Kyle’s flight to Tokyo got delayed by hours … so he did the only reasonable thing and lounge-hopped his way across DFW’s Terminal D, ranking every option from worst to first. Also today: Iberia business class to Europe for as little as 32K points, Kristin booked her way to Iceland (and bumped it into her top 5 countries), and Citi’s about to make one of its priciest cards even pricier.
- 🥂 Ranking Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)’s Airport Lounges
- 🤝 Deal of the Day: Iberia Biz Class from 32K Points Each Way!
- 📖 Gettin’ Booksy: Kristin Adds Iceland to Her Top 5!
- 📈 Citi Hikes AA Executive Card Annual Fee, Adds New Perks
- 📊 New Month, New Credits: Time to Start Your Q3 Game Plan
- 🎙️ On the Pod: The State of Award Availability
- ✈️ Other Travel Tidbits
🥂 Ranking Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)’s Airport Lounges
A note from Kyle: This is the first installment from a quick trip to Tokyo! Stay tuned to future newsletters for reviews of Japan Airlines’ new business class, the Park Hyatt Tokyo, my favorite Japanese convenience store snacks (if you’re lucky) & more!
🇯🇵 Konnichiwa from Japan, travelers, where I’m battling a serious case of jet lag – and not just because of the 14-hour time difference after a 13-hour overnight flight … though, let’s be real, it’s mostly that.
But it sure didn’t help that my flight to Tokyo on Monday that was supposed to leave Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) at noon didn’t take off until nearly sundown.
The upside? What turned into a 10-hour layover made me intimately acquainted with DFW’s Terminal D. And after yet another lounge opening last month, there may be no better terminal in the country for lounge options.
So rather than do something normal like go into town, I spent the morning, afternoon, and early evening lounge hopping – all for you, dear Extra Mile reader. Here’s how I’d rank those lounge options, from worst to first.
Not ranked: The Club DFW, Minute Suites
My wife and I dropped in a few years ago and it was … fine. Totally fine. Nothing more, nothing less. About as basic as an airport lounge can get.
I walked past Minute Suites (where you can get a quiet space for one free hour of rest or work) a handful of times but didn’t walk in – sorry! Plus, it’s not even really a lounge.
5. The Centurion Lounge
Bottom line: The poster child of overcrowded airport lounges lived up to its name with 20-plus minute waits to get in, lines out the door, lines to get food, lines to get drinks, and … yeah, lines everywhere. An expansion of this lounge set for next year can’t come soon enough.
Pros: The staff was lovely from start to finish. The peach ginger tea and strawberry agua fresca were both delicious.
Cons: Finding a single seat took two tries circling the lounge. I’m not one to complain about a free meal but I’ve had about enough Amex Centurion chicken thigh in sauce to last a lifetime, thanks. Also, they ran out of forks?
How to get in: The *amex platinum* (or its business counterpart) are your only ticket in. Guests will cost you unless you spend a whopping $75,000 a year on your card.
4. Plaza Premium Lounge
Bottom line: A sleeper pick … depending on what you want. Might be the best option if all you’re looking for is a quiet place to sit for a few hours. But if you want to eat, look elsewhere.
Pros: Maybe my timing was just lucky, but this lounge felt positively empty compared to … well, everywhere else. Sharp decor, lots of windows looking down on the terminal below, and solid seating variety made this a prime place to relax.
Cons: Upsells galore! While you can get in free, the lounge tries to get you to cough up some extra dough for everything from premium cocktails to additional food to the souped-up “Plaza Premium First” lounge next door. Speaking of food, the free buffet was limited in quantity … and short on quality, too.
How to get in: Sadly, this lounge recently disappeared from Priority Pass. So, again, your best bet is the *amex platinum*.
3. American Airlines Flagship Lounge
Bottom line: Yes, really. This low. This is absolutely a nice lounge and a great choice if you’re flying business class on American or a Oneworld airline. But compared to what United and Delta are doing at their business class lounges these days, the Flagship lounge doesn’t even come close.
Pros: A glass of champagne at the entryway was a really nice touch, as is the pour-yourself wine bar at the back of the lounge. Large, long space with tons of seating. Good (but not great) food options.
