QSuites bookable out of JFK less than a year in advance is incredibly rare … until this month. Here’s what’s behind the sudden wave of rare business class award space, plus sub-$100 fares, dugout seats for 5K Capital One miles, and a new home for Thrifty Traveler Premium members.
- 🍾 What’s With All the Rare Biz Class Award Space Lately?
- 🤝 Deal of the Day: Roundtrip Fares Under $100 are Back
- 🎉 We Just Launched a Premium Slack Community
- ⚾️ Score Dugout Seats for Just 5K Capital One Miles
- 🎙️ On the Pod: Where to Find Summer Deals
- 💳 6 Underrated Sapphire Preferred Perks You Need to Use
- ✈️ Other Travel Tidbits
🍾 What’s With All the Rare Biz Class Award Space Lately?
There’s plenty of bad news to dwell on in travel right now, but here’s something you should be excited about: We’ve seen a strange (but awesome!) run of super-rare business class award availability in the month of July.
These are routes, flights, or booking options that we haven’t seen in years – if at all! Here are some examples:
- 🌺 Hawaiian First Class from New York (JFK) to Honolulu (HNL) – We never see award space up front on this route. Book from 95,000 Alaska miles each way!
- 🦙 LATAM Biz Class from Los Angeles (LAX) to Lima (LIM) – This is also a route on which we’ve never seen business class award space. Book from 76,000 Finnair Avios each way!
- 🇶🇦 Qatar QSuites from New York (JFK) to Doha (DOH) – You usually have to book QSuites almost exactly a year in advance … but not this time! This JFK space was for December and January this winter and bookable from 70,000 British Airways Avios each way.
- 🎅 Finnair Business Class from Miami (MIA) to Northern Europe – Finnair business class space isn’t particularly rare, but Finnair business class booked with American AAdvantage miles is! These rates from 57,500 miles each way also include connections!
- ⭐ Starlux Business Class to Southeast Asia – Starlux Business Class is one of the best ways to fly to Asia, but booking beyond Taipei (TPE) isn’t a given when you book with Starlux partners. But with this deal, you can do exactly that from 85,000 Alaska miles!
What’s going on here? Why are “rare” deals popping up so frequently? My guess is that travel demand is down because of the war in the Middle East and the resulting high airfare.
Vacationers are thinking twice about their trips, but more importantly, so are companies that usually have employees in those long-haul business class seats. That softening demand is why these seats are bookable with partners.
Check out these deals and see the full breakdown on our website.
– Gunnar Olson, flight deal analyst, and host of the Thrifty Traveler Podcast
🤝 Deal of the Day: Roundtrip Fares Under $100 are Back
Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥
Why we love it: Southwest’s latest sale is offering sub-$100 roundtrip domestic flights!
Best availability this August through Fall with the lowest fares on shorter routes.
We noticed particularly good rates to Chicago (MDW) and St. Louis (STL)!
Head to Southwest’s website to book the sale!
– Gunnar Olson, Thrifty Traveler Premium deal analyst
🎉 We Just Launched a Premium Slack Community
We just launched the Thrifty Traveler Premium Slack Community – a private space exclusively for our active Premium members to swap strategies, ask questions, and celebrate booking wins together.
You’re already getting flight deal alerts with Premium … now you get a place to actually talk about them – with members of our team and with other members who are booking the same trips you are.
There’s no extra cost. If you’re a Premium member, you’re in.
It’s organized by topic, and channels are split up so conversations are easy to find and easier to search.
One thing worth clarifying: if you’re already in our Podcast Slack, this is different. That one’s about the show and open to all listeners. The Premium Slack is exclusively for our members.
And no, we’re not shutting down the Premium Facebook group. This is an addition, not a replacement. Pick whichever one you’ll actually use.
So come and join us, and hopefully I’ll see you over on Slack.
Join our Premium Slack community here
– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder
📖 Gettin’ Booksy: Jared’s Going to Paris
Welcome to Gettin’ Booksy, a celebration of our favorite feeling: Booking something awesome! Book something lately? Let us know at [email protected]!
What Did Jared Book?
Jared is flying Air France Business Class to Paris next March!
How’d He Book It?
Jared used the “calendar trick” on Air France/KLM FlyingBlue’s website to find availability for two seats from Houston (IAH) to Paris (CDG) for 60,000 miles and $342 in taxes and fees! (Total of 120,000 miles and $684.)
What Makes it So Awesome?
The calendar trick on FlyingBlue is amazing … and so are these 60,000-point rates! The cash rates on these fares are at least $3,500 a piece.
