The news has been relentless to kick off the New Year, so the guys are devoting the latest Thrifty Traveler Podcast to 10 big news stories you need to know in 2026. That includes much cheaper one-way international fares, the surprising Allegiant-Sun Country merger, Bilt Rewards 2.0, a pair of new lounges, and much more. Plus, a listener wonders what to do about the dreaded “equipment swap” and Gunnar keeps digging a deeper hole with his recent O’Hare take…
00:00 - About Gunnar’s controversial “Chicago-O’Hare is good” take…
02:55 - Are airlines ditching higher one-way fares for international flights?
12:45 - Why Allegiant’s surprise acquisition of Sun Country matters
23:15 - Bilt 2.0 is here, with good and bad news
30:00 - A word from our sponsor: us! Get Thrifty Traveler Premium today
33:10 - American Airlines (kinda) launches free Wi-Fi
34:10 - No mileage or status on AA basic economy tickets
35:10 - No status changes for American this year, but is bad news ahead?
36:20 - Hawaiian Airlines’ big plans for aircraft upgrades and a fancy new Honolulu lounge
38:40 - The next Capital One Lounge: Charlotte (CLT)
40:15 - Delta orders 787 Dreamliners
42:20 - Listener Question: What to do if you’re “product-swapped”?
46:10 - On the Spot: What does Kyle tell people he does for a living?
Produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas
Video editing by Kyle Thomas
Show music: “All That” by Benjamin Tissot
Yo, welcome to the show. I am Gunnar, and I'm with Kyle. As always, it's been a really busy start to the year in the world of travel. So we're hitting you with a news roundup 10 news stories right away to start the year that you need to know. We've got the Allegiant and Sun Country merger, which made big headlines.
Here at MSP. We've got the introduction of one-way pricing on international fares, the details of built new suite of credit cards, and many more headlines in a big rapid fire section at the end. But Kyle, before we start, um. Can I have a few minutes to address something? The show is yours. You're the host.
Okay. Um, I said something last podcast that I know hurt a lot of people. Uh, it was clearly a sensitive issue and, and I was personally devastated to see the reactions out there to what I said. Even my own mom. Turned on me on social media last week, a real wake up call, you could say. Um, it was bound to happen at some point.
My declaration that Chicago O'Hare is a good airport was clearly offensive to a lot of people in all walks of life. Uh, and I'd just like to apologize for not making my case more rigorously. Because here's what I have to say. Where else are you gonna go? People? Where else are you gonna travel? What airport are you yearning to fly out of when you fly internationally?
I can think of like three airports in the whole country that I would like to fly out of. Alright, first of all, I'm gonna need an O'Hare button, like right now. Second, you are on the verge of getting canceled, so just watch yourself here, buddy. Look, I, I just don't know what, where do you wanna go? JFK's too expensive.
Newark's a nightmare. What's your big connecting hub that you're, that you're just excited to fly out of? How about this? Anywhere but O'Hare. How about that as a guiding principle in all things travel. Okay. I think that works. Okay. All right. I'm just, I'm just wondering where all of you people out there who hate O'Hare so much, where, where's that idyllic traveling experience that you, uh, that you're loving so much that O'Hare just does, doesn't cut it for you anymore?
O'Hare looks identical to home Alone, which was filmed in 1989. Terminals one, two, and three have not changed since that was filmed almost four decades ago. Grow Up Gunner, some of us would call that charm. Um, I, I shouldn't have brought this up again. This was a huge mistake. Okay, let's get into the show.
It's 10 big news stories you should know. From Charlotte to Honolulu and everywhere in between. All that and more. Welcome back to the Thrifty Traveler Podcast.
Okay. Welcome back. That voice you heard introducing the show was Thrifty Traveler, CEO, Jared Mki hiking atop the Palm Springs, Ariel Tramway. But you can do way better than Jared did in that video. Record your own, welcome back to the Thrifty Traveler podcast video, and send it to us at thrifty traveler.com/voicemail.
Give us a travel brag, say it loud and proud, and we're gonna feature you on the show. Okay, let's get into what is our biggest news story today, and I'll pose it as a question to you, Kyle. Are airlines ditching higher one-way fares for international flights? It sure seems like it, right? Um, this is, this is big.
This is one of the biggest changes in how airlines set fares that I can think of in, in years, maybe a decade or more, because for. Not just years, but decades. Airlines have always charged significantly higher fares for one-way long haul international flights. So if you're searching for a flight to Europe or Asia or Australia, or.
Wherever. If you search one way, that fair may cost just as much, if not more than a round trip ticket. This is just one of the many games that airlines have played in order probably to capitalize on business travelers who need a one-way ticket to London, don't know when they're gonna come back, so they're willing to pay $800 for an economy seeds.
And lo and behold, you know, last week our entire team started digging in and found that. You know, one way fairs to London, to Paris, to, uh, Sydney, to Tokyo. Were pricing out at half or less of a round trip. Fair. And while it isn't on every single route, on every single day, it is shockingly widespread. We've seen this in very small drips and drabs, and we've seen it in particular on budget carriers like North Atlantic in the past, but this is on all of the major airlines, on all of the major alliances and their foreign programs to many cities from.
Frankly, almost every airport in North America, not just the United States, but Canada and Mexico as well. This is big. It's a big change. And it begs the question why. Yeah, it's, it's really interesting. So this has started to pop up, like you said, over the past few months just on like. Faires here and there on these legacy carriers on American Delta, United and their partners.
