Gunnar and Kyle brag about gettin’ booksy before diving into a busy week of news: The single best redemption using Southwest miles, translating an airline CEO’s infuriating airfare comments, applaud a true sicko’s way of transferring points to Hilton, and more. Plus, the guys draft their favorite new routes debuting this winter and play the World Cup … of flight deals.
Gunnar and Kyle brag about gettin’ booksy before diving into a busy week of news: The single best redemption using Southwest miles, translating an airline CEO’s infuriating airfare comments, applaud a true sicko’s way of transferring points to Hilton, and more. Plus, the guys draft their favorite new routes debuting this winter and play the World Cup … of flight deals.
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00:00 - Gunnar & Kyle both got “booksy”
02:24 - The Larsons welcome us back from Machu Picchu!
03:50 - Is this the best Southwest Rapid Rewards redemption?
08:55 - Translating Delta CEO’s (gross) comments on airfare
16:45 - A new Delta One Lounge ATL … eventually
21:15 - Transferring points from Chase to Hilton
24:25 - A Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal World Cup
27:50 - Delta SkyMiles premium snack benefit extended!
29:30 - & T-Mobile customers get a free drink!
30:20 - We’re hiring! What it’s like to work with us …
31:45 - Drafting our favorite new winter routes
37:45 - A listener asks: How to use Google Flights for award travel?
41:05 - On the spot: Advice for getting into the travel industry
Produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas
Video editing by Kyle Thomas
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
Yo, welcome to the show. I'm Gunner, that's Kyle. Today on the show, we have a bunch of exciting news to get to, including a sweet island-hopping redemption. We dig into some Delta news, and we look at some cool, new, underappreciated airline routes that we're gonna draft later on in the show too. But first, Kyle, uh, I got a little book-sy last week.
Did you?
I did. What did you book? I booked a lot. Yeah? My queue, my queue went from, like, one, one flight coming up in the next 11 months to about seven.
Okay.
Uh, so I'll rattle off a f- a quick few here. I'm going to Tokyo in about a month I had booked a flight home in Delta One for about 130,000 SkyMiles, which isn't the best, certainly not the worst.
But over the weekend, uh, the premium team found that same route for as low as 79,700 SkyMiles each way in Delta One, so I rebooked that to save over 50,000 miles. Couple of days before that, my wife and I are planning to go back to Kauai to hang out with, uh, my in-laws for a week or so next winter. So Delta was charging an atrocious 142,000 SkyMiles for the round trip on the nonstop from Minneapolis to Honolulu.
I, uh, booked that through Air France KLM Flying Blue for 52,000, uh, Flying Blue miles per person. But because there was a transfer bonus at the time, that meant I only needed to use 42,000 points. So it was literally 100,000 points fewer by using Air France instead of Delta itself. And then the last one, uh, I mentioned before trying to use, uh, uh, Amex FHR credit for Fine Hotels and Resorts, that $300 credit you get twice a year.
I, uh, wound up booking that for Boston. Uh, I booked one night for Boston to go out and see one of my favorite bands in the world in December. And then by the time we l- people are listening to this, I'll book a second night using the new credit once that resets to kinda double-dip on that.
I'm actually doing the same thing with, uh, with the hotel in Tucson.
I'm waiting until, uh, as this show drops, to book the next night of it. What band are you going to see?
Your favorite band, Converge.
Okay, Converge. I'll have to look up Converge. You- s- you can spare yourself. Uh, what I booked, um, for the August anniversary trip that my w- that my wife told me in no uncertain terms needs to happen in some way or another, I booked us a, a little glamping adventure at a, a resort called The Fields of Michigan, which is, like, an Under Canvas partner because of Mr.
and Mrs. Smith. Uh, 20,000 World of Hyatt points a night for two nights. I transferred those in from Bilt. And I took advantage of this World of Hyatt promo where when you book Under Canvas or its partner glamping, uh, campsites, you get a 15% points rebate after you stay. So I'll get a little, a little tiny kickback, like 6,000-point kickback or something.
It's not nothing. Not nothing. And then the big one, I booked Alaska Airlines business class from Seattle to Tokyo, Narita, 60,000 AA miles each, 120K total that I transferred from Citi after signing up for the Strata Elite card. So that was just one sign-up bonus with, uh, all that spend that I had to do to get the minimum spend requirement.
I got to 120,000 and kicked those all over to AA to make that happen, so that's the only part of that trip that I have booked. So it's all wide open for next winter sometime.
It's a good start.
Yeah. Very exciting. Well, a very booksy week for us. Must be booking season this, this summer. Hot Flight Summer is back.
Trying it again, huh? Today on the show, it's a big news rundown of everything you need to know to travel better this week. All that and more
on- Welcome back to the Thrifty Traveler podcast. This is the Larsens. We're at Machu Picchu And we're here 'cause of your alerts. Thank you
Okay, welcoming us back this week was the Larson family from Machu Picchu. So cool of you to think of us in that moment, standing there in front of Machu Picchu. To record a video for us is, is awesome. I hope it was everything you wanted and more. Um, a quick call-out, we've been having so much fun with this show.
