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Enter 2Q,
A new month and new quarter brings 1) new credit card coupons, 2) new quarterly spending bonuses on some cards, and 3) new transfer bonuses. The earlier you plan to use them, the more likely you are to use them… So get a head start!
For transfer bonuses:
1) Capital One 30% bonus to JAL, making it 1,000 : 975
2) Chase 20% to Air Canada, making it 1 : 1.2. Get 30% if you have Air Canada Aeroplan card as well
3) Chase 70% to IHG, making it 1 : 1.7. Bad deal, don’t ever do this unless you are short a few thousand points. You can buy IHG points directly from IHG for 0.5 cents per point. A 70% bonus means you are turning your 1 cent per point floor Chase point (statement credit) into a 0.85 cent per point value.
This week's highlights
United does a lot to start April
Previously announced, these changes are now live. United is offering better award pricing on their own metal if you are a credit card holder, an elite member, and even better if you’re both. If you have a United credit card or are an elite member, you can get a 10% discount on your award flight. If you are both, you can get a 15% discount. That 80k US-Europe business class saver is now 68k miles! In theory, United is also offering more business class saver availability to those with either the credit card or elite status, although it appears this has been ongoing since late August 2025. More to come if there is even more availability. I guess loyalty can pay off in a way.
However, the amount of miles you earn when you fly on United now rewards those with credit cards and punishes those who don’t. See the below chart. More details on all the changes on Frequent Miler.
Source: Frequent Miler
United also announced they will be unbundling their Polaris business class and Premium Economy fares. So some Polaris tickets will not include seat selection or lounge access. ☹
Most valuable airline loyalty programs?
No, sorry, not the value the program provides to you, but rather how much money airlines can make off of you. Some airline programs make more off their loyalty program than actually flying planes.
Airline loyalty consulting firm On Point Loyalty ranks the top 100 airlines globally based on 50 different variables and its no surprise the US Big 3 airlines are the clear winners with Delta #1, American #2, and United #3. View the full list here from On Point Loyalty. They also have a lot of other really neat (and nerdy) insights on loyalty programs.
Source: On Point Loyalty
2Q checklist
There are a bunch of promotions that you need to sign up for. And don’t forget to use your quarterly credit card coupons.
Register for these:
United Mile Play. Get more miles for meeting challenges
Chase Freedom 5% on Amazon, Chase Travel, and Feeding America.
Chase cobranded cards increased earnings on various categories like grocery, restaurants, etc.
Citi dividend 5% on grocery & Citi travel
Discover 5% on restaurants & home improvement
Coupons to use this month/quarter:
Amex Platinum quarterly credits are refreshed. Another $75 Lululemon purchase is calling your name. Also, the $100 Resy credit as well pays for a nice meal (find places that sell gift cards if you want to stack).
Hilton Aspires have $50 quarterly airfare credits.
If you have a lot of cards, it could make sense to create your own tracker or check out Frequent Miler’s tracker to help make sure you use them.
How Jennifer Aniston’s LolaVie brand grew sales 40% with CTV ads
The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Aniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.
Deal of the week
This week’s deal brings you to Belgium. Fly business class between New York (JFK) or Washington, DC (IAD) to Brussels (BRU). Flights start at 60k points and ~$6-100 in tax/fees one way. Don’t just limit yourself to Brussels, visit the smaller towns just a short train ride away including Ghent and Brugges.
How to book
Air Canada: Starting at 60k points + $60-115 in tax/fees. Spend an extra 14-15k points to make the flight freely changeable/cancellable. Otherwise $75 CAD for changes and $150 CAD to cancel per ticket.
Transfer Partners: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase
Tip: Air Canada Aeroplan has a great stopover program, where you can have a stopover (in BRU in this instance) before going to your next destination. It costs 5k additional points per ticket to add a stopover.
Transfer bonuses: Chase 20% bonus to Air Canada. Or 30% if you have an Air Canada card.
Avianca Lifemiles: 69k points + mystery tax/fees. There is a $150 change fee and $200 cancel fee for Avianca awards unless you have certain LifeMiles+ subscriptions (then it’s free).
Transfer Partners: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Citi, Wells Fargo
Note: Citi has a 25% transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles
United: 80-88k points + $6-63 in tax/fees. 80k if you have United credit card or elite status, otherwise 88k. Free changes/cancellations.
Transfer Partners: Bilt, Chase
Dates w/2+ seats
JFK-BRU
April: 8-10, 14, 20-22, 25, 27, 28
August: 4
BRU-JFK
April: 7-9, 11, 14-18, 21-23, 27-30
May: 1-5, 7, 15, 19-21, 28, 29
June: 4
July: 16
November: 5, 7, 12-14, 19-21, 26, 27
December: 3-5
IAD-BRU
April: 7, 9, 28
July: 3, 25, 27
August: 8, 9, 12, 16, 17, 22, 23, 26
September:
BRU-IAD
April: 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 24, 28, 30
May: 1, 5, 8, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30
June: 3, 5-7, 10, 15, 17, 21, 24, 28
July: None
August: 26, 28, 31
September: 16
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.
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Other news to highlight
Register: New Hyatt Under Canvas Promo, 2k points per night (Hyatt)
Targeted: Up to 200k Amex business gold NLLs. Great for tax season if you can get the card in time. (Danny Deal Guru)
Mistake fares? Create a Flyertalk account and subscribe to new posts in the premium fare deals forum. You might snag one, or just be filled with a lot of anxiety when your $450 USD refund comes back as 450 Turkish Lira
Bilt re-adds ability to refer people, get 2,500-5,000 points per referral (Doctor of Credit)
Get Rakuten points for opening a Bank of America credit card (Doctor of Credit)
Airlines are raising bag fees to offset rising fuel costs. (JetBlue One Mile at a Time and United One Mile at a Time)
Buying a $75 Lululemon gift card in-store should still work unless the employee makes up rules (Reddit)
Air India actually improves their award chart for Air India flights. (View from the Wing)
Choice points have value! 2 bedroom condo in St. Maarten for 15k points/night (View from the Wing)
LeBron isn’t a fan of the Hyatt Centric in Memphis. Do you think he is a Globalist though? (The Athletic)
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About Find Flights for Me.
I started the idea of Find Flights for Me back in 2023 to help educate and inspire people to use their credit card points more effectively, with a focus on using points to fly business and first class flights.
When I’m not working on Wall Street or searching for flight deals, you can find me planning for my upcoming wedding, enjoying local restaurants, helping my parents book their next trip, traveling internationally, or visiting friends/family in NYC, Philadelphia, or DC.