Got Southwest flights to book? A new Amex Offer gives you $60 back after $300 spent directly with the airline through Dec. 31. Also today: Caribbean nonstops under $399, and Delta quietly jacking up Sky Club bottle prices.
- 💸 New Offer: $60 Back on Southwest
- 🤝 Deal of the Day: Nonstop Flights to the Caribbean Under $399 RT!
- 😤 Boo: Delta Jacks Up Prices for Premium Sky Club Drinks
- 🎥 VIDEO: United Calls This Premium… Is It Really?
- 🎙️ On the Pod: The Best (& Weirdest) Ways to Earn Points
- 🤔 Love (Or Loathe) This Newsletter? Let Us Know & Help Us Out!
- ✈️ Other Travel Tidbits
💸 New Offer: $60 Back on Southwest
If you’ve got a Southwest trip to book for the holidays or early next year, check your Amex cards first. A new Amex Offer – essentially a digital coupon you add to your card – gets you $60 back after spending $300 or more directly with Southwest Airlines. That’s 20% off, and you’ve got until Dec. 31 to use it.
You don’t have to hit $300 in one purchase, either. Spending on southwest.com, in the Southwest app, and even on board all count toward the total. Flights must originate in the U.S., and the $60 is a one-time statement credit per card. Just be sure to book directly with Southwest, since Amex Travel bookings won’t count.
Like all Amex Offers, this one is targeted, so not everyone will see it. Several of us at Thrifty Traveler have it on the *amex platinum*, but it’s worth checking every Amex card you carry, business cards included, since offers vary from card to card.
Open the Amex app, tap “Offers” at the bottom of the screen, and add it before you book.
– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder
🤝 Deal of the Day: Nonstop Flights to the Caribbean Under $399 RT!
Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥
Why we love it: We rounded up all the nonstop flights to the Caribbean this winter – with dozens of routes bookable for less than $399 roundtrip!
Best availability this winter – January and February – flying from eight U.S. cities to places like the Bahamas, Aruba, Sint Maarten, the U.S.V.I. and more!
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
😤 Boo: Delta Jacks Up Prices for Premium Sky Club Drinks
It sounds silly and frivolous, but one of the best, most reliable ways to redeem Delta SkyMiles isn’t for a business class trip. It isn’t booking a flight, period.
It’s buying a bottle of fancy champagne, wine, or a cocktail at the Delta Sky Club.
Well, it was, anyway.
Our pal Zach Griff was the first to notice that Delta quietly hiked the cash prices of many premium beverages on the menu at Sky Clubs nationwide – which means they’ll cost you far more SkyMiles, too. In some cases, the increases make inflation look like a treat.
- A bottle of Austin Hope Cabernet went from $42 to $115 – a 174% increase!
- A half-bottle of Champagne Jeeper was marked up from $54 to $70
There’s plenty more damage, though it seems like not every bottle shot up in price. So far as I can tell, most (if not all) of the premium cocktails haven’t budged. And a few bottles of bubbles actually went down in price … by like $1 or $2.
Delta confirmed the “selective pricing adjustments,” saying it was necessary “as costs across the hospitality and beverage industry have increased.”
Now, you still get 1.5 cents for every mile toward the purchase of a bottle of bubbles or vino. But at many of these inflated prices, I think I might pass on a bottle of something or other before my next Delta flight.
The good news? The free stuff remains free!
Read our guide on redeeming SkyMiles for champagne (or pick another poison)!
– Kyle Potter, executive editor
🎥 VIDEO: United Calls This Premium… Is It Really?
What happens when an airline bets big on premium? I’m talking 99 premium seats on a single plane.
I put United’s new Polaris business class to the test, pushing it to its limits to see whether that premium feel carries through every part of the flight and where it still falls short of the competition.
Plus, see how one tool helped me score this seat using miles for nearly a third of the price!
👀 Watch the full review on YouTube now!
– Kyle Thomas, Thrifty Traveler Content Creator
🎙️ On the Pod: The Best (& Weirdest) Ways to Earn Points
📻 To earn tons and tons of miles, sometimes you have to get weird. And we knew just who to call for a topic like this: Thrifty Traveler’s biggest sicko (endearing) Jackson Newman!
Watch it now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And stay tuned for the next installment next week!
🤔 Love (Or Loathe) This Newsletter? Let Us Know & Help Us Out!
Let’s get meta, folks. It’s time to talk about the Extra Mile … inside of the Extra Mile.
We started this here newsletter earlier this year to give travelers like you a way to get caught up on all things airlines, travel news, and points and miles in just five minutes (give or take two minutes) every morning. And honestly, it’s been a ton of fun putting it together. We’re loving it, and we think hope trust you are, too.
But we’re always trying to get better! So we’d love your input on what you’re loving, what you could do without, what we’re missing – anything, really!
Fill out our survey – and don’t you dare hold anything back! – and we’ll automatically enter you in a random drawing for one of three $100 airline gift cards. Saying something mean about Gunnar gets you two entries.
(OK, that’s not true)
I’ll be real with you (for once): We take this very seriously. Helping you travel more for less is our mission – and responsibility. Everything we put in this newsletter starts with the question: What do our readers need?
And to do that, we need to know what you want, what you could do without, what you’re missing, and what you care about most.
So help us out. Pretty please!
– Kyle Potter, executive editor
✈️ Other Travel Tidbits
- 👋 Good riddance: The Swissport Lounge in Chicago O’Hare (ORD) Terminal 5, long called one of the worst lounges in the U.S., closed as of Oct. 31. (One Mile at a Time)
- 🍽️ Chase updated its Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables list on Nov. 5, adding 21 restaurants and dropping only one, so check the roster before you book your $150 dining credit. (Frequent Miler)
- ✈️ Alaska Airlines is canceling three routes out of Portland (PDX) that won’t return next year: Baltimore (BWI), St. Louis (STL), and Jackson Hole (JAC). (Ishrion Aviation, via X)
