The Extra Mile, Aug. 11: Park Hyatt Tokyo Was Worth the Wait, Nashville from $124 RT & More

🎯 Get up to 70% More Points With a Big Transfer Bonus

If you’re sitting on a stash of points from banks like Amex, Chase, Capital One, and more, now’s as good a time as any to book a vacation.

Banks routinely roll out transfer bonuses of 10% to 40% (or more) when you move points to select airline and hotel partners, creating a limited-time opportunity to squeeze out an award booking you might not otherwise be able to afford.

Here’s what’s live right now:

• Amex to British Airways, Iberia & Aer Lingus: 30% bonus, through Sept. 27
• Capital One to Avianca LifeMiles: 15% bonus, through Aug. 31
• Chase to IHG One Rewards: 70% bonus, through Aug. 31 (not typically worth it … even with a big bonus)
• Citi to Air France/KLM Flying Blue: 20% bonus, through Aug. 22
• Citi to Turkish Miles & Smiles: 40% bonus, through Aug. 31 (processed by Turkish on the back end)
• Rove to Qantas Frequent Flyer: 50% bonus, through Aug. 14

A few standouts worth acting on before it’s too late:

The Amex-to-Avios bonus is one of the best of the bunch. Avios can unlock reasonable AA economy redemptions to Hawaii (through Finnair), as well as lie-flat seats to Europe at bargain rates. Take Iberia business class from the East Coast (or even Chicago) to Madrid, for example. Off-peak dates can be booked for just 40,500 Avios each way – just 32,000 Amex points with this bonus.

If you’re short on points, there are deals to be had in the back and middle of the plane, too. Just 16,000 Avios in economy and 29,500 Avios in the comfy, premium economy cabin. With a big 30% transfer bonus, you’d need just 13,000 or 23,000 Amex points (respectively) to book.

Meanwhile, the 40% transfer bonus from Citi to Turkish is worth calling special attention to. Unlike most transfer bonuses, this one is handled on the back end by the airline, so you won’t see it when logged in to your Citi account.

This also comes with a couple of catches: You can earn a maximum of 50,000 bonus miles through this promotion and the extra miles won’t be added to your account until after the promo ends (sometime in September).

Having said that, being able to transfer just 93,000 Citi points to Turkish to book a roundtrip business class flight to Istanbul (IST) – or two one-ways – is pretty incredible.

Other bonuses, like the 20% offer from Citi to Flying Blue, 15% boost from Capital One to Avianca, and 50% bonus from Rove to Qantas (ends Friday!) could also prove useful in the right situation.

But the 70% bonus from Chase to IHG should be a pretty easy pass. You can often buy IHG points with a 100% bonus, dropping the cost to just half-a-cent each (including right now). In that case, you’d be better off cashing out your Ultimate Rewards at a penny apiece and purchasing points outright, effectively creating a 100% bonus for yourself instead.

One big catch with all of these: Transfers are a one-way street. Once your points land at the airline or hotel, there’s no sending them back. Have a real redemption in mind – and a backup plan – before you hit transfer.

Read more about all the current transfer bonuses and the best ways to use them!

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🤝 Deal of the Day: Fly to Nashville from $124 Roundtrip

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥

Why we love it: Southwest is running a sale, and that means Nashville (BNA) flights from all over the country just got cheaper.

Fly from several U.S. airports nonstop to BNA under $196 roundtrip with best availability this fall and winter!

Sign up now to get all the details on this deal & don’t miss the next flight deal alert.

Already a member? Log in to see all your deals. (Not seeing it? Remove your airport filters to see every deal.)

– Gunnar Olson, Thrifty Traveler Premium deal analyst

🎙️ New Bonus Podcast: Live from Fargo!

🛩️ Live from Fargo! Tips for Traveling (& Saving) from Smaller Airports

🍿 The guys took the show on the road: Coming to you live from TEDxFargo in North Dakota in late July, Gunnar and Kyle devoted an episode of the show to airports not named JFK, LAX, MSP, ORD, or the other big hubs. Plus, they swap stories of their favorite trips from smaller airports and Gunnar has to make a statement about his love of ORD.

Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

🍻 Minneapolis: Join Us for a First Class Happy Hour!

Mark your calendars, and join the Thrifty Traveler team on Thursday, September 24, at Utepils Brewing in Minneapolis for our First Class Happy Hour!

Get your tickets for a casual evening where travelers can connect, swap stories, and have some fun!

We’ll have drinks, travel-themed games and giveaways, plenty of travel talk, and a live Q&A with members of our team! Bring your questions and get to know the people behind Thrifty Traveler!

And because no happy hour is complete without one, your first drink is included with your ticket. Cheers to that!

Whether you live nearby or are making the trip to Minneapolis, we hope you’ll join us for a fun evening with fellow travelers!

