Thrifty Traveler Premium – Revolutionizing Your Journey

Quick Hits: Chase & Amex Pause Emirates Transfers, The Zil Money Payroll Saga Continues and More!

By Bakir Djulic | May 2, 2025

Is travel finally getting cheaper again? In this Quick Hits episode, DeAndre Coke breaks down the latest shifts in travel trends, including a noticeable drop in flight prices and increased award seat availability, especially in business and first class. He explains why now might be the ideal time to snag flight deals using points or cash and shares valuable tools for smarter travel booking, including the newly launched hotel search tool Gondola.

DeAndre also provides an update on the ongoing saga of using payroll for your credit cards with Zil Money, which has been down for over a month now. He also covers a fast-closing loophole that lets travelers transfer Amex points to Alaska Airlines miles. He warns listeners about the upcoming temporary suspension of point transfers from Chase and Amex to Emirates. The episode closes with a heads-up on an active 30% transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Rewards to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, along with key considerations for making the most of those points.

From smart booking strategies to maximizing redemptions, this update helps you make the most of the current travel climate.

Key takeaways:

Flight Prices Dropping: Demand is cooling, bringing cheaper cash fares and improved award availability.
Alaska Airlines Loophole: The Amex → Hawaiian → Alaska transfer hack may end soon—act fast.
Gondola Tool: A new site showing cash vs. points hotel prices, elite benefits, and price tracking, though it requires email read access.
Emirates Transfers Paused: Chase (May 28–June 30) and Amex (starting May 29) are temporarily pausing point transfers to Emirates, hinting at a likely devaluation.
Virgin Atlantic Transfer Bonus: 30% bonus on Citi ThankYou Rewards transfers to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club through May 17.
Thrifty Traveler & Daily Drop: Helpful tools for spotting mistake fares and daily point deals.
Cash vs Points Strategy: When flight prices drop, cash may offer better value than points.

Resources:

LTH Online Points & Miles In Depth Course:
- Use coupon code “BOLDYGO” for a 50% discount!
BoldlyGo Travel With Points & Miles Facebook Group
Truicity Wealth Management
Thrifty Traveler Premium
Daily Drop Newsletter

Connect with DeAndre Coke:

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Revolutionize Your Travel: Must-Have Tools to Plan, Book, and Organize Your Points & Miles Game (Ep. 69)

By BoldlyGo | April 9, 2025

Have you ever wondered what tools a points and miles expert uses to book smarter, earn faster, and stay organized while traveling?

In this solo episode of Revolutionizing Your Journey, host DeAndre Coke breaks down his personal travel toolkit—from the apps that help him choose the right credit card at checkout, to the tools he swears by for booking award flights and organizing itineraries. From automating credit card offers with Card Pointers to searching for award flights with tools like PointsYeah and Seats.aero, DeAndre walks listeners through each step of his travel planning process. He also discusses the value of platforms like Zil Money for earning points on business expenses, and apps like TripIt for keeping itineraries organized. This episode offers practical insights for travelers looking to simplify and optimize their rewards-based travel.

This post contains affiliate links for some of the products mentioned, but we personally use and pay for most of these services ourselves because we believe in their value. We want to share the best points and miles tools that have helped us maximize our travel rewards.

Key Highlights:

Card Pointers: An app that helps users choose the best credit card for each purchase and automatically loads Amex and Chase offers without logging in.
Zil Money: Platform that lets businesses earn points by processing payroll through credit cards—useful for hitting sign-up bonuses and earning high multipliers.
Travel Freely: This tool tracks credit card annual fees and sign-up bonuses and helps users comply with Chase’s 5/24 rule.
PointsYeah: Award flight search engine with features like Daydream Explorer and live seat maps, making it easier to spot high-value redemptions.
Seats.aero: A power-user tool for finding award seat availability, especially useful for last-minute and expert-level searches.
Points Path: The first award flight search engine that runs directly in Google Flights, and provides both the cash price and points price of many flights.
FlightConnections: Visualization tool showing all direct routes between airports—great for mapping international travel and alliance-specific itineraries.
Boldly Go Calculators: Transfer Bonus Calculator and Point Redemption Calculator simplify reward math and show real point value.
Point.me: Beginner-friendly award search tool that includes step-by-step guides and Amex cardholder access for free.
Thrifty Traveler: Subscription service that sends alerts for award availability, mistake fares, and significant cash deals.
TripIt: Travel organization app that builds an itinerary from confirmation emails and syncs across devices—even offline. Helpful for keeping track of complex trips and flight changes.