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🤙🏿 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!)

Howdy! I'm finally back in Texas from a weeklong trip to Sisters, Oregon, where I soaked up some much needed fresh air and mountain views. I even ventured out and explored a cool cave in the middle of the woods. I missed y’all and I'm ready to dive back into some points talk, so let's get to it!

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🗞️ Travel News

[Deal Alert] Southwest Companion Pass for two months (LINK)

If you don't pay attention to anything else in this newsletter, at least read this: Registration for this offer ends today, September 5, 2024. In short, this is an amazing offer if you have any travel planned from January 6th to March 6th and you're flying with another person. You'll be able to save a pretty penny given that your companion will fly free with you. Here's How To Qualify: Book one round-trip or two one-way flights by today and travel by November 20, 2024, to receive a companion pass valid from January 6th to March 4th, 2025. So act fast!

SAS Airlines to Switch From Star Alliance to SkyTeam (LINK)

The TL;DR: Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) recently needed new buyers to exit bankruptcy. One of the four major stakeholders is Air France-KLM, which holds a 19.9% share. Due to this connection, SAS has officially switched alliances from Star Alliance to SkyTeam. This alliance with Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Korean Air, and other airlines hopefully means we'll see SAS flights out of US Delta hubs soon. Maybe a Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Copenhagen flight is in the near future 👀 ? Award flights for FlySAS are already showing up on the Air France-KLM Flying Blue portal with some surprisingly low redemption amounts for business class. But don't wait too long as i’m sure these redemption amounts wont last.

American Airlines debuts summer 2025 schedule (LINK)

Start making your summer plans for next year and set up your award alerts. Not many people will know about these five new routes to Europe, so you might be able to snag seats for them. I love seeing American Airlines increase capacity for four routes to Asia next summer too. More flights mean more chances to snag award seats. DFW to Tokyo Haneda and Shanghai look particularly interesting.

[Deal Alert] French Bee Airlines has New York to Paris Flights for only $196 roundtrip (LINK)

It looks like availability is only for November 2024. I’d make sure I can see them on google flights before booking.

🤓 Hacks

• If you've been trying to book flights to Hong Kong, I've got a little secret to share. To find award availability on Cathay Pacific for partner bookings, use Qantas website to search for award bookings. Once you find some availability, head over to Finnair and chat with the reps to see if they also have the availability. It's usually cheaper than Qantas, and you can transfer your Avios from many credit card partners.

• Flying through the airport with a baby this week, I learned that you're able to take milk through security. Make sure the milk is in a see-through bottle that they can put in their machine to test it. If it's in one of those plastic milk bags, you'll have to open it and they’ll hold a strip over it to test the vapors.

🧑🏿‍💻 Question From You

Every week I answer one question from the community. Reply to this email with yours because you’re probably not the only one that has it.

Question

Bryan asked which routes have Singapore first class since the flights that he’s found only have business class.

Unfortunately, the two Singapore Airlines aircraft that offer first class no longer fly routes in or out of the US. They currently have two types of first class seats: the older 2013 layout on the Boeing 777-300ER (77W) and the newer 2017 layout on the Airbus A380 (388). This newer layout is probably the one you've seen in pictures. For the best chance to snag the new first class layout, consider flights to Singapore, Shanghai, Mumbai, Delhi, or Frankfurt. Make sure to bookmark this article with what routes have them.

👀 My Favorite Finds

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

• No Visa required for Americans to visit Sri Lanka (LINK)

• United replacing wifi with Starlink (LINK)

• I waited over a year to try these noodles while visiting Japan (LINK)

• Chase Ink Business Unlimited has a new increased intro offer to Earn $900 after $6,000 in spend. The $900 can be turned into 90,000 chase points which in turn is at least two nights in a top Hyatt hotel. Great catch all card with unlimited 1.5% cash back.

🏨 Hotel Of The Week

• Coming back from Oregon, Chan is already looking at Airbnbs in that region of the US/Canada. So you know I had to look at what Hyatt properties were out there and I found this Mr and Mrs Smith property.