monkey miles travel

WELL A-POINTED

Underarm Detox

POWER COUPLE

SECRET CODES, HIDDEN DOORS, TOP FLIGHT COCKTAILS

KELLI FERRELL

Maximize your reward points to score free and upgraded travel!

Zachary Abel has traveled the world, much of it for free (or close to it), thanks to strategic accumulation and application of rewards points. His most dramatic example so far was the 2017 trip he planned for himself and his parents to celebrate his mother’s 75th birthday. The 24-night excursion from Boston to Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Bali, Dubai, France and more; staying in four and five star hotels; and flying in business and first class would have retailed for more than $125,000. Instead, strategically redeemed reward points covered the bulk of expenses so the out-of-pocket outlay was less than $1,600 per person.

The Atlanta-based former actor-turned points guru, who also has a degree in finance and international business, teaches others how to duplicate his results through his travel hacking brand and newsletter, Monkey Miles. Here, Abel shares how to hone your skills.

Stay Flexible

If you’re loyal to a particular airline or hotel brand, it seems intuitive to apply for one of their branded rewards credit cards and rack up points there. Not necessarily. The problem is that “you’re bound not only to their program, but also their pricing,” Abel says. “They can devalue [those points] overnight, which they do all the time.”

Instead, it’s smart to have a well-rounded collection of credit cards and reward programs, which Abel likens to a movie cast. Think of your most flexible cards as the stars, with supporting cast members in the form of brand-specific cards that offer the perks you value. For example, you might keep a Delta SkyMiles American Express card for the reduced-price lounge access, free checked bags and priority boarding.

The advantages of flexible programs are immense. For example, the Capital One Venture Rewards card allows users to accumulate points and then transfer them to use with more than 15 travel partners. If you find a great deal on a flight with Qantas, Air France or Emirates, you can redeem points without being locked into a single carrier.

Have your eye on a big trip? Start planning around 18 months ahead to build up enough points to fund it.

Sign-up bonuses are one of the best ways to accrue points quickly, an impact that can be “huge,” according to Abel. Credit card companies offer bonus point offers to lure new cardholders, often predicated on a certain threshold of spend during the early months of having the card.

“American Express Platinum has a 150,000-point [sign-up bonus]. You could redeem it in the membership rewards AMEX travel portal, and you’d get $1,500 worth of travel,” he says, adding that the most significant impact of those points is often transferring to a partner travel brand, some of which offer further bonus percentages. In the AMEX example, a savvy traveler could transfer that 150,000 point bonus to All Nippon Airways, a Japanese carrier, and piece together an around-the-world trip, all in business class.

It’s also smart to check—and use— additional perks offered by your cards. Case in point: The American Express Gold card gives users a $120 annual credit on Uber, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a $100 statement credit for those applying for Global Entry and TSA PreCheck. Depending on the card, other benefits include free hotel nights, insurance on rental cars, statement credits for particular purchases and more. Double check to see if enrollment is required.

“I sign up for a few cards every year, and I rotate through depending on who has the best bonus and how I’m strategizing for a future trip,” Abel says, noting that some card purveyors have a limit on the number of sign-up bonuses you can receive over a certain time period.

Point Stack

Many credit cards offer point bonuses at certain kinds of businesses such as 2x to 5x points at restaurants, airlines, hotels and more, so it pays to use the cards that offer the best rewards where you’re spending. Beyond the obvious of using the highest rewarding card to pay for the things you’re buying, there are other smart strategies to further boost points.

Shopping portals are another great way to double dip. Websites such as Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates) offer additional bonuses if you shop through them. Say you’re planning to buy a new purse at Saks Fifth Avenue. Purchase through Rakuten and link your credit card, and you could earn 2% cash back (which you could turn into travel perks with a flexible program) in addition to what your card offers.

It’s smart to strategize for big purchases. A few years ago, Abel was renovating a home and needed to buy windows. He signed up for a new credit card with a compelling signup bonus and logged onto a shopping portal that was offering a sizable bonus on purchases at Office Depot to purchase Lowe’s gift cards. That home improvement project netted Abel and his wife two one-way business class airline tickets to Europe.

Credit Cognizant

Abel has more than 20 credit cards in this wallet, and he stays organized by putting all of them on autopay each month so he won’t get hit with late payment fees or dings to his credit score. He recommends paying them in full each month and only spending what you can afford to beef up points.

Concerned about fees? Abel keeps a spreadsheet of all of his cards, their benefits, terms and annual fees (he offers a free version for download on his website). “I try to downgrade to a no annual fee [version of a card] because you want to keep the credit line from those accounts open,” he says. “That helps with your credit and the length of your credit history, but it also helps with credit utilization,” the ratio of your outstanding credit balances compared to your overall combined credit limit.

Enlist Expert Help

Once you’ve built up your points, search for the best deal to maximize their impact. Airlines sometimes offer redemption bonuses, and you can search for partner airlines within the same network to get the best deal. For example, you might see if KLM, a Delta partner, has a more favorable redemption offer on your chosen flights. Abel admits that these strategies can be overwhelming to someone who doesn’t hack points professionally. He recommends engaging a concierge service such as Point.Me that, for a fee, helps would-be travelers find the best deals using the points they have.

monkeymiles.boardingarea.com @zacharyburrabel

Abel will add author to his list of accomplishments later this year with a yet-to-be-titled book about how to travel first class on a budget, hack your points and conquer your credit.

Atlanta’s hometown carrier, Delta Air Lines, is making it easier than ever to get away. Here are some of the new routes and increased flights to and from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.

~ Increased frequency with daily nonstop flights from Atlanta to both Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile, as of October 2022.

~ In December 2022, a never before- operated, nonstop route from Atlanta to Cape Town launched.

~ Starting March 26, four-timesweekly service to Stuttgart, Germany. n Starting May 9, three-times-weekly service to Dusseldorf, Germany.

~ Starting May 25, five-times-weekly seasonal service to Edinburgh, Scotland.

~ Beginning in May, nonstop service to Tel Aviv, Israel.

DELTA AIR LINES 800.221.1212 delta.com @delta

PHOTO: Sara Hanna

Senior Contributing Editor and Beauty Columnist at Simply Buckhead . Travel, Food and Design Writer and Author.

Here Comes The Sun

At Your Service

Starting at ‘D’

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Site Design and Management by BHGDigital

• Pick up a Copy of Simply Buckhead Magazine Today

Interview with Zach Abel: Actor Turned Points and Miles Blogger

We sat down with Zachary Burr Abel ( @zacharyburrabel ) to discuss how he went from acting to traveling around the world blogging about points and miles. If you follow the @monkey_miles instagram account, you may be jealous of his travel companion.

Book Points Travel You Didn't Know Existed

Chat directly with our Chat GPT Points Expert and book impossible travel for your hard-earned points

Free with Chat GPT Plus

Zachary Burr Abel Talks About the Future of Travel

Tell me a little bit about your journey. how did you get into points and miles in the first place .

I'm an actor and I've always been obsessed with travel. I went through a little bit of a setback with a back surgery that I just didn't recover from in the time that they said, and while I was kind of down and out, I went down this very deep and exciting rabbit hole of points and miles that I decided was really fulfilling, creatively. So I started a travel blog in the year that I was kind of out of commission and trying to stand upright.

So while I was dealing with pain, I was also figuring out that like, oh my god, I think I can travel the world for next to nothing. And then it's just been sort of a snowball of fun, exciting travel and building an online business. And like meeting you guys at Chatflights, Spencer Howard [from Straight To The Points] connected us actually, so it's been fun meeting people, going to conventions and meeting like minds. There's so many different backgrounds of people in this community.

Do you feel things are basically as they were when you started, or have there been shifts over the years?

Well, I think that it's gotten considerably more difficult to find award space, that’s for sure. I think the algorithms have shifted and gotten more efficient, it used to be more transparent in terms of what awards would cost and how to find the space. Things like married segments and dynamic pricing have made things quite a bit more difficult.

But at the same time I think that's where your expertise and companies like Chatflights comes in. Staying on top of all of that stuff, the banality of it for most people is overwhelming and it's just like, I just want to get it done. And so if you have experts that build a rapport and have a great relationship with their clientele and are able to execute, like that adds a lot of value I think.

Related: Variable Award Pricing: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

You said you would go and travel for free after your convalescence, did you go off on a few of those dream trips.

