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🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

Anyone else ready for travel to get back to normal?

Seeing all these crazy lines has me stressing while at the same time I’m hearing people talking about it being the same.

Anyway, let me take a sip of my tea and let’s get to it.

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Travel is chaotic right now with delays, gate changes, cancellations, missed connections… and half the time you don’t find out until you’re already stressed at the airport.

That’s why I’m a fan of Flighty.

They just rolled out new features that track 14,000+ airports worldwide with live arrival/departure info, delays, and operational updates so you can know what’s going on before you even leave your house.

Here’s why it’s clutch:

✅ Know what’s happening in real time (arrivals, departures, delays, ops) across 14,000+ airports
✅ See disruption hotspots which routes and airlines are getting hit the hardest
✅ Get ahead of travel chaos so you can plan earlier, pivot faster, and stress less
✅ Useful pre-flight, at the airport, after landing, and everything in between
✅ More info = better decisions (connections, timing, backup plans, lounge moves, etc.)

If you want one app that makes you feel way more prepared when things go sideways, Flighty is a great one to have.

👉 Check out Flighty here

Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

I saw a post by Travel Nerd Co earlier this week that I wanted to share, and add a little more context.

If you aren’t aware, flying into London Heathrow can be expensive, even on points, due to fuel surcharges and taxes being crazy high.

And if you’re booking through British Airways, it can be even worse.

A lot of airline programs pass taxes, fees, and surcharges onto passengers, which is why some award flights to London get crazy expensive.

But booking through British Airways isn’t your only option.

For example, a one way business class flight from JFK to LHR can be priced:

British Airways: 80,000 points + $450 in fees
Qantas Frequent Flyer: 73,400 points + $1,000 in fees
Alaska Mileage Plan: 45,000 points + $1,000 in fees
American AAdvantage: 57,500 points + $700 in fees

Same exact flight, but wildly different fees.

And there are also programs that don’t hit you with those massive surcharges.

Two good examples:

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank: 42,000 points + $225
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles: 63,000 points + $225

Japan Airlines and Cathay are some of the few airlines that don’t pass on all those crazy fees to the consumers.

This is extra important right now with oil prices going up.

It hasn’t fully translated into higher award surcharges yet, but it wouldn’t shock me if they start to increase.

So if you’re booking London, don’t just look through one partner because it might end up costing you extra.

But if you’re okay with paying ~$600 in taxes/fees Virgin also has some routes out of ATL and MIA for 29k - 35k points in business class.

I have some of those dates with availability in the Flight Of The Week section.

Right now the Chase Freedom Unlimited has a limited time elevated bonus.

You’ll earn a $250 bonus after spending $500 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.

This card doesn’t get a lot of love, but it’s honestly one of my workhorses.

It’s a $0 annual fee card, so it’s easy to keep in your wallet without having to justify another fee.

And the earn is solid:

3% cash back on dining
1.5% cash back on all other purchases
3% cash back at drugstores

It’s an easy card to default to for dining.

And even though it earns “cash back,” I pair it with my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and turn that cash back into transferable points.

So if you set it up right, it’s basically a no annual fee points earner.

If you’re just starting out, it can also be a great first card.

Use it to stack up cash back now, then later grab a Chase Sapphire Preferred and start building transferable points.

Even if you’re already deeper in the game, the Freedom Unlimited still earns a spot for the 3% on dining.

Effective April 19, 2026, Citi is devaluing two transfer partners.

Nothing crazy, but it does mean you’ll get less value when transferring points which is never ideal.

First up: Choice Privileges

Right now, 1,000 Citi ThankYou points transfer to 2,000 Choice points.
Starting April 19, that drops to 1,500 Choice points.

Not the worst downgrade, but still a downgrade.

Second one hurts more: Preferred Hotels

Right now, 1,000 Citi ThankYou points transfer to 4,000 Preferred points.
Starting April 19, that gets cut in half.
1,000 ThankYou points will only be worth 2,000 Preferred points.

The old ratio was actually pretty nice if you ever found a Preferred hotel redemption that worked for you, so this one is a bummer.

If either of these were on your radar, or you were already planning to book through Choice or Preferred, I’d look at locking it in before April 19.

While I’ve covered this before, I wanted to bring it back up because by the time next week’s newsletter hits, it’ll already be live.

United is rolling out award discounts for their own cardholders.

And stiffing everyone else that's not a card member or loyal to them.

The baseline discount is at least 10% for credit card holders.
And it can be 15% or more if you also have Premier status.

These changes go into effect April 2.

This is clearly aimed at people who are in the United ecosystem.

Status holders and cardholders get the best pricing, and everyone else gets left behind.

It also wouldn’t shock me if award prices creep up over time to offset the “discount” they’re giving to cardholders.

So if you don’t have a United card, don’t plan on getting one, and you’re looking to book a United award, I’d book within the next week.

I don’t know exactly how ugly this gets for non cardholders yet, but based on how things usually go, and how United has cut down on award availability being available through their partners.

I’d rather book now than wait and find out the hard way.

P.S. Don’t forget about the United Calculator if you were interested in one of the United cards, since it’s an easy way to see which is the best one for you.

Check out these crazy award deals!

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

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It’s also trained on my voice, so you can call it and have a full blown conversations. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

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