Canadian Travel Hacking

Category: Point and Mile Bonuses

  • Best Western Mastercard Bonus – 60K Rewards Points after $2000 Spent & No Annual Fee

    This is a great card to get for a few free nights (could be up to 7 if you can find a great value but at least 3 realistically).

    You can even convert to Aeroplan at a 5:1 ratio to earn 12,000 but I would advise against this.

    There is no annual fee so I can’t see any problems with this card.

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    Currently, this is what the card offers:

    • Earn 1 Best Western Rewards® point for every $1 in eligible purchases
    • Earn 5 Best Western Rewards® points for every $1 in eligible purchases at Best Western properties
    • Get 20,000 bonus points†† after your first eligible purchase–that’s already enough points for at least ONE FREE NIGHT.
    • Spend $1,000 or more within the first 90 days of account opening and get an additional 20,000 bonus points or spend $2,000 or more within that same time frame and get a total of 60,000 bonus points.
    • You will be awarded “Gold Status” upon first use of your credit card and “Diamond Status” when you spend $10,000 in eligible purchases within one year◊◊

    Here is a link to the registration page.

    The priority code is: DAAQ19.

    Note: If you are not interested in the minimum spending, here is a link for 40,000 points with no min spend here.

  • Air Miles – Donate Dream miles to Red Cross Fort McMurray Relief Funds + Govt match

    It appears that you can donate dream miles to Fort McMurray relief funds (which is an awesome way to contribute)!

    Remember your donation is matched by the Canadian Federal government. A Tax Receipt for your donation will be mailed to you by the Canadian Red Cross.

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    To donate dream or cash rewards, do the following:

    1) Go to Airmiles.ca, login with your account.

    2) Copy and paste the following link at the address bar:

    https://www.airmiles.ca/arrow/Produc…rId=1326334673

    3) Scroll down and add 190 dream rewards for $20 donations to Canadian Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund – Fort McMurray Fires Appeal

  • American Express Canada Platinum Card – Increased Sign-up Bonus to 75,000 Membership Reward Points

    This is one of my favourite cards to get (for the hefty signup bonus)!

    I had this when I received 60,000 Membership Reward Points and now the bonus is 75,000 Membership Reward Points!

    These Membership Reward Points are convertible 1:1 to Aeroplan or Avios.

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    I wrote a post that lists all the 10 major benefits for this charge card.

    Basically, the sign-up bonus gives you enough points to get (3 free flights round-trip any where in north america or a nice return ticket to anywhere in Europe – includes 2 stopovers), $200 annual travel credit (can be used in 2016 and then in 2017 so this is $400 value), amazing lounge access across the globe, great benefits for insurance, and assorted AMEX perks.

    This card has a hefty annual fee $699 – but when you consider the benefits that you get it is well worth it!

    Here is a link to signup for this card (I would not wait too long as these sign-up bonuses get pulled often).

  • Introducing Uber Family Profiles

    Uber launched their version of a family ride sharing plan, which allows you to share your account and payment options with nine other people. The best part is those nine people can be family, friends, or coworkers.

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    One feature passengers have frequently requested is an easy way to pay for family and friends. That’s why they have announced Family Profiles, a new feature we’re launching in Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix that lets up to 10 riders safely and easily share one payment method.

    Here’s how it works:

    For the Family Profile organizer:

    • Make sure you have the latest version of the Uber app.
    • Go to Menu and choose Settings.
    • Scroll down to “Add a Family Profile” and select the contacts you would like to add.
    • As soon as the Family Profile rider accepts the invitation, they can begin requesting rides from their own phone using the Family Profile as their payment method.
    • The cost of the trip will automatically be billed to the Family Profile and the organizer will receive a receipt for every ride.

    Here is a link to their blog with more info.

  • Aeroplan Members will soon have the option to fly cash-free!

    Aeroplan Members will soon have the flexibility to use their Aeroplan Miles to cover the cost of taxes, fees, charges and carrier surcharges when making a flight reward booking via aeroplan.com, the Aeroplan Mobile app or through Aeroplan’s Contact Centre.

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    Here is how it works on aeroplan.com:

    1. Find your flight reward via aeroplan.com
    2. Select ‘Pay it all with miles’ when given the choice online about taxes, fees, charges and carrier surcharges
    3. Enjoy your cash-free flight!

    This option will be available to members in early April for both of Aeroplan’s Flight Reward products.  In Fixed Mileage Flight Rewards, which offer the best value in the industry with a fixed number of seats exclusively offered to members on Air Canada and Star Alliance and in Market Fare Flight Rewards which provide access to any available seat on Air Canada at competitive mileage levels that vary based on market fares at time of booking.

  • TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card: 30,000 Aeroplan Miles and First Year Free!

    I found a great new offer for you to pad your Aeroplan miles!

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    In addition to the free 25,000 American Express Membership Reward Points (convertible to 25,000 Aeroplan miles) with no annual fee for the first year, TD has a new offer to give you 30,000 Aeroplan Miles and the first year free!

