Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is doing well 😊 

Sorry I took an unexpected week off last week! I was in Korea last week for a family wedding, and while writing the newsletter I knocked out… 3pm EST in Korea time is 5am, after all! So hope you all understand, and hope I can provide a decent read today 📰

Korea was a short, but great time! I actually even saw a Korean actor while walking around the mall, which was cool, but the main highlights are seeing family and eating good food 😋

I flew Air Canada back home from Korea (ICN-YYZ-LGA), but the flight from Toronto to New York got cancelled!! I had to stay at a hotel overnight (provided by the airline, thankfully) and get a flight the next day…

Never a dull travel moment!

In today’s edition:

• 🇰🇷 Using Points for Korea 🇰🇷

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 📉 Double Devaluations… 📉

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

🇰🇷 Using Points for Korea 🇰🇷

Have I mentioned I just went to Korea? ✈️

I’ve discussed this topic before, as its a common travel destination for me and for some close friends, but there are a few ways to use points for a trip to Korea and I thought I’d go through them again!

For flights, there are a few ways - highlighting non-stop routes from the US to Korea below accessible via credit card points in the US:

• 🗽 Korean Air Economy Class from New York to Seoul (Incheon) for 37k points via Virgin Atlantic

  • 🏖️ West Coast US Cities to Seoul (Incheon), like LA and Seattle, price at 31k points via Virgin Atlantic!

• ✈️ American Airlines Business Class from Dallas to Seoul (Incheon) for 75k points via Alaska

  • 🪙 Economy Class on this route is 37.5k points via Alaska!

• 🍁 Asiana Airlines Business Class from New York to Seoul (Incheon) for 75k points via Aeroplan

I’ll note that there are many ways to get to Korea with layovers as well (Qsuites, Emirates, Etihad, Singapore, Air France, etc.), but those will be at higher rates than what I’ve noted above. But all are viable options! I’ll also highlight that if you don’t have Bilt, the main way to earn Alaska miles are to either fly with Alaska or to get their credit card 💳️ 

If after exhausting all of these options, none of them work for you, there is also a low-cost carrier called Air Premia that flies from Seoul to various airports in the US, and that could be a bit more affordable way to get to and from Korea! I’m flying them on my next trip to Korea, actually!

And of course, Virgin, Alaska, and Aeroplan miles have a variety of uses other than to go to Korea!

Personally, I also used points to stay at hotels during my time in Korea - can’t crash with relatives forever! Although most major hotel chains with rewards points obtainable via credit card points have properties in Korea, I personally prefer Hyatt (for many, many reasons that I’ll discuss in the future). With that being said, I stayed at the Andaz Seoul Gangnam and the Park Hyatt Seoul on this trip! 🏨

The Andaz costs 17k-23k points per night and the Park Hyatt costs 21-29k points per night as per Hyatt’s award chart, and Chase points transfer directly to Hyatt, so that’s what I did!

So yeah, lots of different ways to get to Korea using points, and many hotels to stay at using points too! Do take advantage if you are looking to go at some point 🧳

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

It turns out there aren’t any at the moment… The chart will be back as soon as there are new transfer bonuses to put on it 👍️

📉 Double Devaluations… 📉

Unfortunately, early 2025 has brought us some devaluations of airline mileage programs…

Namely, Flying Blue (Air France & KLM) and Qantas have announced some increased redemption costs on their flights. Starting with Flying Blue:

• Economy flights from the US to Europe went from 20k points to 25k points (25% increase)

• Premium Economy flights from the US to Europe went from 35k points to 40k points (~14% increase)

• Business Class flights from the US to Europe went from 50k points to 60k points (20% increase)

This is obviously not great, but I have to say that this could have been worse. 50k points for transatlantic Business Class was for sure a steal, so I suppose it isn’t surprising in the end that this increased slightly. 60k to cross the ocean in business class is still pretty good!

With these changes, this month’s Flying Blue Promo Rewards are the last, I presume, at the old pricing. So maybe take advantage of that this month before the new prices come in for February’s Promo Rewards 🧳

Now for Qantas:

• They’ve only announced increases in redemption rates, but haven’t released what the actual increases are

• Lowest redemption rates will start from 9.2k, as opposed to the old 8k

• These changes will be announced by May 5th, and will be implemented by August 5th

This one is still in the air, of course, as they haven’t released much detail yet, but it is definitely a relief that these changes won’t go live until August. That gives us plenty of time to digest the info and make bookings at the current rates until then. Hopefully it won’t be too bad!

I’ve said before that devaluations are just a part of the points & miles game these days, and here comes two more… But do know that there is always still value to be had in some airline or hotel program somewhere, and this newsletter exists to help you find that!

Let’s hope for less devaluations in the future 🤞

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• ✈️ Breeze is offering 50% off base fares with code GONOW

• 🚕 Uber is offering up to $120 for rides for teens who fail their driver’s test!

💳️ 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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