I Fly Calgary

Flight Review: Air Canada Business Class AC578/579 Calgary - Los Angeles (YYC-LAX)

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Thu, 06 Dec 2018 20:33:00 +0000

Catching up on a flight review from the summer where the Rewards Canada family once again made our way to Southern California. I have to admit we love it down there and with it being a mere three hours or less by plane from Calgary, we do frequent it quite often. Whether it’s the LA area, San Diego, San Francisco or Palm Springs you can easily get there from Calgary. I have to be honest I have lost count how many times we have gone now but it’s been something in the neighborhood of at least a dozen times in the last 4 or so years and lately most of the flights to LAX have been in business class on Air Canada. Why? It usually prices cheaper than WestJet Plus (now called Premium) and each time we’ve booked, the business class fares weren’t much more than Air Canada or WestJet's economy class prices, especially when you factor in seat selection fees, baggage fees, food and drinks that you have to pay for with those economy fares. Such was the case for the flights in this review, there were five of us traveling and all booked into business class for roughly $50 more per person than we would have paid in economy class after you include all the various extras that economy brings.

The flight down (AC578) was operated with an older Airbus A320 as is typical for this route. A red alert was literally called just a minute or two before push back as a major storm blew threw and delayed us by over an hour for the departure to LAX.

The storm that kept us on the ground looms over the YYC Marriott

Business class had one seat open on the way down which happened to be the seat beside mine (I was in 4A) and the the other four in our party took up row 3 in front of me.

Seat 3A

Once in the air the flight was non eventful with great service from flight attendant looking after the business class cabin.

AC's hot nuts and drinks

The storm that delayed us:

And the nice view from 4A:

This is the menu from the service on AC578 to LAX.

I had the cheese tortellini which was pretty good. In fact I usually go for this one as the chicken dishes are well, airline chicken dishes. Granted the rest of the family got the chicken and it was edible. The lemon chiffon cake is a decent dessert while the salad is pretty much the same one with the slight variation on the adder (Feta, seeds etc.) that is seen on these flights.

We arrived at LAX about an hour after the scheduled arrival time and the Priority Bag service worked well! All of our bag were in the first batch out on the carousel and we were out catching out Uber probably 25 minutes after arriving.

On to the return flight:

If you haven’t flown Air Canada to/from LAX in sometime you may not be aware that they moved from Terminal 6 from Terminal 2 early in 2017. Terminal 6 isn’t too bad and is comparable to Terminal 2. Dropping our bags off took sometime as the agent was trying to help people who were having some sort of issues. We were second in line in the Priority Check in lane and waited close to half an hour to drop our bags off. Having Nexus and registering our numbers prior to departure meant we had TSA Pre check (including one of travelers who doesn’t have Nexus) and that made clearing security a breeze. There is an Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge here in Terminal 6. The lounge is smaller than the one they had in T2 hence it is no longer accessible to Priority Pass members. You can read my review of this lounge here.

On the return the 5 of us had business class all to ourselves and the flight attendant commented on how it was like he was attending a cozy family dinner with us. Here are some shots of the empty cabin:

And the return flight menu:

Once again I went with the cheese pasta and the others went with the Chicken. All in all the food was pretty good, not stunning, but good.

The rest of the return flight was uneventful and easy. Overall these flights were great as we have normally experience in Air Canada Business Class. We've never really had any issues flying Air Canada, the service has always been good and for the most part things like Priority Baggage has worked in our favour. I would definitely recommend people don't look past the little bit extra you may pay for Business Class on these shorter routes as I find it is totally worth it. I’m also excited that Air Canada has now launched service from Calgary to Palm Springs and it’s not Rouge - it’s mainline aircraft like the one in this review and that they have replaced Rouge for their flights to Phoenix. Might have to book to one of those cities soon!

The flights in this review were purchased on the American Express Gold Card which earns 2 Membership Rewards points per dollar spend on travel which translates to 2 Aeroplan miles per dollar. No other card actually offers this many Aeroplan miles for travel bookings!
Amex Gold RewardsCard

And the first long haul WestJet Boeing 787 routes are Calgary to Paris, London and Dublin

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 16:50:00 +0000

A year and half ago WestJet announced they had ordered Boeing 787 Dreamliners and then five months ago we were introduced to what their 787's will look like on the inside and out.

All along however what we did not know is where WestJet would fly them. We know that to get ETOPS rating it needs to be flown on some shorter routes to start (our guesses were between YYC/YVR and YYZ) but the big question was where internationally they will go. WestJet already serves a few destinations in Europe and many of their earnings calls and annual general meetings talk about Asia and Australia but there have not been any definitive answers. Another of our guesses was Paris from places like Calgary and/or Toronto. This route would make a lot of sense since WestJet already serves the city - it was even mentioned that the current Halifax-Paris route was set in place as training and learning ground for future flights to the city. You go to many frequent flyer, avgeek and other forums and there are threads dedicated to guesses as to what the routes would be. With all this WestJet has done a very good job at keeping the destinations a secret so that they could be revealed last week during their big breakfast bash detailing WestJet's global future in Alberta at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. However some routes were filed several hours prior to the announcement (Source Routesonline)

Were you guessing? Want to see if you were right? Here are the long haul routes WestJet will initially fly with the 787:

Calgary to London Gatwick starting on April 29 (Daily service)
Calgary to Paris starting on May 17 ( 3 to 4x weekly service)
Calgary to Dublin starting on June 1 (3 weekly service)

The tickets for the new Boeing 787 long haul flights are now available for purchase and fares from Calgary to London, Dublin and Paris start around C$360 each way for economy class, $1,000 for premium economy and $1,600 for lie flat business class. Look at those full fare business class fares though..... Also I couldn't find any low business class fares to LGW in April and May - guess that's based on what AC may be pricing their LHR flights for.

Did you guess right for the routes? Are you excited with this announcement? Let us know in the comments section below!

Hotel Review: The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas (Maui)

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 18:36:00 +0000

The Rewards Canada / iFlyCalgary family has been hitting up Maui for the past 10 years and each time we've gone we have always stayed at the same resort - The Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas (read our reviews of that resort here and here) however in April of 2017 Westin opened up a sister resort just north of the KOR Villas and we had to try it out for what would possibly be our last trip to Maui for some time.

As you may have read in my other reviews about this trip, it was booked somewhat late and also for Easter Break which meant it would be busy and many good offers would be gone. One of those deals is that we normally book stays through Naomi at Maui Hawaii Vacations and she does have exclusive up to 50% off rates for the Nanea as she does for KOR. However Maui Hawaii Vacations books up quick, especially for all the popular breaks and of course they were already sold out for Easter Break. So what did I do to book a stay at the new Nanea Ocean Villas? I went to a trusted offer that is always out there for Starwood stays in Hawaii and French Polynesia - the Double Starpoints, 5th night free and up to 35% off offer. You'll have found it on our Starwood Bonus Points page for many years now but here it is just in case you aren't aware of it:

Double Starpoints, Up to 35% Off and 5th night free for stays in Hawaii, Tahiti or Bora Bora.

We used this offer last year as well and when you add up the 5th night free, the 35% off and the value of the double Starpoints it comes in slightly higher than the rate we could have received from Maui Hawaii Vacations (something like $30-$40 per night for this trip). On top of this the trip also gave additional bonus points thanks to other SPG promotions.

We booked ourselves a two bedroom resort view villa as that was all that was available at time of booking on Starwood's site. The difference between the Nanea and the older KOR villas is that the Nanea's two and three bedroom villas are true to that. They are not multiple connecting rooms (Studio + 1 bedroom) brought together to make up the two bedroom configuration.

