Two stackable travel deals

Goooooooood morning and welcome back to Daily Drop!

I’m super excited for today… not only do we have two stackable deals, but we also have a long-form interview where the Daily Drop team answers all of your questions about the famous million-mile challenge from last year.

So, without further ado:

• ✈️ Buy Alaska miles with a 60% bonus

• ⭐️ Award Drop: Starlux Business Class

• 🎥 Video: Everything you want to know about the SAS million-mile challenge

✈️ Buy Alaska miles with a 60% bonus

Buying miles feels weird, am I right? After all, points are supposed to be a reward for making normal, everyday purchases.

But the reason we still do it is because sometimes, buying points and booking a flight is cheaper than booking the same flight with cash… especially when there’s a big bonus.

Right now, you can buy Alaska miles with a 60% bonus, which can result in this exact situation.

Here are the details:

• You’ll get tiered bonuses based on how many miles you buy (ranging from 40-60%)

• The sale lasts until February 21st

• You can only buy a maximum of 150,000 miles per year (unless you have elite status)

Before you go buying a bunch of miles, here’s my quick take:

You shouldn’t buy miles speculatively with this sale. 

BUUUUUUT…

If you have a specific flight in mind, buying miles could save you money over the cash cost - especially in business class.

For example, this business-class flight from New York to London costs 45,000 Alaska miles (a great sweet spot, by the way).

The cash cost, on the other hand, is sitting at over $2,200 on the same day.

If you really want to fly in business and are willing to shell out some money, you could simply buy 45,000 Alaska miles with this sale for $825 and book the same flight, saving you nearly $1,500.

Since Alaska doesn’t charge any change fees, you can rest assured that even if your plans fall through, you’ll still be able to put those miles to good use later.

Of course, there’s a much better way to get Alaska miles…

You can still transfer miles freely between Hawaiian and Alaska. And since you can transfer MR Points to Hawaiian, you can essentially also transfer them to Alaska.

So by simply applying for a card that earns MR Points, you’ll be able to book these same amazing deals without buying any miles at all.

Late last year, I transferred all of my MR Points to Alaska because of how good their award rates are.

I earned those points from this card, which is one of the biggest points-earners in my wallet.

Anyway, both of these are great ways to book business-class flights with Alaska… especially when some of their most exciting partners drop award space… 😏

⭐️ Award Drop: Starlux Business Class

Speaking of using Alaska miles to book luxurious flights at amazing rates…

One of Alaska’s most unique partners is an airline called Starlux, based in Taipei. They brand themselves as a premium airline that features comfy, modern seats on all-new planes.

Specifically, their business class features individual suites with closing doors and top-notch catering and service.

The barrier to flying with Starlux is the price… even their economy flights are EXPENSIVE.

But Alaska actually has a special partnership with them which allows you to book flights with Alaska miles between the U.S., Taiwan, and dozens of other cities in Asia.

And just TODAY, Starlux dropped a bunch of business-class award availability through Alaska Airlines.

So here’s the rundown:

Starlux flies to three U.S. cities: Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. To fly between these cities and Taipei, you’ll pay 75,000 Alaska miles in business class (when there’s saver award availability like right now).

Most times that I look at these flights, they run 120,000 or even 250,000 Alaska miles because they’re so popular… so this is an AMAZING deal.

If you want to travel to other cities in Asia or connect from other North American cities, you can still get some great rates, like this route from Toronto to Taipei via Seattle:

Since I already needed to book a flight back from Asia to North America in March, I just locked in a flight from Taipei to Seattle.

Since Starlux and Alaska don’t have fuel surcharges on award flights, you’ll only need to pay $46 in taxes and fees, which is excellent for a flight that otherwise runs over $3,000.

So here’s the bottom line:

I already told you that I transferred all of my MR Points to Alaska because of how amazing their award rates are.

If you have a stash of MR Points and have been eyeing a trip to Asia, you can lock in some luxurious flights on one of Asia’s best airlines and always change or cancel your plans later if needed.

What are you waiting for?? Go book some flights.

But before you do… tell me something:

🎥 Video: Everything you want to know about the SAS million-mile challenge

Alright, I know a lot of you have been waiting for this for a while…

As you know, FOUR members of the Daily Drop team recently completed the SAS million-mile challenge (read more here if you need a refresher).

A few days ago, the four of us sat down with Megan to answer all of your burning questions and tell you about the high points, the low points, what we learned, and even more from the SAS challenge.

Check it out on the Daily Drop website by clicking below:

By the way, because of some new requirements from our partners, we can’t post a lot of content on our normal podcast platforms or YouTube, which is why you won’t see the above video on those platforms… 😭

We’ll keep you posted about what this looks like moving forward, but I just want to let you know that you won’t be seeing the Daily Drop Podcast publishing anything in the near future.

That’s all for today, my friends!

I hope you enjoyed another look into the Alaska loyalty program today and enjoyed our fun chat about the most fun airline challenge we’ve seen in recent years.

Anyway, I hope you have a great day. See you tomorrow. ❤️

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