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Happy Friday from Malaysia, one of three countries in the world where the ten months I’ve spent aggressively learning how to speak Bahasa actually comes in handy… 😅
Y’all are going to be verrrrrrrry happy with today’s news, so let’s get straight to it:
❤️ Hyatt and AA take their relationship to the next level
Hyatt and American Airlines have always had a partnership that allowed for reciprocal points earning for elite members in BOTH programs.
Honestly, it has never been the most exciting partnership (in my opinion), but I know some people love it.
A few days ago, however, they announced some big boy changes to this partnership - and I think it’s pretty exciting!
There are quite a few new perks from both the American Airlines side and the Hyatt side, so let’s talk about them both.
Perks for Hyatt members
The biggest change to the Hyatt side of things is the addition of new milestone rewards.
In case you don’t know, Hyatt gives out rewards when you stay a certain number of nights in addition to elite status. You can read more about these awards in this newsletter.
Here are the new milestone reward options and their corresponding night requirements:
20 and 30 nights: Two Preferred Seat Coupons on American Airlines
40 and 50 nights: Two Main Cabin Extra Seat coupons on AA
70, 80, and 90 nights: American Airlines Gold Status
100-150 nights: American Airlines Platinum Status
Overall, these are ALL valuable for the right type of flyer.
Personally, I think it’s pretty amazing that you can get Gold status after 70 nights. For anybody who regularly earns Hyatt Globalist status after 60 nights, this is pretty easily within reach.
Essentially, we have a TON of options to put our effort into earning one status through Hyatt and getting two statuses out of it.
But in addition to these milestone perks, Hyatt has introduced new ways to redeem World of Hyatt points for various American Airlines perks, including:
5,000 Hyatt points for AA Gold Status for a day
8,000 Hyatt points for AA Platinum Status for a day
12,000 Hyatt points for AA Platinum Pro Status for a day
As you can see from the image below, these are only available if you have either Explorist or Globalist status.
This is freaking awesome!
Paying 5,000 Hyatt points for potential seat upgrades, checked bags, priority boarding and check-in, and extra mileage earnings could be well worth it for people who don’t fly often but want to get some good perks during their occasional flights on American Airlines.
That brings us to the AA side of things, which I also think is pretty sweet.
Perks for American Airlines members
Much like Hyatt, American Airlines is offering Hyatt perks for reaching specific Loyalty Point milestones.
Again, if you need a refresher on how Loyalty Points work with AA, just check out this newsletter from last year.
Anyway, here are the new thresholds and corresponding benefits:
To be clear, earning “Loyalty Points” is different from earning redeemable miles, but rather the currency that earns you AA status.
So again, earning high-level elite status with AA will also now earn you Hyatt status, which is great.
To sweeten the pot even more, there are new ways to redeem AA miles for Hyatt perks:
If you have Gold status, you can redeem 25,000 AA miles for a Hyatt Category 1-4 Free Night Certificate
If you have Platinum status, you can redeem 60,000 AA miles for a Hyatt Category 1-7 Free Night Certificate
So with all of the perks above, we now have a TON of new ways to earn Hyatt Free Night Awards, which are incredibly valuable.
Of course, there is a price to pay for these new perks… when these changes take effect in 2025, you will no longer be able to earn points in both programs (i.e., earning both miles and hotel points on hotel stays and flights).
Still, I think this is a big win.
In my opinion, these changes make both programs more flexible and allow us to multiply the value we get from being elite to a program.
But to finish up, I want to know what you think:
What do you think about these updates to the Hyatt/AA partnership?Feel free to expand and tell me more! |
Only Email Recipients can participate in polls. |
✈️ Singapore’s Spontaneous Escapes
Look… I’m a spontaneous guy. Hell, I just flew to Kuala Lumpur yesterday solely for the purpose of getting a visa for a different country.
That’s why I love how, every month, Singapore Airlines comes out with their “Spontaneous Escapes” deals.
These are essentially deals on last-minute flights booked on Singapore Airlines using Singapore KrisFlyer miles.
And even if you have no intentions of flying to Singapore, these awards can really come in handy, even for flights to Europe.
This month includes discounted awards to/from cities like New York, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
The most interesting of these awards is New York to Frankfurt in Singapore Airlines business class for 56,700 Singapore miles, which is an excellent deal.
If you do want to travel to Asia, some of the other deals are also great.
For example, you can fly from Seattle to Singapore for under 30,000 miles one-way in economy.
Of course, these are geared toward the spontaneous traveler…
You need to book these awards by the end of this month for flights taking place by the end of next month.
Still, this is a great way to save money on flights all over the world on one of my personal favorite airlines.
As a reminder, you can transfer points to Singapore from all of the following programs at a 1:1 ratio:
One quick thing to note is that Singapore miles do have a hard expiry date which cannot be extended - so only transfer points if you plan to book and travel in the short-term future.
Current Transfer Bonuses
25% bonus from ThankYou Points to Avianca LifeMiles (ends October 19th)
25% bonus from ThankYou Points to Leading Hotels of the World (ends October 19th)
30% bonus from UR Points to British Airways Avios (ends October 31st)
25-35% bonus from ThankYou Points to Qatar Avios (ends October 31st)
20-40% bonus from ThankYou Points to Etihad Guest (ends October 31st)
20% bonus from MR Points to Flying Blue (ends November 10th)
50% bonus from UR Points to Marriott Bonvoy (ends November 15th)
40% bonus from UR Points to Virgin Atlantic (ends November 30th)
PLUS, there are 22 cards with elevated offers right now!
That’s all for today, folks! I’m personally really excited about these Hyatt/AA changes.
It makes the points in both programs more valuable and flexible and makes earning status with either of them twice as powerful.
What a great way to end the week. 😊
Take care and see you Monday,
