Every month, Air France-KLM Flying Blue releases a new set of Promo Rewards. This monthly promo offers discounted awards on select routes operated by Air France and KLM. The discount is generally 25% off the saver level award rate (the cheapest award rate).
Flying Blue Promo Rewards (August 2024)
Here are this month's options between Europe and the U.S./Canada.
Business Class - from 37,500 miles
Premium Economy - from 26,250 miles
Economy - from 15,000 miles
This is the first time I've seen a Flying Blue Promo Reward that isn't to/from Europe.
In 2023, new Hilton Honors members could earn 4,500 Hilton points for signing up and hitting the qualifications. For 2024, that bonus has been reduced to 3,000 Hilton points. Still, if you or friends have upcoming Hilton stays, you might as well sign up and earn the bonus points.
To earn the 3,000 points, you need two paid stays at Hilton properties. After the first stay, you'll earn 1,000 points. You'll earn the remaining 2,000 points after your second stay. Just remember that you need to complete the stays within six months of joining Hilton Honors so it's important to time when you sing up based on upcoming stays.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is running a 10% transfer bonus promo. Unlike many transfer bonuses, this is handled by the airline rather than the bank. This means you won't see an indication of the bonus when transferring points.
The benefit of this promo is that you can transfer Amex Membership Rewards or Citi ThankYou Points and get the 10% bonus. You must make your transfer by March 31, 2024.
Please keep in mind that the 10% bonus miles will post within 8-10 weeks. The bonus is not instant.
You must register for the promo before you transfer points.
Register Here (Promo Terms & Conditions)
See all current transfer bonus promos!
Points Wire Note:
Cathay recently devalued their award chart, but it's still one of the better oneworld programs for business and first class redemptions. While Alaska Airlines and American Airlines generally have better award rates, it's much easier to earn Asia Miles via transferable points programs.
Plus, you have access to additional first class and business class award space on Cathay Pacific. In fact, recently, Asia Miles has been the only way to book business or first class on Cathay.
One Mile At A Time: "Between December 14 and December 28, 2023, LifeMiles is offering a promotion on purchased miles. The program is now incentivizing purchasing miles in a unique way."
"OMAAT readers who register can receive 10% of their redeemed miles back if they purchase any number of miles with the current promotion."
To be eligible for the 10% discount, you must meet these
Flights on Avianca are not eligible.
Points Wire Note:
This is a great opportunity to save some miles when booking business and first class award tickets, especially if you're booking for multiple people. By buying just 1,000 LifeMiles, you can get the 10% rebate. That means you can transfer Amex, Bilt, Capital One, and Citi points to get the remaining miles you need.
For example, 63,000 LifeMiles for a one-way business class award ticket to Europe will earn a 6,300-mile rebate. If you were to book two round-trip tickets, you'd get 25,200 miles back.
Two days ago, JT Genter reported that stays at the Fairfield by Marriott Copenhagen Nordhavn would only earn 5x points instead of the usual 10x points. This change was buried in the terms.
From Loyalty Lobby, we've learned that "Marriott confirmed that Fairfield branded hotels in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa won’t earn 10 points per USD and full elite qualifying nights, like is currently the case with Protea, City Express, and Four Points Express hotels."
"Now, Fairfield branded hotels in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have their points earnings cut in half (5 per USD), and you only earn an elite qualifying night for every two nights consumed."
Points Wire Note:
Sadly, this is yet another no-notice change that didn't even come with an announcement. I imagine some Marriott elites are going to be confused and unpleasantly surprised by these changes. Plus, this only adds even more confusion to benefits at Marriott brands. There's already so much inconsistency regarding what elites get at each brand in each region.
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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.
View From The Wing: "The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that consumers can’t sue loyalty programs for acting in bad faith or unfair dealing – only for violating their own program terms. That’s because loyalty programs were seen as a rebating on airfare, because the Airline Deregulation Act precludes states from involving itself in airline schedules and pricing, and because common law claims of implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing were deemed state-level claims."
"That left only the Department of Transportation policing loyalty programs, and according to the DOT Inspector General the agency has improperly ignored complaints about frequent flyer programs."
"It should, however, recognize that frequent flyer programs are the most successful marketing innovation in history, have tremendous value (and saved American Airlines and perhaps United from bankruptcy during the pandemic, and saved airlines during the Great Recession too), and approach with caution."
Points Wire Note:
While there's no imminent threat to your points and miles, I think it's important to stay aware of potential moves like this. I've often found that folks who aren't familiar with loyalty programs go for oversimplified solutions to things they don't like about said programs. That being said, it's certainly worth the DOT getting feedback from experts in the field who can provide ideas for balanced solutions to ensure programs are both profitable and fair to consumers.
Many people who booked Flying Blue business class award tickets to Europe for 1,500 to 13,500 miles one-way were frustrated to find out that their tickets had been canceled. Even more frustrating was the fact that many had transferred points from Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, and/or Citi to book.
In a rare move, Flying Blue has agreed to reverse these transfers as first reported by Kyle Potter. The Head of Flying Blue, Ben Lipsey, confirmed this on FlyerTalk but you'll need to contact Flying Blue to do so. The U.S. contact number is +1-800-375-8723.
Reports indicate that phone agents may not have received word about this yet, so don't be surprised if you need to call back in a week.
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.
IHG One Rewards' promo for January 2024 is now open for registration.
You can earn double points on all stays and 2,000 bonus points if you stay at two or more brands. The double points offer isn't capped, but you can only earn the 2,000 bonus points once. Points can take up to six weeks to post.
Points Wire Note:
I would register now just in case you stay at an IHG property in January 2024. While I wouldn't call this the most exciting hotel promo I've seen, there's no point passing up bonus points.
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