🌎 TRENDING TRAVEL NEWS 🌎
• Helpful: Here’s a quick guide to hassle-free passport applications and renewals!
• Exciting: Southwest and Iceland Air’s partnership is rolling out this soon.
• Expansion: JetBlue added 16 new summer routes!
• Instagram Reel: There is simply no greater feeling.
Good morning from Jakarta, Indonesia! I’m still recovering after a long, 46-hour journey from Toronto…
But I’m picking up some good travel tips for you, which I shall attempt to share before I fall asleep:
🏃🏼♂️ Mike on the Move: I’m LOVING oneworld status
I’ve told you about my airline elite status strategy a few times already… but believe it or not, it’s already paying off BIG time.
As a refresher, I used Alaska’s status match program to instantly get MVP Gold 75k Elite Status on day one of this year.
One of the nice perks about Alaska status is that it offers free complimentary upgrades on American Airlines.
And, sure enough, I was upgraded to business class on my AA flight from Toronto to New York.
It wasn’t the craziest seat in the world, but it was super comfy.
And because I have oneworld Emerald status, I got to access the American Airlines lounge in Toronto (which I didn’t even know existed beforehand).
And, to my surprise, I also got to access the American Airlines Admiral’s Club in New York after ARRIVING, despite not having an onward flight.
Considering you can earn Alaska status from booking award flights starting this year, this is a great reason to start racking up some EQMs.
But that was just the appetizer of my journey…
The main course was the return leg of my Qsuites round-trip that I booked last year, taking me from New York to Jakarta via Doha.
And despite just flying this itinerary three weeks ago, it still felt as amazing as always.
Since I had an overnight layover in Doha, I also made use of my stash of Hyatt points to book this hotel near the airport for just 3,500 points.
With my Globalist status, I got lounge access, a free room upgrade, a welcome amenity, and free breakfast.
But I skipped breakfast…
Because one of the best perks of flying Qatar Airways is their amazing business-class lounge.
This lounge has an a la carte restaurant (which is all free, of course), and is massive.
There are a few of them spread out across the airport, so you can find the one closest to your gate.
But the best part of all is that I can access this lounge even when flying in economy - thanks to my Alaska status.
A list of the many oneworld status perks
Anyway, this status is great for U.S. flyers because of two reasons:
You get elite benefits on TWO U.S. airlines (Alaska and American)
You can earn the status easily:
From flying on award flights
Doing the status match
Overall, this is a great opportunity, so I recommend you get in on the fun like I did before they change the rules on us!
🌎 SAS Update: I’m a millionaire
Alright… as you all know, last year ended with a BIG aviation adventure to earn 1,000,000 SAS miles.
Earlier this year, I told you I received an email telling me I’d get the million miles sometime this month…
I also gave away a business-class flight with some of those miles (the winner has been emailed and BETTER reply to me soon).
But I’ve got THREE big pieces of news for you…
First of all (and most exciting)… I got this email a few days ago:
And… sure enough, I checked my account and BOOM. I’m a millionaire. And I’m VERY very excited.
It’s been a long process to get to this point, so I could not be happier to finally have the miles sitting in my account, ready to be used.
And it didn’t take long for them to be used… I also just made my first booking using the miles. 😎
I found an INCREDIBLE deal from Jakarta to Johannesburg for 99,000 SAS miles in business class.
As it turns out, SAS has lower rates than every other airline program for this particular route… and many others.
Delta was charging 145,000 miles and over $200 in taxes, while Virgin Atlantic was charging almost 200,000 miles and over $400 in taxes… 😬
It was nice to see that SAS has some sweet spots that really come out ahead of the competition, especially for partner awards.
Anyway, on this journey, I’ll be flying Saudia and Kenya Airways, all in widebody planes with lie-flat seats.
Shortly after that booking, I found another “unicorn” flight available.
In the summer, I need to get back to Indonesia after spending some time in the tiny country of Andorra, which, fun fact, doesn’t have an airport…
Thankfully, I found this ticket from nearby Toulouse to Jakarta, including a nonstop 13-hour flight from Amsterdam to Jakarta, all in business class.
112,500 miles would normally be a lot for this flight, but it’s convenient and barely breaks the bank with my new points stash.
For those of you who also completed the challenge, go check your accounts and book some stuff soon before all of the other millionaires take all the good seats! 😉
But look… I feel bad bragging about all of these amazing redemptions. And I know I gave away a business-class flight like two weeks ago, but…
We’re going to give away ANOTHER business-class flight with SAS miles… because Daily Drop is just cool like that. 😎
Want to win it? Well, you’ll need to tune in to the next (and last) SAS Million-Mile Challenge update sometime in the next couple of weeks.
So make sure you read Daily Drop EVERY day… or else. 😈
✈️ How to find flight deals like a pro
As I said, I found some pretty amazing flight deals today using a program I have a bunch of points with…
But finding good awards can also be super time-consuming and confusing.
That’s why last year, we launched the single best award search tool for flights and hotels. It’s called Daily Drop Pro, and this week’s YouTube video tells you all the fun tips and tricks for how to use it. 👇
That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed some tips from my recent travel experiences…
I really think Alaska status is the single best deal in travel for U.S. travelers right now, so I hope many of you can cash in on it.
Anyway, tune in tomorrow for some fun content.
See you then!
