Collect 30% more Avios when you convert your RBC Rewards points between now and July, 31 2016.
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 promo.
I read a strange story from the Toronto Star where a family had their passports stolen from their hotel room during an Arizona vacation last April, Air Canada assured them that their return tickets were enough to fly back to Toronto.
On their departure day, the family of four did make it through Phoenix airport security. But just before an Air Canada agent handed them their printed-out boarding passes, another agent came along — and told them it was “illegal under Canadian law” to travel back to Toronto without passports.
“Everyone was telling us their concern was U.S. customs and security letting us through,” she told the Star.
Tharmaseelan’s family isn’t the first to be unexpectedly grounded thanks to mixed messages from Air Canada staff about missing passports. Last year, a Kelowna, B.C., woman who lost her passport on an Air Canada plane wasn’t allowed to board a return flight from Philadelphia — even though, she told Global News, officials had repeatedly assured her she could.
When Tharmaseelan called the Canadian consulate about her family’s stolen passports, they told her to speak with her airline. An Air Canada rep told her that, because they’d purchased round-trip tickets, all of their information was still logged in Pearson International Airport’s system.
I am not sure what I would do if my passports were stolen but I wouldn’t trust any airline without verifying an emergency passport.
What would you do if you lost your passport outside of the country?
For every booking made at one of 36 downtown Vancouver hotels, Travelzoo members will receive American Express Gift Cards valued up to $175.
What you need to know:
$125 AmEx Gift Card for rooms priced $179-$304
$150 AmEx Gift Card for rooms priced $329-$450
$175 AmEx Gift Card for rooms priced $529-$679
Imagine flying over 9 hours in Economy and not getting a measly meal!
Westjet isn’t offering free meals in economy class on its new long-haul route and it’s the first carrier to do this on a direct flight from Vancouver to Europe. It takes nine to nine and a half hours to get to London’s Gatwick airport.
“Within Canada, we are the only carrier charging for hot meals in the economy section of our aircraft,” WestJet spokesperson Robert Palmer said in an emailed statement.
The airline started flying to London from Vancouver on May 6 and it’s running the non-stop service six times weekly until mid October.
“Our guests have always told us that they do not want to pay for things they do not need or want, and that includes expensive meals,” said Palmer.
WestJet considers itself a low-cost carrier and says its major competitor, Air Canada, is a legacy carrier and uses a different business model.
“Fares will include more features, but they’re also more expensive. Comparisons between the two types of carriers are problematic because you’re comparing two different business models,” said Palmer.
WestJet also points to the Norwegian Air flight from New York to London, on which the company does ask for meal payment on certain fares.
But other low-cost airlines such as Air Transat, with non-stop service from Vancouver to London, do offer free meals on all flights to Europe.
Transport Canada says there are no rules around providing free meals on flights.
How much do these meals cost anyways?
What do you think? Is this is a dealbreaker for you (all things being equal amongst carriers)?
Great deal for Canadians travelling to the US!
T-Mobile is starting a new “Tourist Plan” for $30 USD for 3 weeks of service (starts June 12th).
Pros:
Free Sim
1,000 Minutes of U.S. calling
Unlimited International Texting to 1,000
2 GIGS of 4G/LTE data (after that it’s unlimited 2G data).
WiFi Hotspot/tethering allowed
Cons:
No calling back to Canada (use Fongo)
Can’t renew the plan (at least the sim is free), goes dead after 3 weeks.
Only 200 megs of data roaming (areas NOT covered by T-Mobile owned towers)
Here is a link to the promotion.
Colin Savage has spent a lifetime staying fit and healthy, but one long airplane flight changed that.
Until recently, the 64-year-old Victoria man would cycle an average of 400 kilometres a week and run marathons. Now he is short of breath and has trouble moving around.
In January, Savage travelled to Argentina on a hiking trip. The trip home included a 10-hour flight from Chile to Toronto on an Air Canada 777 airplane.
Knee space is limited on economy flights. Top: Air Canada Rouge, Bottom: Air Canada Economy. (Gabor Lukacs/ Facebook)
Savage says for most of the flight, passengers were discouraged from getting out of their seats because of turbulence. At 6-2″, that was a problem for Savage.
“In their seats, my knees were up against the seat in front of me. I was constantly squirming around trying to get comfortable.”
A day and a half after he returned home, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his lower back. When it was still there the next morning he went to a hospital.
