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Yes, I’ve been away. Yes, I’ll be filling you in on where I went, where I stayed, how I flew, and how little I paid 😉
But first, I haven’t had the time to keep you up to date beyond the MilesTalk Facebook group (which you should join if you want to make sure you are getting everything every day), as well as our new news aggregator tool, The Rundown, which is your constant, 24/7 news feed for miles, points, and credit cards.
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So, here is everything I flagged to myself to summarize on the plane ride home which, thanks to Air France installing free Starlink, is easy 🙂
This isn’t *everything* possible from the last two weeks, but it’s everything I personally thought important enough to note.
In this article
Air France and KLM Are Making The Lowest Level Awards Non-Refundable
Starting September 8, Flying Blue awards on Air France and KLM operated flights split into three fare types: Light, Standard, and Flex. Partner awards are not affected.
Light has no changes and no refunds, no advance seat selection, and no lounge access. In economy and premium economy it also has no checked bag. Business class Light does include one checked bag.
Standard allows a change or refund for a 70 euro fee. Economy Standard includes one checked bag, premium economy two, and business class Standard adds lounge access.
Flex includes free changes and refunds, advance seat selection, and checked bags, plus lounge access in business.
Light lands at roughly where the cheapest awards sit today, and Standard runs about 25% to 30% more. Frequent Miler’s example is Paris to New York in business at 60,000 miles on Light versus 75,000 on Standard. Anything ticketed before September 8 keeps the current rules.
Elite status does not buy back flexibility for cancellations, and I have not seen that covered much. To me, that is the lede.
Flying Blue Silver, or SkyTeam Elite, restores your checked bag and advance seat selection. Flying Blue Gold, or SkyTeam Elite Plus, restores lounge access. Free changes and refunds require Flying Blue Platinum, and there is no SkyTeam equivalent for that one.
A SkyTeam Elite Plus member with status from any other airline gets into the lounge and still cannot cancel the ticket. Unless you hold Flying Blue Platinum directly, the only way to keep a cancelable award is to pay 25% to 30% more miles for the Standard fare.
That is huge and is on top of the carrier surcharges Flying Blue already charges, which are punitive on their own and have been rising.
JetBlue Opens BlueHouse Boston and Finally Lets Domestic Mint In
JetBlue’s second BlueHouse lounge opened August 27 at Boston Logan Terminal C, at about 12,000 square feet. That makes it larger than the original at JFK Terminal 5.
Per JetBlue’s BlueHouse terms, complimentary access now goes to customers with active Mosaic status, JetBlue Premier Cardmembers, and anyone traveling in Mint on a Mint or Mint Flex fare departing JFK or BOS. That applies to entry on or after August 27 no matter when the ticket was bought.
Until now, Mint lounge access was transatlantic only. Domestic, Caribbean, and Mexico Mint were locked out, which was worse than what every competitor offered for a premium cabin on a transcon. Excellent.
The guest rules are not the same for everyone. Mosaic 4 members and Premier Cardmembers get one complimentary guest and pay $39 for each additional guest. Mint customers get no complimentary guest at all, with a fee of $39 per guest. Infants under two are not counted and not charged.
One-time passes run $59 for Mosaic 3 and $79 for Mosaic 1 and 2 and for JetBlue Plus and Business Cardmembers. Access opens three hours before departure, or longer if you are connecting on JetBlue. Codeshare and interline tickets do not qualify.
JetBlue also slipped in the new Mint Base fares, coming in the next few weeks. They do not include lounge access or complimentary advance seat selection, and changes and cancellations carry fees. I hate Base fares as a concept. They are always the old regular price with things taken out, so you end up buying back up to what you already had. More money –> Same ticket.
BlueFirst, JetBlue’s new domestic first class cabin arriving by the end of the year, does not get free lounge entry. Main Base and EvenMore Base fares are shut out of BlueHouse entirely and cannot even buy a one-time pass.
Frontier Cuts Mileage Earning by as Much as 90%
For flights purchased on or after September 1, Frontier rebuilt how you earn.
The old rates were flat: 10x per dollar for members, 12x Silver, 14x Gold, 16x Platinum, 20x Diamond. Frontier does not publish the old numbers alongside the new ones, so credit to View from the Wing for putting the before and after side by side.
On Basic fares, a member with no card and no status now earns 1x per dollar, down from 10x. That is the 90%. Elites are cut too: Silver 3x, Gold 5x, Platinum 7x, Diamond 11x, which works out to cuts of 45% to 75%.
On bundles, which means the Economy, Premium, or Business bundle, non-cardholders earn 6x as a member up to 16x as Diamond. Those are cuts of 20% to 40%.
Cardholders come out better. On Basic fares they earn 4x as a member up to 14x as Diamond, and on bundles 12x up to 22x.
Status thresholds change January 1, 2027, and not in one direction. Diamond gets easier, dropping from 100,000 Elite Status Points to 75,000. Silver gets harder, going from 10,000 to 15,000. Gold goes from 20,000 to 25,000. Platinum stays at 50,000.
