✈️ I'm giving away a business-class flight

Estimated read time: 5 minutes and 15 seconds

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop.

Congratulations on (almost) making it through the first full week of the year! We’ve got some fun stuff today… and make sure you read until the end for a VERY special treat. 😉

• ✈️ SAS Challenge Update: How I’m using my million miles

• 💳 Most popular cards of 2024

• 📊 Daily Drop Annual Survey (and giveaway)

✈️ SAS Challenge Update: How I’m using my million miles

Okay. So last week, I told you about how SAS emailed me to tell me that I WON A MILLION MILES from their special challenge at the end of 2024.

But I think a lot of you are dying to know what exactly that’s worth and how a million miles (or any amount of SAS miles) can actually be used.

Oh… and pay attention. Because one lucky reader is going to win some of those miles TODAY. 😮

So one of the best uses of SAS miles is, unsurprisingly, with SAS itself. They actually have two incredible business-class sweet spots where you can fly on their sleek, lie-flat beds.

The first sweet spot is between the U.S. and Europe for 50,000 SAS miles in business class.

Although these awards are hard to find, it’s an amazing use of SAS miles (in my opinion) and pretty cheap compared to the majority of other programs.

Possibly even more valuable, however, is being able to book flights between Copenhagen and Bangkok in business class ALSO for just 50,000 SAS miles…

This is actually insane… 12 hours in a lie-flat bed for 50,000 miles is by far the cheapest way to fly that far in business class.

In terms of epic sweet spots on SAS itself, that’s really it… but I’ve been doing some digging and am actually much more excited about their partner awards.

One use that popped right up was the ability to book flights between the U.S. and Mexico for just 15,000 SAS miles one-way, which there is TONS of availability for both on Delta and Aeromexico.

At that rate, you could book a round-trip for two people for around the same rate as a one-way business-class flight to Europe. Not bad.

Personally, I’ve also been eyeing some more niche, long-haul flights.

For example, I have to travel between Jakarta and Toronto like ten times this year… And to my surprise, I’m seeing these flights price out at 54,000 points in economy or just 99,000 points in business class.

For a distance of more than 10,000 miles, this is actually one of the best deals of ANY points program, and availability is plentiful on airlines like Saudia, Garuda, and Korean Air.

Similarly, I found this route from Jakarta to Seoul in business class for just 54,000 miles (or 30,000 in economy).

That’s the equivalent (distance-wise) of flying from the U.S. to Europe. If we saw a program offer those rates for flights to Europe, we’d be raving about it all the time…

On the opposite end of the spectrum, SAS’ program is terrible for short-haul flights…

For example, a flight from Amsterdam to Paris will run you 24,000 points in economy, which is comical.

BUTTTTTTT as fellow Daily Drop team member and SAS challenge participant Ali told me earlier today, there are some REALLY cool “domestic” sweet spots with SAS miles.

For example, you can fly from Oslo to Svalbard (the northernmost commercial airport in the world) for just 5,000 SAS miles, since it’s technically a domestic flight.

Another sweet spot is flying from Copenhagen all the way to Greenland for just 15,000 SAS miles.

This flight is also technically “domestic” despite covering a huge distance and lasting over six hours.

Since these flights are some of the most expensive in the world, this is a great way to travel off the beaten path and save TONS of money.

Anyway… My eye is set on one of those 50k flights to Europe… and yours should be, too - because later in the newsletter, we’ll be giving one of those flights to one of YOU.

That’s all for now. 😉

💳 Most popular cards of 2024

2024 was a CRAZY year in the credit card world… we saw some of the best offers in history and kept you all in the loop about our favorites.

But what about YOUR favorites?

Well, we decided to compile that data, too.

We made a special page that shows the most popular cards of the year based on what readers signed up for the most. 👇

The top slots are totally unsurprising… The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card are two of the best cards out there.

With easy-to-use credits, solid welcome offers, and super flexible points, it’s no surprise that they were among the most popular (and this card, which y’all already assumed was number one 😉).

What’s a bit more surprising, however, was how many co-branded cards made the list… Generally speaking, co-branded cards don’t have super high welcome offers, and the points are less valuable.

The upside to co-branded cards, however, is they have nice perks.

For example, most Marriott cards come with an annual Free Night Certificate that can be used for hotels like this one in New York City:

If you use these for more value than the cost of the card’s annual fee (which is usually pretty easy), it makes sense to load up on cards like this.

Additionally, airline cards (like those from our favorite airline, Southwest) often have really low annual fees and offer enough perks to make holding the card worth it year after year.

Finally, we did see a business card make it pretty close to the top of the list (this one, to be specific).

That might come as a surprise to some of you, but business cards are actually really easy to get… If you’re out of the loop on this one, check out this newsletter for more info.

Anyway, It’s cool to see which cards, programs, and offers readers tend to gravitate toward, so check out this page on the website if you want to see the full list!

📊 Daily Drop Annual Survey (and giveaway)

If you’ve been a Daily Drop reader for a while, you might remember our Annual Reader Survey.

It’s a way for us to learn about you, what you love about Daily Drop, and your travel preferences (check out last year’s results).

I’m excited to tell you that we’ve got the 2025 iteration of this survey and we really really want you to fill it out.

After you all fill out the survey, I’ll share the results here in the newsletter and you can see how your personal travel style stacks up to others.

But I’m going to sweeten the pot a bit more and make this REALLY worth your while… 😏

One lucky reader who finishes the survey will win a business-class flight worth 50,000 SAS miles, courtesy of yours truly.

Want two economy flights instead? No problem. We’ll figure it out based on what you want and what’s available.

You’ll see a spot to leave your email at the end of the survey to be eligible for this giveaway.

Good luck! 😉

Want to help Daily Drop take over the world? Share our newsletter with your friends/family/pets/colleagues/enemies and win some rewards in the process!

You currently have 0 referrals, only 1 away from receiving the Daily Drop Travel Toolkit.

Or copy your unique referral URL to share with others: https://newsletter.dailydrop.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

…or you can just buy these prizes from our website if you want to keep us all to yourself. 😉

That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed today’s newsletter, and I really can’t wait to give one of you some of my new hard-earned SAS miles.

For now, take care and have a great weekend. ❤️

52°22'35.4"N 52°15'17.4"W