Author: Matt

Matt has been an avid points collector since 1992 (an elementary school student), when his dad signed up for the new (at the time) Air Miles program. Since then, Matt took a keen interest in learning how the miles and points world works. He quickly found out that there is a lot of value in leveraging miles and points to fund his passion for travelling.
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Canadian Airlines Layoff Across the Board

ByMatt

I was hoping that it would be not come to this. But airline layoffs are real. Personally, I really thought that there would be more “leave without pay”, so that they can retain their employees and slowly bring them back. But maybe there is more to the story if they want to cut their ties. I guess they can always hire them back later? 

Anyway, here’s the current count to date. May airlines are careful to say that these are temporary layoffs, so the door is open for people to come back. 

COVID-19 Updates for Canadians

ByMatt

We created a tab on the menu bar for the most recent COVID-19 updates on as many relevant loyalty programs that affect Canadians. 

Since the page will be continually updated, you may not see a snap shot of the information at a specific point in time. Every now and then I may post the snap shot of that day in the regular blog posts. The reason I do this is to give everyone a comment platform to help us update the list as much as possible. The hope is to have a one stop shop for all relevant programs that affect your situation with quick hyperlink access. The links provided below are direct to the COVID page on each respective website. 

This is a significant revamp from my last update which was more focused on when to call into the loyalty companies. This post is focused more on the cancellation policies.

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Miles and Points Strategy While Staying at Home

ByMatt

There are probably a lot of topics that I will be introducing in this post that probably merit a more full blown post. If there is something that you would like me to elaborate on, please let us know in the comment section below. 

Depending on which country you live in, seems like this COVID-19 lockdown may drag on longer than we might hope. So in the meantime, does it even more any sense to keep earning frequent flyer miles and hotels points? Should we really just switch to a more predictable cash back rewards option or other retail programs?

Will Loyalty Companies go Bankrupt?

ByMatt

Pointshogger reader asked a great question in the comment section of our post: [STICKY] Loyalty Program COVID-19 ONGOING Updates:

“Hi Matt – do you think a frequent flyer program like Aeroplan is at risk of going bankrupt due to it’s relationship with Air Canada as a result of the CV-19 pandemic?”

This is actually a question that I have been thinking about. But I felt the topic was too controversial to write about. But since someone asked, it gave me the confidence to attempt to answer!

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[REVIEW] Air Canada Vancouver Signature Suite

ByMatt

A good friend of Pointshogger, Kathy Ye, went to the YVR Signature Suite unveiled on our behalf and shared her experience with us. Thank you so much Kathy for representing Pointshogger!

On March 14th, 2020, Air Canada unveiled its second Signature Suite at Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Pointshogger had the opportunity to get a sneak peak of the lounge and enjoy the premium amenities before it is opened to the public.

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Journie Rewards Replace Pioneer Bucks

ByMatt

Chevron, Ultramar and Pioneer have created a jointed venture to offer a new rewards program called Journie Rewards. At first glance, I am very excited by this new program as it should compete well with Esso Extra and Petro-Canada. That being said, this spells the end of Pioneer Bucks that was offered by Pioneer Energy.

Let’s take a closer look at the Journie Rewards program.

Expiry Policy

Points do not expire as long as there is an activity (earn or redeem) once every 12 months. The account then goes into inactive mode first. Accounts will be suspended if there is no activity for 60 days. After that, accounts get closed and all points are lost.

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Loyalty Program COVID-19 Updates

ByMatt

Loyalty programs across the board have implemented temporary solutions to deal with any COVID-19 related matters. Below is a list of hyperlinks to useful information. I also included a small blurb for each company that may be more commonly relevant.

I tried to include companies more relevant to Canadians, but please let us know in the comment section below if you see any other links that we can add to the list (in alphabetical order).

Beware of CBSA Scammers Posing as Employees

ByMatt

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is currently under a lot of pressure to work harder at the Canadian borders. 

Currently, they are enforcing a new directive to inform people to isolate themselves for 14 consecutive days after arriving from abroad. Symptoms include: fever, cough or difficulty breathing. 

Unfortunately, during this time, there are those are are posing as CBSA employees.

My Miles and Points Strategy Going Forward

ByMatt

With so much negativity out there about the coronavirus, I will try my best to keep things positive. When things are down, I can tell you that one thing I do right away is to plan a strategy to anticipate the changes that can occur. 

With travel coming almost to a halt for at least the short term, the question of what my strategy should be going forward has been on my mind non-stop over the past few weeks. I touched on this topic a couple of day ago when I tried to answer the question about whether it makes more sense to switch to a cash back portfolio when it comes to earning rewards. I would like to dig a little deeper into this topic.