Calling all points newbies and pros

Good morning from sunny Palm Springs, California!

Just like the outrageous temps here, this newsletter is quickly heating up… so let’s get to the travel goods from this past week.

✅ Don’t sleep on this 20% transfer bonus from MR points to Aeromexico (a fantastic airline!).

✅ Get Alaska MVP status by booking one round-trip flight… down under.

✅ Buy Hilton points with a 100% bonus until May 29 — as long as you have a redemption in mind where you’ll come out ahead.

✅ Our latest YouTube video will show you how to take advantage of 100,000 UR points.

🏆 Favorite pick: Match your Southwest elite status to Delta… with a nice twist

I don’t know about you, but Southwest has been giving me the ick lately with their recent announcements to charge for bags AND increase award rates. 🤮

So if you’re a salty Southwest elite, Delta is trying to steal your heart.

The airline giant has launched a new, limited-time status match that allows even lowly Southwest A-List members to match to Delta Gold.

Woah — Gold elites get perks like bonus SkyMiles on flights, complimentary upgrades, free checked bags, priority boarding, and more.

And if you happen to be a Southwest A-List Preferred member? Even better — you can match to Delta Platinum, which is the next tier up.

Here’s what is needed to make this happen:

• Complete the status match form

• Take advantage of your corresponding Delta status for the next 90 days

• Earn enough Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) in those 90 days to extend that status through January 31, 2027 (baller!!)

These are the MQD earning requirements needed to extend that status 👇

Only needing $2,500 MQDs to earn Gold status is actually a fantastic deal considering you normally need 10,000 MQDs.

And it’s an even sweeter deal because MQD earnings from the airline’s credit cards ALSO count toward this requirement 👀

Can it get any better? Yes, it actually can.

Delta’s mid and higher-tier consumer and business cards offer a $2,500 MQD “headstart,” which will hit your account after your first credit card statement closes.

So after being approved for the status match, you could simply apply for one of the cards that offer this MQD headstart and just… boom… get the needed $2,500 MQDs to extend your Delta status for an additional year and a half. 💪

With that… happy status matching (and extending!).

🏃🏻‍♀️ Runner-Ups

🥇This is the best card for newbies AND pros

Do I even need to say it? Yeah, I do. 🙃

I think all of our jaws collectively hit the floor when we saw that our most popular card brought back its best-ever welcome offer of 100,000 UR points after spending $5,000 in the first three months.

The thought of having 100,000 UR points is just so lush.

Want to transfer those points to Hyatt to score 28 (!!) free nights at a Category 1 property? Do it!

Or if you only have two weeks of PTO to spare, you could book the gorgeous-ass Alila Manggis in Bali (a Hyatt Category 2 property) for just 6,000 points per night.

The equivalent cash price to stay here for 15 nights is around $1,725. But you, a newbie or a pro, would be paying just the $95 annual fee for this card. That’s it.

If the points transfer stresses you out as a newcomer to this travel stuff, you can keep your points safe in your account and just book straight through the bank’s travel portal.

You’ll get a little less value, but you’ll still be able to redeem your 100,000 points at 1.25 cents each — an immediate cash value of $1,250. 😮‍💨

The possibilities are truly endless with that many points, so if this card isn’t already in your wallet, I’d highly recommend you apply while this unbelievable offer is still on the table!

🥈 Add a stopover for only 5,000 points

Now, I know Mike and I might regularly 💩 on Air Canada, but we definitely love its loyalty program, Aeroplan.

One of those reasons is that Aeroplan has this lovely little feature built into its program that allows you to book a stopover for only 5,000 points.

To clarify, a layover is typically less than 24 hours long, whereas a stopover can be over 24 hours… and truly last for days if you want it to.

Here’s how this stopover perk works.

Mike shared a recent example of how he flew from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Cairo (CAI), and then from Cairo to Madrid (MAD).

If he had booked these two flights separately, it would have cost him 37,500 Aeroplan points.

However… 😏

He booked an itinerary from Abu Dhabi to Madrid but built in a five-day stopover in Cairo instead.

The result? Only 30,000 total points needed.

Since Abu Dhabi to Madrid would normally cost 25,000 points, adding the stopover was only an additional 5,000… so he saved a nice chunk of points in the process by booking this way.

There are some really complex options to make this work even more in your favor, but you can see how just by structuring your itinerary slightly differently, you can get more bang for your buck… err, points.

Oh, and if you want plenty of points to transfer to Aeroplan to book some award flights like this, check out either the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or our most popular one, which both feature elevated welcome offers right now!

📣 Quick Callouts

• 😍 Great: Choice Hotels is offering an easy way to earn 70,000 bonus points

• 🤗 Cool: Marriott Homes & Villas’ latest promo is offering double points on paid stays

• 🤓 Travel trivia: Can you guess how long the world’s longest cruise lasts?

• 🍓 Sweet: Buy a Nordic hotel pass to save money this summer

That’s all for this lovely April weekend. Enjoy the rest of your day, and I’ll see you next time!

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