I've basically traveled since it's become my full time job. I mean, I still act, I still get hired, but it shifted from where I was working nonstop as an actor to now as a travel blogger and building that business. Up until 2020, I was flying 100-150,000 miles a year, reviewing hotels and destinations, etc. So I was traveling multiple weeks out of the year while still being based out of Los Angeles.

It comes down to how well you can access your audience I think, and then build affiliate relationships. Because you're not going to be able to pay bills off of Google ads. So for me I was trying to do other things while scaling up, like doing award bookings for clients as a tandem to the content business.

‍ Enter TikTok where you have a massive following, Did that change things for you?

Yeah I mean TikTok was the biggest shift. I don't know if you follow Gary Vaynerchuk at all, but I'm a huge fan of his. When I started my blog, the blog space was already really saturated to a certain degree, with established players like The Points Guy, Million Mile Secrets, One Mile At A Time and some of the bigger Boarding Area blogs. So for me it was like I found a niche in this fun, playful space. And then certainly with award booking clients and consulting in Los Angeles through relationships I had in the entertainment industry, and all these elements put together, that’s how I scaled the business to a certain degree.

So with TikTok, it's been a tremendous amount of growth at one of the strangest periods of my life where I sort of just leaned into it, because there was no one doing this. It’s as if you would've started a blog in like 2011 or 12, you would have been so new to the space. And I was like two, three years after that, but now with TikTok, I think even with Instagram and YouTube, I think those algorithms are now having to shift to keep up with TikTok and it has disseminated it. TikTok has taken my business to a whole other level. I think also because I was doing it when nobody else was traveling, and I definitely got a lot of heat in the beginning because I was putting out interesting travel based content.

But for me I sort of looked at it and was just like, Are we never going to travel again? Why can't we just be hopeful that this is going to pass? And then there was this period sometime last year where there was just a shift and I was like, this is the time. And I sort of just went full on into TikTok and I think that I was able to do it in a way that worked because I kept to my three tenets, meaning if I can educate, entertain, and inspire, then I think that that will resonate. And it worked!

Related: Europe Opens: Where to Fly and When to Book

Let’s talk about travel, what are some destinations you would go back to.

Japan. A hundred percent. Yeah, wow, I just think it's there are some places that you go to where you really feel it's culturally so different from where I've grown up in America. And so I think going to those places, you can just learn a lot if you’re open to it. I'm drawn to Asia and the Middle East for some reason. I don't know if it's some past life I had, I have no idea, but I love going to these places where I can learn and glean so much perspective and insight from how other people live their lives. Things like their amazing food, I think that it's a different level of hospitality and I’m really drawn to that. 

‍ Lastly, How will we travel in the future do you think? 

I think hypersonic and supersonic stuff is pretty interesting. I think you'll progressively see first-class probably get done away with to a certain degree. Although I think what we knew as first-class in the past will morph into something different like four really exclusive seats. But I think the big shift will be in the business classes, which are now becoming so incredible that maybe we’ll see some kind of a mixture, like what EVA is doing where you basically have a first class experience in a fairly dense business class cabin, but it’s still the pajamas and amazing champagne. 

I think the other big thing is the Airbnb concept. I've had a lot of discussions with them, I think people are gonna gravitate to that versus hotels. I think that there's going to be some leveling out effect of COVID in terms of over-saturation of hotels. I think a lot of people are going to decide to rent houses coinciding with the best flight redemptions. Unless you’re going to like the Maldives where you don’t really have a choice but to book a hotel, I think people are going to gravitate more towards renting houses.

Related: Top 5 Business Class "Suites" to Book Using Reward Miles

If you haven’t already, check out the Monkey Miles blog for tips on earning credit card points. And if you need help redeeming your points to fly in premium cabins, start up a chat with our award travel experts at any time.

Stay on top of the latest deals, get inspiration for your next destination, and discover the latest quirks of the airline industry. Follow us on Instagram , Facebook , or Twitter .

Get Inspiration and Tips Every Week

Sign up for our newsletter

Recent Posts

The 5 Best Airlines for Flying to Asia Using Credit Card Points

Exploring the Skies in Style: A Beginner's Guide to Booking 5 Top Business Class Flights with Amex Points

Park Hyatt Zanzibar Review

Wanna chat 👋.

Our expert GPT is standing by for Chat GPT Plus members. Simply click below and start chatting. Have feedback or a question for the team? Join our Facebook group.

• Podcasts 88

Latest News

Monkey miles – zachary abel – nb 020.

• November 13, 2018

On Ep. 020, Zachary Abel of Monkey Miles joins Ed to chat all about traveling on miles and points and his globetrotting companion, Miles the Monkey. Tune in to learn more about how this actor first fell in love with travel as a child and some of his favorite destinations in the world. Zachary shares his favorite airlines, hotel chains and preferred credit card programs, in addition to the destination that’s still on his bucket list and his all time favorite trip.

Thanks to our Sponsors!

Norwegian Air

Monkey Miles

Miles the Monkey’s Instagram Account

Miles the Monkey’s Twitter Account

Zachary’s Instagram Account

Zachary’s Twitter Account

Check out This Awesome Travel Podcast

We Travel There

The post  Monkey Miles – Zachary Abel – NB 020 was first published on Miles to Go .

1 comment on “ Monkey Miles – Zachary Abel – NB 020 ”

• Pingback: Check out my chat with Pizza in Motion on NowBoarding - Monkey Miles

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

• Things to Do
• Restaurants
• Vacation Rentals
• Travel Stories
• Rental Cars
• Add a Place
• Travel Forum
• Travelers' Choice
• Help Center

Great team, I booked the Trans-Sib with... - Monkeyshrine Trans-Siberian Tours

• Asia    
• China    
• Beijing    
• Beijing - Things to Do    
• Monkeyshrine Trans-Siberian Tours

Matt, the group, have now all received the deposit refund for our May 2020 Trans-Mongolian trip and... read more

When my boyfriend told me that the Tran-Siberian railway was on his bucket list, I started my... read more

Great team, I booked the Trans-Sib with them twice and both trips were smooth as silk.

I took two trips with Monkey Shrine, one in winter and one in the summer. Both were Beijing to Moscow and each was great in different ways. The green of the forest in Siberia was beautiful, though seeing it in the winter was striking as well. Mongolia was more interesting in the summer, the winter was pretty brown and monotonous, but the camels outside Ulaan Baatar were cool. I didn't see them in the summer. Watch for raptors in Mongolia. There were quite a few if you looked, but I think they were there due to the lack of toilet containment tanks encouraging rodents, which look pretty good to eagles and hawks. The trains may be more modern now which means the raptors will have less reason to follow the tracks. MS knows how to get the visas and the contacts which saves you a ton of time! I definitely recommend splitting the trip in two, or in three. Otherwise the trip really seems endless as I found out the first time in the summer of 2004. On the second trip in 2012 I took off a couple days and spent them at Lake Baikal, which was great! Bring cards, load your smart phone with plenty of books, bring a sharp knife and at least 2 or 3 ramen or dried soups, crackers, some hard cheese and a sausage or two. I brought a bottle of schnapps and it was a good choice. The dining cars were ok, but eating in your room is good too. When you get to Lake Baikal definitely buy some of the smoked white fish, stinky but great. If it is winter you can rig a harness and hang your big beer bottles out the window to keep them cold, but don't leave them too long or they will freeze and spray beer all over the outside of the car. The conductor will hate you if that happens. I thought I had left a review years ago, but I don't see it. My "When did you go" response is way wrong since they don't go back that many years on the choices on it.... Most of all, just talk to Monkey Shrine and have them book the trip for you.

Matt, the group, have now all received the deposit refund for our May 2020 Trans-Mongolian trip and we thank you and your company for your prompt attention to this. As a group, we would like to convey our appreciation to you for your professionalism, swift efficiency and attention to detail in these most difficult of times for the tourism industry. We can completely endorse your company for your fair and efficient treatment and plan to rearrage the trip with you once it becomes safe to travel again and the CoVid-19 virus is eradicated.

When my boyfriend told me that the Tran-Siberian railway was on his bucket list, I started my research. One thing became apparent, you can NOT plan this on your own! My Lonely Planet guide highly recommended Monkeyshrine so I reached out to Matt. They were able to custom plan a trip to my specifications that included China, Mongolia and Russia. Everywhere we went we were greeted by a driver and a guide who took personal care of us. In Mongolia that meant 24/7 for 4 days. I felt safe at all times and truly enjoyed the one on one tours I took while my boyfriend hung out with the drivers due to mobility issues. We paid a small fee for the upgraded package which was well worth the money. It is without hesitation that I highly recommend Monkeyshrine, in fact I am planning another trip for 2021!

