Happy Friday, travelers! Before you head out to enjoy your weekend, we’ve got some legitimately good news for frequent Delta flyers. Plus: A limited-time offer on one of our favorite no-annual-fee cards is ending soon, increased business class award space from the West Coast, a pair of transfer bonuses you don’t want to miss, and more.
😅 Delta Does Medallions a Major Solid
Breathe easy, Delta flyers. Exhale. Everything is going to be alright.
OK, so maybe not “alright,” but at least not any worse.
That’s how many die-hard Delta loyalists are probably feeling this morning after the airline confirmed it’s leaving Medallion Status thresholds untouched in 2027 for a third consecutive year.
That means unlocking Delta Silver status will still require earning 5,000 Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQDs) next year, by spending $5,000 with Delta … or just by holding a pair of top SkyMiles credit cards. Top-tier Diamond Medallion status also stays pat at a whopping 28,000 MQDs.
That’s still a lot of money. But color me surprised – in a good way.
Just last week, United raised the bar for earning its own top 1K status by $4,000 … while taking a page out of Delta’s book and eliminating any flying requirements, period – it really is all about the almighty dollar these days, eh? Plus, Southwest recently nuked its uber-popular Companion Pass while revamping its own status program, too.
That gave Delta all the cover it needed to raise spending requirements for status. A few of us at TT HQ were practically betting on it.
But Delta is clearly still scarred by The Great Medallion Uprising of 2023, when the internet basically blew up (not in a good way) at the airline’s massive proposed overhaul for earning status: pivoting to a spending-only model, increasing spending thresholds by as much as 100%, and limiting cardholders’ Sky Club access.
I’ve covered airlines nonstop for nearly a decade and I’ve never seen anything like the widespread, universally negative blowback. It was so fierce, Delta was forced to backtrack and soften several of those proposals. The system Delta ultimately put in place that fall is what remains today – and will remain next year.
Score one for the good guys!!!
Look, I still think status is overblown. Unless you’re constantly flying on your employer’s dime and earning status without any additional effort – or, more accurately these days, additional spending – 99.8% of average travelers are better off as airline free agents.
But for that other .2% of you, this is a win.
– Kyle Potter, executive editor
🤝 Deal of the Day: Last Chance for 30%-50%! Transfer Bonus to JAL
Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥
Why we love it: Because Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is the most valuable mileage program on the planet, so who wouldn’t want bonus miles?!
Citi has a 30% transfer bonus that ends tomorrow, Oct. 24. You’ve got a bit longer to leverage a 50% bonus from Rove miles – that one ends Oct. 31.
These bonuses can unlock cheaper Japan Airlines business class redemptions to Tokyo as well as tons of other deals flying AA, Alaska, British Airways, LATAM, and more!
More intel on these outstanding transfer bonuses!
– Kyle Potter, executive editor
📡 On Our Radar: West Coast Biz Class Deals are Hot!
Welcome to On Our Radar – a weekly look at the news and trends we’re watching lately!
Travelers on the West Coast might look at their East Coast peers with jealousy when it comes to business class award availability to Europe.
And they should. It’s way, way easier to find reliable awards up front from places like New York (JFK, EWR), Boston (BOS), D.C. (IAD), Atlanta (ATL) and more.
But lately, we’ve seen a fun new trend for our Left Coasters: A huge expansion of award availability in business class flying to Europe – something we once considered a rarity. In fact, some of the best availability is coming from American, Delta, and United – all of which used to be stingy with award space.
Here’s our latest Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal alert for Delta One flights to Europe, for example.
This availability was nationwide for travel this fall and winter – including West Coast airports like Burbank (BUR), Los Angeles (LAX), Long Beach (LGB), Sacramento (SMF), Portland (PDX), Seattle (SEA), and many more.
We also saw United release some rare United Polaris Business Class award space to London to its credit card holders – including cardholders in San Francisco (SFO) and other cities that connect there this year or next for just 72,000 United miles each way!
Just a few days before that United space opened up, we found nearly nationwide availability to book American Airlines Business Class to London starting at just 42,000 Japan Airlines miles each way, or just 72,000 American miles each way, too. That deal included dozens of airports out West.
Plus, a few days later, Air France and KLM opened up nationwide business class availability flying to Paris (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS), and beyond for just 60,000 miles each way – including nonstops from Portland (PDX), San Diego (SAN), Los Angeles (LAX), and more!
Bottom Line: West Coast business class awards to Europe used to be incredibly rare, but an increase in nationwide availability has recently opened up awards like we’ve never seen before.
– Gunnar Olson, travel reporter and flight deal analyst
🎙️ On the Pod: 12 Biz Class Seats You Can Actually Book
🧠 Having points is one thing, but finding availability to use them is another. That’s why we’re going through the business class flights you can actually book if you follow a few simple rules.
Watch it now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
💰 Last Chance: Chase Freedom Flex® $250 Bonus is Ending Soon
If adding the *Freedom Flex* to your wallet has been on your to-do list, it might be time to bump it to the top.
For a limited time, you can earn $250 (25,000 points) after spending $500 in the first three months. That’s $50 more than the usual offer for the same amount of spending – a pretty solid haul for a card with no annual fee.
While we don’t know exactly when this bigger bonus will end, Chase just made clear that its days are numbered. Based on previous “ending soon” warnings, you’ve probably got two weeks (or less) to take advantage.
The real value of the Freedom Flex (and its bonus offer) comes when you pair it with a Sapphire card (or the Ink Business Preferred®). Chase markets it as a cashback card, but it actually earns Ultimate Rewards points. With a Sapphire in your wallet, that $250 becomes 25,000 points you can transfer to partners like United, Flying Blue, and Hyatt.
This quarter’s rotating list of 5x bonus categories makes the timing of this offer even better.
Through Dec. 31, you’ll earn 5x on dining, groceries (excluding Target and Walmart), and donations to the American Red Cross, on up to $1,500 in combined spending.
Dining is the real standout here because it already earns 3x year-round, and the two bonuses stack: 1x base + 2x dining + 4x quarterly bonus = a whopping 7x on restaurants through the end of the year! Once you hit the $1,500 cap, dining drops back to 3x points per dollar spent.
Still, maxing out this quarter’s bonus would earn 10,000-plus points from dining alone. Add in the current, limited-time welcome bonus, and you’re looking at more than 35,000 Ultimate Rewards points from a no-annual-fee card before the year is out.
Check out our full review of the Chase Freedom Flex®
– Jackson Newman, senior editor
✈️ Other Travel Tidbits
- 🤔 Could Citi introduce a new premium ThankYou points-earning business card? It sure looks like they’re kicking the tires on it. (Doctor of Credit)
- 💙 JetBlue will offer unlimited complimentary upgrades to its new first class seats – dubbed BlueFirst, debuting in December – to Mosaic elites and JetBlue Premier cardholders. (One Mile at a Time)
- ⏱️ Book flights now and ask questions later with the 24-hour cancellation rule. Here’s how to use it to your advantage!
- 🤒 Starting Nov. 3, every passenger arriving in the U.S. must sign an attestation that they haven’t been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the prior 21 days. (CDC)
