Andrea

Most travelers searching for airfare start and stop with their home airport. Unless they get lucky with a great deal, they may be forced to choose between swallowing a higher price to fly abroad … or frowning and forgetting about it. There's a better way.

The key to cutting down international airfare is using positioning flights: short domestic flights from your hometown airport to a second hub to hop on a cheaper fare. Whether you're searching for international flights on your own, booking a great fare through our Thrifty Traveler Premium service, hopping on an insanely cheap mistake fare, or taking advantage of hard-to-find award space to use your points and miles, this strategy can easily save you hundreds of dollars or more per ticket.

With international travel demand high as ever and domestic flight prices near record lows, this is the key to saving big on your long flight abroad.

 

 

What is a Positioning Flight?

Wouldn't it be great if every airport, from the tiny to the enormous, could get cheap fares to fly abroad?

Unfortunately, that's just not the case. While we find cheap flights from 200+ U.S. (and Canadian!) airports big and small, the fact of the matter is that the major hubs get the best deals. And this is where positioning flights come in to help bridge the gap.

Think about the major airports in the U.S. with tons of competition that can drive down airfare prices. Here's a quick look at some of the biggest airports in the country with regular international flights:

• Los Angeles (LAX)
• San Francisco (SFO)
• Seattle (SEA)
• Chicago-O'Hare (ORD)
• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)
• Houston-Intercontinental (IAH)
• Boston (BOS)
• New York City (JFK)
• Newark (EWR)
• Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD)
• Atlanta (ATL)
• Miami (MIA)

Which of these major international hubs can you cheaply fly to? Airlines might charge you an arm and a leg if you start your search from your home airport to London-Heathrow (LHR), Sydney (SYD), Tokyo-Haneda (HND), or wherever you're heading abroad.

But if you separately book a cheap flight to get to, say, Los Angeles (LAX) or New York City (JFK), you can likely save hundreds on that flight overseas. Better yet, use points and miles to book that positioning flight for nearly free – or book both using points and miles.

Let's look at an example.

 

The Power of Positioning Flights in Action

International travel demand is sky-high, and we've been seeing a steady stream of cheap flights to Europe, the Caribbean, and even Oceania lately, like these amazing roundtrip fares to Europe that we sent a few months back to Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers. This flight deal even included dates in August, the peak summer travel season.

 

 

But sadly, the whole nation didn't get the flight deal love. So even on the same dates you can catch a dirt-cheap ride on a nonstop flight from places like Boston (BOS) to Copenhagen (CPH) during the peak summer travel season…

 

 

… here's what you'd see flying from even a fairly big airport like Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP).

 

 

Over double the price for a weeklong trip to Europe? No thanks.

The sub-$500 roundtrip flights to Europe were flying Scandinavian Airlines, which only flies to a handful of cities in the U.S. – mostly on the East Coast. But getting to Boston from Minneapolis is generally quite cheap and easy, so let's try out a positioning flight.

 

 

Start with the long-haul flight to Copenhagen. We can leave Boston at about 6:05 p.m. for a grand total of $356 roundtrip. It's scheduled to land back in the U.S. at 4 p.m. the following week.

 

 

Get cheap flights like this sent straight to your inbox with Thrifty Traveler Premium!

Keep those dates and times in mind for your positioning flight as you fire up Google Flights. In this case, we're looking at a $153 fare to get to Boston on Sun Country – though you might be able to find an even better deal by waiting for prices to drop or setting a Google Flights price alert.

 

 

The key is making sure all the times and dates line up to make this one-stop flight to Cophenhagen and back work. Add those separate flights up, and you've got a round-trip ticket to Copenhagen for $509 – nearly $300 cheaper than the simple search you started with! Plus, you could drop the final price even lower by using points and miles to book the positioning flight to Boston – or booking the Copenhagen flight using Chase Ultimate Rewards points through the Chase Travel℠ portal.

This is just one example, but it's a powerful method that can pay off on almost any big international flight.

 

Positioning Flights & Points & Miles Deals

When you're trying to use your points and miles, positioning flights can be absolutely essential – especially if you're trying to fly in lie-flat business class. Let's look at another example.

Flying Iberia business class to Madrid (MAD) for as low as just 34,000 miles each way is one of the best deals in the world of points and miles. But you won't find that outstanding deal from every airport: You'll need to depart from select cities like New York City (JFK), Boston (BOS), Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD), or Chicago-O'Hare (ORD).

Oh, and you'll need to find the award space to actually book those lie-flat seats. We just sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members an award alert for some solid availability next year, so that part is covered.

 

 

Get the next amazing award alert with Thrifty Traveler Premium!

But if you were starting from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), Fargo (FAR), or even a massive airport like Atlanta (ATL), your searches with Iberia would likely come up empty-handed.

Yet again, a positioning flight is crucial. Getting from Minneapolis over to Chicago won't cost you much at all.

 

 

A quick, $133 flight is all you need in order to hop on this incredible deal, kicking off a trip to Spain in lie-flat seats that typically cost $3,000 or more.

 

 

If that doesn't show the power of positioning flights, I don't know what will.

 

The Risks with Positioning Flights: Delays & Cancellations

We'll be upfront here: There is some risk to keep in mind with positioning flights. But that risk can easily be outweighed by these substantial savings.

One-stop journeys booked together (as part of one reservation) protect you if the first leg is delayed or canceled. If your first flight lands too late to catch the second segment, the airline will put you on the next available flight.

But that's not the case if you book a positioning flight separately. Some airlines will help you out when things go wrong … but you can't count on it.

So there's one critical thing to keep in mind: Now more than ever, give yourself plenty of time between flights. With the mass delays and cancellations we've seen over the last few years, there's more uncertainty with booking positioning flights like this.

Read more: How to Survive (or Avoid) Flight Delays & Cancellations

Flight times are almost guaranteed to change from what you initially booked, so you'll need to monitor your reservations to make sure your airlines don't throw a wrench in your plans. And a last-minute delay or cancellation could ruin a trip if it means you miss your connection.

Only you can decide what you're comfortable with, but it's probably safest to give yourself at least three to four hours of connection time between when your positioning flight lands and when that longer flight takes off – and even more on the way back home to the U.S., as you'll have to clear customs and immigration, then re-clear security, too.

You might even want to consider flying in a day early, just to be sure you don't miss that big flight abroad. If your outbound flight departs early or your return flight lands light, an extra overnight might be essential.

There are a few other things to keep in mind for your positioning flight:

• When possible, it's worth trying to book your positioning flight on the same airline as the international journey. Some carriers can link these flights. While that won't protect you as if they were booked as one trip, it will give the airline a heads-up if you're in danger of missing your connection. This can also help with baggage.
• It's best to travel with only a carry-on bag. If things go wrong (or even if they don't), you don't want to have to worry about collecting your baggage, rechecking it, and re-clearing security. Read our tips to pack in a carry-on bag!
• Consider paying for your trip with a credit card that has trip delay and cancellation coverage like the *chase sapphire preferred*, the *chase sapphire reserve*, or the *venture x*. While it won't ensure you get on the next flight if your positioning flight is delayed, it can help cover some of the costs if things go wrong.

Only you can decide whether these risks are worth it. To us, the savings of pairing a positioning flight with a great international flight deal can easily outweigh them.

 

Bottom Line

Positioning flights make any flight deal accessible from anywhere in the U.S. Don't let another incredible flight deal pass you by because it's not departing from your home city.

More than a year after it reopened to international travel, it seems like everyone is heading for Japan … and for good reason.

Now’s an incredible time to make your move if you want to plan a trip to Japan – not just because cherry blossoms are blooming up and down the island, but because the U.S. dollar goes 40% further than it did before the pandemic. That excellent exchange rate means your sushi and ramen will be cheaper than ever!

Flights to Japan, though, can break the bank. That’s where points and miles come in.

There are tons of options to book flights to Japan using credit card points or airline miles. Whether you’re looking for the best budget option to fly economy, fly in style in business class, or splurge for first class, we’ve got you covered.

Whether you head there this year or next, these are some of the best ways to redeem your points and miles for a trip to Japan.

 

Fly Japan Airlines Economy Using AA Miles

When you’re flying across the Pacific Ocean at the back of the plane, you want to be comfortable. And while economy seats across airlines may seem identical, every extra inch of space counts.

Few airlines do economy better than Japan Airlines (JAL). We’re convinced this Japanese flag carrier offers the best economy seat to fly to Asia – or anywhere, really. JAL calls these seats “Sky Wider” economy, and they live up to that name.

At up to 19 inches across, these seats are substantially wider than what airlines like American fly on many of the same long-haul routes. An inch or two of extra width is the difference between relaxing and worrying about rubbing shoulders with your neighbor. Look for JAL’s Boeing 787 Dreamliners on these routes, as they configure the economy cabin with just eight seats across – most airlines squeeze nine seats into the same space.
 

 

Read our full Japan Airlines economy review!

Want legroom? You’re in luck there, too. JAL gives you up to 34 inches of pitch on these planes, which is at least 2 inches more than you’d get on most airlines. Factor in JAL’s tasty food and sterling service, and you’ve got one of the best ways to fly economy to Japan – or anywhere in Asia, really.

 

How to Book

There are a handful of ways to book flights to Japan on JAL. You’ve got several partner airlines to choose from.

But we think the best way to get there is using American AAdvantage miles. A one-way flight between Tokyo and the U.S. will run you just 35,000 AAdvantage miles. And thanks to how American prices out awards, it works out at that price whether you’re flying nonstop from one of JAL’s many U.S. outposts or adding a connecting flight from your home airport flying American before the long transpacific jaunt.
 