Thanks for the excellent organization of this trip – there has not been a single breakdown. All trains, transfers, hotels, the guides, have worked perfectly and were on time and in any manner in order. 
The trip was in my – in our view – a complete success.

• Australia edition
• Europe edition
• International edition

‘The Godfather of trains’: the Trans-Mongolian from Moscow to Beijing

For the author of Around the World in 80 Trains this was a standout journey, full of captivating encounters that could only happen on a train

W ith the air of melodrama unique to chic French women, the lady opposite me yanked open the overhead window then sat back down, grumbling to no one in particular and fanning herself with a copy of Paris Match. An aroma of pine filtered into the carriage and a breeze cooled my brow as the train clattered south to Béziers. Edging up to the window, I looked down to where a curl of sand and green water had appeared, an oasis where children bobbed about in dinghies and leapt off limestone rocks. This was the essence of why I love train travel: it allows me to see what’s behind the trees in the Massif Central; to smell the coconut being fried in huts in Kerala; and to spot rainbows hovering in the spray of Niagara Falls.

A week earlier I had set off from London St Pancras to Paris with the aim of travelling around the world in 80 trains. In 2010, I had travelled around India in 80 trains and come away in thrall to the railways – so much so that I decided to embark on a global railway adventure. For a long time, the rise of high-speed trains and budget airlines appeared to threaten the notion of romantic rail travel. But I wanted to see what slow travel means to people all over the world and what long-distance trains still have to offer the modern-day traveller. Hanging a map on my wall, I pinned cities of interest and tied coloured string from one to the next, watching the next seven months of my life wind around the world with surprising simplicity. With the exception of visas for Russia, China and Vietnam, few logistical issues arose. I bought rail passes for Europe, Japan and America, and booked long-distance journeys such as the Trans-Mongolian and The Canadian, before setting off, sewing in the other trains with ease.

Over the first four weeks, Europe’s TGVs, AVEs and Freccia Rossas swept me from city to city, allowing me to lunch on cassoulet in Toulouse and be in Barcelona in time for a dinner of gambas al ajillo . Punctual, quiet and efficient, the air-conditioned trains fulfilled their primary purpose – taking me from one destination to the next – but they were devoid of soul. Passengers boarded, stashed their bags and sat in silence, staring at phones and munching paper-wrapped panini. I threaded through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia before arriving in Moscow to board the Godfather of trains – the Trans-Mongolian to Beijing. It was here that the journey truly began…

On the morning of departure, sirens wailed and police cordons appeared around Moscow, closing metro stations and blocking access to supermarkets owing to the arrival of Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. This meant I was unable to stockpile anything other than a four-pack of instant noodles, a couple of Kinder Bueno bars and all the biscuits and herbal teabags from my hotel room before embarking on the four-night leg to Irkutsk in Siberia.

Once on board, I surveyed my compartment – complete with cracked window and condom wrapper under the berth – before wandering up the corridor, glancing into my neighbours’ digs and wincing at the smell of dried omul (a fish found only in Lake Baikal) drifting in a warm fug. Long and thin as though ironed into strips, the yellowing fish was a staple in the makeshift pantries set up by my companions, along with loaves of bread and rounds of cheese wrapped in wet cloth. Breaking into a panic, I followed the tiring sound of Euro-trance and found the disco-dining car, relieved to see a kitchen, even though the chef was lighting a cigarette off the hob while smiling at me.

Once the train had jolted out of Moscow, I slid into a red booth and tucked into a slightly faggy-tasting pork escalope draped in dill. As we sped through the bleakness of the suburbs, I was joined by Aleksandr and Aleksandr, both in Adidas vests and sliders, and wondering what on earth I was doing on board.

“This train is trash, I hate it!” declared Aleksandr I, a young lawyer. A lack of roads meant that he was condemned to using the Trans-Mongolian twice a month to attend court hearings 13 hours away in Kirov: one person’s bucket-list adventure is another’s nightmare commute. He said he had never seen an English person on board the train which, it transpired, was a domestic service used by Russians only – rather than the fancy Rossiya service preferred by tourists. Aleksandr II was visiting his parents, a five-day journey away, and was convinced I was a spy, photographing every page of my diary under the guise of liking my handwriting.

In between attempts to read War and Peace, I spent the next four days lying in damp, tangled sheets watching leafless trees flit by the window. Most afternoons I’d play cards with kids or swap tat with soldiers, offering second-class stamps in exchange for a tube of Pringles or a smoke grenade, enjoying the clamour and constant companionship. But at dusk I’d stand alone in the corridor meditating on the mists as they swirled in great halos. Charged by the sight of the world moving at pace before my eyes, I’d still myself, knowing I was privileged to witness how deeply this train carved through the Earth, shining a light into its darkest corners.

Like most travellers, I broke up the journey in Irkutsk and spent a day chugging around Lake Baikal on the old Circum-Baikal steam railway before boarding the overnight Rossiya service to Ulaanbaatar. Fitted with soft-cushioned berths, automatic doors and heated toilets, the train rocked me into gentle slumber until I was screamed awake in the pre-dawn darkness by a sadistic provodnitsa (carriage attendant).

Often, an unavoidable side effect of long-distance train travel is finding yourself at the mercy of awkward timetables. Faced with the dilemma of spending five days in Mongolia – which wasn’t enough time to trek across the countryside – or a measly two nights in the capital Ulaanbaatar before the final leg to Beijing, I opted for the latter, spooning up mutton broth with students at a popular restaurant called Modern Nomads, where the staff wore Genghis Khan outfits and white-collar workers sat around drinking Johnnie Walker and watching bad music videos. The following morning the final train thundered towards China across the Gobi desert, a thirsty, rust-red terrain mottled with tufts of yellowing grass. In the distance sat round nomads’ gers, their funnels piping smoke into the sky, double-humped camels tethered to the ground.

It had been almost six weeks since I’d glided out of St Pancras, and I was 6,000 miles away, all of which I’d covered by rail. Inching through forests, curving around coasts and burrowing deep into the guts of towns and cities, these slow trains had destroyed my concepts of distance and space, and replaced them with a new truth: that we couldn’t be more close or connected. From one country to the next, I’d sat at the foot of my berth, my view universal: hawkers sold their wares, lovers held hands, and children played football. I’d watched the skies close in, the ground level out, the seas pull apart and the land unlock. And now, as we sped towards the Chinese capital, billboards closing in, wires swinging low and buildings edging towards the tracks, I felt an undeniable sense of place. Slowing into the station, the train creaked and came to a halt. Through the roar of the crowd, rumbling of cases and muffled announcements, I stepped on to the platform and allowed Beijing to sweep me into its embrace.

How to do it

The Eurostar from London to Paris starts at £44 one-way. Consider an Interrail pass for travelling across Europe: a seven-days in one month option covering 31 countries costs £260 adult or £ 216 youth. There is also a weekly train direct from Paris Gare de l’Est to Moscow from £267 one-way (see seat61.com for details).Booking from Moscow to Beijing takes a bit of planning as each segment needs to be reserved separately; Real Russia ’s advisers can help with what can be a daunting exercise, booking each segment, making hotel reservations and organising Russian and Chinese visas.

The paperback edition of Monisha Rajesh’s Around the World in 80 Trains is out on 2 3 January (Bloomsbury, £9.99)

Looking for a rail holiday with a difference? Browse Guardian Holidays to see a range of fantastic trips

• Rail travel
• Moscow holidays
• Beijing holidays
• Russia holidays
• China holidays
• Europe holidays

Most viewed

Here's what happened when we used my 5-year-old’s award miles to book travel

My husband and I have always been passionate travelers . We've shared our love for exploring the world with our son , who, at just 5 years old, has already traveled to five continents. With his impressive collection of passport stamps has also come a significant number of frequent-flyer points and miles from the various airlines we've flown.

When we planned our latest family adventure to Scotland last month, it made sense to book his ticket using his own United MileagePlus miles rather than our own, based on our specific travel plans.