Flying a different route to Maui this time brought us to the island around lunch time instead of the late evening arrival we were accustomed to with Air Canada. Even with picking up our rental car, getting lunch and making the ~40 minute drive to the new villas we were ahead of the regular check-in time of 4pm. We crossed our fingers our villa would be ready at check-in. The check-in area of the new resort is vast and spacious and seeing that we were early there was no one else checking in. The good news was that our room was ready and the check-in process was smooth with the lady working the desk being super nice and pleasant. The best part was she advised us that thanks to my wife being SPG Platinum that we had been upgraded to a three bedroom ocean front villa! Thank you Platinum status!

The new resort is as nice as the older KOR villas and has a lot of the same feeling as the sister resort albeit newer. The villa we were assigned was on the fourth floor of the Hula building and was near some stairs for easy access to the grounds and wasn't too far from the elevators. We were at the hotel just a week before it celebrated its first anniversary and for the most it still feels very new! Sure there's some wear and tear already but nothing disgusting or out of the ordinary for a site of this age and our room was in very good condition.

The space in the rooms are ample and they are all nicely appointed. Each villa has a kitchen, one or two bathrooms, washer & dryer and more. Really they have everything you would expect from booking a condo in Maui but the great addition of being a major hotel resort. That's one of the main things that has kept us coming back to these locations is that you get the best of both worlds. The kitchens are full sized in all the villas (versus Kitchenettes and Kitchens in the KOR Villas) and they have a great ensuite bathroom with separate tub and shower and dual vanity sinks.

The beds are Westin Heavenly beds (such nice beds!) and are all king size. All the villas also include a queen size pull out sofa which means you can sleep 4 in a one bedroom, 6 in a two bedroom and 8 in the three bedroom.

All villas have lanai's with furniture on them, typically two chairs and a table however the bigger the unit you get the more you get on your lanai. As we had the three bedroom our lanai was huge and had a full size table and chairs along with two more chairs with a side table! The lanai extended about 2/3 the length of the full three bedroom villa with access via sliding doors from the living room, the master bedroom smaller of the two additional bedrooms. The farthest additional bedroom had a window with the ocean view but the lanai stops short of it.

Living Room and Kitchen

Master bedroom and ensuite

Bedroom 1:

Bathroom #2 which houses the washer/dryer

Lanai:

Views from this villa:

Early Morning Moon set

Floor plans (Although our ocean front villa has a larger lanai than pictured)

The resort grounds are beautiful and reminded us of the KOR Villas with ponds filled with Koi, lots of vegetation and pathways throughout. The pool area is not as spread out as you would find at the KOR Villas and we found this to make for a very crowded feel. Granted it was Easter Break but even outside of the break I think you would be hard pressed to find loungers around the pool or enjoy some space to yourself in the pool after 10am. On some days, to ensure privacy and full enjoyment we did rent some of the covered loungers that faced the ocean. Here is the view from those loungers:

There are also two plunge pools that are set back further to the North side of the resort, those were definitely quieter than the main pool.

The resort also rents out loungers for use on the beach however they do not rent umbrellas and if you have ever been to Maui it's hard to spend a whole day on the beach without any shade! Knowing that, on the days we did want to spend on the beach we actually went down to the KOR Villas since they do offer umbrellas for rent on the beach.

As to food options at the resort there are three. You have Kauhale Market which is resort store that sells a variety of food, has some Starbucks drink options and gifts. Then you have Inu Pool Bar serving all the drinks for around the pool along with a varied menu of appetizers, mains, and desserts. For the most part the drinks from Inu were awesome and a lot of the food was good as well, we did end up ordering food from here on several occasions to enjoy around the pool. Finally the 'fancier' restaurant on site is Mauka Makai. We ate breakfast here one morning to try it out since the rate we booked included a voucher for 35% off all food at Mauka Makai. I have to be completely honest here - it was our worst breakfast on the whole trip. The hashbrowns had a really funky (not a good funky) taste to them - almost as if the oil being used was really old. The buffet items weren't much better. Suffice to say this breakfast turned us off the restaurant so we did not give it a try for dinner, especially with so many good options in Maui!

Pros
The villas are beautiful and roomy, super comfortable and great to unwind in after a full day in the sun. The resort is nice and gives you the best of all worlds with all the features of a condo but being in a resort setting. The service was outstanding from pretty much everyone we interacted with during our trip. What I also loved about this resort is how many towels they give you in the rooms! As you may know from my other hotel reviews a pet peeve of mine is not having enough towels for the number of people in the room. That's not the case here! There are always more than enough towels for everyone.

Cons
There aren't too many for the Nanea Ocean Villas and are more of my personal opinion with others thinking otherwise. The central pool location is tight and creates a very crowded feel. Some of you may like this and while it looks great and serves its purpose, when you are used to the KOR Villas it it just doesn't seem as enjoyable as the latter. The lack of having umbrellas for rent to use on the beach with the loungers and finally the main restaurant, Mauka Makai, I know we didn't enjoy it and if you look up reviews of it it gets pretty average ratings. That's it for cons!

Final thoughts
I think we were lucky to be upgraded to three bedroom ocean front villa and it really may be hit and miss for most elites to get one but you should know that most villas, whether they are 2 or 3 bedroom, all look the same and have the same amenities. The 1 bedrooms don't have as fancy of ensuite bathroom but should feel similar otherwise. What you may not get is the huge lanai and the view we got. That of course will all depend on what you book and the actual location of the villa you get. No matter though you shouldn't be disappointed with this resort. Overall the rooms are fantastic and the service is top notch. It is a great resort for families, couples, and really anyone else! This resort is most definitely an iFlyCalgary recommended hotel!

The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas
Marriott Category: 7
Points required for a free night: 50,000 - 27,000 points
Cash+Points Requirement: 30,000 Starpoints + $250 per night

Links:
The Westin Nanea Ocean Villas
Maui Hawaii Vacations

Flight Review: Hawaiian Airlines First Class HA41/42 San Francisco - Kahului, Maui (SFO-OGG)

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 16:47:00 +0000

As you may have already seen we’ve put up areviews for our Easter Trip to Maui and are trying to pump out all the reviews of this trip! We’ve covered the flights between YYC and SFO and now here we have our review of our flights on Hawaiian Airlines between SFO and OGG. Here’s a quick recap on how we got about flying this way to Maui instead of the direct flights out of YYC.

The Rewards Canada family made our annual pilgrimage to Maui, this time for Easter Break and for the first time in a long time we took connecting flights instead of flying direct. There were several reasons for this. First Air Canada rouged the Calgary to Kahului route so International Business Class pods are no longer available on the route and secondly since we were booking for Easter break which meant both Air Canada and WestJet were charging an arm and a leg for the direct flights! I started researching other options to get their comfortably and found Hawaiian Airlines was selling their first class (really business class but that’s what they call it for flights from the US mainland to the islands) but out of San Francisco. Not a big problem easy enough to fly to SFO from YYC and Air Canada has excellent pricing for business class there and back so it didn’t take long to book all the flights. The combination of AC business class and Hawaiian business calls came in at a price that wasn’t far off what WestJet and Rouge were charging! This was a good way to travel, try out a new airline and add in a day in SFO to our Maui trip

Now to the actual review of Hawaiian Airlines First Class!

We made sure the flights we booked on Hawaiian were on their relatively new Airbus A330 aircraft as they feature a newer business class cabin with lie flat seats. You can find these planes on the more popular routes between the US and Honolulu or Kahului out Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York and more. I checked most of the west coast cities for our trip and SFO priced out the best for Easter break. For flights out of the U.S. they classify the cabin as First Class while on their International flights to Australia, Japan etc. it is classified as Business Class.