I've really, really been enjoying it. Meeting some of you in Minneapolis a few weeks ago was truly a career highlight for me. Um, if you all are having half as much fun with this as we are, that's a really good thing 'cause we're having a ball. Um, if you're enjoying it, please consider leaving us a rating and review.
I know I plug it at the end of, of every show, but it really makes a difference. Um, it helps other people find the show. And I have a performance review coming up, uh, so if you could please sh- th- you know, float me a few ratings and reviews, it would really, really help me out. Um-
You, you really need it.
I really need it.
Really need it.
It's gonna be a bloodbath. All right, uh, let's get into the news for your July 4th weekend. And we wanna start with something that you unearthed, uh, in the way that you always do, Kyle, selfishly, booking your own travel. What did you find with Southwest?
That is the best source of all of the information, all of the news that we've ever broken, is one of us at Thrifty Traveler is doing something for our own personal self-interest and gain.
Yeah.
So as a part of that trip to Hawaii, you know, I mentioned we're taking the nonstop from Minneapolis to Honolulu, but w- we wanna get to Kauai. And so I'm just starting to poke around at, you know, the best, the best flights to book, the schedules to get us there. You can, of course, fly Hawaiian, now owned by Alaska, as well as Southwest operates m- most of the inter island flights there.
And I'll be honest, I really ... It wasn't really on my radar to redeem points, but you know, the, the prices are fine. It's like $75 for a basic fare, $95 for a standard economy ticket on either airline each way. But you know, you have to book a round trip for two. That adds up. And so just on a whim, I flipped over to, uh, to book with Southwest points.
And you know, importantly, Southwest points function much like, if not worse, than most major US airline programs, where they use dynamic award pricing, which is basically just shorthand for the more it costs in cash, the more that, uh, the more points you're gonna need to fork over in order to book that same flight.
And so I was expecting something in the neighborhood of 7,000, 8,000 points, and lo and behold, every single flight was 4,000 points each way And the rate for a basic ticket on Southwest was 4,000 points. The rate for a standard choice, they call it, it's just standard economy for Southwest, was also 4,000 points, which is not how Southwest prices those tickets in, in basic economy versus standard economy when you're booking with cash.
So I was like, "Huh, there's something, there's an opportunity here." But then as I dug deeper, it's become very clear that while for almost every other flight in Southwest network, they still use dynamic award pricing, but not within the islands. It is a flat 4,000 point each way rate in order to book a flight between any of the islands, whether you're flying nonstop or have a connection, and that's still true when it's $75 or $95, or if you're booking, like, day of and it costs 250 plus dollars for basically a walk-up ticket, you can still book that exact same flight f- for just 4,000 points each way in economy.
Yeah. It's an incredible deal. I was so excited that you found it. I wish I, I knew about it earlier. Um, how does it compare to what Alaska and Hawaiian are charging using Alaska Atmos?
I mean, Alaska Atmos are certainly, uh, in the same neighborhood. It, it flexes a little bit more in the rates based upon what, what cash rates actually look like.
So, you know, you can see it for as low as, I think, 5,500 points each way, so not terrible, but I value Alaska points a lot higher than I do Southwest. So if given a choice between the two, I'm always gonna pick, A, the lower rate, and B, most importantly, the points that I just don't value nearly as much. I I don't like viewing points as just getting max value.
I think that's, um, pretty reductive. But at the same time, you know, a Southwest point typically gets you somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 cents per point. So that's not the best. That's kind of the floor. But in the case of these redemptions, it's at least double that, and if you're booking one of those last-minute tickets because you forgot to book your Southwest flight from Honolulu to Kauai or Maui, you know, we're talking about four-plus cents per point.
That's, these are easily the single best Southwest Rapid Rewards redemptions I have ever personally seen.
Yeah. That's fantastic. I'm glad you ... I- I assume you booked it. You got to take advantage? Oh, of course. Yeah.
Yeah. It is the first and probably will be the only time that I ever transfer Chase points to Southwest because, again, you know, if the floor and the average is somewhere in that neighborhood of one cent apiece, give or take, I know I can do much better by transferring those points elsewhere.
But in this case, I already had a good chunk of the points that I needed in my Southwest account just from taking previous flights over the years. So I was like, "I'll transfer in a couple thousand more to be able to book this without paying a dime." Well, paying taxes and fees of 11 bucks and 20 cents, uh, each way for two.
That's awesome. Uh, keep an eye on that. If you have a Hawaii trip coming up in the next year, um, take a look at Southwest. Take a look at those Chase points that transfer over there. It might save you a bunch of money on those inter-island flights. Can we play a game quick? This, conversations that begin this way-
always go poorly. I promise this is a fun game. Um, it's a game show really, and it- we've played this on the, on the podcast before, but I'm ... Okay, I'm gonna yell it, so I gotta back up.
Translate that airline CEO.
Ah.
The people love the game. Uh, all right, it's, it's Ed Bastian, Delta's big boss, Delta's CEO. He was on Fox Business doing an interview, uh, that was full of industry buzzwords that I'm sure nobody cares about, but actually have major implications for travelers.
