The Extra Mile, July 29: Inside Dulles’s $20B Makeover, Booking Biz Class With 100K Chase Points & More

🥂 Here’s What 100K Chase Points Can Actually Get You

The *chase sapphire preferred*‘s massive 100,000-point bonus you’ll earn after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months is on its way out the door: It ends tomorrow, Thursday, July 30, at 3 p.m. ET.

We’ve only seen Chase push the Sapphire Preferred’s offer to 100,000 points two other times since the card launched in 2009, and if you’ve got champagne taste on a beer budget, you’ll want to pay attention.

Cash out that bonus through Chase Travel℠, or use it as a purchase eraser, and it’s worth a flat $1,000.

Move those points instead to one of Chase’s dozen-plus airline and hotel transfer partners, and 100,000 points can put you in a lie-flat seat to nearly any corner of the globe.

Here’s what that actually looks like in practice:

• 🇪🇸 Iberia to Europe for 81,000 points roundtrip. Transfer Chase points to Iberia on a 1:1 basis, and you’re in a lie-flat seat to Spain. Time it with one of Chase’s periodic Iberia transfer bonuses, and that same 100,000 points could stretch to three one-way business class flights instead. (Our Iberia business class review)
• 🇶🇦 Qatar Qsuites for 70,000 points each way. Widely considered the best business class in the sky, and bookable through British Airways Avios (a Chase transfer partner) up to a year in advance, giving you a real shot at these seats before they’re gone. (Our Qatar Qsuites review)
• 🇸🇬 Singapore Airlines for 87,500 points one way. Transfer points to Air Canada Aeroplan and you’re in one of the best business class cabins flying. (Our Singapore business class review)
• 🇫🇷 Air France or KLM to Europe from 45,000 points each way. Flying Blue’s standard business class rate runs 60,000 points, but keep an eye on its monthly promo rewards that can occasionally knock that down to 45,000, and not just to Paris or Amsterdam, but almost anywhere in Europe. (Our Air France business class review)

That’s just a taste of what’s possible. We broke down more ways to turn this huge bonus into a business class ticket.

Read our full breakdown here

– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder

🤝 Deal of the Day: Emirates Biz Class to Italy/Greece for 59K Pts!

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥

Why we love it: Fly Emirates Business Class to Milan (MXP) or Athens (ATH) next winter … for just 59k points each way!

Transfer points to Emirates (Bilt, Amex, Capital One, or Citi) to book this availability. (Tip: Book the A380 with an onboard bar on the route from JFK to Milan! Our review.)

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

✈️ Exclusive: Inside the $20+ Billion Plan to Reshape Dulles

President Donald Trump is preparing to unveil a massive, $20-plus billion project to renovate Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) on Wednesday afternoon.

You lucky Thrifty Traveler readers and Extra Mile subscribers get a look before anyone else.

We obtained details and renderings of that proposal that show some substantial changes in the works for the major international hub just outside the nation’s capital, including:

• Bye bye to the dreaded mobile “people mover” lounges that schlep some passengers to planes or to customs after international arrivals
• … because the plan calls to expand the airport’s AeroTrain and also enhance walkability to better connect the notoriously disjointed airport
• Renovating woefully outdated concourses C and D
• Adding additional gates throughout
• Expanding customs and immigration facilities
• And building “one of the largest United Polaris Lounges in the world” as well as more United Club lounges

Plus, renderings (like the one above) suggest they’ll alter the airport’s iconic main terminal building.

The total tally? Somewhere in the neighborhood of $22 billion. The airport’s governing board is expected to foot much of the bill by selling bonds … which means it’s travelers and taxpayers who will ultimately wind up paying through higher fees on tickets, taxes, or both.

Read our full breaking news story on the plans for Dulles!

– Kyle Potter, executive editor

🏨 Amex Adds a Hotel Partner Worth Getting Excited About

American Express quietly added a new hotel transfer partner yesterday: Leading Hotels of the World’s Leaders Club, at a 4:1 ratio. That brings Amex’s roster to 20 transfer partners, four of them hotel programs – and it’s a nice reversal after a stretch of partners going the other direction.

