The Extra Mile, Aug. 21: Fare Wars Are Back, An Easy $50 Win & More

🪖 Fare Wars Are Back … & It’s Good News for Travelers

Our Thrifty Traveler Premium team of flight deal analysts has noticed an undeniable trend over the past few days … and it’s good news for travelers: Fare wars are back, baby!

What’s a fare war? It’s when one airline targets a competing carrier’s hub airport with rock-bottom prices, forcing the home airline to respond – either with lower fares of its own, or by offering discounted rates on the other airline’s home turf.

For example, Hong Kong has turned into a genuine battleground, with Delta and United hubs undercutting each other on pricing. Right now, you can fly Delta from Houston (IAH) – a major United hub – to Hong Kong (HKG) for as little as $656 roundtrip. That’s nearly half of what United is charging on the same route – 50% off!

Meanwhile, United has responded with similarly priced flights to HKG out of Minneapolis (MSP) – a Delta fortress hub. Once again, these flights are nearly half of what the home airline is charging, offering a steep discount to Delta flyers.

And if you want further proof, there’s this: United is charging ~$700 to upgrade from Basic Economy to Main Cabin on the route from MSP-HKG.

That nearly $1,400 price point is what United wants to charge on this route. But in order to fight back against Delta, the airline is trying to lure travelers in with rock-bottom fares on its stingiest tickets.

Auckland (AKL) is getting the same treatment from Delta out of American Airlines hubs, and there’s a real chance the reverse plays out soon, with AA pushing lower fares into Delta’s own turf. We’re also seeing the same thing down to South Africa, with Delta attacking United hubs with lower cash fares and discounted rates using SkyMiles.

Fare wars, like this, used to be a Caribbean and Mexico thing – quick, regional, and gone in a matter of hours (or days … if we were lucky). Full-on transatlantic and transpacific price battles? We haven’t seen those in years, and definitely not since jet fuel prices spiked amid the war in Iran.

This kind of tit-for-tat pricing is exactly what makes the last few days so interesting.

Whether this competition holds or fizzles is an open question. But if it keeps expanding – especially out of Delta’s hubs – this could be the best stretch of international flight deals we’ve seen in a long while.

When airlines compete like this, it’s a win for consumers. Here’s to hoping none of these airlines wave the white flag anytime soon …

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🤝 Deal of the Day: Get Paid to Shop Online

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥

Why we love it: Rakuten is one of the easiest ways to earn extra cash back or points on purchases you’re already making with no strings attached. Shop through Rakuten’s link (browser extension) at 3,500+ retailers before checking out, and you’ll earn cash back automatically on top of whatever you’re paying with.

💵 Right now, new members get a $50 bonus when they spend $50 within their first 90 days.

Sign up now to claim your $50 bonus and start earning on every purchase.

Already a member? Log in and start shopping.

– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder

🖤 Bilt Launches New Blacklane Partnership

It’s a day ending in “y” so, go figure, Bilt just plugged another partner into its ecosystem. This time, Bilt is leaning on Blacklane: the premium chauffeur service that offers airport pickups and hourly bookings in big(ger) cities across 60-plus countries around the globe.

Starting today, you can now book Blacklane directly through the Bilt app, earning 1x Bilt Points (on top of your credit card rewards) in the process. Perhaps, the more interesting piece is the Bilt Cash angle. Earlier this year, Bilt teased that redemptions for Blacklane credit were coming, and now it’s finally here.

Exactly how much Bilt Cash you can turn into Blacklane credit depends on your status:

• Platinum: Up to $150
• Gold: Up to $100
• Blue and Silver: Up to $50

The Bilt Cash-to-Blacklane credit is a once-a-year perk (January 1 through December 31) that resets annually – so if you don’t use your full Bilt Cash allotment on a single ride, you’re out of luck until the next calendar year.

If you’re sitting on a pile of Bilt Cash – earned through spending on Bilt’s trio of credit cards – this is actually a pretty solid redemption option. And if you happen to have both a Bilt Card and Citi’s new Strata Elite℠ Card it gets even more interesting: That card comes with up to $200 per year in Blacklane credit (up to $100 semi-annually).

Assuming these rides booked through Bilt still show up as a Blacklane purchase on your statement, you should be able to stack that credit with Bilt Cash to knock off most (if not all) of the cost. That double-dip would really make both of these benefits more useful.

