Singapore Airlines Awards Now Available from Alaska Airlines

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October 9, 2019

This entry is part 10 of 12 in the series Booking Alaska Partner Awards

Back in August of 2017, I wrote about Alaska Airline’s announcement that it was partnering with Singapore Airlines. This was news in and of itself because Singapore Airlines is a Star Alliance member and one that was well known for high-quality premium cabins for Business and First Class. The problem at the time and an issue that continues to this day is that premium cabins are never made available for award redemptions for routes from North America. That all changes as of today … at least with Alaska Miles redemptions!!!

North American Premium Cabin Availability

This was a definite no go with Aeroplan and other Star Alliance points programs. The only way to redeem for premium cabins was to collect Singapore Kris Miles, which is very difficult as a Canadian. Those in the know knew that you could pretty easily find award availability for routes like Singapore (SIN) to Hong Kong (HKG) as well as some other intra-Asia routes using Aeroplan but the elusive white whale that everyone was searching for was the North America to Singapore routes.

Luckily, Alaska Airlines has come to the rescue! Somehow they have managed to negotiate award availability on Singapore Airlines in both Business and First Class. Based on my experience with Frequent Flyer Programs (FFPs) from my time at WestJet, Alaska has been able to negotiate rates that Singapore Airlines found favourable enough to allow award space to be given to Alaska Mileage Plan members.

Based on my quick search of award space, it looks like Alaska has also managed to negotiate more award space than they make available to their Star Alliance partners, which is very interesting indeed.

There have been reports of First Class award availability earlier in the day but they seem to have been snapped up by some very excited Travel Hackers.

As an example, here’s some First Class award availability found by Ricky from Prince of Travel.

Singapore Airlines Allowable Redemptions

As of right now, you can book North American redemptions on Singapore Airlines to Africa, Asia, India and South Asia, the Middle East, and the South Pacific.

That’s quite a few locations you’ll be able to book Singapore Airlines awards to and it’s quite exciting because there are bound to be some hidden gems hidden amongst those award charts given Alaska’s very generous routing rules.

For right now, I would encourage you to check the redemption rates directly from Alaska Airlines and as I start to explore, I’ll provide a better in-depth write-up around the sweet spots of the Alaska Mileage Plan program as it relates to Singapore Airlines, much like my series on Alaska Airlines Partner Awards.

For right now, I wanted you to know that premium space award is now available on Singapore Airlines using Alaska Mileage Plan!

How to Get Alaska Miles

Now if you want to get in on the Alaska redemption train, I would suggest you first read my review on the Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard. I have a couple of reasons for this.

I want you to make an informed decision on whether the card makes sense for you before you sign up. I’m not a blogger that believes in flogging affiliate links to make a buck. I truly am interested in helping you make your dream trip a reality. If it works for you great, if not, keep reading the blog as I hope to be able to find a solution for you as well.
The review provides a way for you to get the card for a $39 annual fee, which is regularly $99. This $39 gives you 30,000 Alaska Miles and will quickly get you on your way towards redeeming on Alaska and its partners.

Next Up

This weekend, I plan on doing a LOT of research around these redemptions and nerding out on how to stretch your Alaska Miles for redemptions on Singapore Airlines. I expect to find some interesting things that I can share with you so you can start to take advantage before all the award space gets snapped up.

This is gonna be fun!

Marriott’s Passport to Redemption

By

Jayce

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October 7, 2019

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I had the opportunity to travel to Halifax at the end of August this year and I stayed at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront. The hotel itself is right on the water with gorgeous views of the waterfront and great access to the best restaurants and attractions that Halifax has to offer.

View from the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront

While the hotel is due for a refresh, the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront stands up well against the other hotels available in the city.

The stay was an award redemption, running a total of 70,000 Bonvoy points for 2 nights (35,000 points per night). When I checked in, I was in for a surprise … one that I had never experienced before in all my award stays.

