Stop hoarding your airline points and fly again
Earning points and status are easier than ever with 2021 bonus programs
As many Americans complete their vaccinations, a summer of travel looks more realistic for many. If you’re choosing to vacation or visit family you haven’t seen in a year, the travel industry is pushing perks to get people moving again.
This week, we’re running down some current (April 2021) tips and tricks for travel based on current bonus programs aimed at getting you back on the road. Warning, this week is not as novice as some of my other letters. Leave a comment if you want a deeper dive starter guide to travel points programs, and let me know which airlines interest you the most!
Delta has made some exciting options available to help accelerate points in 2021. All status from 2020 extends through 2021, and instead of lowering requirements to requalify, they’ve upped their bonuses. First, if you’re a Delta credit card Platinum or Reserve user, your threshold bonuses have jumped by 25%. Coupling that with the Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQD) wavier, if you’re a Platinum cardholder who spends $25,000 a year, you’re already halfway to Silver status at 12,500 Medallion Qualifying Miles (MQM) without spending a cent on flights.
Also, Delta allows you to earn miles on Award tickets, which is unheard of in the airline industry. The new rule includes both Qualifying Dollars and Qualifying Miles, based on the price and distance of the actual ticket you’re booking. Not just Awards tickets have these perks, it also applies to Delta options like Points + Miles and Pay With Miles tickets. For me, this is a gamechanger in how I will travel in 2021. Since I know I can’t spend enough to requalify for Diamond next year with no business travel, I initially opted to reduce hard dollar costs for my flights by using Pay With Miles tickets and not earning any MQDs. However, now that Award travel also earns MQMs and MQDs, it’s often a way better points deal to use Award travel over Pay With Miles. Here’s an example.
Pay With Miles (a credit card perk) allows me to deduct dollars by trading in points by the 5,000 miles for each $50. For a recent $251 flight, I could change in 25,000 miles and pay $11 out of pocket. When I checked Award travel for the same flight, I could get it for 21,500 miles and $5 out of pocket instead. This won’t hold for all tickets, but it’s now definitely worth comparing before you click buy.
American’s big news involves its partnerships. It has aligned with JetBlue and Alaska Airlines to increase routes and increase reward earning opportunities for its members. If you’re looking to stockpile points for international travel but fly nicer domestic airplanes or experience better service, JetBlue and Alaska are great options. You’ll also see reciprocal benefits on those airlines if you’re an AAdvantage member, including extra baggage, bonus points, and upgrades.
Elite status that would have expired in Jan 2021 now extends to 2022, and they’ve modified their earning tiers to make it easier to achieve more attainable. They also waive the Elite Qualifying Dollars requirement for Gold, Platinum, or Platinum Pro with $30,000 in spend on an AAdvantage credit card by Dec 2021.
There is one thing to look out for with AAdvantage — mileage expiration. While the other big carriers have never-expiring points, AA only gives an 18-month window. Although AA originally extended expiration during 2020, any now-expiring miles will disappear in June 2021. If you’re not planning to fly American before June, one hack to keep your points active is to sign up for their dining rewards and eat at one location that earns points before June. You’ll get another 18-month extension.
If you have an AA credit card like Executive World Elite, you’ll get a $225 refund after your next renewal since members weren’t able to use many perks during the pandemic. Also new for 2021, Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members can now choose their benefits from various options, similar to the Delta Choice Benefits perks.
United has gone the route of reducing the requirements for each of their status levels, with Premiere 1K dropping by as much as 9,000 miles to attain. They’re also giving starter levels of Premiere Qualifying Points (PQP) in 2021 based on your 2020 status to kickstart the journey. Plus Points add an extra six months before expiration as well.
They’re now allowing you to apply PQP earned via credit card spend to Premiere 1K status for credit card members. Your limit is determined by which MileagePlus card you carry but can max out at 10,000 additional PQP in the calendar year.
One of Southwest’s biggest perks is the Companion Pass, a tier where you can always bring a designated +1 along for free on your flights. Southwest had previously extended the benefit from 2020 six months into 2021, and now they’ve moved that extension until the end of the year.
They’ve also given Rapid Rewards members a built-in boost to kick off their earnings for their three status levels. For both A-List and A-List Prefered everyone starts with 15,000 miles and ten segments flown, leaving only 20,000 miles or 15 segments to reach the entry-level status. For Companion Pass beyond 2021, members start with 25,000 miles earned and 25 segments. It’s still a challenge to achieve that status with 100,000 miles or 75 segments required, but it makes a dent.
Most lucrative are their credit card perks. Cardholders can earn 1,500 miles for every $10,000 with no cap to how many points you can earn this year. Sure, it would take $666,666 of pure spending in 2021 to earn a Companion Pass without ever setting foot on an airplane. Still, outside of your first year as a cardholder, it’s almost impossible to find a program that allows credit-spend only to get you to top-tier status.
Call For Questions!
In writing this week, I know I dove right into perks for mileage programs without a deep dive into each company's beginner ins and outs. Instead of blindly writing primers for each in future letters, I’d rather address specific questions of my readers about those programs or perks. Drop a comment on this post, or tweet me @RaeVotta with any of your travel queries, and I’ll get to them in the next edition!
Disclaimer: I am not paid directly to promote any services or products. All advice provided in this newsletter is general advice and does not consider your financial situation.