Also on January 1, elites flying Basic fares lose complimentary seat selection, change fee waivers, cancel fee waivers, and complimentary UpFront Plus and first class upgrades. Upgrades now require buying a bundle. Upgrade windows for 2027 are 4 hours before departure for Silver, 8 for Gold, 18 for Platinum, and 24 for Diamond.
American Brings Back Seatback Screens, and Tightens Refunds
American announced on August 18 that it is putting 4K seatback screens at every seat on the new Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies it takes starting in 2028, with Bluetooth audio, USB-C fast charging, and interactive maps. That reverses the 2017 decision to strip screens out of domestic aircraft. I hate flying on planes without IFE. I like to multitask and don’t want to use my own device for that. I’m not alone…
The other change already took effect on July 29. American’s 24 hour refund now only applies if the ticket was issued at least seven days before departure, up from two days. The cancellation still has to happen within 24 hours of ticketing, and American calculates every timestamp in UTC. Miss either cutoff by one second and you get a travel credit instead of your money back. This matches the DOT minimum rather than exceeding it as it always had.
U.S. Bank Finally Has Transfer Partners
Transfers went live August 11 and there are now five: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Ethiopian ShebaMiles, and Avianca LifeMiles all at 1:1, plus ALL Accor at 2:1. Avianca was added August 29. Flying Blue and Qantas both disappeared about a day after launch and were later restored.
Only the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite can transfer, and that card has been closed to new applicants for a long time. If you do not already hold it, you cannot go get it.
I’m not going to spend more editorial time or space on this unless the card (or another) opens to new applicants as it’s so niche.
Rove Shipped Its Biggest Update Yet
Rove launched an iOS app with a public Android beta, a card-linked dining program, an instant-earning gift card marketplace, a rebuilt hotel platform with far more Loyalty Eligible rates, new Chrome and Safari extensions, and the start of in-store offers.
I covered all of it in detail here: Rove Adds Mobile App, Rove Dining, Instant Gift Card Miles, and a Rebuilt Hotel Platform.
If you are not a member, you can still get 1,500 Rove Miles for signing up at milestalk.com/rove, which is the largest signup bonus available anywhere. Most links give 500.
United Adds 10 New International Cities
United announced its largest international expansion on August 25, with service starting in March 2027.
The 10 new cities are Okinawa, Japan; Toulouse and Marseille, France; Luxembourg City; Ibiza and Valencia, Spain; Terceira in the Azores; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Olbia in Sardinia; and Catania in Sicily. Eight of the ten are not served nonstop from the US by any other American carrier.
The A321XLR handles Ibiza, Luxembourg, Marseille, Toulouse, and Valencia in summer 2027. United is also adding Los Angeles to Osaka, Washington Dulles to Milan, and Denver to Paris, and restarting San Francisco to Tel Aviv.
Google Put Award Pricing Into AI Mode
As of August 27, AI Mode in Google Search returns live award pricing in points and miles, tracks flight prices across more than 180 countries and territories, and completes hotel bookings through Google Pay with ten US booking partners.
Alaska Atmos Rewards and American AAdvantage are live at launch, with Flying Blue, LATAM Pass, and Lufthansa Miles and More listed as coming. On hotels it is Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, and Wyndham Rewards now, with Accor and Hyatt to follow. None of it is available in the European Economic Area.
This is *extremely* limited and does not come close to what a dedicated tool like Points Path does. I am watching it anyway.
Citi Is Running a 25% Transfer Bonus to Leading Hotels of the World
Through 11:59pm ET on September 19, Citi is running a 25% bonus on transfers to Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club. It is the fourth one since the partnership started.
The standard rate on the annual fee cards is 5 ThankYou points to 1 Leaders Club point. With the bonus, Citi Strata Elite® Card, Citi Strata Premier® Card, Prestige, and AT&T Access More cardholders get 250 Leaders Club points per 1,000 ThankYou points, or 4 to 1.
The no annual fee ThankYou cards are eligible too, at a worse rate. The ThankYou Preferred, Citi Strata® Card, Citi Double Cash® Card, and Citi Custom Cash® Card transfer at 1:0.7, which the bonus lifts to 1:0.875, or 175 Leaders Club points per 1,000 ThankYou points.
At our valuation of roughly 7.75 cents per Leaders Club point, the bonus puts you around 1.90 to 2.0 cents per ThankYou point. Full details are on the Citi to LHW transfer bonus page, and every live bonus is on the transfer bonus list.
Delta Cardholders Could Earn MQDs on Hertz Rentals in 2026
The August 24 to September 20, 2026 booking window for this Delta SkyMiles American Express cardmember offer has ended. Eligible cardmembers could earn 1 MQD per dollar on Hertz rentals booked through Delta during that window, with the car returned by December 15, 2026.
Bookings paid partly with miles did not qualify for MQDs under that promotion. SkyMiles members could also earn 4x to 8x miles on Hertz rentals booked through Delta.
The Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card carry Hertz Five Star status, while the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card and Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card carry Hertz President’s Circle status. Enrollment is required for these Hertz status benefits. Terms apply.
Don’t forget the huge new bonuses on the Delta credit cards including one for two round trip flights in Comfort!
Thoughts?
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