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Air Transat adds a flight between Montreal and New Orleans!

To the point Good news: New Orleans is a new direct destination from Montreal! Find out how to save on your next flight with points!

New Orleans is attracting more and more general interest from Canadians and Quebecers.

We took a family trip there last summer and enjoyed the destination!

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But to get there, we had to make a connection in Toronto or the United States.

In our case, we used our frequent flyer miles to travel with Americans via Philadelphia.

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Philadelphia – New Orleans on American Airlines

2 weekly flights starting November 3, 2019

Air Transat has therefore felt the market to take and decided to open a direct flight between Montreal and New Orleans starting November 3, 2019, for the winter season.

Given the sustained demand for New Orleans, Air Transat is pleased to be the only airline to offer a non-stop service to this vacation destination from Montreal and to enhance its offer for next winter with this specific proposal. The addition of this route reinforces Air Transat’s status as Canada’s leading vacation travel company, while offering increased flexibility to business travelers visiting Louisiana, who can choose to extend their stay “says Annick Guérard, Transat’s Chief Operating Officer.

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How to redeem points for Air Transat flights?

Air Transat is not part of a loyalty program like Aeroplan.

So, to save on Air Transat tickets, you’ll need to use travel points, as explained in this game plan and below!

Here are 3 loyalty programs and their credit cards that allow you to save on your Air Transat ticket:

BMO Rewards

To use your BMO Rewards points, you must book your flight directly on the BMO Rewards reservation platform. The rate is identical to what you would find with other online agencies.

Here is a simulation for a round-trip ticket from November 3-14, 2019:

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Here, the airfare from Montreal to New Orleans costs $469.34.

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By using 41,000 BMO points earned through the BMO Ascend World Elite Mastercard Welcome Bonus:

  • 35,000 welcome bonus points
  • 6,000 points earned through minimal spending requirement in the first 3 months

…you can save $292.74! Not bad for a card that:

For information, the value of BMO points is fixed: $0.0071/point. To learn more about the BMO Rewards program, visit this page.

American Express Membership Rewards

American Express membership rewards points are for you if you want the freedom to book your flight with your preferred online agency.

All you have to do is make a flight booking on the website of your choice. Personally, I always prefer to book directly on the airline’s website: in case of a problem, we avoid an intermediary.

For example, here is a booking made directly with Air Transat and charged to my American Express Cobaltᵐᶜ Card:

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In the case of the $469 flight to New Orleans, up to 46,900 Membership Rewards points would have to be used to offset the airline ticket purchase completely.

You could also use only 10,000 points to save $100.

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The American Express Cobalt™ Card is undoubtedly the travel hacker’s favourite credit card The accumulation of points is exceptional for everyday purchases such as groceries or restaurants: 5 points/dollar (or a 5% return when you use your points against travel purchases like this plane ticket with Air Transat!)

Scotia Rewards

Finally, Scotia Rewards program is also very interesting: you can apply your points directly to offset the cost of your Air Transat flight charged on your card.

The redemption ratio is simple: 10,000 bonus points = $100.

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A card like the Scotiabank Visa Infinite PassportMD is offering right now:

Conclusion

This is great news for passengers in the Montreal area! And as you may have seen, even if Air Transat is not part of a loyalty program like Aeroplan, it doesn’t prevent you from saving money with points!

And did you know that you could also save a lot of money on your stay in New Orleans, whether it’s in a hotel… or an Airbnb!

For more information, check out our two strategies to save money:

Source: Pax

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Jean-Maximilien Voisine
Jean-Maximilien is an expert in Canada and France about Loyalty programs, Credit cards and Travel. He is the Founding President of Milesopedia.

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