✈️ This airline has a "Taipei" personality (get it?)

Estimated read time: 5 minutes and 4 seconds

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, the “Guatemalan parasite” of newsletters. We wiggle our way into your inbox and relentlessly remind you of our presence until the weekend comes to wipe us out.

Too soon?

Here’s what’s in store today, my friends:

• ✈️ Alaska Airlines partners with a deluxe Taiwanese airline

• 😮 Delta might start overselling MORE flights (which you can profit from)

• 🚂 First-class Friday: This train just got a MAJOR upgrade

✈️ Alaska Airlines partners with a deluxe Taiwanese airline

In some pretty exciting news for aviation geeks and travel hackers, Alaska Airlines has recently launched a partnership with Taiwan-based Starlux Airlines.

If you haven’t heard of Starlux Airlines, it’s because they launched their inaugural flight just weeks before the world shut down because of the pandemic… yeah… poor guys.

Anyway, they’re back in business and making some BIG moves. They’ve acquired some new planes and have just launched a route from Taipei to Los Angeles, marking their foray into the U.S. market.

That’s where Alaska Airlines comes into the fray.

If you fly Starlux (even around Asia), you’ll be able to credit your flights to Alaska Airlines and earn Alaska miles - a great way to earn some meaningful points from an otherwise random airline.

The number of miles you’ll earn will vary based on the flight and class of service, but you can reference the chart below for the specifics:

Eventually (sometime in the Summer, allegedly), you’ll also be able to redeem Alaska miles for flights on Starlux, essentially giving us North Americans yet another great way to get across the Pacific with points and miles.

And if you’re wondering why you’d want to fly some no-name airline like Starlux, well… I’ll let the product speak for itself… 👇

Yeah… it’s pretty deluxe stuff.

Starlux has branded itself as a premium airline from the lounges to the onboard product. I’ve never flown them, but they’ve been on my list since they launched in 2020, and this new partnership could be the perfect chance to use points and miles as a way to do just that.

Sadly, Alaska Mileage Plan Miles aren’t the easiest to earn. That being said, here are a few ways you can amass some miles:

• Flying on Alaska (or partner airlines like Starlux)

• Using the Alaska shopping portal

• Spending on Alaska cobranded credit cards

• Alaska Airlines dining portal

• Buy miles

If you’re a frequent flier of the airline, you should be very excited about this development.

😮 Delta might start overselling MORE flights (which you can profit from)

You may remember a few weeks ago when I told you about how I voluntarily offered to give up my seat on a plane in exchange for hundreds of dollars of free money (and a free hotel room).

This happens when airlines overbook their flights with the expectation that people will make last-minute changes, not show up, etc.

Of course, booting people off of flights results in some… less than happy passengers.

So, Delta has decided to increase the number of seats they overbook on flights, thus pissing off even MORE passengers.

Yup, you heard that right.

Now that airlines have eliminated change fees, there are more and more people canceling and changing flights at the last minute.

As things stand, they typically sell flights at 103% capacity. That means if a flight has 100 seats, they’ll sell 103 tickets with the assumption that at least three people will not be taking the flight.

If all 103 people show up, they’ll need to put three people on later flights in exchange for a hefty payday to the affected passengers (which is what happened to me).

Delta executives have stated that in this world of constant changes and no change fees, they’ll be upping this number to 105%.

At first glance, this looks like irresponsible behavior, and you might be worried that you could end up getting kicked off your next Delta flight.

But I see this as an opportunity to increase my supply of something we all love dearly: MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.

Your odds of being offered money to give up your seat on a flight will now increase. As long as you have at least SOME flexibility, you could definitely make out like a bandit with these new policies.

So if you’re flying Delta in the future, give yourself a little buffer to potentially accommodate some wiggle room… and free money.

🚂 First-class Friday: This train just got a MAJOR upgrade

A visit to this mountainous region that calls itself the home of the mythical (?) Loch Ness monster will already make you feel first-class fancy just from its royal beauty 😏 

BUT aside from the lavish panoramas, the famous luxury train—the Royal Scotsman Belmond—just unveiled two new grand suites that will give you a luxurious experience like you’re flying Air France’s La Premiere 👌 

But the Scottish version of that… in a train… on the ground.

