The Extra Mile, Sept. 25: Hyatt’s Top-End Redemptions Got Pricier, Booking a Safari Lodge With Points & More

🔨 Hyatt’s About to Take Another Hit (For Some of You…)

Next Thursday is practically doomsday in the world of award travel: The day that the trusty 1:1 transfers from the *chase sapphire preferred* (or the Ink Business Preferred) to Hyatt ends. Transferring points on a subpar 4:3 basis is just the latest hit.

And the questions just keep coming in:

“How far has Hyatt really fallen? Should I consider speculatively transferring a boatload of Chase points over to Hyatt before the calendar flips to October? Or is it worth getting the *chase sapphire reserve* so I can keep sending points to Hyatt 1:1?”

So we crunched some numbers (like a lot of numbers: nearly 400,000 award nights, in fact) to try to provide y’all some guidance. Here’s what we learned:

As painful as Hyatt’s big award chart changeover was this spring, it’s only gotten worse.

Read our full story breaking down where World of Hyatt stands now!

If you can’t make sense of that chart, here are a few takeaways:

• Cheaper award stays – think Category 5 properties and below – remain a bright spot without (as many) major shifts in how Hyatt prices stays. If that’s your bag, you’re still sitting pretty.
• But more and more award nights are now pricing out at the highest new “Upper” and “Top” rates – especially at high-end Category 7 and Category 8 properties, where rooms that previously cost no more than 45,000 points per night now go for as high as 75,000 points apiece

That’s a one-two punch for those high-end Hyatts. The hotel chain’s new award chart means that free night awards that previously maxed out at 45,000 points apiece now go for 55,000 … or 65,000 … or even 75,000 points per night. And as the months have worn on, Hyatt is increasingly putting nights into those pricier buckets.

This chart says it all.

Darn near close to 50% of award nights at Category 8 properties now cost more than the previous 45,000-point cap. And as the calendar turns closer to 2027, that will likely only get worse.

So what does this mean? What should you do with your Chase points before Oct. 1?

There’s no right-or-wrong answer here – it’s ultimately personal. But I’d encourage you to scope out your travel plans ASAP and figure out if Hyatt fits in … and think long and hard before transferring a ton of points to the hotel chain.

The deals you’ve come to rely on might just not be there any more.

– Kyle Potter, executive editor

🤝 Deal of the Day: South African Safari Lodge from 96K Pts/Night!

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥🔥

Why we love it: Book the all-inclusive Leopard Sands Kruger Park safari lodge starting at just 96,000 Marriott points per night! (Or use a 70% Chase transfer bonus to get it from 57,000 Chase points/night! 🤯)

Book wide open availability through next summer and avoid the $1,400/night price tag by using your points!

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

Already a member? Log in to see all your deals.

– Gunnar Olson, Thrifty Traveler Premium deal analyst

📡 On Our Radar: Seat Size Accountability Coming?

Welcome to On Our Radar – a weekly look at the news and trends we’re watching lately!

💺 Could We Get a Seat Size Dashboard from the DOT?

A Department of Transportation Committee met this week to talk about (among other things) its consumer dashboards, a Biden Administration project to make airlines be more transparent about delay and cancellation protocols, as well as family seating policies.

The fate of those two dashboards was discussed this week, but what’s most interesting is the proposal of a third dashboard that will lay bare each airline’s economy seat size.

According to the meeting agenda, the proposed dashboard would outline seat length, width, and pitch (a.k.a. legroom).

The Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee (catchy name, right?) discussed the three dashboards this week, but has not yet published a decision as of this writing.

My take (that will come as no surprise): I would welcome this dashboard as a way to make the airlines more transparent about the products they’re selling.

Sure, you can and should get all this information from Google Flights searches, but not everybody does. And travelers comparing booking a seat on Frontier with 28 inches of legroom to one on Southwest with 32 inches should factor that into their decision-making.

We’ll continue watching this and report on it here in the Extra Mile once a decision has been made.

🇬🇧 British Airways Goes All in On … St. Louis?

I truly mean no offense to St. Louis. You’re not going to hear me dissing a fellow mid-sized Midwestern city! But when I saw this news from Ishrion Aviation, that British Airways was upping its 4-times-a-week nonstop flight from St. Louis (STL) to London (LHR) to every day … I was stunned.

As one commenter on Ishrion’s post said, “Is St. Louis really popping like that?”

It’s popping enough for British Airways this summer … but not all summer. That’s where this gets even funkier.

The route runs daily from April 19 to June 30, covering only one month of the peak travel season. After that, it goes down to five times a week – still an increase from last year, but it is strange that the flight frequency drops again during peak season.

I suspect there’s a corporate element to this. There must be some business reason in those few months where B.A. knows it can fill this plane. Reply to this email and let me know if you know why!