Citi is the only other bank that transfers to LHW, and it does so at a worse 5:1 ratio, so Amex just became the obvious choice for anyone holding Membership Rewards points who wants to book a Leaders Club property.

On paper, 4:1 doesn’t look like much – most of Amex’s other partners transfer at 1:1, though that’s increasingly less the rule than it used to be. But in practice, Leaders Club points go further than nearly any other hotel currency out there. I ran the numbers across a handful of properties and found Amex points transferred into Leaders Club were worth 1.4 to 2.5 cents apiece, with most hotels clearing 2 cents per point.

For those unfamiliar, LHW isn’t a single hotel brand – it’s a loosely connected network of 400-plus independently owned luxury properties in 80 countries, similar in concept to Hilton’s Small Luxury Hotels partnership, though LHW generally skews even more upscale.

Members earn 1x points per dollar at LHW properties, plus daily breakfast for two, early check-in, late check-out, and upgrade priority – benefits most chains reserve for top-tier elites. And as of last fall’s refresh, the *amex platinum* now comes with complimentary Sterling Club status built in.

A few examples of what that transfer ratio actually buys you:

• The Kahala Hotel & Resort (Hawaii): 6,297 Leaders Club points per night – about 25,000 Amex points.
• Sun Gardens Dubrovnik (Croatia): 2,337 points per night, or roughly 10,000 Amex points for a stay that runs nearly $200 in cash.
• Imperial Hotel, Tokyo: Just 4,858 points per night – under 20,000 Amex points – for a stay overlooking the Imperial Palace that would otherwise run close to $500 a night. That’s the best value I found, at 2.5 cents per point.
• The Hotel Chelsea (New York City): 11,188 points per night, or about 45,000 Amex points, against a cash rate north of $1,000.

Given LHW’s limited footprint, this isn’t going to replace Marriott or Hilton as your everyday hotel currency. But if you’ve got Amex points sitting around and any taste for boutique luxury, this is one of the more exciting additions to the transfer roster in a while – worth checking before your next high-end booking.

Check out the full story!

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

🎙️ On the Pod: All Things Google Flights

✈️ Booking cheap travel starts and ends with Google Flights, which is why we devoted a full episode of the podcast to how to use our favorite website – including some of the advanced features that can help you book like a pro.

Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

🎟️ Join us TONIGHT: The Thrifty Traveler Podcast LIVE in Fargo!

The big day is finally here, Fargo!

The Thrifty Traveler Podcast is going live again tonight in downtown Fargo, North Dakota! Gunnar and I have planned an awesome show dedicated to saving big from small(er) airports – plus, some Q&A with our founder and CEO, Jared, after the show.

Space is running out – get your tickets now!

Buy your tickets now!

This live recording of the pod is part of the run-up to TEDxFargo, an amazing annual event that our founder & CEO, Jared, spoke at a few years back. Getting involved with this amazing community again was an absolute no-brainer.

See you in downtown Fargo tonight, folks!

– Kyle Potter, executive editor, podcast co-host & Fargo appreciator

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• 🇺🇸 American Airlines briefly grounded its entire fleet Tuesday evening after an IT outage. The FAA-ordered ground stop lasted roughly an hour, but by the time systems came back online, American had already delayed 1,100 flights and canceled 221, with East Coast thunderstorms compounding the mess. (Reuters)
• 🦘 A Qantas A350-1000ULR just flew the longest flight in history from Melbourne to Toulouse. The Project Sunrise test aircraft covered 12,460 nautical miles in 24 hours and 23 minutes, breaking the previous record of 22 hours and 42 minutes, as Airbus and Qantas gauge the plane’s range ahead of planned ultra-long-haul routes. (Flightradar24 via X)
• 🇭🇰 Cathay Pacific is offering a 10% transfer bonus on Asia Miles from Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Citi, and Wells Fargo – but it’s capped at 10,000 bonus miles. You’ll need to register before converting, and the bonus miles can take up to 12 weeks to post. (Cathay Pacific)