Michael's Miles Round-Up

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Happy Friday Reader!

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If you're ever booking a trip to South America, business class works a little differently than booking flights to Europe or Asia. Not every airline and itinerary will serve lie-flat seats up front. In fact, many times you'll be stuck in a recliner.

The exception is LATAM Airlines. They more consistently have lie-flat seats available in business class (although still worth checking), and they can be booked at a reasonable cost. It's just a matter of hunting them down.

LATAM only flies out of a handful of U.S. airports: LAX, ATL, JFK, BOS, MCO, and MIA. From there you can connect to one of their South American bases, including BOG, Colombia; LIM, Peru; GRU, Brazil; and SCL, Chile. See FlightConnections.com for detailed routings.

LATAM isn't part of any airline alliance, but they do have partnerships with a handful of airlines. Some notable ones are Virgin Atlantic, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and Delta.

One of the easiest sweet spots to find is with Virgin Atlantic. You can book flights to Lima, Peru for as low as 50,000 miles one way from a handful of U.S. airports. But once you start going further into South America, like Chile for example, the price shoots up to 95,000 miles one way. Taxes and fees are cheap too, around the $50 range, which is nice.

When the prices get higher though, you may want to lean toward Japan Airlines if you have access to their miles via Bilt or Capital One. Through Japan Airlines the longer routes will cost just 60,000 miles one way. Even if you have only Capital One points, that will still be just 75,000 miles one way, which is a good bargain compared to 95,000.

And if you have Japan Airlines miles to spare, you can catch the shorter flights to Lima, Peru for just 42,000 miles one way.

Because Virgin Atlantic is one of the major partners to find these flights with, you can use any award search tool to help find this availability, but the pro subscription for Seats.Aero is particularly powerful here.

You can use their Explore tab and filter for LATAM Airlines on the Virgin Atlantic Explore page to see availability for an entire year.

And then it's always good to do a quick check to make sure it's a lie flat seat you're paying for. For that, I use Seatmaps.com, or you can check the route on Google Flights and it will tell you if it's an individual seat, a lie-flat, or a recliner.

As an aside, I'm making headway on my redemption course, I’m hoping to release the first version by the end of the month! Add yourself to the waitlist here. Folks there will be the first to know when it drops and access its lowest pricing.

Are you getting a good deal with your points? ​
My Award Redemption Analyzer compares up to 3 redemption options side-by-side, so you never waste points again.

• May 20th, 2026 is the big date for Hyatt's changes including: Hotel category changes and the addition of 2 more tiers of pricing. See list of hotels changing categories.
• Reminder: on May 17th, you will no longer be able to share your Citi Thank You points with other Citi members. Also, reminder that any points you transfer to another user expires in 90 days.
• Spirit Airlines has shut down for good and has canceled their flights. other airlines are offering discounted rescue fares for those affected.
• You can earn 500 Lufthansa miles by downloading their mobile app for the first time.
• Check to see if you're targeted for bonus United miles with spend on your United card
• The $499 JetBlue Premier card has added new benefits like class pass credits, 15% of JetBlue points rebate, Tile bonus and more statement credits, with no an annual fee increase. See details here.​
• When you redeem Bilt Cash for Grubhub, you now just get a $10 promo code that expires instead of a gift card.
• Save 15% on IHG awards days at these new hotels.
• Earn 500 bonus Hyatt points when you stay at these new hotels.
• Rove adds Air Canada as a transfer partner with a 25% transfer bonus
• United has added the Polaris branding to some domestic routes. Although the actual business class experience won't change on these domestic routes, you will be able to get access to the Polaris lounge, which is nice.
• Now earn 3x Delta SkyMiles per dollar spent on Airbnb Experiences (only 1x on stays), must book through portal. Alternatively you can earn 2x BA Avios/dollar for stays and experiences.

Point Sales:

Purchasing points on sale is a way to access travel sweet spots at a cash discount, especially useful for those who can't earn points quickly through credit cards (those living outside of the U.S.) or those who want to fast-track specific luxury redemptions.

I recommend only purchasing points with a redemption in mind, or if you're topping off an account.

​Learn more with my Points Purchase Playbook + Calculator.
​
Air Canada up to ​30% discount​ as low as 1.90 cents each, exp 5/13​
American Airlines up to 40% bonus as low as 2.26 cents each, tiered
​Hilton Honors 100% bonus as low as 0.50 cents each, exp 5/29.
​JetBlue up to ​125% bonus​ as low as 1.43 cents each, exp 6/10
​Lufthansa up to 50% bonus as low as 1.37 cents each, exp unk.
​Marriott up to ​40% bonus​ as low as 0.89 cents each, exp 6/23
​Southwest up to 45% discount, as low as 1.65 cents each, exp 5/30

I DO think airline credit cards are useful and are worth holding if you use the benefits they offer and if you find them valuable.

I DON'T think they should be the credit card you're using daily, except in three particular use cases. Check out the video to learn more.

