3-course award deal feast

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, the newsletter that uses points and miles to run from its problems… in business class.

But don’t run away just yet — we’ve got a jam-packed edition today:

• 🌎 EPIC 50% global award sale

• 💳 Capital One is pulling back on lounge perks

• ✈️ Flying Blue Promo Rewards (June 2025)

• 🏨 New transfer bonus to Hilton

🌎 EPIC 50% global award sale

Alaska’s quarterly Global Getaways sales are one of the most exciting things in the points and miles world.

They’re not just generic award sales — they’re a curated lineup of discounted routes to destinations both familiar and off the beaten path, all wrapped around a fun theme.

This quarter’s theme? Food. 🤤

Until June 30, you can book some seriously discounted award flights to food-centric destinations around the world… think Mexico, Italy, Thailand, Georgia, and more.

Better yet, you don’t have to travel right away.

The valid travel window runs from August 1 through November 15, 2025, giving you time to plan an epic end-of-summer or fall getaway.

Personally, I’m most excited about Tbilisi (TBS), Bangkok (BKK), and Buenos Aires (EZE).

Sure, Mexico, Portugal, and Italy are great — but we’ve got plenty of other award options to those destinations at lower costs (more on that in a minute 👀).

But flying to Bangkok for 30,000 miles? That’s a phenomenal deal, especially from East Coast cities like New York (JFK), considering how far you’re going.

Even better: There’s still time to transfer Membership Rewards points to Alaska via Hawaiian Airlines at a 1:1 ratio, which ends on June 30, the same day this sale expires.

So if you’ve been racking up points on dining from the American Express® Gold Card or from travel with The Platinum Card® from American Express, now is a perfect time to put them to good use.

💳 Capital One is pulling back on lounge perks

If you’ve been enjoying Capital One Lounge access with your Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Venture X Business we’ve got some news you’re probably not going to love.

Starting February 1, 2026, Capital One is making big updates to lounge access:

• Authorized users will no longer get free access. You'll need to pay $125 per person per year to keep them lounge-eligible.

• Guest access? Only free if you spend at least $75,000 per year on your card.

• Priority Pass access will no longer include free guest privileges.

So yeah… that easy lounge access for your family or travel BFFs will be going the way of free checked bags on basic economy. 🫠

We put together a full breakdown of what’s changing and how to keep your lounge access in 2026.

✈️ Flying Blue Promo Rewards (June 2025)

Remember when I said there were cheaper ways to get to Europe than Alaska’s sale?

Well… this is it.

Flying Blue just dropped its June Promo Rewards, and they’re 🔥.

You’ll get 25% off both economy and business-class flights from North America to Europe, including cities like New York (JFK), Denver (DEN), San Diego (SAN), Orlando (MCO), and even Montreal (YUL).

That means one-way flights to Europe starting at just 18,750 Flying Blue miles. 😮

So if you were eyeing places like Lisbon (LIS) or Naples (NAP) in Alaska’s sale, you might want to consider Flying Blue instead and save thousands of points.

Now, it is a bummer that the 25% transfer bonus from Ultimate Rewards points ended a few days ago… 😭

But even without a transfer bonus, Flying Blue is one of the most versatile programs out there. You can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio from virtually every major issuer.

So whether you got the recent 100k offer from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the 75k offer from the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, you’re covered.

Just like Alaska’s sale, you’ll need to book by June 30 for travel through November 30, 2025.

🏨 New transfer bonus to Hilton

Personally, Hilton generally isn’t my favorite hotel program, but I’ll give credit where it’s due — it’s ridiculously easy to rack up points.

If you’ve got a card that earns Membership Rewards points, you may have been targeted for a 30% transfer bonus to Hilton Honors to rack up even more points.

This is sneakily good value.

That bumps the usual 1:2 Membership Rewards points to Hilton transfer ratio to 1:2.6. In other words, 1,000 MR points = 2,600 Hilton points with this bonus.

There’s no public end date, which means this could disappear at any time — maybe in a few weeks, maybe tomorrow.

So… is it worth it?

For the right redemptions, definitely.

Many top-tier Hilton hotels still cost under 100,000 points per night. That means you could book something like the Conrad Tokyo (a personal fave) for just 38,000 Membership Rewards points per night with this bonus.

But don’t overlook the domestic sweet spots.

For example, there are solid Hilton options in Denver, both offering free breakfast, that can go for under 18,000 Membership Rewards points per night with the bonus.

This is exactly why I love having Membership Rewards points lying around — they’re easy to earn and insanely flexible.

And just to bring it full circle — every deal in today’s newsletter is bookable with Membership Rewards points.

So here’s your action plan:

• ✅ Check if you’re targeted for the Hilton transfer bonus

• ✅ Book a Flying Blue Promo Reward to Europe

• ✅ Lock in an Alaska award to Bangkok, Tbilisi, or Buenos Aires

• ❌ Do not let your Membership Rewards points sit there doing nothing

And if you don’t have a Membership Rewards-earning card… well, you know what to do. 😉

That’s it for today, folks!

Hope you enjoyed these killer ways to earn and burn points for max value.

Catch you tomorrow with even more deals, tricks, and a sneak peek at a special new plane. ❤️

35.0116° N, 135.7681° E