American Airlines has released 500,000 economy seats on select one-way flights for only 5,000 American AAdvantage miles. Eligible flights include select destinations within the contiguous 48 US states and to select destinations in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
You can even find flights on transcontinental routes.
Must book by March 15, 2024 and travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays from April 2 to May 29, 2024. Flights must be marketed and operated by American Airlines or American Eagle.
Fortunately, these are not Basic Economy award tickets so you'll get the benefits of a Main Cabin ticket.
One Mile At A Time: "Delta has updated its baggage page to reflect new fees for tickets purchased as of March 5, 2024. For domestic flights, the airline has increased checked bag fees from $30 to $35 for the first bag, and from $40 to $45 for the second bag."
Points Wire Note:
Not exactly a shocking move considering Alaska, American, JetBlue, and United just recently increased their checked baggage fees. Still, it's always annoying when airlines choose to sneak in negative changes.
British Airways will start allowing free messaging on a single device via their inflight WiFi on April 3, 2024. Free messaging will be available on all aircraft with Wi-Fi capability within two weeks of the rollout. For context, all BA flights out of London Gatwick (LGW) and 80%+ out of London Heathrow (LHR) have WiFi with the remaining aircraft operating out of Heathrow expected to have WiFi by the end of next year.
Live And Let's Fly: "JetBlue and Spirit Airlines will go separate ways after deciding that the obstacles of a merger were too much to overcome."
"JetBlue and Spirit released statements disagreeing with the ruling and noting that options for appeal were being explored. But recognizing the uphill battle, JetBlue and Spirit have now officially broken off their merger plan and will not pursue a union further at this time."
"Perhaps JetBlue also realized that it was vastly overpaying for Spirit Airlines? It must now pay a $69 million fee to Spirit, baked into the merger agreement, but will have to look at other avenues for growth."
Points Wire Note:
JetBlue hasn't been on the winning side of anti-trust cases lately. They recently lost their Northeast Alliance with American Airlines as well. However, its seems like a different partnership structure with American Airlines could work, so I'll be curious to see if they give that another try.
Dan's Deals: "Every airline used to publish award charts, but Delta set off the trend of removing these charts from the public eye. By doing that, they were able to devalue points without having to notify the public about changes. Many airlines copied them."
"United made some brutal changes last year to its hidden award chart."
"It’s not too far off from the 2023 award chart, but there are a few devaluations and improvements that I noticed after performing several dozen award searches."
Points Wire Note:
While there are exceptions, other airline programs generally offer better award rates than United MileagePlus. While you can transfer points from Bilt and Chase to United, I would make sure you compare to Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, and Turkish Miles&Smiles before transferring points.
One Mile At A Time: "Lufthansa sells Miles & More miles. The airline isn’t flat out selling miles like most programs do, but rather is selling mileage bundles. These bundles are branded as Bundle&Go, and you can purchase a small, medium, large, or special bundle."
"Miles & More is offering a 30% bonus on its Bundle&Go product for purchases between March 1 and March 31, 2024."
How Many Miles Can You Buy With Each Bundle?
The only option I would consider is the Large Bundle as the total cost comes to ~1.51 cents per mile.
Benefits Of Lufthansa Miles & More
While Lufthansa Miles & More does pass on carrier-imposed surcharges to you when booking award tickets, it's the only program that can book Lufthansa first class award tickets early. Partner programs can get access to Lufthansa first class award space about two weeks from departure, but Miles & More can book any date in which they're selling flights.
A one-way first class ticket between the US and Europe is 91,000 miles (First Flex award). Please keep in mind that surcharges are cheaper starting in Europe than in the US. Personally, I think you're better off flying from Europe anyway as its a daytime flight which means you can be awake to enjoy the experience.
Finally, you can also book a First Flex Plus award to reduce the surcharges in either direction. First Flex Plus will require 115,000 miles one-way, but you'll remove the surcharges. This is actually a great way to book if you don't want to book within two weeks of departure.
Amex Membership Rewards is out with a new transfer bonus to Etihad Guest. You can transfer Amex points and get a 20% bonus through April 4, 2024. That means every 1,000 points you transfers, you'll get 1,200 Etihad Guest miles. The number of miles you'll receive will be reflected on Amex's site.
For context, Etihad Guest's reward chart for award flights on partner airlines is not great. You might find that it'll be the best option in niche cases with this transfer bonus, but that's about it. Plus, you have to consider the fact that Etihad Guest will pass on carrier-imposed surcharges to you which can mean steep taxes and fees.
For award flights on Etihad itself, you'll have access to business and first class award space earlier than if you were to book with a partner program. While the rates will still be steep, the 20% bonus certainly helps.
The Bulkhead Seat: "Lufthansa announced that it was updating its Business Class cabins in 2017. All sorts of delays popped up across the pandemic and aircraft delivery. There was no word on what route would see the new seats first until this week when the German carrier shared that flights between Munich International Airport (MUC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) would be first this coming May."
Frequent Miler: "An astute reader pointed out the fact that Amex has added some new restrictive language to the offer terms on the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card. According to the new terms, many readers may find themselves ineligible to earn a welcome bonus on the Bevy card based on other cards they have had within the past 30 days."
"Previously, there was no language restricting those who have the old Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier card or the even older $45 annual fee Chase Marriott Bonvoy / Chase Marriott Bonvoy Business cards. This new update excludes more cardholders than before from qualifying for the welcome bonus on the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Bevy card."
The Mile Lion: "Last month, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles carried out a massive devaluation of its award charts."
"Turkish Airlines is now attempting a mea culpa of sorts with a 20% rebate on award tickets, valid for travel up till 30 June 2024. It’s a valiant attempt, but frankly speaking, the damage has already been done."
You must book by March 31, 2024.
Points Wire Note:
Please note that this is a rebate rather than a discounted award rate. You'll need to total number of miles required for a route as listed on Turkish's award chart and you'll get 20% of you miles back as a rebate.
You can transfer Bilt, Capital One, and Citi points to Turkish Miles&Smiles.
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