Last Chance (Tonight): Lock in Thrifty Traveler’s Current Price
This is the March 15-ish, 2026 edition of the LazyPoints Weekly newsletter. It goes out by email every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific–unless I oversleep or there’s a time-sensitive offer, apparently–and is archived here on the blog. Want it straight to your inbox each week? Sign up here.
Happy Friday! This week’s newsletter is going out a little early because of some time-sensitive news: deal alert service (and LazyPoints favorite) Thrifty Traveler is raising its prices tomorrow.
If you sign up by the end of the day today (Friday, March 13), you can lock in the current price for life. I’ve booked several great Thrifty Traveler deals over the years (most recently to Switzerland) and seen many more that I would have jumped on if paid time off weren’t a finite resource.
Recently I’ve been planning a family trip — my dad’s first time abroad. Because we have a specific destination in mind and my parents and I live in different cities, it has required a lot of time and effort running award searches and comparing flights. And despite that effort, we’re paying a bit more in points and cash than I’d like.
It really drove home how much easier and cheaper trip planning can be with deal alerts. For our next trip, I’ll probably be pointing my parents toward a Delta SkyMiles card and waiting for a Thrifty Traveler alert. Just in the past few weeks we’ve seen deals to Taiwan for under 35k SkyMiles (44k from the East Coast) and Europe for under 30k SkyMiles. For a group of four from two different cities, deals like that can make travel dramatically cheaper and easier.
I’ve written a full review of Thrifty Traveler before, and covered the price increase and some alternatives on the blog this week. With a 100-day money-back guarantee, it’s a good time to try it out — if you like it, you’ll lock in today’s price forever.
And if you sign up using our affiliate link (sponsored), you can also save $20 on your first year.
Quick Points of the Week ⚡
Major News 🚨
Multiple airlines adding fuel surcharges. Cathay Pacific is among the most notable. (Upgraded Points) JAL indicated that it won’t raise surcharges until April, so if you transferred Bilt points for March Rent Day like I did, you may have some time to lock in the current rates.
More value 📈
Rove adds SAS as a transfer partner. Rove is now the only US transfer partner to SAS, and they seem to have decent redemptions, apparently without fuel surcharges in normal times. (View From the Wing)
More rewards on gas with Love’s. If you fill up at the truck stop chain, you can save money and earn points at the pump and in store. (AwardWallet)
Devaluations 📉
Hilton raises rates (again). This time, some properties are seeing their “standard” room rate rise. (Thrifty Traveler)
Good news and bad news 📈📉
Bilt charged foreign transaction fees, announces refunds. More Bilt 2.0 trouble: this time, people noticed foreign transaction charges on their “no foreign transaction fee” cards. Thankfully, they say they will refund the fees. (View From the Wing)
Top off Marriott free night awards with more points. Previously, you could only add 15,000 points to the value of a free night award; now you can add 25,000. This is good for flexibility, although being able to spend more points to use a “free” night doesn’t seem all that exciting to me. (Miles Talk)
New partnerships 🤝
New Southwest-ANA interline agreement. For now, this is a limited partnership between the Japanese airline and Southwest, but I’ll be monitoring closely to see if it ever evolves in a new redemption pathway for Japan. (AwardWallet)
Sign up bonus of the week 🎯
Links marked with an * are affiliate or referral links, meaning we may earn if you apply via our link.
New this week: a 200,000-point offer on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant after spending $6,000 in the first six months. That’s the best offer ever on this card (the previous high, 185k, had come around about twice per year). Although Marriott points aren’t the most valuable out there, I’ve actually had decent luck finding low-cost redemptions from time to time thanks to Marriott’s massive portfolio.
The Brilliant has a few things going for it. First of all, it comes with Platinum Elite status, which is where Marriott’s status benefits really start to shine: upgrades, late checkout, lounge access, etc. When I ran the numbers a few years ago, I found that the card’s elite status and spending bonuses made it one of the most rewarding ways to book a hotel. And if you’re a frequent traveler, this card’s 25 Elite Night Credits can be a valuable head start toward Choice Benefits (like suite upgrades) or Titanium status – which also unlocks United Airlines status as well.
Despite all that, the Brilliant is a hefty investment for the average traveler. There’s a $650 fee, but you really only get $300 in statement credits when dining out and a free night award… unless you regularly spend $350 on a single night’s hotel stay, it can be hard to break even on this card. There’s also a Priority Pass membership, but so many cards have Priority Pass these days, including many that can pay for themselves in benefits, that that’s a bit of a redundant perk. There’s also not any good downgrade options for the Brilliant (I don’t have anything positive to say about Amex’s lower-tier Bevy).
While the Brilliant won’t be for everyone, this is a special offer on a card that could be very valuable for the right person. 🔥🔥
Other great sign-up bonuses this week
50,000 points + $300 Bilt Cash + Bilt Gold status on the Bilt Palladium (our take: 🔥🔥🔥🔥)
70-125k points on Delta co-branded cards (our take: 🔥🔥🔥 for the Gold) ends April 1
175k points in the IHG Premier (our take: 🔥🔥🔥) ends 3/19
125k points on the Chase Sapphire Reserve* (our take: 🔥🔥🔥)
20-40k + companion pass on Southwest cards (our take: 🔥🔥) ends 3/18
175k points on the Hilton Aspire (our take: 🔥🔥)
70-130k points + free night on the Hilton Honors/Surpass (our take: 🔥)
75k points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred* (our take: 🔥)
75k points + $250 travel credit on the Capital One Venture Rewards (our take: 🔥)
60k points on the no-fee Choice Privileges Mastercard (our take: 🔥)
70k points on the JetBlue Plus (our take: 🔥)
Up to 100/175k on the Amex Gold/Platinum (our take)
Enjoy the weekend! 🦥
We’ll be back to our regular Sunday schedule next week.