We booked our tickets in February. However, in March, United announced it was starting a family pooling program where groups of up to five members can link their United MileagePlus accounts to share and redeem miles. That's all to say, we would have avoided the issues detailed below if we had booked a few weeks later.

Before family pooling became available through United MileagePlus, we thought securing his seat alongside ours would be a breeze. As we soon found out, booking his ticket with his own points ended up causing more complications than we anticipated. This is something families should be aware of when choosing an airline.

My child was flagged as an unaccompanied minor 

Despite informing the airline via its online customer service chat feature that we were traveling as a family, when we tried to book separate tickets for each of us, it resulted in my son's being flagged as an unaccompanied minor.

The airline's system categorized him this way simply because his ticket was booked individually with his own miles. This created a string of inconveniences for us that took many hours and some extra spending to sort out.

Separate reservations, separate seats

Instead of grouping us as a family traveling together, the airline's reservation system considered each of us individual passengers with separate reservations. This made it difficult to secure seats together, so we had to pay extra (about $50 each way) to ensure we'd be seated as a family. This was an unexpected expense.

Extra time at the airport

Since our son was flagged as an unaccompanied minor , we couldn't check him in online as we usually do to avoid long waits at the airport. Instead, we had to allocate extra time to check him in at the ticket counter; we had to explain to an agent that he wasn't traveling alone so the usual extra services (which can come at a cost) were not necessary.

Although we resolved the issue relatively smoothly at both Edinburgh Airport (EDI) and Newark Liberty International (EWR) airports due to shorter lines, it was still an inconvenience. During a busy travel season, these extra steps could easily add more stress to an already hectic travel day.

In the future, taking advantage of United's family pooling program should alleviate many of these problems.

For example, pooling our JetBlue TrueBlue points for a trip to Grenada allowed us to travel smoothly as a family and easily reduce the overall cost. Of course, we could have avoided these problems by using our own United miles for our son's ticket. Still, there are benefits to your child garner their own mileage points, especially if you can pool them for travel.

Should you sign kids up for mileage programs?

Earning miles

Kids can earn points and miles on their own tickets, just like adults. These can accumulate quickly, especially if you fly a lot or spend a lot of money on tickets with revenue-based programs. You can use those miles to offset the cost of future flights, which means family travel becomes less expensive.

Even with the headache, if you're traveling frequently with your kids, it's worth signing them up for airline mileage programs early on. Here's why.

Special offers for kids

Some airlines offer exclusive deals and promotions for younger travelers in their loyalty programs. For example, Air France-KLM's "Flying Blue Family" program offers some of the best discounts for children's award flights. This program includes several family-friendly features, such as a 25% discount on award tickets for children ages 2 to 11 when traveling with a parent.

Elite and lifetime status

Frequently flying kids can earn elite status just like adults. Not to mention, signing them up for programs and having them earn points early means they will also have a head start toward lifetime status with programs that still offer it.

Lifetime status basically offers travelers automatic elite status after they reach certain thresholds. By having more runway to hit those thresholds, kids will be well on their way toward those permanent benefits by the time they're adults.

Take advantage of family pooling

Some frequent flyer programs go the extra mile by allowing family pooling . This feature makes it easier for families to link their accounts and reservations (and thus avoid the type of hassle my family encountered).

Pooling miles enables multiple family members to combine their mileage balances into a single loyalty pool; this can turn small, individual points into something potentially significant that can be redeemed toward award flights. For instance, five family members with 5,000 miles each might not have enough for individual redemptions. Together, though, their 25,000 miles could be enough for an award flight.

In recent years, more airlines have adopted family-friendly policies that make pooling easier. Some of the major U.S. airlines that offer family pooling include:

JetBlue TrueBlue

JetBlue allows members to pool TrueBlue points among up to seven friends or family members. A designated pool leader (who must be at least 21) manages the points, making it easier to combine and use them for family travel.

Frontier Airlines

Frontier offers family points pooling for up to eight people. However, this feature is only available if the pool leader has Frontier elite status or the Frontier Airlines World Mastercard® . A person can only be a member of one Frontier family pool at a time and must wait 90 days between switching pools. If you have a family, keep in mind that kids can fly free at select times on Frontier.

The information for the Frontier card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

United Airlines MileagePlus

As mentioned above, United recently introduced a pooling option, allowing up to five members to share and redeem miles in one account. There are no age restrictions, and families can combine balances to redeem their miles more easily than booking separate reservations.

International airlines

Internationally, many airlines also offer family pooling, including:

• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Find the full list of airlines that offer pooling here .

Family pooling makes so much sense for travelers like us, where even our young son has accumulated his own robust roster of mileage accounts. The ability to pool points into one account allowed us to book as a family and sit together without the hassle of separate reservations or unaccompanied minor categorizations.

Bottom line

Traveling as a family should be about creating cherished memories, not jumping through hoops due to technical glitches. By understanding airline policies and leveraging programs like mileage pooling, families can avoid unnecessary complications and focus on the joy of travel.

Flight Time Calculator

Flying time between cities.

Travelmath provides an online flight time calculator for all types of travel routes. You can enter airports, cities, states, countries, or zip codes to find the flying time between any two points. The database uses the great circle distance and the average airspeed of a commercial airliner to figure out how long a typical flight would take. Find your travel time to estimate the length of a flight between airports, or ask how long it takes to fly from one city to another.

You can also search for the closest airport to any city in the world or check the flying distance between airports. If you're thinking about a road trip, compare the driving time for the same route.

Home  ·  About  ·  Terms  ·  Privacy

trending now in World News

Nicki Minaj arrested, slapped with fine in Amsterdam for...

Hitler-worshipping narco who flooded US with cocaine reveals...

Late Sandals Resorts founder's son allegedly waiting for dad’s...

US man seen begging for his life after 'failed Congo coup' was on...

Mount Everest climbers missing, presumed dead after icy collapse...

Sickening new video shows Hamas line up female Israeli soldiers...

Father-son terrorists describe how they raped, murdered women on...

Poland, Baltic states agree to creation of protective 'drone wall'

Thai town terrorized by 2,500 wild monkeys turns to traps to tackle pesky primate problem.

• View Author Archive
• Get author RSS feed

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

@skynews Officials in the Thai province of Lopburi have started to tackle the growing issue issue of monkeys in the urban area using a combination of fruit and cages to trap them. Monkeys caught in the cages are taken away to be cleaned and numbered for monitoring. Monkey Thailand Fruit Cages Lopbury ♬ original sound – Sky News – Sky News

They’re taking care of monkey business.

An estimated 2,500 wild monkeys ahttps://www.tiktok.com/@skynews/video/7372583483874610465re terrorizing a popular tourist town in central Thailand — and authorities are relying on some inside-the-box thinking to tackle their pesky primate problem.

Officials in Lopburi started using the macaques’ favorite food — the tropical fruit rambutan — to reel the brazen simians into cages on Friday.

“With the monkey’s intelligence, if some of them go into the cage and are caught, the others outside won’t enter the cage to get the food because they’ve already learned what’s happened to their friends,” said Patarapol Maneeorn of country’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Over the past decade, there have been multiple conflicts with monkeys , who try to snatch food from people in Lopburi, which is 90 miles north of Bangkok.

Videos have circulated online showing the macaques grabbing food from innocent bystanders, causing them injuries. In March alone, hungry monkeys caused a woman to dislocate her knee and a man to be knocked off his motorcycle.

Local businesses are also suffering from the monkey invasion.

“When there are a lot of monkeys around, customers are afraid of buying the goods at the shop. Only our regulars aren’t frightened,” shop owner Supaporn Tantiwong said.

Although the mischievous monkeys attracted tourists to Lopburi, it is now an “abandoned town,” Mayor Chamroen Salacheep said.

“After our operation is over, I will do a big cleaning across the town and paint all the buildings to regain the faith of the people,” he vowed.

After the macaques are captured, they will be examined, cleaned and inked with tattoos for future identification before being placed in massive enclosures.

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation will collaborate with wildlife experts to form a plan to have some of the monkeys roam freely around the city.

With Post wires

Share this article:

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Get Closer to Earning Delta Status When You Book a Hotel or Rental Car for a Limited Time

Score 1 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) per $1 spent plus miles when you book hotels, vacation rentals, and car rentals.

benedek/Getty Images

Having elite status can get you the finer things in life, and Delta’s latest promotion may just put you in reach.

“For a limited time, earn $1 Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) per $1 spent plus miles when you book hotels, vacation rentals, and car rentals with Delta through June 24, 2024," the airline shared .