 

When it comes time to book, it couldn’t be easier. You can book these flights with your AAdvantage miles directly on AA’s website. Finding economy flights on JAL at 35,000 miles is usually a cinch as award space tends to be wide open: Just search on AA.com and make sure you select “redeem miles.”
 

 

Read our full walkthrough on finding the best deals with your AAdvantage miles!

If you’re on an economy budget with your points, it’s tough to beat 70,000 AAdvantage miles and minimal fees for roundtrip flights to Japan. But there’s a way you can cut that mileage rate in half.

 

Hop on a Cheap Delta SkyMiles Deal

Unlike American’s concrete award chart which means you’ll pay 70,000 miles for roundtrip flights to Japan, Delta’s award pricing system is unpredictable. Sometimes, the pricing to fly Delta can be good … and other times, it’s exorbitantly expensive.

But when the Delta deals are good, they’re unbeatable. And deals to get to Japan just don’t get any better than Delta SkyMiles flash sales. Case in point: We’ve previously sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members roundtrip Delta fares to Tokyo for as low as 30,000 SkyMiles. That’s less than most airlines charge for a one-way fare!
 

 

While SkyMiles flash sales have made a resurgence over the last year with some incredible deals like 27,000 SkyMiles to Europe or 37,000 SkyMiles to New Zealand, deals that good to Tokyo haven’t made a comeback just yet.

But they’re out there, like this find from last summer with flights as low as 42,000 SkyMiles roundtrip.
 

 

Delta has shifted all its flights to Japan into Tokyo-Haneda (HND), rather than Tokyo-Narita. Given how much closer Haneda airport is to town, that’s a good thing. And the flight itself should be fairly comfortable, as many of Delta’s long-haul planes are far more passenger-friendly in economy than its competitors.
 

 

How to Book

Patience. And flexibility.

The trick with using Delta SkyMiles is waiting for the right deal, and being flexible enough to wait for it to come to you. That means this option likely won’t work if you’ve got a specific time period in mind.

There’s just no telling when the next great deal will pop up. But Thrifty Traveler Premium will get the first heads up about the next Delta SkyMiles deal to Japan. Premium members get award alerts including deeply discounted Delta SkyMiles routes as well as cheap international and domestic cash fares.

Just how many SkyMiles you’ll need to fly to Japan and back will depend on the sale – and where you live. If you’re in a Delta hub like Atlanta (ATL), Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), or Detroit (DTW), expect to pay more thanks to Delta’s hub penalty. But these deals can bring the price down between 30,000 SkyMiles to 50,000 SkyMiles roundtrip, no matter where you live.

And that makes this option is tough to beat. Read up on how to earn the Delta SkyMiles you need to book one of these insane deals. Delta’s suite of co-branded credit cards with Amex is a natural place to start, especially with welcome bonuses of up to 100,000 SkyMiles currently available.

Otherwise, you can pile up Amex Membership Rewards from cards like the *amex gold* or *amex platinum*. Delta is an Amex transfer partner, which means you can wait for a great deal to Tokyo and when you get one, transfer some points to your SkyMiles account and book!

 

Take a Flight Deal and Make it Free

What’s better than a cheap flight to Tokyo? A free flight to Tokyo.

If you’re not up for studying airline award charts to find the best way to book with airline miles, one of the easiest ways to do it is by redeeming credit card points through travel portals like the Chase travel portal. The cheaper the flight, the fewer points you need to book. It’s that simple.

Whether you find a cheap flight on your own using Google Flights or get an alert through Thrifty Traveler Premium, it’s easy to book through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards travel portal. And it’s the only way to book a flight to Tokyo for completely free – normal award flights will always tack on additional cash fees of $50 or more.

Take a previous deal from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND) for under $600 roundtrip, for example.
 

 

Get flight deals like this sent to your inbox with Thrifty Traveler Premium!

If you’ve got the *chase sapphire preferred* you can book one of these flights with points to make it free. Because every point from the Preferred Card is worth 1.25 cents, that same deal would work out to roughly 46,800 Chase points for your trip to Tokyo.

Got the *chase sapphire reserve* It’s even cheaper because every point is worth 1.5 cents apiece, which means you can book that same flight for just over 39,000 Chase points! 

Want an even easier route, booking directly with the airline and making it free using your points? If you’ve got Capital One Venture Miles, you can just use your miles to cover the cost of your flights.

Every mile is worth 1 cent, so that same $586 flight would take 58,600 Venture Miles.

 

How to Book

You’ll probably want some Chase points to make this happen.

The *chase sapphire preferred* is easily one of the best cards for points and miles beginners, thanks to the different ways you can redeem these points. If you’re a frequent traveler, the *chase sapphire reserve*  is tough to beat – especially as your points will be worth even more toward your cash fare.

Then, it’s time to find your cheap flight to Tokyo. Forget online travel agencies like Expedia or Kayak: Use Google Flights to find the cheapest flight possible. Or just wait for a Thrifty Traveler Premium flight deal to hit your inbox!

From there, follow our guide to book flight deals using Chase points. It’s pretty simple, and the price via Chase’s portal should match what you’ve already seen – with some exceptions. And remember: You’ll still earn frequent flyer miles on flights booked with credit card points.

It’s even easier with the Capital One. So long as you’ve got some Venture Miles and a card that earns them like the *capital one venture card* or the *venture x*, you’re set. Just find a flight, pay for it with your card, and go back to cover the cost with miles within 90 days of your purchase. That’s it.

 

Fly ANA Business Class from 75K Miles RT!

Here’s your chance to fly business class to Japan for the price of economy. And on one of the world’s best airlines, to boot.

Most airlines charge at least 160,000 miles for a roundtrip in business class to Japan. Booking flights on All Nippon Airways with ANA Mileage Club, it starts at just 75,000 miles. For flights there and back. In business class.

That’s not an error – though come mid-April 2024, those rates will be going up to at least 100,000 miles. But even so, this is one of the cheapest ways to get to Japan using miles. The trick is timing it right, as ANA carves out different pricing during low (L), regular (R), and high (H) travel seasons.
 

 

You’ll want to focus on the low season if you can, as that’s when a business class roundtrip from the U.S. to Tokyo will cost you just 75,000 miles. A trip during the regular season will jump to 85,000 miles – and 90,000 miles during the high season.

No matter how you time it, this is a great deal. United Airlines, a partner carrier through the Star Alliance, would charge at least 220,000 miles for the exact same roundtrip flights.

And while all of ANA’s business class seats are excellent, the new ANA The Room business class suites are out of this world. They may just dethrone Qatar Airways’ Qsuites for the mantle of the best business class in the world.
 

 

How to Book

First things first, you need some ANA miles. And you don’t need to fly ANA a bunch to earn them.

Instead, just transfer those points from American Express Membership Rewards straight to ANA. If you’re eligible for a whopping 150,000-point bonus on the Amex Platinum Card via CardMatch, you can book these flights in one fell swoop. Just beware that these transfers tend to take about 48 hours or so.

But before you do, be sure to head to ANA’s website and scope out award availability to make sure the flights you want are available. Or better yet, start by searching via United.com – one of the best sites for finding award availability – for nonstop flights from some of the U.S. hubs ANA flies to and from like Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago-O’Hare (ORD), Houston-Intercontinental (IAH), New York City (JFK), and many more.
 

 

If you find a flight bookable for 110,000 United miles each way, that’s the key to a flight you can book through ANA. But these days, it’ll come down to the wire: ANA typically only releases award availability within two weeks or so of departure. ANA also allows you to “waitlist” for many business class awards, but that’s incredibly hit or miss.
 

 

Most importantly, you need to find roundtrip fares – ANA does not allow one-way bookings when using its own miles.

Once you’ve found the flights, head back to ANA’s website and search for an award booking. You’ll need an ANA frequent flyer account to search, so log in, plug in your dates, and get to booking.

One of the biggest downsides of booking with ANA is that the airline ANA can pass on some hefty taxes and fees in addition to that low mileage charge. As of publication, every roundtrip ticket gets hit with about $560 or so in taxes and fees. But those surcharges are always changing, so (hopefully) it won’t always be so steep.

Read our complete guide to booking flights with ANA Mileage Club!

 

Back on Japan Airlines … in Business for 60K

So maybe we have a soft spot for Japan Airlines. Can you blame us when their business class seats looks like this?
 

 

Read our full review of flying Japan Airlines business class!

Welcome to SkySuites. These seats are the best of both worlds, offering tremendous privacy while giving you near-limitless room to stretch your legs and store your bags. But it gets better, with some outstanding service and some of the tastiest food you’ll have – in the sky or on the ground.

It gets even better. Japan Airlines recently began flying a brand-new business class suite to and from select flights from New York City (JFK) complete with closing doors, new technology, and tons of other bells and whistles.
 

After a few flights in Japan Airlines business class over the years, I’m convinced JAL business class is one of the best ways to get to Asia in style. Just as with JAL economy, you can book these flights with American AAdvantage miles. And you only need 60,000 AAdvantage miles to do it. 

How to Book

American charges just 60,000 for a one-way business class flight from the U.S. to Tokyo-Narita (NRT) or Haneda (HND). There are other options to book, but this is the most cost-effective way to get to Japan in style on JAL. Plus, American makes it easy to cancel and get your miles straight back for free if plans change!

