🎫Priority Boarding

Get Elite American Airlines Status Without Flying and Fast-Track Match via Hyatt

After Delta botched its recent loyalty program changes, many people have been saying that American Airlines has the most worthwhile program now.

A large part of this is because you can earn AA miles from its eShopping portal as well as the SimplyMiles card-linked Mastercard offers.

If you’re resourceful enough, you can “game” the system, leveraging the most lucrative offers to achieve AA status without flying a single mile. You’ll still shell out some cash to get status, but it’s cheaper than paid flights.

Here’s an example of how these offers work by FrequentMiler.

Spot & Tango, meal delivery sub for dogs, had the following offers:

• 2.5k miles for purchase on AA eShopping

• 930 miles on $25+ purchase via SimplyMiles offer

• Citi Merchant Offers for $20 back

After examining the offer, FM spent $25.71 and received:

• $20 cashback from Citi Merchant offer

• $0.51 from Citi Double Cash card (2% cashback)

• 3,430 total AA miles

Ultimately, FM paid $5.20 for 3,430 AA miles, or 0.15 cents per point.

While you won’t always find similar stacked redemption offers, there are deals that allow you to “buy” points at a few cents per point or better.

It’s a mix between using portals/offers for things you’ll already buy and paying for things you don’t need, hence “buying” the points.

How do you know if this is worth it for you?

1. Determine what value you can reliably redeem your AA points at (e.g. 1 cent per point)

2. Determine how much you’re willing to pay for status (e.g 0.5 cents per point, or $625 for 125,000 points to obtain AA Platinum Pro status)

3. Determine if you have the patience, attention to detail, and energy to play this game at all

Combined, you would be willing to pay 1.5 cents per AA mile, and this is what you’ll benchmark all eShopping opportunities against.

Combine with Hyatt Status Match

Until 10/12/23, those with Hyatt Exporist/Globalist status can get instant AA status with a 3-phase challenge to retain it.

• Explorist → AA Platinum (25k Loyalty Points every 4 mo)

• Globalist → AA Platinum Pro (42k Loyalty Points every 4 mo)

The challenge splits tier requirements into thirds, asking you to hit those thresholds in each third/phase of the year (4 months).

Make sure to link your Hyatt and AA accounts here, and head to the “Promotions” section of your AA account to see your targeted offer.

⏳️Final Boarding Call

Up to 9x Business Class Seats Per New Zealand Flight

United released Polaris Business class seats between SFO/LAX to AKL from late Oct to early Nov 2023.

The sweet spot redemption will be 120k ANA Mileage Club points (transfer from AMEX) for a round-trip flight.

Unfortunately, if you don’t already have ANA miles, I’d think twice before initiating an AMEX transfer as these take 2-4 business days. Up to you if you want to gamble on availability.

Alternatively, you should be able to find these flights via Avianca LifeMiles, potentially capitalizing on CapitalOne’s 15% points transfer bonus. You could get this flight for 70k LifeMiles one-way.

How to book on ANA (round-trip only):

1. Head to ANA international flight awards and log in

2. Select your airports, check the ‘Compare seat availability +/- 3 days’ box, and change class to ‘Business’

3. Search results will display 2 weekly calendars indicating availability for each leg of the flight. This may break, so try different date options until it loads

4. Once you find availability on both legs, the page will properly load with flight details and the required points cost of 120k + fees (see bottom of screenshot below)

Alaska Airlines Offering Great Delta Status Match

Alaska is making a great move here to poach Delta’s loyal fliers.

The best value comes from having an Alaska Airlines Visa credit card, so consider applying for one before requesting a match as it’s one match per account lifetime.

If you have the Alaska Visa, you receive a match through the end of 2024. Otherwise, you get a challenge where you need to fly miles to retain that status.

See exact matching information here.

Request Access to Oct 10-11 Prime Day Deals

Amazon requires you to request invite-only access for the best deals that are expected to sell out. Brands/products that fall into this category include:

• 60% off Blink smart home security

• 50% off Sony Dolby Atmos/DTS:X Soundbar-HTX8500

• 46% off Philips 3000 Series Air Fryer

• 55% off Jabra Elite 7 Active True Wireless Earbuds

Log in now and one-click register! Check out amazon.com/primebigdealdays and check out the “Invite-only Prime deals” section for more.

☁️Cloud 9 - Vacation Inspiration

Waldorf Astoria Seychelles Platte Island

Once again, credit card points unlock another luxury experience that would otherwise be annoyingly expensive. If you wanted to be secluded on an Indian Ocean island but couldn’t afford it before, this opens doors for you.

The Waldorf Astoria Seychelles will be on the private Platte Island, in the Indian Ocean, around 81 miles south of Mahé (main Seychelles island). It has its own airstrip allowing guests to connect from the international airport.

Here’s the general manager’s high praise of the new property:

The island houses 50 seafront villas, most of which have private pools and personal concierge services. Unfortunately, the room allocated for award bookings seems to not include a pool (though I wouldn’t consider this a non-starter).

While I found availability a few weeks ago, 2024 is now completely booked out. You can expect to see rooms start at $2.2k USD per night, with points pricing starting at 130k Hilton points per night (104k/night with Hilton Honors elite 5th night free).

Here’s an example of the pricing calendar from OMAAT:

Not a bad idea to work Hilton credit cards into your regular sign-up bonus cycle while eyeing future availability for this property!

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Permanently free weekly credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Someone sprints onto the runway, forcing a plane to shut off an engine.

Deals & Offers

AMEX - Card Offers (login and check)

• Best Western - Get $20 back on $100+ spend, expires 12/31/23
• Steelcase - Get $150 back on $750+ spend, expires 10/31/23
• Auberge Resorts - Get $150 back on $750+ spend, expires 12/15/23
• Marriott International Luxury Brands - Get $200 back on $500+ spend, expires 12/15/23
• Waldorf Astoria, Conrad & LXR - Get $200 back on $1,000+, expires 12/31/23
• Hilton - Get $50 back on $100+ spend, expires 12/31/23
• Hilton Curio, Tapestry, & Canopy - Get $50 back on $250+ spend, expires 09/30/23
• Topgolf (2x) - Get $20 back on $100+ spend, expires 12/31/23

Chase - Card Offers (login and check)

• Office Depot - 10% cashback up to $8-11 max, expires 09/30/23

Other

• Office Depot/Max (in-store) - $15 off $300 in Mastercard gift cards (combine with Chase), expires 09/30/23
• Uber - $100 eGiftcard for $90

🤡Meme

Memories and experiences are so much more precious when shared with loved ones. It can also be terrifying to travel alone!

Share Fly EnPoints with friends and family so you can travel-hack to your next destination together!