Loyalty Lobby: "Malaysia Airlines has made some significant unannounced changes to its Enrich award chart, jacking up most business-class award prices by 60% or more."
"These are quite significant changes, and those redeeming for business class are really the losers. I wish that Malaysia Airlines would have given proper advance notice to its Enrich members about these changes."
Points Wire Note:
Previously, Malaysia Airlines was a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Points. However, that partnership ended in March 2022. At that point, Malaysia Airlines had already devalued the Enirch program to the point that it was mostly useless for those in the US.
One important point to note is that even without a single US-based transferable points partner, Malaysia Airlines still imposed a massive devaluation. While some road warriors have complained that devaluations are caused by people earning points from credit cards, this is a sad reminder that airlines devalue their programs regardless.
UPDATE: Emirates will start flying this fifth freedom route on June 3, 2024.
One Mile At A Time: "A couple of years ago, I wrote about how there was talk of Emirates potentially launching a new route between Miami and Bogota. At the time, it seemed like a long shot."
"There’s now an exciting update, as this seems close to becoming a reality. Not only has Emirates requested permission with Colombian authorities to launch this route, but the airline has also updated its schedule in a way that suggests this service is happening."
Points Wire Note:
The flight time between Miami and Bogota is only 3.5 to 4 hours, but this will be one of the best ways to fly business class - possibly first class - to South America.
Last month, Head for Points flagged that it avios.com was being shuttered and you would soon be able to book award tickets via on the Aer Lingus site.
All I can say is finally!
This means you can book Aer Lingus flights with Avios without having to book via British Airways. Even better, it seems there's additional Aer Lingus award space available when using Avios on their own site.
You can use this link to log into your Aer Lingus account and book award tickets.
Update: This transfer bonus is now live!
Citi is launching a transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Between February 18 and March 16, 2024, you'll be able to transfers Citi ThankYou Points to Virgin and get a 30% bonus.
While award flights on Virgin Atlantic have steep carrier-imposed surcharges which leave you on the hook for sky high taxes/fees, you can get some great value out of Virgin points by booking award tickets on partner airlines.
Air France, KLM, and ITA Airways to Europe standout. Delta can be a great option to Europe as well, just not to/from the UK. All Nippon Airways (ANA) is always a fan favorite for those visiting Japan - though award space is tough. Air New Zealand is also a great option.
Update: The devaluation will take effect on February 15, 2024.
Last week, I received word that Turkish Airlines was going to devalue their Miles&Smiles award chart any day now. Well, it seems that day is today. Prince of Travel noticed that the new charts are now on the Turkish site.
For context, a one-way business class award ticket on Turkish Airlines between the US and Turkey is increasing from 45,000 to 65,000 Turkish miles. That's a rough 44% award rate increase.
On Star Alliance partners, a one-way business class award ticket between the US and Europe 1 and Europe 2 will be 85,000 and 90,000 miles, respectively. Both are increases from 45,000 miles. Those are 98% and 100% increases!
To make things worse, Turkish will now require additional miles for each segment which will really spike award rates.
You can see the new award charts here.
Points Wire Note:
While Turkish miles aren't as tough to earn as they once were with Bilt, Capital One, and Citi as transfer partners, this is a rough devaluation. For a program that was already niche given that they pass on carrier-imposed surcharges on award bookings, this reduces its usefulness even further.
Virgin Atlantic is out with another round of discounted award tickets. This time the discount is 20% which a bit lower than what we saw during four promos last year.
Important Terms
Considering the excessively high carrier-imposed surcharges on Virgin's award tickets, this will only be useful in select circumstances. For example, if you need to travel on a specific date, award space is sparse to nonexistent on other airlines, and Virgin has made award space available to only its own members.
You can get Virgin points by transferring Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points.
Points Wire Note:
If you include a connection on a SkyTeam partner from a European city (outside the UK) to London, you seem to be able to get the discount on the Virgin Atlantic flight to the US. This also reduces the total taxes/fees since you avoid the Air Passenger Duty (APD) fee flying out of the UK - $200+ on business class tickets.