Um, but then, you know, basically in the last like three weeks we've seen this get to what I would consider now widespread, like shockingly widespread. I mean, we found fair like Fargo to Amsterdam for $265 one way. I mean, that was one of the faires we found when we started really digging into this. And almost every regional airport with service from the big three are seeing this.
Um. And it's, you know, it is these major carriers. That's kinda the shocking part is that American Delta and United really wanted you in that round trip fair for a long time, and they were not giving you any grace on booking a one-way flight. And, and this just changes everything. Hopefully, if, if these stick, this will change the way we book airfare going forward.
Uh. Flexi one way. Fares are so much more flexible than the round trip and it just makes traveling on those fares much easier and much cheaper for a lot of people. Yeah, I mean, two really important caveats. First of all, we are not yet seeing this on, you know, premium economy business or first class tickets.
It's only on the cheapest basic economy fares and main cabin economy too. And probably more importantly, again, we are not yet seeing this apply. In the same way on the way home from Europe or on the way home from Asia or Australia, those one-way tickets back to the United States or Canada or Mexico are still pricing out significantly higher.
So in some ways, this isn't a complete picture yet of how you can take advantage unless if, and I mean the tip that we've been giving people who are trying to. Keep their travels a little bit more flexible. Take advantage of one of these really cheap one way fares is just use your miles to get home in this case, because then that allows you to beat those higher fares on the way home.
But yeah, I mean, this is, I, I think we're all still a little bit confused about what airlines are doing here and why they've made this change after decades. Yeah. I would say, uh. Don't wait, don't think about it too much. Go take advantage if you really need to get to Europe, especially in the next few months.
But, uh, you asked me a very thoughtful question there that I totally ignored. Why do you think, Kyle, this is happening? I asked you. I know, but I'm spinning it back on you because I don't know if I have a totally good, I, I think I have a theory, but I don't think it's, it's, it's ironclad. Yeah. You know. I think there are a couple of possibilities or explanations for why this is happening and it, and it could probably be both.
I mean, I think the biggest one is that. While legacy carriers like American Delta, United and their foreign partners don't, haven't done this in the past, they've always charged significantly more for a one-way, those cheaper, one-way fares have really been a hallmark of budget airlines. And you know, for example, flying across the Atlantic, that's an airline like North Atlantic.
Like over to Asia, there's like zip air for example, and a handful of other budget carriers that sell, you know, half price, one ways in both directions. And so I wonder with how much budget carriers are on the ropes here in the states. Spirit is in its second round of bankruptcy. Um, there's mergers that we're gonna talk about.
Frontier is still struggling. Southwest is basically ditching all things, you know, all of the hallmarks of being a budget airline. I wonder if the big airline sense an opportunity to kick budget carriers flying abroad while they're down and that this is basically them just kind of twisting the knife that says, you know what?
We can steal some of your customers with some of these cheaper one Wayfairs, but I, I don't know. That's the only really sensible explanation I can come up with. Yeah. I guess my, my first thought would be it's the same reason why airfare always goes down and it's that, you know. Bookings are soft demand is softer right now.
And so the airlines are doing whatever they can to fill some of these seats flying abroad. We've heard the airlines talk about over and over again, the front of the plane is where they're making money. The back of the plane where these cheap fares are residing is where they're struggling a little bit and they're just trying to lure some people in with something that's a little more attractive.
Um, the airlines have not talked about this at all, so I don't know why they would do this and then not market it. But anyway, the other thought I had. Would be is, is it possible that because award travel is becoming so popular that the airlines are pricing these things in one ways, just to take advantage of people who might be, you know, otherwise looking to use points and miles to, to fly one way?
I think one way bookings are. Are popular for a reason people like me, like it for the flexibility and you're, you know, able to use your flexible points to book some of these things. Um, I wonder if there's just a little bit of that, uh, maybe I'm just, uh, wish casting here, but I always wonder if the, the popularity of award travel has something to do with this.
You know, I maybe, I think maybe there's just more demand for this kind of flexibility in the way that people book airfare, that airlines feel like they have to meet it. Then again, airlines don't exist to do things that are popular. They exist to do things that make them more money. And so that to me says if this is more popular, they would probably be more likely to make changes that make them more money on those one way fairs than less.
But I di I, I truly don't know. I, I do think there's something to your point about, you know. That overall, while most of these big US airlines are doing quite well, they're doing quite well because of premium cabin ticket sales and not economy. And therefore, if they need some help to fill the back of the cabin, they're gonna try some new stuff.
It may honestly be as simple as that. Yeah, true. And then someone does it and it's a copycat industry. Um, one other thing I wanted to talk about in this, in this kind of one way international pricing is, uh, the opportunity that it gives travelers who are interested in Hidden City ticketing. Can you explain what Hidden City ticketing is and why it works now?
I mean, first of all, let's caveat this with Hidden City ticketing, probably most popularly known as Skip Lagging is something we generally steer clear of talking about because it's fraught with risks. You can invite yourself into a whole world of trouble by engaging in this practice. And probably more importantly, skip lagged has become like the be all, end all of travel Hacks in order to save on flights when in, you know, like 98.