A Check-In Surprise

As a current Ambassador level Marriott Bonvoy member, I am always hoping for a suite upgrade or other recognition as a top-tier member. About 10% of the time, I walk away with cash due to the check-in agent forgetting to offer me my Guaranteed Platinum Elite/Titanium Elite Welcome Gift. When that happens, I am compensated with $100 USD or the equivalent in the currency of the hotel.

$100 USD compensation from the Chicago Marriott Marquis

The check-in agent followed the script to the tee so I didn’t receive my $100 USD compensation, but she handed me a room key that I had never seen before.

Passport to Redemption

The agent that checked me in, welcomed me and said “Oh, I see that you are redeeming points for this stay”. That piqued my curiosity because, in my experience, the type of stay is rarely called out.

She then proceeded to hand me a room key that said “Your Passport to Redemption” and started to explain the benefits of the card. This card could be used at three locations throughout the hotel:

Harbourstone Sea Grill and Pour House
Balancing Rock Coffeehouse
Stone’s Throw Patio

Each location would provide a special complimentary treat every day of my stay. At the Balancing Rock Coffeehouse, I would receive a free brewed Starbucks drink, worth about $4-5 CAD per day, which was a nicety but not anything all that special.

The other two locations provided much better benefits. The Stone’s Throw Patio provided a free alcoholic beverage each evening (~$10 CAD) and the Harbourstone Sea Grill and Pour House provided free homemade kettle chips (~$10 CAD).

I’m not a big drinker and I was travelling with my daughter so I didn’t take advantage of the drink at Stone’s Throw but we picked up the kettle chips each evening. It was a nice treat and the price was definitely right.

As this was the first time that I had experienced this, I thought it was an interesting extra way of saying “thanks” from the hotel. I am unsure if this is a hotel led initiative or something that Marriott might be rolling out. A quick cursory check of the internet leads me to believe that this is a hotel-specific benefit but I will reach out to my Ambassador for comment.

If this is specific to the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront, I applaud the effort. I’ve always believed that the difference between a good hotel and a memorable one are the little things. Welcoming you back to the hotel by name, a handwritten note in your room, or a firm handshake from the general manager … those are the things that drive loyalty and memorable experiences. A little extra goes a long way.

Conclusion

Award stays are always a nice reminder of the hard work you put into earning enough points for a free stay but when a hotel also gives you additional benefits like free food and drink, it’s extra special.

I’m hopeful that other hotels within the Marriott chain follow suit because even those without status can be made to feel special, and that should be most prevalent during an award stay.

Great Canadian Rebates Cashback Boost

By

Jayce

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September 29, 2019

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For those that have followed my blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m a HUGE fan of cashback sites. One of my favourites is Great Canadian Rebates because they’re Canadian and because I know that when I’ve had issues with missing cashback in the past, they were resolved immediately so I know that my efforts will result in cash back in my pocket.

If you don’t know what a cashback site is or how to use one, I would encourage you to check out my previous post about them.

With cashback sites, you can pretty much rely on them to get you a great rebate during Black Friday and Boxing Day/Week. In fact, I have often held off on making big purchases like a new laptop until these times. I remember that during Black Friday 3 years ago, Dell had 10% cashback ON TOP of the ridiculous sale prices that you often see on Black Friday. I made my purchase of a Dell XPS13 and saved a ridiculous amount of money. If memory serves, the configuration of my laptop was close to $1,900 and on Black Friday it was on sale for $1,199 + taxes and fees, so the total was $1,282.49. That was an amazing deal but I also got back an additional $128.25!!!

I don’t know about you but it really makes me happy knowing that I have an edge over the common consumer.

A New Phenomenon

More recently, retailers and vendors have been seeing the benefit of advertising through cashback sites and have been offering “cashback boosts” to encourage buying behaviours.

These “cashback boosts” can be quite lucrative if you are paying attention. There are two pretty dang good ones out there at the moment and they’re both credit cards that Travel Hackers like you and I covet.

American Express Cobalt Cashback Boost

Normally, GCR offers $50 cashback on approved cards but from now until December 31st, 2019, they are offering $75, which is a 50% improvement on the normal offer.

