A pretty seismic shift in the points & miles world was announced this week with Chase’s announcement around Hyatt transfers becoming 4:3 (vs. 1:1) unless you pay up for the Reserve card.

But this hobby always has change and my job is to help you easier adapt to it. There’s plenty of alternatives to Hyatt if you don’t want to play the $795 Chase Sapphire Reserve game with great airline transfer partners. If you’re dead-set on Hyatt, the Bilt ecosystem looks like a big winner as well.

For me, hotels are lower-priority for using points unless I am going for an all-out splurge trip (like Maldives-tier trip). But if I am visiting a city, there are hundreds of hotel options to choose from across all price points. This lets me save my points for flights, which I personally value more as there are only a handful of flight options to get from point A to point B vs. potentially hundreds of hotel options in any given city.

Editor’s note: I’m getting married this week. I don’t plan to have a weekly recap next week (I will probably still send one though 😁)

A few things with Chase this week. 1) Chase Sapphire Preferred + Hyatt updates and 2) elevated Chase Ink sign up bonuses.

1) On June 10, Chase announced some major positive and also a major negative change to the Chase Ultimate Rewards points ecosystem. Starting with the bad news first. Those with Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Preferred (business card) will see transfer rates to Hyatt move from the 1:1 rate to a 4:3 rate starting October 1, 2026. New applicants for these cards starting June 15 will also get the worse transfer rate. The card will also lose the 10% anniversary bonus where you got 10% of the points you earned in the past year at card open anniversary (previously announced though). Hard to see how Hyatt works going forward with the recent devaluation coupled with this upcoming points transfer devaluation.

The good news is the $95 annual fee Chase Sapphire Preferred card will have a $100 annual hotel credit (when using Chase portal), double the current $50 credit. The $95 annual fee is also remaining the same. All details of benefits and terms & conditions can be found in the pamphlet here on Chase’s site.

Other (and positive) changes:

2) Elevated Chase Ink business card sign up bonuses. If you’re somehow still eligible after all the rule changes (Cash and Unlimited have lifetime language now + harder to get approved after having multiple biz cards), definitely try to get one. If you’ve never had a Chase business relationship, ask your points & miles friend for a referral or use your favorite blogger/influencer’s affiliate link. The Ink Cash and Unlimited are advertised as cash back sign up bonuses, but you earn them in the form of Chase UR points. You need to move them to a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve to use transfer partners.

With participation in the expensive Chase Sapphire Reserve ecosystem going to be a requirement to benefit from Hyatt (which also devalued recently too, double whammy!), the United program looks pretty good right now and still has a 1:1 transfer rate from Chase. I personally only used Chase→Hyatt once, but I am a major fanboy of United so my commentary might be biased!! Oh, and United this week announced you can use pooled miles on pretty much all partner awards as well. It used to only be available for United metal awards. (Travel on Points for details).

But, if you have a United co-branded card (issued by Chase) that has an annual fee, you get access to additional award space on United + discounted award rates (10% off saver rate). If you have United elite status and a United card, you get an even better discount (15% off saver rate). If you have the no annual fee United card, you can unlock award access by spending $10k on the card in a calendar year.

What does that 15% discount look like?

68k points to fly business class from US-Europe if flying on United metal. 85k points to fly US-Asia in business class. Fully refundable and minimal fees as well.

DC area travelers will be bummed. The Capital One lounge at Dulles (IAD) is closing on July 9 and will be closed for a few months while the area will be renovated. The lounge will still offer grab and go offerings though according to a Reddit thread.

Dulles travelers will hopefully get an upgrade once it reopens. The new concourse at Dulles is also almost done. And United travelers with United Club access will rejoice with a brand new United Club. The Points Guy reports it will be able to accommodate 650 people. Will be great to have and avoid the current dreary C/D concourse lounges!

Also in late May, Air India opened a new lounge in San Francisco (SFO) that has a speakeasy-style bar, views of planes, a dining area, and private area for Air India first class passengers. Details from Air India PR here. The lounge is located in the international concourse and if you have Star Alliance Gold or a United Club membership (only select membership that requires spending or higher fee) you can access the lounge on domestic itineraries. You can also access the lounge if flying an international business class flight on a Star Alliance airline (United, EVA, Air India, Lufthansa, etc.) out of SFO. Live and Let’s Fly has a nice review here.

Intrepid Travel has just launched its new Premium Family range — eight new trips across Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, India, Borneo, Vietnam, Morocco, Thailand and Egypt. Small groups of three to five families. Intrepid's most experienced local guides. Immersive, kid-focused activities and elevated stays, with all the logistics handled for you. Watch baby orangutans learn to climb in Borneo. Stargaze at a desert camp in Morocco. Spot leopards on safari in India. These aren't holidays where you watch the world through a window — they're the kind of trips kids remember when they're grown up. Bookings for Intrepid's Family range grew 19% in 2025, and their new Premium tier is their fastest-growing travel style for good reason.

Explore Premium Family trips

Philadelphia has a lot of business class award availability between Frankfurt, Germany on Discover Airlines, which is part of Lufthansa Group. Many dates have 4+ seats as well. You can book business class for as low as 60k points one way through Air Canada. You can also book an itinerary that connects through Frankfurt to the rest of Europe on select Star Alliance & partner programs. Discover Airlines is the leisure-focused and technically not part of Star Alliance. The flight is also on an older Lufthansa cabin setup in a 2-2-2 format, although all seats are lie-flat.

There’s also a lot of saver availability on mainline Lufthansa on many US routes this summer and from January-March 2027. Too many dates to share! Use United Calendar to quickly find availability. These can be booked for as low as 60k points one way in business class as well. A list of city pairs that could interest you are below. East Coast has much more availability than Central US and West Coast cities.

How to book
Air Canada: Starting at 60k points + $57-217 in tax/fees one-way. Pay an extra 14k points for fully refundable booking, otherwise its a 100 CAD change fee or 150 CAD cancel fee.

United: 80-90k points + $6-166 in tax/fees one-way. Free changes & cancellations

Reviews
TPA-FRA A330 business class (One Mile at a Time)

PHL-FRA
June: 22, 25, 29, 30
July: 3, 7, 12-16, 19-23, 26-28
August: 3, 10-13, 16-18, 20, 23-25, 27, 30, 31
September: 1, 28
October: 5, 6, 13, 14, 19, 27
November: 3, 10, 17, 24
January 2027: 5, 7, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 26, 28, 30
February: 2, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27
March: 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16, 23, 28-31
April: 4, 6, 7

FRA-PHL
June: 18, 19, 23-26
July: 7-10, 16
August: 6, 26-28
September: 2-4, 10
October: 29
November: 5, 19, 24, 26
December: 1, 3, 8, 10, 12, 15, 17
January 2027: 7, 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 26, 28, 30
February: 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27
March: 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25, 29-31
April: 1, 2, 5-8, 10

Need help finding deals? (affiliate link)
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About Find Flights for Me.

I started the idea of Find Flights for Me back in 2023 to help educate and inspire people to use their credit card points more effectively, with a focus on using points to fly business and first class flights.

When I’m not working on Wall Street or searching for flight deals, you can find me planning for my upcoming wedding, enjoying local restaurants, helping my parents book their next trip, traveling internationally, or visiting friends/family in NYC, Philadelphia, or DC.