“I went through horrible pain, I don’t know if you’ve broken a rib, I have, and this pain was a hundred times worse,” Savage says.
Two CT scans later, doctors told Savage he had deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which was likely the result of having to sit for most of the 10-hour flight, and that blood clots had migrated up his leg, through his heart and into his lungs.
DVT is a condition where a blood clot develops within a deep vein, usually in the thigh or leg. It can break off and make its way to the lungs, where it can cause breathing problems.
According to the World Health Organization, passengers traveling in cramped areas for more than four hours are at risk.
Dr. James Douketis, president of Thrombosis Canada, says given the number of people who fly, deep vein thrombosis poses a public health risk. (CBC)
Savage raised the DVT issue with Air Canada and got this response:
“Medical evidence has shown that deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is the result of a pre-existing personal medical condition, related to an individual rather than a transportation system. International courts have confirmed that based on the aforementioned evidence there is no liability to air carriers for DVT that occurs during a flight.”
This is a very scary condition and personally I always try to walk a little bit but one of my friends who was a pilot always tells me to stretch and stay active for these long flights. The longest flight I took was SFO to SYD and in Premium Economy we had lots of room but for my taller friends I can certainly see how it would be painful.
I took a flight from Toronto to Cayo Coco in Cuba once with Skyservice and my friend who was 6’3″ had problems in the flight (even my legs were pushed against the seat in front of me.
Google Play Music teamed up with TripAdvisor to offer Android users a new music experience on the TripAdvisor Android app with locally-themed music stations based on the destination of your choice.
Starting today, with the TripAdvisor Android app you can access a wide array of well-known and hidden-gem soundtracks for popular cities to listen to whether you’re in travel planning mode or on a road trip exploring the globe. This new app feature is in more than 60 countries around the world where Google Play Music is available.
Wherever you go, or whenever you start planning your next vacation, TripAdvisor and Google Play Music have your ultimate holiday soundtrack sorted. Travelers can listen toCafe Italiano while sipping an espresso in Rome, rave to the Underground Club Sounds of Berlin and dance to Sao Paulo Funk.
Air Canada is running a 25% off base fare promotion for flights to Alberta. Works from all Canadian cities and vise-versa. Book by May 28, 2016 at 11:59pm from your city of departure.
Travel from June 1 to September 6.
NOTE: The only period with substantial savings appear to be from early to mid June.
Apply promo code ‘ALBERTA2016’.
WestJet and Qantas Airways have unveiled the details of a reciprocal frequent flyer agreement that will allow members of the airlines’ frequent flyer programs to earn their choice of WestJet dollars or Qantas Points when travelling on flights of either airline.
The new deal expands on the existing code-share relationship between Qantas and WestJet that was announced in 2014.
Bob Cummings, executive vice-president, commercial for WestJet, said, “We are thrilled to team up with Qantas to bring significant benefit to guests of both airlines. We are confident that our members are going to love earning WestJet dollars while flying on the Qantas global network, and we are equally excited to welcome Qantas frequent flyers aboard and offer them a new opportunity to earn Qantas Points everywhere WestJet flies.”
Cummings continued, “This will be a significant improvement to our reward program value proposition. Our research showed that global travel is a significant aspirational attribute that our program needs. We have come a long way with our rewards program and airline partnerships since launching in 2010, and will continue to add value to our guests through these vehicles going forward. Adding these capabilities to our rewards program and working with our airline partners are all part of our long-term strategic plan.”
As of May 24, Qantas Frequent Flyers are able to redeem Qantas Points on Qantas code-share flights operated by WestJet, giving Qantas Frequent Flyers access to numerous WestJet destinations throughout Canada and the USA when connecting to or from a Qantas international service.
WestJet and Qantas are currently working on plans to introduce fully reciprocal redemption for both airlines in 2017, so WestJet members will be to able redeem on Qantas flights and Qantas Frequent Flyers will be able to redeem on WestJet flights.
Lesley Grant, Qantas Loyalty CEO, said that, “Not surprisingly, travel is the number one interest of Qantas Frequent Flyers so we know our members will be excited about being able to earn and use their points when travelling with WestJet. Qantas Frequent Flyer has more than 50 airline partners and affiliates, which gives our members access to over 1,200 destinations and this partnership with WestJet opens up even more new routes for them to fly while earning and using their Qantas Points.”
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.
Currently, this is what the card offers:
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.