Percent of cases, you're much better off doing something else. Doing something like Skip LA should really be a last resort, not your first stop, skip lagging, hidden City ticketing. Throw away. Ticketing is where you book a flight, for example, from Minneapolis to London to Oslo, Norway, but instead of continuing all the way to Oslo, you get off in London because the airline is selling that.
Connecting ticket for significantly cheaper than the nonstop just to London. And that's exactly what we found with this, you know, introduction of cheaper. One-way fares is that you could book that one that nonstop to London by booking instead from Minneapolis to London to Heathrow or to Oslo for less than half the price of what Delta was charging for that nonstop to London.
So this is the case where we're like, oh, these. These deals are so incredibly good. We need to at least talk about it with all of the very, very important warnings and caveats of you can't check a bag. You shouldn't do this often, if ever you are, you know, opening yourself up to some risk. Um, you know, because airlines hate when people do these things.
While it's not illegal, it is against the terms of airlines terms and conditions and their contracts of carriage. So, um, the ultimate case of buyer beware, but for the first time and honestly ever, from our perspective, this is a case where it's worth looking at. Yeah, there is definitely some really interesting opportunity there if you know the risks, uh, we wrote a full story on our website if you want to go check it out there about what you can do, including some examples of some pretty amazing fares on that one.
But we're gonna turn to our next story, and it was a big one. Um, we had quite a Sunday afternoon surprise, ultra low cost carrier Allegiant Air announced plans to acquire Sun Country Airlines in a $1.5 billion transaction. The proposed merger will bring in some countries, planes, pilots, and crews, all under allegiance.
Name. Uh, the deal's expected to close later this year. It's gonna require DOJ approval. I think we both suspect it will be given approval given this administration stance on antitrust and that this new airline will be relatively small in the grand scheme of things. No immediate changes to upcoming Sun Country ticket schedules or anything, so don't worry if you're booked to fly Sun Country in the weeks and months ahead.
So I guess the first thing, Kyle, um. What jumped out at you right away when you heard this news on Sunday? Uh, I was shopping for groceries at Target and saw the headline and thought, well, there goes my week. Yeah, this, this kind of came outta left field. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, a lot of what we've been talking about, about budget airlines and what they're going to do to try to survive.
Was focused on Spirit and Frontier and this renewed set of rumors that Frontier may acquire spirit. And lo and behold, sun Country and Allegiant made the first move. And let's be clear, these are not two struggling budget airlines. I think the budget airline industry as a whole is in a rough spot, and that really was a driving force in this.
But Sun Country in particular has been incredibly profitable for, you know, now. Three plus years running. But yeah, this is, you know, let's be honest, we're homers me more so than you because as you've now told everybody, you are from near Chicago and for some reason love O'Hare. I am a lifelong Minnesotan and I have known Sun Country's name basically since I was born.
It has been a Minnesota hometown airline since 1982. It is a household name here, and so just the prospect that Sun Country is going to disappear in a matter of years as it gets swallowed up by Allegiant is. A little sad, honestly, it probably, my first flight I ever took was on Sun Country Airlines. I would bet that, yeah, it's, it is, it is pretty sad.
Um, I think, you know, Allegiant promised in the press release that it would maintain a quote, significant presence. At MSP, um, I think the history of airline mergers suggests maybe otherwise, but, you know, you did talk to c uh, sun Country, CEO, Jude Bricker, and what did Jude have to say about all this? Uh, we, we focused a lot on exactly that point, on making the case that this is going to be different.
By the nature of Sun Country and what it is and Allegiant and what it is, and that I th I mean, let's be clear, I think the two of us, and I think everybody should be skeptical of any consolidation, being pro consumer, it just doesn't tend to work out that way in large part for airlines, because more competition is always better for fares, less competition almost always results in higher fares.
And, and so the fear is, um. And you and I have been talking about this a lot is not what's gonna happen on day one when this transaction clears sometimes later this year. It's what happens years from now. As you know, Allegiant really takes over. So the fear is less about what happens later this year when alleg.
Officially takes over and the transaction finalizes and more about what happens years from now because, you know, some countries entire mission for the last five plus years has been about challenging delta here in Minneapolis and, you know, playing this low cost role of, and a cheaper alternative to Delta's, often exorbitant fares, which, you know, not only gives Travelers here an option to buy an $89 ticket down to Florida instead of 2 0 9 or 4 0 9.
But it also just puts pressure on Delta to keep those costs down because Delta knows that, you know, when they go too far on fares, sun Country is always an option. And that kind of competition has, has been, you know, sun Country's basic entire reason for existence. And Allegion just doesn't do that.
Allegion does not compete. Their entire DNA is based not on competing with an airline, let alone the size of Delta, but trying to carve out monopolies by flying from smaller cities down south to Phoenix, Mesa, and Orlando. Saint Sanford and Punta go to Florida and you know, a bunch of, a bunch of smaller airports that in many cases, many Americans may not even real realize have nonstop airline service.
So the question is, you know. 2, 3, 5 years from now. Does Allegiant have the stomach to do what Sun Country has been doing and really give Delta a run for its money? And so I put that to, to CEO, Jude Bricker, who, you know, won't have a role in guiding this new combined airline Once this transaction clears, at least not a day-to-day operational role, he will not be the CEO, he won't even be a part of the, you know, day-to-day management team.
