Head for Points: "Yesterday we told you how Aer Lingus had quietly brought in a 60 day rule for Avios bookings."
"After we published our article yesterday, it all came back! Well, nearly all. It seems that a six day rule is now in place instead."
The Points Guy: "Earlier this week came the exciting news: JetBlue flights could be booked online with Avios through Qatar Airways Privilege Club at excellent rates and with no surcharges.
Without warning, Privilege Club has now significantly increased the number of Avios required to book JetBlue flights and removed the ability to book these flights online. What makes the news even worse is that when Privilege Club members submit a request for redemption at the new rates, these are "temporarily unavailable," with no explanation of how temporary this might be."
Points Wire Note: The award rate for business class on flights of 2,001 to 3,000 miles (i.e. Boston to Dublin or LAX to JFK) jumped from 38,750 to 74,000 Avios one-way. That's a staggering 91% increase.
The business class rate on flights of 3,001+ miles (i.e. JFK/BOS to London, Paris, Amsterdam, etc.) jumped from 62,000 to 78,000 Avios. That 25.9% increase seems small in comparison but is still rough.
Head for Points: "It appears that Aer Lingus is now blocking Avios redemptions made within 60 days of the date of travel."
Points Wire Note: Hopefully, this isn't a policy change by Aer Lingus as some people can't book trips until closer to departure.
You can transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to Hilton until December 31, 2023 and get a 30% bonus. That means the standard 1:1 transfer ratio is bumped up to 1:2.6 with a minimum transfer amount of 1,000 Amex points.
For context, Hilton points are worth about half a cent per point.
Points Wire Note: It's rare that transferring Amex points will make sense, especially when you consider that you can often buy Hilton points at half a cent per point.
Last night, Max Miles Points and I were discussing the fact that Qatar Airways Privilege Club isn't able to book award tickets on JetBlue currently. Readers had flagged for me that Qatar had told them there were technical issues.
Now, it seems Qatar might be creating a separate award chart for award tickets on JetBlue with worse award rates. Frequent Miler reports that they're seeing award rates listed at double the original rates.
Points Wire Note: If this does turn out to be a devaluation, it'll be so disappointing. Qatar Airways and JetBlue just expanded their partnership to allow award bookings. To double award rates after only a few days is poor form if you ask me.
Loyalty Lobby: "IHG One Rewards members can earn a free night award capped at 40,000 for every 5 nights, don’t need to be consecutive, consumed booked using eligible rates for this offer and by February 29."
Stays in Africa, the Middle East, India, and South Asia qualify. The free night can be used on an award that requires up to 40,000 IHG One Rewards points.
Promo Terms
Points Wire Note: This is an excellent promo if you'll be in these regions!
Danny the Deal Guru: "Fly to Maui for as low as 30,000 miles roundtrip (plus taxes and fees starting at $11.20) when you book by November 8 and travel November 12 – December 16, with no blackout dates."
"This offer is targeted to United MileagePlus Cardmembers and Premier members only. The promotion is valid for travel to Maui, Hawaii (OGG) from the contiguous 48 United States."
More details here.
Turkish Airlines: Every week, Turkish discounts two routes in economy. This week, a Chicago and Luxembourg are the two winners.
Click here for pro details
Seal The Deal Travels: "Even after Marriott moved to dynamic pricing model for points redemptions, they still secretly assign categories to their hotels even though they removed their Category award chart. Knowing how to figure out a hotel’s category allow you to plan your points redemptions easier and see what redemptions are possible for Free Night Certificates since Marriott only allows you to top up to 15k Marriott points on your FNC’s."
The Points Guy: "British Airways is now restricting the minimum number of guaranteed award seats to members of programs that use Avios as their loyalty currency.
However, BA regularly offers more than the minimum number of seats on many routes, especially transatlantic, and these additional seats remain available to all partners just as before."
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