Woo! The weekend is here! 😎

I'm home. One of my cats is still giving me the cold shoulder in protest. 🐈‍ (I’m not taking it personally; he’s always been a diva.)

This is going to be a shorter-than-normal Weekend Round-Up. You deserve a little break from me.

We spent last week offsite in Toronto. While we were out, we did an experiment across four days, based on some of the requests that landed in my inbox.

Three writers, twelve itineraries, and a week of Thanksgiving dates nobody in their right mind would volunteer for.

You voted. You wrote in.

Some of you were inspired and took action immediately! 💪 

And some of you said these examples helped the whole points-and-miles thing really start to click! 💡

We’re glad this week resonated with you, and we hope you’re feeling more confident now to go out there and make it happen. ✈️

🏆 The Winning Formula: It pays to be flexible

This week you saw 12 itineraries.

Three destinations that were picked by you. Party sizes from one to four, different departure airports, different programs, different writers.

Every single one of those nine trips landed between 189,000 and 200,000 points.

Then Thursday I told them to roll the dice and plan whatever they'd actually book for themselves. Mike went to the mountains of Yunnan, in southwest China. Party of one, exact same week.

127,750 points. He finished with 72,250 points and $1,222 still in his pocket.

Compare that to his Italy trip. Same writer, same party of one, same seven days: 200,000 points, and not one left over.

The variable wasn't skill. It was who picked the destination.

There are two levers that impact great redemptions and cash prices that are truly amazing deals.

• Lever one is the calendar. Katie moved an Italy departure from Saturday to Monday and watched two one-way seats drop from over 100,000 points to 37,500. In Japan, she shifted two days and cut her flight from 88,000 to 48,000. On her Christmas market trip, she flew one day later and paid 24,000 instead of 50,000. Somewhere around Tuesday I stopped calling that a coincidence.

• Lever two is the map. Every seat to Italy, Japan, and Hawaii over Thanksgiving is competing with every other person who has a points balance and the same office closure you do. Mike went where nobody was bidding against him and found award space open every day that week, out of three different West Coast cities.

If your dates are locked, you might want to get a little creative with your destination. Like Mike suggested, try Albania instead of Italy. Same vibes, less crowds, better prices. If your destination is locked, your dates have to move. Lock both and you'll pay full retail in points, and you'll do it while feeling like you’re doing something wrong.

You’re not. That's just what one of the busiest weeks of the year actually costs.

Bottom Line

A little flexibility can be the difference in affording that dream trip or not. Change your destination, change your dates, or change your departure airport and you might find a better option.

Or be willing to potentially shell out a few more points for those fixed dates/destinations.

In short, fortune favors the flexible. 🫡

👀 This Week’s Must-Reads

🌍 Week in Review

• Monday: 🍝 Get me to Italy!

• Tuesday: 🏯Get me to Japan!

• Wednesday: 🌴Get me to Hawaii!

• Thursday: 🎲 Get me to…Wildcards!

• Friday: 🏆 The winners!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming!

News, deals, and card content are back on the schedule starting Monday, August 31.

Thanks for a genuinely fun week, friends.

-April

With contributions by Mike Dodge, Katie Begnoche, and Sam Anthony.