Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is having a great week 😊 

So I had the opportunity to check out the Amex lounge at LaGuardia this past weekend, and was able to compare it to the Chase lounge I previously visited in April right next door. I think there is a clear winner: Chase 🏦 

It doesn’t mean the Amex lounge is bad by any means, but the Chase lounge at LaGuardia really is something else. Either way, lounges do add meaningfully to my travel experience, and hopefully they can for you too!

In today’s edition:

• ✈️ Emirates Lowered Award Pricing??!! 🧳

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 🗺️ Oneworld Making Moves 🛬 

• 📰 Other Stories and Deals 💰️

✈️ Emirates Lowered Award Pricing??!! 🧳

How many times this year have I talked about devaluations? ANA and Virgin are just some of the airlines that raised award prices in 2024… (there must be others I can’t remember)

But some good news this time around: Emirates lowered award prices!! 🥳 

To be clear, these new and improved prices are only for economy, but this is better than nothing! As an economy flyer myself (re: I’d rather take more trips/vacations flying economy than fewer trips/vacations flying business or first), this is fantastic news for me!

These positive changes have two parts to them: Emirates lowered prices for economy when using Emirates miles to fly Emirates, and they also lowered prices for economy when using Emirates miles to fly its partner airlines as well!

For Emirates’ own flights, some of the old and new award prices in Emirates economy now include:

I know these examples are only from New York, but routes all over Emirates’ route network had its award prices reduced. As you can see from the New York to Milan route, some of the prices went down over 50%!! 🎉 

The New York to Milan route with Emirates in nonstop economy, by the way, is very competitive in price, and might now be the best way to get to the city from NYC. Flying Blue (next best option that comes to mind) would charge 20k miles from New York to Milan, with a stopover and higher taxes and fees than this Emirates route now, and most other programs will start at much higher than 20k miles, let alone 17.5k on Emirates 😁 

As for partner airline pricing in economy, rates went down by up to 20%. AwardWallet created a great chart showing these changes, which are linked earlier in this sentence and shown to you below:

The partner changes are great too, but I’m not sure it makes Emirates miles for partner awards all that viable. After all, business and first rates still remain high, and these new economy award prices still may be higher than some other programs.

Example of Emirates still not being viable: A Korean Air flight from New York (JFK) to Incheon (ICN) costs 44k Emirates miles with these changes, but costs 37k through Virgin Atlantic, so I’d choose Virgin every time 🇰🇷 

Example of Emirates now being viable: A Condor flight from Frankfurt (FRA) to New York (JFK) costs 26k Emirates miles, while costing 27.5k miles using Alaska miles (next best choice), so Emirates miles would make sense for Condor economy 🇩🇪 

This all does make Emirates a more competitive transfer partner for your credit card points, but I still think the main use of Emirates miles would be to fly Emirates Business or First - Dom Pérignon, caviar and a shower on the plane, anyone?? 🍾 

While most programs are raising award prices, it’s great to see Emirates buck the trend, even if it just for economy awards. Hope this helps you, and if not, hope you do take that Emirates flight in business or first class!! ✈️ 

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

🗺️ Oneworld Making Moves 🛬 

I’ve talked about the Star Alliance and Skyteam in past newsletters, and how these airline alliances and airline partnerships in general open up new points redemption opportunities for consumers. I think I haven’t discussed Oneworld as much, being they are the smallest of the three, but they are definitely growing!

It was announced earlier that two new airlines will be joining Oneworld: Oman Air in 2024, and Fiji Airways within a year from now! With Qatar already in Oneworld as well as Australia-based Qantas, these new airline members will strengthen Oneworld’s hold on these regions.

But from a points perspective??

Well, once these airlines join, it will now open up new redemption opportunities for Oman Air and Fiji Airways!! 🪙 

I will clarify that points can already be used for these airlines, with Flying Blue and Aeroplan (among others) already partnering with Oman Air. Fiji Airways already had partnerships with multiple Oneworld airlines (and Singapore too!).

But having more partners and ways to use points is a good thing, as there is always the possibility that one of the new partners prices these partner awards lower than what’s available currently! What if Alaska airlines (newest member of Oneworld currently) prices Oman Air awards lower than Aeroplan or Flying Blue do currently?? That would be great! 👍️ 

And if not, it represents more opportunities for elite members (Oneworld Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald) to use new airport lounges and receive new benefits, and increases connectivity of the Oneworld network overall.

But the point is that growing alliances and growing partnerships means that our points become more versatile! More ways to use our points is always a good thing, as if certain programs and miles devalue, there are more options left to choose from later. This helps hedge risk, and as mentioned, can create new sweet spots to take advantage of!

Hope these additions can add to your points booking and travel experiences! 😊 

📰 Other Stories 📰

• 😢 Marriott Bonvoy will stop transfers to Korean Air SkyPass on June 17th - You can still transfer to other airlines at 3:1, or just stay at Marriott properties using points.

• ✈️ Virgin Atlantic is partnering with EL AL and adding the ability to use Virgin miles to fly EL AL on June 19th!

• 🍷 JFK Terminal 4 already has Amex and Chase lounges (plus many others), but Capital One announced it plans to open its own lounge at the terminal too!

  • Did I mention LaGuardia Terminal B also will have a Capital One lounge in the future?? (Amex and Chase are both already here too btw)

💰️ Tips & Deals 💰️

• ✈️ Up to 50% off base fares at Southwest - the deal ends today!

• 🛒 Check out Walmart+ Week of Deals starting June 17th if you are a member! Prime Day is also coming in July 👍️ 

📤️ 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!)

Being that I don’t use social media, it’s been a bit harder to gain subscribers, but I can do it with your help - 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.

I’ll be writing to everyone from the UK next week - wishing everyone a wonderful day and week ❤️ 

- Sean Kim

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