So I'm gonna spit out some Ed Bastian jargon that he said during this interview. I'll do my best Ed Bastian impression. You tell us what it means for tr- Delta travelers, okay?
Please skip the impression and just r- read.
I'm not gonna do the impression. Um, all right, this is his first quote. He said, "Bookings have continued to be very resilient.
We've had to raise prices because of the high fuel prices, but that has not impacted bookings at all. The higher end, such as Delta, allows for us to be able to do that." Please translate that. What does that mean?
This is Delta knowing that their customers are willing to pay more, and that gives them license to charge higher fares than what they were charging at the start of the year.
I mean, this is really the core of Delta's strategy, right? Is they've leaned, as other airlines have begun to, so hard into premium travel with a bet that they could get people to pay more because people, A, are stuck in Delta hubs that don't have a realistic alternative, like us here in Minneapolis for the most part, but especially like Salt Lake and Atlanta.
But B, that they would be willing to pay more because they want those seat back screens, they want free Wi-Fi on board, they want the better service, they want the better reliability. And maybe most importantly, that when push comes to shove, when fuel prices skyrocket as they did in March and April, that they could raise prices and not lose people because the people who are flying Delta are willing to pay more and have more money to continue to pay more than, you know, certainly the Spirit of the world, RIP, but Frontier, even, you know, American, Southwest and other aspects of the industry don't have the same wiggle room to be able to charge higher fares, and Delta knows that they can get away with this, and they are.
Yeah. Okay, so in that interview, the host mentions, "But, you know, fuel prices have come down, so when, when do fares come down?" is the question, and this is what his reply was. He says, "Prices will come down when we can fly more, when there's more supply. It's supply and demand. Right now, we're kind of log jammed.
There's not a lot of supply we can bring in because the air traffic control system is congested." Translate that
I, this is, like, breathtaking dishonesty. This is Ed Bastian speaking not to consumers, certainly not to you and I. He doesn't care what we think or honestly, probably what the average traveler thinks.
What he's trying to do, I think, is signal to investors that they're going to keep fares higher in order not just to recoup the cost of the jet fuel bills that they've been paying these last three or four months, but keep them in place even after that because that's what their investors want. They want Delta to charge higher fares and bring in more revenue and turn a higher profit margin, and this is really just misdirection of saying, "Oh, well, you know, f- fuel prices aren't really even the big problem," even though that con- completely contradicts what he said in the last bit of nonsense that we translated.
He's pointing instead at saying, "Well, it's, it's really the FAA's fault that we can't get, you know, consistent flow across our networks because of the limitations of our nationwide airspace." And so once that problem is solved, spoiler alert, it probably never will be, at least not in the way that he's suggesting it needs to be.
Once that problem is solved, we can bring down fares because that will bring in more supply into the market. I ... It's a little disgusting to me that he's being this dishonest about what is driving airfare up right now and what it's gonna take to come down. Supply and demand is, as we've said again and again on this show, absolutely everything when it comes to fare prices, but the real problem here is that because fuel prices are higher and have been higher for most of the last couple of months until they've come down within the last month or so, airlines have cut capacity.
They have reduced supply because they want to be able to charge higher fares. They need to charge higher fares to offset those costs, so in many ways, the supply problem has less to do with the FAA and airspace and all the technological improvements that need to happen and more to do with the fact that airlines just want to charge higher fares.
Yeah.
Well, if you thought that was gross, hold your nose for the last one that you're gonna translate here, Kyle. Uh, Bastian said, "There's not just one economy. The high end of the economy is really strong. The higher the premium opportunity, the greater the growth potential. That's where all of our investment is going."
What does that mean?
I think that last sentence says it all. "That's where all our investment is going." I, this is true not just of Delta, but really the entire industry right now. That is where all the investment is going. That's why we talked about in our episode months ago about the premium travel boom and what it portends for travel.
It doesn't-- It's clear that airlines just don't care about the back of the plane anymore. I mean, they're doing some things, like we touched on last week, of upgrading screens and free Wi-Fi on board for all, and I think we can and should appreciate that as a positive thing. But it also just pales in com- in comparison to the amount of money that they're spending on all things premium travel because, again, to the first point, that is where all the money is.
That's where the margins are highest. That's also kind of a two for one, where, you know, you make your seats nicer on board, you upgrade the champagne, you build a nicer lounge. It's not just that people are going to pay more in order to fly Delta or fly United if you're, you're in Newark or in Denver for those things It's the second arguably more important piece of it is that once you get your hooks in people, then they get that credit card, and they spend on that credit card all that time to be able to fly that airline again, and that is where airlines make their real money.
They are ... I mean, this is, on the one hand, a pretty brilliant business strategy. On the other hand, I again worry that, you know, the average economy traveler who is just focused on getting a good deal is gonna be left behind.
Yeah, a- and the, you know, the point of this is a little bit to dunk on Delta and Bastian being pretty audacious here talking to Fox Business, where he knows the audience that's listening is, you know, very much the Fox News class, very much the sitting in first class class, and a lot of investors and things like that.
