It's official: Fly to Europe for 4,000 points

Good morning, and Happy Halloween to you all. 👻

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm SUPER excited about my costume this year, though I might have a bit of trouble going through airport security later today... 😬

Anyway, let’s get into the good stuff:

• ✈️ Virgin is now dynamic (and it’s not all bad)

• 💳 You can now transfer points to Preferred Hotels

• 💥 JetBlue’s “Win at Winter” flash sale

✈️ Virgin is now dynamic (and it’s not all bad)

For the last month, we’ve all been eagerly anticipating Virgin’s switch to dynamic award pricing, which they were kind enough to give us all a heads-up about.

While they told us awards could be priced as low as 6,000 points from the U.S. to London, they did not specify any cap… which is obviously scary.

In the end, the results are… fine… I guess. But let me tell you a bit more.

The biggest downside to dynamic pricing is, as I mentioned, the fact that there is theoretically no cap to how many points you’ll need to spend.

If you’re looking to fly on a holiday or during peak travel times, there’s no escaping the frightful pricing. 🎃

But my big question was about the other side… how often are prices going to be lower than they were before?

It turns out, not that often…

As you can see from the calendar, only a couple of dates in the next two months are priced at the lowest level (womp, womp).

At the same time, many flights are priced exactly where they were before this change (10,000 points), while some are priced ridiculously high.

Overall? Not a bad mix.

But if we zoom in on those low 6,000-point prices, we also see that the taxes and fees are about half of what they used to be for economy flights, which is nice.

If we look ahead to January, things start to get REALLY REALLY REALLY good.

Not only are there endless economy flights for 6,000 points, but there are also business-class flights for just 29,000 points, which is significantly less than the previous off-peak pricing.

Oh… and look at those taxes and fees. 👇

My biggest complaint about booking Virgin Upper Class has always been the ridiculously high taxes and fees, which often run close to $1,000 in business class.

If you can find cheap pricing like the example above, the taxes and fees are roughly 75% lower than before, making them well worth paying, in my opinion.

To make things even better, there are currently TWO transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic right now:

• 40% bonus from UR Points

• 30% bonus from ThankYou Points

That means you could book flights to Europe for 4,300 UR Points each way in economy or 20,000 points in BUSINESS CLASS if you use that 40% bonus.

So here’s the bottom line:

The thing about dynamic pricing is that it’s always going to change.

So, while you can’t rely on prices staying the same, it’s nice to see that there are plenty of options to take advantage of better award pricing during cheaper travel times.

Overall, I’m pleased - I will never be upset about flying to Europe for 4,300 points and $75. 🤷🏼‍♂️

💳 You can now transfer points to Preferred Hotels

We love to flap our tongues about the greatness of big hotel programs like Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, and IHG.

That’s mainly because we have so many ways to earn points with them, making it easy to use their programs.

But there’s a new kid on the block - and it’s Preferred Hotels, where you can now transfer points directly from ThankYou Points.

As you can see, the ratio is a whopping 1:4 points, meaning 1,000 ThankYou Points will transform into 4,000 I Prefer points.

And while that sounds like a ton, it’s not... But it’s also not bad.

Let me explain…

Preferred Hotels’ loyalty program is called “I Prefer” and has properties all over the world.

The reason this transfer ratio is so high is that, generally speaking, Preferred Hotels are priced a little higher than other programs, and therefore the points are a bit less valuable.

For example, this hotel in New Orleans costs 30,000 points per night.

But since the ratio is 1:4, you’d only need to transfer 7,500 ThankYou Points per night, which is excellent.

Even if you want to bop over to bigger, more expensive cities, there are good opportunities.

For example, there are multiple hotels in New York City that start at just 50,000 points, or 12,500 ThankYou Points per night, which is CRAZY good for New York.

So here’s the bottom line:

ThankYou Points now has another great transfer partner, which is in addition to their existing transfer to Choice Hotels at a 1:2 ratio.

When you use these less popular programs, you increase your odds of finding availability, all while saving money and spending fewer points.

💥 JetBlue’s “Win at Winter” flash sale

JetBlue has launched another flash sale, called Win at Winter, but it’s a tad spooky because you’ll have to think fast and book by TODAY, October 31st 💀

Here are the deets:

• As I said, you must book on JetBlue’s site by midnight EST today, October 31st

• Travel can take place between November 2, 2024, and February 12, 2025

• The discount applies to the base fare

• Only nonstop flights are eligible

• Friday and Sunday travel is excluded 🙄

• There are some blackout dates that you can find here

A couple of those restrictions are annoying, but this makes for a perfect travel window for upcoming holiday travel if you can find a route that works for you.

I’m seeing fares as low as $39 in cash or just 4,000 TrueBlue points, like this itinerary from JFK to Fort Lauderdale 👇

But you have to be okay with the restrictions that come with flying in the Blue Basic economy class to get this price.

Realistically, I’m seeing way more flights priced around $49, or 4,400 points.

Honestly, considering you have the opportunity to fly across the Atlantic for 4,000 points now, I’d probably opt to pay the cheap cash fare here…

And if I did, I’d certainly use a card that would give me maximal earning rates for travel purchases—like this one (5x per $1 on flights) or this one (2x per $1 on all travel) 😎

That’s gonna do it for today! I love to see new, positive developments in the travel world, and I can’t wait to tell you about even more tomorrow!

Take care and have a great day,

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