And, and he kind of said, yeah, I mean, Allegiant does have a different model than us in terms of where they fly, but you know, in his mind. He believes that by having this kind of a home base and allegiance, you know, emphasis on monopoly routes to other smaller cities, that that's going to enable them to do more of.
Both that they're going to be able to not just maintain, but even increase the number of flights in and out of Minneapolis that Sun Country has today, and also, you know, fly to more of those secondary, tertiary cities over time. That's asking a lot. And, you know, I, I think at the end of the day, we're all wise to be skeptical of, of whether consolidation is truly a win for consumers.
And we're just gonna have to wait and see how this plays out. It's gonna take time. And, you know, the other really interesting piece of this that, that Jude shared with me on Monday was that. While the transaction may clear in a year or less, that in his mind sun countries, brand, sun, countries, planes, the name, the website, all of that may not disappear for as long as five years, which, you know, he said that gives us a long time to convince our customers here to really give Allegiant and that name a shot.
When that takeover really finalizes and, and Sun Country officially gets folded in. There's a, there's a lot riding on those promises. Yeah. I think a lot of this analysis, it's, it is important to say, you know, we, we think big picture about this stuff and we're asked to comment on these things and, um, we're looking pretty far down the line at like, what this could mean over time.
I think in 2026 we're gonna see almost no material changes here at MSP. The, you mentioned Delta and kind of Delta's role in this and I, I came up with the analogy that Sun Country to Delta was a fly in the bedroom for years. Like you can hear the bug, it's a little annoying, but it's not worth getting out of bed to go kill it.
I think, I wonder if combining with Allegiant turns them into a mosquito in the bedroom where it's, it's time to get up and kill the mosquito. 'cause I can't go to sleep otherwise. I wonder if this has awakened. Delta or if this will awaken Delta and then Delta's competitive pressure. If Delta, if Delta decides it doesn't want Allegiant and Sun Country to exist here, then that's what is going to happen.
The, I mean, there has been a theory for years that, you know, while Sun Country has carved out a niche here in Minneapolis, they have that niche by Delta's, good graces that Delta has not crushed Sun Country through competition because they would rather have Sun Country here than. Spirit or frontier and definitely Southwest building an expanded presence here.
And so that basically Sun Country provides kind of a moat from additional airlines coming into this market and and really challenging Delta. Mm-hmm. A Allegiant does play a different game, and if they are up for that challenge there, I think there's no question that, um, Delta would bring down the hammer pretty hard.
Um, because they really haven't done that in a meaningful way to Sun Country these last five or six years. We've seen little flashes of it. They've done really, um. Let's just call 'em creative things with the way that they sell fares. For example, you know, selling a, a basic economy ticket to Las Vegas for $89, but a main cabin economy ticket for $289.
One way charging exorbitant, uh, price increases to bump up from basic to Maine because then they can poach sun country's customers, but then keep their own business travelers paying more. Mm-hmm. Um. We could see more of that, but I think in the end, the reason why this is so concerning and why this truly does in the end apply nationwide, not just to this very, uh, Homer Minneapolis market that we're talking about, is that there's going to be more consolidation coming.
And if Allegiant doesn't hold up to its end of the bargain that they're going to keep Minneapolis as is or increase it and they in fact scale back over time as we fear, that gives Delta all the room. It needs to charge Minnesota travelers more and more and more. And if similar situations like this play out in Boston or New York or Atlanta or Chicago O'Hare or wherever.
The exact same script is, is what ultimately we, we fear. So that again, is why everybody needs to pay really close attention to these things. Yeah. That, that's, that's my biggest fear as an MSP traveler is that someday we end up. Uh, being Charlotte, where, you know, American flies 73% of flights from that airport and 73% ASMs.
And I think, uh, if, if MSP ever got to that point, I mean right now we're about 60% Delta, which is still makes us hub captives and is pretty nasty. But, uh, if there's that little competition against Delta, then oof, it's gonna get expensive to fly outta here. Yeah, I mean whether, and, and again, to repeat a line that we've used about spirit, about others, whether you fly them or you swear you will never set foot on one of their planes, their presence is one of, if not the most important things in airfare and getting you a better deal.
Because by virtue of Sun Country being here and charging those $89 one way fares, Delta has to be more competitive on price. And if those fares aren't here anymore on the routes that you care about or at all. Delta's gonna charge more because they can. Yep. And we'll be watching, we're covering all of this@thrifttraveler.com too.
We have two good stories, including Kyle's interview with Jude Bricker, if you want to go check those out there. Uh, let's move on to Built 2.0. Um, built Rewards has had, uh, our attention for a while. I think the, the. Travel rewards company that started out as you can earn points on rent and has kind of grown from there, including a credit card offering now has, uh, introduced its new suite of credit cards, um, that include ways that you can earn points on your mortgage as well.
Um, some of these are a little confusing with, uh, some, I guess a, a. Sort of quasi cashback program that might be a little foreign to some travel rewards people, but, uh, I guess 30,000 feet. Kyle, what, what are some of your takeaways from the built 2.0 announcement? You can read all the details on our website.
We have a full post that'll explain it a little better than maybe we can do on audio here. Yeah, we'll, we'll link that post in the show notes because honestly, this is, this program is getting more complicated and you're gonna need to spend more time with it to determine whether this is worth it for you.
