The last pandemic holdout fully opens back up

Good morning from Seoul, South Korea. This is my third time in this lovely country, but I’m excited to check out some new things during my week-long stay.

And by new things, I mean new places to eat kimchi, obviously.

Here’s what’s on the DD menu today (no kimchi, sorry 😢):

• 📆 Southwest flash sale on award flights (today only)

• ✈️ Avianca comes back with a familiar promo

• 🇨🇳 China reopens to tourists (yay!!!!!)

📆 TODAY ONLY: Southwest flash sale on award flights

Apparently, Southwest just can’t stand being out of the spotlight because they’ve just come out with another excellent promo literally one day after the best deal of all time.

But there’s a big catch: the offer is only good until the end of the day TODAY.

And when I say the end of the day, I mean the actual end of the day… unlike Southwest’s last deal in which “end of the day” meant the afternoon…

Anyway, today only, you can get a 20% discount on Southwest award tickets (aka flights booked using Southwest Rapid Rewards points).

Here are the deets:

• Offer only valid for flights booked by the end of the day, March 16th

• You must use promo code SAVE20NOW in the search area

• Valid for all domestic and international travel

• Valid for flights taking place before May 24th, 2023

For those of you who recently signed up for a Southwest credit card (which is many of you), this is a great chance to start putting those points and Companion Pass to use.

I found some pretty sweet deals just from running a quick search, including flights from New York to Houston for under 4,000 points, Seattle to Los Angeles for 5,000 points, and more.

So if you have any trips coming up, you can book flexible fares to lock in this low price, even if you might need to cancel down the road.

Overall, well done, Southwest. Well done.

✈️ Buy Avianca LifeMiles with a 155% bonus

Before you skip this section or throw your computer/phone/tablet/self against the wall because I'm telling you to buy more points and miles, just give me a chance...

Avianca has just launched yet another crazy promo where you can buy Avianca LifeMiles with up to a 155% bonus.

Yes, you read that correctly...

Here is the structure for bonuses:

• Buy 1,000 - 20,000 miles and get a 135% bonus

• Buy 21,000 - 50,0000 miles and get a 145% bonus

• Buy 51,000 - 200,000 miles and get a 155% bonus

Even a 135% bonus is pretty amazing, but you'll need to buy at least 51,000 miles if you want to unlock the full 155%.

But what are these miles worth and what can you do with them?

Here's a quick example:

Unlocking the lowest 155% bonus would cost you about $1,683 and would yield 130,050 miles.

With that many miles, you could book any of the following flights:

• New York to London on United

• Philadelphia to Johannesburg on Lufthansa

• Los Angeles to Tokyo on Singapore Airlines

• Chicago to Rio de Janeiro on United

In fact, all of these flights together only cost 130,000 miles. Just look:

Since Avianca is a member of Star Alliance, you can use Avianca LifeMiles to book flights on dozens of different airlines.

Booking all of those flights I just mentioned would run you thousands of dollars... If you travel a lot and could put these miles to use, it's not a bad deal at all to shell out 1,700 bucks.

If you want to really maximize this deal, you can use 90,000 of those miles to book a flight from San Francisco to Singapore on ANA...

... in BUSINESS class.

That's right; you could book one of the best business-class seats in the sky and still have 40,000 miles left over. For reference, this flight costs over $10,000 when paying cash...

So if you’re willing to pay a little cash for a flight or set of flights worth FAR more than what you pay, this is a great opportunity to get some serious outsize value.

🇨🇳 Wooh! China finally reopens to tourists!

Wooh! China is reopening!

As of March 14th, China is now approving applications for all types of travel into the country, including tourism.

In addition to international tourism, all visas issued prior to March 2020 that are still valid now have been reinstated, which I doubt applies to many of you.

But still, it’s great news.

This is definitely a moment I’ve been waiting for. I had been planning to visit China in the Summer of 2020 before the pandemic hit, and it has been on my list ever since.

The process for obtaining visas differs based on your country of citizenship and residence, but you can find relevant info at the embassy or consulate website of your country.

China was really the last major holdout of COVID-related travel restrictions, so in many ways, this marks the end of the travel downturn that began in 2020.

As a traveler, I can’t help but be excited about this news, and I hope you are too. But I’m curious to know…

That’s all for today! I’m not gonna lie, I have completely forgiven Southwest for ruining Christmas last year. They have gone above and beyond in Q1 with so many excellent deals, it’s pretty awesome.

Are you going to cash some Southwest points in on an award today? Are you excited about China reopening? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media.

See you tomorrow 💕

37.5665° N, 126.9780° E