To score the rewards, travelers can log on to the Delta Travel Extras portal with their Delta SkyMiles number to book hotels, vacation homes, and rental cars. As every dollar spent accrues one Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD), fliers can quickly earn their way to Delta elite status in other ways besides flying.

Delta’s Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQD) are different from SkyMiles, the latter of which are redeemable for free flights. The following MQD thresholds are required to qualify for Delta Medallion status:

• Silver Medallion - $6,000 MQDs
• Gold Medallion - $12,000 MQDs
• Platinum Medallion - $18,000 MQDs
• Diamond Medallion - $35,000 MQDs

Travelers typically earn 1 MQD per $1 spent on flights operated by Delta or partner airlines. Once a certain threshold is achieved, elite status will be granted to the member for the remainder of the year — and the entire year thereafter. 

Spending $35,000 on Delta flights to earn top-tier Diamond status might be out of reach for most travelers. However, the opportunity to earn elite points from hotels and rental cars for a limited time may help them reach that next tier of elite status. 

Earning MQDs from a few of Delta’s personal and business credit cards, which come with a $2,500 MQD headstart for the qualification year, is also possible. Delta Platinum cardholders can earn 1 MQD per $20 spent on purchases, while Delta Reserve cardholders can earn 1 MQD per $10 spent. 

The top-tier Delta Reserve has an exclusive card design right now made out of the airline’s retired Boeing 747 aircraft. Travelers who want their hands on a piece of history — and rack up a ton of MQDs — should consider adding this limited-edition card to their wallet. 

Related Articles

TYRE PARTNER

ASSOCIATE PARTNER

Thailand Town Fed Up With Monkey Menace Uses Bait Cages To Lock Them Up

Curated By : Buzz Staff

Trending Desk

Last Updated: May 25, 2024, 18:38 IST

Delhi, India

Some monkeys will be released to help Lopburi maintain its reputation. (Representative Image)

A Thai town initiated a mission to capture wild monkeys, using ripe tropical fruits to let them start a new life somewhere.

A town in Thailand, plagued by an ever-increasing population of raiding wild monkeys, began an operation against the simian pirates on May 24, utilising deception and ripe tropical fruit. The animals have become a symbol of Lopburi, a hamlet 90 miles north of Bangkok with approximately 2,500 monkeys, and are a major tourist draw.

Authorities in Lopburi, central Thailand, were recently persuaded to lower the animal’s population after several well-publicised incidents of violence between monkeys and humans. If everything goes according to plan, the majority will serve time in prison before moving on to start new lives, as per reports.

The plan’s first stage, implemented on May 24, involved baiting cages with the animals’ favourite food and waiting for hunger to overcome their natural caution. The catchers had an early success on one street, with three macaques falling for the trick and becoming trapped because they wanted a taste of rambutan fruit.

According to Sky News, the cages were placed on the street earlier in the week, so the monkeys became accustomed to them and felt them less dangerous. The capture of the unlucky trio, as well as approximately 30 more who were stranded in other parts of town, reduced the total.

The endeavour will last for five days this month and is likely to be repeated. Some of these monkeys will be released to help Lopburi preserve its reputation as Thailand’s monkey town, reports added.

“With the monkey’s intelligence, if some of them go into the cage and are caught, the others outside won’t enter the cage to get the food because they’ve already learnt what’s happened to their friends,” Patarapol Maneeorn, Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation told Sky News.

Authorities began sedating them on Friday to do health checks before cleaning, sterilising and tattooing them so they could be identified for proper records. They will then be transferred to a series of large holding pens, outside the town centre, as they hunt for a permanent home.

As per multiple reports, these monkeys have become increasingly hostile, with videos of them stealing food from residents and injuring them becoming viral.

Chamroen Salacheep, the town’s mayor, admitted that while the monkeys attract visitors, they have also harmed trade, with stores and malls losing money and people’s homes being damaged. He described Lopburi as almost an “abandoned town.”

• Updated Terms of Use
• New Privacy Policy
• Your Privacy Choices
• Closed Caption Policy
• Accessibility Statement

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions . Legal Statement . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper .

Thai town overrun by wild monkeys launches capture and relocation operation

The monkeys, though a tourist attraction for thailand's lopburi, have become increasingly aggressive.

Mayhem as wild monkeys raid supermarket to steal bananas

Rrampaging wild monkeys caused chaos when they raided a supermarket to steal bananas on a Thai island. (SOURCE: ViralPress)

• Lopburi, a town in central Thailand, is overwhelmed by an increasing population of wild monkeys.
• Authorities initiated a plan to reduce the monkey population by baiting cages with ripe fruit, aiming to capture and relocate them.
• The monkeys, though a tourist attraction, have become increasingly aggressive, causing injuries and economic losses.

A Thai town, run ragged by its ever-growing population of marauding wild monkeys, launched an offensive against the simian raiders on Friday, using trickery and ripe tropical fruit.

Several high-profile cases of monkey-human conflict recently convinced authorities in Lopburi in central Thailand that they had to reduce the animals' numbers.

If all goes well, most will end up behind bars, before starting a new life elsewhere.

HOWLER MONKEYS DROPPING DEAD, FALLING FROM TREES DUE TO EXCESSIVE HEAT WAVE: REPORT

The first stage of the plan, instituted Friday, is to bait cages with the animals’ favorite food, then wait for hunger to get the better of their natural caution.

Monkeys eat rambutan in a cage which was set to trap monkeys in Lopburi Province, north of Bangkok, Thailand, on May 24, 2024. A Thai town, run ragged by its ever-growing population of marauding wild monkeys, launched an offensive against the simian raiders on Friday, using trickery and ripe tropical fruit. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

There was early success for the catchers on one street, with three of the macaques falling for the ruse and ending up trapped because they had fancied a taste of rambutan fruit. The cages had been placed on the street earlier in the week so the monkeys got used to them and found them less threatening.

There are thought to be around 2,500 monkeys running around the town. The capture of the unlucky trio and around 30 others -– trapped in other parts of the town -- slightly pared down that total.

The effort will go on for five days this month, then is likely to be repeated. Some of the monkeys will be left free to maintain Lopburi’s image as Thailand’s monkey town.

WILD MONKEYS SPOTTED ROAMING FLORIDA NEIGHBORHOODS: 'ABSOLUTELY CRAZY'

But no one is expecting it to be easy.

"With the monkey’s intelligence, if some of them go into the cage and are caught, the others outside won’t enter the cage to get the food because they’ve already learnt what’s happened to their friends," said Patarapol Maneeorn from Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

The roaming monkeys have long been a symbol of the town, 140 kilometers (90 miles) north of Bangkok, and are a major tourist draw. They've become increasingly aggressive, however, with several videos of them snatching food from residents and causing injuries being widely shared online.

One auto parts shop now trades from behind wire. The owners erected it at the time of the coronavirus pandemic, but keeping out the light-fingered primates was also a prime concern. They say they’ve adapted to the monkey problem, but not everyone has.

"When there are a lot of monkeys around, customers are afraid of buying the goods at the shop. Only our regulars aren’t frightened," said Supaporn Tantiwong.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The town’s mayor, Chamroen Salacheep, agrees that the monkeys, while bringing in visitors, have also become bad for trade, with shops and malls seeing a drop in income and even people’s homes damaged. Lopburi, he said, is almost an "abandoned town."

"After our operation is over," Chamroen said, "I will do a big cleaning across the town and paint all the buildings to regain the faith of the people."

These may seem like grim times for monkeys in Lopburi, but there is a plan to give them a fresh start.

On Friday authorities began sedating them to carry out health checks before cleaning and sterilizing them and inking them with tattoos so they can be identified to keep accurate records.

After that they’ll transfer them to a series of huge holding pens, just outside the town center, while looking for a permanent home.

Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.

You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter!

May 2024 Air France/KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards

• May 3, 2024

22 Comments

We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

May Flying Blue Promo Rewards

Over the past year, Flying Blue has become one of my favorite, and most used programs. They recently announced that they were overhauling their award, dropping saver business class down to 50k between the US and Europe, and we’ve those prices impacted with their monthly Promo Rewards; however, not this month.  May is targeting Economy and Premium Economy with nothing officially included to fly business class. Often FlyingBlue will have Easter egg routes that aren’t officially on promo so we will continue to look out for these this month – let me know if you find any!

