🎫Priority Boarding

Starlux Airlines Adds SFO-TPE Route

Anyone trying to find availability to Asia recently has felt the restricted supply due to pent-up travel demand. Taiwan has been especially difficult to find award seats for so I’m ecstatic that Starlux Airlines is adding this route in December 2023.

They’ll be flying Airbus A350-900s which feature:

• Four first-class seats

• 26 business class seats

• 36 premium economy seats

• 240 economy seats

Starlux Airlines will be the first airline in Taiwan to offer first-class. This combined with their commitment to excellent customer service makes the product sound very enticing.

A few months ago, Alaska Airlines added Starlux as an airline partner, meaning you can use Alaska points to redeem award seats on Starlux.

If flying direct to Taiwan is something you’re interested in, build up Alaska points ASAP! When previous routes were introduced, we saw these introductory rates:

• 20,000 miles for economy

• 40,000 miles for premium economy

• 60,000 miles for business class

We may see the same promotional rates upon the December release of the SFO route. They’ll fly off the shelves so be on your toes and warm those fingers up!

⏳️Final Boarding Call

Flights to Europe from U.S. Starting at $99 One-Way

By the time this hits your inbox, there will be ~14 hours remaining on this sale. It was set to end 09/18/23 but it seems they’ve moved up the timeline. As of writing, you can still find some fantastic deals such as Los Angeles to Oslo, Norway for $149:

Check out DDG for a list of some possible routes. Move fast!

Hyatt Kicks Off Football Season with 15%-off Code

Code: GOJALIN15

Valid for cash reservations made between 09/06/23 - 02/28/24 and for stays at participating hotels completed by 09/06/23 - 12/31/24.

Make sure to check the list of destinations where the code is not valid.

90k Chase Ink Offers Are Back!

If you’ve read through my guide, you’ll understand why Chase business cards are so powerful for accumulating points. Currently, bonuses are at 90k points for $6k spend in 3 months:

Chase Ink Unlimited
Chase Ink Cash

Although referral offers are currently lower at 75k points, there have been successful data points of people requesting offer matches to 90k.

This means you’ll get a total of 75k + 40k (referral bonus to a friend) + 15k (offer match) for a total of 130k points. Just send a secure message to Chase once your card is approved and politely ask for a match. Have a screenshot of the public 90k offer just in case!

As a quick refresher, the Chase Ink Unlimited earns 1.5x on everything, making it a great card to use as a daily driver. I have a few different CIUs and put all of my personal spend on one of them, keeping that spend completely off my credit report.

As for the Chase Ink Cash, you get:

• 5x on the first $25k/year spent on office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, Internet, and cable TV services

• 2x on the first $25k/year spent at gas stations and restaurants

How can you maximize these categories? Here’s one thing I like to do:

Before making large AirBnB bookings, I’ll go to Staples.com (office supply store) and buy as many AirBnB gift cards as I estimate I’ll need. This may take multiple transactions due to purchase limits.

This is an easy way to get 5x on a large ticket purchase, especially if you’re fronting for large groups that will pay you back promptly.

Sidenote: You can have as many Chase Inks as you want. Just be careful with how quickly you’re signing up (wait 60-90 days between each or longer to be extra safe).

☁️Cloud 9 - Vacation Inspiration

All-Inclusive @ Alila Ventana Big Sur

Since I’m here right now, I figured I’d talk about how to easily find availability at the Alila Ventana in Big Sur, one of the most highly-coveted luxury award travel destinations.

Here’s a breathtaking description of the resort:

So how does one stay here for free (using points) when rooms normally run you $2-3k a night? Introducing rooms.aero, made by the creator of seats.aero (which we’ll cover another time).

Both a curse and a blessing, award search tools are only becoming more powerful, and rooms.aero is one of the newest and best out there. Here’s how to search for Alila Ventana:

• Go to rooms.aero, click “Hotels” at the top and select World of Hyatt

• Type “Alila Ventana” in the search box, then click “Find Rooms”

Notice the little section near the top displaying numbers beside One/Two/Three night stays. This tells us it’s easiest to find 2-night stays compared to 3 or 1-night stays.

If you can incorporate this into your planning, it’ll be that much easier to find availability! As usual, flexibility and proactive planning go very far when it comes to award redemptions.

Happy searching!

📜Link Menu

Last week, Qantas was called out for selling tickets for canceled flights. This week, Qantas CEO resigned, retiring 2 months “early”.

If you’re planning Hilton stays, register for the Multiply Your Points promotion to get 2x points on stays, up to 3x in some cities.

Get 5k Best Western points for every 2 nights stayed, up to a total of 20k points. Read in more detail here.

Aria hotel manager tries to siphon off ~$800k in customer refunds into a single, personal debit card in his own name. Brilliant.

Easy 1-click sweepstakes registration for airline shopping portals (win 20-100k points):
Alaska Mileage Plan
American Airlines AAdvantage
United MileagePlus

🤡Meme

🧵Tweet of the Week

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!