Hello and happy August! Does anyone understand how we’re already here? It cannot just be me thinking time is moving faster and faster.
I recently asked my older brother (a biology professor with a PHD) about this time-speeding-up phenomenon I was experiencing. Long story short, scientifically, there’s nothing major happening, and it’s all in my brain.
But it really feels like we have so little time! And such a big planet to explore!
As the great accountant Leo Bloom says in “The Producers,” “Stop the world, I wanna get on!” That, my friends, is why I’m into points and miles.
One of my favorite tools for finding cool award flights is Seats.Aero, which I’m certain I’ve mentioned in The Point of It All before. (You likely already know it since you’re the points-savvy human reading this and all.)
If not, it’s a fantastic website that finds award flights based on your itinerary. Though it’s not always 100% accurate because of how it caches, I’ve personally used it to find award flights and sometimes even browse just for fun. Now, they have a Chrome extension for Google Flights!
To test it out, I pretended I was taking myself on a birthday trip to London. (Shout out to my fellow December babies.)
As you can see below, this nonstop Virgin Atlantic flight on Dec.1, 2026, from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Heathrow Airport (LHR) in London shows up as $295, or 6,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points. You could also use Flying Blue or Delta miles, but look at the value difference for the exact same flight!
If you click the black box, it’ll take you directly to Seats.Aero, where you can search further — particularly if you’re a paying member, like I am. It’s a pretty nifty tool, and I will admit I spend quite a bit of my time on award scavenger hunts. I will likely take the same route next year to visit some friends from Atlanta, and yes, I will most definitely be using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points.
In other news, last week, Allegiant Air let the world know they’d be launching first class, which is a surprisingly low-cost airline thing to do these days. Budget brethren Frontier Airlines is debuting its own first-class seats later this year.
Just like Frontier’s first class, Allegiant’s will have 8 seats total in the first two rows of the airplanes in a 2 by 2 configuration. Allegiant will begin selling the seats in mid-August for flights sometime next spring.
I have two questions here:
How will budget airlines’ first class stack up next to the bigger airlines’ version?
Will it be cheaper than, say, Delta's or United’s basic economy ticket?
The seats do look comfortable (one more than the other, but I’ll let you guess which), but will the experience be any nicer than your standard budget airline flight? You’re still flying on a budget airline, even though you're in a comfier seat.
I cannot wait for our aviation writers to test it out.
Finally, you might have heard recently about the TSA Gold+ program. Of course, I thought, “Did TSA start doing rewards or something?” (I wish! Could be fun.)
TSA Gold+ is actually a program started by the current president’s administration, in which private security companies work with TSA agents to do, well, what seem to be some of TSA’s jobs. The TSA says it is still in charge, however.
“TSA Gold Plus is a new partnership program launched earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” writes TPG’s Sean Cudahy. “It allows airports to voluntarily opt in to using private, third-party companies to manage security checkpoints instead of TSA officers employed by the federal government. Those companies would also manage the technology that screens travelers and their bags. The TSA says it would still be responsible for ensuring that all security checkpoints meet federal standards.”
The first three airports to try out the TSA Gold+ program are Tampa International Airport (TPA), Charleston International Airport (CHS) in South Carolina and Des Moines International Airport (DSM) in Iowa. This is something else I can’t wait for our aviation team to try and report back. In the meantime, I will be patiently waiting.
Next week I’ll be writing to you from Canada yet again — this time from Banff in Alberta. I’ll be kayaking with an Olympian, and don’t you worry! I’ll tell you all about it and share photos, too.
Stay cool, stay hydrated and enjoy the rest of summer while you can. This has been the Point of It All.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.