Delta Opens Second LAX Lounge & Chase’s Sapphire Deal

✌️ Delta One X 2: Another (Tiny) Delta One Lounge Opens at LAX

If you’re sitting in Atlanta (ATL), Detroit (DTW), Minneapolis (MSP), or Salt Lake City (SLC), wondering where your Delta One Lounge is … well … don’t shoot the messenger …

Before any of Delta’s non-coastal hubs got one, Los Angeles (LAX) just opened its second Delta One Lounge this week.

But this isn’t your average Delta One Lounge like you’ll find in New York (JFK), Boston (BOS), Seattle (SEA), or the other one in Los Angeles (LAX), because this space is tiny.

This new location, in Terminal 2, is only 4,000 square feet and only holds 75 guests. Delta said it will be “intimate” and “quiet” and will focus on “all things culinary.”

But the small lounge is not permanent. In 2027, this lounge will close again as the airline opens a new Delta SkyClub in Terminal 2. Then, in 2028, Delta will reopen a newly renovated (and presumably larger) Delta One Lounge, just in time for the 2028 L.A. Olympics.

This is good news for Delta One passengers flying from Terminal 2 – but the experience will be different in the future.

For now, SoCal Delta One flyers get another premium lounge option. As for travelers in the middle of the country … the wait continues.

Check out our full breakdown of the new Terminal 2 Delta One Lounge

– Gunnar Olson, flight deal analyst, travel reporter, and host of the Thrifty Traveler Podcast

🤝 Deal of the Day: Dublin under $481 Roundtrip

Heat scale (out of 3): 🔥🔥

Why we love it: Jump on this big price drop on roundtrip flights to Dublin, Ireland this summer!

Flying from nine different U.S. and Canadian cities starting at just $364 roundtrip this August and September.

Sign up now to get all the details on this deal & don’t miss the next flight deal alert.

Already a member? Log in to see all your deals. (Not seeing it? Remove your airport filters to see every deal.)

– Gunnar Olson, Thrifty Traveler Premium deal analyst

📖 Gettin’ Booksy: Alaska Airlines Biz Class To Tokyo

Welcome to Gettin’ Booksy, a celebration of our favorite feeling: Booking something awesome! Book something lately? Let us know at [email protected]!

What Did I Book?

My colleagues at Thrifty Traveler Premium sent out a sizzling award availability alert for Alaska Airlines Business Class from Seattle (SEA) to Tokyo (NRT), so I grabbed two seats for my wife and me to make our triumphant return to Japan!

How’d We Book It?

I transferred 120,000 Citi ThankYou Points to American Airlines that I earned from signing up for the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card, paying the annual fee, and hitting the minimum spend requirement. It was bookable for 60,000 AA miles each way per person.

What Makes it So Awesome?

When it comes to business class flights to Japan, American Airlines miles are the gold standard. When availability pops up (and it rarely does), you can book Japan Airlines Biz Class for 60,000 miles each way. But this is the first time I’ve seen Alaska’s new 787 biz class at that rate, and I was psyched to fly in this seat again!

We flew Hawaiian’s 787 Business Class (same seat, different amenities and service) earlier this year and thought it was tremendous, so we can’t wait to go again!

– Gunnar Olson, flight deal analyst and travel reporter

💳 Amex Platinum’s Saks Credit Is Dead … Here’s What Replaced It

Today’s the day. As of July 1, the up to $100 annual Saks Fifth Avenue credit on the American Express Platinum Card® is officially gone.

The credit has been around since 2018, but it was always a little awkward in practice. Saks isn’t exactly a place most of us shop regularly, and burning a $50 credit twice a year without spending significantly more took real effort. If you’ve ever spent 20 minutes scrolling through overpriced candles and designer socks just to “use” a benefit before it expired … you know the drill.

Saks filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year didn’t help matters either. Store closures piled up, and online orders increasingly routed through third-party vendors, leading to delays, cancellations, and more than a few frustrated Platinum cardholders.

So what’s replacing it?

