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How booking pre-deval netted me 3 premium cabins for 60,750 AA
Yesterday I wrote about AA’s Maximum Mileage Permitted rule on award bookings and how it ultimately put me in 3 great products for my return from Vietnam. This was compounded by the fact that I originally booked this back in March before AA devalued their chart. Awards from Asia 2 were just 67,500 Miles + taxes and fees which amounted to less than $50. On top of this, I was carrying a Barclay Aviator Red which gives a 10% rebate on miles ( up to 10k per year) – which means I actually had 6750 of those miles refunded back into my account. This nets out to just 60,750 miles for what ended up being over $13k in total flight value. Booking pre-deval netted me 3 premium cabins for 60,750 AA and I couldn’t be more stoked.
I’ve talked in the past about how sometimes you just need to book the ticket. This is a prime example of how a BALLER trip came to fruition all because we booked a flight home, and we booked this so we could experience First Class back from Asia for pizza and breadsticks at Pizza King. Now that’s some of that GOOD GOOD. Now we will see Taipei, Ho Chi Minh, Siem Reap, Hanoi, and cruise Ha Long Bay.
The Cabins we will fly and their Values. I’ve never flown any of them – CAN.NOT.WAIT.
Qatar Business Class 777-300
Japan Airlines Business Class 787 retrofit
And the coup d’etat! Japan Airlines First Class 777-300ER
I have to admit…I’m really looking forward to eating some DELISH sushi at the First Class lounge Narita for the price of…on the house.
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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