American Airlines is running a flash sale for economy award tickets on select routes. For short domestic routes, you can find flights for as few as 5,000 American miles. The eligible dates for the sale also depends on the destination. You must book by July 2, 2024.
The eligible dates and routes include:
Blackout dates are as follows:
Katie Genter: "Earlier this month, Choice Privileges hiked the award cost of Preferred Hotels & Resorts stays to up to 87,000 points per night. At the time, I celebrated that award nights at Choice Hotels properties still cost between 6,000 and 35,000 points in most parts of the world (except the Asia-Pacific region, where award nights cost up to 75,000 points)."
"However, this morning I noticed the Choice Privileges website no longer mentions that award nights cost between 6,000 and 35,000 points in most parts of the world. Instead, these mentions now note that reward nights at participating Choice Hotels locations start at 8,000 Choice Privileges points."
Citi is offering a 15% transfer bonus to Cathay Pacific if you transfer ThankYou Points by 11:59pm ET on July 20, 2024. Since Cathay has only been releasing premium cabin award space to its own members, this could be a particularly useful transfer bonus. Cathay Pacific also has solid business class award rates on its oneworld partner airlines if you want to visit Europe.
The Mile Lion: "The Grand Hyatt Singapore closed in September 2022 to undergo a comprehensive renovation, originally announced in 2021 as part of the hotel’s 50th anniversary celebrations."
"Well, the Grand Hyatt Singapore is now taking reservations from 1 August 2024, in what will be the first stage of reopening. Guests will initially be accommodated in the Terrace Wing, with the Grand Wing following later in 2025."
Points Wire Note:
I stayed at the Grand Hyatt Singapore in June 2022. I enjoyed my stay, but am glad to see it's getting a refresh. As a Category 5 property, you'll need 17,000, 20,000, or 23,000 points per night on off-peak, standard, and peak dates respectively.
You can also book via Hyatt Privé to get VIP perks such as a room upgrade (subject to forecasted occupancy), daily breakfast for 2, a $100 property credit, early check-in, and a welcome amenity.
The Bulkhead Seat: "Virgin Atlantic announced yesterday that it will be returning to Canada after a decade of not flying to the country. Flights between London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) are scheduled to begin on March 30, 2025."
The Hyatt Regency Tokyo has long been a popular base for Hyatt fans visiting Tokyo. Loyalty Lobby flagged that "Hyatt Regency Tokyo has now released more information about its renovation schedule, which began this week and ends on May 31, 2025."
Points Wire Note:
For those booking cash rates, you can book via Hyatt Privé to get VIP perks such as daily breakfast for 2, a $100 property credit, room upgrade (if available), etc.
If using points, the Hyatt Regency Tokyo is a Category 4 property that can be booked for 12,000, 15,000, or 18,000 points on off-peak, standard, and peak dates, respectively. You can also use a Category 1-4 free night award.
YHBU: [translated from German to English by Google Translate] "Choice Privileges made it possible to book Preferred Hotels online three months ago. This made it much easier to reserve Preferred Hotels. With usable point values, this was another great way to redeem Choice points."
"Choice Privileges has now turned the screw. The maximum limit has been raised from 55,000 points to 87,000 points. Not all 55k hotels have been raised to this level, but many have surprisingly been made more expensive."
Points Wire Note:
If you'd rather save your points for flights, you can book many Preferred Hotels & Resorts properties via their Preferred Platinum Partner program to get VIP perks such as a room upgrade (if available), daily breakfast for 2 people, early check-in/late checkout (if available), a $100 property credit, and a welcome amenity.
Oman Air
Oman Air is set to join the oneworld alliance by the end of 2024. While Oman first mentioned its plans to join oneworld in 2021, it's nice to see it coming together.
If they open up business and first class award space to partners, that would make this even more exciting. I'll be curious to see what happens to their Aeroplan partnership. Of course, Aeroplan hasn't had access to business and first class award space for a while.
Fiji Airways
While Fiji Airways is currently a oneworld Connect member, they're planning to become a full oneworld member in the next 12 months. This will mean more oneworld partners will have reciprocal benefits with Fiji Airways.
Loyalty Lobby flagged that Emirates Skywards is reducing the award rates of economy and premium economy award tickets. You can find economy award rates that are up to 55% cheaper than previous rates.
Points Wire Note:
Call me when they reduce their egregious business and first class award rates to (and via) Dubai. :)
Frequent Miler: "Avianca LifeMiles apparently began offering family pooling a couple of months ago. That’s a piece of news we had missed until the announcement of last week’s LifeMiles credit cards, which include automatic Silver elite status. One of the benefits of LifeMiles elite status is the ability for an elite member to pool miles earned by their under-18 children with their own miles for free, which is a nice benefit for families traveling on paid tickets."
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