Hawaiian Airlines does not have a lounge in SFO but with most of their departures being mid-morning and operating domestic flights you don’t have to arrive super early and really don’t need to hit up a lounge. Hawaiian does depart from the international terminal which means you could use the Air France KLM Lounge via Priority Pass.

The flight was scheduled to depart at 10am and boarding started at about 9:35am with those in First Class getting priority boarding. They board from door L2 so it’s a left turn to the premium cabin that has 18 lie flat seats. Since Hawaiian is primarily a leisure airline and there are not many single travellers flying the airline, the business class cabin is laid out in a 2-2-2 fashion for couples and families. Perfect for us as we are a family of four and for the flight there and back we grabbed seats 2CGHJ.

Almost as soon as we were seated we were offered drinks - a Mai Tai or POG. Both awesome options and very Hawaiian. On the flight there we started with POG, for those who have not been to Hawaii, POG is a staple juice of Passion, Orange and Guava juice.

For the flight back we took the mai Tais and also tried POG with Vodka and neither drink disappointed.

The seats themselves were quite comfy but I did find that when laying flat the space for the feet was quite narrow and I actually could not keep both feet beside each other comfortably, I had to cross them to fit better. Seats pairs have a privacy divider that can be extended up should you be traveling alone and don’t want to interact with whomever may be sitting beside you. A pillow and blanket were provided albeit both were small and light, more like something you would find in Economy class.

I also found the storage at the seat to be on the small side, you do have an area under the seat in front of you which I stuffed my laptop bag into but a good quarter of it was sticking out. It best fits a purse or something small like that. Each seat had a small personal reading LED lamp in addition to overhead reading lights, small storage on the side of your seat which was perfect for electronics or water bottles as well as 110V/USB plugs to charge electronics.

For in flight entertainment each seat has a retractable arm to which the flight attendants come by and place an Apple iPad that’s loaded with TV shows and movies. Overall the selection was OK - not a ton of new releases but more than enough content for the 5 hour flight. You can choose to use your own headphones or use the noise cancelling headphones provided at no cost. Bose they are not, but overall quality wasn’t too bad.

Should your iPad get low on juice the airline does provide charging cables to power them up.
Overall the service provide onboard was impeccable - the flight attendants on both flights were very attentive! We were never short of drinks and the crews were all very friendly and eager to help. The attention to service was really good. As is customary on Hawaiian Airlines flights, the female flight attendants had the

Shortly after take off the first beverage service starts and as I mentioned above, in reality you have beverage service for the whole flight - the only difference with the after take off service is the addition of Mauna Loa Macadamia nuts. They are another Hawaiian staple and delicious to have alongside your drink!

Based on the menus the food for first/business class is developed by top Hawaiian chefs including one of our favourites from Top Chef Sheldon Simeon. Alas our flight did not have any of his dishes. For our flight to Maui it had dishes by Chef Chai. I started with the cheese plate - can’t really mess that up and it was good. Our older daughter choose the Ahi and Salmon Poke which she enjoyed. All four of us chose the Sriracha chicken dish as our main. It looked better than it was as the chicken - as seems to be common when you fly - was rubbery. The sauce was OK but it really needed a gallon of it to help the poor chicken.

The flight back featured food by Wade Ueoka. We choose the Jidori chicken salad and the Meatloaf. These were a lot better than the food on the way Maui - edible and quite tasty. The POG pie was really good - one of the better deserts we have onboard in sometime.

After experiencing Hawaiian's premium class for the first time we may never fly direct again to the Islands (unless AC brings back an Internationally configured plane or WestJet puts their 787's on the route, both of which are highlight unlikely now) as we really enjoyed the flights. The service, the comfort and overall feel of the flights were great. Sure it's not direct but the overnight stays add extra adventure to the travels and we have already talked about which city we'd connect in next time - so far San Diego is winning!

For most Canadians, if you don't live near Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary or Toronto you are going to have connecting flights to get to Hawaii so this is something you can look at as many don't consider this option. If you are looking for a fun, Hawaiian themed and relatively well priced premium experience flying to Hawaii I would most definitely recommend flying Hawaiian Airlines on their A330's to the islands!

Flight Review: Air Canada Business Class AC8567/8568 Calgary - San Francisco (YYC-SFO)

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 17:09:00 +0000

It's been sometime since I've posted a flight review on here so I thought I would bring you one that I did take a few pictures on!

The Rewards Canada family made our annual pilgrimage to Maui and for the first time in a long time we took connecting flights instead of flying direct. There were several reasons for this. First, Air Canada Rouged the Calgary to Kahului route so International Business Class pods are no longer available on the route and secondly since we were booking for Easter break, which meant both Air Canada and WestJet were charging an arm and a leg for the direct flights! I started researching other options to get their comfortably and found Hawaiian Airlines was selling their first class (really business class but that’s what they call it for flights from the US mainland to the islands) but out of San Francisco. Not a big problem easy enough to fly to SFO from YYC and Air Canada has excellent pricing for business class there and back so it didn’t take long to book all the flights. The combination of AC business class and Hawaiian business class came in at a price that wasn’t far off what WestJet and Rouge were charging! This was a good way to travel, try out a new airline and add in a day in SFO to our Maui trip

Here is the actual review of our YYC-SFO flights!

The flights between Calgary and San Francisco are operated by Air Canada Express (Jazz) with CRJ-900s. It’s been probably 10 years since we’ve flown on a CRJ and that last flight was in Economy Plus on United from SFO to Calgary! The flight down had an older plane while the flight back had a much newer one which was super clean, had LED lighting and felt and smelled brand new!

The seats seemed like your standard North American business class seats but all of us in the family did find them more comfortable than those used on Air Canada's Airbus family. The business class cabin has a 1-2 layout which is perfect for families of 4 (2 and 2 ahead of each other) or for single travelers who want that coveted single seat! The seats offer a 37" pitch and are 21" wide. For a family that doesn't tower like ours the 37" pitch works just fine - here are shots of the leg room I had:

Flights in both directions were delayed, especially so for the return. On that return flight the incoming plane was apparently held in Calgary due to ground delays at SFO for the rain. In SFO we wanted to visit the American Express Centurion Lounge for the delay, we went in and were out within about 5 minutes as it was so crowded! The line up to get drinks from the single bartender was at least 10 people deep if not more. Even with further entry restrictions on these lounges they are proving to be so popular that they can't be enjoyed. We found a much quieter and surprisingly comfier spot in terminal G where AC flies out of, sure the food and drinks weren't free but the sanity was worth it.

Arriving into SFO is always fun as it is one of the best airports to plane spot from your seat on the plane:

In flight service both ways was attentive and good. There are no complaints at all with the friendliness of the crews as well as the drink and snack selections.

Food was so-so for both flights. Going down to SFO the chicken dish was edible and on the return flight you could tell the my wife’s meal was at the hottest part of the oven as the rice was rock hard while mine was probably next to it as it was partially hard!

AC8568 Menu SFO-YYC

General Tao Chicken with hard rice

On the flight back to Calgary the in-flight entertainment system was inoperative and despite several resets the cabin crew could not get it to work. They had issues on the flight down to SFO as well so the attendants already had compensation cards ready and handed them out to all of the business class passengers. Good planning on the flight attendant's part!

Overall flying AC domestic business class between Calgary and California is always nice and many times it is a great deal price wise - we've been lucky enough to do it quite a few times and find it a better option over WestJet's Plus cabin although the latter will start implementing a true 2-2 cabin so we'll have to see how that compares!

