MilesHusband

06/02/2026

The AMEX to Air France 25% transfer bonus is useful, but only if you search correctly.

One trap I’m seeing right now:

Flying Blue’s calendar pricing can make an award look more expensive than it actually is.

In one example, the calendar showed 213K as the lowest available fare.

But after clicking into the daily results, September 7 priced at 193.5K.

That lower price never appeared in the calendar view.

I see this most often when a partner airline operates part of the itinerary.

So the takeaway is simple:

Do not make a transfer decision based only on the Flying Blue monthly or daily calendar.

Click through to the actual date, verify the bookable itinerary, then decide whether the transfer bonus actually helps.

05/28/2026

Until Philippine Airlines releases award space to Qantas, this new partnership is mostly a logo swap.

SFO–Manila has ample business class seats via Avios.
Qantas shows nothing.

Never chase points because a partnership exists.
Chase the program that can actually book the seat.

05/27/2026

Business class is glamorous until the meal orders start flapping in the cabin like a medieval dinner scroll.

This was on a 787-8 business class flight across the Atlantic.

Lie-flat seat.
Champagne
A handwritten paper meal list taped together and flapping through business class like the Dead Sea Scrolls of airline catering.

The best part?

I paid 55,000 Atmos points + $97 for the ticket.

That’s the part people miss about points.

You don’t need every part of the experience to look polished for the redemption to be excellent.

At that price, I’ll happily let the flight crew run dinner service off parchment as long as the seat goes flat, the service is kind, and 3H gets fish.

05/15/2026

Buy AA miles and transferable points for under 0.4¢ each.

The triple stack:
1) GiftCards dot com through the AAdvantage shopping portal at 2X
2) Pay with a 2X card
3) Trigger the 2,000-mile AAdvantage portal bonus by spending $800+

My cart: $1,000 in Visa gift cards

Fees: $23.80

Total points/miles earned: ~6,100

Skip the $5 promo code which voids the 2X AA portal

Tiny plays like this are how the points balance gets rebuilt between actual trips. Not sexy. Very useful.

Repeat 7 times and you'll earn a $10,000 JAL First Class flight to Japan ...

For $5.60.

05/13/2026

500,000 points sounds like enough for a family trip to London.

Then December gets involved.

School calendars.
Holiday demand.
Multiple seats.
Return flights after New Year’s.
Taxes that make “free flights” feel a lot less free.
Friends or family trying to arrive from other cities on the same day.

That is when the real question changes:

Do these points fit the trip my family is actually trying to take?

A reader recently asked whether 500K points could get their family to London this December.

The honest answer depends on the points, dates, cabin goal, routing, passenger count, cash tolerance, and how early they start.

For London in December, a big balance can create false confidence. The trip usually breaks around the assumptions people made before anyone starts checking flights.

Here’s why 500,000 points can still be a fragile setup for London in December:

The answer depends on dates, taxes, award space, and how early you start.

05/12/2026

Facebook groups love “your first 5 cards should be Chase” because it’s easy to sell.

It creates urgency.
It fits affiliate quotas.
It sounds like a rule.
It scales to beginners.

Then people try to fly business class to London and discover the cash bill.

Chase points can be valuable.

The card order was built for the funnel, not the trip.

I broke down why Chase-first advice can raise your taxes and fees when flying business class into London. https://mileshusband.substack.com/p/fly-nonstop-business-class-us-east