If you're interested in supporting NMT via affiliate links here's how:

1) Create a Travel Freely account with my affiliate link.
2) Apply through their website on the app or desktop version using their Card Genie feature which has recommendations based on the cards you have. You can also search for any card.

Within the list below I always do my best to share the best offer that I'm aware of whether it's offered via Travel Freely or not!​
"***" = Different from last week
"**" = Apply through Travel Freely after signing up with my affiliate link.​

Flexible Points Cards:​
-Chase Sapphire Preferred $95 - 75k, after $5k spend​
​-***Chase Sapphire Reserve $795 - 150k after $6k spend
-Chase Sapphire Reserve Business $795 - 150k after $20k spend in 3 months
-Chase Freedom Unlimited $0 - 20k/$200 after $500 spend in 3 months
-**Chase Ink Unlimited $0 - 75k points after $6000 spent
-**Chase Ink Cash $0 75k points after $6000 spent in 3 months
- **Chase Ink Business Preferred $95 - 100k points, increased offer. (Sign-up through Travel Freely)

​
-AMEX Gold $325 has an offer for "as high as" 100k
​-AMEX Business Gold $375 - "as high as" 200k Targeted Offer after $15,000 spent in 3 months. Try copying and pasting link into Private/Incognito browser. ​
​-AMEX Platinum $895 - "As high as" 175k after $12k spend
-***AMEX Platinum from Schwab/Morgan Stanley $895 - 150k after $12k spend
-AMEX Business Platinum $895 - "as high as 300k" after $20,000 spent in 3 months. Try copying and pasting link into Private/Incognito browser; Also here's a 200k ***No Lifetime Language link.
​-Amex Business Blue Plus $0 - 75k, after $6000 in 4 months (Targeted offer). If it errors out when you click apply now, that means you’re not eligible.​
​​
-Capital One Venture X $395 - 75k points after $4,000 in 3mo.
-Capital One Venture $95 - 75k after $4,000 in 3mo.
-***Capital One Venture Business $95 - 150k, tiered, after $30k in 6 months
-Capital One Venture X Business $395 - 150k bonus, after $30,000 in 3 months. AF:$395
-Capital One Spark Cash $95 - $1000, or 100k if you have Venture Miles earning card, you can transfer cash into miles.
-Capital One Spark Cash Plus $150 - $2000, or 200k if you have Venture Miles earning card.
-Capital One Savor $0 - $200 cash back (20k points) after $500 in 3 months

-Citi Strata Elite $595 - 75k points, $595 annual fee
-Citi Strata Premier $95 - 60k points, $95 annual fee
​

Hotel Cards​
-AMEX Marriott Business Card $125 - 5 Free Night Certificate (up to 50k/night) after $9000 in 6 months, tiered.
-AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card $650 - 200k points after $6000 spent in 6 months. Exp 5/13

Airline cards:
​- Bank of America Atmos Summit $395 - (Alaska Airlines Card): 100k + 50% Flight Discount after $6500 in 90 days
- Bank of America Atmos Ascent $95 - 80k + 50% flight discount after $4000 in first 120 days.
- Citi AAdvantage Business Card $99, waived first year. 75k miles after $5000 spent in 5 months.
-**United Club Card $695 - 100k after $5000 spent in 3 months, 10k for adding authorized user.
​-**United Quest Card $350 - 90k after $4000 spent in 3 months, 10k for adding authorized user.
​-**United Explorer card $0 intro, then $150 - 70k after $3000 in 3 months, 10k for adding authorized user.
-**United Business Card $150 - 100k after $5000 spent, 10k for adding authorized user

New deals for May should be available here. I'll have them formatted for you here next Friday!

Chicago (ORD) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
Dallas (DFW) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
Denver (DEN) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
Las Vegas (LAS) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
Los Angeles (LAX) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
New York (JFK) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
New York (JFK) - Europe: Premium Economy for 30k Miles
Orlando (MCO) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
Phoenix (PHX) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
Raleigh (RDU) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
San Diego (SAN) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
Washington (IAD) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles

**Austin (AUS) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
**Boston (BOS) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
**Miami (MIA) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
**Portland (PDX) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles
**Seattle (SEA) - Europe: Economy for 18.75k Miles

- Book by the end of May, for travel dates up to October 31st, 2026. Includes reversed routing.
(Here's how to book it step by step.)

- Flying Blue Promo Awards are 25% discounted fares offered by KLM & Air France. Offer changes every month, and is released on the first weekday of the month. Above are U.S.-based routes, click here for other international-based deals.

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Tell me and get my hotel upgrade template...

American Express:​
Hilton 20% - Ends 5/30
​JetBlue 10% - Ends 5/11

Capital One:​
​Qantas 20% - Ends 5/31

Chase:
Flying Blue (Air France/KLM) 20% - Ends 5/27​
Marriott 65% - Ends 5/15

Citi:​
​Leading Hotels of the World 25% - Ends 5/16

Have a good weekend!
​
​Michael​
​Nurse Michael Travels

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