Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is having a great week 😊

My quick trip abroad this past weekend was great, but definitely too quick! Perhaps transoceanic trips for an extended weekend are a bit too ambitious after all - but the only way to know your travel limits is to push them! 🌎️ 

By the way, if you don’t already have Global Entry, it really does save so much time when returning to the US from abroad. Highly recommend it, or getting a card that reimburses you for it! Global Entry includes TSA PreCheck as well, if that is any more incentive to get it for your travels!

In today’s edition:

• 🇸🇬 Krisflyer Spontaneous Escapes 🇸🇬 

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• ✈️ Is Alaska Status the Move? ✈️ 

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

🇸🇬 Krisflyer Spontaneous Escapes 🇸🇬 

Singapore released October’s Krisflyer Spontaneous Escapes! For those of you who aren’t familiar, Singapore releases discounted award flights in the form of Spontaneous Escapes on the 15th of every month. All deals released are 30% off 💰️ 

The details to keep note of are that:

• You must complete your booking by October 31st 📆

• Travel can take place between November 1st and November 31st, 2024 📆

• Awards are non-refundable and non-changeable (so be careful)

Without further ado, this month’s Singapore Airlines discounts in North America are:

This month, they’ve included the New York to Frankfurt route in business class! This route comes up in these deals periodically, and it is back again! And if you are wondering about the JFK-Frankfurt routes: Yes, Singapore operates a flight from New York to Frankfurt (see: Fifth Freedom Flights)!

But yes, 56,700 Singapore miles will get you from New York (JFK) to Frankfurt in business! Or if you still want to go but don’t have the miles, 17,500 miles will do the same in economy. Remember that Amex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi points all transfer to Singapore at a 1:1 ratio! ✈️ 

If you are interested in going to Singapore or flying Singapore Airlines to Germany in November, do take advantage of these discounts, available till October 31st! And if not interested for November but interested in the future, then keep an eye for these discounts on the 15th of every month! 👀 

Happy travels 😊 

🏦➡️✈️ 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.

³ New transfer bonuses that were not present the week before are in bold.

✈️ Is Alaska Status the Move? ✈️

We know Alaska Airlines is busy - they’ve just acquired Hawaiian and implemented 1:1 transfers between the two, which by the way is amazing! But they weren’t done, as they are still making some amazing changes to their program 👍️ 

The first change they’ve announced is the introduction of Milestone Rewards. Basically, when you accrue a certain amount of elite qualifying miles (starting at 10,000 miles), you earn an award! Awards you can select at various milestones include things like:

• ✈️ Bonus miles

• 💻️ Free Wi-Fi passes

• 💺 Upgrade Certificates

• 🛩️ Lounge Passes

Of course, you’ll have to fly Alaska and earn miles for these awards. That, however, brings me to the next part: You won’t have to fly Alaska to earn elite qualifying miles for Alaska, and now, even award flights count towards elite qualifying miles for Alaska! 🤯 

Typically, when you redeem miles for a flight, you don’t get any closer to any airline status for that. But now, Alaska has made it so that redeeming Alaska miles for a flight (even partner awards) can get you closer to Alaska status! You’ll also earn elite qualifying miles equal to the distance of the flight you flew! 🛫 

For example, you can redeem Alaska miles to fly roundtrip from New York to Tokyo with Japan Airlines (one of Alaska’s partners), and earn elite qualifying miles for this! Do know that Alaska’s lowest tier status, MVP, is earned after 20,000 elite qualifying miles. The roundtrip from NYC to Tokyo is 13,545 miles, and remember, you earn elite qualifying miles equal to the distance you flew, so you’d already be pretty close to Alaska MVP status! Alaska MVP earns you OneWorld Ruby status as well, for benefits on partners like American Airlines too!

This is a huge deal, as Alaska already has some amazing redemption opportunities. On top of that, you’d be earning Alaska status, and the milestone rewards too!

These changes are scheduled to go into effect in 2025. That is pretty soon, though, so if you are by planning any travel for next year, it may be worth seeing if Alaska miles can be involved in making your trip a great one, as well as potentially earning some awards and status along with it! 🧳 

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️ 

• ✈️ United has brought back their Mile Play Promotion - a nice add-on if you’ve already got a trip planned, but don’t go out of your way for this, I’d say 🤷 

• 🏘️ Bilt added two new transfer partners, Accor and TAP!

• 🛒 eBay has a 20% sale until 10/20 - make sure to price compare if interested!

💳️ 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!)

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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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