These two suites will provide train enthusiasts with a separate bedroom, a dining table, sofa, en suite bathroom with a shower, and a personal butler. How posh.

Plus, each traveler can choose to indulge in one complimentary treatment in the Dior Spa. Do in-flight spas exist in the first-class airline world?? If they don’t… something needs to change 🤔

The entire train is stunning, but only second to its itineraries that range from two to seven nights—each departing and arriving back in Edinburgh’s Waverly station.

These grand suites will launch next spring, but those eager to get a coveted spot can already start booking their journey.

There are, of course, less espensive options to jump on one of these itineraries. Just consider those the “business class” of trains… because it’s still niiice 😎

Speaking of Edinburgh, you’ll need to get there first, silly. If you’re going to drop some coin on this luxury train experience, you might as well save on your flights.

One way you could do this is by booking an award seat on Virgin Atlantic to first get to London. Fortunately, a handful of the most popular credit cards offer transferable points to Virgin at a 1:1 ratio.

Doing a quick search from two different airports (Seattle and New York) with one itinerary in the summer and one in the spring yielded these results:

The taxes and fees are a bit higher with Virgin, but if you can find a deal that gets you to Europe for only 10,000-15,000 points, I think its more than worth it.

From here, I’ve done countless $40 flights from London to Edinburgh in the past (which is chump change if you’re about to board the Royal Scotsman!).

OR you could always take a less-fancy train up to Scotland to then board your super fancy train. Options, my friends.

Maybe one day we’ll get to use miles and points for train travel, eh? 🤞

Want to help Daily Drop take over the world? Share our newsletter with your friends/family/pets/colleagues/enemies and win some rewards in the process!

Sign up for Daily Drop to grab your referral link!

I’m getting ready to fly back home from El Salvador today (finally) after an unexpectedly eventful trip…

Next time you hear from me, though, I won’t be at home - but in another Canadian city for an appointment at a certain embassy. 😉

I hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll see you bright and early on Monday ❤️

13.6929° N, 89.2182° W

Estimated read time: 5 minutes and 4 seconds

Good morning and welcome back to Daily Drop, the “Guatemalan parasite” of newsletters. We wiggle our way into your inbox and relentlessly remind you of our presence until the weekend comes to wipe us out.

Too soon?

Here’s what’s in store today, my friends:

• ✈️ Alaska Airlines partners with a deluxe Taiwanese airline

• 😮 Delta might start overselling MORE flights (which you can profit from)

• 🚂 First-class Friday: This train just got a MAJOR upgrade

✈️ Alaska Airlines partners with a deluxe Taiwanese airline

In some pretty exciting news for aviation geeks and travel hackers, Alaska Airlines has recently launched a partnership with Taiwan-based Starlux Airlines.

If you haven’t heard of Starlux Airlines, it’s because they launched their inaugural flight just weeks before the world shut down because of the pandemic… yeah… poor guys.

Anyway, they’re back in business and making some BIG moves. They’ve acquired some new planes and have just launched a route from Taipei to Los Angeles, marking their arrival into the U.S. market.

…that’s where Alaska Airlines comes in.

If you fly Starlux (even around Asia), you’ll be able to credit your flights to Alaska Airlines and earn Alaska miles—a great way to earn some meaningful points from an otherwise random airline.

The number of miles you’ll earn will vary based on the flight and class of service, but you can reference the chart below for the specifics:

Eventually (sometime in the summer, allegedly), you’ll also be able to redeem Alaska miles for flights on Starlux, essentially giving us North Americans yet another great way to get across the Pacific with points and miles.

And if you’re wondering why you’d want to fly some no-name airline like Starlux, well… I’ll let the product speak for itself… 👇

Yeah… it’s pretty deluxe stuff.

Starlux has branded itself as a premium airline from the lounges to the onboard product. I’ve never flown them, but they’ve been on my list since they launched in 2020, and this new partnership could be the perfect chance to use points and miles as a way to do just that.

Sadly, Alaska Mileage Plan Miles aren’t the easiest to earn. That being said, here are a few ways you can amass some miles:

• Flying on Alaska (or partner airlines like Starlux)

• Using the Alaska shopping portal

• Spending on Alaska cobranded credit cards

• Alaska Airlines dining portal

• Buy miles

If you’re a frequent flier of the airline, you should be very excited about this development!