– Gunnar Olson, travel reporter and flight deal analyst

✈️ Delta’s New Routes: Venice, Athens … & Not Much Else

Delta has finally announced its new routes to Europe for next summer. But compared to the competition, Delta’s list is pretty short.

Starting May 7, 2027, Delta will fly four times weekly from Boston (BOS) to Venice (VCE) through Oct. 29. Then on June 8, the Atlanta-based airline is adding three weekly flights from Detroit (DTW) to Athens (ATH) through Oct. 28. Both routes will be operated on one of Delta’s older Airbus A330 variants, with dated Delta One seats, Premium Select, Delta Comfort and main cabin seating.

These new routes join the Austin (AUS) to Paris (CDG) nonstop Delta announced last month, which launches March 27. Delta’s existing route from Boston to Milan (MXP) is also moving to daily – so New Englanders will get a bit more lift to Italy, beyond the new route to Venice.

Beyond the new routes, Delta is also stretching out its European travel season, starting some existing flights earlier in the spring and running them later into the fall. Rome flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) and Detroit start in early March. Flights from New York-JFK to Catania, Porto, Prague, and Copenhagen also return earlier.

That’s all good news if you like shoulder-season trips with smaller crowds and (usually) lower prices. But it’s not happening everywhere: Delta has already cut back its MSP-Dublin flights now that Aer Lingus is dropping the route. Once the competition leaves, Delta has less reason to keep flying it as often.

Meanwhile, United recently announced more than a dozen new routes, many to European cities no U.S. airline currently serves nonstop, like Ljubljana, Luxembourg, Marseille, and Ibiza. And American is adding Vienna and Porto from Philadelphia (PHL), in addition to a few other new lines.

Both airlines are using their new Airbus A321XLR, a smaller single-aisle plane that can fly across the Atlantic. With about 150 seats to fill instead of 300-some, smaller cities suddenly make sense for these two airlines.

Delta’s list is the opposite: three new routes, all to cities it already flies to from other U.S. airports, all on the usual (tired) widebody jets.

We’ll likely see Delta add a couple of new routes to Asia in the coming weeks or months – Singapore (SIN) has long been rumored. But for Europe in 2027, Delta looks to be sticking with the status quo.

Read our full story here.

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🎙️ On the Pod: When to Book Flights Home for the Holidays

🦃 Heading home for the holidays can be expensive, especially this year… but it doesn’t have to be. Listen in as the guys talk about when to book, where to target for the best deal, and when to turn to your points and miles to get home for the holidays.

Watch it now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And stay tuned for the next installment next week!

🤔 Are You Eligible For the Venture Card’s Big Bonus?

The *capital one venture card* is currently offering 75,000 bonus miles after $4,000 in spend in three months, plus a $300 Capital One Travel credit for hotels and vacation rentals – no spending required to unlock that credit, and you’ve got a full year to use it.

But none of that means a thing if you’re not eligible for the card to begin with. That’s why it’s important to know the rules Capital One doesn’t spell out on the application page.

Luckily, we’ve done the legwork for you.

Here’s the big one: Capital One’s 48-month rule now applies across the Venture and Venture X. If you’ve earned a welcome bonus on either card in the last four years, you’re not eligible for this one. That clock starts from when you earned the bonus, not when you opened the card – so if you got a Venture X bonus in early to mid 2022, you might just squeak back in.

A few more things worth knowing before you apply:

• Capital One generally caps you at two personal cards at a time (business and co-branded cards don’t count against this)
• Applying for any Capital One card in the last six months will likely tank your odds – and it’s smart to pause applications with other banks too
• You’ll want a credit score above 740 for the best shot – some readers report approval in the 700–740 range, but under 700 is a stretch
• Capital One pulls from all three bureaus, so thaw any credit freezes with Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian before you apply

None of this is guaranteed – Capital One’s approval process is famously opaque, and we’ve seen readers with pristine credit get denied for no clear reason. But checking these boxes stacks the odds in your favor, and a big bonus like this one is worth the extra homework.

Check out the full story on Capital One’s Venture Card eligibility requirements!

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• 🚂 Bilt Rent Day drops Oct. 1 and brings a transfer bonus to both Hilton and brand-new partner Amtrak. Bilt Platinum members get a 175% bonus plus instant Hilton Diamond status, while Amtrak transfers max out at a 100% bonus for Platinum members. Both bonuses scale down through Gold, Silver, and Blue tiers. (Bilt)
• ❤️ AAdvantage members can earn 10 miles per dollar donated to the Red Cross for Hawaii hurricane and tropical storm relief, with a $25 minimum donation, through Oct. 9. (Red Cross)
• 🛋️ Seattle’s Port Commission just delayed approval of a proposed 16,000-square-foot Chase Sapphire Lounge until Oct. 27, citing equity concerns and questions about impact on other airport businesses. (View from the Wing)
• ☕ Delta is giving away $10 Starbucks gift cards for every $150 spent on Delta gift cards, capped at $100, through Oct. 12. (Frequent Miler)