Um, you know, most importantly. Built, unveiled the details of these three new cards on Wednesday. They won't actually hit the market for a couple of weeks in early February, so you've got some time to study up and figure out, does this make sense? Do I want to pay my mortgage with this? I think two really important things before we talk a little bit about each of these three cards.
One is that fee free transactions, both on rent and mortgage aren't going anywhere. There were some leaks in the past week or so that they were going to start charging it, you know, as much as a 3% transaction fee when you use a built card to pay your rent or a mortgage. That is not what's happening.
That's good-Ish. But on the other hand, number two is that you're going to have to use your built card a lot more for non housing expenses in order to earn the points that you want to earn from built to be able to transfer to, you know, all I don't even dozen plus of their built great transfer partners.
And you're gonna have to spend, you know, frankly, a lot. So, you know, we'll get into some of the specifics here. And again, it's, it's all linked in the, in the post, in, in the show notes. But, uh, the math about who built is going to work best for and who's going to have the appetite for this is, is certainly gonna change once, uh, this goes live in early February.
Yeah, definitely. So I think what you're referring to there is if, if your rent or mortgage is, say, $2,000 a month. You'll need to spend $1,500 a month on other stuff in order to earn one x points per dollar spent on your rent or mortgage. So, you know, and we don't exactly know what the mechanism looks like for applying, you know, this built cash to earn these things.
And if it, you know, some of these things are, are going to come out yet some of these details. Um, but at least for now, it appears that if you're doing some regular spend on the card, you're gonna be able to earn, uh. Points on your renter mortgage, which I think is like the big rub of all of this. Right?
Right. Yeah. And so just to back up a little bit, built rewards points have been, you know, the, the main goal for everybody who has cared about these program, this program for the last few years. Yeah. What's changing is that built is introducing this kind of secondary currency called built cash, where you earn built cash based on everyday spending on your build card, and then that's what you turn around and can use in order to unlock earning points on your housing payments every single month.
And so if you want to earn. You know, the, the full one x points on your rent or on your mortgage, you're going to have to apply a significant amount, especially if your monthly housing payment is quite large of that built cash, which mean, which means you're going to have to use that bill card quite a bit.
I mean, the, the long and short of it is that built is trying to turn its credit cards into a one and done solution. They want to force you to use your build card and. Only your build card every single day, which, you know, on the one hand is gonna be great for some people who just do want a truly simple solution that allows them to earn points on their biggest monthly, uh, payments and then move on.
But for a lot of people who you know, are like us speaking into these microphones or listening to us talking. That's really not what we're about. We're about trying to play the game a little bit more and, you know, find creative ways to spend your money to earn more points, and most importantly, to earn welcome bonuses on, you know, new cards to earn, not just, you know, 10,000 points a month, but 175,000 points from a single card if you're spending, you know.
Day in, day out on your built card that is coming at the cost of earning those additional points through other spending categories on other cards, or certainly welcome bonuses. So there's, there's going to be a big opportunity cost for people who really want to dive headlong into this built new built ecosystem.
Yeah, I think we're gonna get, we're gonna dig into these new built cards themselves a little bit more. I'll let you kind of behind our production meetings here. We're gonna do, uh, an episode coming up about kind of the best and most interesting credit cards and points for 2026, and I think we're gonna dig deeper into the details of the built cards there.
You could also see some of those details on our website. Like I said, if you wanna see exactly what this built 2.0 suite of cards is going to look like. Anything else? Big picture about this built announcement from you. Two things. Let's just quickly touch on. There are three built cards, a no annual fee card as always.
Um, a built obsidian card, which has a $95 annual fee kind of middle of the road. And now a, just like every other bank in the world, uh, built, is introducing a premium travel card loaded with benefits like. $400 a year towards hotels. And, um, a, a bigger bonus of built cash that you can automatically put towards your rent or mortgage payments.
The built palladium card, which we're told is actually made out of Palladium. Uh, how well do you know your periodic table of elements gunner? Not enough to know that there's one called Palladium. I, I saw that. I was like, is that a made up word? It is not. It is in fact an element. Um, did I know that? No, I definitely didn't.
Had to Google it. Um, but yeah, that built Palladium card has a $495 fee. So in terms of premium travel cards. Yeah, pretty reasonable. Reasonable ish. Certainly built is really trying to put this forward as the ultimate one and done premium travel credit card. Again, I think for people who want a one card solution, that is a very strong argument for everybody else who wants, wants to have a couple of cards in their wallet.
That's a, that's a much tougher sell. Yeah. Okay. All good on built. All good on Bill. We will, uh, yeah, we'll be talking more about this in the weeks to come, for sure, for sure. All right. We have a bunch of rapid fire topics to get to, but first we're gonna take a quick break. Our Thrifty Traveler premium members are locked in to their inboxes every week as we're sending them flight deal alerts all the time.
But I wanna see how closely you're paying attention. Kyle Potter. So I'm gonna give you the lowest fare. From a recent Thrifty Traveler premium deal, and I want you to guess what the deal was. Cool. I'm gonna cheat, so go ahead. Alright. 42,000 miles round trip is the lowest fair in what deal? Ooh, delta sky miles to Cape Town, South Africa.
Oh, that is actually true, but it's not the one I had written down. Uh, this is a, this is a twofer. You're not gonna get me on a technicality. I'm not. I also had, uh, Miami to Bogota and Emirates first class. Oh, okay. Those two things cost the same. Isn't that strange? Alright, here's another one. 19,000 miles round trip.
