It’s the news every points and miles aficionado has been waiting for: After years of pain, award travel is, in fact, getting easier. Alongside an undeniable trend in red-hot cheap airfare, outstanding deals keep popping up to redeem your points - whether you’re on the hunt for a discounted economy deal or a notoriously hard-to-book lie-flat award ticket.

So Gunnar and Kyle dig into what’s driving this lovely new trend and, most importantly, the dozen or so deals that have us thinking that award travel has finally turned a corner. We’re calling it (working title) “Hot Flight Summer.”

Come for Hot Flight Summer and stay for Gunnar’s hot fireworks take, a revelation about Kyle’s reality TV viewing habits, and why Virgin Atlantic really ticked us off this week.

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00:00 - Introducing … “Hot Flight Summer”

03:16 - Something Hot: Cash airfare continues to drop (think sub-$300 roundtrip flights to Europe!)

08:45 - Something Cold: Virgin doubled taxes and fees on biz class awards

13:50 - A word from our sponsor (us, and our Thrifty Traveler Premium service that’s finding more deals than ever!)

15:43 - The Extra Mile: Hot Flight Summer, or why we think award travel is (finally) getting easier

21:00 - The rise of the elusive “Unicorn Alert” (even if Emirates hates us)

24:30 - Business class award deals to Australia and across the Pacific are back!

29:15 - Gunnar gushes about the Cathay’s The Pier First Class Lounge

34:45 - Booking partner awards – including the rare Delta One redemptions

36:00 - And don’t forget about economy flights, too!

40:15 - The exceptions: Star Alliance ,Iberia’s biz class devaluation, and Amex transfers to Emirates

43:15 - Listener Questions: How to fly to Australia/New Zealand using points and miles, in biz class or economy

48:45 - On the Spot: A listener checks in from Kyle’s favorite hotel in the world while Kyle taps into his Love Island fandom to couple up with – and dump from the island – two recent deals

Produced by Gunnar Olson & Jackson Newman
Edited by David Strutt
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot

Support the show by leaving us a rating and a review wherever you get your podcasts!

Have a question you want answered on-air or an idea for the show? Let us know at podcast@thriftytraveler.com

Get 20% off your first year of cheap flights and points and miles deals with Thrifty Traveler Premium - use promo code TTPOD to save even more!

See what we’re all about at https://thriftytraveler.com - or subscribe to our free weekly points and miles newsletter, The Extra Mile!

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Higher annual fees. More perks. New lounges. It never stops.

The big banks are going bigger than ever on their “premium” travel credit cards. So, Gunnar (fresh off paternity leave!) and Kyle bring Thrifty Traveler’s co-founder and credit card expert, Nick Serati, on the show to help break down all the recent moves from Chase, Amex, and Capital One. And they ask the $900-plus question: With annual fees approaching $1,000 a year, are we hitting a breaking point?

Watch us on YouTube!

0:00 - Introducing Nick … & our new studio!

1:13 - Catching Gunnar up on all the big travel news he (& you) missed

05:48 - Something Hot: Chase’s huge bonus on the new Sapphire Reserve

10:37 - Something cold: Chase’s messy eligibility rule changes

15:23 - A word from our sponsor (us … and our really cool CardPilot tool that’ll help you pick your next travel card!)

17:00 - The Extra Mile: Diving into the “premium” travel credit cards arm race

19:17 - What’s next for the Amex Platinum Card?

20:13 - Capital One throws down the gauntlet with the best lounge yet

21:49 - A fourth big premium card on the horizon? All eyes on Delta

23:20 - Why “premium” travel is all the rage right now

26:20 - Doing the math on premium cards & big annual fees

29:48 - Why banks are all turning their top cards into glorified coupon books

33:40 - The real value of these top-dollar travel cards

39:50 - Listener Question: The best 4-5 credit cards to get started

44:06 - On the Spot: What do Nick & Gunnar love about being dads?

Produced by Gunnar Olson & Jackson Newman
Edited by David Strutt
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot

Support the show by leaving us a rating and a review wherever you get your podcasts!

Have a question you want answered on-air or an idea for the show? Let us know at podcast@thriftytraveler.com

Get 20% off your first year of cheap flights and points and miles deals with Thrifty Traveler Premium - use promo code TTPOD to save even more!

See what we’re all about at https://thriftytraveler.com - or subscribe to our free weekly points and miles newsletter, The Extra Mile!

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Bluesky

How can you find the best value for your SkyMiles? Are Delta SkyMiles worthless? Can you book Delta One for cheap? Am I an idiot for caring about SkyMiles? These are the questions we get about the wildly popular (yet maddening) Delta SkyMiles program, so we do our best to answer all of them and more. Whether you want to book quick, cheap flights within the U.S. or fly business class to Asia (and everything in between), we go over all the best ways to earn and burn Delta SkyMiles.

Watch us on YouTube!

(00:00) - What level of Delta status does Kyle have?

(00:45) - What would we do with 200,000 Delta SkyMiles?

(05:00) - Some of the best ways to use SkyMiles

(09:00) - And the worst…

(14:00) - A word from our sponsor (us): Get the Extra Mile Newsletter to earn more miles

(15:00) - Delta SkyMiles 101

(17:00) - Why Delta prices SkyMiles awards differently than other airlines

(20:30) - Inside the infamous “Sad State of SkyMiles” story from 2023

(23:15) - Why SkyMiles Flash Sales are like “Clearance Meat”

(28:45) - The best destinations to target for a good SkyMiles deal

(34:00) - Where can you find a pseudo-Delta SkyMiles “award chart”?

(36:00) - American Express credit cards and what Delta’s strategy with its profitable partner

(39:30) - Delta One SkyMiles deals … are they even possible?

(42:15) - How to find Delta SkyMiles redemptions outside of flash sales

(45:30) - Are Delta SkyMiles worthless?

(47:00) - The #1 key to getting good value from your SkyMiles

(49:15) - Helping a traveler from SLC earn SkyMiles fast

(53:00) - What one change would Gunnar make to the SkyMiles program?

Produced by Gunnar Olson & Long Tran
Edited by David Strutt
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot

Support the show by leaving us a rating and a review wherever you get your podcasts!

Have a question you want answered on-air or an idea for the show? Let us know at podcast@thriftytraveler.com

Get 20% off your first year of cheap flights and points and miles deals with Thrifty Traveler Premium - use promo code TTPOD to save even more!

See what we’re all about at https://thriftytraveler.com - or subscribe to our free weekly points and miles newsletter, The Extra Mile!

Follow us on…
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YouTube
Facebook
Bluesky