Award availability comes in waves: Sometimes you can find plenty of seats months in advance, while other times you’ll only see award space to book Japan Airlines business class to Tokyo just a few weeks in advance. A few weeks back, we tipped off Thrifty Traveler Premium members to some wide-open award availability for two (or more!) travelers to fly from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Tokyo this spring, summer, and fall!
 

 

Whether you live near one of JAL’s U.S. outposts or have to make a connection on American (or Alaska Airlines) to get there, flying business class from cities nationwide to Tokyo for just 60,000 miles and a few bucks is tough to beat.
 

 

Read up on the best ways to earn American AAdvantage miles!

 

Flying First Class on ANA from 72.5K Points

We saved the best for last. And it combines two airlines you’re already familiar with – Virgin Atlantic and ANA – for one of the best points and miles redemptions, period. Not just to get to Japan – in the world.

This one took a hit last year when Virgin Atlantic suddenly raised first class award rates for ANA … and yet it’s still a darn good deal: as low as 72,500 points each way. Compared to the exorbitant rates you’ll pay on other airlines, it’s a steal.

Flying first class on All Nippon Airways is a treat in and of itself. These suites are almost too private – if that’s a thing. You’ll have one of the most comfortable beds available in the skies. Amazing dining, comfortable pajamas, top-notch amenities, and seemingly bottomless glasses of Krug champagne will help put you to sleep.
 

 

Read our full review of ANA First Class on the flight from Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND)

You could book this seat through ANA itself or use United MileagePlus miles … but they would charge you 121,000 miles for flights from the U.S. to Tokyo – each way, not roundtrip. You can do much better.

 

How to Book

Using Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles, you can book roundtrip flights from the West Coast to Tokyo for 145,000 miles.

Live in the Midwest or on the East Coast? That’ll be 170,000 miles, roundtrip. And unlike when you use ANA miles, you can book one-way flights on ANA when redeeming Virgin points – they’re half the cost.

Much like booking ANA business class, the hardest part is finding award availability. But it’s not impossible: In the last year alone, we’ve sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members a half-dozen alerts to fly ANA First Class to Tokyo and back. That includes this recent alert with plenty of availability from San Francisco (SFO) … including many flights in the airline’s newest suites!
 

 

These flights are long gone now – get the next alert with Thrifty Traveler Premium!

Read our full guide to booking ANA flights using Virgin Atlantic miles. And keep in mind that you can transfer points to Virgin from Chase, Citi, American Express, Capital One, and even Bilt.

Thrifty Tip: We regularly transfer bonuses of 30% to Virgin Atlantic from banks like Chase, Amex, and Capital One. With a 30% transfer bonus, you could book these flights for as few as 56,000 credit card points each way!

Just to underscore how good of a deal this is: these flights typically sell for more than $20,000!
 

 

Bottom Line

This is just a small sliver of the possible ways to get to Japan using points and miles. But in our opinion, they’re the best ways to make that bucket list trip happen.

Whether you’re fine flying economy or pine for the comfort of first class, booking flights to Japan doesn’t have to be expensive.

 

Bilt is a relative newcomer to the world of travel rewards … but in short order, the company that set out to give travelers a way to earn transferable points for paying rent has become a points powerhouse.

Since setting up shop in mid-2021, Bilt has steadily added more and more ways for members to earn and redeem points (while subtracting a few others). And now there are more options than ever as Bilt just announced two new partners: TAP Air Portugal and Accor. While neither program is an absolute standout, having more options to use your points is always a good thing.

Whether you're earning Bilt points on your monthly rent payment or by swiping your *Bilt Mastercard* out shopping, building up your balance of Bilt points is harder than many other big banks – and that's only half the battle. While you can use them to book travel directly through Bilt, redeeming them for maximum value with one of Bilt's airline and hotel partners is where the real fun (and value) is.

Here's everything you need to know about Bilt transfer partners and where you should (and shouldn't) transfer your points.

 

 

A Changing List of Bilt Transfer Partners

Before we get into the “how?”, let’s cover the “who” and “where?” As in, who does Bilt partner with? And where can you transfer your points?

With 18 different transfer partners, Bilt allows you to send your points directly to more airlines and hotel chains than even Chase Ultimate Rewards. But it's not just quantity: You could easily make the case that Bilt points are the most valuable of any currency. 

You can send points to not one but two domestic U.S. airlines: Alaska and United. American Airlines partnered with Bilt from its outset, but got cut earlier this year in favor of Alaska. Hawaiian Airlines was also dropped a couple of months back – though you can still transfer to Hawaiian in a roundabout way, thanks to its merger with Alaska. 

And the list of choices keeps growing with the addition of TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go and Accor Live Limitless. While neither of these partners are particularly exciting, there's still value to be had with both.

Here are all the current options for moving your Bilt points to an airline or hotel brand – plus, some pointers on some of our favorite options.

 

Program	Type	Transfer Ratio
Aer Lingus Avios	Airline	1:1
Air France/KLM Flying Blue	Airline	1:1
Air Canada Aeroplan	Airline	1:1
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan	Airline	1:1
Avianca LifeMiles	Airline	1:1
British Airways Avios	Airline	1:1
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	Airline	1:1
Emirates Skywards	Airline	1:1
Iberia Avios	Airline	1:1
TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go	Airline	1:1
Turkish Miles & Smiles	Airline	1:1
United MileagePlus	Airline	1:1
Virgin Red	Airline	1:1
Accor	Hotel	3:2
World of Hyatt	Hotel	1:1
IHG Hotels	Hotel	1:1
Marriott Bonvoy	Hotel	1:1
Hilton Honors	Hotel	1:1

 

Let's go over some important details before we highlight the strongest Bilt airline partners.

Unlike American Express and Capital One, all of Bilt's airline partners convert points at a 1:1 ratio. That means you can easily turn 10,000 Bilt points into 10,000 Alaska Airlines miles, 10,000 British Airways Avios, 10,000 Virgin Atlantic points, and so on.

It's not quite as simple with Bilt's hotel partners as transfers to Accor are at a 3:2 ratio, but all others are 1:1.

Exactly how many points you'll need to transfer depends on if you've earned status with Bilt: 

• Everyday Blue members have to transfer a minimum of 2,000 points
• Those with Bilt Silver status or higher can transfer 1,000 points

Want something simpler? Bilt also has its own travel booking platform, where you can redeem points at a rate of 1.25 cents each towards flights, hotels, rental cars, and activities. So why should you even bother with these transfer partners?

Because if you want to get maximum value out of your points, leveraging transfer partners is the key. Getting 1.25 cents per point redeemed through the portal is nice … but you can save a ton of Bilt points by transferring them to an airline partner and booking flights that way instead. 

Here's a quick example.

Let's say you want to go to Europe and this roundtrip flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Amsterdam (AMS) is the one that works best for you. Rather than pay nearly $1,100, you could use nearly 86,000 of your your precious Bilt points and book it through the Bilt Travel Portal.

 

 

That's not terrible … but you can do much better. 

Since Bilt partners with Virgin Atlantic, you could instead transfer 30,000 Bilt points to Virgin and book the exact same roundtrip flight for a fraction of that amount: As low as just 30,000 points and $92 in taxes and fees. At that rate, you could book for yourself and two others for nearly the same amount of points as it would have cost to book just one flight through the portal!

 

 

That's just one example, but it showcases the power of turning to transfer partners with your Bilt points.

Just keep in mind: These transfers are a one-way street. Once you send your Bilt points to one of these partners, you can't get them back to your Bilt account. That means you'll want to scope out award availability to ensure the flights you're eyeing are actually bookable with miles before initiating any transfers.

 

The Best Bilt Transfer Partners

Let's run through some of the best, most worthwhile Bilt transfer partners – and areas where they shine.

 

Air Canada

Air Canada's Aeroplan program is great for finding awards to every corner of the globe, especially if flying business class is your thing.

• With a hybrid pricing formula that charges more points the farther you fly, business class flights from the U.S. to Europe on any fellow Star Alliance carrier start at 60,000 points – or you can fly the incomparable Lufthansa First Class for 90,000 to 100,000 points each way.
• You can get to Asia in business class starting at 75,000 points – or just 55,000 between Seattle (SEA) and Tokyo-Narita (NRT) flying ANA business class
• Or stay closer to home and redeem points for domestic flights on United, with transcontinental jaunts up front at 25,000 points each way or roundtrip flights to Hawaii starting at 25,000 points.

 

 

One amazing feature of Aeroplan is that you can add a stopover to any award ticket for just 5,000 additional points. That's a better perk than you'll find with almost any airline program, and it makes Aeroplan one of our go-to Bilt transfer partners.

In addition to the bevy of two-dozen-plus Star Alliance airlines, the airline has also partnered up with some other airlines including Etihad, Emirates, Gulf Air, and Oman Air. That means you can book flights on all those airlines using Aeroplan points, too.

 

Virgin Red

While Virgin Red might not sound familiar, it's the overarching loyalty program of Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Hotels, Virgin Voyages, and more. And while many other transferrable points can be moved to Virgin Atlantic, Bilt points can easily be used with any of the Virgin brands. Even still, when it comes to using Virgin Red points, we're most likely to lean on Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Being able to redeem Bilt points through Virgin Atlantic makes Virgin Red one of our absolute favorite Bilt transfer partners and another great option for transferring your points.

For starters, you can book Delta flights through Virgin Atlantic for far fewer points than Delta itself is charging in SkyMiles.

