✈️ 25,000 reasons to click ‘book’

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 54 seconds

🌼 Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop — the newsletter that treats points and miles like fine wine: best when blended, shared, and redeemed at high altitudes.

We’ve got a big Friday, so let’s get to work:

• 🍔 An easy $300 back on dining (without lifting a finger)

• ✈️ Earn 25k bonus AA miles

• 💳 Earn 20k bonus points on Europe flights

• 💪 Lounge win: Epic 12-cent redemptions

• 🔀 Current Transfer Bonuses

🍔 Easy $300 back on dining (without lifting a finger)

One of the biggest changes to the newly revamped [[ chase-sapphire-reserve.name ]] is the addition of up to $300 in annual dining credits — split into two $150 chunks every six months.

Here’s how it works:

If you have the [[ chase-sapphire-reserve.casual-card-name ]], you’ll automatically earn up to $150 back on dining purchases from a curated list of (mostly) upscale restaurants in the U.S. (and no, you don’t need to enroll or click anything — it just works).

Think tasting menus, Michelin-recommended gems, and even trendy cocktail bars.

If you don’t live in a big city, the roster of dining partners is expanding fast, and some even offer online ordering or to-go options.

Worst case? Plan a night out next time you travel — after all, this is a travel card at heart.

So if you’ve ever dropped $150 on a bougie dinner and immediately regretted it… now you can let the card pick up the tab instead. 🙃

✈️ Earn 25k bonus AA miles

If you’ve been eyeing a trip Down Under, here’s a deal that might make you book it a little faster. Right now, you can now earn up to 25,000 bonus AAdvantage miles on flights between the U.S. and Australia or New Zealand.

This offer is technically targeted, but it appears widely available. Just log into your AA account and check the "Offers" tab to see if it shows up.

Here’s the fine print, simplified:

• You must register for the offer before booking

• Earn 100% bonus miles on the base fare for First, Business, or Premium Economy

• Earn 50% bonus miles on the base fare for Economy (but not Basic Economy)

• Flights must be marketed by American and operated by American or Qantas (read: your flight number must start with AA)

• You must book by August 7, 2025, and travel by May 31, 2026

• Blackout dates: December 15, 2025 – January 12, 2026

• Only cash bookings are eligible (no award flights)

It’s important to note that bonus miles only apply to the segments that actually touch Australia or New Zealand, so if you’re connecting within the U.S. first, you won’t earn bonus miles on that domestic segment. However, connecting flights within Australia and/or New Zealand would qualify.

Let’s say you book this round-trip main cabin fare from Los Angeles (LAX) to Auckland (AKL) for $899:

Only the base fare earns miles (not taxes/fees), and in this case, that’s $750. As a base-level AAdvantage member, you’ll earn:

• 5x miles per dollar on $750 = 3,750 miles

• 50% bonus on the base fare = 1,875 bonus miles

Total = 5,625 AA miles earned ✨

And if you do hold AAdvantage elite status? Well, your earnings will only go up from there!

Better yet, those 5,625 bonus miles may be enough to cover a short-haul domestic award flight, like this one from Burbank, California (BUR) to Phoenix, Arizona (PHX):

The booking window stretches almost a full year out — so you could lock in a huge return on your spending even 10 months in advance.

And if you book with a card like [[ the-platinum-card-from-american-express.name ]], you’ll also earn 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines — so the rewards stack gets even juicier. 😏

💳 Earn 20k bonus points on Europe flights

A new merchant offer is floating around for folks with Membership Rewards point-earning cards — and if you’ve got it, it’s extremely worth activating.

The deal? Spend $1,000 or more with KLM or Air France, and you’ll earn 20,000 bonus Membership Rewards points.

That’s it. No hoops. Just a big points payday.

But here are the key things to know:

• The offer is targeted, so not everyone will see it

• You must register before spending

• The flight must originate in the U.S. and be charged in U.S. dollars

• You must complete the purchase by September 30, 2025 (but the actual travel can happen later)

And here’s the best part: Even Delta-operated flights can trigger the offer — as long as you book and make the actual purchase through the KLM or Air France website.

For example, I found a nonstop Delta flight from New York (JFK) to Milan (MXP) for just $397 round-trip — even when booked through KLM. 👇

That means if you’re flying with a family of three, you could spend just under $1,200, trigger the bonus, and walk away with 20,000 bonus Membership Rewards points for doing what you were going to do anyway.

Oh, and if you have the offer on the [[ the-platinum-card-from-american-express.casual-card-name ]]? You’ll also earn 5x Membership Rewards points on the purchase, giving you another 6,000-ish points just from the base spend.

Altogether, if you value Membership Rewards points at around 2 cents apiece, this offer can net you over $500 in value from one $1,200 booking — or a cool 40%+ return on your spend. 😎

💪 Lounge win: Epic 12-cent redemptions

One of our Daily Drop Lounge members just shared a slick move that made their Christmas market getaway to Germany even sweeter:

They combined Capital One miles across accounts, pooling enough points with their partner to book a round-trip business-class itinerary — flying KLM to Europe and United (via Air Canada) back.

Their route? A dreamy December tour through Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Munich, Heidelberg, and more — powered entirely by smart redemptions and one well-timed phone call to Capital One.

Want to learn tricks like this (or share your own)?

Join the Daily Drop Lounge! It’s our free Facebook community where the nerdiest travel wins become your next vacation.

Wow… I just realized how many transfer bonuses there are right now, and to so many good programs! Make sure you hop on them before it’s too late.

And with that, I bid you good weekend. 🤝

6.1944° S, 106.8229° E

With contributions by Tiffany Eastham, McKay Moffitt, and Benji Stawski