So when he's, uh, being so explicit about ignoring the back of the plane, it's good to call them out. But it's also important because Bastian is a leader in the industry, and he's not the only one thinking like this and taking action like this. I mean, we see it at, at all the major US airlines, and we're seeing it increasingly around the world, too.
So it's, it is kind of a, you know, a, a signal to what other executives are thinking as well.
I think it's just the most, um, blatant way of expressing what the strategy is. And while I think you're right, uh, in terms of who he's speaking to, I, I again wanna stress that I think more so he's speaking to not, you know, the premium travelers out there, but the investors- Yeah
who wanna hear this, who wanna say, "Oh, okay, you know, this is, Delta is very serious about this. They understand where the money is. They're doing all of these things in pursuit of those higher margin travelers. We're gonna, we're gonna up our investment in Delta." I think that is the play here.
Yep. And I think the perfect example of that kinda investment in the premium traveler is about to happen at Atlanta with what is going to be a big, audacious construction project to build a new Delta One lounge there.
So we got new details of it this week. According to a memo sent to Atlanta city staff, uh, this new lounge is going to be constructed above the E concourse between gates E14 and E27. But to do this, Delta needs to erect a new approximately 40,000 square foot shell above the concourse, which is a massive, massive project on a currently operating concourse to the tune of $63 million.
Um, the final product is expected to be about 39,000 square feet, uh, almost identical in size to the JFK Delta One lounge, Kyle. Um, so- I know what you're thinking. You know, all they have to do is just quickly slap up 40,000 square foot shell on top of a working airport concourse at the busiest airport in the country.
Uh, they'll have this thing open lickety-split, right? Wrong, Kyle. It's gonna take a very long time. The city memo says the construction contract is not to exceed 30 months, which means that if this project starts on the day it is approved, which is July 6th, the project would have to be done by January 2029 with an opening date presumably several weeks after that.
Um, by my estimation, Kyle, in January 2029, you will be 52 years old. How does that feel?
That is slander. Come on.
That's not true. That's not true. Kyle's a sprightly 23 years old. That's right. Um, Kyle, are you, uh, i- intrigued at all by the Delta One lounge or are you gonna f- forget about it by the time this opens in the 2030s or whatever?
I don't know if I'll still be around anymore- ... in 2029. Uh, this is- Really telling for a couple of ways. First, just because, A, we've known that Delta was going to do this. I mean, of course they're going to do it in Atlanta, their biggest and most important hub. Um, you know, the airline has said they're going to open these Delta One lounges at all of their major hubs across the country.
But what's most telling about it to me is less that they're gonna do this in Atlanta, and it's gonna be 39,000 square feet, and more that it's going to come after New York, Boston, Seattle, and not one, but two Delta One lounges in Los Angeles, which I think to the average traveler, it'd be like, why would they not do this in Atlanta before all of them?
And there's two p- two parts to that. One is honestly less important, and it's just that airport real estate is really complicated, and finding that amount of space in an airport is really hard to do, to the point where it costs milli- tens of millions of dollars and 30-plus months in order to create that kind of space as they need to do in Atlanta.
But more importantly, Delta d- didn't do this first in Atlanta or Minneapolis or Detroit or Salt Lake City, four airports where it is, it controls 70-plus percent of the traffic. It is the biggest game in town. These are where their most loyal p- passengers are. Didn't do that first because it doesn't need to.
Because the people who are flying long haul out of Detroit, generally speaking, don't really have a choice. They have to fly Delta. The same thing goes with Minneapolis, with Salt Lake, um, and especially Atlanta. You have to fly Delta. If you are a premium traveler, if, especially if you're a business traveler and you're flying across the country every week, you are flying Delta.
They are the ones that have the nonstops. And the entire point of this is the same strategy as before, premium travel, get your hooks in people, get their credit card spend, and that is why Delta, e- exactly why Delta has focused on the likes of New York and Boston and Seattle and LA first, because there is actual competition there.
And Delta wants to beat out, um, you know, JetBlue in Boston, and definitely Alaska in Seattle, and American and United in LA. That is why it focused on those airports first, and now that those are done, they get to focus on the other seemingly less important to them hubs.
Yeah, Atlanta, you are, you are being taken for granted, Georgia travelers.
Uh, they, they know that you're always gonna be there for them, so they don't really have to invest in you, or if they do, it's gonna take them until perhaps 2029, 2030.
The end of the decade.
Yeah. Okay, um, our next story, uh- So on the points and miles sicko scale, this isn't quite like your friends and family are worried about you, but it's just a little more than just, like, acceptable conversation at the July 4th barbecue.
Um, Jackson Newman, perhaps our greatest Thrifty Traveler sicko, uh, came up with this awesome workaround to, in a way, transfer points from Chase to Hilton, which have no transfer partnership to speak of. Uh, here's how Jackson did it. Jackson found a 100% bonus promo when you buy Hilton points, meaning he could buy 98,000 Hilton points he needed for a booking for $490, which would normally just buy you 49,000 points.