    • Receive a Welcome Bonus of 15,000 Aeroplan Miles with your first Purchase
    • You could receive another 10,000 Aeroplan Miles when you keep your Account open and active for 90 days after Account approval
    • In addition, you could receive 5,000 Aeroplan Miles when you add an Authorized User to your Account by May 27 (Authorized User must call and activate their Card by July 15, 2016)
    • Annual Fee Rebate for the first year(Primary Cardholder only) – that’s $120 in savings!
    • Offer Valid until May 27, 2016
    • Earn 1.5 miles for every $1 spent on eligible gas, grocery, drugstore and aircanada.com Purchases made with your Card.
    • Earn 1 mile for every $1 you spend on all other Purchases on your Card.
    • Earn miles twice when you pay with your TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card and present your Aeroplan Membership Card at over 150 Aeroplan partner brands and with 100 online retailers
    • Your Aeroplan miles will not expire as long as you are a TD Aeroplan Credit Cardholder
    • Enjoy an extensive suite of travel insurances8 for peace of mind on your next getaway.

    Air Canada Benefits:
    • Your 1st checked bag is complimentary when travelling on an Aeroplan flight reward operated by Air Canada (for Primary Cardholder)
    • You get Priority Check-in when travelling on an Aeroplan flight reward operated by Air Canada (for Primary Cardholder)
    • You’ll enjoy Priority Boarding when travelling on an Aeroplan flight reward operated by Air Canada (for Primary Cardholder)

    So to summarize, you get 25,000 for meeting their requirements and 5,000 to add another authorized user (costs you $50). I would be happy with my 25,000 for no cost!

    Here is a link to signup.

  • WestJet Rewards – Fast Track to Silver Elite Status Offer (Ends April 3, 2016)

    Receive WestJet Rewards Silver Elite Status with a minimum $700 qualifying flight spend on flights flown (or minimum 5 WestJet flights flown). Register online (Registration is required), until April 3, 2016.

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    What does Silver Elite Status with WestJet provide:

    • First checked bag free
    • Four airport lounge vouchers
    • Four advance seat selection vouchers

    Normally you don’t hit Silver status until you spend $4,000 with WestJet (before taxes and fees) so this is pretty decent offer in that you only have to spend $700 to get it. Also I like that WestJet has added a flight component as an option so if you fly 5 really cheap WestJet segments you can also get the Silver Elite status.

    Offer details:

    • Guest must register for the offer prior to travel and include their WestJet Rewards ID on their bookings.
    • Both new and existing bookings for flights flown during the promotion period will be eligible, providing other conditions of the promotion are met.
    • Offer includes awarding of flight benefits only; milestone awards, such as companion flights, are not included. In order to receive milestone awards, member must achieve standard qualifying flight spend amounts.

    Source

  • Aeroplan Partners With Toyota Canada

    Aeroplan members can now start earning miles across the full automotive customer journey on all Toyota and Scion vehicles in Canada.

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    As part of its new partnership with Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI), Aeroplan members can earn the following: Purchase/Lease – members will earn a minimum of 5,000 miles and be eligible for bonus earn on the purchase or lease of any new Toyota. Members will earn 7,500 miles on the purchase or lease of a Scion and 2x the miles on the purchase of a Scion iM. As a limited time bonus offer, members can earn 2x the miles on the purchase or lease of a new Toyota or Scion vehicle – that’s up to 50,000 miles on select vehicles; Test Drive – members will earn 250 Aeroplan Miles for test driving a new Toyota or Scion vehicle; Service – members earn one Aeroplan mile for every $2 spent at Toyota service centres on customer paid services on Toyota and Scion vehicles. To celebrate the launch of the new partnership, Toyota will be offering Aeroplan members 2x the miles on customer paid, eligible services on Toyota and Scion vehicles for a limited time.

    “Adding Toyota to Aeroplan’s growing roster of world-class partners is exciting as it provides members with additional earning opportunities through the entire automotive life-cycle bringing members one step closer to their next experience,” said John Boynton, chief marketing officer, Aeroplan. “Members will also benefit from Toyota’s exceptional service, high quality and dependability in all their vehicles.”

  • Uber Free $20 ride credit (Even for existing accounts) by using Facebook Messenger (US only)

    Uber has partnered with Facebook Messenger to allow you to order rides from the Messenger app. When you order your first ride through Messenger, you will get a free $20 ride credit, even if you already have an Uber account.

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    “For a limited time, you’ll get a free ride the first time you use this feature (up to $20 value) with Uber. All you have to do to claim your free ride is link your existing Uber account or set up a new account within Messenger and request a ride. Driver status updates and payment receipts will get delivered to a private conversation between you and Uber. With everything in one place, you can seamlessly keep track of your ride and payment history.”

    Sounds pretty simple and a nice way to get a free ride. Make sure you update your Messenger app to the latest version to make sure that you can do this.

    Here is a link to this promo.

  • Aeroplan eStore promotion – Black Friday Up to 7x Bonus Miles

    Yeah! Another eStore promotion for November – Black Friday (Canadian edition).

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    The promotion started yesterday, November 24 until November 30th.

    The promotion will be open to all members.  All members who shop through Aeroplan’s eStore (www.aeroplan.com/estore) from November 24 to November 30th will get 5X the miles on all their purchases.

    Moreover, as part of their benefits, Distinction members will get additional miles:

    dDiamond:                        2 Distinction bonus-miles per dollar spent (for a total of 7X the miles)

    dBlack & dSilver:              1 Distinction bonus-mile per dollar spent (for a total of 6X the miles)