The Extra Mile, Aug. 18: Alaska’s (Overdue) Change for Families, Biz Class to Dublin from 39K Points & More

🧑‍🍼 Alaska Adds Lap Infants to International Flights, But …

Alaska Airlines just made a much-needed (if overdue) change for traveling families, but there’s still work to be done.

Unlike domestic flights, international itineraries typically require paying 10% of the adult fare when adding a lap infant to your reservation, plus any applicable taxes and fees. But as View From the Wing points out, Alaska’s internal systems weren’t built to handle this process – until recently.

As a primarily domestic carrier, this wasn’t something Alaska needed to worry about before now. Yes, Alaska flew to Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, and the Bahamas, but those were all short-haul routes that functioned more like an extension of its domestic network than true long-haul flying.

That changed once Alaska acquired Hawaiian and started flying its own planes to London, Reykjavik, Tokyo, Seoul, and Rome. Suddenly, Alaska needed a system that could handle lap infants on long-haul international itineraries … and now it has one.

On revenue fares, adding a lap infant to an international Alaska itinerary costs 10% of the adult fare, plus taxes and fees – the same math you’d find at most other airlines. Book a ticket using Atmos Rewards points instead, and the math gets even better: You’ll pay the necessary taxes and fees for your lap infant, but no additional points.

But here’s the catch: This change only impacts Alaska’s own flights … not partners like American Airlines, British Airways, Japan Airlines, and countless others.

I ran into this exact problem last year booking an Alaska award ticket to Peru on then-partner LATAM Airlines. I called both Alaska and LATAM to add my infant daughter to my ticket, but neither could help me.

Related: Planning a Bucket List Trip to Machu Picchu

I ended up canceling my ticket and rebooking on Virgin Atlantic at a higher rate, while my wife and son stayed on the original, cheaper Alaska/LATAM award. The math still worked better than buying an entirely unused seat for my daughter – but it shouldn’t have taken three phone calls and a separate rebooking to get there.

Unfortunately, that’s still the reality today. Alaska gives you access to a genuinely excellent roster of partners – AA, British Airways, Japan Airlines, and more, often at pretty reasonable rates – but if you’re traveling with a lap infant, none of those award bookings are covered by this fix.

Until Alaska extends this same automation to partner awards, families with an infant flying on points still need a workaround, a full-fare seat, or a lot of patience (and luck) on the phone.

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🤝 Deal of the Day: Aer Lingus Biz Class to Dublin from 39K Pts.

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥🔥

Why we love it: Fly lie-flat to Dublin (DUB) on Aer Lingus Business Class for some of the best rates we’ve ever seen!

Flying this fall from several U.S. cities and bookable using Avios, Alaska miles, American miles, or United miles!

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

📺 4K, Bluetooth, & Screens: American Overhauls its Narrowbodies

American Airlines is behind on its inflight technology compared to the other U.S. airlines, but apparently the carrier is looking to make up for lost time.

On Tuesday morning, AA announced it will begin installing larger, 4K screens with Bluetooth audio connectivity at every seat on its narrowbody planes (i.e., the ones that are flying in and around the U.S. and the Caribbean, but not overseas)

American also highlighted that the new setups will include USB-C charging ports, personalized entertainment systems (like Delta’s Sync), and new partnerships for onboard content.

It’s a big, audacious plan … that the airline will start rolling out in 2028 … so don’t hold your breath. It’s going to take years to get this done as the airline rolls out new planes and retrofits old ones, but it’s a welcome change nonetheless.

Along with the tech upgrades, American also announced it will add Main Cabin Extra and First Class seats.

Specifically on its A319s and A320s, American is adding another row of first class seats (expanding from three rows to four in most cases) as well as adding Main Cabin Extra seating.

The end goal? Having 40% of the plane be these premium seats instead of the 25% the airline is currently flying.

Bottom Line: In a few years, flying on American Airlines in and around the U.S. is going to look a lot different, and might just be best-in-class when it’s all said and done.

Check out our full breakdown.