With the Cobalt card, you only pay $10 per month, rather than the normal $120/year that most other cards charge. This means that if you applied for the card, got approved, got the cashback, and then cancelled your card, you theoretically be ahead by $65.

I personally love the card so I wouldn’t cancel it but that’s just me.

The 5x Membership Reward Select points at grocery and restaurants is well worth keeping the card for. For those of you that are trying to get into and understand Manufactured Spend (MS), I can give you a very strong HINT that the Cobalt card is a MUST HAVE in your wallet.

I haven’t 100% decided yet but I think it might be time to start sharing some MS secrets through the blog.

Whether it be organically or via Manufactured Spend, the Cobalt card is a must-have so why not pocket some additional cashback?

Get $75 Cashback on the AMEX Cobalt

Scotiabank Gold American Express Cashback Boost

This card has a little more urgency than the Cobalt card because the cashback boost is so significant, it has a shorter fuse. From now until October 9, 2019, you will earn $100 cashback for an approved card.

The card itself carries a $120 annual fee, so in essence, you will be paying $20 for the card in the first year. That’s a pretty damned good deal because you can earn up 30,000 (worth $300 in travel) Scotia Rewards points in that first year. The 30,000 points are broken into two separate bonuses:

Earn 25,000 Scotia Reward points when you spend $1,000 or more in the first 3 months from account opening.
Earn an additional 5,000 Scotia Reward points when you spend $10,000 in the first year from card opening.

I would say that it’s pretty easy to make $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months but the additional $9,000 in a year is a bit tougher, especially if you don’t plan on making this your “top of wallet” card.

If we assume that you make it over the $1,000 in 3 months hurdle, that means you would have earned 25,000 points ($250 in travel) for $20, giving you a very strong return on investment.

Additionally, the card itself offers some pretty good benefits as well.

Similar to the Cobalt card, you earn 5x points at grocery, restaurants, fast food, food delivery, and some drinking establishments. You also earn 3x points for streaming services, gas, transit, and rideshare services.

The card also offers no foreign currency exchange, which is great for travel and can save you handsomely as most credit cards charge a 2.5% premium for foreign currency transactions.

Get $100 Cashback on the Scotiabank Gold AMEX

I’ve had the Scotiabank Gold card in the past and at the time, the offering was a little on the vanilla side but with the cashback offer of a $100, it’s almost a no brainer. While I’m not a huge fan of Scotiabank’s credit card offerings, this is a card I’ll be getting.

Conclusion

Both the American Express Cobalt and the Scotiabank Gold American Express provide very real value in their card products but by combining the value with cashback sites like Great Canadian Rebates, you can really get amazing value. These offers are time-sensitive so if you were ever on the fence on either of these cards, now is the time to act.

Air Canada’s Status Challenge

By

Jayce

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September 25, 2019

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Having status with an airline, even low tier status, is one of those things that doesn’t seem like a big deal on paper but when you have it, it seems to make a world of difference for how you experience travel.

If you happen to have status with an airline like WestJet, Air Canada will provide you with a status challenge so that you can easily achieve status for a fraction of the effort it takes to earn status.

The Process

The Air Canada Status Challenge is fairly simple. All you have to do is follow these simple steps:

Take a photo of your membership card which clearly shows the expiration date of your status. If your rewards program doesn’t provide a membership card (like WestJet), you can provide a screenshot of your app that shows your status and expiration date.

Send an email to [email protected] and request a status challenge. Remember to attach your screenshot or photo of your current status. Make sure to include your Aeroplan/Altitude number so they can register your challenge.
You will receive a confirmation email from Air Canada confirming your status challenge and the requirement to earn your status.

