Lazy Points of the Week
Story of the week: Alaska’s Global Getaways
Global Getaways are back! We love these regular promotions from Alaska that offer discounts on award flights with Alaska’s global partners—often fantastic deals that save on Alaska’s already-excellent award rates.
This edition is ski-themed, with tickets to Vienna, Geneva, and Zurich available from 40k miles round-trip, and Almaty, Kazakhstan and Yerevan, Armenia from 60k miles. Tickets to Kelowna, BC, start at 20k miles.
These are solid rates, especially considering that the tickets are refundable and come with a baggage allowance (for those skis or snowboards), and a great use of Alaska miles, Bilt points, or (for the time being) Amex points.
Book by December 31, 2024 for travel from January 1–April 30, 2025.
Other card and points news
Alaska is launching a premium credit card (and offering free miles just to receive an application). Speaking of Alaska, the airline plans to launch a $395-fee premium credit card next year with some incredible-sounding perks:
Waived award ticket fees
Alaska Lounge passes
Wi-Fi vouchers
Accelerated paths to elite status
A “travel disruption program”
3x miles on dining
3x miles on eligible foreign purchases
Same-day confirmed fee waivers
While the details aren’t fully fleshed out yet, this sounds like a fantastic addition to what is already the best frequent flyer program for cheap and lazy travelers, so I would have signed up for the early-access list no matter what.
Even if you’re not as excited as I am, though, you should still sign up to receive the card’s application. You don’t have to fill it out once it arrives, but you’ll earn 500 miles just for being on the list (and another 5k miles if you do ultimately sign up).
Free Virgin points for linking Virgin accounts. Signed up for Virgin Flying Club but not for Virgin Red? Check your email. I recently received an offer of 4,000 Virgin points for signing up for Red and linking it to my Flying Club account. This appears to be a pretty widely target offer. Virgin points can be quite useful in the right spot, and they never expire, so this is definitely an opportunity to take advantage if you see it!
Got a Chase Sapphire, Freedom, or Ink card? Enter to win a million points. Details and entry here.
Marriott is also giving away a cruise and Bonvoy points. You’ll have to sign up for marketing emails from Marriott’s cruise division because of course you do and of course Marriott has that. Details here.
Get some coffee with your gift of travel. Delta is currently offering a $20 Starbucks gift card on purchases of $300+ in Delta gift cards.
Sign up bonus of the week
I’ve blasted with alerts about the Alaska Airlines Visa card offering 70k miles and a companion pass, but Alaska has an elevated card offer every few weeks, it seems, and I think I’ll be holding out for that new premium Alaska card from the top. So instead I’m going to suggest the current offers on Amex’s co-branded Hilton cards:
The current bonuses of 100k on the no-fee Honors card, 165k on the $150-fee Surpass, and the $550-fee Aspire are among the best I’ve seen and potentially into “get it now if you want it” territory.
Some caution, though. First, Amex won’t let you get a bonus on a lower-tier card once you’ve held a higher-tier version, so it generally makes sense to start low and upgrade later. Second, the lower-end Hilton cards are only meh—if you want a great $100-or-less hotel card head over to Chase for the IHG Premier or World of Hyatt card. The no-fee Honors has offered a free night certificate (good for many ultra-expensive luxury properties across the world) in the past, and I would consider that the offer to hold out for on the Honors. And that’s because, third, Hilton points are pretty worthless. I’d expect to get two free nights in the US at lower-end hotels with that 100k offer on the Honors, and getting three is possible, but it would be difficult to stretch them much farther than that. Still, if you’re a Hilton enthusiast in the market for a co-branded card to get more value and perks on your stays, now is a good time to do that.
Previously highlighted cards with bonus offers still available:
•70k on the Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard
•30, 60, 70, or 90k miles on United Airlines credit cards
•75,000 points on the Citi Strata Premier