Um, Hilton does this a few times a year, typically, with this 100-point bonus promo. He put that charge, that $490 to buy the points, on his Chase credit card, then he redeemed his Chase points for cash back to the tune of $490, which cost him 49,000 Chase points, which means he effectively turned 49,000 Chase points into 98,000 Hilton points, a one-to-two transfer from Chase to Hilton.
I found this fascinating. Uh, this is why I'm so in awe of Jackson all the time, is 'cause his brain works like this when mine is just on train tracks. Uh, is this something that interests you, Kyle?
I, it is, it is definitely interesting. It is, and I think Jackson would be the first to say, very niche where this would make sense, and it was because, you know, A, Jackson had more Chase points than he had anything else, and therefore that's the, the currency that he was most willing to expend to book this hotel.
And B, maybe more importantly, he was trying to book a hotel in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where there just wasn't a hotel that was a good deal booking with other things like Hyatt, Marriott, even IHG. And so there was this great Hilton there that he wanted to book. The points rate was great, and so then the wheels start turning of, like, "Well, how can I do this?
I don't, you know, necessarily wanna book, you know, for 900-plus dollars a night or $700 a night," whatever that Hilton was charging. I've got these Chase points. I, you know, would typically steer clear and tell everybody to steer clear of redeeming them just for cash back, let alone gift cards or something like that.
But in this scenario, for that specific hotel, it makes sense. So I think the lesson here isn't turn your Chase points into cash back to buy Hilton points. It's explore all your options and try and go off the beaten path a little bit to make something make sense. I think in this case, it probably was the best way to make this happen, absent, you know, opening that next Hilton credit card or having a ton of Amex membership rewards already, which I'm sure, uh, Jackson just redeemed a ton of just to fly to Croatia in the first place.
So it's a really interesting angle here.
Yeah, I really like it, and it's just a, a great example of when you bump up against the wall in travel, there's, there's usually a way around. You just really gotta get creative, and you gotta just take a step back, take stock of what you have, and understand how it can be used.
But, you know, to, to me, I never would have thought, you know, get cash back on a points purchasing, you know, system, uh, a f- 100% transfer bonus like this from, uh, or not transfer bonus, a bonus promo when you buy Hilton points, but this is really awesome. I, I thought Jackson's write-up on it on our website was really good, too.
You should go check it out. We'll put it in the show notes. Uh, we have a few more news stories to hit, but first we're gonna take a quick break. Thrifty Traveler premium flight deal alerts have been crazy lately. Airfare might be up, but the incredible ways to use your points and miles in business class or economy flying all over the world are truly better than ever.
Things reached a fever pitch last week, Kyle. It's one of the best runs of flight deals we've ever seen maybe. So in the spirit of the World Cup, I'm gonna give you a few flight deal match-ups that you need to choose a winner from, okay? The first match-up, Kyle, Delta One Suites to Tokyo from 80,000 SkyMiles each way this summer versus Alaska Airlines business class to Tokyo from 60,000 AA miles each way next winter.
Which one of those is best?
This is a Morocco versus Netherlands shootout in penalties. Uh, I'm gonna give it to Delta One suites. That is the lowest rate that we've seen to fly Delta One suites, and also, I selfishly booked it, so that's, that's my winner here. All right. Delta One suites, 80K.
Delta One moves on.
Uh, how about this one? JetBlue Mint suites to Amsterdam or Paris from 80,000 Etihad miles this summer versus Air France KLM business class to Amsterdam or Paris for 60,000 Flying Blue miles this summer and winter. Which one takes the cake here?
Uh, I think another squeaker here. I'm gonna give it to JetBlue Mint suites.
A little bit higher of a rate, but I just really love JetBlue Mint suites. Uh, it's one of my favorite flights to Europe.
Okay, JetBlue moves on. How about these two cash deals? Helsinki, Finland, under $494 round trip, including Iceland stopovers this fall, versus the Cayman Islands under $389 round trip, including peak winter.
This is really, uh, what, what is your taste for winter? Do you wanna go up north and see the northern lights, or do you wanna go sit on the beach?
I know what you would say- ... but this is my matchup. I'm going Cayman Islands for under 400. That's a good price for a winter warmup.
Okay, the Caymans moves on.
Last matchup, Iceland from 13,000 Delta Sky Miles round trip this September, those are record lows from some cities, versus Qantas or American Airlines business class from 80,000 American miles each way this fall down to Australia. Very different deals here.
Very different. Uh, just in the name of what's going to be cheaper once you actually get there, I really like the idea of flying business class all the way to Australia for, um, 80,000 American miles.
Fall is a great time to be there, too.
Okay. All right, so you had Qantas moving on and you had the Cayman Islands moving on. Which is better between those two?
Qantas.
Oh, okay. And then you had Delta One Suites and JetBlue Mint Suites. Moving on, what's better between those two?
Delta One Suites.
All right, so it's Delta versus Qantas for the World Cup.
What do you have?
Delta One Suites for 80,000 miles. Wow. That's the best deal we've seen in years, uh, among a ton of amazing Delta One Suites deals lately.
