Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is having a great week 😊

I, for one, have an extended weekend coming up, as I have Indigenous People’s Day off! I’m actually going to Germany for the extended weekend, which should be awesome 🇩🇪 

I took advantage of a deal with Norse Atlantic, a low cost carrier with transatlantic flights for the flight there. They give passengers the chance to bid for an upgrade to premium, with the lowest bids starting at $200. I actually bid the minimum of $200, thinking that its the minimum and the website actually says the bid is poor, so I won’t get it. But lo and behold, I got it 😲 

So yeah, hopefully premium on a low cost airline is decent! And hope all of you have some exciting travel plans too, however short or long 🧳 

In today’s edition:

• ✈️ Delta’s Got Deals ✈️ 

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• 👩‍⚖️ The Protect Your Points Act 👩‍⚖️ 

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

✈️ Delta’s Got Deals ✈️

I don’t talk about Delta often on this newsletter, and if I do, it usually isn’t for anything positive. Skymiles for most itineraries that involve the US aren’t really valuable, and so I thought there’d be better places to point you all to in terms of points redemptions.

But then all of a sudden, Delta runs a flash sale, with some interesting offers!

This deal ends TODAY, so do take advantage quickly if you are looking, but some interesting deals I found include (but are certainly not limited to):

• San Diego (SAN) to Taipei (TPE) for 30k + $45 roundtrip (!!)

• NYC (JFK) to Amsterdam (AMS) for 32k + $101 roundtrip

• Denver (DEN) to Brisbane (BNE) for 60k + $124 roundtrip

Some of these routes have some wide availability too! 📆 

Do note that these seem to require a round trip booking originating in the US, and that there are dates that these routes are restricted to. The dates seem to be pretty clearly listed on the link, though.

There are a lot of deals to Europe as well, but for those, the cash prices of the tickets are low enough that the CPP (Cents per Point) seems to be rather low. Still, if you’re looking to travel on points, this could be something to consider.

Amex points do transfer to Delta, if you don’t have Delta miles already. Do note that Amex actually charges a tax for transferring points to domestic airlines (Delta included). The fee is rather small, at $6 per 10,000 miles transferred, so if that isn’t a dealbreaker for you, then go for it!

I considered those tickets to Taipei for sure, but maybe you can take advantage! Happy travels, with or without this Delta Flash Sale! 🧳 

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

¹ Details for how bonus percentage is determined is shown through the hyperlink over the airline mileage program name.

² Programs that utilize Avios are Aer Lingus, Iberia, British Airways, Qatar Airways, and Finnair - all of these programs can transfer to and from each other at 1:1 at no charge. So these transfer bonuses always indirectly include Finnair and Qatar as well.

👩‍⚖️ The Protect Your Points Act 👩‍⚖️

You are all entitled to your own opinions about Senator Durbin, but I will say that in the points & miles world, he has quite a history…

As various credit card rewards bloggers would have it, his Credit Card Competition Act threatened to destroy the credit card rewards landscape, and his legislation on debit card interchange fees in 2009 ended a lot of debit card rewards programs at the time. So when I heard he introduced new rewards-related legislation, I panicked for a second 😰 

As the senator (apparently a participant in airline rewards programs himself) explains:

So how exactly will the legislation make rewards more transparent? Well, the legislation would require airlines to:

1. Provide at least one year’s notice to consumers of any changes to their terms of service, or any actions that would devalue or jeopardize accrued points.

2. Prominently display on every page of their website a disclosure of the financial value of one point/mile, updated in real time.

3. Display airfare and add-on pricing concurrently in dollar value and points/miles value, so consumers can easily compare the worth of their points.  Further, it would allow consumers to pay for airfare and add-on services in any combination of points or dollars.

4. Allow consumers to transfer points to family members or other participants in the same program, and prohibit airlines from charging fees to do so.

5. Allow transferring of points/miles to another traveler’s account without limiting the number of points transferred, and ensure that any points/miles remain of equal value once transferred.

6. Prohibit accrued points/miles from expiring.

Honestly, most of these requirements in this bill seem pretty reasonable! I’m pretty much in full agreement on points 1, 4, 5, and 6.

On point 2, however:

• Disclose the value of one point/mile does not seem like a good idea - this basically locks in value, getting rid of any chance for outsized value for rewards redemptions. Gets closer to dynamic pricing, the way I see it 👎️ 

• If an airline with an award chart like Alaska has to comply with this, wouldn’t they just get rid of the award charts and just have points offset a certain amount of the cash price or something? This does not seem good for us consumers…

As for point 3:

• I’m worried that if points 2 and 3 are enacted together, then the same cents per point would apply when used for flights as well as any ancillary benefits (seat selection, snacks, etc.).

• If airlines can have a set value per point for add-on services, but maintain an award chart to avoid locking in a value per point when redeemed on flights, I think I’d be okay with this requirement. But I don’t think it will happen that way. 😰 

Do know that if enacted, this legislation would only apply to US airlines. Don’t worry, other programs like Aeroplan and Lifemiles won’t be affected.

I don’t know if or when this will become law, but I can only hope that it does not negatively affect rewards. Let’s hope for that together 🤞 

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️ 

• 🇨🇦 If you have Marriott or Air Canada Aeroplan status, see if you are eligible for a new reciprocal status match!

• 💳️ Amex Spain limited lounge visits for cardholders… Hoping this does not make its way over to the US 🤞 

💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

Again, the usual solid cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred^®/Reserve^®

• Chase Freedom Unlimited^®/Flex^®

• Amex Gold & Plat

• Capital One Venture X

• Capital One SavorOne

• Citi Strata Preferred^℠

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! 📤️

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!)

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 📩