Amex promised “new and exclusive” Amex Offers for Platinum cardholders when it announced the Saks credit removal … and those offers are now live. Here’s what just dropped:

• Nordstrom: Spend $200+, get $50 back (expires 12/31/26)
• TUMI: Spend $250+, get $50 back (expires 9/30/26)
• Perplexity AI Pro & Max Plans: Spend $200+, get $100 back (expires 12/28/26)
• Eight Sleep: Spend $1,000+, get $200 back (expires 9/30/26)
• Bose: Spend $300+, get $75 back (expires 9/30/26)

Amex Offers are great, but they’re not the same as a guaranteed benefit. You have to remember to add them, you have to spend a specific amount, and they can disappear or vary by cardholder. Trading a defined credit for a rotating list of spend-to-earn offers is a downgrade – even if some of these specific offers are legitimately useful.

Still, the Platinum Card isn’t hurting for value. Between lounge access, airline fee credits, Uber Cash, the Resy dining credits, and much more, there’s plenty left to justify the hefty annual fee.

– Nick Serati, co-founder

🎙️ On the Pod: Travel Positivity

✈️ This week on the pod, Gunnar and Kyle outline all the things that are going well in travel right now: flight deals, new routes, big improvements for airport security, bigger and better lounges, massive credit card offers, and more.

Tune in now on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

💰 91,364 Bonus Points & No Annual Fee the First Year

When Chase rolled out Pay Yourself Back in 2020, it was a game-changer. With travel largely off the table during the pandemic, it gave cardholders a way to cash out Ultimate Rewards points at elevated rates toward everyday purchases instead of flights and hotels.

Six years later, it’s a much more niche benefit.

Chase now rotates a handful of eligible categories each quarter, allowing cardholders to redeem Ultimate Rewards points for statement credits at rates above the standard 1 cent per point you’d get redeeming points for cash back or through many other fixed-value options.

It’s still nowhere near as rewarding as transferring points to one of Chase’s airline or hotel partners for outsized value on flights and hotels, but there are times when it makes sense.

For the third quarter (through Sept. 30), Sapphire cardholders can redeem points at the following rates:

*chase sapphire preferred*

• 1.25 cents per point: Eligible charitable donations
• 1.10 cents per point: Annual fee, pet supply stores, and veterinary services
• 1.05 cents per point: Public transit

*chase sapphire reserve*

• 1.50 cents per point: Eligible charitable donations
• 1.25 cents per point: Annual fee
• 1.20 cents per point: Gas stations and public transit

The annual fee redemption on the Sapphire Preferred is what caught our attention here. If you’re applying for the card with its current 100,000-point welcome bonus after spending $5,000 in the first three months, you can redeem just 8,636 points to erase the card’s $95 annual fee.

In other words, you’re effectively looking at a 91,364-point bonus with the first year’s annual fee covered.

Would we rather transfer those points to Hyatt, United, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, or another Chase partner? Almost every time. But burning fewer than 9,000 points to wipe out the annual fee while still keeping more than 91,000 Ultimate Rewards points for future travel is an easy tradeoff to make.

And that’s before you factor in everything else the Sapphire Preferred now offers: $100 annual Chase Travel℠ hotel credit, up to a $120 credit for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, or NEXUS, a complimentary year of Apple TV (activate by Dec. 31, 2026), new travel protections, and more. Stack it all together, and the card’s biggest-ever welcome offer looks even more compelling.

Just keep an eye on the calendar. You’ll need to have the points in your account before these Pay Yourself Back categories expire on Sept. 30. Between the points earned from spending along the way and the welcome bonus itself, most applicants who apply soon should still have plenty of time to erase the annual fee.

One final note: Pay Yourself Back isn’t just for Sapphire cardholders.

Many Chase Freedom and Ink Business cards have their own rotating categories with different redemption rates – and co-branded cards like United, Southwest, Aeroplan, Marriott, and Disney do too.

They’re generally not the best use of your points, but they’re worth checking before settling for a standard 1-cent-per-point cash redemption.

– Jackson Newman, senior editor

✈️ Other Travel Tidbits

• ☕ American is opening a grab-and-go lounge with its first-ever barista bar at JFK. The 3,700-square-foot Provisions by Admirals Club space in Terminal 8 skips the sit-down lounge experience for quick coffee and prepared food. (American Airlines)
• 📱 Amex now lets you pay with Membership Rewards points directly in Apple Pay. The press release skips the redemption value, but Amex’s own example puts it at 0.7 cents per point – not exactly great. (American Express)
• 🍽️ Not all credit cards are created equal when the dinner bill comes. If you’re leaving points on the table every time you eat out, our latest roundup breaks down the best cards for dining.
• ⛵ Uber has launched a boat-booking service in 23 European coastal cities this summer in a partnership with Click & Boat. (Parade)