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Frontier Airlines has generated some buzz in the last few months with a status match promo that allows you to match airline, hotel, or cruise status. Even as a low-cost carrier, I've been hearing from friends who have been flying with them more after doing this status match.
With Frontier elite status, you can get priority boarding, free seat selection, a free carry-on bag, and up to two checked bags. Many of these benefits apply to everyone on your reservation, especially at the Diamond level.
The status match fees for each tier are as follows:
This status match promo ends December 31, 2023.
If you fly domestically a decent bit and Frontier serves your home airport, this could be a great way to get cheap cash tickets. It could even be useful if you regularly reposition to other airports for international business and first class flights.
If interested in learning more or matching your status, this is my link.
British Airways launched Balance Booster about 6 months ago and it's now the cheapest way to buy Avios. Head for Points posted a reminder about this and I realized that many people don't even know it's an option.
What Is Balance Booster?
Based on the Avios you've earned in the last 30 days, you can buy up to 300% of that total. For example, if you have transferred 10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to your British Airways Executive Club account in the last 30 days, paying for a 300% boost would get you an additional 30,000 Avios.
Eligible Avios For Boosting
You can "boost" Avios earned via the following methods:
Transfers from other airlines on the Avios platform are not eligible.
How Much Does It Cost?
While you can pay for a 100% or 200% boost, the best deal is at 300% Currently, you can boost your Avios for 1.2 cents per point when doing a 300% boost.
Points Wire Note:
Since it's so easy to earn Avios via transferable points in the U.S., it's important to consider whether you even need to buy Avios.
If you need more than you can transfer for a particular award, it could certainly be useful. Additionally, if you want to save some of your transferable points for another booking, this could be useful as well.
Disclosure: I may receive a commission if you use the links below.
If you have multiple Amex cards, you may have run into this issue. You add an Amex Offer to a card only to realize you'd wanted to add the offer to a different card. Well, it seems you can have an Amex agent do this via their online chat.
Unfortunately, it seems some agents don't know how to do so and/or believe it's not possible, so you might have to try a few times to get an agent who can help.
Nice flag by Frequent Miler.
Points Wire Note:
Alternatively, you could use CardPointers+ to automatically add all of your Amex Offers so you never have to worry about it.
The Bulkhead Seat: "The Park Hyatt Marrakech was originally slated to open in 2024, but it finished ahead of schedule and is open now. The 130-room hotel is designed in traditional Moroccan style and offers three dining outlets, a spa, a fitness center, meeting spaces, and two pools. The 19-acre resort is located at the base of the Atlas Mountains and about nine miles from Marrakech’s historic Medina district. The Park Hyatt Marrakech sits adjacent to the Al Maaden Golf resort (offering guests easy access to the 18-hole course)."
Points Wire Note:
The Park Hyatt Marrakech is a Category 6 property which means you can book with 25,000 Hyatt points on Standard dates. On Off-Peak and Peak dates, you'll need 21,000 and 30,000 Hyatt points respectively. You can transfer Bilt Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt, so it's easy to earn the points you need.
Avianca LifeMiles is running a promo for award bookings on Avianca flights if you book by December 29, 2023. When your redeem points for two (four, six, or eight) passengers, you'll get a 50% rebate on the miles you redeem. This means you need the total miles for the booking, but you'll receive 50% back after taking the trip.
Some important terms:
Points Wire Note:
If you're planning some travel to or within South America, this is a fantastic deal. You shouldn't have any problem earning LifeMiles as they're transfer partners of Amex, Bilt, Capital One, and Citi. Plus, you can buy LifeMiles during a promo.
You can earn 2x Alaska miles on Lyft rides to an airport in the U.S. or Canada through January 14, 2024 at 11:59pm ET. You must link your Alaska Mileage Plan and Lyft accounts prior to booking a ride to be eligible. Additionally, you need to select Alaska Mileage Plan as your your travel partner in the Lyft app.
Bonus miles should post within 7 days of your completed ride.
Points Wire Note:
Personally, I prefer to link my Bilt Rewards account to Lyft as I value the flexibility of Bilt points more than Alaska miles. However, if you need to top off your Alaska miles balance to book a specific award, earning 2x during the promo might be useful if you have a few rides to the airport.
Of course, if you really wanted to scale things, you could offer to book friends and family who need rides to the airport then have them reimburse you.
Spend $650+ on Delta marketed flights on via Amex Travel and get a $125 back as a statement credit. This Amex Offer appears to be targeted to select Amex accountholders.
Points Wire Note:
The first aspect of this promo that stands out to me is "Delta marketed" flights. I often find Delta marketed flights on Amex Travel that are operated by SkyTeam partners such as Air France, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic. According to the terms, these flights will qualify. If the flights are operated by a partner, just make sure it's marketed by Delta.
This could pair nicely with an Amex International Airline Program (IAP) discount available to Amex Platinum and Business Platinum cardholders. Alternatively, it doesn't look like you need to originate in the US which means you might be able to use this for a round-trip business class fare deal starting in Europe (often cheaper) - if you like to nest tickets.
Disclosure: I may receive a commission or referral bonus if you use the links below.
Awayz is a hotel search aggregator that allows you to search for rooms available with points across a variety of hotel chains including. Accor, Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, and Wyndham
For programs that offer 4th or 5th night free award stays, Awayz will display this info as well. They'll also let you load your hotel and transferable points balances and let you know if you can use a free night certificate.
If you have specific travel dates, you can set an alert if the property you want to book doesn't currently have award space.
Plus, you can compare the award rate to the cash rate.
If you want to give it a try, you can use our promo code STRAIGHTTOTHEPOINTS to get $20 off your first year. Promo offer ends 12/31/2023.
Disclosure: I may earn a commission if you use the links below.
One Mile At A Time: "LATAM Pass is currently offering a pretty generous status match promotion. While this offer has been around for some time, what’s interesting is that the status through this offer is now valid through March 2025, so you’d have well over a year to enjoy this status."
"If you’re eligible and fly LATAM with any frequency then this is a great opportunity, though otherwise the benefits of this are pretty limited."
"Requesting a status match costs anywhere from $80 to $199 — it costs $80 for residents of Australia, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and the United States, $98 for residents of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland, and $199 for residents of all other countries."
Points Wire Note:
This won't make sense for most U.S.-based travelers but, if you plan to spend a lot of time in South America and flying LATAM, this could be useful.
Disclosure: I serve on a Bilt advisory board and may earn a referral bonus if you use the links below.
3 Transfer Bonuses Up To 150%
Bilt is bringing back three massive transfer bonus promos for Rent Day On January 1, 2024.
If you transfer Bilt points to Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, or IHG One Rewards on January 1, you can get a 75% to 150% bonus. Your transfer bonus is based on your Bilt Rewards status.
Blue member must transfer at least 2,000 Bilt points. Your transfer bonus is based on your Bilt status as of January 1, 2024.
Double Points On Rent Day Purchases
On Rent Day, you can earn double points on all purchases (not including rent). This includes double points on Bilt's bonus categories which means you'll earn the following:
You can earn up to 10,000 bonus points on Rent Day. You must use your card 5 times per statement period to earn points.
$5 Lyft Credit
Once you've linked your Bilt and Lyft accounts, you can activate a $5 credit. On January 1, you'll need to select "Activate credits" in the Bilt app on the Rent Day tab. Within 72 hours, you should see a credit under "Lyft Pass" in the payment section of the Lyft app. Your credit is valid for 90
Points Wire Note:
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