Let’s take a look at May’s Flying Blue Promo Rewards!

Table of Contents

• Deal starts 05/01/24
• Book by 05/31/24
• Travel by 10/31/24

Flying Blue Promo Rewards for May

The prices you see below are between select destinations and Europe. So you’ll find different prices depending on where you finish/start your trip, but unfortunately nothing in business class

What are Air France/ KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards?

Flying Blue Promo rewards offer discounts on select routes across an array of booking classes to/from Europe. They have to booked in the month they debut, but can be booked often times several months into the future.

• You must book these deals in the month of May
• Dates of travel go until the end of October 2024
• Details here

Air France A350 business class

How to populate the full calendar

You may notice that I will often post the full calendar look for Air France/KLM Flying Blue award availability – this is an example from January 2024.

You can do this by just leaving the travel dates empty when you search.

You may have some Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles and not realize it

Flying Blue is a transfer partner of 6 different transferrable point currencies and are some of the easiest miles to accrue as a result.

American Express

Capital one.

You can convert any of the

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Our favorite credit cards to earn those points that can be transferred

You can find a full list of cards on our Favorite Cards page , but these are tops of the tops.

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Chase Ink Business Preferred® Card
• American Express® Green Card
• American Express® Gold Card 
• The Platinum Card® from American Express

Bilt Rewards

• Bilt Mastercard®
• Capital One Venture X
• Capital One Venture Rewards
• Capital One Spark Miles 
• Citi Strata Premier 

Great uses of Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles

Air france business class.

There are many great uses, but in particular redeeming miles for Air France business class is a wonderful use. Normal rates begin at 53k miles – this is a super competitive rate, but keep in mind a couple hundred in taxes and fees will also apply

Virgin Atlantic Upper Class

Starting as low as 61,500 miles and a couple hundred in taxes and fees its a great way to fly on a super cool product and pay fewer taxes and fees than Virgin Atlantic would charge

KLM Business Class

KLM offers world class service and a great business class – keep your eye out for the planes that offer reverse herringbone 1-2-1 configuration ( primarily the 787-9 ). I’ve flown both it and the 777-300ER and they are world’s apart in comfort…make sure you find the 787-9

General conditions

• Promo reward tickets must be booked via www.airfrance.com or www.klm.com (except for bookings for minors travelling alone or when travelling with an infant under the age of 2, in these cases bookings must be made by calling customer service).
• Promo reward tickets can be changed free of charge until further notice in view of coronavirus situation. Promo reward tickets can’t be cancelled or refunded. For details, please contact customer service.
• Promo reward tickets are subject to the operating airline’s general conditions of carriage.
• Promo reward tickets are available for one-way and round-trip tickets paid with Miles (Promo reward tickets are not available for purchase with Miles & Cash).
• Promo reward tickets are subject to availability.
• Displayed Miles Fares for Long Haul destinations are for flights to/from Paris or Amsterdam.
• Promo reward tickets for long haul-flights depart from or arrive in Europe, as defined by IATA as the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Balearic Islands, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, West Russia.
• Due to COVID-19 we have an updated rebook policy for Promo rewards, which you can read here: https://www.flyingblue.com/en/news/rebook-policy

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

• Best Starter Card

 Affiliate link 

Welcome Offer

75k Ultimate Rewards after $4k spend in 3 months

* you may find an elevated offer walking into a branch – see below

Points Earned

• Worth $937.50 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
• 75k Ultimate Rewards After $4k spend in 3 months + 10k Ultimate Rewards after $6k in 6 months 
• 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
• 3x on select streaming services
• (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
• 2x on all other travel
• 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
• 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, 2024
• $95 Annual Fee
• Full Review
• Best uses of Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Chase Application Rules
• Complete Guide to Chase Credit Cards
• Credit Card Spreadsheet with historical data on best offer

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:  

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

Share This Post:

New chase sapphire preferred® card 75k online offer ( up to 85k in branch ), transfer chase to virgin atlantic with 30% bonus.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Want a way to earn more Amex MR points? Sign up for Rakuten and get 4,000 points. This week they are offering up to 25% cash back in MR on popular shopping sites as well!

Sign up here today with this exclusive link for an additional $40: http://www.rakuten.com/r/SOUTHF289

Bonus Miles after they use their new Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card to make $3,000 in purchases within their first 6 months of Card Membership. Your friend will be able to choose from all available Delta SkyMiles American Express Cards. No matter which Card they choose, you could earn a referral bonus.

Apply for an American Express Card with this link. With your new Card, you could earn a welcome bonus and your friend could earn a referral bonus. Terms Apply.

https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/delta-skymiles-platinum-american-express-card?ref=CHRISD2zIv&XLINK=MYCP

American Express Gold: https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/gold-card?ref=KENNYBi3t6&XLINK=MYCP

Try this link in Incognito mode on Google Chrome. I’m seeing 90,000 points + 20% back on restaurant purchases in the first three months! Hopefully you will see the same offer as well!!

Amex Business gold has crazy 130k signup offer right now; enough to get you to Europe and back business class on saver!!

https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/CHRISE5YkG?XLINK=MYCP

American Express Gold: https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/KENNYB08Yx?XLINK=MYCP

The Gold card is currently offering a 60,000 sign up bonus after $6,000 spent in 6 months.

I find the gold card to be most useful for food purchases, earning 4x points at restaurants and grocery stores. You can recover almost all of the annual fee for the gold card $240 of the $250 if you take advantage of the monthly credits from food delivery and Uber. I like to accumulate additional Amex points by using shopping portals like Rakuten.

If anyone is reading this while looking to apply for an American Express Platinum card please use my link to apply for an American Express Card. With your new Card, you could earn a welcome bonus and your friend could earn a referral bonus. Terms Apply. https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/SHANECgJFY?XLINK=MYCP

Have an upcoming KLM business class flight booked on points – got a great deal, thanks MM! – but been seeing a lot of KLM flights get cancelled recently. What happens when an airline cancels your business award flight:

-Do they look to book you on next available flight in same class even if on partner airline? -Do they just refund your points? -Do they try and find a “matching points balance” flight? Which in my case would be non existant or months later due to the deal I got.

Any and all help is appreciated!

[…] this was a temporary glitch and to book tickets while rates were lower. It’s normal to see Flying Blue Promo Rewards price business class at discounted rates on routes that aren’t featured, and so many thought […]

Can not book any flights with AF or KLM using the promo code. Tried multiple cities/dates, both websites, called customer service no help as you have to book with their flying blue tool which does not recognize any of the specials when you click on them, ( but if you want to pay full mileage price you can ) called flying blue customer service ( which is different from their regular customer service ) and after being on hold listening to banjo music for over 50 minutes I was told that all their reps were busy and I would have to call back and then the call was disconnected! Lousy customer service!

No promos are showing on the Flying Blue website for May 2023. Is that occurring for everyone?

i’m seeing them still, they are just fewer and far between. this was been really well publicized so I wonder if they aren’t getting snagged. You’l find more if you search connecting cities, or if you look at routes back from Europe

Usually on the Flying Blue website it gives you a list but I’m getting a notice saying “Unfortunately, there are no Promo rewards available. Nevertheless, you can book a regular reward to your destination via Air France or KLM websites”.

Are you just searching destinations via the AF/KLM websites vs going through Flying blue? Thanks.

[…] Flying Blue Promo Rewards – go here to read the latest offers.  […]

Wow! I just booked 2 RT tix from Montreal to Milan in May!! I transferred I think it was 89,000 of my AMEX pts and it turned into more than 111,000 pts w this offer for the 2 business class tix. I’m pretty happy about this!

I struggled to figure out how to do it but finally after trial and error with the website, I booked the flights.

Now I need to get from Denver to Montreal. My husband has always wanted to go to Canada so we can stop there for a couple of days.

Thank you for the tip!

Wow, this gets weirder by the minute!

When I select DTW from the Promo page, I get an Air France booking page, and it carried over my login ID and the Explorer tag, which I guess is a Flying Blue thing. It plugs DTW in the Arrival field, not the Departure field. Well, these are Europe-based carriers, so I guess I can see why they set it up this way. So I enter AMS in the departure field, and the system tells me “You must select both a departure and arrival city, and they must be different cities.” Well, they are different, so what’s this about???

