Happy Monday, and welcome to August, Extra Mile readers! Chase just quietly admitted what everyone already knew: Priority Pass holders were never really welcome at Sapphire Lounges. Plus, the points deals still in that sweet spot before airlines kill them, and a genuinely baffling airfare mystery – why flying to Athens costs less than flying to Atlanta.
⌛ Points & Miles Deals That Are Too Good to Last
The best redemptions in points and miles come between realizing “this is too good to be true” and when the airlines ultimately realize the same.
For years, we’ve seen amazing redemptions come and go. Most recently, booking Hawaiian First Class seats from the mainland to Hawaii for 26,000 Finnair Avios each way, kicked the dust.
And while there’s an ever-growing graveyard of redemptions to mourn out there, there are also deals that are still in that goldilocks zone before the airlines realize they’re too good to be true.
🇪🇸 Iberia Business Class from 40,500 Miles Each Way: Off-peak season business class flights to Spain and beyond can be booked from just 40,500 miles each way. It’s not the best rate we’ve ever seen (you could book these in the 30,000s roundtrip a few years ago), but this is still one of the best deals in travel (especially on the new A321 business class!)
Here’s the peak and off-peak pricing you can find from all of these cities from a recent Thrifty Traveler Premium award space alert.
🥂 Emirates Business Class to Europe for 85,000 Miles Roundtrip: This deal is likely to cross over to the graveyard any second now. But if you have Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles, Capital One miles, or Bilt points that transfer there, it’s time to book this flight.
And then there’s the ones that got away, including:
- 🌺 Hawaiian First Class for 26K Finnair Avios
- 1️⃣ Delta One to Europe for 50k Virgin miles
- 📈 Hyatt’s old award chart
- 🏨 Hilton’s 150,000-point cap
- 💰 Reasonable Fees on Virgin Atlantic Biz Class (and just 29K miles!)
- 🇲🇽 SkyMiles Delta One Mexico hack
Read our full analysis of the deals that are too good to last and our post-mortem on the best deals we’re still mourning.
– Gunnar Olson, travel reporter & host of the Thrifty Traveler Podcast
🤝 Deal of the Day: Atlanta Fares Drop Under $199 Roundtrip!
Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥
Why we love it: It’s been many months since we’ve seen fares to Atlanta (ATL) dip below $199 from many of these cities.
Flying nonstop to ATL from two dozen U.S. cities with best availability this fall!
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
🛋️ Chase Ends the Free Ride at Sapphire Lounges
The free annual visit you got to the Sapphire Lounge with cards like the Amex Platinum, the Capital One Venture X, and many others is about to bite the dust.
Starting Aug. 15, Chase is cutting Priority Pass and LoungeKey members out of its lounge-sharing deal at its Sapphire Lounges.
The discounted $75 rate for extra visits is also on the chopping block. You can still get in … you’ll just pay the same $100 day pass as anyone off the street.
Here’s the thing: I don’t think this will help much with the lounge overcrowding problem. These lounges have been slammed since the day they opened, and Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders have always jumped the line at the podium.
If you were trying to use a Priority Pass entry from a competing bank’s card, you were the first cut when the lounge hit capacity … or you were stuck on a waitlist, eating into your layover. I’ve never once actually seen a non-Chase cardholder get into a Sapphire Lounge with their annual Priority Pass visit. I’m sure it happens when the lounge isn’t busy, but it seems to be the exception and not the norm.
Honestly, this arrangement was goofy from the start. Amex doesn’t allow Priority Pass members access to Centurion Lounges. Capital One doesn’t let them into its lounges, either. Chase only opened that door because its lounges are run by the same operator behind “The Club” lounges, and Priority Pass access came along with that partnership. Closing it off always felt like a matter of time.
So, in our opinion, Chase isn’t really taking anything away. It’s just admitting, on paper, what’s been happening at Sapphire Lounge doors for months.
– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder
🎙️ On the Pod: The State of Award Availability
✈️ We dig into where things are at and what’s ahead in points and miles, including the state of award availability and the best uses of your points and miles as we enter the second half of 2026.
Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!
🔬 A Study in Absurd Airfare (& Why ‘Skiplagging’ Exists)
Airfare is a black box to most travelers. Fares go up and down constantly, seemingly without reason … though lately, there’s been a lot more movement upward. Sigh.
After a decade of scouring the globe for cheap fares and points deals for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members, we’ve seen plenty of absurdly good deals and equally absurdly high prices. This example just might take the cake for the worst of the worst.
Over the weekend, one-way flights I was tracking with Google Flights price alerts from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Atlanta (ATL) shot up from $209 to $459. Yes, more than double the price.
And yet I could fly Delta from Minneapolis to Atlanta and all the way to Athens (ATH) – yes, the one way over in Greece, not northeastern Georgia – on the exact same day for just $341.
A trip abroad – on flights seven times as long (!!!), mind you – for almost $120 less? What gives?
Welcome to the infuriating world of hub penalties, where airlines charge their most loyal flyers at major hubs higher fares. Delta might be the poster child, but it’s happening everywhere.
It’s not price-gouging and not (necessarily) anything nefarious, but business as usual for the airline industry: Charging exactly as much as the market will support – not a penny less. Airlines have entire departments whose sole purpose is to leverage that system to fill planes at the highest possible ticket prices.
But surely plenty of Minnesotans would gladly pay to get to Greece later this summer, right? Right … but here’s the difference:
Delta has a (near) monopoly on that hub-to-hub route between Minneapolis and Atlanta. But several other carriers could get you from Minnesota to Athens on a one-stop trip, including American Airlines.
Take a wild guess what American is charging. Ready?
Bingo: $341, exact same as Delta.
Competition is everything for airfare. Left unchallenged, airlines will charge as much as possible. But when they go head-to-head, they compete for your dollars.
It makes sense … kind of. Yet you also can’t deny how ridiculous it is to fly all the way to Athens for less than a flight to the East Coast.
This kind of nonsensical pricing is exactly what drives travelers into the arms of Skiplagged, which has made a name for itself (and earned a permanent spot in airlines’ burn books) for helping travelers take advantage of these kinds of pricing absurdities.
Skiplagged, which popularized the practice of “hidden-city ticketing” or “throwaway ticketing,” is, in our minds, better as a last resort than a go-to money-saving method. It’s not illegal, but airlines explicitly ban it in their contracts of carriage … and have banned flyers for repeatedly abusing it.
To which I say: Airlines will happily leverage every ounce of pricing power they have to charge the highest fares possible, change flights willy-nilly, and drag their feet on doling out refunds. Why shouldn’t we mere mortals be able to take advantage of deals wherever (or however) we find them?
But that’s a debate for another day. Maybe I’ll just go to Athens.
– Kyle Potter, executive editor
✈️ Other Travel Tidbits
- 💳 Some Capital One Venture cardholders are reportedly seeing a new $100 annual travel credit added to their cards. The credit applies to hotel and vacation rental bookings through Capital One Travel. (Doctor of Credit)
- 🇬🇧 Amex has a new 30% transfer bonus to British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia that runs through Sept. 27.
- 💯 Somehow, you can still get 100,000 points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred – but only via personal referral links!
- 🍎 You can earn up to 10x miles on Apple purchases today only through select airline shopping portals. (Upgraded Points)
- 🇺🇸 American Airlines and Citi are overhauling the AA Executive Mastercard, adding new benefits and hiking the annual fee to $695. New perks include $500 back on AA Vacations purchases, 12x miles on hotel and car bookings, and Avis President’s Club status. The refreshed card and higher fee both kick in Aug. 23. (American Airlines)