Mm hmm. New York City. Yeah, that's all. That's all you're getting from me. New York City to London. 19,000 sky miles, round trip, nonstop, all the way through spring. That was a pretty amazing deal too. Alright, last one for an award deal, 65,000 miles one way. Uh, east Coast to Brazil and latam business class.
Oh, good. Guess so. No, this is the nerd alert from Amsterdam and Paris flying down to Johannesburg, South Africa. 65,000 sky miles one way in business class suites. That is a great deal for sky miles. Alright, how about some quick cash ones? $415 round trip Paris the Pharaoh Islands, including Iceland Stopovers on Iceland Air 415 round trip.
$196 round trip Caribbean. Ooh, good guess Hawaii. This was the west coast of Hawaii fares on Alaska Airlines, $196 round trip. And then last one, $763 round trip. Cape Town. Yeah. South Africa. You got it. We're bringing it back. Yes. This was the Delta peak season deal, uh, flying to Cape Town and Johannesburg.
$763 round trip, including all the way from the West coast. Good job on those guesses. This is a really hard quiz I put together. You did not prepare me for this at all. Luckily, we prepared our premium members much better for these deals. That's right. I hope some of you got to book some of these. If you wanna book one of these deals or get the next hot one, sign up today@thriftytraveler.com slash premium.
Use the code TT POD to get $20 off your first year. That's code TT pod, all one word. Hopefully you get signed up and you can book the next one. Alright, back to the show. Alright, we're back. We are into the rapid fire section of the show and we're gonna keep to this. All right. One minute each. For all of these topics, I think that's what they require and what they deserve.
Cool with you. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. I'm starting the clock for one minute. Starting right now, American Airlines has launched free wifi and they say quote on nearly every AA flight by quote, early spring. Kyle, your thoughts? Uh, important caveat, as with every airline that has done this, you need an a free American Airlines Advantage account in order to get online.
Probably more importantly, this rollout hasn't started quickly. I think a lot of American Airlines flyers are, are. Hopping onto flights, expecting to have free, uh, internet on board only to log in and see. They still need to pay $25. So American is taking their sweet time with this rollout, so be patient in expecting some free, uh, internet on your next American flight.
Yeah, about time, American Airlines. It's, uh, I'm excited. Hopefully they have it ready on their wide bodies like they've promised by the time I fly them to Hawaii later this year. Oh, we got it under a minute. All right, move on. On to the next one. Also, American Airlines, uh, they have ditched their mileage and status earning on basic economy tickets.
Is this a surprise? No, uh, because this is to the point you made earlier a copycat industry, and Delta did this years ago, and American kind of inched this way, I think maybe two or three years ago, and kind of having how many miles in elite, uh, status credits you earn on the cheapest basic fares. What's what's most disappointing about this is American did it out of nowhere without actually really even announcing it.
They just, one day people woke up, looked at basic economy fairs and saw, oh, we just don't earn advantage miles or loyalty points on these fares anymore. Most people who care about those things were buying main cabin tickets anyway, but just announce this stuff. Don't try and sneak it past us American.
It's, it's pretty gross. And you know, I just wanna stress before we move on, Jackson Newman on our team was the first to catch this. We broke this news a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. Sneaky, sneaky American airlines. That kind of stinks. Okay. One more American story. I'm setting the timer. Right now. American is leaving their status requirements for 2026, the same as are the other.
Big three carriers. What are your thoughts on this? Again, copycat industry, you can't afford to go out on your own in this W world, especially when airlines are more competitive than ever. Um, no news is good news when it comes to status. No news is horrible news when it comes to the most important thing about American, which is not its status program, but its advantage mileage, redemptions and American this year did not say a word about what plans it has in store for its award chart.
Unlike both United and Delta Americans still has an award chart that sets prices in stone for flying. Partners like Cafe Pacific, British Airways, Iberia go down the list. And so I think we're all pretty concerned that 2026, you know, maybe sometime as soon as this spring is gonna be the year where that gets the ax.
Maybe I'm wrong, I hope I'm wrong, but for anybody who has a big stash of American miles out there, I would say make a plan to use those ASAP just in case. Yep. I got one of those. STEs and I'm scared. Potter. I'm scared. Book it. You can always cancel it later if you need to for free. That's very true. Good advice.
Okay, onto our next story. And this one is from Hawaiian Airlines. Uh, they announced actually two big changes. These are gonna be two stories here. Uh, the first one. We still get a full minute to talk about the A three thirties. They've said that they're going to put those, maybe not exactly the same, but some fancy business class suites on their A three thirties, which replaces a product that is.
Lackluster, I would say you, you have the word prehistoric in, in our notes here, which is is about right. Yeah. Uh, Hawaiians a three thirties, they have these great new 7 87 Dreamliners with business class suites. But Alaska is really taking those as a part of that merger to fly to London and to Tokyo and beyond.
So Hawaiian has these older, a three thirties that they're gonna use to fly from the mainland. To Hawaii and back. And if you're in business class, it just isn't the modern experience that people expect. So it's gonna take some time. Um, it won't happen until at least 20, 28, but at least these business class seats are gonna be getting an upgrade because currently it's 2 2 2 in business class, no direct dial access.