Join in on the flight deal fun. Get 20% off your first year of cheap flights and points and miles deals with promo code TTPOD, all one word. That's TTPOD.
Okay, back to the show. All right, we're back and, uh, our prayers have been answered, Kyle. We begged, we begged for the extension of the Delta SkyMiles credit card free premium snack benefit to be extended, and it has been. The snack benefit is now extended through October 31st. It was initially supposed to dry up last month.
Um, this is the benefit that allows you, if you have a SkyMiles credit card, to get yourself a DOTS Pretzels, a Pringles, or a Nerds Gummy Clusters, the, the great triumvirate of airline snacks. Um, wait, what's your order again?
Uh, it's typically my wife and I, so we get one DOTS Pretzels, one Nerds Gummy Clusters.
Okay. Uh, how do you feel about the extension? I assume you're just over the moon.
Over the moon. Uh, couldn't be happier. Couldn't be happier to be wrong, 'cause a couple of weeks ago w- we were, you know, forecasting whether this would get extended, and I said it seemed unlikely, and I'm really glad Delta pushed this out through the end of October.
This is a really fun benefit. Uh, it is kind of a surprise and delight, something that Delta hasn't really advertised. In fact, we're probably the loudest champion of this benefit out of anybody on the entire internet, including the airline itself. This is a, this is a fun one. Again, a eight or $9 snack shouldn't be, you know, jump for joy.
I love Delta, I love this credit card, I love paying 150 or $695 for this free snack. It's not like that, but it's there. You might as well use it on those flights that, where it's eligible, which is flights over 900 miles.
Yeah, help get that annual feedback. Ed Bastian, you're forgiven. All, v- from the last segment- Well, well- We're, we're back, baby.
All right. Well, I wouldn't go that far.
Um, another, uh, Delta piece of news, a, a newslet, if you will, um, T-Mobile customers now get a free drink on board. How do you feel about this?
I wish I had T-Mobile. I know. Uh, yeah. Uh, we, we found this out a couple of weeks ago and it's now live for T-Mobile customers.
Again, I wish I was one of them. You just have to link your T-Mobile and SkyMiles account. We'll link in the show notes some instructions on how to do that. The best thing about this is that there's no expiration date on this, so seemingly you can use this more than once into perpetuity for whenever Delta and T-Mobile decide to stop doing this.
But so, I mean, that probably won't last forever. You might as well, you know, get a free cocktail, get a free beer, get a free glass of wine. Not two. Unless if you steal your wife's. Not two. Uh, while you can
Good. Um, a little bit of good news for Delta travelers. We wanted to hit you with at least something to be happy about.
Uh, let's move on to some really good news, Kyle, something I'm very, very excited about. We're hiring, Kyle. We are looking for a dedicated hotel deal analyst and reporter to join our Thrifty Traveler team here in Minneapolis. We want someone who's gonna champion our hotel deal alerts for Thrifty Traveler Premium Plus members, as well as cover the ins and outs of hotel loyalty for our site newsletter, on social media, and presumably on this here podcast too.
Um, it is kind of a tricky proposition. You get to work for the best travel website and flight deal alert service on the planet, but you do have to work with us, Kyle. Is that worth it? What's the trade-off there?
I mean, I think we should bring in our coworkers to say whether that is worth the, the, the emotional and at sometimes physical anguish-
that we will put you through.
So I just, I wrote down some of the perks of the job working here at Thrifty Traveler. Um, one, instant friendship with me. That's huge.
Sure.
Uh, two, I make an above average cappuccino on the office espresso machine. Um, I'm gonna actually whip some up this afternoon. You want one?
Yeah. Okay. Uh, three, I'm no longer bringing in seafood leftovers for lunches after some anonymous complaints. Uh, but I've cleaned up my act, and we're doing much better.
That is going to come up in your review.
Um, if you want to work with us, uh, if, or if you know somebody who you think fits the bill here, uh, send them the job description.
We'll put it in the show notes. But we are hiring, and we'd love to, to see some podcast listeners join our team. All right, let's move on to something I'm very excited about. This is ... The airlines are releasing all of their new and expanded routes for the winter. Um, there are a lot of really exciting ones.
These never get, like, all the pomp and circumstance of the big transatlantic summer routes that we get every year. You know, Delta held their competition last year where they were having people vote on what route they liked the best, and then they, you know, of course, they released more than one. And United always has some, like, fun, funky Europe routes.
These ones kinda are less appreciated but can really connect travelers to some places that they wanna go. Um, let's do a draft. Let's each pick a few of these. Um, what's your first pick of s- of, uh, the winter new routes draft?
I'm, I'm gonna go selfish here. I'm going for Minneapolis to Vail- Ooh ... one time a week on Delta.
I think we've had that in the past. It's maybe been a couple of years, maybe even kind of in the last decade.
So we had it last year, but it only ran through, like, January 5th. It was just a holiday seasonal, so it was like, you know, or mid-December to January 5th, and then they stopped it. And this year it's gonna go all through the winter on Saturdays only through March.
Um, they listed it already at the paltry cost of 2,200 bucks round trip for basic economy right now.
