JT Genter

Thrifty Traveler Premium Price Increase This Saturday — Act Now to Lock in Lower Price for Life Thrifty Traveler Premium is my favorite flight deal service. Here's why you'll want to sign up now before prices increase this weekend.

Thrifty Traveler Premium prices are increasing 😑

But, if you subscribe before Saturday, you'll lock in current pricing for life.

Plus, save $20 off your first year using AwardWallet's link (and get a 100-day money-back guarantee): awardwallet.com/news/thrifty...

Emirates Revamps Partner Award Charts, Dropping Redemption Rates Up to 76% Emirates Skywards just revamped its partner award charts, and it's actually good news for flyers! Here's our breakdown of the changes.

📰Scoop: Emirates just revamped its partner award charts, dropping award rates by up to 76%!

Pecuiliar timing for sure, but great news for award travelers. Here's my breakdown of the changes:
awardwallet.com/news/airline...

How to Fly Delta One Lie-Flat Seats on Domestic Routes in March 2026 In March 2026, Delta is operating Delta One business class seats on 58 domestic routes. Here's how you fly in lay-flat business seats.

In March, Delta is flying a whopping 2,200+ domestic flights with lay-flat Delta One seats.

Here's a breakdown of all 58 domestic routes and which flights to book:
awardwallet.com/airlines/del...

Welcome to AwardWallet Learn AwardWallet just launched a new look (and name) for the educational side of our site. Here's how to make the most of AwardWallet Learn!

The "AwardWallet Blog" has a new look — and a new name!

Over the past year, we've been building a new points and miles learning experience to maximize the experience for AwardWallet users.

Here are the new features of AwardWallet Learn: awardwallet.com/features/lau...

Top Credit Card Offers for February 2026 — 20 Offers Worth Over $1,500! The AwardWallet editorial team compiles the top rewards credit card offers each month. Here are the top offers to consider in February 2026.

Tons of valuable new credit card offers have launched in the past couple of weeks. By our count, over 20 cards are currently offering sign-up bonuses worth at least $1,500!

Here's a roundup of the best credit card offers currently available: awardwallet.com/credit-cards...

New United℠ Business Card Offer: Earn 100,000 Bonus MileagePlus Miles and 2,000 PQP The United Business Card offers a 100k-mile bonus plus a 2,000 PQP boost toward United Premier elite status. Here's how to apply.

Got a small business? Good news: you can score a six-digit miles bonus plus a boost toward earning United elite status: awardwallet.com/credit-cards...

Barclays Aviator Cards Are About to Convert to Citi AAdvantage Cards — Here’s What to Know Citi is becoming the sole issuer of AAdvantage credit cards, and it’s revealed details on the Aviator card conversion. Here’s what to know.

📰Just announced: Here's when and how American Airlines Barclays cards are being converted to Citi - and what you might want to do before that happens: awardwallet.com/news/credit-...

How to Earn United Premier Qualifying Points (PQP) on Credit Card Spending in 2026 Want to earn United Premier status without lots of flights? Here's how to obtain United Premier Qualifying Points via credit card spending.

Did you know you can earn United elite status -- all the way up to top-tier Premier 1K -- just through credit card spending?

But you'll want to have the right United card(s).

Here's how to earn United PQPs on card spending: awardwallet.com/credit-cards...

Nothing Beats a Jet2 Holiday? A Surprising New Way to Use Emirates Skywards Miles Emirates has just announced a partnership with Jet2.com, giving members more ways to redeem Skywards miles. Here's what to know.

Emirates just launched a new partnership with... Jet2?!

Perhaps nothing beats a Jet2 holiday — but this probably isn’t how you want to spend your Emirates Skywards miles.

Here's what to know about this new partnership:
awardwallet.com/news/airline...

Score 75k Bonus Miles and a $250 Travel Credit With This Capital One Venture Card Offer Score 75,000 bonus miles plus a $250 welcome travel credit with the Capital One Venture Card. Here are the details of this offer.