When Delta is charging 280,000 SkyMiles or more to fly in Delta One, you might be able to snag the same seat by transferring just 47,500 Bilt points to Virgin. Even after Virgin gutted our favorite Delta One sweet spot with the introduction of peak and off-peak pricing – and added huge cash surcharges – there are still some routes that make for a great deal, like this one between Rome (FCO) and Boston (BOS). 

 

 

This means Virgin points can still be a great way to save miles when flying Delta whether you're hoping to stay close to home, heading to Europe, or flying out to Hawaii or even Asia.

 

 

The power of transferring points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club goes beyond Delta, though. It's also a stellar way to book flights to Europe with Air France or KLM for as low as 12,500 points each way. You can even book ANA business or first class to Tokyo via Virgin Atlantic.

Like most of the best options on this list, Bilt points transfer to Virgin on a 1:1 basis, which means 50,000 Bilt points will get you 50,000 Virgin Atlantic points.

 

Iberia Airlines

Keep Iberia in mind if you're looking to get to Europe in comfort. The Spanish flag carrier offers one of the cheapest ways to get to Europe in business class using miles.

For as low as just 34,000 Avios each way, you can book Iberia business class to and from Madrid (MAD). That's less than most airlines charge for a one-way ride in economy, making this one of the best deals in the world of points and miles and a stellar option to transfer your Bilt points.

 

 

If business class isn't a necessity for you, Iberia also offers flights to Spain in economy for half the cost: as low as just 17,000 miles each way, or 34,000 miles for a roundtrip to Madrid.

 

Air France/KLM Flying Blue

Air France and KLM's Flying Blue program can be worth a hard look, especially if you're catching a big discount on one of the monthly Flying Blue Promo Rewards tickets to Europe.

Flying Blue regularly slashes economy, premium economy, or business class award tickets on select routes between the U.S. and Europe by as much as 50%. No matter which cabin you're hoping to fly in with your Bilt points, those monthly deals can lead to gems like this uber-cheap one-way flight from Chicago O'Hare (ORD) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG).

 

 

But even without those discounts, Air France and KLM's mileage program can be worthwhile. With low rates and fairly solid availability to actually book these flights with your miles, this is one of our favorite ways to book business class to Europe. Whether you want to get to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS), or connect almost anywhere else in Europe, you can regularly find business class seats bookable for just 50,000 miles each way.

Like our other top contenders, Bilt points typically transfer to Air France/KLM at a 1:1 ratio – but in the past, we've seen transfer bonuses to Flying Blue as high as 150% thanks to Bilt's monthly Rent Day promotion. If you happen to catch a big bonus like that, a case could even be made for speculatively transferring your points.

Read more: The Best Ways to Use Air France/KLM Flying Blue

 

British Airways

Fancy a trip to Hawaii or the Caribbean? Or maybe you want to fly the world's best business class all the way to the Middle East? British Airways Avios has got you covered.

British Airways is a stellar Bilt transfer partner. Consider this:

• Even after a recent price hike, British Airways is still one of our favorite ways to get to Hawaii using points. Nonstop flights on American Airlines (or Alaska Airlines) from several West Coast cities to all four major Hawaiian islands and back will cost you just 40,000 Avios.
• Start from the East Coast instead and you can make it to many Caribbean islands for 24,000 to 32,000 Avios roundtrip, again flying on American Airlines.
• Book your own Qatar Airways Qsuite from many U.S. cities to Doha (DOH) for just 70,000 Avios!

 

 

Since Avios is the same currency used by British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Qatar – and now, Finnair – you can even move your Avios between all these programs. This means you'll get the first crack at booking Qatar Qsuites, save hundreds in fees for a nonstop flight to Ireland, and potentially save a ton of points if there are any transfer bonuses to any airline that uses Avios.

 

Avianca LifeMiles

Avianca LifeMiles is one of Bilt's newer transfer partners – and it's a pretty good one at that. This quirky Colombian airline's miles are insanely versatile and lucrative.

From cheap economy flights in the U.S. to jaunts down to South America and booking business class seats to Europe or Asia, Avianca LifeMiles has long been one of our go-to airline programs, despite a recent devaluation. While its website isn't the best and its customer service can be poor, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better combination of cheap award rates and low taxes and fees to book flights.

 

 

In many cases, you can also book domestic flights on United Airlines for fewer miles than United itself would charge. It’s also one of the better ways to book flights in business or first class to Asia.

Read more: 6 Sweet Spots Using Avianca LifeMiles

 

Hyatt

We'll keep this simple: Hyatt is the only Bilt hotel transfer partner that you need to be concerned with.

While most hotel chains have scrapped their award charts in favor of dynamic award pricing, Hyatt has maintained its cheat sheet for what a night will cost at a given property. And Hyatt charges fewer points than any other hotel chain, period.

With the introduction of “peak” and “off-peak” pricing, free nights can be had for as few as 3,500 World of Hyatt points per night.

 

 

Since Bilt points transfer 1:1 to World of Hyatt, you could book this hotel in Berlin for just 3,500 Bilt points per night. When you compare that to the pre-tax cash rate of $98 per night, you'd be getting some great value out of your Bilt points.

 

 

 

Bilt Transfer Bonuses Sweeten the Deal

You like airline miles, right? How about some free miles?

Several times a year, Bilt teams up with a specific airline or hotel program to give travelers a bonus when transferring points during a specific timeframe. Whereas most other transferable currencies run these transfer bonuses for weeks at a time, Bilt's usually come as part of its monthly Rent Day promotion and are one-day-only deals.

With that limited timeframe comes some eye-popping bonuses, though. In the past, we've seen Bilt offer up to a 150% bonus to several different airline and hotel partners. Typical transfer bonuses from banks like Amex and Chase top out at 40% but are typically between 20-30%, making these transfer bonuses from Bilt extra special.

It's easy to see why. Most recently, members with top-tier Bilt status could get 100% more miles when transferring Bilt points to Alaska Airlines.

Even though Alaska doesn't fly to Europe, the airline partners with German carrier Condor Airlines – and 55,000 Alaska miles is all you need to get from the East Coast to Frankfurt (FRA). With this bonus, you would have only needed to transfer 27,500 Bilt points to book this lie-flat, Condor business class seat.
 

 

Or … thanks to a quirk with the airline's pricing, you can sometimes score even cheaper business class awards to Europe by tacking on a connection in economy: Just 45,000 points each way! That would only require 22,500 Bilt points with a 100% transfer bonus. 
 

 

Time transferring your Bilt points right to coincide with one of these promotions, you can come out even further ahead.

 

How to Transfer Bilt Points

Unlike most transferable currencies, you won't be able to move Bilt points to a partner on your desktop. With Bilt, you'll need to have the mobile app to get it done – not shocking from a company whose customer base skews younger.

After logging into the Bilt app, you'll need to ensure that the partner you're planning to move points to is linked to your Bilt account. If you don't already have a loyalty account with the given partner, you can create one right from the Bilt app as well. Linking your Bilt account to your airline or hotel loyalty program also yields you an extra 100 Bilt points, so it's not a bad idea to just go ahead and do this for all of Bilt's partners right away.

 

 

After you find the partner that you're looking for under the travel tab you'll be asked how many points you want to transfer. Blue members have to transfer at least 2,000 points, while those with Silver status or higher only need to move 1,000 points.

Bilt status is determined by the number of qualifying points you've earned through rent payments, the Bilt Dining program, or by spending on your Bilt Mastercard. You can also earn status through a spending “fast track” by linking any debit or credit card to your Bilt wallet.

 

 

The last step in the process is to simply review and confirm the accuracy of your point transfer request. If everything looks as it should, you'll need to agree to the terms and conditions and hit “confirm transfer.”

 

 

Just beware: Once your transfer goes through, you can’t pull those points back into your Bilt account. That makes it critical to do your research and make sure sending your Bilt points to that partner is the best way to go, and that the award tickets you want to book are available using points and miles.

Most of these transfers will clear instantly. Every once in a while, though, they can take a little longer.

Check out the charts above to get a sense of how long it should take for most transfers to go through.

 

How to Earn Bilt Points

Earn Points on Rent

When you pay your rent through Bilt, you'll get 1x point for every dollar spent on rent payments (up to $100,000 per year) – with no additional transaction fees.

If you live in a Bilt Rewards Alliance property, your payment will be sent electronically through the Bilt Rewards app or website – and you can even set up autopay so that you don't forget to make a payment. If your landlord has an online portal where you're required to make your rent payments, Bilt will generate a unique routing and account number for you to use that automatically charges your Bilt Card each month. You can also earn rewards by paying rent via Venmo or Paypal.

If your landlord only takes checks, you can still pay rent through the Bilt Rewards app and they'll mail your landlord a check—all for no additional cost.

 

Spend on the Bilt Mastercard

Piling up Bilt points with the *bilt rewards card* is easy. And unless you live in a Bilt Rewards Alliance property, you'll need to have the Bilt Card to earn points on rent, too. So long as you make at least five purchases each billing period with your card, you’ll earn points on rent and your non-rent purchases as well.

The Bilt Mastercard isn't just for renters – it's a really good option for your everyday spending as well. With bonus point earning on travel and dining purchases, plus the ability to earn double points on Rent Day it's easy to rack up points in a hurry.

