I'm going all in on... Delta?

Good morning from Kotor, Montenegro! 🇲🇪

I spent the weekend relaxing in my private jacuzzi and bingeing Love is Blind with some red wine while looking out at the dramatic mountains. But more on that in a couple of days. 😉

Anyway, I’ve got some good stuff for you today:

• 💳 Top Cards Update (March 2025)

• ✈️ The world’s best (and my favorite) economy seat

💳 Top Cards Update (March 2025)

There’s been a LOT of movement in the credit card world, some of which you might not be aware of…

The big update is, as I’ve drilled into you a million times, the current offer on the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

With an annual fee of under $100, you can earn 75,000 transferrable points AND a $250 travel credit. 

It’s the single best offer in the biz.

But what you might not realize is that in addition to the ability to transfer points to airline and hotel partners, Capital One miles also have the most flexible use ever:

Offsetting any travel purchase at a rate of one cent per point.

This means that things like rideshares, trains, bus tickets, or even cheap flights and hotels booked through sites like Expedia can be covered at a flat rate of one cent per point.

It’s not the best value you can get, but I love it.

Sometimes, flights and hotels aren’t part of loyalty programs, and there isn’t a way to use points for them otherwise.

And sometimes, this is a WAY better option…

For example, these flights are all between New York and New Orleans.

You could use 9,900 Capital One miles to book the Spirit flight, or you could use other frequent flyer programs to book the same routes on the same date at the following rates:

• 14,000 JetBlue points

• 18,000 Delta SkyMiles

• 13,000 American Airlines miles

If you’re looking for the most efficient way to use points, Capital One miles at a flat rate of one cent are a better option than the rest in this case.

Anyway, we don’t know how long this offer will be around, so this is definitely priority number one.

But that’s not the card I just signed up for…

This might come as a surprise to… well… all of you, but I just signed up for a Delta card. Specifically, the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card - which has an elevated offer along with Delta’s other cards.

Do I fly Delta at all? Nope. Do I want to earn tons of SkyMiles? Not really.

So why would I do this? Am I an idiot?

Yes.

But also, a few other reasons:

1. The credits are fantastic

2. The benefits could be meaningful

3. I have specific uses in mind for the bonus miles

So let’s go through those one by one.

I chose the Delta Platinum Business Card because despite having the same annual fee, it comes with MORE credits than the personal version:

• $200 of Delta Stays credits

• $120 of rideshare credits

• $120 of Resy credits

In all, that’s $440 of easy-to-use credits against a $350 annual fee. So even if I don’t use all of them, it’s very easy to justify the annual fee.

And that’s good - because the benefits that it comes with can be tasty:

• Annual Companion Certificate

• 2,500 MQDs toward status (I don’t care about this one)

• 15% off of all Delta award bookings (flown on Delta itself)

Even just the 15% discount on awards could really come in handy for the right booking. Delta flies between the U.S. and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Africa.

So, even if I use this benefit once per year on a long-haul booking, it’s a good perk to have.

The annual Companion Certificate can also really come in handy. Again, since the credits largely pay for the annual fee, these benefits are just free benefits.

As for the welcome offer of 100,000 SkyMiles, I already know exactly where I’ll be using them.

Delta has some REALLY good sweet spots both in North America and abroad.

For example, for just 10,000 SkyMiles, you can fly between the U.S. and Mexico, which is a pretty solid deal.

For me, I have my eye on intra-Asia routes.

You can fly long-haul in Asia between Jakarta and cities like Seoul or Tokyo for just 22,500 SkyMiles in economy or 40,000 in business class, with availability on most days.

At 7-8 hours of flight time, that’s like flying from the U.S. to Europe for those rates, which would be insane.

Between the welcome offer and the 5,000 orphaned miles in my Delta account from like ten years ago, I could book these routes five times, which makes this card and offer a no-brainer.

Even if I just book a few of those flights in business class, I’m getting thousands of dollars of value from this offer.

Anyway, I’d look into these cards even if you’re not a HUGE Delta flyer. If the miles, perks, and credits make sense, it could be a “keeper” card.

To finish things off, there’s one more suite of cards that has recently upped their offers.

Hilton is back with new offers on their cards, all of which involve Free Night Certificates, including on the no-annual-fee card, the Hilton Honors American Express Card. Which is ridiculous.

The reason these offers are so great is that Hilton Free Night Certificates have no cap.

That means that as long as a standard room is available, you can use these awards to book a free night at ANY hotel.

Last year, I used my FNA from the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card to book a night at the Katara Hills Resort in Doha, which has a base cost of $2,000 or 120,000 points per night.

Since every room here is a 2-floor villa with a private pool, this was the single best use of a Free Night award I’ve ever had.

My friend stayed with me, too… so I got some major friend points for that one.

Anyway, throw in the bonus points that also come with these cards, and you have some solid offers on the table.

As always, you can check out this page to see an up-to-date list of our Top Cards.

✈️ The world’s best (and my favorite) economy seat

Phew, that was a lot of card talk…

Let’s move on to something we can all relate to: flying for an eternity in an economy-class seat.

In this week’s YouTube video, we take a look at my favorite economy seat in the sky: Qatar Airways.

We’ll cover the experience, how to book it, and overall impressions. So check it out now:

That’s all for today, folks!

Tune in tomorrow for a cool trick I used to earn tens of thousands of Membership Rewards Points, along with a way to multiply your bank points for luxury flights both at home and abroad.

See you then,

42.4247° N, 18.7712° E