The Points Tool You've Always Wanted

Virgin Atlantic has quietly raised surcharges on many award flights for the second time in less than a year, particularly on routes to Europe. While you can still find economy awards from the East Coast to London for as low as 6,000 miles, taxes and fees are now around $164, up from about $75 a year ago. Premium cabin fees have also climbed, with business class awards now carrying roughly $700 in surcharges. While Virgin still offers some of the lowest mileage rates, you’ll need to weigh whether the added fees are worth it, especially when alternatives like 19,000 American miles or 23,000 Delta miles come with less than $6 in taxes.

Amex is targeting some users with a 200,000-point welcome offer on the Business Platinum card after $20,000 in spending within the first 3 months. While this isn’t as high as the 300K offers we’ve seen, it includes no lifetime language (NLL), meaning you may be eligible even if you currently have or previously held the card.

This offer is targeted, so you’ll need to click this link and log in to your Amex account to see if it’s available to you.

American Express has changed its referral limits to 5 per year, per card. Previously, there was a cap on the number of points you could earn annually, but the new structure limits the number of referrals instead, with no maximum points cap. Amex also allows some Membership Rewards cardholders to refer friends or family to a wide range of Amex cards, not just the one they hold. We don’t view this as a major change for most people, and some may even be able to earn more under the new system.

Major U.S. airlines have increased checked baggage fees over the past week, citing rising fuel costs. Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, and United have all raised fees by $5 to $10 for first and second bags, with larger increases for additional bags. This is the first widespread increase since the pandemic, and these higher fees are likely to stick even when fuel costs inevitably decline again. If you regularly check bags, co-branded airline credit cards that include free checked bags have become more valuable.