Here's a closer look at everything the card has to offer:

• 1x points per dollar spent on rent in the Bilt Rewards app (up to $100,000 per calendar year)
• 1x points per dollar spent on everyday purchases
• 2x points per dollar spent on travel
• 3x points per dollar spent on dining
• Earn double points on Rent Day (the 1st of the month), up to 10,000 bonus points per month (up to 1,000 points per month effective Oct. 1, 2024)
  • 6x points per dollar spent on dining
  • 4x points per dollar spent on travel
  • 2x points per dollar spent on everyday purchases
  • 1x points per dollar spent on rent
• Trip cancellation, interruption, and delay protection
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Cell phone insurance
• No foreign transaction fees
• No annual fee!

 

 

Learn more about the *Bilt Mastercard*.

 

Other Ways to Earn Bilt Points

Paying rent and using the Bilt Mastercard will be the quickest ways to rack up a bunch of Bilt points – but they're not the only options.

Linking your airline and hotel loyalty accounts to Bilt is another easy way to earn points. You'll get 100 Bilt points for every loyalty account you link up – and with 18 travel partners in total, you can easily earn 1,600 points by doing so.

Bilt Dining is another great way to casually earn Bilt points. When you eat out at participating restaurants, you'll generally earn 3x Bilt points by paying for your meal with a card that's linked to your Bilt Wallet. And best of all, this is on top of your credit card rewards.

Finally, you can earn bonus points when you take a ride with Lyft by linking your Bilt account with the rideshare service. If you're paying with the Bilt Mastercard, you'll earn 5x points on your Lyft rides – all other cards earn 2x Bilt points, in addition to your usual credit card rewards.

 

Bilt Transfer Partner FAQs

What Airlines Can I Transfer Bilt Points to?

You can transfer your Bilt points to a grand total of 12 airlines.

It's an extensive list, including a couple of U.S.-based carriers as well as many fantastic foreign airlines. From A to Z, the list includes Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Air France/KLM, Alaska Airlines, Avianca, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Iberia, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic.

 

Do Bilt Points Expire?

No … at least not if you're using your account.

Officially, points don't expire as long as your account remains open and active. Much like the points earned with other banks, you'll immediately lose all your points if your account is closed, or if you violate any of the rewards program's terms and conditions.

For purpose of point expiration an “inactive account” means there has been no activity (earning or redeeming points) for 18 months.

Read more: Will My Airline Miles Expire?

 

Is Transferring My Bilt Points to a Partner Airline Worth the Hassle?

There's no question it requires more legwork to transfer points. But that little bit of extra hassle can be easily worth it.

Transferring your Bilt points to the right partner airline can allow you to book a trip for a fraction of the points it would take to book directly through Bilt using your points. And if you're aiming to book a business or first class flight, transferring points is often the only way to make it happen.

 

How Long Do Bilt Points Take to Transfer?

It depends on where you're sending them, but most transfers are instant … or nearly instant.

Not seeing your points? Try logging out and logging back into your airline or hotel account.

 

What Hotels Are Bilt Transfer Partners?

You can transfer Bilt points to Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, IHG One Rewards, and Accor.

Of these hotel transfer partners, Hyatt is really the only one of value – unless you just need a few extra points to top off your account for an award. In most cases, you'd be better off booking Marriott and IHG stays through the Bilt Travel portal at 1.25 cents per point.

 

Which Airline or Hotel Partner Would You Recommend For Transfers to Maximize Future Trips?

It depends on what trip you want to take!

Generally speaking, we get the most bang for our buck (or points) by transferring to Hyatt for hotel bookings. If you're looking to use your points for a flight, we find great value with Air Canada Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and Avianca LifeMiles.

 

Bottom Line

It's not quite as straightforward as using your points toward a great flight deal, but the ability to transfer Bilt points to partners opens up a whole new world of travel.

Use this guide to get started and learn how to maximize those Bilt points.

 

I first booked my flights for a recent trip to Europe in January, and between then and when I actually traveled to Croatia nearly nine months later, I had rebooked my flights three different times.

It's something I routinely do when I'm booking flights with points and miles. But when I tell people about my strategy, I get looks of confusion…and sometimes concern.

So why did I do this? I kept finding better flights, itineraries, and available seats, ultimately landing both myself and my wife in United Polaris Business Class flying across the pond thanks to some last-minute award space.

At Thrifty Traveler, we are huge proponents of rebooking airfare when the price goes down and banking an airline voucher or travel credit for the difference. It's the easiest and best way to save money on airfare and eliminates the always-fraught “When is the best time to book flights?” question that paralyzes travelers. With award tickets, most airlines let you cancel your flight and get all your points (as well as award taxes and fees) back for free – or a small cancellation fee. That flexibility means you’re not locked into the flights you booked if a better deal comes around. 

But it's not as easy as setting up a Google Flights price alert: You typically have to search for award fares manually. But if you can dedicate 15 minutes here and there to check your existing flights in the days, weeks, and months leading up to your trip, you might stand to save tens of thousands of points or find yourself an even comfier seat for your travels.

Let me explain.

 

Here's What I Did

In January, a group of friends and I devised an epic summer vacation to Croatia, starting in Dubrovnik. We wanted to travel in mid-August, but peak summer fares to Europe are often prohibitively expensive, so I went hunting for award flights I could book with my stash of credit card points and miles.

Original Booking: Air France Economy for 30K Points

I found some one-way economy award space flying from Minneapolis (MSP) to Dubrovnik (DBV) on Air France for 30,000 Virgin Atlantic points each – a total of 60,000 Virgin points for the two of us. We transferred the necessary American Express Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic and booked our one-stop itinerary.

 

 

It wasn't the best deal, though. I knew we could probably do better than 60,000 points for an economy ticket, so I kept searching.

Booking #2: Air France Economy for 30K Points, Again

Air France forced my hand by canceling our flight. So I took our refunded Virgin points and the taxes and fees and I rebooked us on another Air France flight from Detroit (DTW) on an almost identical itinerary.

Booking #3: KLM Economy for 19K Points

A few months later, a calendar notification reminded me to check on other award flights to Europe. At the time, Capital One was offering a 25% bonus when transferring to Air France/KLM's Flying Blue program, so that's where I started my search.

Lo and behold, I found some amazing availability from Chicago (ORD) to Dubrovnik (DBV) in KLM Economy for just 22,000 Flying Blue miles one-way. With the Capital One transfer bonus, we only needed 19,000 points each to book the flights!

These aren't the exact same flights we booked, but you get the idea.

 

 

Just like that, we saved more than 40,000 points on our flights. After booking the KLM flights and canceling the Virgin ones, Virgin refunded us not only the points but also the taxes and fees, minus a $50 cancellation fee, which is standard for their awards. And while I can't get those Virgin points back into my credit card rewards accounts, they're still mine to put to use booking flights through Virgin Atlantic in the future.

 

 

After booking those KLM flights, I thought we were in pretty good shape. We weren't going to do better than long-haul economy flights for just 19,000 points…unless we found a way to move up to business class, that is.

4th and Final Booking: United Polaris Business Class for 70K Points

While airlines typically release the best business class award availability many, many months in advance of travel, oftentimes, they also release availability at the last minute to try and fill seats on empty planes.

So I set myself another calendar reminder for a week before our trip. I started searching for business class award availability through the usual suspects like Virgin, Avianca, Air France/KLM FlyingBlue again, and British Airways, but it was Air Canada's Aeroplan program that came through for me.

Just four days before our flights on Aug. 12, I found tons of United Polaris Business Class space from Chicago (ORD) to Frankfurt (FRA), including an onward connection to Dubrovnik, for just 70,000 Air Canada miles one-way.

Don't believe me? Here's what a similar search turned up just days from now.

 

 

Emptying my Capital One Venture Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and American Express Membership Rewards accounts – all of which transfer to Air Canada – I had 68,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points. For $52, I bought the remaining 2,000 Aeroplan points to get me to 70,000. My wife’s accounts were plump enough to easily get her to 70,000, too.

Read more: A Guide to Buying Airline Miles: When to Buy, When to Skip

 

 

And voila! My wife and I flew Polaris to Frankfurt and connected onwards to Croatia in Eurowings Discover “Business Class” (a.k.a. a blocked middle seat and better service). It was the perfect anniversary gift to each other – and a totally worthwhile way to use our points.

Positioning Flights

Because these flights didn't leave from my home airport of Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), I had to book a positioning flight to Chicago (ORD) to take advantage.

In the end, I was able to get us a short one-hour flight from MSP to ORD for us 10,000 SkyMiles apiece, plus the $5 in taxes and fees customary for domestic fares.

Total Cost

Of course, this strategy doesn't come without a few cancellation fees. It's something to be wary of when you book awards with the intention of possibly rebooking someday in the future. In total, it cost each of us $50 to cancel each Virgin and KLM award flight, $52 to buy the extra 2,000 Air Canada points I needed, and $92 in taxes and fees on the final business class award booking. Plus, there was the $5 of taxes and fees on the positioning flights.

It was just about $200 total, 10,000 Delta SkyMiles and 70,000 credit card points each to fly United Polaris business class to kickstart our European summer vacation. All because I double, triple, and quadruple-checked for better awards on our trip.

 

Here's How You Can Do It, Too

When booking award travel, here are the steps I recommend you take to get the best deal and fly in the best seats on your next trip.

Always Book Refundable and Cancellable Award Fares

This strategy only works if the fare you purchase is refundable or cancellable. The good news is, almost all points and miles bookings are cancelable or refundable, even though most require some sort of cancellation fee.

Make sure you dig into the fare conditions a little bit before you book. If you book an award with Avianca LifeMiles, for instance, it will cost you $150 to change an award ticket and $200 to cancel. Ouch. The likes of Virgin and FlyingBlue only require a $50 cancellation fee on most awards. And if you book Main Cabin or better on airlines like Delta, you get all of your miles and all of your taxes and fees back when you cancel.

