Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is doing well 😊

I don’t remember when, but I had mentioned that I wanted to look for movies that involve points and miles, and that Up in the Air was the closest thing I had found to that point.

Well, I think I found another one: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love! Adam Sandler’s character is collecting packs of pudding due to a promotion at the time that awarded airline miles for buying certain items at the grocery store. While the movie in itself is fictional, that plot line involving pudding for miles is based on a true story inspired by David Phillips. I recommend both films (not just because they involve flying and airline miles)!

Anyway, it has been a pretty quiet week in the points & miles world, especially relative to all the crazy changes to premium cards that we saw in the past few weeks. So just one pretty sort story today, and a short newsletter in general!

In today’s edition:

• ❄️ Alaska X Porter ✈️

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

❄️ Alaska X Porter ✈️

So to be clear, Alaska and Porter were partners before, but that initial partnership did not include the ability to redeem Alaska miles for Porter flights. Now, you can now earn and redeem Alaska miles for flying Porter, and vice versa 🥳

Porter primary flies short haul routes within Canada, as well as between Canada and the US. So no crazy trips to Europe or Asia that come from this partnership, but it still represents some value, and therefore I must write about it.

Porter flights booked via Alaska will follow the standard award chart, which is below:

So right now, a flight from Newark to Toronto (Billy Bishop) for August 14th costs $102 each way:

But the points cost for this would be 4.5k points plus $19 in taxes and fees, which brings the CPP here to a bit over 1.5cpp. But the cash fares from Porter above don’t necessarily have the same baggage allowance, cancellation fees, etc. as the award rates below. But it can still represent some value nonetheless!

Not too bad, and especially as cash fares rise (booking close to the day of the flight, holidays, etc.), this new partnership can add more value should you need to go to or from Canada!

I flew Porter to and from Toronto a few months back, and I may have done it this way if I could. But better late than never. Only thing is that with Amex no longer transferring to Hawaiian, Bilt is the only transfer partner to Alaska now (and I don’t have Bilt…).

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

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

¹ If you have the Aeroplan credit card via Chase, you get an additional 10%, for a total 30% transfer bonus here.

² New transfer bonuses since the last newsletter are presented in bold.

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 🛋️ Amex announced that a new Centurion Lounge in Amsterdam is coming!

  • Remember, Amex lounges in Newark, Salt Lake City, and Tokyo Haneda are also currently in the works 🛠️ 

• 🛒 Amazon’s Prime Day sales are going on!

💳️ 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 📩