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Frequent Miler
Virgin Atlantic devalues Delta, destroying deal
In sadly unsurprising news, Virgin Atlantic has finally done the seeming inevitable and devalued one of its few remaining sweet spots. Thrifty Traveler has spotted that if you’d like to book Delta flights to Europe in business class, those will now require more miles in most cases. That’s not...
Chase spending offers for Q3 2024 with direct registration links for cobranded cards
For the last few years, Chase has offered targeted spending offers each quarter on its cobranded cards. They’re back once again with a new batch of offers good through September 30, 2024. There’s a generic registration page, but below we’ve also provided direct links to enrollment pages for many...
Podcast: Don’t take a siesta on Sonesta | Coffee Break Ep17 | 7-2-24
Sonesta is a hotel chain with more than 1100 properties that we haven’t paid much attention to until Tim wrote a recent post about the Sonesta Travel Pass, a program that sort of came out of nowhere. In this week’s Coffee Break episode, we’ll chat more about why you shouldn’t siesta on Sonesta!
Flying Blue Promo Rewards: Fly to/from Europe from 15k miles (Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Raleigh/Durham, Montreal & Ottawa)
The latest batch of Flying Blue Promo Rewards were released yesterday and there’s half a dozen North American cities eligible for discounted pricing to/from Europe. Book discounted awards to/from Europe and the following cities with Air France/KLM Flying Blue:. Economy from 15,000 miles one-way Atlanta on KLM. Denver on...
Marriott & United offering elite members additional reciprocal earnings
United and Marriott are offering the following reciprocal earning opportunities:. Earn 500 bonus United MileagePlus miles when staying at Marriott Bonvoy properties. Earn 750 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points when flying with United. Earn 350 bonus MileagePlus miles & 350 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points if you have both a paid flight...
My frustrating, awesome experience with Greg’s trick to book Air France with Virgin points
Last week, Greg wrote about an awesome trick for booking Air France flights via Virgin Atlantic (the short story: use Virgin Atlantic’s “Chat to us” feature. More detail in his post: Solved: Problem booking Air France/KLM with Virgin points). I’ve now used his trick twice — once before he published the post and once since. The good news is that it does indeed work! However, I ran into some trouble with the second booking. It was mostly just bad luck, but there were nonetheless a couple of useful takeaways if you’re looking to book Air France or KLM flights via Virgin Atlantic Flying Club — and given the wide open availability for 8 or more seats in business class, you might want to be looking at booking Air France or KLM via Virgin Atlantic.
5% back on Hilton stays with new Amex Offer [targeted, enrollment required]
There’s a new targeted Amex Offer out this morning that is good for 5% back on Hilton stays. You’ll need to enroll if targeted, though I am not terribly excited about this one given the fact that we’ve seen offers good for a much higher percentage as compared to spend. Still, if you have a very expensive Hilton stay coming up, the $100 cap here could be handy.
10x-12x at Dell via Rakuten back again
As today marks the start of the second half of the year, those with newly reset Dell credits may be happy to see that Rakuten is offering up to 12% back at Dell Technologies, which can alternatively be 12x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent. While I’d hold off for fall holiday sales on a card I intend to keep through the end of the year, I’ll probably make a purchase today on a card that I may not keep that long.
80% transfer bonus to IHG from Chase Ultimate Rewards
There’s a new transfer bonus out this morning: Chase Ultimate Rewards is offering an 80% transfer bonus to IHG Rewards, but most people probably shouldn’t consider using this transfer bonus except to top off for a highly valuable award given the fact that IHG points have relatively low value and can at times (including through 7/3/24) be purchased for just 0.5c per point.
Ocean Prime now offering 2 free nights at Wynn Las Vegas + $50 dining credit
Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, NJ has long offered a status match for those with competing casino status all the way up to Ocean Prime status. We’ve covered that match pretty extensively in our post about How to get free cruises by gaming casino status matches. One of the other benefits of Ocean Prime status was a complimentary 2-night stay at Resorts World Las Vegas (I reviewed my complimentary stay at Conrad Las Vegas here). As of today (7/1/24), the partnership with Resorts World has ended, but some will be excited to see that Ocean is back to partnering with Wynn Las Vegas — so Ocean Prime members now get a complimentary 2-night stay at Wynn Las Vegas, which can be an incredibly valuable benefit.