Set a Reminder to Check Flight Prices

As soon as I book an award fare, I add a few reminders in my calendar to check on my flights.

I recommend setting monthly reminders just after the first of the month. If that seems aggressive (I'm nothing if not aggressive about my travel bookings), set one for every two months, or just set one for two months before travel and then again for a week before travel.

 

 

Why after the first of the month? Because that's when banks and airlines are likely to announce new transfer bonuses.

So if American Express is offering a 25% bonus when transferring Membership Rewards points to Air France/KLM Flying Blue, for example, you might want to search award availability on those airlines first and see if you can rebook your flights for even fewer points than you'd normally need.

Read Next: The 5 Things You Should Do Immediately After Booking Travel

Cast a Big Net With Your Searches

When you conduct your searches, here's what I recommend you look at:

• Look in the same program you've already booked to see if you can get better flight times, etc.
• Check through all of the programs where you have points, or where your credit card points can transfer (Bookmark this comprehensive list of credit card transfer partners to see just how far your points can take you).
• See if there are any current transfer bonuses you can take advantage of, and start your search with those airlines.
• In all programs you search, search the few days around your desired travel dates to see if better, comfier, or more convenient flights can be booked, too.
• Look in all classes of travel. A business class seat of your dreams could be out there, or a nice upgrade to Premium Economy could make your journey that much better, too.

Rebook (And Don't Be Afraid to Hold Multiple Reservations)

Once you've found the better, comfier, or cheaper award fare, book it!

Rebooking can be scary because it's hard to let go of a sure thing. But you don't have to! There's no rule against holding multiple award bookings at once just in case you change your mind.

After you rebook your flight (unless you're within a week of your date of travel), you can hold onto your original one for a little while to make sure you get the seat selection you want and to make sure everything with your flight is going well.

Rinse & Repeat

Once you rebook your new itinerary, it's time to start the process all over again. Because you're never done planning a good trip!

Unless you're absolutely in love with your new flights, set new reminders and do the process all over again. You might just end up in business class like I did mere days before you're scheduled to leave.

 

Bottom Line

After booking points and miles award travel, you stand to save tens of thousands of points and can often upgrade your seats by manually checking and re-checking your current fares and other options.

It's a practice I employ religiously when I use my points and miles to fly, and it's why I re-booked my recent Europe trip four times before flying.

---

I have no wit, no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
I lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is in the falling leaf:
O Jesus, quicken me.

My life is like a faded leaf,
My harvest dwindled to a husk:
Truly my life is void and brief
And tedious in the barren dusk;
My life is like a frozen thing,
No bud nor greenness can I see:
Yet rise it shall—the sap of Spring;
O Jesus, rise in me.

My life is like a broken bowl, 
A broken bowl that cannot hold
One drop of water for my soul
Or cordial in the searching cold;
Cast in the fire the perished thing;
Melt and remould it, till it be
A royal cup for Him, my King:
O Jesus, drink of me.

This poem was originally published in Goblin Market and Other Poems (Macmillan, 1862) and is in the public domain.

One of the most celebrated poets of the Victorian era, Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894) was an English writer of Romantic, devotional, and children’s poems. She was the youngest of four siblings, among them the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, several of whose paintings she sat for, famously modeling for the Virgin Mary. Her father was an Italian political exile to London and instilled in her a love of Dante Alighieri and the Italian language, which he taught at King’s College until being struck ill and rendered blind. He died when Christina was thirteen, and from then onward she suffered bouts of depression and physical illness. Loss and death, heaven, renunciation, the need for grace, and the perfection of divine love are recurring themes in her poetry. A devout Anglican whose verse gives vivid expression to the life of faith and to spiritual longing, she is recognized as a saint by the Church of England and the Episcopal Church, who celebrate April 27 as her feast day.

Holiday programming at The Seaport will feature holiday celebrations, neighborhood-wide décor, a magical Gingerbread City pop-up, and more.

They’ll also host their annual holiday tree and menorah lighting ceremonies, welcome a pop-up market, and offer seasonal food and beverage specials to ring in the season.

Ellie Chamberland, Vice President of Marketing for the Seaport at Howard Hughes stated:

Every year, the Seaport transforms into a charming holiday destination and this winter may be our best yet. With holiday celebrations and decor, festive pop-up experiences, seasonal treats, unique gifts from local businesses, and so much more, there’s something for everyone to enjoy in the neighborhood. Most importantly, we’re continuing the tradition of giving back to our community in a variety of ways and we look forward to giving our very best season’s greetings to Seaport visitors this winter.

Here are all the exciting winter happenings taking over Seaport this winter:

The Gingerbread City

The Museum of Architecture is bringing The Gingerbread City to 25 Fulton Street this holiday season. The Gingerbread City is a magical gingerbread metropolis constructed entirely from gingerbread, candy, and frosting. Visitors can see delicious gingerbread buildings and marvel at innovative designs built by over 50 architects and designers. Guests can even build their own edible take-home masterpiece made exclusively of gingerbread by the renowned Balthazar Bakery and learn about the art of gingerbread-making by signing up for a workshop.

Opening on Saturday, November 18

Christmas Tree Lighting

On Tuesday, November 28, the Seaport will host its annual holiday tree lighting celebration. The illumination of the neighborhood tree will take place on Fulton Street at the entrance to the Seaport’s historic cobblestones and kick off the festive season.

Musical performances, a drum line, chorus, and more will entertain guests, as well as a special guest appearance from Santa will lead up to the lighting.

Tuesday, November 28, 6 p.m.

Menorah Lighting

The holiday fun will continue on Sunday, December 10 with a Menorah Lighting event in celebration of Hanukkah. Located on the Heineken Riverdeck there will be music, chocolate-themed crafts, face paint, hot cocoa, and chocolate donuts and latkes. The event will end with a menorah lighting.

Sunday, December 10, 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Holiday Giving

The Seaport will continue their holiday tradition of giving back to the community with their Thanksgiving donation of over 1,500 meals to local partner, Vision Urbana, their annual Holiday Tree Lighting donation to a local organization to be announced, and a Toys for Tots toy drive where they plan to give over 500 toys to kids in need.

Various events held throughout the holiday season

If you find yourself at The Seaport when a particular event isn’t going on, why not spend the day eating and getting a head start on your holiday shopping? Many small businesses take over Front Street at the Hester Street Fair Holiday Market, and restaurants in the area are the perfect places to fuel up on seasonal specials.

There’s also Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s marketplace which brings six full service new restaurants, six quick service counters, four bars, and retail and private dining offerings to the historic Tin Building, offering visitors a winter wonderland full of culinary experiences and festive treats.

The post A Gingerbread City, Festive Décor, & More Are Coming To The Seaport This Holiday Season appeared first on Secret NYC.

Howdy, folks! It’s starting to heat up outside, though because this house is absolutely uncool, I doubt you’ll find it particularly refreshing. We return once again to the great state of New Jersey, where our 1974 house comes to us from Morris County: 

This uninspiring Colonial Revival boasts 5 bedrooms and 5.5 baths totaling just under 4,000 square feet. It can be yours for $1.2 million USD. (Recession? What recession?)

While you might not think this house is particularly bad or ugly, it does show some interesting signs of houses to come, especially a decade later. There is a clear break with the Colonial Revival aesthetics seen in earlier Bicentennial-era houses like our first yearbook house from 1970. This house consolidates its core features into one much larger, and proportionally awkward center mass which has been supplied with two wings. The saving grace is that the wings are not included in the same roofline as the center mass. If you look at the house as a single unit rather than as three separate units, you can begin to see how un-elegant (despite its symmetry) this long, squat, massing really is. This is something that will only become more pronounced as masses are further integrated into a single roofline in so-called Colonial Revival houses of the McMansion-era. 

Anyways, onto the house. 

Proto-Lawyer Foyer

I hate to disappoint you, but this house was redecorated sometime in the late 90s and is not a time capsule house. However, there are still elements that give away its true age. This foyer is still very much the squat, one-story foyer found in most proto-McMansions from the 1970s, despite being neutral-colored to death. 

Dining Room

Curating the most sterile dining experience imaginable in the age of Coronavirus is truly an accomplishment. Also what exactly do you call wall painting that is not a mural and is vaguely attempting to augment reality? Wall effects?? Also it’s not a fresco??? Fauxcore???

Kitchen

Theoretically, a kitchen ceiling fan doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but they’re not exactly common fixtures. Also my mom had those exact same barstools when we were growing up (in the 90s). 

Sunroom

I’m absolutely a conspiracy guy for furniture. The white kitchen is insider trading between HGTV, Home Depot and Clorox. Why else would the messiest room in the house be made entirely white if not for selling cleaning supplies? Wake up sheeple. 

Office (?)

Also I want to take the time to point out: 
> million dollar house
> baseboard heating
> wyd

Master Bedroom

Every decade since the 70s thinks they’ve reinvented shabby chic. You have not. 

Master Bathroom

I don’t know why I find the toilet position here to be so awkward. The toilet is like “don’t mind me i’m just chillin” 

Bedroom 2

I’m absolutely losing my mind at this curtain/blind/bottom curtain (?) combo!!! In what world!!!! 

Alright, that’s enough fun for today, it’s time to head back outside into the pre-summer heat. 

