Reuters: "Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), opens new tab will add an environmental charge of up to 72 euros ($77) to its fares, the airline group said on Tuesday, joining at least one European rival in doing so as the industry battles to cover the cost of new EU rules on reducing emissions."
"Fares will go up between 1 euro and 72 euros, depending on the type of ticket, on all flights departing from European Union countries, Britain, Norway and Switzerland, the German airline group said. Some of the increases are effective from June 26 for departures starting from Jan. 1, 2025 onwards."
Points Wire Note:
The surcharge starts at $1 for short-haul economy flights and reaches $72 for long-haul first class flights. We'll see how this affects award bookings with programs that don't pass on carrier-imposed surcharges. Hopefully, they won't pass on this new cost onto customers.
American Airlines is running a flash sale for economy award tickets on select routes. For short domestic routes, you can find flights for as few as 5,000 American miles. The eligible dates for the sale also depends on the destination. You must book by July 2, 2024.
The eligible dates and routes include:
Blackout dates are as follows:
Prince of Travel: "Aeroplan has now announced that this non-expiry policy will be once again extended, this time through November 30, 2025. Before that date, any Aeroplan points which should have expired will not expire."
Typically, Aeroplan points would expire after 18 months if you don't earn or redeem points.
You can earn double elite night credits and 1,000 bonus points per qualifying night at participating properties in Florida if you stay by September 30, 2024. There is a cap of 20 nights for this promo which means you can earn up to 40 elite night credits and 20,000 bonus points.
Disclosure: I serve on an advisory board for Bilt and may earn a commission if you use the links below
Bilt just announced its next Rent Day promo and it's a good one! You can transfer Bilt points and get up to 100% bonus based on your Bilt status level. Bilt Gold and Platinum members will also be able to status match to Alaska.
Transfer Bonus By Bilt Status
You can transfer up to 50,000 Bilt Rewards points and receive the bonus. If you transfer more than 50,000 Bilt points during the promo, you will only receive the bonus on 50,000 even if you do multiple transfers. The transfer bonus ends at 2:59am ET on July 2.
Status Match
By transferring 10,000 Bilt points to Alaska Mileage Plan, the following Bilt members can receive Alaska status through December 31, 2024.
The status match promo is open from June 25 to July 1, 2024.
One Mile At A Time: "Plans have been announced for The Ilisian, which will be the name of a new luxury lifestyle destination in Athens, comprised of a hotel, residences, restaurants, a members’ club, and more. The development is expected to open in 2025 — as you might expect, it has been under construction for a couple of years, but the full concept has just been revealed."
"The development will include the Conrad Athens Hotel (with 278 guest rooms), the Conrad Athens Residences (with 18 hotel residences), and the Waldorf Astoria Athens Residences (with 37 private residences, located on the upper floors of the building)."
Bloomberg: "Barcelona plans to enact a citywide ban on all short-term rentals to address complaints that tourism is to blame for a local housing crisis and soaring rents."
"The Mediterranean city will stop giving new licenses and won’t renew existing ones so that in 2029 no homes will have permission to be rented as tourist accommodation, Barcelona Mayor said at a press conference on Friday. There are now about 10,000 houses registered as rentals for tourists."
One Mile At A Time: "While we’ll have to be patient, American Airlines has officially revealed that it plans to open two new lounges at Philadelphia Airport (PHL) in 2025, including a new Flagship Lounge. Let’s go over the details, though let me say that I’ll believe it when the lounge actually opens, given how delayed this concept has been."
Disclosure: I serve on an advisory board for Bilt.
Update: Bilt's partnership with American AAdvantage ends on June 24, 2024. If you plan to transfer points, do it before then!
View From The Wing got word that "Bilt Rewards and American AAdvantage are ending their partnership in June. That means it will no longer be possible to transfer Bilt points to American, although the exact last date in (presumably late) June for transfers is not yet certain. I received word yesterday about this plan and reached out to both American and Bilt for comment."
Bilt shared that "Bilt and American have agreed to wind down our partnership beginning in June. We appreciate everything we’ve been able to accomplish together since Bilt’s launch in 2021"
Points Wire Note:
It's never fun to see a transferable points program lose a useful transfer partner. That being said, Bilt has run some amazing transfer bonus promos to other airline partners for Rent Day (first of the month) that make this less of a blow. On the American side of things, you can still earn redeemable miles and Loyalty Points via AA's shopping portal and with hotels stays booked via AAdvantage Hotels.
Disclosure: I may earn a commission if you use the links below.
The Flying Blue status match promo has been extended to included members in the U.S. and Mexico. The cost of the match depends on the status level to which you match:
Canadians can match at the following price points. Note that Canadians can match to Platinum status.
If you're based in the UK, you can match to all three status levels:
Those living in *eligible European countries can match up to Platinum as well.
*Eligible European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
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