Executive Traveller: "Using Qantas Points to unlock an unlock an upgrade on Cathay Pacific, or tapping your Avios account for a bump to business or first class on Japan Airlines, should soon be possible as Oneworld finally launches alliance-wide upgrades later this year."
"However, Girkinger revealed the Oneworld-wide points upgrade program will launch with 'only a handful (of airlines) to begin with' rather than kicking off with coverage of all 13 Oneworld airlines (or 14, when Oman Air takes a seat at the table)."
Points Wire Note:
If oneworld rolls out alliance-wide upgrades similar to Star Alliance, expect only the more expensive fare classes to be eligible for upgrades. Maybe, they'll surprise us, but I wouldn't be surprised if the upgrade rules and rate aren't particularly compelling for most people.
Don't forget, booking the class of service you want outright is often a much better value proposition than upgrading. There exceptions, but they are not the rule.
One Mile At A Time: "Chase has been aggressively expanding its airport lounge portfolio, with the opening of Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club. Last week we saw the opening of the Chase Sapphire Lounge New York LaGuardia, and today we’ve seen the opening of the Chase Sapphire Lounge New York Kennedy, in partnership with Etihad Airways."
"The Etihad Lounge has become the Chase Sapphire Lounge by the Club with Etihad Airways at New York JFK (that’s a mouthful). As you can tell, this lounge is a bit different than the other ones in the network, as it’s in partnership with an airline."
One Mile At A Time: "As of May 23, 2024, Air France will launch a new year-round flight between Paris (CDG) and Phoenix (PHX). The flight will operate 3x weekly..."
"Air France will use a Boeing 787-9 for the service, featuring 276 seats. This includes 30 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 225 economy class seats."
Points Wire Note:
Flying Blue has been making a play for a larger share if the US market so it's great to see another potential award booking option, especially from the western U.S. When you consider the fact that a one-way saver level business class award ticket to Europe is 50,000 Flying Blue miles, this could be quite useful for those out west. Even better, you can transfer points to Flying Blue from Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points.
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Select IHG One Rewards members can earn 12,000 bonus points after they complete two stays within 60 days. An eligible stay is one in which you pay $30+ per night.
If you're booking a stay at one of IHG's luxury brands (Intercontinental, Regent, Kimpton, etc.), I would consider booking via IHG's Luxury & Lifestyle program to get additional perks such as daily breakfast for 2, room upgrade, a $100 property credit, and guaranteed 2pm checkout. Benefits vary by property.
Travel on Points: "It seems like another St. Regis property is trying to pick up where the Chicago St. Regis left off. The problem in question is the St. Regis New York elite breakfast that Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador Elites are entitled to. They are trying a new loophole to deny members breakfast this time around though. They are not claiming that their restaurant is a third party entity, like the Chicago property did, but instead, are saying it is because their restaurant is under renovation. Except, you can still order room service, and there in lies the rub."
Points Wire Note:
The variability of benefits across Marriott brands has often been a point of confusion for Marriott Bonvoy members. The fact that this confuses those with Platinum, Titanium, or Ambassador status (re. the most familiar with the program) shows you just how confusing it can be. The fact that properties feel they can ignore the terms of the Bonvoy program make it much harder for customers to trust the brand.
Danny the Deal Guru: "Southwest Airlines is targeting select Rapid Rewards members with an offer to save 20% on one or two award bookings. Offers might vary from one account to the other, but its looks like only those who have a Chase Southwest credit card are targeted."
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With this Amex Offer, you can get $200 back when you spend $700+ on Delta flights - that's up to 28% back. You can use multiple purchases to trigger the offer. Ideally, you'll get this offer the Amex Platinum so you can earn 5x Membership Rewards on the purchase. This offer appears to be targeted so only some cardholders will see it.
Some are seeing an offer for $125 back when you spend $550+ which is about a 23% discount.
Important Offer Terms
Points Wire Note:
If you're like me and don't enjoy manually adding every Amex Offer one by one, take a look at CardPointers+. I use their Chrome extension to automatically add all of my Amex Offers to each card so I never miss an offer.
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Office Depot/Max are offering a $15 discount on $300 in Visa gift cards January 21-27, 2024. This discount can offset the activation fees of the gift cards.
You can earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Ink Cash. It's also worth checking to see if you have a Chase Offer for Office Depot/Max as you might be able to get 10% back. Similarly, Dosh sometimes has an Office Depot/Max offer (though it technically excludes gift cards).
Virgin Atlantic is out with another round of discounted award tickets. This time the discount is 20% which a bit lower than what we saw during four promos last year.
Important Terms
Considering the excessively high carrier-imposed surcharges on Virgin's award tickets, this will only be useful in select circumstances. For example, if you need to travel on a specific date, award space is sparse to nonexistent on other airlines, and Virgin has made award space available to only its own members.
You can get Virgin points by transferring Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points.
Points Wire Note:
If you include a connection on a SkyTeam partner from a European city (outside the UK) to London, you seem to be able to get the discount on the Virgin Atlantic flight to the US. This also reduces the total taxes/fees since you avoid the Air Passenger Duty (APD) fee flying out of the UK - $200+ on business class tickets.
For example: Amsterdam (AMS) to New York (JFK) via London (LHR). The KLM flight from AMS to LHR won't be discounted, but the Virgin Atlantic flight from LHR to JFK will be. Since you're not originating in the UK, you avoid the APD and some of the carrier-imposed surcharges. Rather than paying $900+ taxes/fees, you'll owe ~$430.
Deals Points: "American Express may be making big changes to The Business Platinum Card® from American Express. American Express added end dates of 12/31/24 to the $400 credit for Dell ($200 semi-annually), $360 Indeed credit ($90 per quarter), and $150 Adobe credit."
Points Wire Note:
It's already tough for many people to justify the $695 fee for the Amex Business Platinum. Without some useful credits to help offset some of it, I would imagine a number of people in the points community would close the card without these benefits, especially the Dell credits.
Amex restricted Centurion Lounge guest access but continued to have overcrowding issues. Perhaps, an unintentional side effect of ending these benefits would be fewer people at Centurion Lounges - and Delta Sky Clubs.
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