Rear Exterior

This is the rare McMansion where the rear exterior is less logical than the front exterior. This house is absolutely stacked in the back. Despite this, I cannot help but feel like every party thrown here has been extremely lame. 

Anyways, that does it for 1974! Check back later this month for the next installment of the Brutalism Post! Stay safe everyone!

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If you like this post, and want to see more like it, consider supporting me on Patreon!

There is a whole new slate of Patreon rewards, including: good house of the month, an exclusive Discord server, weekly drawings, monthly livestreams, a reading group, free merch at certain tiers and more!

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Or, Check out the McMansion Hell Store! Proceeds from the store help protect great buildings from the wrecking ball.

It used to be so simple.  The cerebral cortex handled cognition, while the cerebelllum coordinated motor skills.  Recent work indicates that simplistic view presents a false dichotomy.

An ancient part of the brain long ignored by the scientific world appears to play a critical role in everything from language and emotions to daily planning...

Schmahmann, who wasn't involved in the new study, has been arguing for decades that the cerebellum plays a key role in many aspects of human behavior, as well as mental disorders such as schizophrenia...

And what they found was that just 20 percent of the cerebellum was dedicated to areas involved in physical motion, while 80 percent was dedicated to areas involved in functions such as abstract thinking, planning, emotion, memory and language...

The cerebellum doesn't directly carry out tasks like thinking, just as it doesn't directly control movement, Marek says. Instead, he says, it appears to monitor the brain areas that are doing the work and make them perform better.

In essence, this structure appears to act as a kind of editor, constantly reviewing and improving a person's thoughts and decisions, Dosenbach says. If that's true, he says, it's no surprise that alcohol affects more than our physical movements.

This is fascinating.   Read more at NPR, where there is a link to the source article.

Investigations of the cerebellum have exploded over the last few years, says Catherine Stoodley, a neuroscientist at American University and a coauthor of a 2019 paper in the Annual Review of Neuroscience on the cerebellum’s role in cognition. “It’s very exciting.”..

Leiner also questioned why the cerebellum evolved to be so much larger in humans than in other animals. (According to one estimate, the human cerebellum is, on average, 2.8 times bigger than expected in primates our size.) Why would that be so, if all it did was coordinate movement?...

In the late 1990s, Schmahmann reported the first description of cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome after observing that people with cerebellar damage—due to degeneration or after tumor removal, strokes, and infection—exhibited a wide array of impairments in cognition and behavior. These included difficulties with abstract reasoning and planning, changes in personality...

Given the cerebellum’s myriad roles, some scientists suspect the structure may be involved in several brain-related disorders. The two conditions for which there is currently the most evidence are autism and schizophrenia...

We’d had a distant relationship for years. He could never seem to understand me; I couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) understand him.  I just couldn’t talk to my father. He was preoccupied with five children, a long commute, upkeep of the house. In my immaturity I felt his lack of emotion meant he didn’t love us. He could be negative. Read More…

THE ANNUNCIATION FRA ANGELICO, c. 1438-45

“I think the country is longing for people to stop blaming one another and just grab each other’s arm and say we’re in this together,” he said. “That’s what we thirst for and we feel like we’re in a desert.”
--Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings


THE FOOD OF MARY


                             "Each time Zechariah entered her prayer chamber, he found her
                         supplied with sustenance. He said, "O Mary, whence cometh this?'
                                                                                                
                                                                                                She said, 'From God."
                                                                          
                                                                           --Quran: The Family of Imran 3:37


After hours in my seventh-floor municipal office,
I am working on revisions to the drainage code
alone, like Mary high in her temple
staring at the blank screen that is my life

Mary tapping at the holy keyboard,
God sent her fully microwavable meals
with Alfredo sauce manifest
I bang on the candy machine down the hall: Nothing.
It has eaten my pieces of silver

Mary had a mentor in Zechariah,
who dropped in and taught her divine wisdom
whenever he wasn't on a vow of silence
but only burned-out Bill from computer services,
styrofoam cup loosely in hand with a little cold coffee left in it,
comes by my door to mutter about the weather

Mary got a visitation from Gabriel
which helped clarify things, like her task in the world
I get the cross-town courier in bicycle shorts, panting,
not so much to announce a virgin birth unto me,
as carrying a roll of blueprints under his arm

which I study religiously while eating
naught but stale chips
and a linty Lifesaver
The hour is late; my hunger groweth
Mary, Mary, whence cometh my succor?

--Mohja Kahf

reprinted with permission from the author

Have you ever noticed that 85% of advice about finding your dream job is about job hunting? Which is weird. Sure, job hunting is an important skill. But people look for new jobs maybe every two or three years. We go to work every day. What’s more important than job hunting is figuring out how to score Big Wins — like a promotion, or a $10,000 raise — at the jobs we already have.  So let’s talk about what to do once you’ve found your Dream Job in order to become indispensable at work.

We interviewed bestselling author Dorie Clark on how to standout at work, as well as Pamela Slim from Escape from Cubicle Nation to find out their tips for standing out and becoming indispensable at work.

Why standing out matters at work

There are a lot of people with good ideas, but only a few get recognized as the best. So how did the world’s top thought leaders get where they are today?

What made the difference?

Over the past two years, Dorie has interviewed more than 50 top experts in a variety of fields. She’s talked to everyone from business legends like David Allen and Seth Godin to scientists and urban planners. (And of course, IWT founder, Ramit Sethi!)

It’s obvious standing out is important for people with their own companies. That’s how you attract potential clients and make money. But does it matter if you’re working for someone else?

Short answer? Yes.

The truth is, far too many employees take a narrow view of their job. They think the hard part is getting hired. Once they’ve conquered that, they assume that as long as they work hard, they’re good to go.

Of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth. We live in a world where wages are stagnant. Businesses are outsourcing everything they can. You need to make it crystal clear as to why your employer needs you on board, instead of the lowest-priced option.

At IWT, we’ve helped thousands of people find their Dream Jobs. But if you want to keep that job and grow it into a career you love, it’s essential to stand out and get noticed. Because when that happens, opportunities start to come your way: promotions, raises, and new assignments you may not have even known existed.

Based on Dorie’s research and teaching for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, here are three steps to help you max out your Dream Job potential and ensure your company understands your true worth.

1. Be a big fish in a small pond

Standing out doesn’t mean you have to become a world expert in your field.

Instead, you can become a “local expert.” That simply means you know more about a subject than others around you, in your company or community. That’s what Michael Leckie did.

Michael is an executive at a major research firm, and he became known inside his company for his expertise in training and development. When he started, his knowledge was minimal. But he immersed himself in learning. He shared what he knew, and began to get recognized for it. “When you start building your brand in a corporation, it’s a confined space,” he told Dorie.

“You don’t need to be the best in the world; you just need to be the best one there. You can be a big fish in a little pond, and if you’re the biggest fish in that environment, you get bigger and can then start to do things outside the organization.”

Become your company’s “go-to” person on a particular subject. It doesn’t matter if it’s coaching or copywriting or cool spreadsheet hacks. Being the local expert makes you more memorable, and more valuable.

Your boss won’t say, “I need someone to take over this project.” She’ll say, “I need you, because you’re the best.”

Here’s how to get there.

Apprentice yourself. You’ve identified a subject that you’re interested in. But in the early days, you may not know enough to be a true expert, even within the confines of your company. So find someone who is, and learn from them.

Make a list of the people you respect whom you’d like to learn from. This could be virtual (you could read books or take online courses from experts), or in the real world (Michael learned the ropes about coaching from a consultant his company had hired). Most people don’t extend themselves, so if you reach out to a colleague and want to learn — or, even better, offer help — they’ll likely be receptive.

“Joe, I understand you’re teaching a workshop on delegation skills next week,” you could say. “That’s something I’d really like to learn more about. Would it be OK if I sat in? I can get there early to help you set up, too.”

It’s rare that an offer of assistance will be turned down — and it positions you to assist more formally with the next workshop, and maybe even co-lead the next one, as you master the material and win your colleague’s trust.

Be honest about what you don’t know. When most people try to establish themselves as experts, they puff themselves up. They pretend they know more than they do. Don’t do that. It can backfire too easily. Claiming more expertise than you have can permanently damage your credibility.

If you’re willing to say, “I don’t know,” people will trust you more when you do share your advice.

Take Josh Kaufman as an example. In his first book, The Personal MBA, he recounted his effort to “earn” the equivalent of a business degree by reading the classics in business literature. He didn’t position himself as a guru, but as a fellow-learner. He didn’t have to be the world’s expert up front in order for people to trust him and hear what he had to say.

Teach others. No matter how knowledgeable you are, no one will know it — or believe it — if you keep that information to yourself. To develop an expert reputation, you have to be willing to share your ideas publicly.

That’s what Google engineer Chade-Meng Tan did. He started teaching “Search Inside Yourself” mindfulness classes at the Googleplex. Those classes led to a book deal and international recognition. Think about what classes you could teach, or ways you could mentor others around the office in your area of expertise.

2. Become a connector

Becoming known as an expert inside your company is a good start. But how do you literally make yourself indispensable?

That’s what University of Chicago sociologist Ronald Burt studies. He discovered that the way to become indispensable is to connect groups of people who aren’t talking to each other, but who should be. (Groups like sales and marketing, headquarters and the field office, etc.)

That may sound daunting, but one friend of mine who worked for a large research hospital came up with a way to do it in just one hour a week. Her solution? She’d invite a different person, in a different department, to lunch each week.

