One Mile At A Time: "At the beginning of July 2024, Emirates announced that it would shortly be introducing a new Boeing 777 business class. This product is now expected to enter commercial service tomorrow, though we still don’t know what it will be like, oddly. "
"The carrier’s Boeing 777s are a totally different story, as most of these jets have angled flat business class seats that are in a 2-3-2 configuration. "
"The good news is that this will finally be changing. Emirates is in the process of retrofitting 191 of its planes to update the passenger experience, including introducing premium economy. While the airline started reconfiguring A380s over a year ago, the airline has just started reconfiguring 777s. The very first jet with new interiors has the registration code A6-EQH, and it’s about to enter service, after being in the hangar for over a month."
Disclosure: I serve on an advisory board for Bilt.
In a disappointing turn of events, Bilt has reduced the cap on the number of bonus points you can earn on Rent Day (the first of the month). On Rent Day, cardholders are able to earn double points on non-rent spend. Since Bilt launched the monthly promo, cardholders have been able to earn up to 10,000 bonus points per Rent Day.
That cap will be reduced to 1,000 bonus points as of October 1, 2024.
There's no sugar coating it, that's a rough 90% reduction.
Points Wire Note:
While I doubt the majority of cardholders are spending $3,333 at restaurants, $5,000 on travel, or $10,000 on non-bonus categories, this change still hurts. Many cardholders made a point to pay bills on Rent Day to earn double points. Others timed large purchases they needed to make to earn extra points.
If you ask me, this change was aggressive. I can appreciate a change might have been necessary, but a 90% cut seems drastic.
Danny the deal Guru: "American Express is targeting select cardholders with an offer to easily earn a bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points. To earn this bonus, all you need to do is activate Pay Over Time. This is a feature that lets you carry a balance on Amex Pay Over Time cards (charge cards). But you don’t need to actually carry a balance, and pay interest so you can earn this bonus."
Check your Amex Offers for the offer to enroll in Pay Over Time. You can also use this link to see if your'e targeted with this offer. You must enroll buy August 1, 2024 to receive the bonus points.
One Mile At A Time: "Hyatt has just introduced an exclusive alliance with Under Canvas, opening up some unique new lodging options that many World of Hyatt members will appreciate."
"For those not familiar with Under Canvas, the company has 13 outdoor resorts, which are primarily at national parks and other notable outdoor destinations. Properties include Under Canvas Bryce Canyon, Under Canvas Grand Canyon, Under Canvas Lake Powell-Grand Staircase, Under Canvas Moab, Under Canvas Zion, and even ULUM Moab."
This new partnership is being rolled out as Mr. & Mrs. Smith properties. While you can redeem Hyatt points for stays at Under Canvas properties, it's often not a great use of Hyatt points.
MilesTalk: "With Marriott’s “It’s in the Cards” promotion, you’ll get 200 points just for registering your card and another 10,000 bonus points if you spend $7,000 by September 21, 2024. You only have until August 1st to register, however, and only American Express Bonvoy cards opened before April 1st, 2024 and Chase Bonvoy cards opened before June 20th, 2024."
Skift: "Uber users in France and the Netherlands can now earn points for flights with Air France-KLM."
"Residents and visitors in France and the Netherlands can now get one mile with the airline company’s Flying Blue loyalty program for every €1 spent on Uber rides. That becomes two miles for every €1 spent when users take at least four trips per month. Users can link their accounts in the Settings page of the Uber app to begin earning miles."
Danny the Deal Guru: "Choice Hotels revealed last year a multi-year agreement with Wells Fargo and Mastercard to launch a new cobranded credit card program. Now the two credit cards have best ever bonuses. The no-fee Choice Privileges Mastercard has a 70,000 points bonus and the Choice Privileges Select Mastercard has an offer for 100,000 bonus points.
I know many people only earn points and miles via credit cards these days, but it's always a good idea to be aware of clever opportunities to earn. Unfortunately, in this case, we're looking at the end of one such opportunity.
Head for Points flagged that you can no longer earn Avios on Emirates flights marketed by Qantas.
"Qantas was the only oneworld airline where you could earn Avios and BA tier points if you travelled on a codeshare flight operated by a non-oneworld airline." Unfortunately, the terms have changed and no longer allow this.
View From The Wing flags that you can now transfer lifemiles to Gol Smiles at a ratio of 1:3.
"This creates interesting arbitrage opportunities – with occasional American Airlines flyers having the ability to move points into a Star Alliance program (Lifemiles) and occasional Star customers being able to credit to LifeMiles and have the opportunity to redeem with American. This is in some ways similar to the role that Aer Lingus played as it partnered with both United and British Airways."
One Mile At A Time: "American AAdvantage is offering some targeted promotions, whereby you can earn bonus miles for premium cabin travel. To find this offer, log into your AAdvantage account through aa.com or the American Airlines app, go to your main account page, and click on the “Promotions” tab. If eligible, you’ll see this listed there."
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In August 2018, I started the Straight To The Points flight alerts newsletter with the goal of making it easier to book business and first class flights with points & miles and fare deals.
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