All Blog Posts 🗺️

🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

I gotta tell you a crazy story.

And not the good kind.

Also breakdown my latest trip to the big apple.

So as the New Yorkers say…

I actually have no idea what they say, so I guess lets get to it. 😅 

Not a subscriber yet? Sign up free here

Get your brands in front of 7,000+ travelers & entrepreneurs. 

A Message from 1440

The Daily Newsletter for Intellectually Curious Readers

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Join for free today!

Travel News

Trapped on a plane for 28 hours (LINK)

This one definitely goes in the “flight from hell” file.

What should’ve been a 13 hour hop from Los Angeles to Hong Kong stretched into a 28 hour ordeal.

The flight left LAX as usual, but right as it was set to land, Hong Kong got hit with a “black rainstorm warning” 13.8 inches of rain in about an hour.

With zero chance of a safe landing, the crew tried holding for a bit, gave up, and diverted to Taipei instead.

The problem was that Taipei wasn’t ready. Passengers spent nearly eleven hours stuck on the plane, unable to get off.

The delay dragged on so long they had to swap out the pilots and crew just to finish the last leg back to Hong Kong.

Total chaos, and a good reminder to over prepare.

Pack extra snacks, meds, diapers, whatever you might need, because you never know when a normal trip turns into a marathon.

Same kind of mess happened earlier this year on a Mexico to Atlanta flight that diverted to a tiny airport and kept everyone onboard until the early morning hours.

Rare, but it happens, so plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Changes to Globalist benefits happening (LINK)

Hyatt’s new Unscripted by Hyatt brand slipped in a quiet change to the Globalist breakfast perk.

Instead of the usual sit down meal, you now get a grab and go setup limited to:

• One food item

• One beverage item

per registered guest (max two adults, two kids).

Why the switch? Most Unscripted properties are independent hotels, and plenty don’t have a full restaurant, so this wording technically covers everyone.

But remember, Unscripted sits in Hyatt’s upscale tier.

We’ve seen Hyatt make “small” tweaks before like when Category 7 was announced as a rare ceiling, and, well it isn’t anymore.

I’m not a fan of this move, and I hope it doesn’t creep across other brands, because for Globalists this is a clear downgrade.

For now, I’m treating it as a niche fix for independent hotels, more CYA than precedent. Still, it’s something to watch.

Alaska Airlines New Look & Flight (LINK)

Alaska isn’t wasting any time putting those incoming Hawaiian 787s to work.

Starting May 2026, they’ll run a daily Seattle ⇄ London Heathrow flight on the new Dreamliners complete with Hawaiian’s lie flat suites.

Pretty impressive how fast they’re rolling out long haul service.

Alaska also revealed a new design for the 787-9s, and I’m into it.

They say it’s inspired by the Aurora Borealis, and yeah, the vibe is definitely there.

The existing A330-200s will keep full Hawaiian branding and stay based in Honolulu, while all the long haul 787s live in Seattle.

Long term? Alaska says those 17 Dreamliners will be flying 12 long haul routes by 2030.

Can’t wait to see what city pair they announce next.

🤓 Hack

• If you don’t have an Alaska Airlines account, sign up here and get $25 or $50 off your next flight.

• Earn a 5k Aeroplan point certificate when you registered with your Chase Sapphire Reserve. Link to offer.

• If you have Hyatt Globalist or AAdvantage Gold you can get reciprocal instant status from the other by connecting them. Check out the fast track here.

🛋️ Luis’ Lounge

Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

Earlier this week I had to pop up to New York for a conference, and true to form I booked a good portion of it on points and miles.

Here’s the play by play of what worked and what I’d tweak next time.

Flights
Player 2 and the little one tagged along, so I wanted something more comfortable for the four hour hop.

I ended up snagging business class seats on American for 25k Alaska miles each.

Those Alaska miles came from the old Amex → Hawaiian → Alaska back door transfer.

I ended up transferring all the Amex miles I had at the time over to Alaska.

I also let y’all know to take advantage before it went away (RIP).

AA had no economy award space on the flights I needed, so business was the best and really the only option.

Hotel
Chase balance: basically zero. No Hyatt points to spare, no Globalist status, and no Guest of Honor certs in my own stash. SO I got creative.

1. I traded one of my Hyatt Category 1–4 free night certs on a Facebook Hyatt Award swap group (proceed with caution) for two Guest of Honor certificates.

2. Applied one of those GoH certs to a four night stay at The Bowery 50 in Chinatown to lock in the Globalist breakfast benefit.

In hindsight, that trade wasn’t perfect. We stayed in a standard king with a slight upgrade with a better view, but I could have gone a different route:

• Used a Hyatt Prive or Virtuoso travel advisor to book the same hotel. Those bookings often come with free breakfast, room upgrades, and sometimes even lower cash rates, plus they still count toward elite nights.

• Swapped for one GoH cert plus a suite upgrade cert, booked via Prive to stack the suite upgrade cert with the free breakfast.

Live and learn.

Breakfast was solid, location was good with walking distance to Little Italy, the East Village, and loads of food spots.

We even hit up East Village Park with the kiddo. I’d stay at the Bowery 50 again, just with a better upgrade strategy next round.

Bottom line the flights were a win with no issued or delays, hotel was good but could’ve been great with smarter cert / Prive juggling.

If you’re heading to NYC on points, keep those options in mind so you don’t leave suite space (and free breakfast) on the table.

Check out these crazy award deals!

🔬 Secret Travel Research

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

• Some great availability to Europe in mid October of this year.

🖥️ TravelBot

Chat with TravelBot - my AI clone. It’s trained on every newsletter I’ve published along with my 10+ years of points and credit card knowledge 🧠.

It’s also trained on my voice, so you can call it and have a full blown conversations. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

👀 My Favorite Finds

This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community

• US to require $15k bond for Visas (LINK)

• These newsletters are changing the game (LINK)

• This Priority Pass Hack ruined it for everyone (LINK)

• Here’s why gate security stares at your crotch (LINK)

• AA allows any collapsible stroller onboard for free (LINK)

• Save 40% off Southwest fares with promo Code LUVFALL, Book by 8/7/25 (LINK)