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🤔 Should I get this airline card?

🤔 Should I get this airline card?

Plus, name that airline and I’ll tell you how to book it

Mike Dodge
November 10, 2026

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 21 seconds

📰 TRENDING TRAVEL NEWS 📰

• Elevated Comfort: You’ll soon be able to use this card’s hotel credits at the over 10,000 curated vacation homes joining the bank’s premium hotel collection.

• Holiday Kickoff: Everything to know about attending the centennial Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

• Be Inspired: Travel + Leisure just named their 2027 Destination of the Year with recommended hotels, experiences, and more.

• Flash Sale: American Airlines is running an award sale with flights starting at just 8,000 miles — book by November 11th.

Good morning, and happy Tuesday!

Quick thought: is anyone else annoyed at the number of boarding groups these days… Like… why is “Group 1” the fifth group to board, and why are there NINE boarding groups??

What happened to “business class, premium economy, economy” boarding?

Anyway, rant over. Let’s talk about some fun travel stuff:

✈️ Name That Airline
💳 I think I’m getting a United card
🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal
🧠 Learn about points and miles with us (live)

✈️ Name That Airline

For this week’s trivia, I’m going to mix things up. Below, I’ll show you a photo I took of a gorgeous business-class seat.

I want you to guess which airline it is.

Later in the newsletter, I’ll tell you the answer – and how to book it with points. 😉

Here it is:

Which airline is it?

💳 I think I’m getting a United card

Okay, I never thought I’d say this, but… I’m thinking of applying for a United co-branded credit card. 😬

Specifically, the United℠ Explorer Card. 👇

For starters, the card has an amazing welcome offer:

Earn 70,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 and an additional 10,000 bonus miles after adding an authorized user, both within the first three months of account opening.

And while the typical annual fee on the card is $150, it has a $0 intro annual fee for the first year, which means it costs you nothing out of pocket to hold for the first year.

That’s a lot of miles

United miles can be realllllyyyyyyy valuable.

For example, the miles you earn from the welcome offer can be used to fly nonstop from Houston (or plenty of other cities) to Europe in lie-flat business class:

That’s not bad for a card with a $0 annual fee in its first year.

But here’s the kicker:

By holding a United card, you get discounts on award flights, which can range from 10% to…. much higher than that. 👇

This flight is 66% discounted in economy thanks to holding a United card 🤯

That perk alone can make the card worth holding, even after the first year.

There are tons more perks

Even if you fly United a few times a year like me, it might be worth holding the card thanks to the United-specific perks, including:

A free checked bag on every flight
Two annual United Club lounge passes
25% back on in-flight purchases (food, drinks, wifi, etc)

Again, this isn’t some ultra-premium card for loyal frequent flyers… getting a free checked bag on a flight or two and lounge access once or twice a year are specifically nice for LESS frequent flyers who don’t earn perks like that otherwise.

There are credits, too

If all of that didn’t make the Explorer card enticing enough, it also comes with a handful of credits. Some of them probably won’t be relevant, but there are a couple that are easy and worthwhile.

First, cardholders get up to $60 in annual rideshare credits (up to $5 in credits per month). It’s nothing crazy, but if you take an Uber or Lyft once a month, you might as well get $5 back.

Then if you spend $10,000 in a calendar year, you’ll get $100 in United Travel Bank credit, which you can use toward booking flights.

There are other credits that I won’t go too deep into now, along with solid earning rates on United, and even the ability to earn elite status through spend.

In a world of complicated and expensive cards, this one is refreshingly simple, valuable, and easy to justify.

✨ Learn more and earn that sweet welcome offer now ✨

🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal

Earlier, I showed you a photo of one of the nicest business-class seats I’ve ever flown.

I think it’s fairly obvious that it was a Middle Eastern carrier… but specifically, it is indeed Etihad Airways!

How you can fly this seat

Etihad is a premium airline with plenty of flights to/from the U.S.

There are plenty of programs that allow you to book Etihad with points, including:

Etihad Guest
American AAdvantage
Air Canada Aeroplan
KLM/Air France Flying Blue

American offers the best pricing, but it is hard to find availability.

However, if you’ve got a LOT of American miles, you can often find last-minute availability in first class, like the one I just found:

Screenshot from Daily Drop Pro

Aeroplan also has decent availability, but Etihad does not adhere to Aeroplan’s award chart… so pricing can get pretty crazy.

If you want to try out a seat like this without breaking the bank, flying between Europe and Abu Dhabi is the best bet.

For example, I just used Daily Drop Pro to find this flight from Rome to Abu Dhabi in Etihad business class for just 38,500 Flying Blue miles. 👇

Screenshot from Daily Drop Pro

Daily Drop Pro also shows me that there’s a transfer bonus right now from Capital One… so this would actually only require just over 32,000 Capital One miles. Pro even does the math for you. 👇

Screenshot from Daily Drop Pro

Not bad for 6 hours in lie-flat business class. 😎

Anyway, Etihad is a solid airline, and we’ve got a ton of ways to book them using U.S. credit card points and miles.

I highly recommend giving them a try sometime.

🧠 Learn about points and miles with us (live)

Knowing what Etihad is is one thing… knowing you can book it with points is another… knowing you can transfer points to Etihad is a third thing… and knowing how to leverage transfer bonuses is an entire extra layer.

If you struggled to keep up with that last section, it’s okay. Getting the hang of points and miles can be tough at first.

That’s why we host regular live classes to teach you these exact concepts.

We are having one of our Miles & Points 101 live classes TOMORROW, November 11 at 3:00pm eastern time.

In this class, you’ll learn:

✈️ The simple 2-step framework for how points travel actually works
✈️ Which points to earn (and why the wrong points can hold you back)
✈️ How to earn points faster

So save your spot now, and we’ll see you tomorrow. 🫡

That’s it for today, friends! Have a lovely day and see you tomorrow.

Love,

Mike Dodge

Head Writer, Daily Drop

43.6532° N, 79.3832° W

With contributions by Sam Anthony and Katie Begnoche.

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