Travelogues

 Amex is running transfer bonuses for a bunch of its transfer partners. The transfer bonus is for all of its 3 hotel partners and 9 of its 17 airline partners. The transfer bonus ranges from 15% to programs like Aeroplan and Lifemiles, to 30% to programs like Hilton Honors and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. The bonus runs until 31st October, 2022. Some of the partners that offer good value here are Aeroplan, Lifemiles, Avios, Virgin Atlantic, and Flying Blue. I'd still avoid transferring Amex points to partners like Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, Choice Privileges, and AeroMexico unless I am topping them off for a specific redemption. The complete list of partners with bonus is as follows: Amex Transfer Bonus until 10/31

  Current Point Sales Buy Aeroplan points at 1.44c/mile (1.89CADc/mile) through 9/3 (then 1.52c/mile through 9/6) Buy Marriott points  at 1c/mile until 9/15 Buy Hilton points  at 0.5c/point through 9/18 Buy United miles at 1.88c/mile through 9/21 Buy Hyatt points  at 1.68c/point through 9/30 Buy United miles on sale Always be mindful of getting a better return on points than what you spend on them. For e.g., only spend 100,000 Hilton points on a property if the cash rate is more than $500, otherwise you are better of just using the cash you spent on points on the cash rate.

Air Canada has now added ability to book a stopover to one-way or round-trip flights to its website. Air Canada allows for one-way stopovers (stops more than 24 hours) for 5000 Aeroplan points but before today, it was only possible to book them by calling in. Calling in was sometimes a hit or miss as reps sometimes were not aware of Aeroplan's stopover policies.  It is great to see that the ability is now available for all to try and book. The feature is currently in beta (likely buggy) but hopefully it will be out of beta soon. Add stopovers to your Aeroplan awards online Stopovers are a great way to expand a vacation by visiting more than one location on your trip, and Air Canada is one of the few airlines that allows them even on one-way awards. With Air Canada's huge list of airline partners which includes Etihad, Vistara and Air Mauritius, it can be a very useful option to eek more out of your vacation. Air Canada used to allow free stopovers on domestic flights in US but