IHG Rewards Launches Dynamic Award Pricing in the U.S. and Beyond by JT Genter May 29, 2020 36 After testing dynamic award pricing with a small set of hotels earlier this year, IHG Rewards confirmed to AwardWallet this morning that it has expanded dynamic award pricing to more hotels around the world—including many regions here in the United States. Dynamic award pricing is usually bad news, but we are surprised to be finding some great deals using your IHG Rewards points now!
Emirates Skywards Slashes Award Fees by Over 90% by Patrick Stouffer May 26, 2020 24 Emirates offers some of the best onboard products in the sky. But booking these aspirational seats can be expensive—even on award redemptions. Perhaps not anymore. Recent searches on Emirates' site are displaying a massive drop in carrier surcharges across the board. We are seeing some cuts to out-of-pocket costs as great as 90%!
You Can Now Use AAdvantage Miles to Pay for Seat Reservations on American Airlines by Patrick Stouffer May 19, 2020 58 American Airlines just launched a new way for AAdvantage members to redeem miles. As AwardWallet confirmed with American Airlines this afternoon, AAdvantage members can now use their miles to purchase seat reservations. For now, it's limited to select airports, but this is likely to be the start of a larger rollout.
Airlines Offering Bonus Miles, Incredibly Generous Rebooking Options for Booking Flights Now by Patrick Stouffer May 17, 2020 34 Airlines are doing everything in their power to convince people to book travel for 2020. It's hard to guess if it will be safe to do so. However, between bonus points, double flight earnings, and the most flexible change/cancellation policy we've ever seen, things are definitely starting to get interesting.
Last Chance to Transfer Your Miles: Capital One Losing Two Transfer Partners by Patrick Stouffer May 12, 2020 19 Capital One has quietly shared the loss of two mileage transfer partners—Hainan Airways and Qatar Airways—effective May 13, 2020. If you've been meaning to transfer Capital One Miles to either of these partners, you'd better do it right away!
AA Adds GOL Airlines as a Mileage Earning, Redemption Partner by Patrick Stouffer May 9, 2020 24 American Airlines has just added GOL Airlines—Brazil's largest domestic carrier—to its AAdvantage® partner airlines, opening the door to earning and redeeming AAdvantage® miles on GOL itineraries. But now that you can use AA miles for flights with GOL, the question is: should you?
How I Stacked Offers to Purchase New Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones for Under $90 by Joe Petrovic May 8, 2020 18 Looking for a new pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones? Here's how I stacked offers to get Bose's latest and greatest $349 headphones for under $90 while earning over 4,500 Membership Rewards points from doing so.
IHG Rewards Extends Elite Status and Free Night Certificates by Michelle Molloy May 2, 2020 28 IHG Rewards Club members should be pleased to hear that IHG is extending elite status for elite members through January 2022. Plus, IHG has reduced elite status requirements, extended Ambassador membership, extended free night certificates, and more.
American Express Adds a Slew of New Perks For Travelers Stuck at Home by Patrick Stouffer May 2, 2020 28 American Express offers one of the largest collections of travel-oriented credit cards—some of which involve a significant annual fee. With travel at a standstill, many cardmembers are debating whether their travel cards are still worth the annual fee. In response, Amex just released the most comprehensive list of cardmember benefit updates we've seen yet.
American Express Membership Rewards (Temporarily) Loses a Transfer Partner by JT Genter May 1, 2020 20 American Express Membership Rewards is widely regarded as one of the most-valuable transferrable currencies thanks to having over 20 transfer partners and lucrative transfer bonuses. However, the program just lost a little luster with the loss of one of its airline transfer partners.
United Eliminates Partner Award Chart, Makes It Harder to Earn Elite Status When Flying Partners by Patrick Stouffer April 29, 2020 31 Over the last few days, United has made earning elite status harder and removed partner award charts from its website. Both without any notice whatsoever. They say bad things come in pairs. In this case, they were right. In this post, we go through what this means for you.
American Airlines Moves Morocco To Europe, Decreasing Award Prices and Increasing Routing Options by Ross Denkin April 28, 2020 29 Overnight, American Airlines moved the entire country of Morocco from Africa to Europe—at least for the purposes of award travel. Believe it or not, the impacts of this change are largely positive for award travelers traveling between many regions—including from the U.S. to Europe. Read more about the impacts on mileage costs, possible routings, and award ticket taxes and fees.
American Airlines Adds Automatic Mileage Refunds on Certain Award Cancellations by Patrick Stouffer April 26, 2020 34 Canceling an award trip is not something that anybody enjoys doing, especially when the process can be challenging and complicated. American Airlines seems to have recognized this and has recently made the process of canceling (some) award trips much simpler—now no longer requiring a phone call.
How I Earned Nearly 10,000 Points From One Day of Online Shopping by Joe Petrovic April 25, 2020 19 Earning a huge amount of points is still possible even when shopping from home. By stacking Amex Offers with shopping portal bonuses, I saved $50 and earned 9,700 points in one day! Here's how I did it and how you can step up your points-earning too.
[Expired] Chase Automatically Extending Sign-Up Bonus Spending Period for Some Cardholders by Michelle Molloy April 25, 2020 13 There isn't a lot of great news in the travel world these days but Chase has some for new cardholders. Following the lead of American Express, Chase is extending the deadline to meet the spending requirements for new cardholders approved earlier this year.
What Award Travelers Should Do Now as LATAM Leaves Oneworld, Partners With Delta by Ross Denkin April 21, 2020 37 LATAM is approaching its accelerated departure of the Oneworld airline alliance on May 1, 2020. However, its partnership with Delta began effective April 1, 2020. That makes now a great time to book a South American adventure since you can use either American Airlines AAdvantage miles or Delta SkyMiles to book your award flights. Here's what you need to know now about this transitional time.
American Airlines Increases Checked Baggage Fees in the Midst of COVID-19 by JT Genter April 21, 2020 41 Less than a week after announcing $5.8 billion in emergency aid from the U.S. Treasury, American Airlines has increased bag fees by $15 each way on certain routes. The change is effective immediately for new tickets issued as of April 21, 2020.
Citi ThankYou® Points Adds Emirates as 16th Airline Partner by JT Genter April 19, 2020 27 While Citi ThankYou® Points isn't known for being the most valuable transferrable currency, it just added its 16th airline transfer partner: Emirates Skywards. This new partnership means you can now book Emirates' legendary first-class product to Europe for just 135,000 Citi ThankYou Points round-trip, or fly to Europe in Emirates business class for 90,000 points round-trip.
‘Capital One Offers’ Launched in Beta for Select Cardmembers by Patrick Stouffer April 19, 2020 10 Capital One has launched Capital One Offers in beta to select cardmembers, offering between 10-15% back with a variety of retailers. While details are still slim, it appears to be a similar format to that of Chase Offers and Amex Offers. If Capital One Offers end up being similar, the program could add a lot of additional value to Capital One's portfolio of credit cards.