Terms and Conditions of the Challenge

The terms and conditions that were included in the email reads as follows:

This Altitude Challenge is for the Altitude status outlined above. To reach any other Altitude status, you will need to meet the published qualification levels outlined at http://altitude.aircanada.com. If you are unable to earn the required number of AQM or AQS outlined above within the 90 days challenge period, your Altitude status will not change.
Please ensure that all contact information is up to date on your Aeroplan Profile, including your mailing address, e-mail and phone number(s).
Flight activities which are eligible for this offer are flights operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express and Air Canada rouge which earn AQM and AQS. In order to be eligible for this offer, AQM and AQS must be posted to your Aeroplan account during, and flights must depart within, the 90-day challenge period.
Exclusions – AQM and AQS earned for the following activities are not eligible for this offer: Air Canada-marketed codeshare flights operated by other airlines, travel on other Star Alliance members airlines, Aeroplan Flight Rewards, the purchase of Unlimited Flight Passes, and special bonus offers and promotions. Other restrictions may apply.
In subsequent years following this Altitude Challenge, in order to reach any Air Canada Altitude status you will be required to meet the published qualification levels outlined at http://altitude.aircanada.com. Altitude Challenges will only be offered at most every five years, or at Air Canada’s discretion.
At its sole discretion, Air Canada reserves the right to revoke Altitude status awarded in conjunction with an Altitude Challenge. All Terms & Conditions of Air Canada Altitude apply, and can be reviewed at http://altitude.aircanada.com.

What to Expect

Interested in what status you will get to challenge before sending out your request? Well, that’s a bit of tough question because it can change at any time but here’s the challenge you would receive if you have WestJet status (at time of writing):

WestJet Silver – Challenge to Air Canada Altitude 25K with 4 Altitude Qualifying Segments (AQS) within 90 days.
WestJet Gold – Challenge to Air Canada Altitude 35K with 6 Altitude Qualifying Segments (AQS) within 90 days.
WestJet Platinum – Challenge to Air Canada Altitude 50K with 18 Altitude Qualifying Segments (AQS) within 90 days.

I should note that Air Canada may make your challenge easier or harder depending on how much value they see from you as a potential loyal member, meaning the more you spend and fly, the easier it’s going to be to get status.

It should also be noted that the status at Altitude 50K and above results in Star Alliance Gold status, which is extremely valuable, which is why it is much harder to qualify for. Unfortunately, Air Canada will not provide a status challenge if you hold status with any other Star Alliance partner.

Benefits

I’ll be honest, the benefits at Altitude 25K and 35K aren’t anything to write home about but they do get you a few of benefits that I personally value and one benefit that’s of HUGE value. Priority boarding, lounge access and eCredits, which are Air Canada’s currency to bid for upgrades into business class, are the benefits that are nice to have but the one benefit that provides real value, especially for travel hackers, is the YQ waiver on award flights within Canada and between Canada and the US. If you look back at my recent post on Fuel Surcharge (YQ), you’ll understand why it’s of such importance.

For a full breakdown of the benefits at each tier, go to Air Canada’s Altitude page for more details.

How to Earn WestJet Status Quickly

Normally, earning WestJet status can be a challenge because there is no way to do it outside of flying with WestJet and spending a lot of money, however, there is currently a promotion that WestJet is running that gets you Gold status with one flight. Sure, the flight is a round-trip business class fare on the new 787-9 Dreamliner, which can run on the expensive side (~$3,500+) but if you were planning on flying that route in business anyways, why not take advantage?

Currently, the promo is running from September 23-30th, 2019 and you are required to travel between October 23rd, 2019 and March 15, 2020, but these dates can change so I would encourage you to check the promotion using the official link here.

I have personally flown WestJet’s Business Class twice on its Calgary to Toronto transcon. Having flown both Air Canada’s Signature Business Class and WestJet’s, I can honestly say without bias that the WestJet product (both hard and soft) is vastly superior. I’ll dig up some photos and do a review on it shortly but suffice it to say, I was very pleasantly surprised with my experience. It’s only my opinion but I would say that WestJet ranks amongst the best for business class offerings to Europe from a North American airline.

Conclusion

Having status is key to enjoying your travel experience. Once you have status with an airline, it’s fairly easy to leverage it to get status with other airlines. Keep your eye out for ways to match or challenge for status using tools such as Status Matcher or blogs like mine.

Once you experience travel with status, it’s hard to go back. Using your noggin can help you stretch that status indefinitely.