To the point
Air Transat has chosen to add San Diego to its list of destinations! Find out how to save on your next flight with points !
San Diego, new direct flight from Montreal
San Diego is a destination attracting more and more tourists, especially families!
Until now, to get there from Montreal, it was necessary to have a connecting flight in Toronto or an American city.
From now on, it will be possible to go there on a direct flight with Air Transat!
3 weekly flights as of June 15, 2020
The direct flight will connect San Diego from Montreal from June 15th until October 28th, 3 times a week next summer.
| Flight | Departure | Arrival | Days | ||
| TS196 | Montreal | 18:45 | 21:40 | San Diego | Monday, Wednesday |
| TS195 | San Diego | 11:10 | 19:15 | Montreal | Monday, Wednesday |
| TS196 | Montreal | 19:00 | 21:55 | San Diego | sunday |
| TS195 | San Diego | 22:55 | 07:00(+1) | Montreal | sunday |
With children, we will avoid the return flight on Sunday which is a red-eye flight, arriving on Monday morning in Montreal!
How to redeem points for Air Transat flights?
Air Transat is not part of a loyalty program like Aeroplan (at least, until its takeover by Air Canada is finalized).
So, to save on Air Transat flights, you will have to use travel points, as explained in this strategy!
You’ll find below some examples of points redemption to save money for Air Transat flights with 3 loyalty programs and their credit cards.
BMO Rewards
To redeem your BMO Rewards points, you must book your flight on the BMO Rewards booking platform. The fare is the same as you would find from other online agencies.
Here is a simulation for a round-trip ticket from June 17th to 23rd, 2020:
The flight from Montreal to San Diego costs $446.91.
You can redeem 41,000 BMO points earned with the BMO® World Elite®* Mastercard®*:
- 35,000 welcome bonus points
- 6,000 points earned through minimal spending requirement in the first 3 months
… you can save $292.74 and pay only $154.17 for this round trip from Montreal to San Diego! In addition, by charging your flight on your BMO® World Elite®* Mastercard®*, you can benefit from all its travel insurances!
Not bad for a card that:
- Is first year free
- Has 4 free passes to airport lounges
- Offers a great insurance package
For information, the value of BMO points is fixed: $0.0071/point. To learn more about the BMO Rewards program, visit this page.
To earn BMO Rewards points, here are the two cards available (one that does not require a minimum income and has a 20,000 points welcome bonus):
Membership Rewards from American Express
If you want to have the freedom to book your flight with your preferred online agency, American Express membership rewards points are for you.
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 flight booking made directly on Air Transat and charged on my American Express Cobalt™ Card:
In the case of the $447 flight to San Diego, up to 44,700 membership rewards points would have been required to completely offset the cost of the flight.
Or you could just redeem 10,000 points to save $100.
American Express Cobalt™ Card is probably the travel hacker’s favourite credit card Its points earning is exceptional for many everyday purchases such as groceries or restaurants: 5 points / dollar (i.e. a 5% return when you redeem your points for travel purchases as for this flight 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 exchange rate is simple: 10,000 bonus points = $100.
You’ll find below 5 Scotia Rewards cards
With a card like Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card, you currently can get:
- up to 30,000 bonus points ($300)
- Excellent insurance package
- No foreign currency conversion fees
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 avoid you from saving money with points!
And did you know that you could also save a lot of money on your stay in San Diego, whether in a hotel… or an airbnb!
For more information, check out our two strategies to save money:
