Friends,

Award travel has changed materially in the past few years. And while it’s tempting to think the old rules no longer apply, one thing holds true:

Award charts still matter.

Even in a world of dynamic pricing.

Let me explain.

Airlines like Delta, United, and now even British Airways have moved away from publishing fixed award charts. Instead of a set number of points for a given route or cabin, the price floats with demand, day of the week, time of year, or (let’s be real) whatever the computer is thinking.

But not every airline has gone this way — and even for those that have, you can still use their partners’ award charts to book smarter.

Here’s what I mean:

• Turkish Airlines still lets you book any United domestic flight for just 7,500 miles one-way.
  Even if United wants 25k+ miles for the same seat.

• Avianca Lifemiles lets you book lie-flat business class to Europe on Star Alliance carriers for as little as ~63k miles.
  No fuel surcharges, either.

• ANA’s award chart remains one of the best ways to fly round-trip to Asia or Europe using Amex points.
  Especially for round-trip business class bookings (though I’ve yet to use ANA’s program myself: this is one of those ‘on paper’ points)

Even if the airline you fly most has gone fully dynamic (American, Delta, etc.), you can still use partners with fixed award pricing to book the same flights for far fewer points.

It takes a little extra research and availability is not ubiquitous— but that’s where the value is.

I’m not saying dynamic pricing is the Dark Lord of Mordor (though some days I might), but I am saying that in a world where point values fluctuate wildly, award charts are your anchor.

They give you benchmarks, strategies, and most importantly — a shot at outsized value.

If you want to get the most from your points, you need to pay attention to airline partners that still publish award charts.

They’re not always easy to use, but they’re very often worth it.

Fly well.

P.S. if you want to better understand how to think about award charts in your travel + points redeeming planning paradigm (or just want to know what on earth I am talking about) email me or just reply to this message.

Links

This is a bold prediction.

Frontier is not making money, but I have their Gold status.

Why airline seats are so small.

Ryanair tells Boeing (and the Trump admin) to pound sand.

Travel transforms us.

American’s official press release on their new 787s.

DFW’s Terminal F plan is bigger and bolder (which is awesome).

United now flies to Mongolia.

Remember, this life you are living has meaning. Thank you for reading. I am grateful you are here and would love to hear from you. If you'd like to write me a note, simply reply to this email. Otherwise I'll see you in the next one.

P.S. If I can ever help you plan your next travel adventure (slash help make your points go farther), I’d be delighted. You can schedule time together here.