Turkish Miles&Smiles is running a flash sale for flights from Los Angeles and Venice. You can find awards with a 50% discount on dates between January 16 and May 31, 2024. Dates between March 27 and April 15, 2024 are excluded.
In my test searches, only discounted economy awards were available from Los Angeles.
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Bilt continues to expand it's transfer partner list with the addition of Avianca LifeMiles. You can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio with a minimum transfer of 2,000 miles (1,000 miles if you have status).
Why should you care about Avianca LifeMiles?
LifeMiles offers some great business and first class award rates and they don't pass on the carrier-imposed surcharges which keeps the total out of pocket to a minimum. Just know that they don't have the best reputation when it comes to customer service.
Learn more about the Bilt Card
Points Wire Note:
Fun fact: Connecting flights in a class of service lower than the longer segment can reduce the award rate a bit.
"Earn 5,000 Bonus Points per qualifying stay when you stay at least 3 qualifying nights at an Inclusive Collection brand between January 8 and March 3, 2024. A maximum of 10,000 Bonus Points may be earned under this promotion."
One Mile At A Time: "Alaska Airlines has announced changes to qualifying for elite status in the Mileage Plan program for 2024. For the most part, I’d say these updates are quite positive. This follows the recently announced changes to Mileage Plan award redemptions, which will be implemented in March 2024."
Points Wire Note:
Positives: Simplified earning with elite qualifying miles (EQMs) without a minimum number of Alaska segments and the ability to earn up to 20,000 EQMs with spend on an Alaska credit card (personal or business). The new choice rewards look promising as well.
Negative: Reduced mileage earning bonuses for those with elite status starting in 2025.
Delta SkyMiles is a notoriously bad program for aspirational award bookings. However, they occasionally have useful economy award rates with flash award sales. This award sale is for flights to/from Seattle and it ends on December 14, 2023 so you need to book quickly.
Similar to Marriott's partnership with United, you can now link your Marriott Bonvoy account to your Singapore KrisFlyer account and get some flight benefits.
Singapore KrisFlyer Benefits With Marriott Bonvoy Status
Marriott Platinum, Titanium, and Ambassador status provides complimentary Singapore KrisFlyer Silver status with an option to upgrade to Gold status. To earn Gold status, you need to take four flights on Singapore Airlines with six months. Not a bad way to earn Star Alliance Gold status!
Marriott Gold members can earn Singapore KrisFlyer/Star Alliance Silver status with two flights within six months. However, there aren't a ton of benefits to Silver.
Marriott Bonvoy Benefits With Singapore KrisFlyer Status
Those with Singapore KrisFlyer Gold, PPS Club, or Solitaire PPS Club get complimentary Marriott Gold status with an option to earn Platinum status with ten qualifying nights at Marriott properties in six months.
KrisFlyer Silver members can earn Marriott Gold with three qualifying nights within six months. Marriott Gold doesn't provide a ton of benefits.
You can link accounts here.
Points Wire Note:
Singapore Airlines often runs good premium economy fares from the U.S. to Southeast Asia. One round-trip ticket with a connection in Singapore in each direction could be enough to earn Star Alliance Gold status if you have Marriott Platinum (or above).
Fun note: The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex offers Platinum status just for being a cardholder.
Award Wallet: "In a bit of sad news, British Airways just devalued partner awards on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. This devaluation was unannounced, seemingly left for British Airways Executive Club members to discover on their next award bookings."
"British Airways raised the prices for award flights on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines — as much as 23% on select routes."
Points Wire Note:
This is the kind of avoidable behavior that makes customers not trust airlines.
Frequent Miler: "Every couple of months Choice releases a new batch of Sweet Spot Rewards where they reduce the number of points required to book award stays at ~30 properties."
"Most properties tend to be in the US, but there are usually a few in Canada and overseas. That’s the case again with this latest batch and there’s a particular gem in Venice (as in Italy, not the beach in California) that looks like an incredible redemption opportunity."
Points Wire Note:
In most cases, I wouldn't transfer Amex points to Choice Privileges. However, if you have the Citi Premier, you can transfer Citi ThankYou Points to Choice at a 1:2 ratio. While I still prefer using Citi points for premium cabin flights, this is your best option if you need a stay at a Choice Hotels property.
Thrifty Traveler: "The ability to book Aeromexico flights with Virgin Atlantic points has been around for a while … but only by calling Virgin to book, which can be a pain. Not anymore: As of sometime last week, Aeromexico flights are now bookable online through Virgin."
Points Wire Note:
I would compare Air France-KLM Flying Blue rates before transferring points. Also, keep in mind that Virgin Atlantic's online search can be tricky. If you enter an airport code or city and it doesn't show, click "Full Airport List" then click "Alphabetically" to search for the airport/city.
The Mile Lion: "If you want to enjoy elite status benefits from one frequent flyer programme, but wish to accrue miles with another, you may have wondered whether that’s even possible."
"It is. That’s known as FQTV/FQTS splitting, and if you haven’t come across those terms before don’t worry- many check-in agents haven’t either!"
FQTV: Program for mileage earning
FQTS: Program for status benefits
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