😮 Delta might start overselling MORE flights (which you can profit from)

You may remember a few weeks ago when I told you about how I voluntarily offered to give up my seat on a plane in exchange for hundreds of dollars of free money (and a free hotel room).

This happens when airlines overbook their flights with the expectation that people will make last-minute changes, not show up, etc.

Of course, booting people off of flights results in some… less than happy passengers.

So, Delta has decided to increase the number of seats they overbook on flights, thus pissing off even MORE passengers.

Yup, you heard that right.

Now that airlines have eliminated change fees, there are more and more people canceling and changing flights at the last minute.

As things stand, they typically sell flights at 103% capacity. That means if a flight has 100 seats, they’ll sell 103 tickets with the assumption that at least three people will not be taking the flight.

If all 103 people show up, they’ll need to put three people on later flights in exchange for a hefty payday to the affected passengers (which is what happened to me).

Delta executives have stated that in this world of constant changes and no change fees, they’ll be upping this number to 105%.

At first glance, this looks like irresponsible behavior, and you might be worried that you could end up getting kicked off your next Delta flight.

But I see this as an opportunity to increase my supply of something we all love dearly: MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY.

Your odds of being offered money to give up your seat on a flight will now increase. As long as you have at least SOME flexibility, you could definitely make out like a bandit with these new policies.

So if you’re flying Delta in the future, give yourself a little buffer to potentially accommodate some wiggle room… and free money.

🚂 First-class Friday: This train just got a MAJOR upgrade

A visit to this mountainous region that calls itself the home of the mythical (?) Loch Ness monster will already make you feel first-class fancy just from its royal beauty 😏 

BUT aside from the lavish panoramas, the famous luxury train—the Royal Scotsman Belmond—just unveiled two new grand suites that will give you a luxurious experience like you’re flying Air France’s La Premiere 👌 

But the Scottish version of that… in a train… on the ground.

These suites will provide train enthusiasts with a separate bedroom, a dining table, sofa, en suite bathroom with a shower, and a personal butler. How posh.

Plus, each traveler can choose to indulge in one complimentary treatment in the Dior Spa. Do in-flight spas exist in the first-class airline world?? If they don’t… something needs to change 🤔

The entire train is stunning, but only second to its itineraries that range from two to seven nights—each departing and arriving back in Edinburgh’s Waverly station.

These grand suites will launch next spring, but those eager to get a coveted spot can already start booking their journey.

There are, of course, less expensive options to jump on one of these itineraries. Just consider those the “business class” of trains… because it’s still niiice 😎

Speaking of Edinburgh, you’ll need to get there first, silly. If you’re going to drop some coin on this luxury train experience, you might as well save on your flights.

One way you could do this is by booking an award seat on Virgin Atlantic to first get to London. Fortunately, a handful of the most popular credit cards offer transferable points to Virgin at a 1:1 ratio.

Doing a quick search from two different airports (Seattle and New York) with one itinerary in the summer and one in the spring yielded these results:

The taxes and fees are a bit higher with Virgin, but if you can find a deal that gets you to Europe for only 10,000-15,000 points, I think it’s more than worth it.

From here, I’ve done countless $40 flights from London to Edinburgh in the past (which is chump change if you’re about to board the Royal Scotsman!).

OR you could always take a less-fancy train up to Scotland to then board your super-fancy train. Options, my friends.

Maybe one day we’ll get to use miles and points for train travel, eh? 🤞

Want to help Daily Drop take over the world? Share our newsletter with your friends/family/pets/colleagues/enemies and win some rewards in the process!

You currently have 0 referrals, only 5 away from receiving the Daily Drop Sticker Pack.

Or copy your unique referral URL to share with others: https://newsletter.dailydrop.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

I’m getting ready to fly back home from El Salvador today (finally) after an unexpectedly eventful trip…

Next time you hear from me, though, I won’t be at home—but in another Canadian city for an appointment at a certain embassy. 😉

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I’ll see you bright and early on Monday ❤️

13.6929° N, 89.2182° W