Find Flights for Me Recap: Week ending 11/23/25

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It’s finally here, Black Friday/Cyber Monday week. Here’s a list of travel-related deals that might be of interest. Here’s a curated but nonexhaustive list. I’ll send an updated list later this week as well.

Plus, don’t forget about various cash back portals to stack these discounts. I personally am using Rakuten, Rove, Capital One, and American Airlines Shopping this season, depending on which one offers the best rates. Capital One Offers has some interesting options, including earning extra miles when meeting a minimum spend, such as a bonus 2,500 miles after spending $25 at Ulta.

Earn cash back in the form of American Express or Bilt points every time you shop online at major retailers, including Nike, Saks, Lululemon, Ulta, Sephora, and 3,500+ more stores. Strategically, this is probably the time to open a new credit card to meet the minimum spending to get a nice sign up bonus (SUB) this holiday season too.

Rakuten is a cash back portal where merchants pay Rakuten to send online traffic to a merchant’s online storefront. Customers get a cut of Rakuten’s commission in the form of cash back (or points). You still shop directly with the online retailer, still get the retailer’s own discounts, and can stack credit card offers as well.

Click here to sign up: New members can earn a bonus $50 in cash back (worth 5k in points) after spending $50 in 90 days. Make sure to sign up today! (Affiliate link).

Note: Rakuten will payout 1:1 to Bilt through the May 15 payout period (so February 15 and May 15 payouts). So every $10 in cash back will be paid out as 1,000 Bilt points. Then, you will need to have Bilt status to continue receiving a 1:1 payout, otherwise it drops down to 2:1 (every $10 in cash back becomes 500 Bilt points).

Some people say elite status with an airline doesn’t matter. I disagree. More programs continue to reward their loyalty members with more award space (in addition to treating them with a minimum level of dignity). Those with elite status (or sometimes an airline co-branded card) will be rewarded with more award space and this trend will likely continue.

Some examples include Air France only offering the ability to book their first class "La Première" with points if you are a Flying Blue Platinum or Ultimate member. However, Air France appears to be showing more business class awards at “saver rates” to Platinum and Ultimate members (One Mile at a Time with details). You can potentially qualify for Platinum status with a status match. If you “live in Canada” and are AA Plat Pro or higher or United Platinum or higher, maybe you could status match to AF Platinum (Flying Blue FAQs on status matching).

Emirates earlier this year also removed the ability to book a first class award directly with the Emirates program unless you have at least Silver status with Emirates (Loyalty Lobby). You can still book Emirates First as a partner award through JAL or Qantas, although availability is much more limited than the already limited pool prior to the change. You could also pay $99 for an Emirates credit card to get one year of Silver tier membership (Emirates site, no affiliate link).

ANA provides more award availability to their own elite members (ANA). I believe the last time ANA did a status match challenge was in 2022 where AA, Delta, and JAL members could status match to ANA (The Points Guy).

United has recently expanded award availability this August to anyone with Silver status or above, or even holding a United credit card to IN space. This award fare bucket was previously only bookable for those having at least Platinum status. However, the “I” award space on United has been significantly decreased (One Mile at a Time). You can find a lot more award availability with this loyalty perk and all you need is a United credit card or you could status match (United).

Chase had a 40% bonus to Virgin Atlantic that dropped to 30% through December 5. Now Amex has a 40% bonus to Virgin through 12/31/25. There are some great Virgin Atlantic sweet spots to take advantage of, here are some to look for. Don’t forget there is a $100 change or cancel fee though. Examples below are before any transfer bonuses.

Fly Condor Airlines business class between North America and Europe for as low as 54k JetBlue points one way + around $14 to $173 in tax/fees. You can also book this through Alaska at 55k points one way.

Condor flies to and through Frankfurt. Best availability is from Boston (BOS), New York (JFK), and Toronto (YYZ). Economy flights can be booked for as low as 19k points one way as well.

JetBlue transfer partners: Chase and Citi transfer 1:1 to JetBlue. Amex is a 5:4 rate and Capital One is a 5:3 rate ☹
Note that if you cancel your award flight, taxes/fees will be refunded as JetBlue travel bank. There should be no change or cancel fees for partner business class awards.

Alaska transfer partners: Bilt transfers 1:1. Free changes/cancellations except for $12.50 partner booking fee (waived for Atmos Summit card holders)

BOS-FRA: July to Mid-October 2026
FRA-BOS: May-June 2026; Mid-August to Mid-October 2026

JFK-FRA: January to Mid-March 2026; July to Mid-October 2026
FRA-JFK: January to May 2026; Mid-August to Mid-October 2026

YYZ-FRA: Late December 2025 to April 2026; July to August 2026
FRA-YYZ: December 2025 to April 2026; July to August 2026

How to search: Search manually on JetBlue’s site, use Alaska’s calendar search (although British Airways availability will show up over Condor’s…), or use a search tool like Seats.Aero or Roame.Travel

Need help finding deals? (affiliate link)
Check out seats.aero, a search engine for all things award travel. View award availability for flights for the next 60 days for free. Subscribing unlocks a full year of availability and helps you get the edge over others. You can also set alerts, get access to an invite-only Discord community, and find hotel award availability (this one is free for all).

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