You may ask, why did we fly business class on this relatively short flight instead of economy and bring the price down even further? Well, we were lucky, when booking the flights business class was pricing out only about $100 more than economy - likely to compete with WestJet's Plus pricing and when you factor in bag fees, seat selections fees and so on with the economy class fare not to mention extra Aeroplan miles earned in business the difference ends up only being around $40 which is more than worth it on a ~2 hour flight.

For future flights I would definitely fly Air Canada Express' Business Class on this route if the price is right like it was for these ones!

The unveiling of WestJet's 737 Max 8 with photos and flight video

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 19:49:00 +0000

This is a repost from my article on Rewards Canada:

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending the unveiling of WestJet's newest aircraft, the Boeing 737 Max 8. Over the past few weeks the Calgary based airline has taken delivery of two of the 50 aircraft they have on order. Fin 302 was on display in one of their hanger bays in Calgary for the media and WestJet employees to walk through and of course be able to take pictures and videos of it as well. Fin 301, was in the next bay over getting ready for the 1st Canadian flight of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft, that is a flight wholly within Canada with passengers on it. The event was mainly attended by employees but also the Calgary media, some of Calgary's best known plane spotters and Rewards Canada!

The new plane ushers in the latest technology and services for WestJet and the airline is really excited to be adding the planes into their fleet. While many features that the plane provides are huge for WestJet the recurring theme was the 14% increase in efficiency the plane will provide over the existing next generation fleet. Hopefully the decrease in costs for fuel are passed along in the fares..... ;-). Outside of it being way more efficient, the plane is much quieter! I sat in row 23 behind the engines and can attest to it being significantly quieter than the current 737NG fleet. This will be much appreciated by not only those on board the plane but even those on the ground who aren't fond of planes flying overhead.

Some other notable changes are the Boeing Sky Interior which boasts LED mood lighting with four different settings (Sunset, sunrise, WestJet Blue & anight time ambient service) and of course the larger overhead bins that on average will allow for 60 more carry on bags to be stored on the aircraft.

Overhead bin

Mood lighting in the ceiling

These will also be the first narrow body aircraft in WestJet's fleet to have ovens in the galleys which means hot meal service will be available!

Ovens!

For seating WestJet is moving to hybrid three cabin style. You still only have two main cabins, Plus and Economy but there is also now an Extra Leg Room section at the front of the economy cabin right after plus. You'll know you are in these seats as they have the white headrests but not with 'Plus' embroidered on them. Seat pitch on these MAX aircraft are 34" for Plus and Extra Legroom sections while the rest of Economy will range from 30" to 31". While in the air we were told that Plus will actually be increased to 36" pitch sometime here in the near future to match the rest of the 737 fleet. The new seats in Plus and Extra Legroom sections feature a quilted back to further distinguish them from economy.

Plus Seating

Extra Legroom Seating

Regular Economy Seating

I had tons of room in the regular economy seat but then again I'm only 5'-9" (or 5'-8" as my kids claim)

View across row 23 in the economy section

Once through the plane on the media side we boarded fin 301 for the sightseeing flight that took us over the Rockies, unfortunately it was mostly cloudy over most of Southern Alberta and B.C. however the mountains did peak through on occasion.

Actual sightseeing flight path in green

During the flight there were speeches from Gregg Saretsky (WestJet's President & CEO), Boeing's Jeff Edwards and others. There was lots of praise for the aircraft, the WestJet employees and more. Some more details will also revealed on more changes coming to Plus service. Primarily WestJet is working to add a cabin divider between Plus and Economy and they have set up a partnership with Giusti Wines of Calgary to serve Prosecco out of big bottles to all passengers seated in Plus.

Prosecco being served on the flight!

It really seems WestJet is ramping up it's higher end service and they need to since they will be offering a full business class on their 787 planes. The better the two integrate the better and smoother it is for the customer. Overall the flight was an awesome experience to have and we have to pass along a big thank you to the WestJet and WestJet Rewards team for allowing me to join them on this special occasion. What follows is a Youtube video compiling some of the photos and videos taken during the event.

Finally yesterday saw the first commercial flights of the plane (Flights 662 and 667) between Calgary and Toronto. Let us know if you were lucky enough to get on one of those flights and share your thoughts below! If not, feel free to comment anytime in the future when you do get onto one of the new Max aircraft once they start flying full time on November 9th!

Please note that some of the statements we pass along here from WestJet are subject to change!

WestJet Rewards: Earn up to 1,000 bonus dollars for flying across Canada!

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Wed, 24 May 2017 17:27:00 +0000

WestJet has launched an amazing flight bonus offer for travel within Canada. We are particularly excited about it as it was nice to work with WestJet Rewards to develop the promotion! Rewards Canada (well our parent company, FFB Group Inc.) developed this bonus offer concept and pitched it to WestJet Rewards as a great promotion to use to celebrate Canada's 150th Birthday. WestJet worked the concept to fit perfectly with their needs and budget. Heck they even made it more rewarding than we originally proposed as WestJet will reward you with that flight back to your home province on your first round trip! I can say we did not have that in our proposal so be thankful WestJet wants to reward you with even more WestJet dollars!

On to the actual promotion!

To celebrate Canada's 150th Birthday, WestJet Rewards will reward you with lots of bonus dollars when you fly across Canada to different provinces. The more provinces you fly to the more dollars you earn. Make it to 10 provinces or territories and you'll earn a total of 1,000 WestJet dollars. That's right one thousand dollars. Since WestJet Rewards works like cash that's a hefty amount of dollars to use towards future flights. So all of you traveling salesmen, consultants and such who travel coast to coast to coast - now is the time to register and take advantage of a huge potential win fall on your travels! Even if you aren't that frequent of flyer you should register as you'll earn at least 25 WestJet dollars on one round trip flight within our great nation!

Offer details
Earn up to 1,000 Bonus WestJet dollars when you fly WestJet across Canada. Register Online (Registration is required) May 2 - Dec 31, 17

Fly to another province or territory, and you'll earn 10 bonus WestJet dollars. Fly to another province or territory (going back home, for instance), and you'll earn 15 bonus WestJet dollars. So, one round-trip excursion out of province earns you 25 bonus WestJet dollars. Pretty exciting, eh?

Province or territory 3: 15 bonus WestJet dollars
Province or territory 4: 20 bonus WestJet dollars
Province or territory 5: 25 bonus WestJet dollars
Province or territory 6: 30 bonus WestJet dollars
Province or territory 7: 35 bonus WestJet dollars
Province or territory 8: 40 bonus WestJet dollars
Province or territory 9: 40 bonus WestJet dollars
Province or territory 10: 40 bonus WestJet dollars

And why not make your WestJet travels even more rewarding and enjoyable by taking advantage of our Exclusive offer for WestJet Rewards Silver Status when you apply for and receive the WestJet RBC World Elite MasterCard!

Earn 2,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 14:00:00 +0000

One of our favourite hometown hotels is offering bonus points to stay there! Right now you can earn 2,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points for stays at the Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel. We checked to see if this was one of those boost the rate and offer bonus points type of promotions but it is not. The bonus points rate is the same as the best flexible rate. You can get cheaper rates but those are the advance purchase non-refundable rates that many of us tend not to book unless we are 100% sure that we are completing that stay. You can read a complete review of our stay at the Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel here!

Offer details:
2,000 Bonus Rewards Points for stays at the Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel. Full Details and online Booking Until Jun 24, 17

Find the best list of Marriott Rewards bonus offers here.

