Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is doing well 😊

I mentioned not too long ago that I’ve been watching a ton of movies as part of a goal to use the streaming services I pay for more. Movies have naturally become a hobby for me now, along with the points and miles hobby, of course!

So then, I thought: is there any way to combine these hobbies? One thing that came to mind was watching movies related to credit card points or frequent flyer miles. The closest thing I thought of is a movie called Up in the Air, starring George Clooney. And so I pass it on, potentially, to you all: Any movies that might be worth watching that is somewhat about frequent flyer miles or credit card points?

Let me know if you think of anything at all, and thanks in advance!

In today’s edition:

• ✈️ Emirates Restricts First Class 💺 

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 🇸🇬 Singapore’s June Escapes 🇸🇬

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

✈️ Emirates Restricts First Class 💺 

Emirates - you know, that one really luxe airline, with the awesome looking business and first class? It’s a cool experience that lots of people would enjoy with points if they could, and I certainly wouldn’t mind a shower on the plane!

But they’re making First Class harder to book with points, unfortunately…

As of Monday (5/12), the only way you can redeem points for Emirates First Class is if you have elite status with Emirates Skywards. There was also very little advance notice of this, if at all, so this is quite unfortunate 😢

So now to book this using Emirates miles, you’ll need at least Emirates Silver status. You can get that through actual flying and other airline activity, or you can get an Emirates credit card, offered through Barclays:

• The basic $99 annual fee card offers Silver status the first year, and Silver status each year when you spend 20k in that year

• The premium $499 annual fee card offers Gold status the first year and every subsequent year that you spend at least $40,000; the card gives Silver status for as long as you have the card starting from year 2

For some interesting reason, Emirates hasn’t yet stopped sending First Class award availability to some airline partners, as this is still bookable through Aeroplan and Qantas Frequent Flyer too, although it is still quite expensive. This is interesting because I thought Emirates was making these changes for exclusivity - what is the logic of restricting Emirates First Class to Emirates miles, but still leaving it open to Air Canada and Qantas miles? 🤷

Anyways, Emirates First Class got a bit harder to book - if you already have Emirates status, or if you find award availability through Qantas or Aeroplan, then this likely isn’t a problem for you, but still unfortunate nonetheless.

For now, hopefully Emirates doesn’t pull availability from Qantas and Aeroplan, just so it leaves some opportunity to book these awards without airline status! Also note that business class is still bookable without Emirates status 🤞 

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

A chart of transfer partners by bank, along with other information, can be found here!

🇸🇬 Singapore’s June Escapes 🇸🇬

Singapore released this month’s Krisflyer Spontaneous Escapes! As per usual, Singapore releases discounted award flights in the form of Spontaneous Escapes on the 15th of every month. All deals released are 30% off 💰️ 

The details to keep note of are that:

• You must complete your booking by May 31st 📆

• Travel booked through this can take place between June 1st and June 30th, 2025 📆

• Awards are non-refundable and non-changeable (so be careful)

This month’s discounted routes from the US are:

For the second straight month, they’ve included the New York to Frankfurt route in business class! This route comes up in these deals periodically, so it’s nice to see this fifth-freedom route again 👍️ 

But yes, 56,700 Singapore miles will get you from New York (JFK) to Frankfurt in business! Or if you still want to go but don’t have the miles, 17,500 miles will do the same in economy. Remember that Amex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi points all transfer to Singapore at a 1:1 ratio! ✈️ 

If you are interested in going to Singapore or flying Singapore Airlines to Germany in June, do take advantage of these discounts, available till May 31st! And if not interested now but interested in the future, then keep an eye for these discounts on the 15th of every month!

Happy travels 😊 

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 🥗 Grubhub has deals going on throughout the month for its Grubhub+ members!

• ☕️ Dunkin’ and JetBlue’s partnership has led to a plane being painted in Dunkin’ livery!

• ✈️ SAS is running a 25% discount using SAS points!

💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

Again, the usual solid cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred^® / Reserve®

• Chase Freedom Unlimited^®/Flex^®

• Amex Gold & Plat

• Capital One Venture X

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! 📤️

Thanks for subscribing! This newsletter is committed to helping you 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

PS: If you want to make sure Sense per Point doesn’t get caught in your spam, you can move this email to your primary inbox, or Reply “Hello!” directly to this email by clicking the link and hitting send 📩