Um, it's just really outta date for the times, and Hawaiian needs to step it up and they will. Yeah, I really hope that they look like those le Hoku suites on the Dreamliners 'cause those are really amazing. Peter Thornton, uh, wrote a review of those, uh, from last year, two years ago, and he really loved the experience.
Also hidden in this announcement premium economy coming to those a three thirties as well. I think premium economy's kind of a sneaky awesome way to get to Hawaii. It's like kinda the perfect for that length flight, and especially when you're going out there, it's during the day. Premium economy works really nicely.
There's no way we got this in a minute. Nope. It was about a buck 30, but, all right. Let's do the next one in 30 seconds. We gotta make it up. Okay. Hawaiian again. Honolulu Lounge, a 10,000 square foot MAA lounge in Terminal one. The renovations are starting now. The lounge is scheduled to open in. 2029. Don't hold your breath.
Uh, this is gonna be different from their premier clubs, I assume, which are also pretty lackluster. Really basic, uh, all of this, again, to the point we've made in a previous episode. Premium travel is everything Hawaiian needs. This Hawaii screams out for premium travel. They're gonna be stepping it up.
It's just gonna take a few years. Yeah, we'll see if it's better than this new Southwest lounge that. Has, uh, apparently been approved at Honolulu as well. Okay. More lounge news. The timer has been reset. Kyle Capital One lounge in Charlotte. Uh, the bank announced the lounge, 14,000 square feet in concourse a on the mezzanine level.
No timetable at all yet, so we don't even know if it's 20 29, 20 28. Um. You'll never guess that things are going to be, quote regionally inspired in this lounge. Kyle, are you shocked to hear that I, what am I supposed to do with this information? You know, it's groundbreaking. Yeah. They announced a coffee bar, but no other kind of specific or fun lounge amenities.
I think a lot of the Capital One lounges, uh, like the cheese monger in New York and whatever, they have some sort of like specific flare. Maybe they're trying to figure out what North Carolina's culture even is first, and then they'll. Figure out what the specific flare is. Uh, but no, no, uh, I guess no big news and no exciting announcement outta this one.
Just that the lounge is coming. Yeah. Uh, I mean, capital One needs to build out more lounges. They are some of the best in the country. Um, so I think this will be the sixth one. And then they have a restaurant lounge hybrid space in dc Reagan called the Capital One LA Landing. Really importantly. Starting February 1st of this year, capital One is bringing down the hammer on free guest access.
So you're gonna have to start paying $45 for a guest if you have a Capital One Venture Card. $25 for kids and free access for Capital One Venture X authorized users is also disappearing. You have to pay $125 a year more for each authorized user to continue to get their own free Capital One Lounge access.
Yep. Okay, our last story here, uh, Delta and Dreamliners. Uh, Delta announced an order of 30 Boeing 7 87 dash tens with an option to buy 30 more. It's Delta's first Boeing wide body order in decades. They've been all Airbus on their wide body fleet for a long time now, except for. Old decrepit seven 60 sevens.
Um, the first of the Dreamliners not scheduled to take flight until 2031, and they're gonna fly to Europe and down to South America. Probably replacing those old a three thirties. And the said seven 60 sevens your first reaction to Delta and Boeing. This has been a, a pretty open rumor for a while, so it makes a lot of sense.
Um, I mean, on the one hand it is. A little bit shocking that Delta is doing this. But on the other hand, it does get to a sneaky important part of Delta's business, which is that, not just that they obviously sell tickets on Delta planes, but they also provide maintenance and repairs for a ton of airlines, not just in the United States, but around the world.
And in order to do that well. You need to know these planes back to front. So I think that's a big reason why they're doing this. The, the Dreamliner is a good plane. Um, it's great for long haul flights. I still prefer the A three 50. It's a little bit wider, so every seat has a little more room if you're in the back of the plane.
Uh, 7 87. Um, in economy, those seats are. Pretty narrow. Um, the A three 50 is a, is a little bit wider, so you get a little bit more shoulder room in those seats, even in economy with the same 3, 3, 3 arrangement, um, in the economy cabin. So it's a mixed bag here, but not a huge surprise. Yeah. Very interesting, Kyle.
We did it. We actually had a timetable and we stuck to it. It was the first time for everything Gary, on, on those topics. I think it's because, uh, our producer Sylvia is in Costa Rica right now and we really need to keep her day short here. Yeah. So she can get back to the beach. Uh, thank you for your patience as always, Sylvia.
I. That brings us to a listener question, but before we get started with that, a reminder to send us your welcome back video to thrifty traveler.com/voicemail, or find the link in the show notes so we can feature you at the beginning of next week's show, so you don't have to see Kyle's face or Jared's face anymore.
Once is enough. Okay, I want to get into our question, uh, from Ben, who is living an award travel nightmare at the moment. Uh, Ben was scheduled to fly Japan Airlines, a three 51,000 in first class that he booked because of a Thrifty Traveler premium alert. But he just found out, Kyle, that his flight was switched to the older Triple seven, the dreaded.
Equipment swap. Uh, Ben is spiraling according to his email, but, uh, what should he do? Kyle? Can he do anything? He said he booked with Cafe Pacific Asia Miles. He thought maybe he'd just go plead his case with the check-in agent at Heida to put him on the JFK flight, which is flying the same day with the new suites.
