Dan's Deals: "Every airline used to publish award charts, but Delta set off the trend of removing these charts from the public eye. By doing that, they were able to devalue points without having to notify the public about changes. Many airlines copied them."
"United made some brutal changes last year to its hidden award chart."
"It’s not too far off from the 2023 award chart, but there are a few devaluations and improvements that I noticed after performing several dozen award searches."
Points Wire Note:
While there are exceptions, other airline programs generally offer better award rates than United MileagePlus. While you can transfer points from Bilt and Chase to United, I would make sure you compare to Air Canada Aeroplan, Avianca LifeMiles, and Turkish Miles&Smiles before transferring points.
Amex Membership Rewards is out with a new transfer bonus to Etihad Guest. You can transfer Amex points and get a 20% bonus through April 4, 2024. That means every 1,000 points you transfers, you'll get 1,200 Etihad Guest miles. The number of miles you'll receive will be reflected on Amex's site.
For context, Etihad Guest's reward chart for award flights on partner airlines is not great. You might find that it'll be the best option in niche cases with this transfer bonus, but that's about it. Plus, you have to consider the fact that Etihad Guest will pass on carrier-imposed surcharges to you which can mean steep taxes and fees.
For award flights on Etihad itself, you'll have access to business and first class award space earlier than if you were to book with a partner program. While the rates will still be steep, the 20% bonus certainly helps.
The Bulkhead Seat: "Lufthansa announced that it was updating its Business Class cabins in 2017. All sorts of delays popped up across the pandemic and aircraft delivery. There was no word on what route would see the new seats first until this week when the German carrier shared that flights between Munich International Airport (MUC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) would be first this coming May."
The Mile Lion: "Last month, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles carried out a massive devaluation of its award charts."
"Turkish Airlines is now attempting a mea culpa of sorts with a 20% rebate on award tickets, valid for travel up till 30 June 2024. It’s a valiant attempt, but frankly speaking, the damage has already been done."
You must book by March 31, 2024.
Points Wire Note:
Please note that this is a rebate rather than a discounted award rate. You'll need to total number of miles required for a route as listed on Turkish's award chart and you'll get 20% of you miles back as a rebate.
You can transfer Bilt, Capital One, and Citi points to Turkish Miles&Smiles.
View From The Wing: "Make no mistake, these are negative changes for members, they just don’t seem as bad as I expected from the headline number of properties changing category."
"Previously we’ve seen a lot of high end hotels become more expensive as redemptions. This time we’re seeing lower category hotels go up the most. The bulk of the action with these changes are in the bottom half of the chart’s distribution. The biggest grouping of changes is category 3 hotels becoming 4’s, while we also see 1’s become 2’s and 2’s become 3’s."
Points Wire Note:
There's no way around it, devaluations hurt. Some of the category increases sting more than others, while others make little sense to me - particularly a few a properties in Washington, DC that I know well. As categories change each year, we can't be surprised at the changes, but they definitely skewed heavily toward increased award rates this year.
Book before March 26, 2024 to lock in the current award rate before rates change.
Danny the Deal Guru: "As of February 20, 2024, Hyatt has moved most of the Destination by Hyatt Residences to the recently added vacation rental platform, Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt."
"Along with this move, there’s also a massive devaluation for those looking to redeem points at these properties. While you could routinely get a value of around 2.5 cents per points, it now drops to a fixed value of 1.2 cents per World of Hyatt point. That’s the same as other properties on Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt."
Loyalty Lobby: "Le Meridien Bora Bora didn’t reopen after the pandemic era arrival restrictions were lifted in French Polynesia, but the owner decided to close the hotel for 18 to 24 months for renovations (read more here) and reflag the hotel under Marriott’s other brand – Westin."
"The hotel is accepting paid reservations from August 1, 2024, but award reservations have been blocked through January 1, 2025."
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Thrifty Traveler: "Here's your chance to book a stay at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, one of the best points hotels in Mexico and one of our absolute favorites."
"We just discovered a ton of standard room award availability from late February through April 2024 for just 120,000 Hilton Honors points per night, with almost every single night bookable over that span. That's as good as it gets for this high-end property, which rarely sees more than a few days a month of award availability like this, if any."
Points Wire Note:
If you find dates with Standard Room availability for 120,000 Hilton points per night, you can also use a free night certificate earned with one of the Hilton Amex cards. Additionally, Hilton Amex Aspire cardholders have Hilton Honors Diamond status which can be quite useful at the Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos.
Travel on Points: "Flying blue promo awards just got more lucrative, or user friendly at least. In the award travel space, flexibility is paramount and equates to value."
"Flying Blue offers monthly promo awards, where they publish a list of city pairs that they offer a promotional, discounted award flight offering. Previously, these promo awards were very restrictive. No changes or cancellations were allowed on them. However, Flying Blue recently amended this policy and now allows changes or cancellations to Promo Rewards for a €70 fee plus fare difference."
The Mile Lion: "Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer has come a long way in 25 years, and now boasts more than eight million members worldwide. It’s hard to imagine SIA without it, even though the airline has actually existed longer without KrisFlyer (27 years) than with it!"
"Award prices have, of course, gone up in the time since, but I was surprised to see that Economy Class redemptions have only appreciated modestly- perhaps even decreased, if you factor in how easy it is to earn miles now."
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