Flight Review: Air Canada AC901 Calgary - Kahului, Maui (YYC-OGG) Business Class

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 12:00:00 +0000

We like to enjoy our time with family when travelling so I only review our odd hotel stay or even less frequently review a flight. One such flight where I did take just a couple of pics and felt was worth reviewing was from our Family Day vacation trip to Maui. I think a review is worthy since it is the only flight between Canada and Hawaii that has a true international business class. Air Canada's other flights from Vancouver and Toronto are on Rouge aircraft and WestJet's are 737's out of Vancouver with their regular Plus seats while some of their Alberta-Hawaii flights are 767's which have the larger Plus seats but aren't considered a true business class. The reason why Air Canada's Maui flights are utilizing an internationally configured Air Canada 767 is that it is the same plane being used for the Calgary-Tokyo flights, which of course would not be utilizing a Rouge aircraft. So as we mentioned in our podcast a few weeks ago, if you are flying to Maui and want to travel in style without connecting via the U.S. you'll want to connect via Calgary.

The flight was schedule to depart at 5:30pm but ended up being delayed by a mechanical issue. Just as most people had boarded the plane the power went out from the APU. Within a minute or so power came back on but of course they wanted and needed to check it out. You don't want to be stuck in Kahului with a malfunctioning APU but rather make sure whatever the issue was that it was corrected in Calgary. The resulting delay was about an hour as we waited for AC maintenance to diagnose and fix the issue. The flight ended up departing around 6:40pm and thanks to a bit of shorter flight time then scheduled we arrived about 45 minutes late into OGG.

We did a one way Aeroplan mile redemption for our entire family for the business class flights to Maui. On the way back availability was scarce for the number of seats we needed as it was during the Alberta Family Day break so the return flight was in Economy. Still I'll take Air Canada International Economy over Rouge. Not to mention the flight back is overnight and typically under six hours so you don't get to enjoy the business class as much except (and this is a big exception) the lie flat seat for sleeping.

For the flight to Kahului I had seat 6F which is in the middle on the right hand side of the aircraft:

The menu for this flight:

I went for the BBQ Chicken with Grits and it was pretty good.... good enough that I also got it on my LAX-YYC flight a week ago!

and finally Rewards Canada being featured in the American Express ad on Air Canada's in flight entertainment

That's it in a nutshell! We can rarely say there is an advantage of flying out of Calgary but this is definitely one of them!

Fly British Airways to London for as little as $626 all in!

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 22:00:00 +0000

British Airways is offering some amazing economy class fares between Calgary and London. Fares start as low as $623 all in round trip! Find out more and book here.

For example Sep 26 - Oct 3 is at the lowest price of $626 for travel on BA's Boeing 787. Premium Economy fares are pricing out pretty decent as well with the same dates pricing out at about $1,300.

WestJet announces intent to launch ultra-low-cost carrier

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 20:15:00 +0000

In what probably can been seen as another strike at ultra low cost carrier newleaf, WestJet surprised many today with their announcement that they intend to launch a new ultra low cost airline!

WestJet today announced its intention to launch a new, ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) in Canada subject to agreement with its pilots and any required regulatory approvals. Service is expected to start in late 2017 with an initial fleet of 10 high-density Boeing 737-800s designed by the airline that first brought low-cost air travel to Canada in 1996. The ULCC will provide Canadians with no-frills, lower-cost travel options.

"We have built WestJet from its low-cost, regional roots into a renowned, international airline with service to 21 countries and today it's all about disrupting at the price-sensitive end of the market," said Clive Beddoe, co-founder of WestJet and Chair of the Board of the Directors. "Launching a ULCC will broaden WestJet's growth opportunities and open new market segments by offering more choice to those Canadians looking for lower fares."

"The worldview on low-cost airlines has changed since the launch of WestJet in 1996 and we are responding," commented Gregg Saretsky, WestJet President and CEO. "The complete unbundling of services and products in order to lower fares for the price-sensitive traveller has created the ULCC category and our new airline will provide Canadians a pro-competitive, cheap and cheerful flying experience from a company with a proven track record."

I really don't know what to say but if history in the Canadian airline marketplace is any indication then WestJet will have an uphill battle with this one. Remember Air Canada's Tango? Air Canada Zip? JetsGo? CanJet, Greyhound Air? They all were attempting something similar, although at the time it would have been only called low cost carriers (LCC) which WestJet was and still calls themselves but in reality they are now a full fledged regular airline.

There are still lots of questions to be answered and we'll get those when they release more details but are newleaf and Air Canada's Rouge really having that much of an impact on WestJet that they need to go this route? Are they being proactive about Jetlines? Do they want to lower labour costs (ie move certain flights/routes over to the new ULCC) Other questions will be can you earn and redeem WestJet dollars on the new ULCC (the smart move would be yes, but probably at a lower earn rate), will you be able to interline between the ULCC and WestJet (probably not as that adds costs) and many more!

Read the whole press release here.

What are all your thoughts on today's announcement from WestJet?

YYC Celebrates National Pet Day

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 17:11:00 +0000

(Calgary, AB) - YYC Calgary International Airport is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Pre-Board Pals Program with an in-terminal celebration and opening of its first post-security pet relief area. The Pre-Board Pals program, introduced last year in partnership with the Pet Access League Society (PALS) has been embraced by both passengers and YYC employees. In less than a year, the pack of furry friends has grown from 12 to 36 and have provided over 1,200 hours of comfort to visitors, travellers and guests.

“The Pre-Board Pals program has brought a lot of smiles to our passengers and we’ve received fantastic feedback from guests, staff and travellers alike since introducing the program,” said Peggy Blacklock, Manager, Airport Community Engagement for The Calgary Airport Authority.

Today, pooches from the program will celebrate the anniversary with a ‘Pooch Parade’ through the airport terminal, showing off 26 pups — some dressed for show in aviation-themed costumes — with their volunteer sidekicks in tow. The parade will begin in the Domestic Terminal at 6 p.m. as they wag their tails throughout the Arrivals Level until they reach the International Terminal.

With a focus on improving the travel experience for all passengers, including those travelling with pets, the airport also unveiled its first post-security pet relief area today. The in-terminal pet relief area makes it more convenient for passengers with pets to take their furry travelling companions and/or service dogs for a bio-break, without having to leave the post-secure area.

“We serve a large and diverse passenger mix at YYC and are always looking for ways to make the experience through our terminal even better for our passengers – that, of course, includes our furry friends and their owners,” said Debbie Stahl, Director of Passenger Experience for The Calgary Airport Authority.

Complete with turf intended to mimic fresh cut grass and a scented fire hydrant, the pet relief area sits next to Gate B34 in the Domestic Terminal Building.

ABOUT THE CALGARY AIRPORT AUTHORITY

The Calgary Airport Authority is a not-for-profit, non-share capital organization, incorporated under the Alberta Regional Airports Authorities Act, and is responsible for the safe, secure and efficient management of the YYC Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Springbank Airport (YBW) under long-term lease from the Government of Canada. YYC's mandate is to advance economic and community development by providing improved airline and transportation services for the benefit of the public. The Authority has invested over $4 billion into the continued development of YYC, opening Canada's longest runway in 2014 and a new International Terminal in 2016. YYC is a key economic driver for Calgary and Alberta, generating more than $8 billion in economic activity annually and creating 48,000 jobs.

New YYC Calgary Transborder Aspire Lounge Review

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 19:27:00 +0000

Transborder Aspire Lounge Entrance - Photo courtesy of Swissport

To start our latest vacation the Rewards Canada family recently visited the new Transborder Calgary Airport Aspire Lounge. This lounge opened up on October 31, 2016 along with the entire new International terminal at YYC. This is the only transborder lounge in YYC as the old Rocky Mountain Lounge is now closed and is one of four lounges available in Calgary. The other three are the Aspire Lounge International, Chinook Lounge (Domestic) and Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge.

