are disclosing 25,000 miles with the $75 annual fee but if you click through to the offer it says 30,000 miles upon meeting the minimum spending of $1,000 in first 90 days of the card.
    Remember you will earn $60 cash back from Great Canadian Rebates giving you a cost of $15 for 30,000 Alaska miles!
    Here are some more details:
    • 30,000 bonus miles and Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ from $121 (USD) ($99 plus taxes and fees from $22) after you make $1,000 or more in eligible purchases within the first 90 days of your account opening.
    • One complimentary checked bag per passenger on the same qualifying reservation, up to a maximum of six passengers.
    • Every year on your account anniversary buy one round trip and get a companion fare of $121 (USD) ($99 plus taxes and fees from $22)◊◊on Alaska Airlines. There are no blackout dates.
    • Earn 3 miles for every $1 charged to your Alaska Airlines Mastercard credit card on tickets, vacation packages, and cargo services from Alaska Airlines.
    • Earn 1 mile for every $1 spent on other eligible purchases.

    Remember to signup with Great Canadian Rebates first before signing up for the offer to bring your out of pocket cost to just $15.

  • New HSBC World Elite Mastercard – No FX, First Year Free (30K points + $100 travel credit)

    I found a great free no forex fee card for Canadians to use!

    The HSBC World Elite Mastercard has a strict income of minimum annual gross personal income of $80,000 or a minimum annual gross household income of $150,000; or $400,000 in assets at any Canadian Financial Institution but if you apply by September 4th, 2018 you will receive up to 30,000 Points as follows:

    • 20,000 Welcome Bonus
    • 10,000 Points when you spend $1,000 within 90 days of account opening.

    This is worth $150 towards travel purchases.

    Plus, they will waive the $149 annual fee for the first year.

    Includes:

    No foreign transaction fees
    Save on all your foreign currency purchases (even online) with no additional foreign currency conversion charges. Only the exchange rate will apply.

    Enhanced rewards program

    Earn 3% in travel rewards on all eligible travel purchases (6 Points per $1) and 1.5% in travel rewards on all other eligible purchases (3 Points per $1).

    31-day insurance coverage
    Worldwide Emergency Travel Medical insurance. Enjoy longer trips with greater peace of mind (This coverage is only available if the primary cardholder is under age 65. Please note that travel in Cuba is not covered.)

    $100 annual travel enhancement credit
    Redeemable towards select airline seat upgrades, airline baggage fees and airport lounge passes.

    Exciting travel benefits

    • Receive a complimentary membership to Mastercard Airport Experiences Provided by LoungeKey
    • Unlimited Wi-Fi through Boingo at over 1 million hotspots worldwide10
    • 10% discount on select hotel bookings on your card with Expedia and Agoda

    My thoughts are that the $100 annual travel credit is nice and I plan to use it for airline baggage fees with Air Canada and the no-fx is a deal for me (saves me 2.5%).

  • 30% Transfer Bonus: RBC Rewards to BA Avios (June 15-July 31, 2018

    Use your Avios to save on flights and get 30% more Avios when you convert your RBC Rewards points between now and July 31, 2018.

    That’s 1.3 Avios for every RBC Rewards point converted. As an RBC Avion cardholder+ you can convert RBC Rewards points to Avios as often as you want. A minimum of 10,000 RBC Rewards points must be converted to receive your 30% bonus Avios.

    Here is a link to the promotion.

    This promo ends July 31, 2018.

    Enjoy!

  • Ebates.ca: In-Store Cash Back

    In-Store Cash Back is a free program that enables you to earn Cash Back even when you shop offline at your local retail stores, by linking Cash Back offers to your credit card in three simple steps:

    First, sign into your Ebates account. (If you don’t have an account, sign up here — you’ll get a $5 welcome bonus.)

    1. Add a card. Select a credit card to add to your Ebates account
    2. Link an offer. Find an offer through Ebates (on our site or in the Ebates App) and link it to your card
    3. Go shopping. Just use the card you selected to make your purchase— the Cash Back you earn will be automatically added to your Ebates account

    How to add a card

    1. Sign in to your Ebates account
    2. Under “My Account,” click on “MyWallet”
    3. Click on “Add a New Card” and enter the credit/debit cards you’d like to shop with

    How to link an offer

    To redeem an In-Store Cash Back offer, you must link it to the card you’ve added to your Ebates account. To do that, visit In-Store Cash Back Offers, find the offers you like, and link them to the card.

    Offers must be linked to your card before you make your purchase, and they must be valid (not expired) when you make your purchase. To see which offers you’ve linked to your card, and to ensure they have not expired, follow these steps:

    1. Sign in to your Ebates account
    2. Visit In-Store Cash Back
    3. Click on “Linked Offers”

    How to go shopping

    You can go shopping two ways:

    • Use your mobile device. Use our mobile site or the Ebates App to find your offer and link it to your card, even while you’re shopping in the store. There’s no waiting: offers you select will link to your card in real time. Each linked offer is redeemable for a single purchase only, but if you want to make a second purchase, you can use your mobile device while in the store to link to the offer again.
    • Use your computer. Find an offer on Ebates.com, link it to your card and use that card to go shopping. (If you elect not to use a mobile device, please note that In-Store Cash Back offers are good for only a single purchase at a time.)

    Regardless of whether you use your mobile device or computer to link your offer, simply shop as you normally would. You don’t need to present anything to the salesperson.

    The best thing about this program is that you can use it on the fly. If you have the Ebates app on your smartphone, you don’t need to worry about activating any offers before you head out for your next shopping trip; you can simply link them to your card while you’re at the store.