Goooooooooooooood morning from somewhere over India, in my cozy Qatar Airways business class pod.

I’ll be honest – I’m exhausted. But not too exhausted to bring you the latest and greatest deals in points and miles.

And today? There are some very good ones:

• 😮 Fly 13 hours for 13,000 points

• ✈️ Save 40% on Southwest base fare (but hurry)

• 🦘 How to book an Australia trip for under $100

😮 Fly 13 hours for 13,000 points

Earlier this week, I told you why I usually avoid using Delta SkyMiles to book Delta flights.

Most of the time, Delta's pricing on its own metal is outrageous enough that you're better off booking through a partner program.

But not always. Every so often, Delta prices something so low that I have to look at it twice to make sure I'm reading it correctly.

“The Kingdom is calling”

Last year, Delta announced they'd be flying nonstop from Atlanta to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

If you didn't know, Delta already partners with multiple airlines in Saudi Arabia, and they've been going pretty hard on the whole Saudi Arabia thing lately.

Anyway, the flights launch on October 23rd. 👇

15,000 miles for 13 hours in the air

And so far, I have to imagine nobody is booking these flights.

That's because Delta is selling this route for just 15,000 SkyMiles each way, plus $8 in taxes.

For a 12-hour and 55-minute nonstop flight. That’s ridiculous.

It’s worth noting that the front of the plane is priced like a normal Delta redemption, so 147,500 miles for a lie-flat seat is not the deal here. The deal is in the back of the bus. 😉

You don't even have to start in Atlanta

But here’s where it gets even better…

You can connect through Atlanta from other cities and pay the exact same 15,000 SkyMiles.

Here’s Newark to Riyadh for the same 15,000 miles and $8, with a 5-hour layover in Atlanta thrown in:

Here’s where it gets funky

If you hold a Delta co-branded credit card, you also get 15% off award flights on Delta itself (not partners).

That takes 15,000 miles down to 12,750.

That means you’re paying under 13,000 miles and $8 to fly 13 hours around the world (hence the headline of this newsletter).

The bottom line

Let's be clear, this is an absolutely amazing deal.

Saudi Arabia is a lovely country, and October and November are actually a great time to go, which happens to be exactly when these flights launch.

If you were looking for somewhere to go during the Thanksgiving holiday week, this is a cheap, interesting, and warm destination that won’t require you to fight the crowds and prices of Europe.

This is also a pretty good example of why you want access to all the points programs, not just your favorites.

Like I said, Delta is usually best booked through partner programs. But when a deal like this shows up, you want SkyMiles sitting in your account, or a stash of MR points ready to transfer over.

Check out our top picks for cards that can get you more Delta miles:

✈️ Save 40% on Southwest base fare (but hurry)

Southwest is running another one of their exhausting sales.

For the next day, you can get up to 40% off base fares with no promo code required, which is nice.

But, as always, there are blackout dates all over the place, not every route is eligible, and the booking window closes fast.

There's also no dedicated sale page to browse. So the only real way to find the discounts is to search for flights you'd actually take and see what comes back. 😬

The details

You have to book by August 13, which is, you know, tomorrow.

The travel window is much friendlier though, running from August 31 of this year all the way through March 3, 2027.

The best part is that the discount applies to cash fares AND points bookings, which is something I respect about Southwest.

That also means it's worth pulling up any Southwest reservations you currently have to see if the price dropped. If you’ve already booked a flexible fare, you can change and get points or a flight credit back.

Some examples

This route from Indianapolis to Austin has three nonstops in a single day, all sitting at $82 in Basic, down from $99.

And the same flights price out at just 5,000 Rapid Rewards points plus $5.60. 👇

That's not the full 40% off, but 5,000 points for a nonstop flight to Austin is a great deal regardless of what the strikethrough price says.

For a longer route with a heavier discount, check out this flight from Los Angeles to Baltimore, which is discounted down nearly the full 40%.

And on the points side, it drops from 15,000 to 9,000 points plus $5.60.

9,000 points for a coast-to-coast flight is about as good as Southwest (or any domestic airline) gets. 🤷🏼‍♂️

This is where a co-branded card earns its keep

The reason I'm comfortable pointing you towards those Basic fares is that a Southwest co-branded credit card covers the stuff Basic doesn't.

Instead of paying for a higher fare class to get your bag included, you can book the cheapest fare, save the cash or the points, and let the card handle the benefits.

Plus, you’ll earn a bunch of points if you pay cash with one of those cards.

The bottom line

If you already had a trip in mind between the end of this month and March, spend ten minutes searching before Thursday. Even if you already have Southwest flights booked, this might save you some cash.

If not, don’t stress too much… There are plenty of good airline deals to go around. 😉

🦘 How to book an Australia trip for under $100

Australia. It's awesome, it's far away, and it’s freaking expensive....

...unless you're a Daily Drop reader. 😉

In this week's YouTube video, we'll walk you through how to book a sweet Australia trip for under $100 out of pocket, and give you some tips for what (and what not) to do to replicate a trip like this for yourself.

That’s it for today, folks! Take care and see you tomorrow.

Byeeeeeee

25.2854° N, 51.5310° E

With contributions by Katie Begnoche, April Wilson, and Sam Anthony.