From Jared:
This will be our 4th trip to Europe in 2 calendar years, all since subscribing to Thrifty Traveler Premium and learning about points and miles. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your booking win, Jared! Let us know what you book on the return.
– Gunnar Olson, flight deal analyst and travel reporter
⚾️ Score Dugout Seats for Just 5K Capital One Miles
Capital One just added a new round of ballgames to its 5,000-mile lower-level ticket deal, and if you’re carrying a *capital one venture card* or the *venture x*, this is still one of the most fun redemptions out there.
Games are now bookable through September at MLB stadiums across the country.
Capital One only releases four of these seats per game through its Entertainment portal, and they typically go fast. Look for games marked “Cardholder Exclusive” – that’s your signal the 5,000-mile tickets are still up for grabs for that specific game.
I took advantage of these seats a few years ago for a Twins game at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN. They’re great seats right above the visiting dugout (image above) and a heck of a deal for 5,000 miles each.
Some stadiums (looking at you, Yankee Stadium) will sell out of these faster than others, so if you’ve got a trip planned, don’t wait to check.
Log in to your Capital One account, head to Redeem for Experiences, and search your team’s remaining home games – tickets must be booked in pairs.
Read our story for the full walkthrough
– Nick Serati, Thrifty Traveler co-founder
🎙️ On the Pod: Where to Find Summer Deals
✈️ Is airfare starting to drop? The guys dig into some positive airfare trends before digging into where you can still find great travel deals for this summer. Plus, we rant about Delta Basic Business and gush about Flighty’s update.
Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!
💳 6 Underrated Sapphire Preferred Perks You Need to Use
The *csp* is out with a positively massive, limited-time welcome bonus: bonus_miles_full
Rightfully so, that’s getting a lot of attention at the moment … but the card’s real long-term value is in the perks nobody talks about. Here are six that can easily outweigh the $95 annual fee on their own.
Chase’s “points boost” feature uses dynamic pricing that helps your points punch above their usual 1 cent of value on select flights and hotels in the Chase Travel℠ portal.
Sapphire Preferred holders can get up to 1.75 cents per point on premium-cabin flights and 1.5 cents per point on hotels. For example, a $2,500 business class fare from Newark to London could cost 142,857 points – instead of the usual 250,000 – with the right points boost offer.
Book and pay for a hotel through Chase Travel℠ with your card, and you’ll get up to $100 back automatically – no minimum stay requirement, no activation required, and no strings attached. Just know it renews on your card anniversary, not Jan. 1, so mark your calendar accordingly.
📺 A Free Year of Apple TV
Enroll before Dec. 31, 2026, and Chase will cover a year of Apple TV, worth about $156 at the current price of $12.99 a month. Combine that with the card’s 3x points on streaming purchases, and this is one of the easier perks to actually put to use.
🛂 TSA PreCheck®, Global Entry or NEXUS Credit
Up to $120 toward any of the three programs, charged straight to your card. At just $95 a year, the Sapphire Preferred remains one of the cheapest ways to get into the fast lane at security – only the *capital one venture card* really competes with it on price.
🍽️ Free DashPass Plus $10 a Month
Cardholders get a complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership (normally $9.99/month) through Dec. 31, 2027, plus up to $10 off select non-restaurant orders each month. Pair that with 3x points on dining and delivery, and DashPass alone can cover the card’s fee.
🚗 Primary Rental Car Insurance
Charge your rental to the card and decline the rental company’s collision waiver, and Chase’s coverage kicks in first – not as a backup to your own insurance. It covers collision and theft up to the vehicle’s cash value, both domestically and abroad, though it’s not a substitute for liability coverage.
Stack all six of these up, and the Sapphire Preferred’s $95 fee starts to look less like an added out-of-pocket cost and more like a no-brainer investment.
Get the full scoop on these perks!
– Jackson Newman, senior editor
✈️ Other Travel Tidbits
- ⏰ Hilton Amex welcome offers of up to 175,000 points end next Wednesday, July 29. You’ll need to act fast if you’re interested.
- ✈️ Delta’s New Atlanta to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia route is nearly empty. With the launch just 90 days out, seat maps show just 8 total seats booked across the first eight flights. (One Mile at a Time)
- 🏨 Delta is offering 4x SkyMiles on Delta Stays hotel bookings through Aug. 6, plus extra perks at 10,000-plus VIP Access properties, for stays booked as far out as March 31, 2027.
- 🌸 Alaska Airlines will replace Hawaiian’s aging Boeing 717 fleet with Alaska’s Boeing 737-800s starting in 2028, nearly doubling premium seating on inter-island flights. (The Points Guy)
