Frequent Miler

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.

Bigness from Bilt, tricks for booking Air France & KLM, updated hotel point values and more [Week in Review]

Virgin points are often the cheapest option for booking Air France or KLM flights. For example, for a trip to Paris I’m planning, I found a great Air France business class award that was available. If I booked through Air France Flying Blue, I’d have to pay 303,000 miles plus $225 per passenger. No thanks! Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic showed the same flight for 48,500 points plus $281 per passenger. Much better! Exciting right?

Solved: Problem booking Air France/KLM with Virgin points

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...

Earn 1,000 Hilton Honors points when flying Delta premium cabins

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.

My frustrating, awesome experience with Greg’s trick to book Air France with Virgin points

Last month, we reported about booking Air France and KLM flights through Virgin Atlantic by using the airline’s chat feature. Within a couple of days, readers started reporting that they were being told that Virgin Atlantic had a known problem booking Air France and Virgin Atlantic flights and those bookings would be unavailable until July 9th. We received one reader success report around the 9th, but then more recently readers have been told that Air France and KLM bookings would be unavailable until “the start of August” — and Virgin Atlantic has added messaging to its website to reflect the same.

Virgin Flying Club can’t book awards on Air France or KLM; “Expected” to work again at “the start” of August 2024

Hamilton Township, NJ

Community Voices represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program but not yet verified their accounts. Community Voices are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

community_voice

NewsByJoshua

Rainbow Shops, a popular clothier known for its youth clothing, is preparing to shut down its location at the Hamilton Mall in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. The store is currently offering a hefty 40% discount on all items as part of its liquidation sale.

Popular Clothing Store Offers Offers Deep Discounts, Closing 950 Locations in Struggling Mall

Update 6/26/24: This increased welcome offer on the Chase Ink Business Preferred card is now available in-branch. There is a new offer out for the Chase Ink Business Preferred that is good for 120,000 points after $8,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. The Deal. There is a new...

(Now In-Branch) 120K points with new Chase Ink Preferred bonus

60K points after $3K spend within first 3 months and an additional 60K after $15K total spend within first 9 months. This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Earning rate: 3X Southwest ✦ 2X Rapid Rewards(R) hotel and car partners ✦ 2X rideshare ✦ 1X...

Southwest Business Card 120K Offers: Get a Companion Pass with One Card (for two years?)

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...

Conrad Bora Bora: Great availability July-September 2024

Coral Gables, FL

Writers represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. Writers are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

writer

Edmond Thorne

Tragic End for South Florida Hispanic Building Tycoon Sergio Pino. Fort Lauderdale, FL - In a shocking turn of events, prominent South Florida homebuilder Sergio Pino was found dead in his Coral Gables home on Tuesday morning. The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that Pino died from an apparent suicide.

South Florida Tycoon Dead After FBI Raids on Homes and Office

New Jersey State

Connecticut State

The Shy Green

Big news hitting the grocery scene: Stop & Shop is set to close 32 of its stores in five states. This move is a major shake-up for local communities across the Northeast. Here’s where the closures are happening:

A big-name grocery store is shutting down over 30 locations in five states

New York City, NY

Cheryl E Preston

Yesterday was the third time this year that an ad stating Chelsea Clinton lives in a beautiful Virginia home popped up on my laptop. My computer did not warn me this was a dangerous site, so this time, I clicked on the link.

Chelsea Clinton is rumored to be living in Virginia but probably still in NYC

Las Vegas, NV

Atlantic City, NJ

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.

Ocean Prime now offering 2 free nights at Wynn Las Vegas + $50 dining credit

Hawaii State

Save up to 40% on flights to/from Hawaii with Southwest when using promo code HAWAII40. Up to 40 percent promotion code savings valid for round trip Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus fares booked on Southwest.com from July 9-11, 2024 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (the “Booking Period”) and flown between August 13-December 17, 2024 (the “Travel Period”).

Southwest Hawaii sale: Save up to 40% with promo code HAWAII40

(01:37) – Carrie saw Greg speak at Chicago Seminars in 2013 – the topic was Million Mile Madness. (02:10) – The next summer (2014) Drew and Carrie were invited to the “Ann Arbor Art Fair Do”. While in Ann Arbor, they met Greg for kayaking.

Podcast: Frequent Miler origin story – Carrie’s story | Coffee Break Ep18 | 7-16-24

Brookings, SD

There is some tough news in the coffee and cafe scene. Cottonwood Coffee, a beloved spot based in Brookings, South Dakota, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This decision comes as they battle significant financial challenges, especially worsened by the lingering impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A coffee and cafe company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to financial difficulties

Chicago, IL

Foodie in Chicago

Shortly before 3 AM, people in the Chicago area may have felt their houses shake as a 3.4-magnitude earthquake occurred about 60 miles west of the city. (CHICAGO) The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 3.4-magnitude earthquake around Somonauk, IL. Somonauk is in DeKalb and LaSalle Counties, 64 miles west of Chicago.

Did You Feel the Earthquake?

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.

What are Sonesta points worth?

Total Apex Sports & Entertainment

I don’t know about you but summer is definitely my favorite season and I am definitely a sun worshipper. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we do not see enough of it so when it is here, that is where you will find me. Everything I do I do outside when the sun is out and the weather is warm. I wonder who else feels this way. I wonder what Zodiac Signs love the Sunshine. Want to find out? Let’s do a little research.

3 Zodiac Signs Who Love Sunshine

Richmond, VA

Southwest isn’t the only one running a sale today. JetBlue is running one too, giving 25% off when using promo code FALL2024. You’ll need to be quick though as bookings have to be made by tonight (July 10). The Deal. Save 25% on JetBlue flights when using promo...

JetBlue sale: Save 25% with promo code FALL2024 (Book by 7/10/24)

NewsBreak

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...

Virgin Atlantic devalues Delta, destroying deal

Comments / 0