Capital One is back with an elevated offer on an excellent everyday spending card: Get 75k bonus miles plus a $250 travel credit.

That's a minimum of $1,000 of free travel -- and even more if you maximize Capital One's transfer partners.

Full details: awardwallet.com/credit-cards...

Bilt Reveals Full Details of New Cardless Credit Card Portfolio, Opens Applications for Transfers Bilt Rewards just launched three brand-new credit cards. Here are their welcome bonuses, benefits, and annual fees — and how to apply.

💳New Bilt cards just launched!💳

Full details of Bilt's new card portfolio are now live! Existing cardholders can sign up for these new cards starting today -- and even earn a sign-up bonus on the new card.

Here are the full details: awardwallet.com/news/bilt-re...

Happy Festivus! Episode 70 of the #TravelStories Podcast is live on the
@milenomics.bsky.social no annual fee feed. @TktweetsKim and I welcome @jtgenter.bsky.social
to celebrate Festivus! Take a listen to hear our airing of grievances and more! milenomics.com/2025/12/trav...

DECEMBER:
- Hotel nights: 20
- RV: 6
- Family: 4
- Redeye: 1

- Brands: 7 (7 nights at Moxy, 4 at Hoxton, 3 at Ibis, 2 at Lidner, 2 at Holiday Inn-The Niu, 1 at Clarion, 1 at Element)

Cost:
- $2,067.48 out-of-pocket
- 24k IHG (0.94 cents per point)
- 20k Choice (1.13 cpp)
- 17.5k Hyatt (3.36 cpp)

DECEMBER:
- Hotel nights: 20
- RV: 6
- Family: 4
- Redeye: 1

- Brands: 7 (7 nights at Moxy, 4 at Hoxton, 3 at Ibis, 2 at Lidner, 2 at Holiday Inn-The Niu, 1 at Clarion, 1 at Element)

Cost:
- $2,067.48 out-of-pocket
- 24k IHG (0.94 cents per point)
- 20k Choice (1.13 cpp)
- 17.5k Hyatt (3.36 cpp)

DECEMBER
- Flight miles: 11,953 (8,311 in biz/first)
- Flights: 10
- Airlines: 6 (Air France, Lufthansa, Finnair, LOT Polish, Condor, American)
- Airports: 11

Cost:
- $673.56 out-of-pocket
- 62.5k Alaska points
- 45k Flying Blue miles
- 20.5k United miles
- 11.5k AA miles

Rounding out the list:
- Hilton: 21 nights, Diamond Elite x2 (via Aspire)
- Choice: 14 nights ($0 cost + 144k points)
- Wyndham: 7 nights ($0 cost + 81k points)
- Accor: 7 nights ($1,063 total cost before $600 in FHR credits)
- 9 nights via AAHotels, Delta Stays, and Chase Travel

Hyatt
- 50 nights stayed
- 2026 status: Globalist (Katie)
- $431 total out-of-pocket
- 254,500 points redeemed
- 5 free night certs redeemed (avg alt cost $286)
- $155.63 most expensive night (Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin)
- $68.85 cheapest night (Hyatt Regency Dubai x4)

IHG
- 69 nights stayed
- 2026 status: Diamond Elite (JT)
- $6,225.58 total out-of-pocket
- 644,000 points redeemed
- 5 free night certs redeemed (avg alt cost $230)
- $839 most expensive night (Six Senses Laamu x4)
- $54 cheapest night (Garner Hotel Istanbul Arnavutkoy)

Marriott:
- 75 nights stayed
- 2026 status: Titanium Elite (x2)
- $7,867.81 total out-of-pocket
- 157,000 points redeemed
- 7 free night certs redeemed (avg alt cost $328)
- $220 most expensive night (Le Meridien Maldives x7)
- $74 cheapest night (Courtyard Aberdeen Airport)

Last night was my last night in a hotel this year!