I mean, I'm, I'm hoping that you can book that with either Air France KLM, Flying Blue, or Virgin Atlant- Atlantic Flying Club points because you are gonna need that money for Vail. I- You're gonna need all of that money for Vail
I suspect our premium members are going to get an alert to, uh, some of that stuff by the time they listen to this episode. So that is a really cool route. I like that one for your first overall pick. All right, my first overall pick is a funky new one, um, on American Airlines, Charlotte to Naples, Florida, uh, at an airport I had not heard of.
APF is the, is the code there. Uh, 2X daily on American on a little regional jet down to Naples, Florida, so you get to skip that, uh, RSW, Southwest Fort Myers Regional Airport down there. So, um, this new exciting route from Charlotte to Naples. Any thoughts on that one?
APF. Who knew?
Very curious. I, there's always another airport in Florida- I-
that you don't know about
That is true.
All right, what's your next pick?
I'm going, uh, Denver to Turks and Caicos, uh, one time a week through the winter on United. Denver just doesn't get a lot of love, uh, out into the Caribbean. United runs most of its flights into the Caribbean through Houston or, you know, direct from, like, Newark.
So this is a fun one for the fo- good folks of Denver to be able to fly nonstop if you time it right, uh, all the way to Turks and Caicos.
Yeah, that is a really cool one. Um, all right, my next one, some more Charlotte American Airlines love. Uh, Charlotte to Aspen nonstop on American. They tried this last year.
Apparently it worked. It is now daily all the way through March. So you can fly from Charlotte nonstop straight into Aspen. Avoid those Denver connections. That's a really, really cool one, a great ski route. I have a good buddy who lives in Charlotte. I have another good buddy who live in Aspen. They're both big skiers, and now they have that connection that I've always wanted them to have.
So excited for them. Now they can join you. What's your next one?
I, I'm gonna cheat.
Mm-hmm.
I'm picking two- Okay ... at the same time because it's, the bigger story here is Delta is adding Austin to Fort Myers and Austin to San Jose, California, all nonstop. Um, Delta's making a big play in Austin. They're making a big play in Austin, and they're making a big play in LA.
They've already been big in LA, but Austin is, is something new that they're really building up, clearly trying to build another, you know, hublet maybe, let's call it. Not quite a hub, maybe a focus city, I don't know. But this is, this is really telling that Delta is adding these kinds of flights, and I think is really, should be really exciting for the residents of Austin.
Com- more competition, more choice is always, always, always better
The, uh, Austin to San Jose route I had listed as my least favorite one because I gotta assume just the tech bro-age on that plane is just out of this world.
Oh, everybody on that plane is complaining about the lack of Starlink- No question.
A lot of VR headsets- Yeah ... and, uh, complaining about Wi-Fi on that flight. Good luck to the flight attendants.
Everybody is boarding with their Apple Watch.
All right, my next one, uh, another Delta, uh, 2X daily on Delta from Salt Lake City to Santa Rosa, a little nonstop right into wine country. Pretty cool.
It's great for us to have that connection. Um, the flights to Salt Lake are never cheap here, but sometimes the ones continuing on from Salt Lake can be, so maybe, uh, a little flight right into wine country with a quick stop in Salt Lake for us would be really nice, and for the people of Utah, that's a great little connection, too.
It's, it's a great way to get to not just Napa Valley, but Sonoma, uh, which w- is my personal preference. One of my favorite wineries that I've been to in California is a place called Iron Horse, which is a sparkling vineyard, um, just outside of Santa Rosa itself. Really fun, beautiful spot. They have some amazing sparkling wine that for decades was served at the White House- Oh
which is their claim to fame. It's very, very good.
Very cool. All right. Um, my next one are
these- You just picked.
What?
You just picked.
Oh yeah, I did. All right, fine. Let's,
let's be done.
Fine. No, it's back to you. You get another one.
I don't want another one. Let's be done.
All right, fine. I got, I got some honorable mentions then.
Okay.
Uh, Milwaukee to Orlando nonstop on Delta That's a wild one. That is a wild one. One, one weekly that joins the Nashville, Kansas City, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, and Louisville nonstops to Orlando. They also have weekly in the winter, which is wild. Um, I did not know that about all those Delta routes.
And then these two Cartagena routes, uh, from United, um, from Houston and from Dulles nonstop to Cartagena, which is really cool. Another good way to get there. Um, there are tons of really good new winter routes out this, this year. Uh, they've ki- the airlines kinda scaled back and then have kind of reflooded all of their efforts into, into some of these fun ones.
So take a look. Uh, you might be surprised as to what you can see from your home airport. You ready to help a listener?
Let's help a listener.
Okay. John asked us, he said, "I loved the podcast on alliances. I started the points game about a year and a half ago, and I'm still treading water at the bottom of the ocean when I search for award flights.
That podcast got me out of the ocean abyss at least, but not quite anywhere near the surface." I'm loving this
metaphor. He has taken some cues from you on how to beat a metaphor to death.
Uh, he goes, "There's one thing that I'm still not quite sure about, and it happened in two of the podcasts as far as I can remember, that is talking about using Google Flights and then pivoting to points almost immediately or vice versa.
