The Extra Mile, Nov. 5: Save on Airfare With Amex Offers + United’s Expanded Spotify Partnership

📲 Turn Our Card Benefit Tracker Into a Mobile App

I’ve shown this trick to enough people that it’s time to make it an official public service announcement: Every time, they think it’s cool, and almost nobody seems to know it’s possible.

Our Credit Card Benefit Tracker isn’t a native smartphone app (at least not yet), but a few taps will put it on your phone’s home screen. From there, it opens and works just like an app, with no browser bar and no digging through bookmarks.

The whole point of the tracker is to log a credit the moment you use it and catch the ones about to expire. That’s a lot easier when it’s one tap away instead of buried in a browser tab. Here’s how to set it up:

• 🍎 On iPhone: Open cardtracker.thriftytraveler.com in Safari and tap the icon in the bottom left corner of the URL bar. Then tap the share button (the box with the upward-pointing arrow), scroll down to Add to Home Screen, name it, and tap Add.
• 🤖 On Android: Open the tracker in Chrome and tap the three-dot menu in the top right. Then tap Add to Home Screen (or Install App), name it, and tap Install.

I’ve had it on my home screen since before we launched in June, and it’s the fastest way I’ve found to check off a benefit or look up a points balance.

Haven’t joined the more than 30,000 people already using it? Just log in with your Thrifty Traveler account. If you already get our flight deal alerts, either free or Thrifty Traveler Premium, you’re already set.

If not, creating an account takes about 30 seconds, and all you need is an email address: no bank logins or credit card numbers required.

Once you’re in, you can track credits across more than 120 travel cards, your points & miles balances, and cards (and points) for up to four people in your household.

Open the tracker and add it to your home screen now!

– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder

🎙️ New Pod Alert: The Weirdest Ways to Earn Points & Miles

🤪 The (Sometimes Weird) Things We Do to Earn Points & Miles Fast

📝 Learning how to earn a ton of points and miles is critical to award travel. And while there are some tried-and-true earning strategies … sometimes, we do some seemingly strange things to add to our stashes, too. And nobody embodies this sicko mentality quite like our colleague Jackson Newman, so we invited him (and his pancake “traxedo”) onto this week’s fun episode!

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

🤝 Deal of the Day: Fly to Singapore for 60K Miles Roundtrip!

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥

Why we love it: Alaska Airlines is back with its Global Getaways Promotion, and the best deal is the ability to fly to Singapore (SIN) for 60,000 Alaska miles roundtrip this winter and spring!

Best of all: All fares are Main Cabin flying Alaska, Japan Airlines, Qatar, or Starlux – some of the best airlines in the world!

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.

– Gunnar Olson, Thrifty Traveler Premium deal analyst

💸 A Slew of Amex Offers Could Save You Big on Flights Abroad

Airfare has been painful for the better part of the year. But Amex is offering a bit of relief … at least for some cardholders.

Right now, we’re seeing a handful of Amex Offers that could put up to $200 back in your pocket when you book flights with Etihad, Air France/KLM, or Virgin Atlantic:

• Etihad: Spend $1,000-plus, get $200 back (expires Dec. 31, 2026)
• Air France/KLM: Spend $1,500-plus, get $150 back (expires Dec. 15, 2026)
• Virgin Atlantic: Spend $2,500-plus, get $200 back (expires Dec. 13, 2026)

But you only need to book by those deadlines, not fly – so a flight for next spring or summer works just fine. And you can hit the spending minimum across multiple bookings.

Some cardholders are also reporting offers for Delta ($250 back on $2,000-plus booked through American Express Travel®), Air New Zealand ($350 back on $1,800-plus), and ITA Airways ($225 back on $1,250-plus).

As always with Amex Offers, these are targeted – so you’ll have to log in and cycle through each of your cards to see what you’ve got (if anything). We’re seeing them most often on the *amex gold* and *amex platinum*, but some are showing up on co-branded Delta, Marriott, and Hilton cards, too.

Now for the bad news: The fine print matters more than ever with these offers:

• Your trip has to start in the U.S.
• You need to pay in U.S. dollars
• You have to book directly with the airline (or Amex Travel if you have that Delta offer)

The requirement that your trip originate in the U.S. could limit the utility of these offers for some travelers. For example, a roundtrip from New York to Paris would work just fine, but a one-way home from London wouldn’t cut it. Likewise, these offers won’t help you save on short hops throughout Europe or on any of Etihad’s routes out of Abu Dhabi.

That’s far from a deal-breaker, but it’s worth keeping in mind when you go to book.