The Lounge
The new lounge has a much more open feel than the old Rocky Mountain lounge with lots of seating in booth areas, bar seats and bench seating. The lounge also has some loungers in semi enclosed areas where you can watch TV. The seats in the booth areas all featured cubbies for small carry on items and more importantly individual plugs for charging all your electronics!

Here are some general photos I took of the lounge:

At the check in desk!

Middle of the lounge seating with bar stools to the back

These are the seats with the cubbies and plug ins to charge your electronics

Food & Drinks
Outside of the peace and quiet of lounges the biggest draw for many to business class lounges are the food and drink options. Previously at the Rocky Mountain lounge (and in the current Chinook lounge) the food options are quite limited, in particular the hot food options which was usually just soup. The good news that the new transborder Aspire lounge has hot food options! When we arrived the options were chicken fingers, grilled tomatoes, fried rice and carrots. The bad news was the food wasn't very good. Later on the tomatoes were replaced with hashbrowns but we didn't try those out. We ended grabbing some food from Burger King (yes, BK - don't judge) to consume in the lounge. Perhaps we were just unlucky with the food that day but if not hopefully it will be something they work on and provide some better hot food options. The drink options were decent with several beers and hard alcohol options available along with wine. For non-alcoholic drinks there were your usual cans of soda, bottles of Juice and water (still & sparkling) on tap. As a reminder then bring an empty water bottle to fill up if you used to be used to taking water bottles out of the old lounge to your plane!

The hot food options

The alcohol options - there is also wine but not in this picture

Access
Entering the lounge was easy as we simply provided our J Class Air Canada boarding passes. Flying AC Business Class you can also choose to go the Maple Leaf lounge first but you'll have to clear security first for that lounge and when coming back for Transborder you'll have to go through U.S. customs and then security again. Kind of a pain hence AC's access to this lounge for their Transborder flights. Had we not been in business class we would have reverted to the other options our family has and those are The Platinum Card from American Express (which provides access for the whole family), Priority Pass (from The Platinum Card) or at the very least our Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard but the last would only have covered 2 of the 5 of us that were travelling. You can pretty much access the lounge with any lounge program as mentioned but also Dragon Pass or you can buy single entries. To find out more about all the different lounge options read and bookmark Rewards Canada's Guide to Business Class lounge access

Thoughts
Overall this new transborder lounge is very nice, much better than the old Rocky Mountain Lounge. We look forward to using it lots and also can't wait to try out the International lounge as well. We just hope the hot food options get a working to something better!

Have you visited this lounge? What do you think of it? What do you like and what do you think could be done better?

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For the best access to this lounge no matter what airline you are flying or what fare class and want to have your family get access look no further than The Platinum Card from American Express:

The Platinum Card from American Express

New Platinum Card® Cardmembers, earn 50,000 Bonus Membership Rewards® points by spending $1,000 in purchases in the first three months of Cardmembership.
• Platinum members are automatically enrolled in the Membership Rewards First™ Tier and earn 1.25 points for every dollar in purchases charged to the Card
• The Platinum Card gives you access to exceptional lounge benefits such as the Canadian Platinum Lounge Benefit, Airport Club Program and access to the Cathay Pacific Business Class lounges and oneworld® alliance airlines Business Class lounges.
• You will also have access to elevated status with many Hotel & Car Rental loyalty programs, $200 Annual Travel Credit for Travel Bookings through Platinum Card Travel Service, lodging benefits at a collection of over 700 Fine Hotels & Resorts around the world, access to special events and unique opportunities and a dedicated concierge team
• You can use Apple Pay on your eligible device to pay for goods and services at participating American Express contactless merchants
• American Express is not responsible for maintaining or monitoring the accuracy of information on this website. For full details and current product information click the Apply now link.
• *As a Charge Card, the balance must always be paid in full each month. 30% annual interest rate applies to balances not paid in full.
Conditions apply

Hotel Review: Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 15:50:00 +0000

On September 1st the newest Marriott Hotel in Canada opened its doors, The Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel. The hotel is one of the first developments of the multi-billion dollar International Terminal development at YYC to open up and if it is any indication of what the rest of the new terminal will be then Calgary's airport just jumped up a few leagues in the world of great airports. When we heard about the new YYC hotel opening up on September 1st I reached out to Marriott about staying there and they were more than happy to let us try it out this past weekend.

We received an email from the director of sales and marketing at the Calgary Marriott In-Terminal hotel that the Rewards Canada family was all set for a stay on Friday night. It stated to simply pull up to the valet parking in front of the hotel and that they would take care of the rest. We really had no idea what to expect but all I can say is we were excited for a little staycation just before the family schedule shifts into high gear with school, competitive dance, volleyball and more.

Pulling up to the hotel we were greeted by the Marriott's valet who promptly asked for our name, provided us with our valet parking tag and asked if we needed any assistance with our bags. So far so good! Since we are Calgary based and only staying one night we didn't require assistance with our bags and made our way to check in. There was staff at every entrance (you pass through a corridor connecting the old terminal with the new to get to the hotel) and they all greeted us politely.

View of the corridor between the old and new terminal

At check in the staff was very welcoming and we were informed that we would be provided with a two queen room with a connecting king suite along with full club lounge access. Wow, Marriott went above and beyond here! The check in agent handed us our keys and told us she would take us to our room. The rooms were 745 and 747 on the top floor of the hotel. This is also the floor that houses the club lounge.

Lobby and Yakima Restaurant towards the back

As we walked down the 7th floor hallway she explained that 747 is the largest suite on the property and is the only of its kind in the hotel. Marriott called the suite the 'Concierge Suite' but if you go to book it online it is listed as the Presidential Suite. Of note the room number is 747 and I asked later if it was just a coincidence that the best room in the hotel just happens to be numbered 747 (Avgeeks will get why I asked this question) but there wasn't a definitive answer whether this was done on purpose or not.

Coincidence?

What follows are quick thoughts and descriptions of the rooms but as usual we like to let the photos do most of the talking!

Two Queen Room
Upon entering we found the regular two queen room was prepped for our girls. There were two trays of treats geared toward them as well as some board games for our enjoyment! The room size and layout are impressive and would be typical of the type of room we normally book as a family. After seeing this we would have been very happy with just this room and I can happily pass along that anyone who books the standard two queens or single king rooms won't be disappointed. The bathroom is sized well and has a large walk in shower with regular shower head and a rain shower head. This particular room connected to the Presidential suite so we essentially had a three room suite.

Two Queens

Two Queen Room Shower

Two Queen Room Vanity

Games provided by the Marriott YYC for our enjoyment!

Treats for the girls from the Marriott!

Presidential Suite
The Presidential (or Concierge Suite) was impressive! It is a two room suite (living room and bedroom) with so much space! When you first enter the suite there is a powder room to the left and as you go further into the living room you'll find a bar area (sink, counter and cabinets) on the North wall and a great seating area for everyone in the middle. Here we found treats for the adults including a couple special drinks made by the hotel restaurant Yakima which happens to make all of their syrups in house for their drinks. (a separate post will follow on our dining experiences at Yakima). Next to the living room on the Southwest corner of the building is the bedroom which has a king bed, TV, settee and a telescope. Floor to ceiling windows wrap around the room on two sides with views of the new terminal, the old and of course of Calgary. Quite possibly the highlight of this already great room is the huge bathroom. You'll find dual sinks/mirrors (one on each side of the space), a separate walk in shower with rain shower head, a separate stall for the toilet and a freestanding tub.

Presidential Suite King Bed

View from the Suite

Another angle of the suite (With Rewards Canada's youngest utilizing the telescope!)

The huge Presidential Suite bathroom!

