Super Cheap Flights To Los Angeles, Big New Bonus From AMEX And A Great AvGeek Way To Spend $35

Here’s what I’m reading about in the world of miles and points:

Cheap Flights of the Day: 

SUPER Cheap fares from DC to LAX, $147.  I haven’t seen them that cheap in a while.

Flights to Australia for under $1,000.  They’ve been cheaper but this is a pretty solid fare.

Southwest is having a pretty decent fare sale right now as well.

In Case You Missed It:

AMEX is firing back at Chase Sapphire with 5X points on airfare purchases going forward.  That’s a huge bump in the bonus level and represents a big chunk of savings/points for folks who buy a lot of airline tickets.  It’s good when banks compete!

AMEX holders who have are planning travel to Asia should look for this offer to earn 20,000 bonus points on $1,000 in airfare purchases.  You don’t have to spend $1,000 on one ticket, and you have until the end of November to purchase tickets, not fly.  Should be a nice bonus for some folks.

From good news to bad, with the apparent development that Delta is now charging variable pricing for partner awards, even when those partners aren’t charging more.  While I don’t love it, it means playing the game smartly for those of us still chasing world travel using points or miles.

This may be the best way I’ve ever heard for an AvGeek to spend $35.  Hands down.

Want to design the livery on an A380?  You can do that and win two free airline tickets if they pick your design.

What do you do when an airline strands you at a different airport than the one you’re going to and tells you it’s up to you to find your own way to your destination?

As a guy who loves to travel, I always enjoy the thought of squeezing in an extra destination along the way.  Here’s a situation where it looks like visa fees get in the way of tourism.  I don’t have enough knowledge of this specific situation to say that this is a response to fees the US charges for people to enter our country (often called reciprocity fees, wonder why), but that’s a pretty steep fee for only a 1-year visa.

LOT Polish Airlines is spinning up a long route.  LAX-Warsaw is ~6,000 miles.  As Ben mentions, the only saving grace here is that the fleet is all 787s for this route.  Is it weird that I want to fly  from DC to LAX to try out business class 6,000 miles in the other direction?  Wonder if there are good donuts in Poland…..