Complete Guide to Sonesta Travel Pass
Sonesta is a hotel program that’s tended to fly under the radar for most points and miles folks (including me). It’s been around since the 1930’s, but remained fairly small for several decades. That’s changed in the last ten years or so and it’s now become one of the fastest-growing hospitality companies in the US. In 2020, Sonesta had a total of 80 properties. Today, it’s grown to over 1100, in part due to its acquisition of Red Lion Hotels.
A trick for cheaper business class awards, Chase incorrectly denying bonus points and a new Hyatt brand (Saturday Selection)
Chase is incorrectly denying cardholders Sapphire Preferred welcome offer points, Hyatt buys a new brand and a trick for booking cheaper business class awards. All that and more in this week’s Saturday Selection, our weekly round-up of interesting tidbits from around the interwebs (links to each article are embedded in the titles).
Bigness from Bilt, tricks for booking Air France & KLM, updated hotel point values and more [Week in Review]
Mark your calendars: if you have Bilt points, Monday will be a great day to consider transferring them. If you’d like to fly Air France or KLM in business class, we published a couple of helpful tricks this week, whether that’s how to find a calendar of availability or how to book via chat with Virgin Atlantic. Read about all that and a lot more in this Frequent Miler Week in Review.
Earn 1,000 Hilton Honors points when flying Delta premium cabins
Earn 1,000 Hilton Honors bonus points per one-way premium cabin flight on Delta (up to a maximum of 6,000 Hilton Honors points) Applies to Comfort+, Premium Select, First Class, or Delta One flights completed by September 19, 2024. Must book through Delta for the promo to apply. Registration prior to...
Podcast: Navigating Amex’s Welcome Bonus Family Rules | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep261 | 6-28-24
Amex has long had rules against getting a new welcome bonus for a card you’ve had before. Now, they’ve expanded those rules to include “families” of cards. In this episode we’ll help you navigate this confusing and tedious concept. Watch the full episode below, or...
Southwest Sale: Get 20% Off Both Cash and Points Bookings
Save 20% when booking Southwest award flights and using promo code MAX20. Must book by June 30th and travel between August 20th and November 20th. 20 percent promotion code savings valid for one-way or round trip Wanna Get Away® and Wanna Get Away Plus® fares booked on Southwest.com® from June 28-30, 2024 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (the “Booking Period”) and flown between August 20-November 20, 2024 (“Travel Period”). Travel to/from Orange County (SNA) excluded. Promotion code savings are applied before government taxes and fees.
Amazon Amex Offers: Earn up to 4,500 bonus Membership Rewards points (targeted)
There are at least two new, targeted Amex offers out that gives an extra 4-5x when shopping at Amazon.com. These happen every year near Prime Day and tend to go fast. I’d recommend signing in and adding them sooner rather than later as these offers usually disappear quickly. There...
Conrad Bora Bora: Great availability July-September 2024
Upgraded Points has discovered a ton of standard award availability at the Conrad Bora Bora Nui during the Summer/early-Fall of 2024. Rooms are available between June and October, including multiple 5-night blocks(meaning it will work for 5th-night free stays). When there was wide open standard award availability a few months...
Lessons from another “free” cruise booked: Holland America via Wynn Platinum status
In April and May, there was a limited-time status match available to match from Caesars Diamond status to Wynn Rewards Platinum status. That was really notable for a few reasons: First, Caesars Diamond is easy-to-get; you only need to get the Wyndham Earner Business credit card (which has just a $95 annual fee) and then you can match the Wyndham Diamond status given to Wyndham Business cardholders to Caesars Diamond status and that made it possible to match to Wynn Platinum. Second, Wynn doesn’t often offer status matches (before this one, we last saw a match in 2021). Third, and the crux of today’s post, is that Wynn offers an opportunity for Platinum members to get a complimentary Holland America cruise. My wife and I both did the match in Las Vegas last month; this week, we booked two 2025 cruises (one each) using the Wynn Rewards offer. I’m happy to report that it was easy as pie to book this offer — and in the process, I learned a few interesting things that are worth knowing if you did this match (or ever get an opportunity to do one in the future).
What are Sonesta points worth?
Sonesta is a hotel program that’s tended to fly under the radar for most points and miles folks (including me). It’s been around since the 1930’s, but remained fairly small for several decades. That’s changed in the last ten years or so and it’s now become one of the fastest-growing hospitality companies in the US. In 2020, Sonesta had a total of 80 properties. Today, it’s grown to over 1100, in part due to its acquisition of Red Lion Hotels.
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