For example: Amsterdam (AMS) to New York (JFK) via London (LHR). The KLM flight from AMS to LHR won't be discounted, but the Virgin Atlantic flight from LHR to JFK will be. Since you're not originating in the UK, you avoid the APD and some of the carrier-imposed surcharges. Rather than paying $900+ taxes/fees, you'll owe ~$430.
Disclosure: I may earn a referral bonus or commission if you use the links below. I serve on an advisory board for Bilt.
If you have American miles and need a flight within the US or to Canada, you can book economy class tickets for as few as 5,500 miles one-way. The promo says "as low as 7,000 miles" but I see plenty of options lower than that.
As an example, I just pulled up Washington, DC (DCA) to Los Angeles (LAX) via Dallas (DFW) for 7,000 miles one-way so it's not just short non-stop flights.
Important Terms
Points Wire Note:
When booking award tickets, it's always a good idea to check cash fares to use as a point of comparison. You might find that you're better off paying cash and saving your points and miles for a future flight that you're confident will be much more expensive.
If you want to earn American miles with credit cards, you're limited to the Bilt Card and co-branded American cards from Barclays and Citi.
We've known Emirates Skywards was going to devalue its partner award rates since October of last year, but it still stings. If there's a silver lining, it's that economy awards haven't been devalued - pretty weak silver lining, if you ask me.
Only the business class redemption rates took a hit. I'm sure they'll spin at as a 9-25% rate increase, but only flights of no more than 250 miles were increased by 9%. All of the other rates were increased by 19-25%. For the math nerds among us, the median increase is 21%.
Alas, this means we can no longer book Korean Air to Seoul or Japan Airlines to Tokyo in business class from Los Angeles for 88,000 Emirates miles one-way. Instead, we'll now need 105,000 miles. Ouch.
While Emirates publishes an award chart for all of its partners, the chart is actually the same. Here's a link to an example.
One Mile At A Time: "IHG One Rewards has just launched a lucrative sale on award nights, which could save you quite a few points on a redemption. This promotion is initially only available to those with a co-branded IHG credit card, and in a few days it will be extended to elite members as well."
If you need additional points, you can often buy IHG points with a 100% bonus which brings your cost to 0.5 cents per point. That's the best time to buy.
I wouldn't recommend transferring Bilt Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards points as you can get much more out of those points with other transfer partners.
Thai Royal Orchid Plus isn't a loyalty program you hear about much in the U.S. as their award rates aren't particularly competitive. However, Royal Orchid Plus has launched a 50% off award promo for Thai Airways' flight between Bangkok and Istanbul. This brings the one-way award rate down to 45,000 miles for business class and 21,250 miles for economy class.
You must book your ticket by January 15, 2024 and complete your travel between January 15 and March 15, 2024. The change fee is $200/$150 for business/economy class, respectively.
You will be on the hook for carrier-imposed surcharges which brings the one-way taxes/fees to ~$272 on business class award or ~$186 on an economy award.
For context, Air Canada Aeroplan requires 60,000 miles and Avianca LifeMiles requires 78,000 miles. However, they do not pass on the surcharges so the taxes/fees will be closer to ~$20. Turkish Miles&Smiles also requires 45,000 miles plus taxes/fees. Still, it's fun to see Thai's program offer some solid value!
If you want to book this promo as part of a trip to Southeast Asia and Europe or the Middle East, you'll need Citi ThankYou Points as that's the only program that transfer to Thai Airways.
Personally, I love niche booking opportunities for business class award tickets and would consider this if it fit my schedule.
Points Wire Note:
Your best bet to earn Citi ThankYou Points is the Citi Premier Card. You can pair a Citi Double Cash, Citi Custom Cash, or Citi Rewards+ with the Premier to earn additional points. However, the Citi Premier is the key to accessing transfer partners.
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