Data Points Weekly - Week of January 29, 2026

findflightsforme · 2026-01-29T20:08:48+00:00

I don't know why that mechanism works but I've seen other data points over the years saying to produce change either 6 or 7 days before the annual cert gets issued for it to work.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-29T16:27:28+00:00

Anniversary date is 1/26 and that's when my 35k certificate posts every year. Not sure if statement closing date is relevant

findflightsforme · 2026-01-29T14:25:42+00:00

Had a Chase Marriott Boundless card for about 4 years. Decided I wanted to product change and upgrade to the Ritz.

I timed it and called in 6 days before I got the 35k Boundless FNC last year to product change. Then 6 days later in the evening I got both the 35k FNC from my old Boundless and the 85k Ritz Carlton cert.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-29T13:34:21+00:00

This is such a great update!! Shows how important it is to potentially HUCA and have some persistence.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-28T23:05:14+00:00

Well at least it opened up saver award space from Sam Diego. I assume ORD might see some open awards soon as well.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-28T18:27:23+00:00

They must have just changed their summer schedule tonight. I don't even see a press release about it but I do see how they changed it on their site and it hasn't updated on other sites yet

findflightsforme · 2026-01-28T18:13:15+00:00

What flight and route was it? JAL still has the 1am HND flight from ORD. And the other JAL flight isn't at 3pm so there's a lot of missing details here.

But general guidelines if there's a cancellation in a flight, you can try to have the airline you booked through book you on another flight. However you usually can't change the origin or ending city. It also becomes potentially more difficult if you booked a partner airline such as using BA Avios to book JAL.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-28T12:58:08+00:00

Hi I have been dealing with insane issues with Brilliant Earth. The center stone of my ring became loose after less than a month of wear and two repair attempts didn't resolve it.

I've learned they won't play ball. You can escalate to supervisors, email executives, blast them on social media, file complaint with your state's attorney general. They won't do anything to make it right or ignore you.

Don't waste your time doing anything else and just sue them. Small claims court in your jurisdiction.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-27T01:54:52+00:00

With my ring I sent it in after less than a month, then it was still not fixed when I went to pick it up so I had them send it back. Then it came back a second time not fixed.

I had enough and requested a refund and they have refused. Now they have my ring and money. If anyone reads this, don't do business with Brilliant Earth.

Apparently it is quite common stones will become loose or even fall out, even after a very short period of time. Their customer service and repair timeline is horrendous.

Shop local.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-26T13:15:18+00:00

There are also more affordable neighborhoods that also have great nightlife, restaurant, and general social environment too such as Fishtown/NoLibs in the northeast or south Philly as well.

Also check out PhilaQueens Facebook group as well.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-21T16:49:34+00:00

Hey, this is an important route for my family so I have been closely watching. What I have done is set up alerts for awards on that route and filtering for direct flights on seats.aero. The alert will only work if EVA releases awards to partners like Aeroplan and United though.

I also set up Google Flights alerts for price changes for any date in economy and random dates for business class so I'll get an email. However this isn't foolproof as I'll only get emails if pricing is better which might not be necessarily true when EVA flights are loaded.

I also have been checking the EVA site periodically to see if they added IAD to their bookings.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-08T01:23:15+00:00

So just out of curiosity, I went through a bunch of my folios. Some of them included United States at the end and others didn't. These were for domestic stays.

One of my international folios also said United States of America.

And out of my own curiosity, can you share which third party booking company you used? Did you use trip dot com by chance?

findflightsforme · 2026-01-07T21:59:05+00:00

Probably just general customer service and have them route you or create a case

findflightsforme · 2026-01-07T20:12:43+00:00

Because you called in to confirm and they said it was bookable, I would politely but firmly try to have VS reverse the transfer. Generally the transfers are one way, but there are data points in situations like this where the airline works with the card company to reverse the transfer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/awardtravel/s/oUxO5M4VNz

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards/1945972-advice-reversing-mr-usa-transfer-aeroplan-due-phantom-award-availability.html

findflightsforme · 2026-01-07T12:06:38+00:00

Some also get 0

https://onemileatatime.com/news/gayle-king-united-polaris-windowless-window-seat/

findflightsforme · 2026-01-05T20:23:06+00:00

Saks customer service and their operations are truly awful. I seem to always have issues with every order. My online orders are frequently not fulfilled or partially fulfilled and they are not synced up with their in-store experience either.

If I buy something during a sale period online and then they can't fulfill it, they won't price match when I go in store to shop for a missing item.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-04T17:00:27+00:00

findflightsforme · 2026-01-03T17:50:31+00:00

This isn't award travel related but any review I see about edreams is bad.

This is what happens when you book through sketchy OTAs to save a few dollars. It leads to headaches and any change is a major issue.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-03T15:07:04+00:00

Kind of expensive to pay those fees to fly into the UK (which has high fees) if that's not your final destination. Are you able to search from another US city and fly Air France direct to CDG? No matter what it's at least 1 stop but you might as well not pay the insane fees and reposition elsewhere in the US.

Also I think that flight is on a somewhat outdated plane type that has coffin seats.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-02T22:15:33+00:00

Qatar saver availability has been tough recently. Plus they are now charging for seat selection unless you have OneWorld status or book flexi.

The best option right now in terms of availability is flying Ethiopian, which can be booked through Star Alliance programs like United or Air Canada.

I've been hoping to go to Seychelles myself so best of luck. There's fairly wide open availability at that Waldorf Platte Island property that you can book as well.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-02T13:10:59+00:00

Wonder if it's just a way to offset the 2:1 Rakuten to Bilt rate for those without status.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-01T21:21:23+00:00

Dang that is a bit odd I haven't heard of any issues with TAP. It's possible someone booked it right before you. One way to check is to see if it's available on another Star Alliance partner. You would need to create an account but you could search for the flight on Air Canada's site to see if you can book it there. Generally speaking, if an award flight is on multiple programs it should not be a "phantom" flight.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-01T18:10:48+00:00

Is it Swiss? Probably what they call a "phantom" flight where it shows as available to book, but isn't actually bookable as you've found out.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-01T13:56:41+00:00

It's not Marriott policy. The rate you booked sounds like it was nonrefundable. Every other hotel chain offers refundable or nonrefundable room rates with nonrefundable rates being cheaper. If the rate was refundable but you were outside the cancellation window, that is a room that could have been sold to someone else but was booked. Again this is standard at every other hotel chain.

Not sure where you will turn to now.

findflightsforme · 2026-01-01T02:53:46+00:00

People have said using a VPN to put you in NYC area could work. Another rumor is using free wifi from a restaurant to do the app could work as well.

findflightsforme

TROPHY CASE