To get started, head to the Rewards tab in the Bilt app, choose “Car Service,” and book an airport transfer, a city-to-city ride, or an hourly ride. When it comes time to pay, you can use Bilt Points (but please don’t), a linked card (even if it’s not a Bilt card), Bilt Cash, or some mix of the three.

Overall, this is good news (even if it’s not the most earth-shattering) for Bilt members. It’s not going to change your travel strategy, but it is another way to earn ultra-valuable Bilt Points and squeeze value out of a stash of Bilt Cash.

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

📡 On Our Radar

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

🎿 The Ski Flight Boom Meets the Premium Travel Boom

The airlines are battling to be the ones to fly you to your next ski vacation. The growth of flights to ski towns since pre-pandemic has been nothing short of staggering. And to the delight of the airlines, it’s coinciding with the premium travel boom.

The Wyoming resort of Jackson Hole (JAC) is a stark example of what’s going on here.

Last week, United announced it would fly nonstop from Boston (BOS) to Jackson Hole (JAC). That led Peter Landsman, the Jackson-based creator of Lift Blog, to point out on X that you can fly nonstop to JAC from 14 U.S. cities this winter!

(Fun fact: Landsman recently finished a 22-year project to photograph all 2,381 chairlifts in the U.S. – including super niche lifts like the Minnesota State Fair SkyGlider.🤯)

According to data from Cirium, capacity (measured by available seat miles) into JAC went up 2000% from 2018 to 2026 – that’s 20 times as much capacity flying in and out of the western Wyoming town with a population of 10,000.

To make sure this wasn’t just a Jackson Hole-related growth statistic, I ran the same analysis on flights to other smaller ski town airports, including Aspen (ASE), Bozeman (BZN), Vail (EGE), Steamboat (HDN), Bend (RDM), Sun Valley (SUN), and several others. (I avoided hubs like DEN, SLC, SEA, and YVR because those major airports would skew the data.)

What I found in the same time period was a 1,700% capacity increase in flights to these small ski towns, mirroring what we are seeing in Jackson, and signaling that airlines see tons of opportunity on these routes.

But why? Many of these airports can only handle small aircraft, and the seasonality of skiing means it’s a short tourist season in many of these places, too. So why pour so much capacity into skiing?

Wealth. Rich people. The skiing class. The travelers airlines want right now.

The airlines are falling over themselves to become the “Premium” airline catering to richer and richer customers (customers who will continue flying even when the economy is bad), and those people love skiing.

Unless you ski often using one of the mega passes like the Ikon and Epic (which will still cost you $1,000 or more a year), peak day lift tickets are going to cost you upwards of $300 a day at some U.S. resorts, according to an analysis by Stuart Winchester, the Editor of The Storm Skiing Journal. Beaver Creek, Colorado, will lead the way with $392 day lift ticket rates over the holidays. 🤑

So, who is taking the nonstop flight to Vail (EGE) for $1,000 roundtrip per person, then booking a $1,000 a night Airbnb, just so you can spend $1,000 per person for an Epic Pass (or spend $392 a day instead …), and be sustained by $25 chicken tenders and $21 Bloody Marys on the mountain all day? Wealthy people. Duh.💰

I’m a skier. I’m not a rich guy. There’s a way to not get gouged by this hobby. I use my points and miles. I buy a pass and ski the heck out of it. I pack a sandwich. (I’ll still spring for that $21 Bloody Mary, though …)

But rich people all over the country are willing to get gouged by the ski industry, and the airlines want those people on their planes so they can get in on the gouging, too.

The ski boom and the premium travel boom happened at exactly the same time post-pandemic, and it’s led to a meteoric rise in flights to ski towns.

– Gunnar Olson, skier, travel reporter, and flight deal analyst (in that order!)

🎙️ Introducing Starter Kit: A New Podcast Series Dropping Soon!

🧰 Starter Kit: How to Get Started in Points & Miles

✈️ Episode 1 of Starter Kit is dropping Tuesday, Aug. 25. In the series of bonus episodes, we want to give travelers all the tools to become a points and miles expert … or as we like to call them, “sickos.”

Whether it’s getting started in travel rewards credit cards, getting confident transferring and redeeming points and miles, or getting your rewards organized, we’re giving you the information you need to become a fellow sicko!

Watch the trailer now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

🍜 The Delta One Seattle Lounge: More of an (Excellent) Restaurant

Delta’s business class lounge in Seattle (SEA) is nothing like its behemoth space in New York City (JFK) … and that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

This is the penultimate dispatch from a whirlwind trip to Tokyo earlier this month – watch your inbox Monday for a final takeaway!