Um, is there any recourse for a traveler who has been product swapped? Maybe, um, not a lot of easy answers. I, I think there are two possibilities here. First is, right now you could contact Cafe Pacific because that's who you booked through. So whenever you book through one airline flying another carrier, you almost always, at least at the beginning, need to work through the carrier that you book through.
So in this case, cat a Pacific, and you could reach an agent. And make the case that you would like to be put onto another flight, whether it's, you know, that JFK departure, if there are seats available or you know, a different day departure. So for example, DA on the flight to Dallas, there might be a another flight that week that is on the A three 50.
And basically just ask the agent to make the case on your behalf to Japan Airlines to put you on a different flight in order to get the experience that you booked. Don't love your odds, but I think it's worth a shot. The other option is yes, making the case to, you know, the, uh, the desk agent once you actually get to the airport in Tokyo.
And just asking nicely, asking nicely is a superpower again, odds may not be great. Um, I would keep an eye using a tool like Expert Flyer on the cabin for Japan Airlines first class on that JFK departure. An important wrinkle here is that typically 24 hours before your flight and sometimes a little bit earlier, you know, there's that maximum about the airline that you book through is who you need to work with.
But on those partner tickets, 24 to 48 hours before the airline that's actually operating takes control of your tickets. So at that point, they are in charge, which is why it's, it's. Worth asking if you can't get it solved beforehand. Again, Ben, I don't love your odds. I don't envy you. I'm sorry this happened to you, but you might as well try to get that ticket that you booked.
Um, otherwise the o only other option would be trying to book directly through jowl in, in the run up to the flight. Uh, you can transfer a bill, rewards and Capital one miles to Japan Airlines mileage bank. You're gonna have a much better shot at booking an award ticket in first class than you will again through Cafe Pacific.
Yeah, I think, um. Especially in the first class check-in area, or the first class lounge at Heida for Jaw, you're probably gonna get some of the best agents in their system right there. So, uh, you're going to at least be talking to an agent that has a lot of power. Um, be super kind, uh, and. Hopefully we can get you on the A three 51,000.
Otherwise you're gonna have really have a nice time on that. 7, 7, 7. That is not a lackluster product. I mean, you're gonna, that's a really good flight. You're have a lot of fun. That is the world's best consolation prize. Right. Um, I would love, just like you, Ben, to fly the Japan Airlines new first class suites on the A three 50, but flying it on, uh, their seven seven from Tokyo back to.
O'Hare of all places, despite the fact that O'Hare was my end point, it was one of the best flights of my life. I would do it again in a heartbeat. That's amazing. Okay. If you'd like us to answer your questions on the podcast or if you have any feedback for us, hit us up at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We might feature your question on next week's show.
To close the show, as always, we have our on the spot, uh, segment, and it is my turn to put you on the spot. Are you ready? No. Okay. This is pretty simple. Kyle, what do you tell people that you do for a living? How do you describe your job? I have a hard time describing mine. It, it depends on, uh, the way that they ask the question and whether they truly want to know.
So if it's just the, like, so what do you do as like small talk? I just say, I work for a travel website. And I would say in half of situations they, they're like, well, what do you mean? And then it's like. Well, I work for Thrifty Traveler, you know, I'm our editor, so I run our website. We do this new podcast, but most of the time they're just like, oh, that's cool.
I like to travel. And then we move on. So it's, it's a, it's a sneaky way to kill a conversation that I may not really want to have. That's good. What's, that's good. What do you tell people? Uh, I'm a media personality. No, I don't, I do not say that. I, uh, I usually say I'm a travel writer to start. And if they're at all intrigued by that, then I'll actually explain like the different segments of my job, which is flight deal analyst, podcaster, travel writer in some cases, uh.
Journalist covering the travel industry. I'll go into that spiel if they actually care. Usually travel writer is enough for them to either care or to be like, yeah, you're of no interest to me. Um, so that's usually what I go with is travel writer. Travel writer is a good one because I think for a lot of people that's like.
Oh, you write for National Geographic? Yeah. Right. Which, which serves two purposes. The most important one is, is that it begs off the question of like, I'm trying to go to, uh, London and the Delta nonstop Faires are $2,400. Are those, are those prices gonna go down? That, that is the conversation that I always wanna avoid in a public setting.
Yeah, exactly. I was just interested. I mean, honestly, just was curious as to what everybody else here says too. I'll have to ask around the office today, but I wanted to know what you tell people that you do because I never know what to say at a dinner party. Work for a travel website. Done. That works.
That works very well. Alright, everybody, thank you so much for listening to the Thrifty Traveler Podcast. Rate us five stars on your platform of choice and like, and subscribe. To the show on YouTube. Our YouTube episodes have been really fun lately. The visuals we're upping our game there. Our, uh, video editor, Kyle Thomas, has been doing an excellent job.
I highly recommend you watch us over there too. Send this episode to someone you know who needs a vacation and needs to stay up on all of these news stories. If you have feedback for us, send me a note at podcast@thriftytraveler.com. We read everything that comes through there and we'd love to hear from you.
Kyle, tell us about the team. The show was produced by your favorite host who is, uh, getting a. Pay decrease this year for his, uh, defense of Chicago O'Hare, Gunnar Olson. My review is today, oh, I shouldn't have done this. Yeah, sorry. Now you know it's gonna go poorly. It was, uh, produced and edited by Sylvia Thomas and edited by Kyle Thomas.
Our music is by Benjamin Tissotl. See you guys next week. See ya.