How to get a free, easy domestic flight

Good morning from Hong Kong, where my body has given up on me and I’m sick like a dog.

Thankfully, earning a shit load of points cures all ills:

• 🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday

• 🦘 Earn 25,000 AA miles when flying to…

• ✈️ How to get a free, easy domestic flight

• 🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal

🤓 Travel Trivia Tuesday

🦘 Earn 25,000 AA miles when flying to…

If you’ve been eyeing a trip down unda, here’s a deal that might make you book it a little faster.

Right now, you can earn up to 25,000 bonus AAdvantage miles on flights between the U.S. and Australia or New Zealand.

This offer is technically targeted, but it appears to be widely available. Just log in to your AA account and check the "Offers" tab to see if it shows up.

Here’s the fine print, simplified:

• You must register for the offer before booking

• Earn 1 bonus mile per base mile on eligible flights, up to 25,000 total miles

• Flights must be marketed by American and operated by American or Qantas (your flight number must start with AA)

• You must book by May 31, 2026, and travel by March 31, 2027

• Only cash bookings are eligible (no award flights)

• Basic economy isn’t eligible either

It’s important to note that bonus miles only apply to the segments that actually touch Australia or New Zealand, so if you’re connecting within the U.S. first, you won’t earn bonus miles on that domestic segment.

Let’s say you book this round-trip main cabin fare from Los Angeles (LAX) to Auckland (AKL) for $1,292:

Only the base fare earns miles (not taxes/fees), and in this case, that’s $1,113. As a base-level AAdvantage member, you’ll earn:

• 5x miles per dollar = 5,565 miles

• 1x bonus base miles = 5,565 bonus miles

• Total = 11,130 AA miles earned ✨

And if you do hold AAdvantage elite status? Well, your earnings will only go up from there!

Better yet, those 11,130 miles are enough to book all kinds of cheaper domestic flights on AA, like this flight from Burbank to Boston:

The booking window stretches almost a full year out, so you could lock in a huge return on your spending even 10 months in advance.

And if you book with a card like this one, you’ll also earn 5x points on flights booked directly with airlines — so the rewards stack gets even juicier. 😏

✈️ How to get a free, easy domestic flight

I know, I know. I’ve been on a bit of a shopping portal kick recently. 😅

But that’s because they truly make it easy to earn a huge return on your spend without much work.

For example, Rakuten lets you earn cash back on purchases with hundreds of retailers, which is great…

… but they also allow you to choose to earn MR points or Bilt Rewards instead of cash back.😏

Sometimes, they offer insane deals where you can get thousands of free points for doing and spending basically nothing.

Right now, you can get $100 cash back or 10,000 points when you open a new Sofi account.

Here is how it works:

• Click the link on Rakuten and open a new Active Investing account with Sofi

• You must fund the account with at least $100 within 45 days to get the cash back

That’s basically it.

In other words, if you invest $100 in stocks, ETFs, etc, you’ll get $100 back.

To be clear, you can withdraw that money from your account after you get that $100, making it essentially free (unless your stocks lose value in that time).

But as I said earlier, you could instead choose to turn that $100 into 10,000 MR points.

Then, you could transfer those points to a program like Qatar Airways Avios and book a domestic flight on American Airlines.

This flight from Dallas to Oklahoma City only costs 9,500 Qatar Avios, for example:

Now, you’ve earned a free domestic flight for basically nothing. Pretty sweet, eh?

Before you go out investing your money, let’s cover a few quick things:

I’m not a financial advisor, and this is not financial advice. But I am someone who just did this exact thing today because I think it’s a great deal.

I like to invest in ETFs and low-cost index funds passively, so this is something I’d be comfortable doing anyway, even before the stack of free points. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Finally, in order to earn MR points through Rakuten, you need to already hold a credit card that earns MR points and link your accounts.

And if you need some inspiration on that front, check out our favorite MR point-earning cards. 👇

And if you haven’t signed up for Rakuten yet, you can use our link to get $50 cash back (or 5,000 points) when you spend at least $50 at any retailer. 👇

🌎 Travel Trivia Reveal

A few minutes ago, we asked which country expats rated #1 for quality of life in 2025...

If you said Spain, you're right! 🎉

According to the 2025 Expat Insider Quality of Life Index, Spain has held the top spot every single year since 2022. At this point, it's not even a debate. Spain is just winning.

And the reasons aren't subtle. Expats ranked Spain #1 for weather, #1 for culture and nightlife, and #1 for recreational sports opportunities. Over 80% gave the healthcare system positive marks across affordability, availability, and quality. Public transit is good. Walking and biking around is safe. There's plenty to eat.

84% of expats living in Spain say they're happy with their life there. The global average is 67%. That gap pretty much tells the whole story.

The UAE came in 2nd, largely on the strength of personal safety (ranked 1st globally) and political stability. Panama jumped from 16th all the way to 3rd, which is one of the biggest moves in the entire ranking. Japan and Portugal rounded out the top 10.

The full ranking covers 46 countries and rates everything from air quality to nightlife to how easy it is to get around on a bike. Worth a look if you're ever curious where your points could take you for more than just a vacation.

👉 See the full 2025 Quality of Life ranking here.

That’s all for today, my friends. Next time you hear from me, I’ll be home in Indonesia after more than 4 months on the road…

Wish me luck! 🫡

Peace,

6.9175° S, 107.6191° E

With contributions by Sam Anthony.