Why I'm buying points today (trust me, it's awesome)

Good morning from sunny (and way too hot) Dubai! While I roast like a human s’more out here, I’ve got some awesome travel hacks to send your way today, so let’s jump right in:

• 🏨 Why I’m buying points today

• 🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits

• ✈️ Delta’s new gamer-changer seat design

🏨 Why I’m buying points today

Generally speaking, buying points is a no-no in the travel world… Most of the time, the value you get for your money is not very good.

But sometimes, buying points can be a VERY smart choice. And right now is one of those times, because IHG is selling points with a 100% bonus for a limited time.

Here are the deets:

• Points cost 0.5 cents each (accounting for the bonus)

• Available until June 26th, 2023

• Members can buy a maximum of 150,000 points

Here’s why I’m super excited about this, and why I just purchased a healthy little stack of these things earlier today.

I’m planning on heading over to Tokyo in January, because… well… I’m addicted to Japan…

IHG recently built a new property in Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood for 40,000-50,000 points per night that I’ve been eyeing for a while now, so I’ve been saving up my IHG points.

Thankfully, I own this credit card, which gives me every fourth night free when using points to book IHG hotels.

With that perk, this hotel would run me about 30,000 points per night on average, or 240,000 points total for an eight-night stay.

That’s definitely steep for a single hotel stay, but Tokyo can be an expensive city. Plus, I earned 175,000 points just from that dank credit card offer from a few months ago.

Earlier today, my IHG point balance was sitting at 218,000 points, meaning I was 22,000 points away from booking this stay.

Thankfully, this promotion means I can simply buy the remaining points for just $126.

That means that by paying $126, I’ve unlocked a bucket-list hotel stay in an AMAZING location in one of my favorite cities in the world.

To put this into perspective, this stay would’ve otherwise cost me over $2,700 if I were paying cash.

In my book, paying a little over $100 to unlock a stay worth 27 times that amount is a huge win.

So if you’re in the same boat I was in, I’d highly recommend paying for some points to get yourself closer to an award you’ve been eyeing.

🍪 Tasty Travel Tidbits

• 🌴 Enter to win a free luxury trip to the Florida Keys

• ✈️ Qatar makes it easier to book American Airlines with Avios

• 😬 Yikes… another flight gets diverted… twice

✈️ Delta’s new gamer-changer seat design

I think we can all agree that flying economy in most cases ends up feeling like you’re packed into a tin tube with 200 other smelly sardines.

It’s tight, for sure… but can you imagine the challenges of trying to navigate air travel if you’re a passenger with decreased mobility, and specifically, a wheelchair user?

But some cool (and inclusive) developments are on the horizon… And that’s because earlier this month, Delta Flight Products (DFP), a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, debuted a revolutionary seat that could change the travel game for those with a mobility impairment 👇

Currently, wheelchair users face every hurdle imaginable when flying, and this includes having to be transferred into an airline seat—usually by employees who aren’t qualified to do a safe transfer.

In fact (and this is wild), “Commercial aviation is the only mode of transport that has no regulations to allow power wheelchair users to travel safely and with dignity seated in their own chair in an aircraft cabin,” according to Air4All, a U.K.-based organization that develops accessible aircraft seating.

And the number one reason for this? Money 😒

A wheelchair-specific seat loses the airline money if it isn’t occupied, but DFP’s clever seat design kicks that in the tush 💪

This is the first-ever prototype that would make a standard airline seat convertible into a wheelchair-friendly one, which is so cool.

The convertible seat will look and function like any other typical economy seat, but if there’s a wheelchair user onboard, that same seat can fold up to accommodate and safely secure a power wheelchair.

The seat is still in development and needs to pass various testing and certifications, but maybe in 2024 we’ll start to see this on some of Delta’s planes 🎉

It’s always exciting when new tech, products, and designs are introduced in the airline world, but this one is especially exciting in an effort to make travel accessible for all!

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That’s all for today, friends! I have a question for you before I run:

Take care and have a lovely rest of your Thursday,

25.1124° N, 55.1390° E