All Blog Posts 🗺️

🤙🏿 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!)

Thank y’all so much for all the congratulatory messages.

Baby and mama are home getting lots of rest.

I’m on night duty, so sleep not so much….on the bright side.

Lots of time to look at possible trips 👀

Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here

Get your brands in front of 6,000+ travelers & entrepreneurs.

✈️ Book Now. Stop Stressing. Let pAiback watch the price for you.

If you’ve ever booked a flight and immediately thought.
Did I just overpay?
And then spent the next week checking the price like it’s your second job, this is for you.

pAiback monitors your ticket price after you book.

If the price drops, they work to get you a voucher or credit for the difference so you can use that value on your next trip.

Here’s why it’s great:

✅ Eliminates the “is this the right time to book?” stress
✅ They track price drops automatically after you purchase
✅ You only pay if they save you money (they charge a percentage of what they save)
✅ Free to use upfront — no savings, no payment
✅ Basically: would you pay $20 to get $100 back on a flight you already bought?

Book the flight. Forget about it. Let pAiback handle the price watching.

👉 Try pAiback and let it monitor your tickets for you

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 came across a Reddit post about skip lagging, and it's something that doesn't get talked about enough.

It can absolutely save you money, but this is one of those proceed at your own risk strategies.

If you're not familiar with it, skip lagging is when you book a flight with a connection, but your actual destination is the connecting city.

Instead of taking the final leg, you simply leave the airport during the layover.

As strange as it sounds, these itineraries are sometimes cheaper than booking a nonstop flight to the city where you actually want to go.

The Reddit post was interesting because the traveler had already booked an international trip.

Their plans changed, and instead of canceling everything, they just wanted to end their trip at the connection.

If you're thinking about doing this, there are a few things you need to know.

The biggest one is don't check a bag.

Most of the time, your checked luggage will continue to the ticketed final destination, not the city where you plan to get off.

There are a few exceptions, like some overnight layovers or certain international itineraries where you have to reclaim your bags, but you should never count on that happening.

Another thing to keep in mind is that airlines don't like this practice.

From their perspective, you're intentionally not completing the itinerary you agreed to.

I don't necessarily agree with that logic, especially when they're the ones pricing the connecting flight cheaper than the nonstop, but it's something to be aware of.

There's even an entire website dedicated to finding these fares: Skiplagged.com.

If you ever decide to try it, a few rules can save you a lot of headaches.

I'd only do it on a one way ticket.

If you skip a leg on the outbound of a round trip ticket, the airline will usually cancel the rest of your itinerary.

If you're going to do it more than once, I'd avoid attaching your frequent flyer number.

Airlines have been known to warn travelers, or even close loyalty accounts, for repeatedly skip lagging.

Finally, this is best saved for occasional use.

If it's a one off situation and you're traveling with only a carry on, it can be a clever way to save money.

Just understand the risks before you try it, because the airlines definitely know this strategy exists.

Apparently, the limited edition Trump passports aren't the only passport changes on the way.

If you have to renew your passport soon, one of the changes is actually kind of interesting.

Instead of mailing passports in a plain envelope, they'll now be shipped in a "fancy box."

And honestly, I can get behind that.

The last time I renewed my passport, it almost got lost because it looked like every other piece of mail sitting in my mailbox.

Having it arrive in something that's easier to recognize is definitely a plus.

On the flip side, I could also see the argument that making it stand out might make it more attractive for someone to steal.

I guess you'll have to decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

They're also planning to include a certificate of authenticity.

Personally, I'm not sure how much value that adds.

All I really care about is the passport itself.

The more interesting part is that they also hinted at some technological upgrades.

I'm hoping that means a smoother experience when scanning your passport and going through Customs when returning to the U.S., but we'll have to wait and see exactly what those changes look like.

If you're planning to apply for or renew your passport in the near future, it's worth keeping an eye out for these updates.

As of today, Delta has officially rolled out Basic Business and Basic First Class fares on domestic flights.

And I think this is a terrible move.

Airline executives keep framing these changes as "giving customers more choices" and letting people pay only for the features they want.

But to me, it feels like they're taking things that used to be included and charging extra for them.

You would think that if they're removing benefits from the ticket, they'd lower the price.

Instead, they're largely keeping fares the same while asking customers to pay more if they want the experience that used to come standard.

Depending on the fare you buy, you could now lose things like advance seat selection, flexibility, baggage benefits, and other perks that were previously included with premium cabins.

It's another example of airlines trying to monetize every part of the travel experience instead of simply raising fares outright.

I'm really hoping one of the U.S. carriers decides to go in the opposite direction and uses this as an opportunity to stand out.

Instead of constantly finding new ways to nickel and dime customers, it would be refreshing to see an airline lean into making the travel experience better.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I think that's how you build long term loyalty.

To me, this is a bad look for Delta, and I'll be curious to see how customers respond.

If enough people push back, maybe we'll eventually see some of these changes rolled back.

If you weren't familiar, Alaska Airlines recently launched a new monthly feature called Global Getaways, and I honestly think it's a pretty cool addition.

Every month, they release discounted award flights to destinations around the world, making it easier to find good uses for your Alaska miles.

The part I like the most is that you can pair these deals with one of Alaska's best features: free stopovers.

If you're not familiar with stopovers, they're essentially extended layovers.

Instead of connecting through a city for a few hours, you can stay there for several days before continuing to your final destination.

So instead of visiting just one place, you could spend a week in Tokyo before flying on to Singapore, or a few days in Reykjavik before continuing to Europe, all on the same award ticket.

That's a pretty incredible value.

If you have Bilt points, this is also a great opportunity to transfer them to Alaska's Atmos program and take advantage of these discounted awards.

Most of the Global Getaways deals are in economy, but being able to visit two destinations for essentially the price of one makes them a lot more compelling.

The only catch is that these promotions don't stick around very long.

They usually run during the first few days of each month, and the eligible travel dates are often limited to a specific travel window.

So this is definitely one of those situations where you let the deal tell you where to go, rather than starting with a destination already in mind.

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