Frequent Miler: "All five of the Cartera-run airline shopping portals are offering 1,000 bonus miles or points at the moment when installing their browser button and using it to spend $25."
Alaska Airlines
American Airlines
United
Southwest Airlines
Delta
As always, make sure you read the fine print.
In July, I reported that Qatar Airways Privilege Club had added a close-in booking fee by increasing award rates for award tickets booked within 40 days of departure. Mainly Miles now reports that Qatar Airways has added peak dates to/from Southeast Asia that increase the standard award rate by 20%.
I ran some awards searches from the U.S. on Qatar Airways and saw Off-Peak noted on some dates. Those dates had 70,000 Avios listed as the award rate as expected. Unfortunately, on dates without the Off-Peak label, I did see that the rate jumped to 94,500 Avios. That's a 35% jump!
My Points Life: "IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has club lounges available at select IHG hotels and resorts. You generally will find excellent IHG club lounges at the InterContinental properties, though some IHG brand properties, such as Crowne Plaza, voco, Regent, and Holiday Inn, also have club lounges."
Some of the properties include the InterContinental London Park Lane, InterContinental Paris Le Grand, InterContinental Sydney, and more!
Frequent Miler: "If you’ve not previously linked your Marriott and Uber accounts and use Uber and/or Uber Eats, this is a fairly easy way to earn 1,000 bonus points."
"I say 'fairly' because there are a couple of key things to be aware of. If you want to earn the bonus points by taking an Uber ride, it has to be with Uber XL, Uber Black, Uber SUV, or Uber Comfort – Uber X, Uber Pet, etc. appear to be excluded."
One Mile At A Time: "In September 2023, Air France-KLM & Etihad Airways announced plans to expand their partnership. There’s now a major update, as both airline groups have rolled out frequent flyer reciprocity, giving flyers the opportunity to earn and redeem miles for travel on the other airline group. This has major implications for passengers."
Points Wire Note: The Etihad Guest award rates for Air France and KLM flights are set by their partner award chart. This won't be a go-to option.
Flying Blue rates won't blow you away, but there's some potential. The main benefit is we now have an option with multiple transfer partners (Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Citi) in addition to American AAdvantage which only partners with Bilt.
In theory, Air Canada Aeroplan could be useful but they haven't been able to book Etihad business and first class award space for a while now.
"For each $100 Best Western® gift card purchased, the purchaser will receive one (1) $20 bonus Best Western gift card. There is a limit of ten (10) $20 bonus gift cards that each customer can earn during the Promotion Period (defined below). Best Western Gift Cards can be purchased in a variety of denominations including USD, CAD, GBP, or EUR. Best Western Gift Cards can be redeemed at any BWH Hotels branded hotel that accepts the Best Western Gift Card as payment (excluding the WorldHotels collection)."
Direct link to offer
Loyalty Lobby: "You can buy Accor gift cards that can only be used at select hotels in GBP, EUR, PLN, and CHF at a 20% bonus."
"The issue with these gift cards is that they can only be used toward flexible rates that don’t require prepayment and for stays at the select hotels listed above. It is also unclear if you need to use the gift card in the currency it was issued but whether it can be used elsewhere."
IHG: "Everyone can enjoy savings but book in the app and save even more. Download or open the app, sign into your IHG One Rewards account, and save 20% at participating hotels. Book by November 28, 2023, and stay by April 30, 2024."
"Everyone can enjoy all-inclusive savings, but IHG One Rewards members can save more when booking with our Best Flexible Rate. Book by November 28, 2023, and stay by October 31, 2024."
Award Wallet: "Through November 30, 2023, join Club TAP with preferred pricing and bonus miles on this subscription plan to get miles each month (plus other perks). If you join this month, you'll earn up to 150,000 bonus miles, depending on which plan you choose."
Direct link to offer.
Points Wire Note: You can buy 150,000 miles for €899 (~$982) which is enough for a one-way business class ticket from North America to Asia, Central America, Europe, Middle East, South America, and most of Africa. You'll get 54,000 miles up front and 8,000 miles per month for 12 months.
Monkey Miles: "Virgin Atlantic has a great deal that reduces the price of Virgin Atlantic award flights, upgrades, and companion bookings by 33%. The big thing to pay attention to on this deal is that only the points are reduced by 33%, not the surcharges. Book by 11/27/23 and you must fly 11/24/23 onward ( yes the entire calendar is on sale )."
Points Wire Note: There's no way around it, the surcharges are rough which leads to some seriously steep taxes/fees. However, if you don't see award space on partners, this could be a good option in a pinch.
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