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5 new routes announced
Yesterday American announced that they would commence operations on 5 new routes to Latin America. I’ve been actively planning a trip for the end of the year, and this brings new dynamic to consider. Since my home airport is LAX the new route to Buenos Aires is quite attractive, especially considering it’s serviced by their 787-9. This aircraft is outfitted with arguably their best business class product, the B/E Aerospace Super Diamond seat ( Some prefer the 77W Cirrus, but it’s a toss up IMO). I was thinking I’d take this trip in November, the week before Thanksgiving, but given this news I’m debating the timing. Why? AA typically floods award space when the route goes on sale…right now scheduled for April 2nd. If you’re thinking of going to any of the places that will be newly service, I’d think about locking down tickets when the space becomes avail for booking.
American will now fly direct from the US to:
- Georgetown, Guyana GEO
- Pereira, Colombia PEI
- Cordoba, Argentina COR
- Oaxaca, Mexico OAX
- Mexico City, Mexico MEX
Per American:
The two aircraft that will feature lie-flat business class seats will service Buenos Aires and Cordoba on the 789 and 763, respectively.
The B/E Super Diamond seat currently avail on AA 787-9s and some 777-200s
This is an outstanding business class product and is worth potentially changing my plans to accommodate if it could be locked down both ways. If you’re thinking of visiting Argentina and you’re based anywhere on the west coast, this will be arguably the best way to fly down there.
The 767-300 AA business class product…less desirable, but still lie flat.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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