– Gunnar Olson, Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal analyst

🎙️ On the Pod: Airfare Absurdities, the Battle for Seattle, & More

📻 From a bizarre (and arguably absurd) Delta flight pricing quirk, new and disappearing Alaska Atmos redemptions, American’s late premium push, or the ongoing “Battle for Seattle,” there’s no shortage of travel news for Gunnar and Kyle to break down on the show this week.

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

🔄 Chase Quietly Restricted This Credit … Then Reversed It

Over the weekend, Chase added a new restriction to the up to $500 hotel credit for Sapphire Reserve cardholders. By Tuesday morning, the restriction was gone.

New language on Chase’s “The Edit” benefits page said back-to-back stays at the same hotel within 24 hours of checkout would count as one single stay for the purposes of The Edit – the Sapphire Reserve’s up-to-$500-a-year credit for booking through Chase’s luxury hotel portal.

That would’ve killed the popular move of booking two separate two-night stays back-to-back at the same property to use both $250 credits on one trip. Under the new wording, only the first stay would’ve counted.

Then, less than a day later, Chase quietly removed the 24-hour language entirely with no announcement or explanation.

Here’s what’s genuinely unclear: whether that language was never supposed to be live on the blog-style benefits page in the first place, or whether it’s a restriction still coming down the pike that Chase pulled back before rolling it out officially.

Either way, the two-night minimum per booking still stands, and the back-to-back workaround is back in play … at least for now.

If you’re planning to burn through your $500 in Edit credits with a back-to-back stay, it looks safe again, but if you ask me, it seems like something is brewing.

In the world of points & miles, where there’s smoke, there is usually fire.

Read our full story here

– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder

💙 Mini Review: KLM Premium Comfort

Good morning from Amsterdam! That’s right, while you were sleeping, I was hard at work – doing the back-breaking, laborious work of writing about airplanes.

This time, I set KLM Premium Comfort in my crosshairs – spending 40,000 Flying Blue miles and $232 in taxes and fees to book the flight from Minneapolis (MSP) nonstop to Amsterdam (AMS).

By the way, at Thrifty Traveler, we don’t accept freebies. We use our own points, miles, or cash to pay for every single flight or hotel you see reviewed here – including this one.

Despite the ungodly hours at which this “overnight” flight operated (taking off at 3 p.m. and landing at 10:15 p.m. central time does not make for great plane sleeping …), I found the experience excellent.

First of all, the seat is very comfortable. It’s wide and feels extra soft. You also get 38 inches of legroom and eight whole inches of recline, too. Combine that with the legrest and footrest, and you’ve got plenty of space and support for the long journey across the pond.

But what really surprised me was the food. I keep my premium economy food expectations low, but my dinner and breakfast were both surprisingly inspired.

We’ve argued in this newsletter before that it’s not worth it to book business class for the overnights to Europe (unless you are departing from the West Coast), and I think that argument looks even better now – especially if you can get KLM Premium Comfort at that 40,000 Flying Blue miles rate.

Ultimately, this seat does exactly what you want premium economy to do: Split the difference between the value of economy and the luxuries of business class for a price that’s right in the middle, too.

Next up, KLM Business Class on the way home later this week.

Read my full review of KLM Premium Comfort.

– Gunnar Olson (flight deal analyst & travel reporter)

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• 🇮🇹 Emirates is reportedly close to launching new fifth-freedom flights from Milan to Lima, Peru, with more Milan routes to Los Angeles, Mexico City, and São Paulo under consideration. Regulatory approval is expected in the coming weeks, though nothing’s confirmed yet. (One Mile at a Time)
• 🎂 Cathay Pacific’s 80th birthday promo gives back 800 Asia Miles for every 5,000 redeemed. Book by Aug. 27 for travel through Dec. 10, limited to economy and premium economy flights to, from, or through Hong Kong. (Frequent Miler)
• 🤖 Google won a bankruptcy auction for Spirit Airlines’ internal data, paying $10 million for the failed carrier’s emails, flight records, and operating history to train its AI models. (View from the Wing)
• ✈️ Allegiant just announced 9 new routes, with 7 tied to New England markets chasing spring break travelers. (The Points Guy)