Here’s the latest miles, points, travel, and deals news:
Southwest Cards Hit 85,000 Points
Chase is offering 85,000 points on all three Southwest personal cards — the Plus ($99 annual fee), Premier ($149 annual fee), and Priority ($229 annual fee) — when you spend $3,000 in the first three months from account opening.
The offer runs through December 15, 2025, and is available via both public links and referral links, though it’s down from the recent 100,000-point promotion that just expired.
Your bonus points count toward the Southwest Companion Pass, and all Southwest cardholders receive 10,000 Companion Pass-qualifying points that lower the total requirement from 135,000 to 125,000.
You’re not eligible if you currently hold any Southwest Rapid Rewards card or if you’ve received a new cardmember bonus on any Southwest card within the past 24 months.
Chase’s 5/24 rule applies to these cards, meaning you can’t be approved if you’ve opened five or more credit cards across all banks in the past 24 months.
Bilt Partners with Venmo
Bilt is teaming up with Venmo starting in early 2026, giving you another way to handle your rent and mortgage payments beyond the current ACH, debit, and credit card options.
You’ll be able to make housing payments either directly in the Bilt app or through Venmo itself using your Venmo balance or linked payment methods, plus you can use it at Bilt neighborhood merchants for things like dining and shopping.
Alaska-Hawaiian Merger Milestone
Alaska Air Group secured a single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration covering both Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines just over a year after closing the $1.9 billion acquisition in September 2024, merging training, policies, procedures and manuals behind the scenes while the carriers maintain separate customer-facing brands (all flights touching Hawaii will carry Hawaiian branding while other routes use Alaska branding).
The combined operation now uses a single call sign for air traffic control and will transition to a unified passenger service system in spring 2026 that retires the HA flight code in favor of AS across all flights, while Hawaiian prepares to join the oneworld alliance in early 2026 and pilot groups continue negotiating joint collective bargaining agreements.
Alaska Points 100% Bonus
Alaska Airlines is running a targeted promotion through November 4, 2025, offering up to a 100% bonus when you buy Atmos Rewards points, bringing the cost down to as low as 1.88¢ per point (plus a 7.5% tax recovery fee at checkout).
You’ll need to purchase at least 20,000 points to snag the maximum 100% bonus, with smaller purchases earning lower bonuses (80% on 3,000-9,000 points, 90% on 10,000-19,000 points, and no bonus on 1,000-2,000 points), and non-elite members are capped at acquiring 150,000 points through Points.com per calendar year while elite members face no limit.
Use Frontier Miles for Bundles
Frontier launched a new redemption option on October 28, 2025 that lets you redeem miles for bundle add-ons — you can now pay cash for a basic fare and use miles to add bags, seat selections, and boarding perks instead of booking an all-cash or all-miles ticket.
Three bundles are available: economy starts at 2,000 miles (carry-on bag, standard seat, no change fees), premium starts at 4,000 miles (adds premium seat selection), and business starts at 8,000 miles (adds two checked bags up to 50 pounds each and an UpFront Plus seat).
Lufthansa Passenger Stabs Teens With Fork
A Chicago-to-Frankfurt Lufthansa flight diverted to Boston on October 25 after a passenger allegedly stabbed two 17-year-old boys with a metal fork three hours into the journey, striking one near the collarbone and the other in the back of the head.
The attacker, 28-year-old Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli (an Indian national on an expired student visa), was arrested and charged with federal assault carrying up to 10 years in prison, while the Boeing 747-8 was ferried back to Frankfurt and all passengers were rebooked.
