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Ryan Smith

Former Senior Editor
Distance Traveled in 2026
Visited in 2026

Ryan is a writer and editor who first wrote for AwardWallet team in 2021 but has been around points and miles for several years. He has written at Forbes Advisor, CNBC Select, Miles to Memories, The Points Guy, and USA Today Blueprint.

After someone at his hostel in China said “I flew here for free using points,” Ryan was hooked. In December 2023, he finished his goal of visiting every country and now plans to return to those that merit another visit.

His wife joins him on many of his trips, and they enjoy snowboarding, diving, and seeing animals in the wild. When not traveling, Ryan is probably answering questions from his family about how he travels so much and whether all of this is illegal.

Travel Summary
Flying Blue Standardizes Award Rates Between US-Europe. Book Business Class for 50,000 Miles!
Flying Blue Standardizes Award Rates Between US-Europe. Book Business Class for 50,000 Miles!
0

Flying Blue — the mileage program for Air France/KLM — has always been a quirky program. Flying Blue previously priced awards by route. Now, Flying Blue seems to have ditched that complicated award pricing scheme. Instead, Flying Blue is now pricing all routes at the same minimum award rate. Now, you can book business class awards between almost any U.S. and Europe airport for as few as 50,000 miles each way!

Ryan SmithJT Genter
Ryan Smith & JT Genter
Huge Delta Changes: More Difficult To Earn Medallion Status, Lounge Access Cuts
Huge Delta Changes: More Difficult To Earn Medallion Status, Lounge Access Cuts
5

Rumors have been swirling for weeks that Delta Air Lines was going to massively overhaul its Medallion (Delta's elite status) program, with an expected announcement on September 14. The airline accidentally leaked the changes a day early. And the rumors were true: Delta is making sweeping changes to its Medallion program, lounge access, upgrade priority, Million Miler perks, and more. Here's what you need to know.

Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith
Crazy Good Availability for Starlux Flights Using Alaska Miles
Crazy Good Availability for Starlux Flights Using Alaska Miles
9

Alaska Airlines and Starlux (the Taiwan-based airline) launched a partnership earlier this year, and mileage redemptions with Alaska Mileage Plan miles are now live. That means you can book Starlux awards. And I'm not just saying, "In theory, you can book awards." You really can book awards...pretty much any day you want. Let's show you how to take advantage of this award availability for a dream trip to Taiwan or onward to other points in Asia.

Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith
You Can Now Book ITA Airways Flights With Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points
You Can Now Book ITA Airways Flights With Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points
1

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club joined SkyTeam on March 2, 2023, and it's now possible to book awards for SkyTeam partner ITA Airways using your Virgin points. Best of all, you can do this online. ITA Airways, for those unfamiliar, is an Italian airline and is the successor to now-defunct Alitalia. Here's what you should know about using your Virgin Atlantic points for ITA Airways flights — and the wide-open availability we're seeing.

Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith
Changes Coming to American Airlines Admirals Clubs<sup>®</sup> and Citi AA Executive Card
Changes Coming to American Airlines Admirals Clubs® and Citi AA Executive Card
1

American Airlines and Citi just announced a slew of changes to Admirals Club® membership costs and the benefits and fees of the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Legend Mastercard®. Thankfully, some of the negative changes don't take effect for another two weeks, giving you time to plan. But these changes see the elimination of one of our favorite credit card perks. Are the changes worth the additional fees? Let's dig into the changes to see.

Ryan Smith
Ryan Smith