So I flipped it: I entered DTW in the Departure field, and AMS in the Arrival field. This time I get a different error: “Sorry, there are no flights available for this combination of departure airport, arrival airport and travel dates. ” Hmmm…This is the Air France site, so maybe I should shift to French cities.

So I start over. System pops DTW in the Arrival field again, I enter CDG in Departure. Same result: “You must select both a departure and arrival city, and they must be different cities.” I flip the cities again (depart DTW, arrive CDG) and hit Search. Now I get the Months display, but no fares in either USD or points.

Maybe the KLM site works better…I choose Montreal (YUL) from the Promos page because it has the KLM logo in the box, implying these fares are only good on KLM, not Air France. So here we go….

KLM booking engine starts up, again with me logged in and the Explorer logo on the top margin. But it plus YUL in the Arrival spot. OK, I’m now used to that. I enter AMS in the Departure field, and I get the same error: “Please select both a departure and arrival city. They must be different cities.” But I hit Search anyway, and I get the Months display (hooray!) but with no USD or point fares displayed (boo-hoo). Just for grins, I poke a few random dates to see what will happen, and I get this error: “Sorry, there are no flights available for this combination of departure airport, arrival airport and travel dates. Please try again.”

That’s just flat-out WRONG. Google Flights shows KLM 671 flying that route on all of the dates I chose.

So once again, we’re tempted with a great-sounding offer but the booking engines prevent us from taking advantage of it, just like ANA (my current most-hated airline website).

I welcome any suggestions about how to navigate this. I’ve wasted quite enough time for one night.

Great post! No idea this existed. I joined FB just based on this post.

One question: How can I see the various destinations for promo rewards? Do I have to enter DTW, YUL, etc as the departure airport and then choose every possible destination to find the bonus routes? Seems quite tedious! How did you find the bonus destinations for this post?

I cant get the departure date to stay blank. Im signed in and it requires it to be filled. Not signed in, it wont let me search. So Im unable to replicate your searches…bummer But I appreciate the insight on AF/KLM.

A few questions: 1. Trying to research flights using Flying Blue and it is saying that no flights are available. I don’t have my miles transferred yet, so I have a zero mile balance. Will it not show me me the flights available to purchase with miles when you don’t have the miles available? I’m flying over the holidays so my dates are not flexible. 2. Should I transfer the miles before I know if I can use them? So could I transfer them back if I can’t use them with Flying Blue?

Hey Elaine – it should show you avail whether you have award points or not, and no, unfortunately you can’t transfer miles back so you want to ALWAYS make sure there is availability before transferring otherwise you’ll be stuck with your points in that account and maybe have a better use for them elsewhere down the line.

So I guess they limit the amount of flights that can be taken with rewards points? The flights are there but when I search under the book with miles button, it says flights are not available??

[…] New Flying Blue Promos:  Every month, Air France/KLM post their flying blue promotions where they offer award discounts on certain routes.  This month is extremely appealing because you’re able to stack this promotion with a transfer bonus for an amazing deal! […]

Thanks for this! Question: If someone books an AF business award using flying blue miles but credits their delta skymiles account, will they still be eligible to a paid upgrade option based on availability, or is it better to stick with flying blue account all the way? Thanks in advance.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

• My View My View
• Following Following
• Saved Saved

Norway to block entry for most Russian tourists, Moscow says it will respond

• Medium Text

Sign up here.

Reporting by Terje Solsvik; editing by Mark Heinrich

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Lithuania holds presidential elections on Sunday, with incumbent Gitanas Nauseda expected to win after a campaign dominated by security concerns in the post-Soviet state.

World Chevron

Trump booed and heckled by raucous crowd at Libertarian convention

Presidential candidate Donald Trump was booed and heckled by many in a raucous audience at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday night, a marked change from the adulation he receives at rallies from his fervently loyal supporters.

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

Extreme weather is having a dire effect on animals. Here’s what’s being done to protect them.

At least 138 howler monkeys have been found dead in Mexico since May 16 amid a heat wave that reached 113 degrees on Tuesday.

The monkeys, which reportedly have been falling dead out of trees “like apples,” are among the latest victims of extreme heat caused by the current El Niño cycle , which is having dire effects on humans and animals alike. “They were in a state of severe dehydration, and they died within a matter of minutes,” wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo told the Associated Press.

Yahoo News spoke to Nikhil Advani, senior director for wildlife and climate resilience at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) about how global warming is affecting animals like the howler monkeys in Mexico, and what conservationists are doing to try to protect them.

🐵 What's happening?

El Niño , a global climate-warming phenomenon that happens every few years, causing significant fluctuations in temperature and other weather disruptions, has been exacerbated in recent years by unprecedented heat from climate change.

This combination, Advani explained, has proven fatal for a variety of wildlife, including the howler monkeys, primates that are mainly found in Central and South America and known for their distinct roar.

“All species have temperature thresholds within which they can tolerate,” explained Advani. “In the case of these monkeys, these temperatures have clearly exceeded those thresholds.”

Advani said that in response to the increasingly hot temperatures, some animals are forced to move to new locations, and in some cases, even their body sizes have changed to adapt to new environments. For some species, such as sea turtles in Colombia , temperature changes have also caused an imbalance in sex ratios, which disrupts mating.

“There's also the impact of a lack of water availability that often goes hand in hand with extreme heat events,” said Advani, adding that natural disasters and other extreme weather events like severe flooding, cyclones and hurricanes can also cause a shortage of food for many animals.”

“All of these things are impacting species in many ways,” he said. “We're seeing species that are going extinct, potentially due to impacts of climate change.”

Climate change is also causing ocean temperatures to rise, resulting in the bleaching of about 63% of the world’s coral reefs. During these events, coral become pale and can eventually die. The devastation impacts other living creatures that depend on the coral.

“In the places where we have coral reef systems, they are the foundation of the ecosystem there … they are the lifeblood of that ecosystem,” said Advani. “If we lose that coral reef, you see a huge reduction in species diversity.”

Advani explained that once the El Niño season ends, flooding, droughts and extreme heat won’t be as severe as what we’re seeing now. However, climate change is worsening the long-term impacts of these cycles.

"Climate change is something that's here to stay,” said Advani. “We tend to look at El Niño years as a proxy for how bad things could get potentially within even a decade or two."

🌏 What’s being done to protect wildlife?

Conservationists are working on a range of research and initiatives to reduce the negative effects of climate change on wildlife.

For example, WWF says that it has funded 25 projects around the world, including the Wildlife Adaptation Innovation Fund designed to help vulnerable animal populations. They include:

Improving nest design for birds

Providing artificial shade structures near watering holes

Controlling sand temperatures for sea turtles

Providing additional water sources for animals

Advani noted that there is a chance that some of these solutions may not work because creatures may face challenges adapting to human-made solutions. So organizations like WWF test out the solution on a smaller scale and then scale up if it proves to be successful.

Accessibility Links

12 of the best UK holidays for families

From tried-and-tested seaside resorts and holiday parks to sandy beaches, national trust knockouts and shoreline sights, these are the places to take your clan.

I t’s no wonder that the UK is regularly hailed as one of the world’s greatest destinations for family-friendly holidays. The four nations bulge with sandy beaches, seaside resorts, theme parks, great outdoor adventures and more holiday cottages and forest hideaways than you could shake a stick at. And we’re not talking about London, with its studio tours, musicals, museums and Madame Tussauds. Or even glorious Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and the rest. The real delights to stumble on are in the terrific counties and Celtic shires in between — places that the camera loves: Cornwall and Devon, Yorkshire and Northumberland, Pembrokeshire and Fife. Here’s our guide to the best UK holidays for families.

Main photo: puffins on Skomer Island, Wales (Alamy)

1. The Causeway Coast, Northern Ireland

A giant’s boot, a wishing chair, Finn McCool’s camel: the sights of the Giant’s Causeway are nature’s alternative to Disneyland, loaded with myth and meaning, but without the cost, queues, and stress of the Magic Kingdom. Northern Ireland ’s Unesco-worthy coastline of curious columns is a grand place for a family break, with the County Antrim coast distilling everything that is great about the country. The 120-mile Causeway Coastal Route marries beaches and coves for kayaking with sea safaris for spotting seals, dolphins, and seabird colonies. Then there are Game of Thrones locations aplenty for teens. Just as memorable for parents: a Bushmills whiskey from the source at trip’s end.

Where to stay Roe Park Resort, set in a country park, with family suites, self-catering lodges, and kid-friendly spa and pool.

