Monkey Miles: "Did you know that you can fly in lie flat business class ( or better premium economy, economy ) seats when flying domestically in the US? These planes are often on the transcontinental ( LA/SFO to New York, DC, Boston, or Miami ) routes, but you’ll regularly see them repositioning for long haul flights between hubs: think Dallas and Chicago for American. You can find them by looking at the Cargo schedules of the airline you’re going to fly since those airlines have sold cargo space on passenger planes as well."
Until just the other day, United required 121,000 miles for one-way first class ticket to Europe on Lufthansa or to Japan on All Nippon Airways (ANA). Well, FlyerTalker ChazzaBazza flagged that the new rates are as follows:
United no longer publishes an award chart so it's easy for them to slide in these changes under the radar. Of course, United's award rates were already unnecessarily high so most people shouldn't have booking either of these options with United miles.
It certainly feels like United is moving closer and closer to Delta SkyMiles - a program notorious for some of the worst award rates in the industry. I don't think we can be surprised given United's actions in the last several years, but it's disappointing nonetheless.
Perhaps, they think people love and stay loyal to discount programs like the ones you find at grocery stores.
Mainly Miles: "Avios is no longer just a cheap way to redeem Qantas flights in Australia - Virgin's new Qatar Airways partnership opens up a new option, and it beats using KrisFlyer miles by up to 54%."
"Now Qatar Avios should be your go-to redemption option for Virgin Australia flights, bookable wholly online at far more competitive rates than before, plus you can port British Airways Avios across for free, to unlock the same great deals with those too."
View From The Wing: "There has been an absolute rash of American Airlines AAdvantage account fraud lately. I must have heard from a dozen readers in the past two weeks who had miles stolen."
"The AAdvantage fraud team isn’t available over the weekend, making it easier to actually travel on fraudulent redemptions. They require you to fill out a police report and give them a copy. Only that’s not the easiest thing with some police departments."
Danny the Deal Guru: "American Express has been offering massive welcome bonuses in recent years. Some people are able to pull up a 250,000 points bonus for The Business Platinum Card® from American Express for example. There’s also a 200,000 points offer for the same card which is available by phone. But now many people are targeted for a 200K bonus online, and the offer has no lifetime language. These NLL offers had been drying up recently, so it’s good to see that a new wave is going out."
The Chase Aeroplan Card might not be a first tier priority, but it's a solid co-branded card for those who venture beyond transferable points.
Sign-up Bonus
The standard sign-up bonus has been 60,000 points.
Bonus Categories
Other Benefits
Annual Fee
Enilria: "Delta says it plans to drop the requirement to collect and recheck your bags on arrival in the USA if you are connecting. The plan would start with Japan."
"I’m shocked Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) are onboard with it, although most of the rest of the world does it this way. The only large country outside North America I’m aware of that also requires recheck is China. The EU definitely doesn’t require it, although that may not be at all airports. Mega hubs like Dubai (DXB) couldn’t function if they did this."
IHG One Rewards has launched a promo in which those who have either of Chase's co-branded personal cards (IHG Premier Card or IHG Traveler Card) can get 15% off award stays.
To take advantage of the promo, you must book April 27, 2024 and complete your stay by June 10, 2024. The 15% discount will be applied and displayed at the time of booking.
This promo can be used on stays of up to 3 nights which means you can't pair this with the 4th night free offered to cardholders.
On April 24, 2024, IHG Platinum and Diamond members will also have access to this promo.
Points Wire Note:
Since late 2022, IHG One Rewards has run promos like this every 3-5 months.
Hyatt is running a 20% off sale at select properties in Asia. Here are the details:
This offer is not combinable with Hyatt Privé rates, but it's weighing the 20% discount against the Privé perks before booking. If the booking the cheapest rate is the priority, the 20% off promo might be your best option. However, Hyatt Privé does have 3rd, 4th, and 5th night free promos which could impact your decision.
You can transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and get a 30% bonus through May 31, 2024.
Transfers to Virgin Atlantic are generally instant but you can call to put awards on hold. Amex last ran a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic in late 2023.
Points Wire Note: Generally, speculative transfers aren't a great idea as you lock up points with a specific airline program. That could put you in the position of needing to book with a different airline program, but not having enough points to transfer. Plus, you run the risk of an airline program devaluing before you can use the points you transfer if you transfer speculatively.
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