✈️ A new way to book Etihad with points

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 3 seconds

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, the travel newsletter like Justin and Britney’s all-denim 2000s fit. What can we say? We’re iconic…

Here’s what we’ve got on the docket today:

• ✈️ You can now book Etihad with Flying Blue miles

• 🖥️ Why I love using airline travel portals

• 💳 [Targeted] Earn 17,500 bonus MR Points with this offer

✈️ You can book Etihad with Flying Blue miles

Etihad is one of the best airlines in the world. Any chance we have to book their flights with miles and points is a true gift.

That’s why I’m THRILLED that you can now book Etihad flights with Flying Blue miles. 🤩

That’s right, folks.

Air France/KLM and Etihad have had a partnership for a while now, but they recently expanded it to allow for reciprocal award bookings.

That means that not only can you book Etihad flights with Flying Blue miles, but you can also book Air France and KLM flights using Etihad miles (which is, admittedly, way less exciting).

Still, this opens up some pretty incredible opportunities.

For example, I just looked up flights from Toronto to Abu Dhabi and found TONS of availability in both economy and business.

43,000 miles to fly from North America to the Middle East on a world-class airline like Etihad is a great deal.

85,000 miles in business class?

Well, that might just be an even better deal… especially if you combine it with a nice transfer bonus.

For example, right now, you can transfer [[ ink-business-preferred-credit-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] to Flying Blue with a 25% bonus.

If you wanted to book the flight I showed you above, it would only cost you 34,400 points in economy or 68,000 points in business class.

For 13 hours in one of the world’s best business class seats, that’s a price I’d pay ANY day.

Overall, this is a fantastic positive development in the points space, and I can’t wait to book me some flights on one of my favorite airlines.

🖥️ Why I love using airline travel portals

We talk a lot about cashback portals like Rakuten and bank portals where you can use credits and earn tons of extra points.

But something we don’t talk about as much is airline-specific travel portals.

Personally, I rack up a LOT of points using portals like the Aeroplan eStore and American Airlines travel portal.

In fact, you can even earn airline elite status by simply booking travel and shopping online through these portals.

But rather than get into the nitty gritty here in the newsletter, we recorded a short, 20-minute podcast episode breaking down how these portals work, which are our favorites, and why you should care about them.

So go check that out wherever you listen to podcasts or on the YouTube if you want our hot takes on my favorite type of portal.

If you like it, you can even subscribe and leave us a review… 🤗

💳 [Targeted] Earn 17,500 bonus MR Points with this offer

If you’re a cardholder of the bank that earns you [[ american-express-gold-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]], go and check your offers!

There is a tasty (targeted) offer floating around the travel world right now that actually holds some pretty decent value 👇

Basically, you could earn 17,500 MR points by booking a qualifying flight(s) on ITA Airways by the end of the year. Travel can take place after this date.

If you aren’t familiar with ITA Airways, they’re Italy’s (relatively new) flagship carrier that wants to fly you across the Atlantic to some of Europe’s greatest destinations.

I’m talking about seeing places like Rome, Florence, Milan, the Amalfi Coast, and the Dolomites… just to name a few.

And just so you all know, I browse through the Lounge on a regular basis, so I know just how many of you want to visit Italy… 👀

For reference, ITA offers nonstop routes between Italy and these seven U.S. cities:

• Boston

• Chicago

• Los Angeles

• Miami

• New York (JFK)

• San Francisco

• Washington, D.C.

And here are the specifics of this offer:

• You must spend a minimum of $1,000 and book your flight(s) by 12/31/23

• Flight must originate in the U.S. and be charged in USD

• Flights must be booked directly on ITA’s website or mobile app

• Your purchase can be made in one or more transactions (so you can book as many flights as you need to reach that $1,000 minimum spend!)

I personally saw this offer come through on my [[ the-platinum-card-from-american-express.name ]], but I would also check if you see the offer on its golden counterpart, the [[ american-express-gold-card.name ]].

What makes this deal even greater, is that if you use said [[ the-platinum-card-from-american-express.casual-card-name ]] to book your flight, you’ll earn 5X MR points per dollar…

So if I splurged and spent $1,532 on business class to get to the motherland of pasta and pizza, not only would I rack up the 17,500 MR points from the offer, but I’d get an additional 7,660 [[ american-express-gold-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]]—bringing my total to a whopping 25,160 MR points.

For booking ONE flight 🤯

And because MR points can transfer to a TON of other airline programs, you could use those 25,000+ points in a lot of freaking other ways for future travel.

Plus, with all the transfer bonuses that have been floating around lately… it’s bonkers how much value you could get.

Overall, if you’ve received this offer and you’ve been hoping to plan a trip to Italy, this is a great opportunity to do so and earn a fat stack of points in the process.

That’s all for today, amigos. I’m pumped about all of today’s content… I can’t wait for some of you to enjoy some epic flights on Etihad thanks to this new Flying Blue partnership.

But in the meantime, take care, have a wonderful day, and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow. ❤️

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