Sunwing 50% Off Second Seat Sale--Is It Worth It?

Since last week (and for THREE more days--ends October 20th), Sunwing has been having a sale--buy one flight only ticket with Sunwing and get the second base fare at 50% off.  Click here to go to the Sunwing page.
It's not a bad deal in fact, especially if you're looking to book a vacation during peak times and haven't done so yet.
Only problem is they're a charter, only fly out once a day, and depending on the route, may only fly out a few times a week at most.  That means, if they end up cancelling a flight, they won't rebook you until the next time they fly and you're stuck wherever the cancelled flight occurred.  If you have a deadline and must be somewhere, I'd never fly a charter airline.
Unlike a regular airline, charter airliners like Air Transat and Sunwing in Canada, and Spirit and Frontier in the US will not do what needs to be done to get you to your destination in good time--regular airlines will either get you out on the next flight with that airline or will fly you out with a competitor to get you to where you're going.
So if you have flexibility in your schedule, you may want to take your chances; otherwise stay away from charter airlines!!

Toronto to Lima For As Low as $380 CDN Taxes In!

Flying from Toronto to Lima has never been cheaper (perhaps)!  Depending on how flexible you are, you can get tickets on select dates from October to March from $380 taxes in!  You need to fly Delta and make two stops along the journey though, but if that's "too much" for you, Aeromexico has flight for around $476, and Air Canada for $544!

Here's a link for flights from February 27-March 8th on a Google Flight search.  Click on the date to have a monthly calendar open that gives you the prices daily for departure and return.

THREE HOURS LEFT To Acquire The Highest Welcome Bonus PLUS A 30% Bonus Transfer to United Miles, Free Week Stay At A Marriott!

THIS IS AN UPDATED VERSION AS OF JUST BEFORE 9PM, WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 18TH.

United Airlines is offering a 30% bonus (up to 25K bonus United miles) for transferring points from most hotel point programs to theirs until November 30th!  Choice Privilege points (eww) and Club Carlson are at a different rate, but SPG (Starwood Preferred Guests) transfers to United will give you the best rate I've ever seen.

You can apply for the 25K SPG Welcome bonus for either the AMEX SPG personal card or SPG Business card by clicking on the pics above.  Spend $1500 in 3 months and earn a welcome bonus of 25K points--the deal ends in THREE days (October 18th)!

United Airline points are a very valuable commodity as United doesn't charge fuel surcharges, so you can get intercontinental flights, such as Toronto to Tel-Aviv on Air Canada, using United miles without paying fuel surcharges, saving you around $750 per ticket (I've seen a surcharge as high as $775 for that destination).

If you can accumulate as much as 90K SPG points before November 30th, you can call the Marriott Miles & Nights program at 1-800-321-7396 and transfer them into 270K Marriott miles and then from that they can turn them into 157K United Miles (up to 30% bonus up to 25K United miles --regularly you'd get 132K United miles) and a category 1-5, 7 night stay certificate at a Marriott good for 1 year from issue.  You can extend it once for one more year.  That means you are saving 150K Marriott (50K SPG) miles if you would use the certificate at a category 5 hotel.  This includes Residence Inns and TownePlace Suites with full kitchens as well as any of the other Marriott properties around the world.  We still don't know if and when Marriott will allow their certificates to be used interchangeably with SPGs, at least up to a certain category number.  As SPG points are triple in value to Marriott and can be exchanged easily at no cost after merging your Marriott and SPG account online.  Some agents at Marriott will allow you to turn the certificate into 45K Marriott (15K SPG) but that's only if you get the right agent, REALLY don't think you'll use the certificate, and book a hotel with it and then cancel--then they may agree to it.

Even if you don't have 90K SPG, perhaps you could...since you can also combine your SPG points with a spouse or whoever shares the same address as you). If all you and a fellow address sharer have Marriott points and you first switch them to SPG, then you can combine them in that way.

You can also switch SPG to United at a 30% bonus without getting a certificate at smaller amounts than that.  Call them and tell them how many you'd like to transfer, but the magic number of 90K SPG points are what get you the certificate bonus!

Is The New AMEX Cobalt Worth It?

The New AMEX Cobalt credit card is a unique card.  It charges a MONTHLY fee of $10 instead of an annual fee, a first in the industry.
It's currently offering up to 40K Membership Reward (MR) points.  Spend $1500 in the first three months and receive 10K points.  They expect you to spend $500 a month to receive a bonus of 2500 MR points each month for the first year.  It offers more 5 points per dollar for restaurant, bars, and cafe transactions, double points on travel and transit, and 1 point for all other transactions.
If you are interested in a card that is uniform, in giving the same reward, no matter what the transaction, this card is complex and not the card for you.  To think, you need to watch your spending every month for a full year to get the full welcome bonus?
I'm not a fan of this new product.  It's hard enough to find merchants that accept AMEX, much less be watching your spending so carefully...
IF you are looking for the two best points systems AND best welcome bonuses around, see my next post by clicking here.

