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British Airways is increasing the cash portion of its award ticket pricing beginning May 27, 2026. While the airline is not officially calling these increases higher surcharges, the added costs “will only affect the cash element of your booking.” Flights booked before May 27 will avoid the new pricing. British Airways already charges some of the highest taxes and surcharges on award flights, making this latest increase especially disappointing, with many routes seeing cash costs rise between 10-30%. If you fly British Airways even once or twice per year, this could make the British Airways credit card more appealing, as it offers up to $600 annually in statement credits toward taxes and fees on eligible Avios award flights.

American Express is targeting some Hilton Honors cardholders with bonus points offers tied to spending. We’ve seen offers ranging from 3,000 Hilton Honors points after $1,000 in spending to 5,000-9,000 bonus points after $2,000 in spending. These offers can provide a nice boost while working toward a welcome offer or spending toward the Hilton Surpass card’s free night reward.

World of Hyatt is targeting some members with bonus point promotions on upcoming stays. We’ve seen reports of the following offers: 2,000 bonus points for every two nights stayed (up to 20 nights / 20,000 bonus points total), 3x points on stays of two or more nights (up to 30,000 bonus points), and 5,000 or 10,000 bonus points for every five qualifying nights stayed (up to 25 nights). Members have 90 days from registration to complete eligible stays. Check here to see if you’ve been targeted.

It’s rare to see changes to an award program that end up being partially positive, especially from Emirates, which has steadily devalued awards over the past several years. The bad news is that Emirates is increasing premium cabin award prices and business-class upgrade costs by roughly 15%. The good news is that Emirates is now allowing one-way saver award bookings, something the program previously did not offer.

One of the most popular Emirates redemptions is its fifth-freedom routes between Newark and Athens or JFK and Milan. Under the old pricing, these flights cost 87,000 miles one-way in business class since you had to book the flex plus award. With the new saver pricing, those same one-way flights can now be booked for 59,000 miles, a substantial reduction. Roundtrip saver pricing is now 118,000 miles versus the old 108,000-mile rate, but because many points and miles enthusiasts prefer booking one-way awards for flexibility and availability reasons, we view these changes as a net positive overall.