Cons: Seriously short on extra amenities for a business class lounge: There are shower suites, a weird “quiet room” that’s exposed to the rest of the lounge, and … that’s it. American recently rolled out ordering a la carte meals via QR codes, but the five-item menu wasn’t expansive – and it’s only available at a dozen or so tables at the back of the space.
How to get in: A same-day Oneworld business or first class ticket. Otherwise, you can buy your way in with a $150 (or 15,000 AAdvantage mile) day pass, assuming you’ve got a Oneworld flight that day.
2. Capital One Lounge
Bottom line: The GOAT (if you ask me) of airport lounges has been dethroned … but it’s really, really close. Opened nearly five years ago, Capital One’s first lounge still shines in Dallas. On a good day, it could be the best here.
Pros: I’m still amazed at how good Capital One’s food and drink game is all these years later. Arroz con pollo, honey-glazed carrots, and a cucumber mezcal margarita were all restaurant quality. And while it’s busy (and often at capacity), Capital One does better than any bank at limiting capacity to make sure it’s a good experience once you’re inside.
Cons: While joining the digital waitlist instead of queuing outside is slick, the check-in process once you get the all-clear seems unnecessarily clunky and time-consuming. The single-stall restroom setup was a mistake: Expect to wait to use the bathroom here.
How to get in: You’ll need the *venture x* – or the normal Venture Card with a $45 co-pay. Sadly, free guests (and free access for Venture X authorized users) are a thing of the past.
1. Chase Sapphire Lounge
Bottom line: Newer is (almost) always better, right? It is here: The brand-new Sapphire Lounge is a winner with an unbeatable combination of tons of space, homey decor, comfortable seating, and great food and drinks. If Dallas were my home airport, I’d be giving the Reserve card a hard look for this lounge alone.
Pros: A large and beautiful space that puts every other lounge on this list to shame. A la carte dishes and drinks you can order via QR code from every seat in the lounge, plus a high-quality buffet setup. A quieter, living room-like space behind the bar is the best spot to relax.
Cons: It might be new but this lounge is already popular to a fault – expect a wait to check in. Just one shower suite feels like a miss.
How to get in: As Chase guts the once-a-year access for Priority Pass members with cards from Amex and other banks, you’ll need a *chase sapphire reserve*, its business equivalent, or the Ritz-Carlton Card. Two guests are still free for all – a rarity on this list!
– Kyle Potter, executive editor
🤝 Deal of the Day: Iberia Biz Class from 32K Points Each Way!
Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥
Why we love it: Fly Iberia Business Class to Europe starting at just 41,000 points each way (or just 32,000 points if you use an Amex to Avios transfer bonus!)
Best availability next July from 12 U.S. and Canadian cities!
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
📖 Gettin’ Booksy: Kristin Adds Iceland to Her Top 5!
Welcome to Gettin’ Booksy, a celebration of our favorite feeling: Booking something awesome! Book something lately? Let us know at [email protected]!
What Did Kristin Book?
Kristin snagged nonstop Delta flights from Minneapolis (MSP) to Iceland (KEF) for two for a trip full of beaches, waterfalls, glaciers, hot springs, epic hikes, and more!
How’d She Book It?
She transferred 62,000 Chase points to Flying Blue during a 25% transfer bonus, which got her the 76,000 Flying Blue miles she needed to book two roundtrip tickets!
In Iceland, she booked the Hotel Ranga for 100k Hilton points (an $800+/night hotel normally), used her Capital One Venture X $300 travel credit, and her $150 Delta Stays credit from the SkyMiles Platinum Amex card to cover her hotels.
What Makes it So Awesome?
Two of these nonstop Delta flights would have cost more than $1,600 in cash, or north of 120,000 SkyMiles when Kristin booked them, so spending just 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards is a steal.
Plus, she leveraged all her hotel points and credits to cover most of the remaining cost of the trip. Given how expensive Iceland can be (as Kristin put it, “Vikings game stadium pricing for everything”), that’s a big deal!