Breakdown of my hotel stays in 2025:
- 252 nights in hotels
- $19,060.59 out-of-pocket
- 1,280,500 points redeemed
- $839.44: most expensive night (Six Senses Laamu x4)
- $54.20: cheapest night (Garner Hotel Istanbul Arnavutkoy)

If you don't know Above & Beyond, the DJ trio has been together 25 years now (and we've been listening to them for 16+ years).

At each show, they pause their most-famous song right before the drop. Then they pull superfans from the crowd to "Push The Button" to start the drop.

After living nomadically for 8+ years, there aren't many places left on my bucket list. But there are experiences.

I checked off one of those last night: Push The Button at an Above & Beyond show.

Katie and I made a sign for our 20th A&B concert and were picked to come on stage for the honor.

How many are you up to?

Inside the American Airlines A321XLR: Where to Sit and How to Book Flights on AA’s Brand-New Plane American Airlines just unveiled its brand-new Airbus A321XLR. Here's a detailed photo tour of the new plane, including the best seats.

American Airlines just unveiled its newest plane: the Airbus A321XLR ✈️

This plane will start flying transcon next week and internationally as soon as March. Soon, it will become AA's narrowbody long-haul fleet workhorse.

Here's your first look inside: awardwallet.com/airlines/ame...

JetBlue’s First BlueHouse Lounge at JFK Is Opening Soon — Here’s Your First Look Inside JetBlue's brand-new BlueHouse at New York (JFK) is opening on December 18, 2025. Here's a look inside the airline's first airport lounge.

JetBlue is about to open its very first lounge. AwardWallet's Tyler Glatt got an early sneak peek, and the lounge looks spectacular! However, not everything is going to be up-to-speed from opening day 😬

From access to a secret gift mailbox, here's Tyler's report: awardwallet.com/airlines/jet...

You Can Now Earn American Airlines Miles and British Airways Avios on Select LEVEL Flights You can now earn British Airways and American Airlines miles on select LEVEL-operated flights. Here's what you need to know.

I've logged 115 airlines -- but LEVEL hasn't been one of them. And that's for one particular reason: despite using Iberia flight numbers, you couldn't earn AAdvantage miles on their flights.

Now that's changed: awardwallet.com/news/america...

Chase Unveils a Brand-New Two Story Sapphire Lounge at the Las Vegas Airport — Here’s a Look Inside The brand-new Chase Sapphire Lounge Las Vegas (LAS) is opening soon. Here’s a photo tour of the two-story space and what you’ll find inside.

Today, Chase opened a brand-new Chase Sapphire Lounge in Las Vegas - but AwardWallet got an early sneak peek yesterday! Here's our phototour of this surprisingly small lounge: awardwallet.com/credit-cards...

Citi ThankYou to Lose Aeromexico Rewards as a Transfer Partner — Here's the Timeline Citi ThankYou Points will lose Aeromexico Rewards as a transfer partner in January 2026. Here's what to know before that happens.

📰Yet another AwardWallet scoop: Citi is losing a transfer partner next month. That still gives time to transfer (but there are better uses of Citi points): awardwallet.com/news/citi-th...

Capital One to Devalue Transfers to Emirates Skywards — Here's the Timeline and New Ratio Capital One is set to devalue point transfers to Emirates Skywards, but you still have time to get 1:1 transfers. Here's what to know.

📰(Another) AwardWallet scoop: Capital One will devalue the transfer rate on miles transfers to Emirates Skywards, following similar devaluations by Amex and Citi.

But the good news is you still have time to transfer miles at current rates: awardwallet.com/news/capital...

The Chase Sapphire Lounge in Hong Kong Is Closing Soon — Here's What We Know The Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club at the Hong Kong International Airport is closing in January 2026. Here's what we know.

📰AwardWallet scoop: Chase quietly announced that it will close it's first-ever Chase Sapphire Lounge.

Here's the timeline and what we know so far: awardwallet.com/news/chase-u...