Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 21 seconds

Good morning and welcome back to your daily dose of points and miles. Today, we’ve got some trivia, a global airline award sale, and tips for staying insured on the road.

Let’s dive in:

• 🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday Friday

• ✈️ Atmos Global Getaways is back

• 🌍 Travel medical insurance for frequent flyers

• ✅ Travel Trivia Reveal

🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday Friday

Today's trivia question is for anyone who has stared at a Chicago boarding pass and wondered why it says ORD.

✈️ Atmos Global Getaways is back

I love when airline programs offer award sales. I love them even more when they offer them on a regular basis.

And that’s what’s so special about Atmos Rewards’ monthly Global Getaways, which just dropped for October.

Atmos drops these sales every month, usually with a fun theme. This month’s theme is “Winter Done Right,” which highlights destinations where winter is the main event.

Before I get into the deals, it’s worth knowing that you need to book these deals by TOMORROW, October 10, to lock in the pricing.

The travel period is January 15 through March 8, 2027, so this won’t be useful for any travel plans through the end of this year.

The deals

In terms of value, this month is a mixed bag.

For example, here are some of the deals to Europe (all in economy class):

• Paris for 25,000 Atmos points

• Helsinki for 25,000 Atmos points

• Munich for 25,000 Atmos points

• Stavanger, Norway for 30,000 Atmos points

Generally speaking, you can almost always get to Europe for cheaper than any of those prices.

For example, you can fly to Paris for just 18,750 Flying Blue miles from many U.S. cities with Flying Blue’s Promo Rewards.

And unlike the Atmos deal, you can book Flying Blue Promo Rewards anytime before the end of the month and have many more options for transferring points.

The main difference is the taxes and fees, which will be lower with Atmos than Flying Blue.

The Asia deals are the sweet spot

Two of the deals this month put those Europe ones to shame.

You can fly from the U.S. to Seoul, South Korea for 20,000 Atmos points or Sapporo, Japan for 30,000 Atmos points.

Both of these are awesome deals, especially if you’re traveling from the East Coast, which can get a little more expensive.

By the way – these screenshots are all from Daily Drop Pro, which is how I searched for all of the deals I’m sharing with you in the newsletter.

Anyway, 20,000 points and $6 in taxes is an amazing deal. If you are even thinking of traveling to Asia in the new year, you could lock in this deal now and cancel anytime later.

Just remember, if you do cancel later, those points will only be available to use as Atmos points. You can’t transfer them back to your bank.

There are cheaper awards possible, sure. For example, you can fly Virgin Atlantic from New York to Seoul for just 13,500 Virgin miles.

But, as you can see, those taxes are hefty. Shelling out an extra 6,500 Atmos points to save almost $300 is the way to go.

How to get Atmos points

The saddest part of these monthly award deals is the fact that Atmos Rewards points are harder to earn.

The only program that transfers to Atmos (for now 😏) is Bilt Rewards.

If you have a Bilt card and earn points on your rent or mortgage every month, deals like these are exactly where you should be putting those points.

So here’s the bottom line:

Atmos Global Getaways is back.

If you’ve got Atmos points lying around, this is a great way to spend them. If you don’t, grab a Bilt card now and start earning them for next month. 👍

✅ Travel Trivia Reveal

Earlier, I asked you about the origin of Chicago’s airport code ORD. The correct answer is B!

Before it was O'Hare, the airport was called Orchard Field, after Orchard Place, the area where it was built. During WWII, the site was also home to a Douglas aircraft plant.

This is the only photo I could track down from those days, courtesy of the Chicago History Museum. 👇

In 1949, the airport was renamed after Butch O'Hare, a Navy pilot who won a Medal of Honor. Even with a new name, they decided to keep the old airport code.

So every bag tagged for Chicago is still technically headed to an orchard. 😉

ORD isn't the only interesting one. Orlando's code is MCO because the airport used to be McCoy Air Force Base.

And if you've ever wondered why so many Canadian airports start with Y (as in YYZ, YVR, YUL, YYC, YEG, YXY, YYT, YHZ, YQB, etc.), it goes back to old radio station codes.

Meanwhile, airports like LAX, PDX, and PHX used to have two-letter codes (LA, PD, PH). When codes became three letters, an X was simply added at the end to fill the space.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed nerding out about airport codes with me today. If you want to read more about the history of North America’s most iconic airport codes, check out this article.

That’s it for today, friends! If you end up booking one of those Atmos flights, tell me which one and why you’re going.

See you next time,

43.6532° N, 79.3832° W

With contributions by Katie Begnoche and Alison Carrico.