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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!)

Welcome back to another issue.

I have a boots on the ground story, as well as some new major changes and award sales that you need to jump on quickly.

So buckle up, and let's get started.

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⏰ Last Call: The Points Workshop Recording Price Goes Up Tomorrow

If you missed the live workshop, the recording is available right now, but the price is going up at the end of the day tomorrow before the weekend.

So if you want to grab it at the lower price, this is the time.

I built this workshop to show you how to actually use your points instead of letting them sit there while cash flight prices keep climbing.

Inside, I cover:

✅ How to book Europe step by step using points
✅ How to get to Hawaii without overpaying
✅ The best sweet spots that most people overlook
✅ How to find business class flights for as low as 25,000 points
✅ How to search for these deals yourself so you’re not guessing
✅ The best cards to consider if your goal is flying with credit card points

The goal is simple: help you feel more comfortable finding, booking, and actually using your points for real trips.

And honestly? If this helps you book even one business class flight with points, it can easily pay for itself.

The lower price won’t be around much longer.

👉 Get the Points Workshop Recording now before the price goes up tomorrow.

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.

In the past week, I've flown out of both Austin (AUS) and Minneapolis (MSP) and used TSA PreCheck Touchless ID at both airports.

I honestly think this is one of the most slept-on airport benefits right now.

Both times I used it, there was basically nobody in the line.

Austin was super simple, but where it really shined was flying Delta out of Minneapolis.

When we went to drop off our checked bags, Delta had a separate Touchless ID bag-drop line.

I didn't have to pull out my boarding pass or even my ID.

You walk up, they take a picture of your face, your information pops up, you hand them your bags, and you're done.

Then we got to security.

There was also a dedicated Touchless TSA PreCheck line, and there were maybe three people in front of us.

Meanwhile, the other security lines were completely backed up. I would guess they would've taken us another 20 to 30 minutes to get through.

And we were traveling with both of our kids, which makes saving 20 or 30 minutes at an airport even more valuable.

Luckily, both my wife and I had Touchless ID available. The kids didn't need to be separately enrolled and were able to come through with us since we were traveling together.

It saved us a ton of time and stress, especially since we didn't have to worry as much about whether we were going to make it through security in time.

So how do you get TSA PreCheck Touchless ID?

First, you need to have TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

Global Entry costs a little more, but it includes TSA PreCheck, so that's usually the route I prefer if you're going to travel internationally.

Once you have PreCheck, make sure your Known Traveler Number (KTN) is attached to your airline account and reservation.

Not every airline or airport supports Touchless ID yet, so that's the biggest caveat.

Delta supports it at select airports, including Austin and Minneapolis, which is how I was able to use it on these trips.

If your airline and airport support it, you'll need to opt in to Touchless ID through the airline's app or account.

For Delta specifically, it was basically as easy as going into the app and opting in. You may also need to have your passport information or photo on file.

I did run into one problem on this trip.

For some reason, Touchless ID didn't show up when I initially checked in.

I reached out to Delta customer service, and they unenrolled me from the flight so I could check in again. Once I did that, Touchless ID finally appeared.

It was a little annoying to deal with, but it was absolutely worth the hassle.

That extra few minutes getting everything fixed saved us a ton of time at the airport, both when we dropped off our bags and when we went through security.

If you already have TSA PreCheck or Global Entry and your airport and airline support Touchless ID, I'd absolutely take the few minutes to set it up.

Right now, it seems like so few people are using it that it almost feels like a secret airport security line.

And if you travel with kids, skipping a 20-to-30-minute security line makes it even better.

For anyone flying Delta, here's how to set it up in the Delta app

Shout out to the team at Thrifty Traveler for alerting me to this deal earlier today.

If Europe is on your list, there's been a pretty big drop in business class award availability through Air France and KLM's Flying Blue program.

Flights to and from Amsterdam, Paris, and several other European cities have been showing up for as little as 60,000 Flying Blue miles one way in business class.

According to Thrifty Traveler, this is some of the best Flying Blue award availability they've seen in probably the last two years.

There's availability scattered across quite a few months, with some of the better opportunities showing up from November through December, October through March, and again in July, depending on the city.

But there's another reason I think this deal is especially interesting right now.

Amex is currently offering a 25% transfer bonus to Flying Blue.

That means instead of transferring 60,000 Amex Membership Rewards points to book one of these flights, you'd only need to transfer 48,000 Amex points.

That's a really good deal for a one-way business class flight to Europe.

Flying Blue also tends to release a decent number of award seats, which can make it especially useful if you're trying to book more than one person.

The biggest caveat is the taxes and fees.

On some of these awards, you're looking at around $340 one way, so you'll want to factor that into the overall cost.

Still, 48,000 Amex points plus the taxes and fees for business class to Europe is something I'd absolutely take a look at if Europe is already in your travel plans.

And remember my usual rule: find the award availability first, then transfer your points.

Once those Amex points go to Flying Blue, you're not moving them back.

As a side note, Thrifty Traveler also alerted me to another business class award drop, this time on United to London.

There are flights for 72,000 United miles one way from cities including Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, and Newark.

There's not nearly as much availability as we're seeing with Flying Blue, and the 72,000-mile pricing is available to eligible United cardholders, but it's another option worth checking if you have United miles or Chase points that you can transfer to United.

This is also a good example of why I like award alert services.

I do have an affiliation with Thrifty Traveler, and they offer a paid award alert service that emails you when deals like these pop up, including the dates where they're finding availability.

But they also have a free version, and if you're sitting on a bunch of points, I'd at least give that a try.

Instead of randomly searching every day and hoping you stumble across a deal, you can get alerted when a big batch of award availability suddenly opens up.

Link here.

It looks like Hyatt is going after everyone, and Bilt isn't safe either. Bilt's transfer ratio to Hyatt is going from 1:1 to 4:3.

The good news is that you have until December 31 to transfer your points at the current 1:1 ratio.

At the start of the new year, Bilt transfers to Hyatt will be 4:3, which is a disappointment.

I would have thought that Bilt's higher-tier card would give you a 1:1 ratio, but now the only card that would allow you to keep that ratio is the $795 Chase Sapphire Reserve.

That's a huge blow, especially given that Hyatt also increased what you need to book a lot of its hotels with the new award rates.

On top of that, with Bilt devaluing its transfer ratio, you're getting a double whammy.

The same hotels you were able to book before are going to effectively cost you a lot more Bilt points because you're getting fewer Hyatt points when you transfer.

That sucks.

Hyatt can still make sense, but if you have Bilt points and know you're going to use them for a Hyatt stay, especially at a higher end property, definitely look at transferring them before the end of the year.

I wouldn't transfer points just to transfer them, but if you already have a Hyatt redemption in mind, I'd rather take advantage of the 1:1 ratio while it's still available.

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