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August 25, 2026 | View Online
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What a week it’s been. Guys, if Malaysia has never been on your radar, put it on there. I’ve spent the last few days working through the country’s jungle interior on an old diesel train. Tiny, stunning towns, amazing food, and tremendous humans are just the norm here.
And then, once I’m done, I retreat back to Kuala Lumpur, one of the coolest cities on the planet that I’m proud to call my home for the next year or two.
That’s it. No funny anecdote today. Just appreciation for a damn beautiful country.
Let’s get to the points:
Cheers,
Steven
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| HELPING COLLEAGUES THAT DON’T READ MY NEWSLETTER
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Which Card to Grab Now That This Favorite Is More Expensive
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It’s always baffling to me when I find out my colleagues don’t read the newsletter. They have a treasure trove of knowledge at the end of a Slack message, yet they continue to wallow in the gloomy confines of poor point usage and paying for all the flights they take.
It’s Kaylen this week — who, despite appearing to always be on a beach somewhere — needed advice for her friend on what to do.
Here was the message I received from Kaylen.
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At least she acknowledges that I’m a genius. But let’s get to her friend.
First, opting to use one of those packages is a poor use of points. She could get some free flights or hotels, but they’ll be capped at just one cent per point. Instead, she needs to transfer the points to one of Capital One’s 15 airline and hotel partners and use that $150 cashback smartly. For example…
The cheapest flight to Lisbon is sitting around the $322 mark — usually without bags, etc. With checked luggage, the best is around $411. I found this flight from Atlanta to Lisbon for 12,000 points with Virgin plus $196 on January 20th. The taxes and fees suck, but assuming she’s checking a bag, she’s now getting 1.8 cents per point and only paying $200 for her flight to Lisbon. Based on her 6 nights, she’d be flying back on the 27th with an almost identical redemption.
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Interestingly, flights from Lisbon to Atlanta are way more expensive in January. Flights on the 27th are $687 with a bag, so that 12K + $196 redemption is now getting you 4 cents per point.
And the best news? She still has $150 in cashback and 62,000 miles left to play with.
Unfortunately, Capital One doesn’t have Hyatt as a partner, but it does have Wyndham and All Accor, which are both sneaky good value and underrated.
With Wyndham, she can transfer all 62,000 miles and redeem them for 15,000 points a night at one of several solid hotels. That would fully cover four of the six nights. The $150 in cashback she has remaining would cover two nights at either of these hotels.
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With All Accor, points are tied to a fixed value. 2,000 points equals 40 Euros, and with a 2:1 transfer ratio, she’d have 31,000 points or $620. Six nights in this hotel is just $551.
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So what’s she looking at saving?
Assuming she paid the prices I found on the dates I used with a checked bag, she’d pay
Using points and assuming she goes with All Accor, she’d pay $392 and still have $150 in cashback to mess around with. That cashback could pay for anything while she’s away, or she could even use it to pay some of the taxes and fees, bringing her out-of-pocket total to $242.
So, yes, she could book it using Capital One’s travel portal. But she’d only cover $770 of the trip, getting one cent per mile. Opting for my suggestion gets her more than double the value.
There you go, Kaylen. Now read the newsletter, and you can cut out the middleman.
Have any of you guys had a solid redemption recently? Tell me about it here.
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| HOME
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| DEVALUATION CORNER
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Flying Blue’s New Tiered Reward System
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Oh No. Here We Go Again
I need to stop singing the praises of airline programs. Almost without fail, the program shifts after I tell you guys to check it out. And that’s exactly what happened with Flying Blue this week.
Thankfully, the changes aren’t too brutal, l and you can still get strong value, but you’re losing some benefits for the privilege.
What happened?
In short, KLM and Air France’s joint loyalty program, Flying Blue, has introduced tiered pricing for award tickets. Each class has different stipulations, but there are three tiers within each. For example, within economy, the lowest tier keeps the same strong redemptions, but you’ll no longer get checked luggage, free changes or refunds, or free seat selection.
Here’s a chart of all the changes you can expect to see starting on September 8th, 2026. Remember, these are just for KLM/Air France flights. Partner flights are unaffected.
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The biggest holes for me are:
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No checked bags in economy light. Flying Blue already has high fees, so this is tacking on a fair bit and genuinely lowering the value of your ticket. Not the end of the world if you’re flying carry-on only.
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Even more so in premium Economy, no checked bag sucks.
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A lack of lounge access on a business class ticket really sucks and diminishes the experience.
An example of this would be a business class flight from the US to Europe. You can find solid redemptions for around 60,000 miles plus around $600 in taxes and fees. That redemption will no longer include two checked bags, lounge access, or changes. To get the current deal, you’ll need to fork out another 15,000 miles. Bumping to the Flex option costs an extra 50,000 miles, but does lower the taxes and fees by about half.
One big exception is if you are an elite member. I wouldn’t put too much hope in many of you being an elite with Flying Blue, but if you are, you’ll get the same benefits regardless of what option you choose.
My recommendations:
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If you fly this year, book before the changes
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Anticipate baggage costs and do the math
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Maximize bonuses if they’re available
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| STUFF I'VE DONE THIS WEEK
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My Favorite Shots From A Week On Malaysia's Jungle Railroad
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I’ve babbled on for a while. I just want to show you some of the beautiful places I’ve been this week. If you get the chance, take the slow Jungle Train from Johor Bahru to Tumpat, crossing the malaysian rainforest, stopping at spectacular little towns dotted across the country. An unforgettable week.
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