The sneaky-good use … at least in my opinion? Paying award taxes and fees. These offers should trigger when you pay the cash portion of an award booked on the airline’s site (so long as it’s originating in the U.S.).

After Flying Blue hiked fees earlier this year, a one-way business class award to Europe runs about $450 in fees. That means you’re looking at roughly $1,800 in fees for a roundtrip for two – easily clearing the $1,500 threshold and getting you $150 back. Virgin Atlantic is even steeper: Upper Class to London and back for two tops $3,000 in fees alone, which is more than enough to trigger that $200 credit.

None of that makes those fees any less painful. But if you’re booking anyway, there’s no reason to leave money on the table.

Get the full scoop on these offers!

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🤝 United & Spotify Team Up for Personal Seatback Streaming

Your personal Spotify library can now come with you on some United flights.

Starting today, United passengers can log in to their Spotify accounts directly on the seatback screen. That means your saved playlists, the podcast you were halfway through, audiobooks, music videos, and even Spotify’s AI DJ are all accessible right from your seatback entertainment system.

United says it’s the first airline to let travelers stream their personal Spotify content on a seatback screen.

How it works:

• Find the Spotify app on your seatback screen
• Scan the QR code with your phone to pair your account

You don’t need Premium – both Spotify Free and Premium users can log in, though the features you get depend on your plan.

The biggest catch? This only works on Starlink-equipped aircraft. Right now that’s just under half of United’s fleet, so plenty of United flights won’t have it yet. United expects Starlink/Spotify to cross the 50% mark by next spring, with Starlink installed fleetwide before the end of 2027.

If your plane doesn’t have it, you’ll still get the “curated” Spotify channel United added to its entertainment system last year … just not your own library.

It’s a small win, but it fits a broader trend: Airlines keep teaming up with third-party services travelers already pay for to make the time onboard feel a bit more like home. Delta has gone a similar route with YouTube, Paramount+, and Crunchyroll through Delta Sync.

Those partnerships mostly mean curated content and free trials for SkyMiles members, though, not a login to your own account on the seatback screen. United’s version is a bit more personal.

Bottom line? You probably won’t pick a flight based on this alone. But if you’ve ever boarded and realized you forgot to download the latest episode of your favorite podcast (😉), it helps.

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🏡 Chase Fires Back at Amex’s Airbnb Play

Less than two weeks after Amex teamed up with Airbnb, Chase is making its own push into vacation rentals.

Starting Jan. 1, 2027, Chase Travel will add more than 10,000 vacation homes to The Edit, its handpicked collection of luxury hotels and resorts that come with extra perks for *chase sapphire reserve* cardholders.

That means Sapphire Reserve cardholders can put up to $500 in annual Edit credits toward a vacation home, not just a hotel. Booking one also unlocks $150 in-stay credit for things like a private chef, mid-stay cleaning, or an airport pickup, plus early check-in and late checkout when available.

Read the fine print, though: those vacation home perks require a four-night minimum stay, and the annual credit only applies to prepaid bookings of at least two nights.

It’s a welcome option for Reserve cardholders who’ve had trouble finding an Edit hotel worth burning their credit on. But compared with what Amex just rolled out, Chase’s version is narrower.

Amex Platinum cardholders can now use their hotel credits on prepaid Airbnb Luxe stays and, more importantly, earn 5x points on virtually any Airbnb booked through Amex Travel.

Vacation rentals are officially the next battleground for premium travel cards.

You can find more details in the full press release!

– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• 🪟 A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled Wednesday that Delta must face a proposed class action from flyers who paid extra for “window” seats next to a blank wall – potentially more than 1 million passengers. (Simple Flying)
• 🌴 Park Hyatt’s first all-inclusive is coming sooner than expected: The 148-room Park Hyatt Riviera Maya near Cancun (CUN) is now bookable for stays from Dec. 3, at 45,000 to 85,000 World of Hyatt points a night. Cash rates start around $1,500. (One Mile at a Time)
• 🚗 Lyft announced its answer to Uber One today. With the new Lyft Go premium membership tier, you’ll get 8% back on rides + DoorDash DashPass included. Cue a new perk coming to Sapphire Reserve cards soon! (Lyft)
• 🇲🇽 Alaska will fly Seattle (SEA) to Guadalajara (GDL) three times a week on a 737-800 from March 18 to Aug. 7, 2027. (AeroRoutes)
• 🏨 The Wyndham Earner Plus card is waiving its $95 annual fee for year one and offering up to 90,000 bonus points (45,000 after $1,000 spend in 90 days, plus another 45,000 after $500 in Wyndham stays within 180 days) through Feb. 24, 2027. Instant Diamond status comes with it. (Wyndham)