From Kristin:
We went on our favorite hike, ever, (I’ve been to 36 countries) where you could see a glacier, mountains, multiple waterfalls, bright greenery, and a glacial lake … and did I mention puffins! As a travel enthusiast, I rank Iceland in my top 5 countries so far – behind New Zealand and Thailand but ahead of Norway!
We’re so happy you had to shuffle your top 5 thanks to a Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alert, Kristin! Here’s to your next 36 countries!
– Gunnar Olson, flight deal analyst and travel reporter
📈 Citi Hikes AA Executive Card Annual Fee, Adds New Perks
American Airlines and Citi just confirmed what frequent flyers have been bracing for: The annual fee on the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® is going up to $695 on Aug. 23 – a $100 increase from the current $595 price point.
That means you’ve got nearly three weeks to lock in the current fee for the first year. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Right now, the card’s bonus sits at 70,000 miles after spending $7,000 in three months. That’s not nothing, but it also isn’t much to get excited about.
We don’t have any inside information on this, but it wouldn’t be shocking if a richer welcome offer shows up once the new benefits officially go live (as they often do). Applying now to save $100 could mean missing out on more miles later.
To help justify the higher price, Citi and AA are adding a batch of new benefits and credits:
- A new $500 annual AA Vacations credit (split into two $250 chunks)
- Automatic Omni Hotels Champion status, plus a free night reward (after two paid stays)
- A faster path to elite status – you can now earn up to 40,000 bonus Loyalty Points a year (up from 20,000) when you reach different milestones
- There’s also a new $100 credit for in-flight and Admirals Club purchases
- And the Lyft credit is going up to $15 per month, but only after you take three rides in a month
Worth flagging alongside all this: American is also raising the price of a standalone Admirals Club membership to $1,400 a year for an individual without status. AA points to recent and upcoming lounge investments – renovated clubs and new grab-and-go locations – as the reason for the hike, but there’s more to it than that.
With a standalone membership soon costing twice as much as the Executive Card, AA is hoping travelers will crunch the numbers and choose the credit card instead. Co-branded cardholders are worth more to AA over time than someone who buys an annual lounge pass.
For AA loyalists, the Executive Card’s new perks and unlimited complimentary lounge access (plus two guests or immediate family) should make it the clear choice … even at the higher price point.
Get the full details on these card changes!
– Jackson Newman, senior editor
📊 New Month, New Credits: Time to Start Your Q3 Game Plan
It’s August, which means a new round of monthly credits has just landed on many travel rewards credit cards. It’s also the midway point of the 3rd quarter – a good moment to check in on quarterly credits before they reset on Sept. 30, on cards like the Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve.
I used to keep a mental list of what I’d used and what I hadn’t. That stopped working around card number four.
If you’re not already using our Credit Card Benefit Tracker, this is a good week to start. It’s a free tool that pulls up every benefit tied to your cards – monthly, quarterly, annual – and flags anything close to expiring before you lose it.
And if you are already using it, you’ll notice something new: a running list on your household dashboard of every benefit expiring in the next 30 days, sorted by expiration date, across all your cards. No more clicking into each card individually to piece it together – it’s just there when you log in.
Either way, the tracker covers 120-plus cards, tracks your points balances and Chase 5/24 status alongside it, and supports up to four profiles if you’re managing benefits for a spouse or travel partner, too.
No bank logins, card numbers, or other sensitive information required. Just a clean way to see what’s about to expire before it does.
Check out our Credit Card Benefits Tracker
– 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!
✈️ Other Travel Tidbits
- 🏖️ World of Hyatt is offering a free night for every 3 nights you book at Latin America and Caribbean resorts this winter. Register by Sept. 30, stay 3 nights between Jan. 1 and March 31, and earn a Category 1-4 Free Night Award. (Hyatt)
- 🇹🇷 Citi is offering a 40% transfer bonus when moving ThankYou points to Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles through Aug. 31. (Doctor of Credit)
- ✈️ The FAA finally certified Boeing’s 737 MAX 7, more than four years behind schedule. Southwest, the launch customer, plans to start flying passengers on the jet three to six months after delivery of the first plane. (The Points Guy)
- 🏨 Marriott just signed new long-term co-branded card deals with Chase and Amex, teasing “refreshed” cards with new benefits. (Loyalty Lobby)
