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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!)

We’re back for another week, and boy do airlines like increasing their prices when fuel gets expensive.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

So let’s get started.

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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.

With more airlines hiking bag fees, we’re officially in the everyone wants a cut era.

Southwest just started charging for bags and they’re already increasing pricing right up there with JetBlue, which is crazy.

And Delta just joined the club too.

They bumped baggage fees by $10 for the first checked bag, and up to $50 for a third checked bag. 🤯

But wait American Airlines just increased their bag fees as well and decided to charge basic economy tickets even more for those checked bags!

At this point, airline loyalty feels like a thing of the past.

That’s why I’d rather earn transferable points than lock myself into one airline.

I might like flying a certain carrier, but I don’t want all my points trapped in that one program.

Summer airfare is already looking like it’s up about 15% from last year, and fuel prices are a big part of that.

If this keeps going, prices will keep climbing.

So my approach is simple.

Book the cheapest flight that works, regardless of airline.

Then earn transferable points that can get me to the airline I want when I need it.

If I like Delta, I’d rather earn Amex points since they transfer to Delta, and I can also book Delta through Flying Blue program through their airline partnership.

If I’m flying United, Chase points make more sense since Chase transfers 1:1 to United.

If I want Alaska or American flights, I’d look at Bilt points since it transfers to Alaska, and Alaska miles can book American.

If I want to book directly through American, Citi is the move since ThankYou points transfer to AA.

Having options is the play for the rest of the year.

Because fees, fuel, and all the little add ons are only going one direction right now.

United just dropped another round of changes, and most of it screams one thing.

If you want access to the better Saver rates, you’re going to need one of their credit cards.

Delta’s already been doing this.

Now United is leaning into the same play.

Because at the end of the day, airlines are credit card companies that also happen to fly planes.

But the bigger change is this.

United is rolling out “basic” business class fares.

You can’t book them with points right now.

This is a cash fare thing.

United’s pitching it as a cheaper way to fly business class.

In reality, it’s the same play we’ve seen everywhere else.

Charge you for the seat, but strip benefits.

Sell it as “cheaper,” while the airline keeps the price the same.

With these basic business fares, you won’t get access to the United Polaris Lounge either.

This isn’t a new concept.

International carriers have been doing this for a while.

But United is the first major U.S. carrier to bring it to business class like this.

Which means it probably won’t be the last.

While a lot of airlines are increasing prices, Etihad and Emirates are doing the opposite.

They’ve been lowering fares.

People are seeing stuff like London to Sydney on Etihad for about half of what other carriers are charging.

Emirates also has some surprisingly low pricing, like Washington to Johannesburg.

And even Lufthansa has been popping up with some solid deals, like Newark to Delhi.

“For May and June on London-Sydney, Etihad is $910 roundtrip, while British Airways is selling at $2450. Closer to home, looking at Washington IAD to Johannesburg (JNB) United is $1895 rt in June, while Emirates is $1265. Newark (EWR) – Delhi (DEL) is $1595 nonstop on United with around $1200 on the Middle Eastern carriers with Lufthansa matching.”

The reason is pretty simple.

Demand for some of these airlines is soft, and people just don’t want to fly them right now, so they have to price aggressively to fill seats.

So if you’ve been looking to travel, there are still deals out there.

I’m not saying you need to go out of your way to route through the UAE, but it’s worth at least checking these carriers.

Planes still have to fly, and they still have to bring in revenue, so sometimes that means we get some unusually good prices for a pretty solid product.

While buying miles usually doesn’t make sense, this is one of those times where it actually can.

Hilton and IHG are both running promos right now offering up to a 100% bonus on points you buy.

If you already have a specific Hilton or IHG property in mind, this is a great time to run the math.

The nice part is that when you book with points, you usually avoid taxes and fees.

So if cash rates are high, buying points (with a 100% bonus) can sometimes let you book the exact same room for half the price, or even less, depending on the property and the dates.

Some of these offers are targeted, so not everyone will see the full 100%.

But if you can find nights with reasonable points pricing, this can be a no brainer.

Check out these crazy award deals!

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

Chat with TravelBot - my AI clone. It’s trained on every newsletter I’ve published along with my 10+ years of points and credit card knowledge 🧠.

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