– Kyle Potter, executive editor

Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Seating & Space: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Service & Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Amenities & More: ⭐️⭐️⭐

What I liked: Even the smallest Delta One Lounge makes your typical Delta Sky Club look like … well, a bit of a dump.

Delta is throwing everything it has into these exclusive business class lounges, and this space in Seattle is no exception. But calling this a lounge is almost a misnomer.

The entire 10,000-square-foot space is dedicated to dining, with table settings as far as the eye can see. Aside from a small buffet table near the entrance where you can grab pastries and such, everything is à la carte and made to order.

And the food is seriously good. Even after a few days in Tokyo, I couldn’t resist the temptation of a bowl of ramen for breakfast. It was just as good as it looks. Ditto for an iced latte on the side.

Oh, and they’re pouring complimentary Taittinger champagne in all Delta One Lounges now. Don’t mind if I do!

The lounge itself is undeniably beautiful, with really high quality furniture and finishes throughout. It’s built in a large O shape, perching over a standard Sky Club below. Plus, there’s an expansive wrap-around deck, which dominates at least a third of the lounge’s footprint. Fresh air and mountain views are a real treat.

The highlight? The service. A small army of lounge attendants (staffing levels in this space were seriously impressive) were quick to take orders, drop off food, offer refills, and just generally check in.

Best of all, a helpful agent was more than happy to look into helping me change my flight: Lovely as this place may be, an eight-hour layover (after a nine-hour flight from Tokyo…) and an 11 p.m. arrival sounded like a bit much.

Two minutes later, he handed me a boarding pass for a flight departing a mere 90 minutes later.

Yes, but: If you’re looking for a great plate of food (or two), you’ll love the Delta One Lounge in Seattle. If you’re looking for a place to unwind, maybe not.

Because this entire space is dedicated to dining, the lounge is seriously lacking when it comes to … well, everything else. Again, that’s why “lounge” is a slight misnomer here.

Nearly all the seats in the place are designed for dining, not relaxing or working. There aren’t any additional amenities like massage treatments or luggage storage available.

There aren’t even showers on site – you’ll have to head downstairs to the Sky Club to rinse off, though a Delta One Lounge agent can help put you at the top of the list.

This isn’t unique – the setup in Los Angeles (LAX) is borderline identical. And given the limited space, Delta is smart to prioritize what sets these business class lounges apart: really, really good food.

But life is all about expectations, I guess, and so are lounges.

How I got in: As I shared in yesterday’s Extra Mile, I booked a Delta One flight from Tokyo-Haneda (HND) to Seattle (SEA) and onward to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) – all for a hair under 80,000 SkyMiles, thanks to a Thrifty Traveler Premium alert.

That’s right: I flew Delta One into Seattle and still got to use this lounge.

While these lounges are incredibly restrictive – you basically need a same-day boarding pass in Delta One or with select partner airlines – that’s not limited to the departure airport with a Delta One Lounge: So long as you have a connecting flight onward, you can still drop in after arriving in Delta One.

So after breezing through customs and immigration (sidebar: Seattleites are seriously blessed with one of the best international arrival facilities in the country), I re-cleared security and made my way to the Delta One Lounge near gate A11.

Nor does Delta set a strict time limit, as they do with the three-hour cap for Delta Sky Clubs. So while I ended up skipping town hours ahead of my original schedule, I could have spent all nine hours of my layover eating and drinking on Delta’s dime.

– Kyle Potter, executive editor

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• 🎬 A new Netflix documentary, “Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing,” revisits the company’s safety culture through the lens of whistleblower John Barnett, who died in 2024 amid litigation against the company. (TIME)
• 🏖️ Hyatt Vivid Cancun, a new adults-only, all-inclusive resort, is now open, and bookable with World of Hyatt points. Rates start around $280 a night or 20,000 points. (The Points Guy)
• ⚖️ A federal appeals court just overturned an order that would have forced Delta and Aeromexico to unwind their nearly decade-old joint venture. (Reuters)
• 🎢 U.S. Bank confirms its rocky transfer partner rollout will stay limited to Accor, Ethiopian ShebaMiles, and Flying Blue for now, saying Qantas launched prematurely. The good news: transfers now work on more cards than expected. (Upgraded Points)