IHG (formerly priority club) has a new contest which is on from now until the end of 2013. If you stay at holiday inns or related hotels this could be a good way for you to pick up a lot of extra points- up to 86,000 if you get all the goals done. The full details of the contents are on their website here. 

If you do already have elite status on one airline and you're thinking of switching to another you should really checked to see if the new airline has a status match program.

I do this myself recently I had a trip to Singapore planned and the prices on Air Canada were very expensive for the dates I needed to travel so I checked the delta website and they had reasonable fares and also a status match program. You can find info about their program here.

All I had to do was send proof that I am an Air Canada elite member, and they confirmed that if I flew over 16,000 miles in the next three months that I would get gold stars on delta. My trip to Singapore was going to be more than that. 

So I did the status match and the trip, and now I have Delta Gold status in addition to my Air Canada E75K status until the end of February 2014.

I am not sure if I will fly enough on Delta to keep this but I like to have options.

I have been flying more Delta lately because they have direct flights to Atlanta and wifi on the planes.

Recently I was on a long haul from Japan to Detroit and had reserved a window seat so I could sleep. However, when I got on the plane there was a woman with two teenagers sat in the row. She wanted to me to move to a middle seat that her daughter had been assigned!?! I spoke to the flight attendant who asked me to sit in the middle seat but said they would do something for me once we were up in the air.

Once we were airborne they moved me to an aisle seat and said they would be giving me some skymiles because I agreed to the change. 

Imagine my surprise to see 2,500 miles deposited into my account today. Nice gesture Delta!

It has been a while since I updated my site and I want to start it fresh so I have migrated to a new platform. 

Big news: Aeroplan has been making some changes and they have removed the seven year expiry on aeroplan miles, though you still need to make a transaction once a year to keep the account active. This is great news for people who cannot collect aeroplan miles very fast and have been saving for years as now they will not lose their miles. 

Aeroplan has also introduced some new tiers called Aeroplan Distinction which is going to start on January of 2014. I will be posting more about this soon.

I just received the email below

Dear David Owers,

As a valued Air Canada customer, we’d like to share changes planned for the 2013 Air Canada Top Tier Program. As the program includes the introduction of new tier levels and the realignment of some benefits, we are announcing the key benefit changes a year in advance.

Note that these changes apply to the 2013 Top Tier benefit year beginning March 1, 2013, and therefore do not affect the 2012 Air Canada Top Tier Program.

The 2013 Top Tier Program, which will feature two new tier levels, has been redesigned to better recognize and reward our customers. It also aligns our program with industry leaders and ensures that the Air Canada Top Tier Program remains highly competitive internationally.

Here are some of the highlights of the 2013 Air Canada Top Tier Program for each of the five tier levels:
Members earning 25,000 Status Miles or 25 Status Flight Segments will enjoy 2013 Top Tier benefits similar to those offered with the 2012 Top Tier Program

Members earning 35,000 Status Miles or 35 Status Flight Segments will notice changes to their 2013 Top Tier benefit program as compared to the 2012 Top Tier Program:
Star Alliance™ Gold recognition will be replaced by Star Alliance Silver. Members, however, will be able to choose Star Alliance Lounge access as a Select Privilege
Upgrades with eUpgrade Credits will apply on Tango Plus and Latitude fares for travel in North America, and Latitude fares for travel to international destinations
Members will continue to enjoy many Air Canada Priority Airport and Reservation services, complimentary access to Maple Leaf™ Lounges, three complimentary checked bags on Air Canada flights, Bonus Aeroplan® Miles for eligible flights as a Select Privilege, and more

Members will be able to achieve new levels of recognition with the introduction of two additional tiers:
Members earning 50,000 Status Miles or 50 Status Flight Segments will enjoy the 2013 Top Tier benefits earned at 35,000 Status Miles, as well as:
A higher upgrade priority
Upgrades with eUpgrade Credits which apply on Tango Plus and Latitude fares system-wide
Additional eUpgrade Credits
Star Alliance Gold recognition

Members earning 75,000 Status Miles or 75 Status Flight Segments will enjoy the 2013 Top Tier benefits earned at 50,000 Status Miles, along with:
A higher upgrade priority
An accelerated earning of Bonus Aeroplan Miles for eligible flights as a Select Privilege
Additional eUpgrade Credits
An exclusive Threshold Program

Members earning 100,000 Status Miles or 95 Status Flight Segments will enjoy 2013 Top Tier benefits similar to those offered with the 2012 Top Tier Program

To view more details with the qualification levels and associated benefits for the 2013 Air Canada Top Tier Program, click here.

