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.

[INTERVIEW] Who is FlightList?

ByMatt

Today we are interviewing Hans Desjarlais, founder of FlightList, who built an exciting service that is geared towards being simple and minimal when searching for one-way flights. Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions Hans! 

Q1: Please tell us about yourself.

I’m a 35-year-old tech entrepreneur from Montreal and what you could consider a “digital nomad”. I’ve spent the last 8 years living in Mexico during the winter and traveling. My current position is president of Themely, a small WordPress theme development company and I’m also CTO for an education Startup based in California.

Did You Know There’s a Black Market for Stolen Points?

ByMatt

We are featuring Pointshogger contributor Paul Bischoff, who is a consumer privacy expert and the editor of Comparitech, a security-focused tech services review site. He’s been covering IT-related subjects for multiple outlets since 2012 and is passionate about privacy, free speech, and net neutrality. Today, he will share his thoughts on how points are being stolen and sold on the dark web, as well as provide his suggestions on how to protect against it. Thank you Paul for taking the time to share your expertise with us!

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Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards for September 2018

ByMatt

Most promotional offers are running until the end of October, so few changes from last month.

Note that we also have two other types of monthly lists going on:

Top Cash Back Credit Card Offers
Top Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonus Offers
If you would like to see other lists as well, please let us know in the comment section below.

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Rundown of the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge (updated September 20, 2018)

ByMatt

In celebration of the new Maple Leaf Lounge at Saskatoon’s John G. Diefenbaker International Airport (YXE), I thought it would be appropriate to update this post.

There are many different ways to access the lounge.

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List of Airline Alliances (updated September 18, 2018)

ByMatt

It has been over a year since I last updated this post, especially with OneWorld, so I thought it was due for an update as there were several changes to update.

Personal Airline Alliance Portfolio
As usual, here is a quick recap of my personal portfolio, which has not changed much. I was expecting to shake things up due to the Aeroplan and Air Canada break up, but that does not seem to be happening anymore.

Discounted Reward Flights on Canadian Flights with LifeMiles

ByMatt

Avianca’s LifeMiles is offering discounted reward flights within, as well as to and from Canada on certain Star Alliance routes. Redemptions must be made between September 14, 2018 and September 30, 2018.

There are two primary ways for Canadians to earn LifeMiles. First of all, Avianca is a Star Alliance member, therefor, you can bank all your Air Canada miles towards Avianca instead. Otherwise, there is a current bonus promotion (buy 1 mile and get 2 bonus miles) when purchasing LifeMiles that runs until September 18, 2018.

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Top Cash Back Credit Card Offers for September 2018

ByMatt

Very few changes this month, as most promotions until the end of October.

Keep in mind that we also have an going Top Cash Back Credit Cards page which consists of permanent and temporary offers, while this post focuses on temporary offers only.

Note that we also have two other types of recent monthly lists going on:

Best Current First Year Fee Waived Cards
Top Higher than Normal Sigh Up Bonus Offers

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Earn 35% more Aeroplan Miles with Marriott Conversion

ByMatt

Aeroplan is offering a 35% conversion in bonus miles, along with another 5,000 bonus miles (up to) offer (for every 60,000 points exchanged) when converting Marriott, SPG or Ritz-Carlton loyalty points into Aeroplan miles. The offer is valid between September 13, 2018 and September 17, 2018. 

Below are some samples of mile earning potential:

Top Cash Surveys in Canada

ByMatt

*Please note that we receive compensation for affiliate links.

One of the easiest ways to earn rewards in Canada is by joining an online survey community. These are websites that pay members (usually in points redeemable for gift cards or PayPal) for simply completing surveys on topical subjects relating to Canada. Requested feedback can range from sharing opinions on politics, social issues, product feedback, world views and more. The longer or harder a survey is to qualify for, the more you will earn for your time. Your responses are never personally identifiable back to you.