🔄 An underrated transfer bonus

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 20 seconds

Good morning, y’all - It’s me, Mike 👋🏼

If you’re wondering where I’ve been for the last week, well… it’s a story for another newsletter.

But the short version is…

My appendix decided to give up on me when I was in Bandung, Indonesia, prompting a last-minute surgery and a 5-day stay in a local, not-so-lovely hospital.

And if you’re wondering… yes, I did use credit card insurance to cover the surgery, coordinate billing between international insurance companies, etc.

It was a horrific experience, and I’m not quite ready to chat about that yet… but stay tuned.

For now, let’s cover some (refreshingly) more boring travel topics:

• ✈️ Spirit is offering status extensions

• 💳 An underrated transfer bonus to…

• 🌎 Where in the World Wednesday

✈️ Spirit is offering status extensions

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Spirit offers a surprisingly awesome amount of value from its elite status.

The reason I had Spirit status at all, of course, is from the status match they offered about a year ago.

And I know many of you also took advantage of that match, which is why you might be excited to hear that they’re offering a way to extend that status.

I received an email a few days ago when my status expired, offering me the chance to extend my Spirit Gold status through the end of 2024 (roughly eight more months of status).

The catch is that there is a travel requirement to complete four round-trip flights on Spirit by July 31st, 2024.

At first glance, this sounds kind of crazy…

But if you run the numbers, it could be WELL worth considering if you’re a frequent Spirit flyer.

You can easily find cheap round-trip Spirit flights all over the country, like these ones:

Even if you didn’t have to travel anywhere, you could simply book four “mileage runs” at these rates for about $168 total.

Of course, if you DO have travel you actually need to do, this requirement is an even lower lift.

But now, let’s look at the benefit of having eight more months of status.

Here is a screenshot showing a Spirit flight with various add-ons, such as seat selection, checked bags, carry-on, flexible booking, etc.

This $221 flight would only cost you $60 if you had Spirit Gold status… that means you’d recoup almost your entire investment with just one booking like this.

Multiply that by a few potential flights throughout the year, and it could be very worthwhile to go out of your way to extend your status.

So here’s the bottom line:

If you signed up for the status match last year and want to keep your Spirit Silver or Gold status, run the numbers and see if it makes sense for you to take advantage of this deal.

💳 An underrated transfer bonus to…

Here’s a new one for you…

Until May 31st, you can transfer [[ american-express-gold-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] Points to Aeromexico with a 20% bonus. It’s not a program we talk about often, so it’s worth talking about now.

The obvious potential win here would be using Aeromexico miles to book flights with partner airlines like Delta…

But we’re going to skip this - because finding Delta availability through Aeromexico is about as likely as me traveling without undergoing some medical emergency.

Anyway, there is still some potentially GREAT value here if you use these miles for flights on Aeromexico itself.

Let me explain…

The normal transfer ratio from [[ american-express-gold-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] Points to Aeromexico is 1:1.6. That means if you transfer 1,000 points, you’ll end up with 1,600 miles.

With this bonus, the ratio jumps up to just under a 1:2 ratio, which isn’t bad if we look at some redemption rates.

For example, let’s say you want to fly from Atlanta to Mexico City. You can book a flight through Aeromexico for just 18,000 miles.

Because of this bonus, you’d only need to transfer over 9,400 [[ american-express-gold-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]] points, which is not a bad deal at all.

If you wanted to fly the same route using a program like Delta, you’d need to shell out 30,000-40,000 Delta miles on the same date.

But here’s something to beware of:

Aeromexico isn’t always the best option, even with this bonus.

For example, if you want to fly from Chicago to Mexico City, you can fly on Aeromexico itself, but book through Delta for just 10,000 [[ delta-skymiles-reserve-american-express-card.points-program-override.points-currency ]].

There is no date in Aeromexico’s calendar when it’s cheaper to use Aeromexico miles, even with this bonus.

So here’s the bottom line:

If you’re looking to fly to Mexico using miles, check out Aeromexico and compare the pricing with this transfer bonus to other programs to see if it could work out in your favor.

But maybe you don’t know anything about Mexico City.

Or maybe you want to say, “Screw points and miles, I want to pay CASH.”

That’s fine. We’ve got you covered as always. 👇

🌎 Where in the World Wednesday

We’ve got a special Where in the World Wednesday section for you this time around…

And that’s because you get to see this deal play out on our new FareDrop YouTube channel! Wooh!

In case you missed it, Tony and Sara took us along to Mexico City on a super cheap, $300 round-trip ticket that they scooped up by using FareDrop 👇

I’ve told you before that Mexico City is very special to me personally and it remains my single favorite city in the world and has endless things to do.

Speaking of things to do… How about taking the world’s longest cable car ride! Hopefully, you’re not afraid of heights 😬

And then there’s the food and bev… I’m 100% on board with street tacos, but then there’s the insects and the scorpion-infused mezcal…

An acquired taste, I imagine 🥴

You can also spot Mariachi bands on almost every corner and plaza, and even hop on board a local boat in the Xochimilco district known for its canals.

Whether it’s a Lucha Libre wrestling spectacle or sizzling street tacos, Mexico City has something for everyone.

I could talk all day about this magnificent place, but I’ll let you watch the video for yourselves.

Oh… and if you’d like to get notified of cheap airfare to cities all over the world, try out FareDrop today!

As you know, two of the best cards in the biz currently have elevated welcome offers: the [[ chase-sapphire-preferred-card.name ]] and the [[ chase-sapphire-reserve.name ]]. The reason we keep talking about it is because the offers won’t last for long.

But if you're confused about which of the two is right for you, check out this video where Brendan compares them in detail. 👇

That’s all for today, amigos. I don’t know about you, but all this Mexico talk has me itching to get back to the land of tacos and tequila…

For now, I’ll let you get back to your day while I get back to bed for some much needed rest.

Cheers,

6.9175° S, 107.6191° E