🍕How food spending funds your trips - Daily Drop Feb 28, 2026

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Heyoooo — welcome to the weekend!

You did it, friend. 💛

Take a deep breath. Pat yourself on the back. Throw a quick smile on your face.

Whether this week felt crazy long or crazy short, let’s enjoy these next few moments together and catch up on a week FULL of travel happenings.

✈️ United just changed everything about how you earn miles (some of it’s good… some of it's bad).

🌟 There’s still time to lock in BOGO flights with these Southwest offers.

🪦 Hyatt completely changed its award chart (yikes!), and here’s everything you need to know.

🏨 Wyndham has become a new transfer partner with this popular bank.

🎥 Fiji Airways business class is better than you think… and Brendan shows how to book it (even without points) in this week’s Daily Drop YouTube video.

🏆 Our Favorite Pick: From groceries to Michelin Stars (oh… and 28k business class)

This week, the “pick” isn’t a single deal, but a strategy. 👀

Because two very different stories (a Michelin-starred dinner in Benin and sub-28k business class to Japan) are powered by the exact same thing: flexible points you’re earning from everyday spending.

Step 1: Understand how hotel dining on points works

We’ve talked about Accor here and there, but they’re steadily on the up and up, as far as hotel programs go.

At Accor, points aren’t just for free nights. You can apply points at checkout toward any room charges: restaurants, bars, spa treatments, laundry, yada yada.

You simply tell the front desk how many points to use, they send a one-time code, and poof, charges disappear into the abyss.

Accor points are effectively fixed-value credits (2,000 points = €40 off your bill), which makes them insanely useful for dining splurges... like a Michelin Star dinner.

Not to mention, you can transfer points over from Capital One, Citi ThankYou, Bilt, and Rove to Accor.

Many hotel restaurants allow you to charge meals to your room… and in some cases, you can even earn or redeem without actually staying overnight.

Step 2: Earn where you already spend

Ok, now onto the non-hotel dining scenarios. If you live in the U.S., food is probably one of your biggest monthly expenses.

If you saw my personal dining-out bill from the past few months… no, you didn’t. ❤️

There’s one specific card that deserves a dining “shrine,” if you will…

… and it’s this one.

It earns LOTS of MR points at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets. Like lots.

If you redeem those points around 2 cents each (very realistic with airline transfers), that’s roughly an 8% return on your grocery bill. For example:

Spend $1,300/month on dining and groceries
Earn 5,200 MR points
And you’re looking at more than 60,000 points per year (from money you were already spending)

That could easily mean round-trip business class to Europe via Flying Blue during a Promo Reward, one-way Delta One to Europe on a flash deal, or a serious dent in a luxury hotel stay.

And this is where timing turns your earnings into even better value.

Step 3: Stack transfer bonuses

On March 1 (only!), Bilt is offering up to a 100% transfer bonus to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank.

JAL charges 55,000 miles for U.S. to Japan in business class, and 60,000 miles for Emirates’ fifth freedom routes (U.S. to Europe).

With a 100% bonus? That 55k business-class seat drops to under 28k Bilt points, which is pretty absurd.

If you’re earning multiple types of flexible points from your everyday spending (MR points, Capital One miles, Bilt points), you can strategically move whichever currency has the best transfer bonus at the time.

Capital One’s JAL bonus ends Feb. 28. Bilt’s runs March 1.

Phew ok… let’s sum everything up here before my head explodes.

Earn flexible points where you already spend.
Redeem them creatively (hotels don’t just mean free nights).
And jump on transfer bonuses when they’re available.

That’s how a grocery bill turns into Michelin-star dining. And that’s how a normal month of spending turns into lie-flat seats to Tokyo.

👀 This Week’s Must-Reads

How to Pay for Anything with Points

If you want a guaranteed, easy, and reliable way to use points (or should I say miles) for literally any travel expense, Capital One is your go-to.

Bonus Video: How to Book Award Flights on Japan Airlines

Mike recorded a video walkthrough on how to book partner awards on JAL's website. Check it out for a full tutorial.

How to Book Qsuites With Points

Qatar Qsuites are often considered the best business-class seats in the sky. Here’s how to book them with Avios, AAdvantage miles, and transferable points.