Are there any connections between the two? My understanding is that Google Flights is for cash, not points. I use Google Flights mostly to find out who flies where." So Kyle, it, it was, I think that was a good question. How do you use Google Flights to book award travel?
I would say primarily it's for that, that final point that John made about just trying to figure out what your options are to get from point A to point B.
I, I just never wanna miss out on a, on an option that I've just forgotten or had never come to mind, so starting with Google Flights is almost a- always where I start the process of booking any award ticket. I think getting a sense of what cash prices are like can at least be, help set expectations about whether you're going to be able to book that flight.
So as an example, uh, you know, trying to get out to a place like San Francisco from here in Minneapolis, if Delta is charging, you know, $900 for a round trip Odds are I'm not going to be able to book that f- uh, through a partner airline program like, uh, Air France KLM, Flying Blue, or Virgin Atlantic. I'm still gonna check, but it helps kind of temper expectations.
And then if you actually add the PointsPath, uh, plugin, uh, which is a free plugin that integrates directly within Google Flights, that will actually pull in automatically award rates on many of the major US airlines as well as some foreign airline programs. Most of them you have to actually pay for a PointsPath subscription in order to do that, but that'll just, again, y- I don't wanna miss out on if Delta is, for some reason, you know, charging a very reasonable amount of SkyMiles even though, you know, the airline is charging $900-plus in cash.
So I, I always, always start with Google Flights.
Yeah, I, I use it for that reason and also just to brainstorm possibilities. So, you know, for instance, when I was flying to Italy, we needed to get a flight to Bari, and I just look at, you know, quickly between the US and Bari, like what are some of the op- you know, what are the possibilities of airlines I could use?
For instance, Turkish was flying there. I'd never even thought of that. I was like, "Oh, I have some miles that I could transfer to Turkish to book to Bari." It didn't end up working out, but it just kinda gets your brain spinning, like, here are all the, the ways that you can connect or fly directly to some place.
Um, I also use it, like you said, for plane and seat details to figure out exactly which flight is on what plane. Sometimes the airline websites, the award booking websites are a little unclear or sometimes, uh, it's just not as obvious, and then you can also see, you know, what kind of seat you get. Is it a lie-flat seat or is it an individual suite?
You know, they have those kinda designators there. Or is it a first class recliner? And then in that case you might not wanna pay all those points anyway, so. Um, and then finally, I always go back right at the end before booking something just to make sure I'm not missing a great cash rate, um, if I, you know, kinda back my way into it from award travel perspective.
But I thought that was a really good question, John. Um, there are a lot of good ways to use Google Flights, and that is definitely one of them. If you want us to answer your questions on the podcast or if you have any feedback, hit us up at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We might feature your question on next week's show.
And then to close the show, as always, we go On the Spot, and I'm putting Kyle on the spot this week. You ready?
Maybe.
Okay. Uh, we're doing, uh, another listener question, actually. Uh, Andrew Chin asked us, "What advice would you give someone interested in switching careers to the travel industry?" I thought this was really cool
Wow.
That is a really good question, Andrew. I think, I think you need to figure out your niche and what you're passionate about because everybody is passionate about travel, and that is a really important element to be able to turn this into a career. But I think to really turn it into something that is going to be enduring, that can become your career, you need to find the specific thing in this world that you care most about and that you're best at.
So for me, that has always been writing, translating this complex world of airlines, and alliances, and revenue management, and points and miles into stories on our website, in our newsletter, and now on our podcast. For you, I don't know.
Making cappuccinos.
Making cappuccinos and not microwaving fish anymore, uh, seem to be your, your biggest selling points.
No, there's, there are a lot of things that you can do in this broader world of travel, and I think figuring out what you're most passionate a- about, what you're best at, and then starting on it. Um, maybe starting on it as a side hustle, doing something on social media or starting your own newsletter and just making sure that that is really what you wanna do.
Uh, the more the merrier, Andrew. We, we need more, we especially need more perspectives in this because there are a lot of people who look like you and I who talk about this on podcasts or on websites or on social media, and we just need more people to bring their different perspectives into travel. So come join the club.
Yeah. I would say that's exactly the advice I would give. Just start doing it. There's never been, uh, the bar- the barrier to entry has never been lower. Just, just start doing award travel. Start doing travel. Start writing about it. Start podcasting about it, whatever you want. Make sure your podcast is not any better than ours, though.
Yeah. Keep yourself in check, Andrew.
All right, Andrew, I hope that helps. Um, thank you all for listening to The Thrifty Traveler podcast. Please rate us five stars on your podcast platform of choice and like and subscribe to the show on YouTube, and send this episode to someone you know who needs a vacation.
If you have feedback for us, send me a note at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We would love to hear from you. Kyle, tell us about the team.
This episode of the podcast was produced by your favorite host, who can make a cappuccino in half the time it takes him to book a Delta Sky Miles award ticket, Gunnar Olsen.
It was produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas and edited by Kyle Thomas. Our theme music is by Benjamin Tissot. See you next week.
See ya