Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is doing well 😊 

Sorry for the delay! Work got busy, you know how it is… just gotta maximize shareholder value sometimes!

I’m already more than a few hours late, so I don’t have much more to say before getting into it!

In today’s edition:

• ❄️ Alaska Runs another Deal ✈️ 

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 🎠 Status Match Carousel 🎠 

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

❄️ Alaska Runs another Deal ✈️

Almost every newsletter I write has some kind of deal in it now - I know there’s the monthly Singapore Spontaneous Escapes and the Flying Blue Promo Rewards, but on the other weeks when that stuff isn’t out, I’m generally surprised when there’s other deals to talk about. So when Alaska does stuff like this, it can be quite exciting!

On the surface, this deal is relatively simple to understand:

• 📆 You need to book by TODAY

• 🗓️ This deal is for flights from January 28th to March 19th

• 🪙 Fares start at $39 or 4k miles (plus taxes) each way

But when you look into what the exact routes in the deal are, there do seem to be some good deals to be had. Of course, flights for 4k miles or $39 are a great deal, but these are likely to be shorter flights. So do compare both cash and miles prices to make sure that the CPP (cents per point) is good enough to warrant using points.

The deal of deals in this promotion seems to be that flights from the west coast to Hawaii start at $149 or 7.5k miles + $6 in taxes. I see it for the LAX-HNL route, and hopefully other cities that Alaska flies to Hawaii from also have this pricing! 💸 

Transcontinental routes start at 10k miles, which is also not bad at all. Getting from New York to the west coast for that price each way is probably about the best mileage price you’ll get for that routing.

Alaska has much more of a presence on the West Coast than the East Coast, so this deal is probably more useful for those on the West Coast. I do tend to write more about deals from NYC, being that’s around where I’m based, so glad the deals are somewhat geographically diverse this time around?

By the way, Hawaiian (which Alaska owns now) also has a deal for routes to Hawaii - various routes to Hawaii from the west coast start at $99! No points redemptions on this one, but still a good one to take advantage of if you are looking at Hawaii 🌴 

Anyway, do take advantage if your travel plans align! 🧳

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

¹ This bonus is stackable with a separate 10% bonus for holders of the Aeroplan® Credit Card, for a total of 30%!

🎠 Status Match Carousel 🎠 

Now that the new year has kicked off, I guess its time for airlines to try to siphon off competitor's’ loyal customers? That works out for consumers in the end, because there are a bunch of status match opportunities available right now! 🔄

For those not familiar, a status match is when you use your current loyalty status (airline, hotel, cruise line, etc.) and match it to a competitor’s loyalty status. Right now, United, Delta and Alaska are all offering status matches, so if you have certain airline statuses, you can use it to also gain status with United, Delta, and Alaska through the match!

A few things to know with status matches:

• ⌛️ Most of these will grant you status for a short period - during that period, you’ll have to hit certain requirements to maintain that status for longer

• 🚨 The status you currently hold that you are using to match needs to have been earned organically (meaning if you have status due to another match or credit card benefit, etc., that won’t work)

If you have status and want to try something new, or just have a flight coming up on one of these airlines (or alliances) that you want more benefits for, then feel free to jump on these offers! Again, the airlines offering status matches are (with links to more details):

• United: Matched for 120 days, and can extend status with qualifying activities

• Delta: Matched for 3 months, and can extend status with qualifying activities

• Alaska: Matched for 3 months, and can extend status with qualifying activities

• American: Matched for 4 months, and can extend status with qualifying activities

• JetBlue: Matched for 3 months, and can extend status with qualifying activities

• Southwest: Matched for 90 days, and can extend status with qualifying activities

Different levels of status also grant status with the airline alliance as a whole - for example, United Premier Gold and up gives Star Alliance Gold status, which grants lounge access when flying Star Alliance. With this in mind, a strategy could be to time a status match with when you have a certain flight coming up with a certain alliance, and then have the status during that flight to take advantage of additional benefits (like lounge access, and more!). 💸 

If that wasn’t enough, Royal Jordanian is also offering a status match, although this one sadly isn’t open to US residents. If you reside in one of the eligible countries and have status that can be matched to Royal Jordanian, this could be worth a look. Note that this one does cost money, but this status match includes airline and hotel status too - could be a neat way to get Oneworld status if you need it anytime soon!

There are airline, hotel, and cruise line matches that go on throughout the year, so do be on the lookout for these moving forward. Also, by the way, car rental status can pretty much always be matched to any competitor 🚗 

Happy matching!

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 🚘️ Delta is launching a new partnership with Uber (they dumped Lyft) - signup for the waitlist here!

  • Once the Lyft partnership ends, feel free to move to Hilton or Alaska, as they still have Lyft partnerships 🤝

• ✈️ Breeze has another deal for 40% off base fares with code LOCKIN

• 🏦 See if you’re eligible for any Chase spending offers here!

• 🏨 Choice Hotels has made some updates to its program, including seemingly introducing the dreaded dynamic pricing…

💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

Again, the usual solid cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred^®/Reserve^®

• Chase Freedom Unlimited^®/Flex^®

• Amex Gold & Plat

• Capital One Venture X

• Citi Strata Preferred^℠

Do search for public links for the above cards to compare signup bonuses to make sure you get the highest one (incognito mode, Resy, etc.).

For cards with elevated signup bonuses (targeted bonuses are not included), I’ve got:

📤️ Spread the Word! 📤️

Thank you so much for subscribing! This newsletter is committed to providing you all with helpful info and tips to maximize your points and rewards, at no direct cost to you! (appreciate you using any of my referral links, though!)

If you do find this newsletter informative, helpful, or entertaining, I’d greatly appreciate you spreading the word about it! If not, please do give me feedback on how I can improve your Sense per Point experience.

Also, if my newsletter helps you to book travel using points, let me know! It’ll make me so happy 😄 

Hope that all makes sense! That’s all for this week’s edition of Sense per Point.

Wishing everyone a wonderful rest of your day and week 😊 

- Sean Kim

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