Get Your Tickets Here

– Kat Erdahl, community marketing manager

🔎 This New Avios Tool Makes Award Searches Way Faster

Avios just made it a lot easier to find award seats on British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus.

The loyalty program behind those three airlines – and a handful of others – recently added a new 12-month calendar to its site that shows nonstop award availability at a glance. No more plugging in one date at a time and refreshing over and over.

That might sound minor, but finding open award seats – especially in business and first class – has gotten harder every year as more people sit on stockpiles of transferable points. Airlines have quietly stripped down their sites in an attempt to bury the precious few dates they make available at all, fueling the rise of third-party search tools in recent years.

A few things to know:

• You’ll need to search on Avios.com itself, not britishairways.com or iberia.com.
• The calendar only covers British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus for now – Qatar and Finnair, which also use Avios, aren’t included yet.
• It only works for nonstop flights – Avios says connecting flights are coming, but aren’t live yet.

Iberia is the best example of why this update is so significant. Off-peak business class from the East Coast and cities like Chicago (ORD) to Madrid runs just 40,500 Avios each way, but seats are notoriously hard to find. This calendar makes it far faster to spot which dates actually have room – and to see Iberia’s peak and off-peak pricing at a glance, including a few surprising exceptions in each. Shift your dates by even a week, and you could save thousands of Avios.

It’s also just plain fast: Switching airports, months, or airlines takes seconds, compared to the hours it could take bouncing between each airline’s own site. You’ll still need to click through to BA, Iberia, or Aer Lingus to log in and finish booking, but this gets you to the right dates much quicker.

Bottom line? It doesn’t create more premium cabin space – but it makes the precious few seats that are already there much easier to find … and that’s a real win for anyone chasing lie-flat availability on these three airlines.

Check out our full story!

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🇯🇵 The Park Hyatt Tokyo was Wonderful & Worth the Wait

I feel like I’ve waited my entire life to stay at this iconic hotel. My expectations couldn’t have possibly been higher … which made my two-night stay even more rewarding. This is my favorite city hotel, bar none.

This is the latest from my whirlwind trip to Tokyo last week – stay tuned for more Tokyo tips & insights!

– Kyle Potter, executive editor

Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Rooms: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Grounds & Amenities: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Service & Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What I liked: Honestly, everything. That makes for a boring review, but I can’t hide it. Consider me a Park Hyatt Tokyo fanboy.

Like many, this hotel has been at the top of my wishlist from the moment I watched the movie Lost in Translation, in which the property is as much a star as Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. After rewatching it a dozen-plus times, I worried I’d built an unattainable vision for my stay last week.

And yet it crushed those expectations – for a few reasons.

The rooms are delightful after the extensive renovation that closed the property down for 19 months before it reopened last December. Even my base King City View room was surprisingly spacious – and not just by Tokyo standards. From the bed frame to the seating to the entertainment console and the massive bathroom, everything is new and yet not out of place with the hotel’s timelessness.

But really, it’s the hotel’s public spaces that shine. From the moment you step off the elevator and make your way through the lobby, every square inch of the property is elegant, understated, undeniably Japanese, and absolutely gorgeous. The opening atrium, the “library” in the walk to check in, and even the gym and pool on the top floor are all works of art.

Service was, as you’d probably expect, flawless from start to finish. I left the hotel for most meals but the Japanese Kozue breakfast was outstanding… and also entirely too much food. At $54 after taxes and fees, it’s not cheap – having top-tier Globalist status here sure would be nice to get complimentary breakfast for two.

The highlight? A cocktail (or two) at the New York Bar on the hotel’s 52nd floor at night. Soaking in the ambiance, the sweeping views of the city, and the live jazz band playing “What a Wonderful World” for a nightcap – just like Bob and Charlotte in the movie – was a total “pinch me, I can’t believe I’m really here” moment.

The one knock against the Park Hyatt Tokyo? The location.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m honestly not sure there’s a bad place to stay in this entire, massive city. There’s always a surprise waiting at the end of some alleyway, no matter where you’re at.

But it’s a solid 15 minute (or more) walk from the thick of the action in Tokyo’s famed Shinjuku neighborhood. Maybe that’s a positive in your eyes, but this probably wouldn’t be the best place to stay for a first-time visit to Tokyo.

For me, it was well worth the extra steps. I needed them after that breakfast anyway.

– Kyle Potter, executive editor

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• 🍖 American is expanding Pecan Lodge’s Texas barbecue to all eligible domestic First Class flights out of DFW, starting Sept. 9, following a well-received debut on select routes. (American Airlines)
• ⏳ The limited-time offer on the *world of hyatt card* is ending soon. bonus_miles_full
• 📈 Air Canada is reportedly nearing a deal to sell a $2 billion minority stake of its Aeroplan loyalty program to private equity firm Blackstone, using the cash to fund new planes and cabin upgrades. (Bloomberg)