One of the two vanities and the walk in shower

Presidential Suite Living Room

Treats for the parents!

Thoughts on the rooms
The floor to ceiling windows in the rooms are amazing and provide for awesome views of the airport, downtown Calgary and the Rocky Mountains. If you get the Presidential Suite you'll find a Telescope in the room for your viewing enjoyment! We used it to look at planes and downtown Calgary. You'll also find the same telescope in the Club Lounge. The rooms themselves are sized great and should appeal to most travellers whether on a layover or a longer extended stay. If you like firm beds then the hotel is for you, we did find them a bit too firm for us but the hotel is also only a little over a week old and most mattresses will 'soften' over time so I just see the beds getting better. On Twitter a reader asked how the soundproofing was and if we could hear the planes. I originally responded that we could not but that was during the evening when there was more going on in the hotel (we were in the lounge at that time). Later at night when things quieted down you could hear the planes in our rooms but not at an annoying or wake you up volume. The good thing about YYC is there isn't too much action on the tarmac between 10pm and 6am, so in general the hotel feels quiet.

Club Lounge
The club lounge is also on the 7th floor and like all the south facing rooms has amazing views of the city and the airport. The lounge is quite large and offers hot food options during breakfast and during evening hours. Outside of those hours they have some small snacks available along with lots of drink options. All food and non-alcoholic drinks are free while there is a charge for alcoholic beverages. At all times there were two staff members in the lounge helping everyone out, the service here was impeccable.

Hot Breakfast food options

Breakfast Pastries

Amenities
The hotel features a few amenities for those staying here. There is a great fitness room which once again has views of the tarmac and the city. There is a fun pool with waterfalls that our girls did try out and enjoy. A hot tub is also in the pool area however it was blocked off as it wasn't ready for use during our stay. The on site restaurant, Yakima takes a local Calgary flare on dining and infuses some South American and Japanese touches. Most if not all of the food is sourced locally (hence no fish on the menu) and they also bake all their own breads and pastries. We'll have more on Yakima in another post but all I can say is that it is pretty darn good! It will become a regular haunt for us in our dining out in Calgary, and if you're thinking it might get expensive with airport parking, fear not as the restaurant provides up to 4 hours of free valet parking when dining at it.

Tips for stays at the new Calgary Marriott
If you want views of airplanes, downtown Calgary and the Rocky Mountains request a room on the south side of the hotel (odd numbered rooms). Of course the higher the floor the better but I would assume you'll get good views from most floor levels.

Overall Thoughts
We knew Marriott was expecting us and they went above and beyond in terms of service to make sure our stay was awesome. The thing is we saw the staff treating everyone else just as well as us and this can be attested to as seen on Twitter with another guest complementing the hotel on the service:

Had we just come in as 'regular customers' with anonymity and stayed in the two queen room I can truthfully say we would have been impressed. We are already thinking of future staycations here and will definitely recommend it to family, friends and our readers as the place to stay at YYC.

Hotel details
Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel (Book here)
Marriott Rewards Category: 5
Points required for a free night (Standard) 25,000 Points
Points required for a free night (PointSaver) 20,000 Points
Cash+Points Requirement: 14,000 Points + US$65 per night for standard rooms
You can use your anniversary bonus of a free night in a Category 1-5 hotel from the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Card here as well.

Talk to us! Have you stayed at the new Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel? What are your thoughts of the hotel? Or are you planning to and looking forward to it? Let us know below!

Rewards Canada has had a relationship with Marriott for more than 10 years but over the past 6 months that has grown by leaps and bounds. You may have noticed the Marriott Rewards contests in July and August and there is even more to come. I cannot say how excited we are about this new expanded relationship and I'm sure you are too as many more promotions will be coming your way shortly!

Disclosure:
Rewards Canada's (I Fly Calgary) stay at the Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel was provided by Marriott at no charge. We were fully responsible for incidental charges like food and drinks and as with all of our review policies for flights, hotels, credit cards and anything else we do like to point out the good and the not so good, whether or not we are paid for it, receive it for free etc.

Save 25% on KLM Business Class award tickets between Calgary & Europe for travel in November & December

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 20:01:00 +0000

Air France KLM Flying Blue's Promo Awards is something I cover on Rewards Canada each and every month but haven't posted it here as Calgary has not been included in these discounted award ticket offers for ages! Finally YYC is now included in the September offering hence the post here! Sometimes this offer is good for up to 50% off the number of miles required for travel on Air France or KLM but this month all Canadian cities are at 25% off business class. So while 25% isn't as good as 50% of course, it still is something to look at if you were planning travel for the last two months of the year and Flying Blue redemptions were be considered for that travel.

Offer Details:
Save up to 50% with Promo Awards Save 25% to 50% on the Award Miles usually required for award ticket. Destinations vary by each promotional period. Full Details Book by Sep 30 for travel between Nov 1 - Dec 31, 16

Crazy Business Class Fares (under $1,700) on KLM from Calgary to Germany

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 12:19:00 +0000

Thanks to a post from Loyalty Traveler we were alerted to some good business class fares out of the U.S. and possibly Canadian cities to Germany. We dug deeper and KLM is definitely selling flights for a remarkable price! From late August right through to March of 2017 weekday flights are pricing below $17000 between Calgary and Germany, in Business Class! Check out fares and book online at KLM.ca. In some cases these are even cheaper than Economy Class! We're not sure how long this will last so I would jump on this right away!

Here are some sample fares:

Calgary - Munich in October for $1,627!

Receive a $100 Coupon for use on Hainan Airlines flights out of Calgary

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 16:30:00 +0000

While there haven't been any extravagant seat sales yet for the new Hainan Airlines flight out of Calgary like we see south of the border there is this coupon offer you can take advantage of! You can save $100 on flights until the end of September when you register for this coupon. The link to get the offer is https://apps.agorapulse.com/mobile/coupon/41056 and you'll have to access it with your Facebook account. We found the offer on Instagram and they state there are limited numbers so I would go and get it right away if you think you'll fly this route by the end of September.

Excerpt from the Terms and Conditions
1. Hainan Airlines’ Coupons are valid from March 15th, 2016 to September 30th, 2016. 2. Passengers must travel before September 30th, 2016 (return flight date) 3. Coupon is only valid on Hainan Airlines overseas website (https://www.hainanairlines.com/CA/GB/Home). 4. The promotion code cannot be used for upgrades, or charges relating to itinerary changes. 5. The coupon can be used only on tickets purchased for flights originating in Calgary or Toronto to China, where Hainan Airlines is the operating carrier. 6. The coupon can only be used on the airfare portion of a flight ticket, and cannot be applied to airport improvement/development fees, fuel surcharges or any taxes. 7. The coupon is not valid on tickets that include connecting flights on other airlines or on codeshare flights. 8. The coupon must be entered at the page PAYMENT. 9. Only ONE coupon may be applied to one ticket. 10. The coupon can only be used once per a booking on Hainan Airlines global website. 11. The coupon is only valid on tickets paid for in full on the Hainan Airlines website and may not be used to discount tickets purchased at any retail outlet. 12. Any refunds, itinerary changes, transfers and upgrades shall be dealt with in accordance with the original fare of the ticket. 13. The coupon cannot be used to discount cargo fees, insurance, Fortune Wings Miles discounted tickets or Limited Deals pricing. The coupon CAN NOT be applied to all other promotions (Early Bird, Save Even More, Extra Discount, ADDON, etc.) 14. Hainan Airlines has the final interpretation of authority.

Use your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles to fly on the inaugural Hainan Airlines flight from YYC - Save $2,900+ in business class

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 19:52:00 +0000

I posted this over on Rewards Canada earlier today but wanted to let iflycalgary readers know about it is as well.

