Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, the healthiest part of a morning routine. As they say, “a newsletter a day keeps the doctor away.”

But only this newsletter. 😉

Here’s what we’ve got today:

• 💳 September Top Cards Update

• ✈️ 30% transfer bonus to JAL

• 🍽️ Dinner delivered without compromise

💳 September Top Cards Update

Woah… Is it already September? I guess it’s time to update you on the latest and greatest credit cards out there.

This month, there’s a clear highlight to tell you about, and that’s the suite of Delta co-branded credit cards, some of which have elevated welcome offers right now.

Which one is best?

You could look at this a couple of ways:

1. Which one earns the most miles

2. Which one has the best benefits for your situation

On this card, for example, you can earn a welcome offer of 200,000 Delta SkyMiles after meeting the minimum spending requirements. If you’re someone looking to rack up as many miles as possible, that’s a good start.

If you’re looking for something with a low annual fee (but still has a hefty welcome offer), you could go for this card – you can earn 90,000 miles after meeting the minimum spend.

Personally, I went for this card, which is the “Goldilocks” option. The annual fee is in the middle of the other two, but the benefits and credits are also solid.

The 100,000 SkyMiles from the welcome offer can get you pretty far, too. I’ve been seeing some pretty crazy deals lately, like short regional hops for as few as 4,000 SkyMiles.

That means the 100,000 miles you could earn on this card could book you as many as 25 flights.

On the higher-fee card, you can earn 200,000 miles after meeting the minimum spend, which could book you FIFTY flights like that.

Those prices get even lower when you have a card

One of the best reasons to have a Delta co-branded card is the TakeOff15 benefit, which comes with all Delta cards.

With that benefit, all Delta flights booked with Delta miles are 15% off, in any class of service.

So those 4,000-mile flights from earlier? That’s just 3,400 SkyMiles when you hold a card.

Of course, that benefit becomes more meaningful with longer and more expensive flights.

For example, this round-trip flight between New York and London costs 41,200 SkyMiles in economy:

As a cardholder, that whole trip costs 35,000 miles, or 17,500 miles each way. That’s pretty awesome when it comes to Delta miles.

The benefits and credits

Most of these cards come with various other credits and perks…

I won’t get into all of them, but they include everything from hotel credits to dining and rideshare credits – all things that most people could use pretty easily.

So here’s my advice:

Go check out our list of Delta co-branded cards. Whether you’re a Delta loyalist or just someone who wants a bunch of miles and a 15% award discount, there’s an offer for anyone.

✈️ 30% transfer bonus to JAL

Until last year, Japan Airlines’ loyalty program (Mileage Bank) wasn’t really on many travelers’ radars.

Then, multiple programs added them as a transfer partner, which opened up some unique opportunities, especially with the ability to transfer Capital One miles.

Sadly, Capital One transfers to JAL at a depressing 4:3 ratio…. except for right now.

They just launched a new 30% transfer bonus through September 30, putting that up to a 1:0.975 ratio (we’ll call it roughly 1:1 for simplicity).

If you’ve recently signed up for a Capital One miles-earning card, this is a unique moment to scoop up JAL miles at full value before the bonus ends.

If you don’t have Capital One Miles, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card are both offering 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months from account opening.

And let me tell you exactly why this is such a good deal, even at a simple 1:1 conversion.

Emirates business class for less than Emirates itself

One of the most mind-blowing uses of JAL miles is on Emirates flights.

Emirates offers some of the best business-class seats in the world, especially on their newer planes (or older A380s).

Earlier this year, I used JAL miles to book Emirates business class from the Maldives to the Seychelles via Dubai for just 42,500 JAL miles and $270 in taxes and fees:

Not only that, but availability is actually quite good when flying Emirates to various cities around the world.

For reference, Emirates itself was charging 66,000 miles + $870 for the exact same flight on the exact same day. 👇

That’s insane…

Japan Airlines international business class

Using JAL miles to fly on JAL itself is also a fantastic use of these miles.

You can snag business class from any U.S. city to Japan for as little as 55,000 miles (or economy for just 27,000 miles).

I found seats far in advance, like New York (JFK) to Tokyo (HND) for 55,000 miles + $300 in fees when booking almost a year in advance.

That’s 14 hours in a full business-class suite… and availability is quite good when booking that far out.

…and a whole network beyond Oneworld

Unlike most airline programs, JAL partners with a wild mix of airlines outside its alliance like Air France, Korean Air, JetBlue, Emirates, LATAM, and more.

So if none of the above routes are your jam, there’s probably still a killer sweet spot hiding somewhere.

JAL’s website is really frustrating to use. In my experience, using the app is way more streamlined and allows you to make more searches more quickly.

With the current transfer bonus expiring on September 30th, now’s the time to:

• Scope out routes (Emirates, JAL, LATAM, etc.).

• Create a JAL account if you don’t have one.

• Transfer miles while the 1:1 (ish) window is open.

This is one of the best ways to fly some of the world’s most luxurious business-class seats for pennies on the dollar.

I rarely use my Capital One miles these days, but I’ve been loving my JAL redemptions this year (Emirates, British Airways, and more).

So personally, I’ll be cleaning out my Capital One balance while I can use them at such a good ratio for JAL.

That’s all for today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this look at some good earning and redemption opportunities.

See you next time,

40.7128° N, 74.0060° W

With contributions by Sam Anthony and Katie Begnoche.