December 5th, 2022 Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 19 seconds
Good morning lovely people. It's that time of year in Toronto when even the thought of going outside gives me hypothermia. So I spent the weekend at home, booking some very exciting trips for 2023. My wallet and points balances are angry with me, but it's good news for you because I've stumbled upon some great deals to share with you this week. Here's what's on the agenda for today:
- ✈️ Alaska Airlines' new status challenge
- 🇹🇷 30% discount on Turkish Airlines award bookings
- 🐍 Snakes on a plane (Part 2)
✈️ Alaska offers status challenge, but only for some
It's been a hot minute since we've seen a solid status challenge, but Alaska Airlines has broken the silence with a pretty sweet one. But before I get into the details, let me give you the bad news first: this status challenge is only available for California residents. If you are lucky enough to live in the Golden State (which I assume many of you are), then congrats, you might find yourself with easy elite status in the near future.
If your Alaska Mileage Plan account is registered in California, here is how the status challenge works:
- Register for the offer
- Fly two round-trip flights to earn MVP status
- Fly four round-trip flights to earn MVP Gold Status
- Travel must take place between January 1st and March 31st, 2023
The other catch is that you need to fly on the following routes to qualify:
- Los Angeles to: Fort Lauderdale, Newark, Washington (IAD) or Washington (DCA)
- San Diego to: Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Newark, New York (JFK) or Orlando
- San Francisco to: Boston, New York (JFK), Newark, Orlando, Tampa, Washington (IAD) or Washington (DCA)
So, yeah. It's pretty specific, and there are several caveats. But let me tell you why I think this is such a great opportunity. Alaska Airlines' elite status can be worth thousands of dollars, depending on how you value certain benefits and how often you use them. MVP Gold status, for example, comes with complimentary first-class upgrades, free checked bags, a 100% earning bonus on paid flights, free same-day changes, and more. This challenge allows you to essentially buy status at a discounted rate. For example, this round-trip flight from San Francisco to Boston only costs $198.
If you fly this trip twice, you'd pay less than $400 and earn MVP status. If having that status is worth more than $400 to you, it could make sense to fly a couple of round trips just for the status alone. If you're moving across the country, visiting family, or traveling for work, consider prioritizing Alaska over other airlines for this reason. If you need to travel across the country to a city that isn't eligible, you could simply book shorter hops on a different airline from one of the major eligible cities to your final destination. Despite the limited routes and eligibility, this could be a super valuable opportunity for those who are willing to put in the effort to take advantage of it.
🇹🇷 30% discount on Turkish Airlines flights
Turkish Airlines has more international destinations than any other airline in the world, serving 125 countries. That means they exist in more countries than Mcdonald's. And that's saying a lot given some of the weird McDonald's locations I've seen around the world...
But that's good news for all of you because it means that no matter where you need to travel, there's a good chance that Turkish Airlines flies there. Right now, Turkish is having an end-of-year holiday bash by offering a 30% discount on award bookings from specific destinations.
Here are the details:
- Book flights between December 5th and 25th
- Travel can take place between December 5th and May 31st, 2023
- Only valid on bookings from these 100 cities
Unfortunately, the discount does not apply to any cities in North America. However, there are still plenty of ways for anyone to use this deal. For example, if you live in Chicago and travel to Tel Aviv (or any of the 100 cities listed), you could use this discount to fly home from Tel Aviv. Since the discount applies to any destination as long as your origin city is eligible, this would work no matter where in the world you live. Getting Turkish Airlines miles is also pretty easy, with no shortage of options for racking them up:
- Transfer points from Citi, Capital One, or Bilt at a 1:1 ratio
- Fly with Turkish Airlines
- Transfer Marriott Bonvoy points at a 3:1 ratio
- Earn from shopping with retail partners in Turkey
Given the massive discount, this is definitely an offer worth paying attention to if you can incorporate Turkish into any of your upcoming travel routes. Personally, I have about 15 flights booked with Turkish over the next 6 months, and some are eligible for this promo. So, I will cancel a few of them and rebook the same flights for 30% less. With the miles I save, I might be able to book an entirely new flight as well and save some cash. Then I'll have more money to spend on Turkish ice cream and coffee.
🐍 Oh god... more snakes on more planes
A few months back, I shared a story with you about snakes on a plane. And no, I'm not talking about the movie. Although I love the movie, too. The moral of that story is that sometimes, there are snakes on planes. It's not terribly common, but it has been known to happen. Apparently, it's even more common than I had thought... A few days ago, another video surfaced of some brave dudes pulling a massive snake out of the wing of an aircraft.
At first, I thought these guys were aircraft engineers or something, but it's clear at the end of the video that they are trained professionals. As I've told you before, this is far from the first instance of snakes being found on planes. Sometimes they're inside the cabin hitching a ride, and sometimes, they've even latched on to the outside of planes while flying at 30,000 feet like this daredevil on a Qantas flight in Australia. It was funny at first, but now there are just too many stories of snakes being found on planes. It got a little too real. Now that I've sufficiently freaked you out about your next flight, let me undo some of the damage by sharing this list of what science says are the cutest animals in the world. With any luck, maybe we'll be reading a story about one of these critters sneaking onto a flight sometime.
That's all for today! Despite the winding down of all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday hype, there are some pretty incredible travel deals popping up. So make sure to keep reading this week, so you don't miss out. Would you fly two round trips just to earn airline elite status? What are your feelings toward snakes? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out on social media. Cheers, Mike Dodge Head Writer, The Daily Drop
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