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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!)

The deals keep coming, the points keep changing, and there’s always something to keep an eye on.

Shout out to my AC for deciding to almost break, love being a homeowner, right 😭

Whether it’s good, bad, or something in between, I got it all today.

So grab your tea (or something stronger) and let’s get into it.

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You could be taking amazing trips but if you don’t know how to book them, let a pro handle it for you.

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• Fly better, for less, experience business and first class without paying out of pocket.

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 Travel News

Marriott Bonvoy Just Punk’d Us (LINK)

I’m not sure if I’ve told y’all, but I’m not much of a Marriott Bonvoy fan.

I just don’t vibe with programs where you can get top tier status just by holding a credit card.

Why? Well, if you have the card, that means everyone else does too, and the status doesn’t really mean much.

And now, it looks like they’ve quietly increased award rates at some of their most sought after properties.

The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, which used to cap out at 164K points per night, is now regularly showing rates of 198K.

The highly talked about JW Marriott safari property, Masai Mara Lodge in Kenya, had a max of 132K but has now shot up to 236K.

And on top of that, the free night certificates from Marriott cards are starting to be worthless now.

Whether 35K, 50K, or 85K, they used to get you access to some solid properties.

Now? They mostly get you into mid tier hotels at best.

While I still won’t be focusing much of my energy in earning Marriott Bonvoy points, this is just another reminder not to hoard your points.

Use them before they lose value to devaluations.

JetBlue Winter Sales Ends Today (LINK)

If you’ve been thinking about a quick getaway, you better move fast because JetBlue’s 3 day winter sale ends tonight at 11:59 PM ET

While Fridays and Sundays are excluded, this is a solid deal if you’re paying cash and looking for a last minute trip.

The sale is good for one way tickets from February 3rd through April 9th, and with fares starting at just $49, it’s pretty tempting.

Here’s the full list of deals, including some routes outside the U.S.

And because I like to make things easy, here are some of the best deals I found

San Juan (SJU) to/from St. Croix (STX): $59
Buffalo (BUF) and Islip (ISP) to/from Orlando (MCO): $74
Boston (BOS) to/from San Francisco (SFO): $99
Boston (BOS) to/from Barbadis (BGI): $94

United Route Bookable With Points (LINK)

If you remember back in October, I talked about United unveiling eight new international destinations for 2025.

Well, now that we’re in 2025, those flights are starting to show up on the calendar and are bookable with points.

Some routes, like Newark to Nuuk, Greenland, won’t show availability until June, but others like Washington, D.C. to Dakar, Senegal are showing up earlier.

Business class for both is around 180K, but the nearly 9-hour flight to Dakar is on United Polaris Business, which makes it a much better deal.

So if any of these flights were on your list of must visit destinations, now’s the time to check them out.

P.S. Make sure to check Air Canada Aeroplan tooI, since I’m already seeing United flights pop up there for even fewer points.

🤓 Hacks

• Shoutout to Mr Kerr on this one. If you want to book a delta flight but award prices are high, see if there’s a later flight that day with first class availability for cheaper. If there is then book that one, you’ll be able to change it to your desired flight and you’ll be on the flight you want for fewer points redeemed.

🧑🏿‍💻 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

This isn’t really a question, but more of a general rule of thumb to keep in mind for booking business class flights. I was talking to someone who had Amex points but wasn’t sure how many they’d realistically need for a trip.

A good guideline is:

• 60,000 to 85,000 points for a one way flight to Europe

• Up to 110,000 points for a one way flight to Asia

• 180,000 points for a one way first- lass flight

This gives you the flexibility to book a solid option instead of just being stuck with the cheapest one.

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.

• All business class flight have at least 2 seats available

👀 My Favorite Finds

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

• These newsletters are changing the game (LINK)

• This is the world’s largest airline and flies 1,000 aircrafts (LINK)

• NYC to Europe on Delta for 32K Points in Economy round trip (LINK)

• Detailed information and last communications from Flight 5342 crash (LINK)

• If you know of any jobs in the newsletter/travel/credit card space, let me know (LINK)