On March 30th you could officially start redeeming Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles for flights on Hainan Airlines. Right now they have great availability (at least 2 seats in Business Class) for the inaugural flight out of YYC as well as many more flights after that. Business Class is 50,000 Mileage Plan Miles one way and as you can see even with the $202 in taxes and fees you can save a bundle over what the going rate for the same seat from Hainan themselves.

If you don't collect Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles you should definitely look into them as not only can you use them on Alaska flights out of YYC but you can also use them on Hainan, British Airways, KLM, American and Delta flights out of YYC! They are a very useful currency for us Calgarians. You can jump start your Mileage Plan balance with the mbna Alaska Airlines MasterCard® credit card. Read our review of the card here.

Mileage Plan availability for Hainan's inaugural flight out of YYC

and the cost if you were to buy the same ticket

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Alaska Airlines MasterCard® credit card
• Receive 25,000 Bonus Miles†† after your first eligible purchase
• Earn 1 Bonus Mile per $1 spent on every eligible purchase‡
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• Receive an annual Companion Fare from $121 (USD) ($99 base fare, plus taxes and fees from $22)◊◊
• Redeem Miles for flights to over 700 destinations worldwide‡
• $75 annual fee
Apply here.

Hainan Airlines updates aircraft for YYC service

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 20:08:00 +0000

According to Airlineroute.net the new Hainan Airlines Calgary- Beijing services that starts this June will see an aircraft change. Initially the route was supposed to be operated with Boeing 787-8 but that has now switched to an Airbus A330-200 until July 31st. The 787 service will start on August 2nd.

Compact Transit System has a new name - YYC LINK

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 18:02:00 +0000

Noticed this little change on YYC's website Waypoints, the site with all the updates for the airport development program. Looks like this change happened sometime last week.

Looks like we now have a name for the Compact Transit System that will be used between the old and new terminals:

YYC LINK

What do you think of this new name?

KLM Flash Sale - Fly Business Class between Calgaryand Europe from $2699 all in!

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Wed, 02 Dec 2015 21:02:00 +0000

KLM has launched another one of their amazing Business Class sales for travel from Canada to Europe and beyond! This offer is pretty great although about $200 more than the last time we saw the sale. Still getting to Europe in Business Class for as little as $2699 all in is something to write home about or present as a gift under the Christmas Tree! Oh and if you just happen to fly on the KLM flight out of Edmonton instead of YYC before the end of February you can score 5,000 Bonus Flying Blue miles! (See here for details on the YEG offer)

This business class offer needs to be booked by December 6th for travel between January 11 and April 30th. You can book this offer online right here.

Security Training Exercise at YYC tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 19:11:00 +0000

If you find yourself at YYC in the terminal tonight don't be alarmed if you hear gunshots!

"Calgary, AB – The Calgary Airport Authority, and key airport and emergency response agencies will be conducting a security training exercise at Calgary International Airport (YYC) on Wednesday, November 4 from 9 p.m. until approximately midnight.

The exercise will take place within the terminal building, in an isolated area; however, passengers arriving or departing YYC during this time may hear unusual noises, including simulated gunfire. Emergency agencies will be arriving to the terminal at this time to respond to the mock scenario. There will also be a number of volunteers who will be in makeup with simulated injuries within the terminal building during this period.

The safety and security of all those who visit and work at Calgary International Airport is the Authority’s number one priority and exercises of this nature are an important part of the airport emergency preparedness program. It ensures all partners have the opportunity to practice their extensive emergency response plans."

Using WestJet Rewards Dollars and Diners Club Reward Points for WestJet flights out of Calgary

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 19:41:00 +0000

Highlights from our SFO trip
(www.instagram.com/rewardscanada)

Back in July the Rewards Canada family took a vacation to San Francisco. This was quite a last minute decision on our part, it was late July and we really wanted to get away before our busy August. It was Sunday night and could travel later that week. Without going into all the search details on places we haven't been and within a few hours of home seeing we only had 3 full days we decided on San Francisco. The Rewards Canada family had never set foot in San Francisco unless you include the airport for connecting! This was an ideal location seeing that we had done Los Angeles (three times) Palm Springs and San Diego in the previous 14 months or so. Yes this is the power of miles and points, many of those trips were funded in part with loyalty programs!

Seeing that we only had three full days we wanted to ensure that we got to SFO in a short amount of time so it was decided that we would fly on WestJet's direct flights so we could use up some our WestJet dollars. As we were redeeming WestJet Dollars from multiple accounts I actually had to call in to WestJet to book the flights as you cannot redeem from multiple accounts online at the same time. The process was really simple as I just had to supply our WestJet Rewards numbers and told the agent we wanted to use our dollars for the flights. The cash portion was put on my Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard so we could also utilize Club Rewards points for a portion of the costs to make what would be an expensive flight purchase more reasonable.

WestJet Rewards redemption

Diners Club Club Rewards redemption

What initially began with flights costing $3,014.36 ended up only costing us $1,824.36. A great example of 'flexible' reward programs like WestJet Rewards and Diners Club Club Rewards. You don't have to wait until you have the full amount of points or miles. WestJet does require a balance of $25 to redeem if you don't hold one of their RBC MasterCards and that is why you only see three WestJet redemptions for the four of us travelling as my older daughter only had $24 in her account at the time of booking. You can also see however that we earned WestJet Dollars on the cash portion of the tickets which explains why my youngest daughter actually earned more on her flights than my wife or I as she redeemed less dollars. Also you may see that our Diners Club redemption was actually done nearly two months after the trip. Again another bonus of flexible credit card programs, you can continue to earn points on purchases and use them towards a past purchase. Depending on the card you carry you have anywhere from 90 days to 12 months after the charge is posted to use your points or miles!

Could we have utilized another reward program? Well I looked at using Aeroplan miles and all options required a connection with a lot longer travel time than the direct WestJet flights. With only 3 full days in San Francisco and this being a vacation, not business, we wanted to ensure we had the most time possible in SFO so the decision was made to go with the direct flights and enjoy more time in the Golden Gate city on the actual travel days.

Unfortunately the Diners Club Club Rewards MasterCard is not available for new applications but you could use some of the following cards to do the same type of partial (or full) redemption towards the travel charge:

American Express Gold Rewards Card
mbna Rewards World Elite MasterCard
Scotiabank Gold American Express Card
TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card
and more. Simply look for "Any Travel Provider" in the Redemption Centre row of this chart: Travel Points comparison chart

Save 20% on WestJet Plus Fares - Exclusive offer on our Rewards Canada site

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 18:49:00 +0000

As many of you know I run the site, RewardsCanada.ca and I wanted to pass along an exclusive offer that is currently running on RC!

You can save 20% on WestJet Plus Fares for anywhere they fly if you book by Oct 5, 2015 (9:59PM MT) for travel Sep 21 - Dec 10 (Oct 8-13 are blacked out)

For complete details on the offer and the promo codes you must use visit this post on the Rewards Canada blog!

Air Canada to place 787-9 on Calgary-Frankfurt route for April 2016

noreply@blogger.com (Rewards Canada Team) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 18:27:00 +0000

Just for the month of April you can experience flying on Air Canada's newest aircraft, the Boeing 787-9 between Calgary and Frankfurt. According to airlineroute.net the new planes will be on Calgary and Toronto to Frankfurt for April. This will be a great time to try the plane out! Might have to look at doing a family trip to Europe in April just to try it out and also burn some Aeroplan miles.

Calgary – Frankfurt
AC844 YYC1750 – 1055+1FRA 789 D
AC845 FRA1330 – 1505YYC 789 D