Recap Week Ending 10/18/26

New updates on how to earn status next year for United and Southwest; Delta unveiling an even more elevated Delta One experience; a new transfer partner to JetBlue; and Amex making it more difficult to use the Lululemon credit.

However, the biggest news of the week is probably Southwest making it significantly more difficult to earn the Companion Pass (more details below).

If you’ve been a subscriber since day 1, you know that I love talking about using points for experiences. Marriott has been the leader in this in my opinion with their Marriott Bonvoy Moments, where you can redeem or bid Marriott points for experiences ranging from concert or sports tickets, culinary experiences, to unique stays.

Marriott also has a program called 1-Point Drops, where you can redeem just 1 Marriott point for some really crazy cool experiences. There are only a handful offered per year and you can only redeem one 1-point drop per calendar year per account.

Well mark your calendars and practice those clicking skills. There are two 1-point drops happening in the next 10 days. You can view the experiences directly on the Marriott Bonvoy Moments site.

Las Vegas Formula 1 Race with Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team experiences (here)
Drop occurs October 20 at 12pm CT. Event is Nov. 17-22

Celine Dion in Paris in May 2027 (here)
Drop occurs October 28 and October 29 at 12pm CT. Event is on May 8, 2027

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United’s news first (bad for some)

Starting in 2027, it will be more difficult to reach United’s top tier status - Premier 1K. It may also be tougher for the road warriors who have a lot of flying segments but not as much spend across all levels. United currently has two ways to qualify for elite status, either reach a certain amount of PQPs (points that count towards elite status) or reach a lower amount of PQPs + have a certain amount of flight segments. However, United is getting rid of the ability to have a lower amount of PQPs + flight segments and instead is requiring everyone to just meet the higher PQP requirements (United PR).

Want Premier 1K next year? You’ll now need 32,000 PQP (the points that count towards elite status qualification), up from 28,000 PQP or 22,000 PQP + 60 flight segments on UA for Premier

Delta’s news (good)

Delta had a big reveal this week (Delta PR) for the next generation of Delta One (their long-haul business class product) including improved dining, more personalized experiences, better entertainment, and further improvement to Delta One seats.

Most of the updates are centered around food & drinks including more premium wine & liquor options along with more cocktails & mocktails. Blanton’s, premium wines, and sake are some things to look forward to!

Southwest is also changing their loyalty program starting next year. You can view all the info directly on Southwest’s site here. But the biggest change is how people can earn the beloved Companion Pass, which is essentially a way to get buy one get one free flights when traveling together.

It’s going to be much harder to earn the Southwest Companion Pass for most people going forward. That’s because points earned from credit card sign up bonuses will no longer count towards something called Companion Pass Qualifying Points. Going forward, you will need to earn Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) and you can’t earn TQPs from credit card sign up bonuses anymore. This is a big loss as people timed opening up Southwest credit cards at the right time including when to hit the SUB to be able to have a SW Companion Pass for ~2 years with 2 new cards and about ~$6k in spending.

Now, you’ll need to earn 140k TQPs (vs. 135k before) and it has to come from flying or earning 1 TQP per $1 spent on a Southwest card.

RIP to the Companion Pass hack.

Fly Emirates business class from JFK-MXP or EWR-ATH for as low as 59k points. Or book at the 100k points rate for nearly wide-open availability plus opportunity to waitlist to upgrade to first class immediately