Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is doing well 😊

Happy August as well! Normally I’d start to lament that summer is coming to an end, but its been way too hot to even consider that thought.

Its been a relatively uneventful week in the points and miles world - when that is the case, it actually is a bit hard to pick stories to write on. But it is what it is, and more often than not, no news is good news in the points world!

After all, the past few months have seen a dramatic shake up, with a bunch of cards making changes, and Citi getting American as a transfer partner! So naturally, the subsequent weeks were going to be much quieter.

Let’s get into today’s stories!

In today’s edition:

• 🍁 An Aeroplan Status Nerf 🍁

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• ✈️ 25% Off to Europe, August Edition 📆

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

🍁 An Aeroplan Status Nerf 🍁

Luckily, nothing was changed in terms of the award chart and any costs/rates related to booking flights using miles, but Aeroplan did announce some nerfs to its program.

Back in the day, most airline rewards programs would reward you status based on how many miles you’ve flown. So long flights (North America - Asia, for example) would get you much closer to airline status than shorter domestic flights, etc.

However, for Aeroplan, that won’t be the case starting next year: Status accumulation will now be based on spend rather than distance flown…

British Airways did a similar thing earlier, which also was not very popular with frequent flyers, so this is overall a negative change for those chasing status with Aeroplan.

So in short:

• Points will be earned based on dollars spent (1 point per $1 spent, excluding taxes fees and third party charges). Increased earning rates for elites (2x-6x depending on status).

• Aeroplan is introducing Status Qualifying Credits (SQC). Earn up to 4 SQC per dollar spent plus up to 25,000 SQC via spend on Aeroplan credit cards.

If say, you flew from Vancouver to Tokyo for $600 one-way nonstop via Air Canada, that flight is roughly 4,708 miles long. Now, instead of earning 4,708 Aeroplan points, you’ll just get 600 points, as that was the cost of the flight. Not great.

If you do want to chase airline status with an airline that still gives status and points earnings via distance flown, then Alaska is probably the airline for you! But otherwise, be wary of these elite status earning changes from airlines like Air Canada.

Or just be a free agent, like me! Loyalty to all is loyalty to none 👍️

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

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

¹ New transfer bonuses not present during the previous week are bolded.

✈️ 25% Off to Europe, August Edition 📆

It’s the first newsletter of August, so as per usual, Flying Blue’s monthly Promo Rewards are back!

If you are not familiar: Flying Blue (mileage program of Air France and KLM) releases Flying Blue Promo Rewards, which are monthly promotions where routes between Europe and select destinations globally are offered for 25% off the original mileage price. Every month!

For this month, the US cities selected for this discount are Seattle, Washington D.C., Miami, San Francisco, Phoenix and Dallas ✈️ 

They’ve got deals across the globe for this month, with business class deals from Europe to Montreal, Lima, Quito, Guayaquil, and Accra! Lots of exciting flight routes in the offers for the month!

So without these promo rewards, economy flights from North America to Europe start at 25k miles each way + taxes & fees. With the 25% off from these deals, that now goes down to 18.75k miles each way (same taxes & fees). I’ve used these deals to travel to Europe and back before too! Business class deals start at 45k each way for the Montreal route, and 63.75k each way for the other routes!

Remember, just because these deals come from Air France and KLM does not mean you have to go to France or the Netherlands! Their intra-European network is far and wide, and as long as your origin or destination is a city selected for this month’s discounts, you’ll get 25% off, no matter the European airport involved. 🇪🇺 

This also comes at a time when the Air France-KLM World Elite Mastercard has an elevated bonus of 70k miles and 100 XP (60 on approval, 40 after hitting minimum spend) after spending $3k in 3 months. The card also gives you 5k points if you spend $50 on it in a year, which definitely helps to offset the $89 annual fee! XP, by the way, are points to get Flying Blue status, and 100 XP immediately gets you Flying Blue Silver status. Worth a look if you have a use for the miles or the XP for Flying Blue status 💳️

Exciting stuff from Flying Blue for August - happy travels if you find and book something that works for you!

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💰️ Southwest is offering 40% off base fares with code LUVFALL!

• 🏦 See if you are targeted for Chase’s latest promo, offering 5x on gas, groceries, and restaurants for Q3 2025!

• 💳️ Capital One is switching its debit cards onto the Discover payment network, following the acquisition - stay tuned to see whether that will happen to some credit cards too.

• 🔄 There’s a status match offer available for Kenya Airways (SkyTeam Elite Plus is available through this!)

  • There’s also an American Airlines and Hyatt reciprocal status match as well!

💳️ 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

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