✈️ Two last-minute award sales

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 12 seconds

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop!

The year might be coming to an end, but the travel opportunities are definitely not coming to an end… so here are some more:

• ✈️ Delta One flash sale (today only)

• 💸 Southwest 25% award sale

• 🤝 Delta/Hilton dual status match

✈️ Delta One flash sale (today only)

Flash sales. We love ‘em.

Especially when those flash sales are for some of the best seats in the sky. And that is exactly what’s happening right now.

Until the end of the day today, you can use Delta SkyMiles to book Delta One flights to Europe, Asia, and beyond for far less than the normal prices.

In case you don’t know, Delta One is Delta’s premium business-class product that, honestly, feels more like some airlines’ first-class seats.

With lie-flat beds, closing suite doors, and premium service, it’s a nice experience.

Oftentimes, we see pricing for international Delta One flights cost upwards of 300,000, 400,000, or even 700,000 SkyMiles.

Right now, there are tons of deals for long-haul flights in Delta One for as few as 98,000 miles one-way or under 200,000 miles round-trip.

Look at these round-trip deals from New York:

There are also some cooler routes to places like Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for around the same price.

This round-trip from Atlanta to Rio is only 200,000 SkyMiles and $33, which is a solid deal for people with large SkyMiles balances:

While many of these prices only apply when booking a round-trip, there are also some great one-way awards.

This flight from Seattle to Taipei is only 98,000 SkyMiles and $6 in taxes and fees for a number of dates next year, which is a GREAT deal for a 14-hour flight in a private suite.

So here’s the bottom line…

If you have a big stash of SkyMiles (or MR Points that you can transfer to Delta), these prices are as good as we’re going to see.

Whether you’re in a big city or a small city or traveling to Europe, or Asia, or South America, there are tons of deals to go around…

…as long as you book by today.

Check out this page and input your origin city to see what deals are available to you.

💸 Southwest 25% award sale

Speaking of award sales that are only valid today…

Southwest is following Delta by offering a 25% discount on award flights in the new year… as long as you book by today.

Here are the deets:

• You must book your flights by today (December 19th)

• Valid for travel between the following dates:

  • January 7th-March 5th for continental U.S.

  • January 7th-May 22nd for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and International

• You must use promo code POINTS25 in the search

• There are some blackout dates

Is this the most groundbreaking thing ever? Nope. Should you still take advantage of it? For SUUUUURE.

There are some good deals out there, like this flight from Seattle to Orlando for around 12,000 Southwest points.

In searching around Southwest’s website, however, I found that many of the best deals aren’t even ones that were discounted…

For shorter hops, the non-discounted fares are cheaper than the discounted ones, so be careful to search thoroughly before hopping on the “discounted” flights.

So here’s the bottom line:

If you have any travel plans in early 2025, this is a great chance to search Southwest to see if you could save some easy points.

As a reminder, you can always just transfer points to Southwest and still book before the end of the day today!

🤝 Delta/Hilton dual status match

Oh hey, Delta (again). OH HEY, HILTON.

This is cool. Delta is offering its members complimentary Hilton elite status, and Hilton is offering its members complimentary Delta Medallion status…

But before I continue… just know that this is targeted, so it’s invite-only (a tad rude around the holidays, IMO 😒).

It’s also important to know that if you ARE targeted, you need to activate either status match by December 31, 2024.

Let’s get into the deets.

Delta SkyMiles members can get Hilton Honors Gold or top-tier Diamond status

If you receive an invite for this, you could claim Hilton status for six months. I’m assuming the higher up the ranks you are with Delta, the higher the status you’ll be offered with Hilton.

Hilton Gold status can grant you perks like free breakfast or space-available room upgrades, while Diamond status can get you executive lounge access and 100% bonus points earned on stays (among many other things) 🙌

If you want to browse through all the benefits of these elite tiers, check that out here.

And if you’d like to extend this status after the initial six months, Hilton is offering reduced requirements to keep your status through March 31, 2026:

• Stay 15 nights (normally 40) during the trial period to keep your Gold status

• Stay 25 nights (normally 60) during the trial period to keep your Diamond status

Hilton Honors members can get Delta Silver or Gold Medallion status

Similarly, with the first status match, eligible Hilton members can receive Delta Silver or Gold Medallion status for six months once activated.

To be honest, Delta’s Silver status is… okay… but minimal. You’ll get a free checked bag and priority check-in and boarding, but not a ton more beyond that.

Now Gold Medallion status definitely holds a lot more value 😏

Not only do you get additional perks with Delta (like waived change and baggage fees, complimentary upgrades, and other priority perks), but you also get SkyTeam Elite Plus status when flying with any SkyTeam alliance partner.

One of the notable perks with SkyTeam Elite Plus status is SkyTeam lounge access (for you and your travel companion)—there are hundreds of SkyTeam lounges around the world, so this one is a biggie.

And if you’d like to extend this status through January 31, 2026, you’ll need to earn a reduced number of MQDs (Medallion Qualification Dollars) during that initial six-month period:

• 2,000 MQDs to keep Silver Medallion status

• 4,000 MQDs to keep Gold Medallion status

Overall, these are fun (and potentially very lucrative) crossover status matches… if you’re eligible.

Check both Delta and Hilton to see if you’ve been given the gift of a tasty status match this holiday season!

That’s it for today, y’all!

We’ve only got a few newsletters left before the year comes to an end, so make sure you stick around tomorrow and next week for some more fun travel tips and tricks.

Until then,

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