Over the course of 2012, we will continue to introduce improvements to the program, as some new and exciting benefits are currently in the works. Also, we will be unveiling the names of the new tiers.

To keep you updated on the latest news, we will be communicating with you regularly throughout 2012. We also encourage you to bookmark aircanada.com/toptier2013 and to follow us on Twitter @ACTopTier.

***********
This is really a big change for Aeroplan as it used to be a program in which it was relatively easy to get gold status (35,000 miles). Now to get Star Alliance Gold only at 50,000 miles, while it does put Air Canada more in line with other Star Alliance carriers I think it might push people away from their program- at least the people who fly less than 50,000 miles per year and were still enjoying the perks of Elite. Personally it won’t affect me as I typically fly 50-75K miles each year.

One thing I am glad to see is Air Canada announcing these changes a year in advance. This gives time for people to get used to the changes and also gives them the time to make any adjustments before the program goes live.

I used to be a huge proponent of Marriot Rewards but last year I decided to make a change and try out Priority Club hotelshttp://www.priorityclub.com.

The availability of hotels from this group is just as good as Marriot, at least in the cities that I am visiting.

Here is a tip if you are going to be staying at these hotels.

Register yourself as a Priority Club member. It costs nothing so you have nothing to lose. Go to the priorityclub.com website, go to the word offers, and you will get a drop down menu. The last item on this menu is my offer status- click on this. It will ask you to login if you are not already.

The next page will be a list of offers you qualify for- typically by staying some number of nights you will get X thousand additional points.

Here is the tip: Sign up for all of the offers. Then forget about it. And try to stay at Priority Club hotels.

I wouldn’t change any of my travel patterns to get extra hotel points but this way you are covered if you do happen to stay.

I used to be a huge proponent of Marriot Rewards but last year I decided to make a change and try out Priority Club hotels http://www.priorityclub.com.

The availability of hotels from this group is just as good as Marriot, at least in the cities that I am visiting.

Here is a tip if you are going to be staying at these hotels.

Register yourself as a Priority Club member. It costs nothing so you have nothing to lose. Go to the priorityclub.com website, go to the word offers, and you will get a drop down menu. The last item on this menu is my offer status- click on this. It will ask you to login if you are not already.

The next page will be a list of offers you qualify for- typically by staying some number of nights you will get X thousand additional points.

Here is the tip: Sign up for all of the offers. Then forget about it. And try to stay at Priority Club hotels.

I wouldn’t change any of my travel patterns to get extra hotel points but this way you are covered if you do happen to stay.

If you are a Marriott fan, there is a new site available now called the Marriott Rewards Insider

For tips about specific Marriott hotels, and nearby activities, this could be a good place to look. Typically I prefer to use tripadvisor for things to do if I have time to look around a city, but I can see how this might have good info when you are making a short stop somewhere and just have time to find what what is close to the hotel.  Check it out.

If you are into collecting Marriott points- this is just a reminder that there are a few changes happening to the program starting January 15th.

• No Blackout dates. Marriott is touting this as an important feature- but this does not guarantee that standard rooms will be available. However, for people wanting to stay at a particular hotel who have a lot of points this could be good.
• Redeem for 4 nights and get the 5th night free.
• For Platinum members, increase of points bonus from 30% to 50%. This is good if you happen to be a Platinum member (you have to stay 75 nights in a year to achieve Platinum)

At the same time as these changes they are adding an extra hotel category… this means that staying at the top rated hotels will cost you even more points.

For the full information on these changes- click the Marriot Rewards 2009 Enhancements FAQ. 

I got taught a lesson today in exchanging money…

I was at the airport- about to board a flight to the US when I spied an ATM machine for US dollars. This is great- I thought- this way I don’t have to look for a machine when I land. Also, the transaction fee was $3.50 which is a lot for a regular withdrawal but I have found that banks can charge up to five dollars when you use ATM machines in another country.

What I should have noticed was that this was a standalone ATM- not affiliated with any bank- only a company called Direct Cash.

 What was the problem? Firstly the machine didn’t say what exhange rate was used until you actually received the money. When I checked my receipt I was astonished to find out that I got charged a ridiculous rate of 1.12 Cdn to 1 US- when in the real world the canadian dollar is the same value as the US dollar (today the Cdn is actually worth MORE than USD). I think they make more by giving you a crappy exchange rate than they do with the transaction fees.

In all I ended up paying $115 Canadian dollars for $100 US which at my bank would have only been $100. Even at an exchange booth I would have payed around $105.

The moral is to be very careful where you exchange money- and be sure to check the rates.

Too add insult to injury the ATM only gave me $60 instead of $100 so now I have to run after the banks to get back the rest of my money…