Find Flights for Me Recap: Week ending 3/1/26

This time it’s for real. No Reddit experiment. Hyatt just announced an upcoming devaluation update of their award program. The most impactful change is the increased ceiling for redemptions across all categories including the aspirational Category 8 hotels potentially priced as high as 75k points/night for a standard room (vs. 45k points/night max previously). This is a 67% increase. All other categories have higher ceiling prices as well including all-inclusives. Sadly, this announcement seems to be a worse devaluation than the fake Reddit post that made up a fake credit card that actually had a lot of interest. These changes will occur for new bookings made sometime in May 2026.

Award chart updates

Instead of three pricing buckets (off-peak, standard, peak), Hyatt will move to five pricing buckets (lowest, low, moderate, upper, and top).

Here is the new award chart (from Hyatt) that will be implemented for bookings made sometime in May 2026. Exact date is currently unknown but will be announced later. Looking at the current rates vs. future rates, hyou can see that the higher-end properties can see as much as a 67% devaluation in points needed during high-season while lower-end properties could be -14% cheaper during the off-peak season.

Positive changes

All is not bad with the announcement. Later this year, Hyatt said they will make it easier to share points with others and that it will be able to be done digitally. No more points sharing physical form! Additionally, those with elite status (Explorist and up) and Hyatt credit card holders will get early access to award nights. Again, another data point of companies trying to keep you in their credit card/loyalty ecosystem.

Additionally, Category 1-3, 5, and 6 hotels and Category B and C All-Inclusives will see their off-peak pricing drop slightly.

There are some new transfer bonuses this month.

New: Chase has a 20% transfer bonus to Avios programs (Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia). This runs through March 31, 2026

New: Capital One has a 30% bonus to Preferred Hotels & Resorts. This runs through March 31, 2026

AMEX has a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca. This is paid out from the Avianca side. This runs through March 28, 2026.

Citi has a 25% transfer bonus to Wyndham. This runs through March 21, 2026.

Chase added Wyndham Rewards as a new transfer partner. Chase points transfer 1:1 to Wyndham. More partners is always good but it might be difficult to get outsized value with Chase points→Wyndham though.

Wyndham has a portfolio of properties ranging from Super 8s to La Quinta to Wyndham Grand and Registry Collection hotels.

It seems like the median redemption value for booking Wyndham awards is around 1 cent per point, which is the same as redeeming Chase points as statement credit. Blogger Chris Wada did some analysis on redemption values at various Wyndham properties globally and the math doesn’t look to great to be honest. But maybe you can find a gem.

This section has a lot of acronyms. Some Hilton cards are offering a free night certificate (FNC) + usual Hilton points as a sign up bonus (SUB). The consumer cards also have no lifetime language (NLL), meaning if you already have/had the card and got a bonus, you can get another SUB. 😁 I currently have 2 Hilton Aspire cards and might go for #3 as these cards provide a FNC every year.

List of Amex Hilton Card offers (expires 4/15/26)

These are not referral or affiliate links, they are special no lifetime language links that will let you get a SUB even if you already have/had the card. If you haven’t had the card you want to sign up for, reach out to a family member, friend, or use the Amex referral thread for a referral.

Hilton’s FNC are better than other hotel programs because you can use it at essentially any Hilton-branded hotel and many Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) as well. The only catch is there needs to be “standard award availability” which is like saver space but for hotels. But this means you can use that FNC at a $100/night Hilton Garden Inn (HGI) that needs 40k Hilton points to book or the $1,500/night Waldorf Astoria (WA) that needs 100-200k points/night to book.

Because the Amex Hilton cards also give you an additional FNC after meeting minimum spend, you can potentially product change and upgrade or downgrade these cards after a year to eek out additional FNCs. Details best explained by Frequent Miler here but a key example is the Hilton Surpass gives you a FNC if you spend $15k in a calendar year. After you meet that $15k spend and get the FNC, you can upgrade that Surpass to an Aspire card that gives a FNC after $30k spend. But that initial $15k spent on the Surpass will carry over, meaning you only need to spend another $15k more on the upgraded Aspire to get the second FNC.

I think Hilton gives Marriott a run for its money around aspirational properties, and with the Hilton FNC’s not limited to a points ceiling like Marriott or a category level like Hyatt, you should take advantage of them and book these gems. The SLH collection has the best bang for your buck too, unique properties with five star service with many having $1,000+ price points.

Fly Iberia business class between Boston and Madrid. Combine with the Chase 20% transfer bonus to Avios programs to make it an even better deal. Book these through British Airways or Iberia for as low as 40.5k points and around $125-160 in tax/fees each way. These flights are on the newer A321XLR which is a narrowbody with business in a 1-1 configuration. With a transfer bonus, it is as low as ~34k points one-way.

British Airways and Iberia should see the same award availability. I personally would book these flights through British Airways in case something goes wrong as BA’s customer service is much better than Iberia’s.

If you value Chase points at more than 1.2 cents per point, think about buying Avios at 1.2 cents per point with British Airways Avios Boost. Details can be found here on my blog.

Dates with 2+ seats

BOS-MAD
July: 14, 15, 25, 26
August: None
September: None
October: 20, 25, 30, 31
November: 2, 6, 7, 9-11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, 25
December: 3-6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 24, 26, 28-31
January 2027: 1-7, 9-14, 16-18, 20, 21, 23-31
February: 1-4, 6-11, 13-23

MAD-BOS
May: 6
June: None
July: 27
August: 22, 27, 28, 30
September: 1, 3
October: None
November: 2, 4-9, 11-13, 16, 20-22, 25-27, 30
December: 1, 3, 4, 10, 12, 14-16, 18-31
January 2027: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11-21, 23, 26-31
February: 1-13, 15-22

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