Welcome Back!

It’s been a while - hope everyone is well 😊 

I’m back from a trip to Singapore and Brunei this week, and I loved every bit of it! So much culture, nature, and food to speak of, and of course, the trip is that much better when the flights and the accommodations are paid using points and credit card benefits!

The past few weeks have been eventful in the points & miles world too, so I’m all rested and ready to keep helping you all maximize your points, while talking about about my trip as well 🧳 

The word count today is creeping up a bit, but there is a lot going on, especially in the “Other Stories and Deals” section! As I try to catch everyone up on what’s happened in the past few weeks, let’s get into it! 🏃 

In today’s edition:

• 🏨 Review: The Andaz Singapore 🏨 

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 👎️ Devaluations: The UK Edition 🇬🇧

• 📰 Other Stories and Deals 💰️

🏨 Review: The Andaz Singapore 🏨 

I do plan to post a longer review on Reddit in the near future, so I will share that full review with you all when I write it up - wanted to give everyone a little teaser of some of the ways I used my points on this trip!

I’ll start with the numbers: I used points for two nights at this Hyatt category 6 property, meaning that each night costs between 21k and 29k points. As a Hyatt Globalist, I receive complimentary breakfast, 4pm late checkout, as well as a room/suite upgrade when available (which I got, to a room with a sea view). With Chase points trasferring to Hyatt, a signup bonus from one of the Chase Sapphire cards can pay for this stay, with points to spare! 💸 

Now to the hotel itself!

The Andaz Singapore is situated nicely in central Singapore, right by a metro station, and with wonderful views of the Marina Bay 🪟 

The hotel breakfast, though, was incredible: They had a congee station, a laksa station, Indian food, many fruits 🥭 (I ate so many rambutans!), as well as one particular item my friend loved: unlimited Yakult! This is, of course, in addition to the usual continental breakfast items, pastries, and cheeses/meats/salads. And they had Teh tarik on tap! With the Singaporean street food and chili crab I ate during the trip too, I ate incredibly well 😄 

That’s just a teaser for you! Pictures of the room, as well as other details are coming soon - the point (no pun intended), anyway, is that all of this is possible because of my points, and it can be possible for you too! 🧳 

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

¹ New transfer bonuses that were not present in the previous newsletter are in bold.
² This bonus is stackable with a separate 10% bonus for holders of the Aeroplan® Credit Card, for a total of 30%! Details of the deal here.

👎️ Devaluations: The UK Edition 🇬🇧

I was enjoying Southeast Asia so much that I almost missed this news, but there are some devaluations from UK-based airlines that occurred in the past few weeks - one of them is quite significant, and the other is bad, but not as concerning.

To get into the devaluations exactly: Virgin Atlantic devalued redemptions for flying Delta specifically, and British Airways devalued redemptions for flying American and Alaska specifically.

I’ll start with the worse news of the two first: The Virgin devaluations.

Using Virgin Atlantic miles to fly Delta wasn’t entirely straightforward to begin with, as they had 3 separate award charts: One specifically for US-UK flights, one for US-Europe (non-UK) flights, and a third distance-based chart for everything else. The US-Europe chart was quite the sweet spot before all this, as business class used to cost 50k points each way!

This chart is the only one that got devalued this time around, to the new chart below:

This already isn’t great, but the real damage is this: Virgin has added fuel surcharges to this redemption of upwards of $1000+ 😢 

Going from even 50k and little taxes and fees to 47.5k plus $1000 in taxes and fees is not great… I don’t believe I’ll be redeeming Virgin miles for Delta anytime soon with these new changes 👎️ 

Luckily, Virgin Atlantic still has some decent redemption opportunities for flights to the UK, Korea, and Japan (post-ANA devaluations still yield an okay redemption opportunity, imo) 👍️ 

And now, the British Airways devaluations.

This one looks horrible, and it is, until you realize that you can just avoid British Airways altogether by redeeming points differently for the same flights.

See the chart below for the changes to flights in the US:

These changes really are shocking - some of these rates went up by 45%!! 🤯 

There’s been a longstanding notion that British Airways Avios are best for short flights within the US, and it’s important that I dispel that now - this is just simply not true.

But these changes don’t matter as much, when you realize that Qatar Airways has access to the same American and Alaska flights in the US, and at better rates:

I myself redeemed through Qatar for a last minute flight from New York to Washington D.C., and can confirm this is probably the best current use of points for short flights within the US!

And remember: British Airways Avios can be changed into Qatar Airways Avios at 1:1 for free! Add on the fact that Avios are accessible from all the banks’ transferable currencies, and these changes just don’t have to be a problem at all.

So just move your points over to Qatar, now probably the best way to use miles for short flights in the US! 👊 

📰 Other Stories 📰

• The Lufthansa Group is acquiring a 41% stake in ITA, the Italian national carrier, with plans to acquire the other 59% within two years - an early welcome to the Star Alliance for ITA?

• Turkish Airlines released a new card in the US - this is in “stories” and not “deals”, because the card and its bonus aren’t good enough to be considered a deal, imo

• The American Express Schwab variation allows users to cash out points to Schwab at 1.1 cents per point. Starting October 1st, that will be limited to one million points cashed out per calendar year.

• Amex is also opening a new lounge in Tokyo Haneda airport next year!

💰️ Tips & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Have a Chase card? Check if you are eligible for bonus spending offers here!

• 🛒 Prime Day is coming up soon - there are some Amex offers going around, so if you are eligible beforehand, use them! Happy shopping!

• 🇫🇷 Check out the Flying Blue Monthly Promos as always - deals to Europe to be had

• ✈️ Alaska Airlines introduced its own reward discounts for flights to various cities - check it out here!

• Hyatt has a bunch of promotional offers, so take advantage if you have stays coming up!

• Southwest is offering 40% off flights to Hawaii - this deal expires today, so do take a look if interested!

• This is the first time I considered buying miles directly - Aeroplan’s 40th anniversary came with an interesting bonus for buying points, so take a look here!

📤️ 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.

Wishing everyone a wonderful rest of your day and week ❤️ 

- Sean Kim

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