HOT! Fly YYZ-TLV Return for $347-$527CDN!!

Sorry, not as hot as the Air Canada price glitch but nonetheless, still HOT!
Fly WOW Airlines, stopping over in Reykjavik (the hub)  for $347CDN taxes in with NO luggage (a small carry such as a purse or laptop bag are free) and $527 with luggage.  You need to book one-way out of Toronto (in CDN$) and then back from Tel-Aviv is USD$ to get the low price.
Best way to search down a flight is the Matrix--UPDATE--not working well--use GoogleFlights--click here to get to it.  I'm finding dates out of Toronto on some Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays for $200 (for those who would travel on a Friday).
Coming back, flights are $119.99USD!  You must change the currency to USD though as I find it defaults onto Canadian dollars (must know I'm in Canada).
You can use this link for a date in January that I've set to USD if you wish or just change it from CAD to USD in the website address when Google or the Matrix takes you to the WOW page. Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays out of Tel-Aviv for that price.
Book before they're gone!!  Don't hesitate or you'll be sorry!

Air Canada Return Flights for under $437CDN!

A number of dates are available, and though I saw this on a website advertising the deal out of NYC and Boston, I've found there are dates available out of Toronto too!
The dates seem to be originating on a Sunday and departing on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
When I tried Toronto on February 11-20th ( a bit different than the ones listed below), it worked at $437CDN!

Many book on Priceline as you can cancel your tickets up until 11:29pm tomorrow (Monday).
Here are some prices and originating city options in US$

Sample NYC-Tel Aviv $347 dates:

October 25-November 1
November 1-8
November 7-19
November 14-26
November 19-29
December 3-13
December 10-20
December 13-25
January 7-17
January 14-24
January 21-30
January 28-February 7
February 4-11
February 11-21
February 18-27
February 25-March 7
November 30-December 13
December 5-13
November 20-29
December 3-13
December 10-20
November 19-28
November 26-December 5
December 3-17
December 10-26
January 21-February 5
January 28-February 12
February 4-13
October 24-November 1
November 19-December 5
November 26-December 11
December 3-17
December 10-18
October 30-November 8
November 7-15
November 13-27
November 26-December 13
December 3-17
December 10-18
January 14-23
January 21-30
January 28-February 7
February 4-14
February 11-21
February 18-26
September 6-11 nonstop
September 6-12
September 6-14
September 13-28 nonstop
September 27-October 9 nonstop
December 3-13 ($309)
December 10-20 ($309)
November 19-29
November 25-December 5
December 3-13
December 10-20
January 14-23

Sample Miami-Tel Aviv $203 dates:

Sample Boston-Tel Aviv $217 dates:

Sample Chicago-Tel Aviv $217 dates:

Sample Baltimore-Tel Aviv $232 dates:

Sample Los Angeles-Tel Aviv $309 dates:

Sample Montreal-Tel Aviv $192 dates:

Sample Toronto-Tel Aviv $350 dates:

Good luck before the window on this HOT deal closes!  AC DID accept the tickets last time such a hot deal took place!

HOT! London Ontario to Paris France for $244USD-$12.50 Return!

Westjet in conjunction with British Airways is offering very low rates to Paris from London, Ontario.  While you'll have to possibly make the schlep to London first (I'd recommend taking the train one-way) and when returning, disembarking in Toronto, gathering your luggage and just not completing the trip back to London if you live in the GTA, it's a superb deal.  If you go through EBates, you'll also get an additional $12.50 off per return trip ticket!  If you haven't signed up yet for EBates, click here for the scoop.
Here are some dates that work for the deal, from YYZ Deals, who notified the public of their offer:

Nov 2 to Nov 13 -- $234 USD / $301 CAD
Nov 9 to Nov 20 -- $234 USD / $301 CAD
Nov 16 to Nov 27 -- $234 USD / $301 CAD
Nov 23 to Dec 4 -- $234 USD / $301 CAD
Nov 23 to Dec 4 -- $234 USD / $301 CAD
Nov 30 to Dec 11 -- $234 USD / $301 CAD

Dec 7 to Dec 18 -- $306 USD / $394 CAD

[2018]

Feb 08 to Feb 12, 18 -- $234 USD / $301 CAD
Feb 13 to Feb 18 -- $244 USD / $319 CAD (Valentine's weekend in Paris?)
Feb 13 to Feb 27 -- $244 USD / $319 CAD
Feb 22 to Mar 5 -- $234 USD / $301 CAD

Mar 1 to Mar 10 -- $279 USD / $359 CAD
Mar 15 to Mar 26 -- $326 USD / $420 CAD
Mar 20 to Mar 29 -- $326 USD / $420 CAD

Mar 29 to Apr 9 -- $326 USD / $420 CAD (over Easter)

Apr 5 to Apr 16 -- $366 USD / $472 CAD
Apr 12 to Apr 23 -- $338 USD / $432 CAD
Apr 19 to Apr 30 -- $338 USD / $432 CAD