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✈️ Award Drop: New Zealand
Fly in business class on these nonstop flights... but act quickly!
Mike Dodge
March 28, 2024
Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 51 seconds
✈️ According to a new study by Electronics Hub, Alaska Airlines has the best in-flight wi-fi, while Spirit ranked last. Read more from the list here.
Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, the newsletter described by Denzel Washington as “the key to his successful acting career.”
If you want to be as talented as Denzel, make sure you keep reading every day.
✈️ Award Drop: New Zealand
Let’s kick things off today with a good old-fashioned award deal.
Right now, there are a handful of nonstop seats available using Aeroplan points between the U.S. and New Zealand, including business-class.
The routes include both United and Air New Zealand between Auckland and U.S. cities like Houston and San Francisco.
In other words, VERY long flights… and at a very solid price point.
As of now, availability on these routes is limited to the next two months or so, with most of the availability during the month of April… so you’ll need to be feeling spontaneous to hop on this deal.
As you can see, you could fly from either of these cities for just 75,000 Aeroplan points in business class, which is a killer deal for 13+ hour flights.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is what we like to call a “sweet spot.”
You see, according to Aeroplan’s award chart, flights between the U.S. and New Zealand will cost 75,000 points in business class as long as they’re between 5,001 and 7,500 miles in distance.
Houston to Auckland clocks in at 7,415 miles total, essentially maxing out the value of this award chart distance band.
Of course, the main challenge with this deal is availability.
Overall, there are only a handful of dates offering business class availability, and most of it is on Air New Zealand.
Sadly, Air New Zealand doesn’t have the best business class out there, with fairly small seats and limited privacy.
Still, spending 14 hours in a lie-flat bed is WAY better than flying economy, especially for just 75,000 points.
If you still want to get to New Zealand and don’t care about flying in business class, there is plenty of nonstop availability in economy class for just 50,000 points, which I also consider to be a solid deal.
Given the limited availability, I’d jump on this sooner or later if you are thinking it over at all.
If you want to book one of these flights, simply do the following 👇
Transfer points over from your credit card to Aeroplan
Go to Air Canada’s website
Select ”Book with points”
Choose your route and dates
Aeroplan has pretty hefty change and cancellation fees, so I wouldn’t book these unless you are fairly certain you’ll be traveling.
Overall, this is a good deal - we don’t see availability for these nonstop routes open up very often, and it’s a fantastic way to travel such a long distance while not having to shell out too many points.
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🏨 20% off Marriott hotel stays [Book by March 31st]
If you’re on the hunt for a spring getaway, Marriott has a promo going on that could help you make that a reality for less $$$.
This edition of Marriott Bonvoy Escapes is offering a 20% discount on last-minute getaways for select properties in Europe, North and South America, Africa, and the Middle East.
Here are the deets:
You have until Sunday, March 31st to book and get up to 20% off
Applicable for paid stays between April 1-21st, 2024
Simply use the promo code QRI
Many properties are participating, but these ones are not: St. Regis, The Ritz-Carlton, Bulgari, EDITION, Design Hotels, and Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy
After doing a handful of searches, I found the most success with searching Thursday - Sunday bookings… perfect for a long weekend vacay!
For example, you can see the discounted price for the Marriott Bonvoy Escapes Member with the original price per night right above it (e.g. “Was 274”).
Btw, signing up to become a Marriott Bonvoy member is completely free (and you can do so HERE).
Additionally, since this promo is for cash bookings only, I’d suggest using a good credit card that’ll rack you up some points 💪
If you didn’t know, the hotel brand has its own line of co-branded credit cards that can earn you varying amounts of Marriott points when you make direct bookings with them.
Overall, this is a nice promo if you have the flexibility to book something last minute and have been craving a fun little spring getaway 🤗
What if I told you even expert travelers—miles and points aficionados, if you will—make mistakes 👀
Sometimes BIG mistakes.
In this week’s podcast, Mike, Megan, and special guest (!!) Brendan talk through some of their mistakes with travel, credit cards, and miles and points!
P.S. You can also watch it on YouTube 🤗
That’s all for today, amigos. I hope some of you are able to hop on that amazing award deal and go check out New Zealand.
If you do book one of those flights, please reach out and let me know! It’s always good to hear from you when these award deals work out in your favor.
For now, take care and have a wonderful day ❤️