2. The Lake District, England

Families who love fresh air love the Lake District . Mountains, mirror-topped waters, chugging cruisers, toytown trains, tangled forests, and plenty of up-fell and down-fell places to potter make it a hard job to decide what to do here — so much is terrific. But demand is such that the Lake District receives around 20 million visitors each year, so book ahead for popular places like Windermere, Ambleside, and Grasmere. For those with little ones, Wray Castle and the National Trust’s Yewdale Valley were good enough to inspire Beatrix Potter, so they’ll do for you.

Advertisement

Where to stay Holbeck Ghyll Country House Hotel has rambling grounds to play hide and seek in, plus all manner of rooms and slick, kid-friendly service.

• Best hotels in the Lake District • Best things to do in the Lake District

3. The Trossachs, Scotland

In the road trip rush north to the Highlands, many families bypass the wooded glens, braes, and lochs of the Trossachs, Scotland’s heavenly gateway to micro-adventures north of Glasgow . More fool them. There are great boat trips on Loch Katrine, Canadian canoes to paddle on Loch Lomond, squirrel hides and monkey ziplines to discover at Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, and dozens of wee hills with big views.

W here to stay Slap in the thick of the most memorable scenery near Balquhidder is Monachyle Mhor, a near-perfect farm turned boutique retreat with terrific restaurant, lochside beach, and donkeys to feed with apples.

• Best hotels in Glasgow • Best Glasgow day trips

4. Cornwall, England

A cottage holiday in Cornwall is more popular than ever these days, at times, driving locals to the point of despair. Travel out of season, though, and England’s southwestern tip takes on a different personality and the contradictions seem starker: the worthy heritage of the coal and tin mining shafts versus the climate inspiring Eden Project; the natural adventure of hiking, biking, and surfing the coast versus the make-believe theme parks of Camel Creek and Flambards. Naturally, the seaside towns are terrific — and then there are all those beaches.

Where to stay Consider Three Mile Beach, a collection of handsome beach shack houses near St Ives.

• Best hotels in Cornwall • Best things to do in Cornwall • Best beaches in England

5. Fife, Scotland

The finest farm-to-fork produce and boat-to-belly seafood in Scotland ? Check. Golden sands, golfing for juniors, and a gorgeous wildlife park, island cruises, and clifftop hiking path? All that too. Fife makes up for its lack of shortbread tin Highland scenery by packing in plenty to do and St Andrews is both indecently pretty and a classic family spot to work magic. For those with babes and toddlers, the bites and sights of the East Neuk villages — namely, Elie, Crail, and Anstruther — are too good to leave for later. Oh, and did we mention the most acclaimed ice cream parlour in the country? You’re having a tablet cone from Jannettas Gelateria.

Where to stay Despite its golf credentials, Hotel Fairmont St Andrews is equally polished for families — cue a monster pool, indoor soft play, and best-in-class restaurant buffet.

• Best things to do in Scotland

6. The Devon and Dorset coasts, England

Kids old enough for Jurassic Park ? Then head to the seaside resort towns of southwest England for a great outdoor adventure trowelling for old bones and fossils. At the heart of the coast, Weymouth has a family-friendly sandy beach and mackerel-fishing trips from the harbour, while fossil-rich Chesil Beach has 17 miles of sand for every mood. Branscombe’s beaches also come up trumps, as do the fossil forests and National Trust dinosaur footprints at Spyway in Dorset .

Where to stay Your base for paleontological pandering is Silverlake, a staycation hotspot on a private estate near Dorchester.

habitatescapes.com/silverlake

• Best hotels in Devon • Best hotels in Dorset

7. The Yorkshire Dales, England

Cheese lovers Wallace and Gromit once helped bring foodies to Wensleydale in their droves, but while their popularity has waned the Yorkshire Dales is still Shaun the Sheep -tastic. Where the hills rollercoaster and farms fade out to the mist-topped hills, your family will find stonewalled lanes to cycle, waterfalls to hike to, and hands-on dairy farms and straw mazes to explore. The likes of Grassington, Hawes, and Aysgarth are perfect for families after a slow-paced break, while there are enough castles and tales for an entire series of Horrible Histories . And don’t forget The Oldest Sweet Shop In The World in Pateley Bridge.

Where to stay Aysgarth Lodge is a bells-and-whistles holiday park, renowned for protecting local habitats and a great hideout for wildlife spotting.

leisureresorts.co.uk/holidays/aysgarth

• Best hotels in Yorkshire

8. The Route Yorkshire Coast, England

Hasn’t everyone done Scotland’s North Coast 500 by now? The latest road trip thriller is the Route Yorkshire Coast, a series of six themed itineraries that dip in and out of the North York Moors National Park and the coastal towns of Bridlington, Filey, Hornsea and Withernsea. While the moorlands and iron age-to-industrial landscapes are prime territory for hiking and mountain bike rides, Whitby is for Dracula tours and Scarborough is the quintessential sandy beach resort. Finally, it’s onwards to blue flag beaches and Spurn Point, Yorkshire’s take on Land’s End.

Where to stay Say “hot tub as standard” and you’ll reply “where’s the booking form?”. That’s one of the perks at Forest Holidays’ self-catering cabins at Keldy, located on the edge of the North York Moors.

forestholidays.co.uk/locations/yorkshire/keldy

9. The Isle of Wight

An English island packed with nearly as much holiday magic as Hawaii? Yes please. The deal is the Isle of Wight — brimming with family-friendly ideas, from Queen Vic’s favourite country home at Osborne to the UK’s oldest theme park, Blackgang Chine. Other crucial sources of entertainment are castles, adventure parks, a model village, steam railway, and a rippling backdrop of dunes and landmark cliffs. The east has the family-centric beaches — consider Shanklin, Sandown or Ryde — and there are beachfront holiday cottages by the bucketload.

Where to stay With lodges, apartments, caravans, and room for campers, Appuldurcombe Gardens Holiday Park also comes with a heated pool, kids play area, mini golf and yoga classes.

appuldurcombegardens.co.uk

10. Pembrokeshire, Wales

Southwest Wales is a hybrid of adventure park and holiday park and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park throws up as many activities (surfing, sailing, foraging and fishing) as scenic views. Celtic myths and legends rear their head at both Carew and Pembroke castles and there are almost a thousand-strong holiday parks dotted along the coast. Marloes Peninsula is for rock pools and tidal beaches, while Broad Haven is for safe swims and seaside resort nostalgia; it’s been in the kiss-me-quick business since the 1800s.

Where to stay Bluestone National Park Resort, a 500-acre swathe with lodges and cottages, bikes, buggies, and — double yes — a bouncy castle and indoor water park.

bluestonewales.com

• Best hotels in Wales

11. Cheshire, England

The moon is a world apart for northwest England, but not at Jodrell Bank, where mind-blowing science and cosmic culture collide to brighten the eyes of wannabe astronauts and star-gazing mums and dads. You’re in Cheshire for all sorts of unexpected family-thrilling wonders, so add places like the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, Lion Salt Works, and Ice Cream Farm theme park to your holiday to-do list. For tradition’s sake, there are stately homes, narrowboat rides, and castles (Beeston is rather good), while this is also Lewis Carroll country, with his birthplace museum at Daresbury. “My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place,” Carroll wrote in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . He might as well have been talking about his home county.

Where to stay Opt for The Hollies’ self-catering forest lodges and log cabins, for the pine setting, farm produce picnic baskets and seedling nursery.

theholliesfarmshop.co.uk

12. Northumberland, England

The old-fashioned Famous Five never did make it to Northumberland. Shame, really, because its landscape of unspoilt beaches is ripe for an adventure and it’s not hard to imagine Enid Blyton writing about the gang sleuthing in seaside towns such as Bamburgh and Seahouses. The big tickets for active families are exploring Alnwick Castle and snorkelling with seals off the Farne Islands and the bits inbetween are best appreciated on a coastal safari hoovering up the beaches as you go.

Where to stay For a holiday rental with a serving of wow — think a leftfield bothy, byre, castle tower, or showman’s wagon — check out the holiday cottages from local specialist Crabtree & Crabtree.

crabtreeandcrabtree.com

• Places in the UK that look just like France

Take me there

Inspired to visit the UK but yet to book your trip? Here are the best hotels from Mr & Mrs Smith and Hotels.com .

Sign up for the Times Travel Newsletter here .

Related articles