Most of us fall into the rut of talking with the same people all the time. Consciously making the effort to break the pattern, and cultivate new connections, can have a dramatic impact on your career. You’ll hear about new ideas. You will get your questions answered faster. Plus, you’ll meet people who can unlock new opportunities.

But how do you begin to make those connections in a way that isn’t weird? (Because it certainly would be if you just started inviting out random people.)

It’s important to start with people you’re already connected to, but want to get to know better. There are probably at least two or three of these folks, and you can shoot them a quick email along the lines of:

“Hey Jenny, I hope you’re well! I really enjoyed working with you on the XYZ project last year and it occurred to me that it’s been awhile since we last connected. Would you like to meet up for lunch one day next week?”

Odds are, she’ll say yes, or at least make a decent counteroffer, like having coffee, instead.

Once you’ve started with your “warm leads,” you can expand outward. After your lunch meeting with Jenny, you can drop her a follow-up note.

“Jenny, it was great to catch up with you. I’ve been thinking I should get to know more people in the accounting department, since it seems like we often end up working on projects together. Besides, I love meeting cool new folks. Do you have any colleagues you think I should get to know? If you have suggestions, maybe you’d be willing to do an e-intro?”

Finally, once Jenny has identified a person or two for you to meet, you can send a message to them.

“Rick, it’s great to meet you. One of my goals this year is to get to know more people throughout the company. When Jenny and I had lunch last week, I asked if she had any cool colleagues she thought I should meet, and you were at the top of the list. Let me know if you might like to grab coffee or lunch sometime in the next week or two.”

This doesn’t always work. Sometimes people are busy. Sometimes they just won’t be interested. That’s fine. As long as you keep your message friendly and don’t push, it’s a nice gesture. The ones who do respond are highly motivated people who know the value of networking.

This process will create a virtual army of ambassadors. Imagine having just another 5 people who know you, understand your expertise, and want to spread the word to others. It’s a Big Win for your career, plus you’ll meet some cool people.

3. Master your power map

You’ve built up an expert reputation and word is starting to spread throughout your company. Now it’s time to take the final step and get noticed by the right people.

That was the challenge Chris faced. As I describe in my first book, Reinventing You, he was a fast-rising executive at a tech company whose career suddenly started to stall. He wasn’t too worried when he got passed over for one promotion. But when a second opportunity came and went, he realized something was very wrong.

When he confronted his boss, he realized the problem. While he’d impressed the people who worked with him, promotions were a group decision made by nearly 20 VPs, and they barely knew Chris existed. He ultimately solved his problem by using a technique called “power mapping.”

Dorie used to work as a presidential campaign spokesperson, and they used power mapping frequently in the world of politics.

You see, there were prominent people we needed to influence — a Governor or an editorial page editor whose endorsement we needed, or a major donor we wanted to recruit. But every other candidate had the same idea. These key people ended up under siege, with dozens of people begging for their help. We had to stand out from the horde somehow.

Power mapping was our edge.

It turns out the same technique can be used in business, as Dorie discussed in this Harvard Business Review article.

Start creating your power map by drawing a chart of the people who matter the most to your career — for instance, your new boss. Next, draw circles emanating out from her. Who influences her? Who does she listen to? Maybe it’s her assistant or the CFO or the head of her professional association. Here’s an example of what one looks like:

Next, rank your relationship with each of these influencers. Who do you have a positive relationship with (they know you and like you)? How about neutral (they don’t know you) or negative connections? You can mark these with a + (positive), – (negative), or ~ (neutral).

For Chris, the big problem was that only a few people knew and liked him (a positive ranking), and the vast majority didn’t know him at all (a neutral ranking). That weak overall score wasn’t going to win him a promotion.

Once you’ve established where you stand, start tracking your progress.

Turn negative relationships to neutral. If you have a beef with someone your “target” is close to, that could create problems for you. That person may always be a roadblock.

Take action to win them over. If it’s appropriate, reach out to them. Apologize for any previous misunderstandings, or at least express your desire for a fresh start. If there hasn’t been a specific incident, you can simply try to be nicer. Making an effort to smile and ask them about their day can go a long way toward dissipating past hostility.

You’ll also want to turn neutral relationships to positive. Think of ways you can get to know these folks better. Maybe it’s inviting them out to lunch or coffee, or making a point to sit next to them at meetings. You could volunteer for a project they’re involved with, or ask them more questions about their lives to find common ground.

Finally, it’s important to continue to nurture positive connections. Take stock of what you’re doing and how you built the relationship in the first place. Keep doing more of whatever that is. Maybe it’s playing on the basketball team with them. Maybe you help with tech tips when they need it, or always offer to stay late if they need an extra pair of hands on a project. Whatever’s working, keep it up.

Look at the sample Power Map. It shows you have:

• a neutral relationship with your new boss Ming and her best friend Rajiv
• a positive relationship with Steve from the professional association and Natalie the CFO
• a negative relationship with Tracy, her assistant

The goal with all Power Maps is to try to “level up” your relationships. You want everyone surrounding the person you’re hoping to influence either neutral or favorable toward you.

That creates a powerful echo chamber effect. Your target starts to hear your name regularly, from lots of different people, who are saying nice things. It shows that you have something unique to offer. They’ll see that you’re more valuable than they realized. That’s when the right opportunities start to come your way.

In Chris’s case, it took concerted focus, but he built the connections he needed and eventually won the promotion.

More tips on becoming indispensable at your job

The following advice comes from an interview we did with Pamela Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation and Body of Work. Use these tips in conjunction with the tips above from Dorie Clark to become truly indispensable at work.

Learn to take feedback

Pamela’s first piece of advice to becoming invaluable at your job is to accept and consider the feedback you receive from supervisors or peers. 

She admitted that receiving feedback was a massive learning curve for her that’s taken a long time—she used to hate it. Pamela was in the field of training and development where everything she did always had an evaluation attached to it. And, within her personality of being kind of a perfectionist, she would get all 5 out of 5 for 40 people.

But, two people would give her 3 out of 5 stars, and she would feel crushed and devastated.

You have to realize that many people who give you feedback simply want you to be better because they care about you. In fact, I’d be skeptical of someone who doesn’t give you feedback because that might mean that they don’t take your work seriously enough. So it’s crucial to learn how to take feedback. 

However, it’s equally as important to sort through people who are being vindictive—people who like to make people squirm—versus people who actually see the potential and who you are and are willing to give you tough feedback.

Let’s put a real-world example on asking and receiving feedback.

Pamela called Ramit in November of 2011 and said, “Ramit, I want to have a call with you. I want specific feedback on these areas of my business.” 

She detailed out the exact parts of her business that she wanted feedback on. So, Ramit reviewed her business and gave her some feedback. Ultimately, he told Pamela that her prices were too low.

She was way too valuable for what she was charging and it was negatively affecting her brand. Do you know how Pamela took the feedback?

She embraced the feedback because she trusted Ramit, and that’s why she asked specifically for his help. Learn from Pamela’s example of trusting the person to give you honest, usable feedback. Then, internalize what they’re telling you so you can make adjustments and perform better next time.

Learn to Value Yourself

Let’s now talk about undervaluing ourselves. Creative people tend to undervalue their work, chronically.

We asked Pamela if she could share any personal insights or insights she’d gotten from coaching people.

When Pamela was making a career transition earlier in her twenties, when she was working for companies, she remembered a piece of advice that she got from somebody that helped her to think differently about undervaluing herself. Pamela was interviewing at different places, and a woman asked Pamela, “What salary are you asking for?” 

Pamela said, “Well, I probably need something like $50,000. That’s probably pretty good.”

The woman told Pamela, “When it comes to compensation, especially if you’re a female, you must charge what the market will bear, especially in relation to your male peers.” And then, if you find yourself unable to figure out what to do with the extra money—you can give it away.

Wow… Pamela’s story hit home because we’re taught that a big salary must equal that you’re a more important or valuable person. In truth, it’s not about that. 

Learn how to negotiate your salary here

Valuing yourself in your job can take a lot of forms:

• Not being afraid to voice your opinion during meetings
• Following your gut instinct on the direction of your projects
• Asking questions
• Taking the initiative to learn new things that interest you or further your skillset
• Respecting and valuing to other people’s work and input
• Ask for what you truly deserve (whether that be more compensation, more benefits, better resources, etc.)

How to take action after you found your Dream Job

Finding your Dream Job is an amazing first step. But it’s only the first step. If you want to thrive at it, you need to stand out. That starts with:

1. Becoming a local expert – a big fish in a small pond – in a subject area of your choice
2. Connecting others across your organization
3. Creating a power map to track your relationships with the people who matter most
4. Learning to take feedback
5. Learning to value yourself

It does not matter if you are an employee or an entrepreneur. Standing out is no longer optional. The good news is that taking even the smallest action puts you miles ahead of the competition.

What’s one thing you’re going to do to make sure others recognize your true talents? Teach a mindfulness class, like Chade-Meng Tan? Invite a new colleague to lunch each week? Start asking your boss’s assistant about her life once in a while?

What are you going to do today, and in the next 30 days, to set yourself apart?

What to do once you’ve found your Dream Job (the 3 step plan) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

When I was a little girl, I used to get in trouble for cleaning my room. Check out the following video to find out why and learn why clutter in data visualization is a bad thing and how to avoid it. Specifically, I'll cover five tips and examples from my book, storytelling with data: 

1. Leverage how people see
2. Employ visual order
3. Create clear contrast
4. Don't over-complicate
5. Strip down & build up

This is a slightly modified version of the talk I've been giving on my Bay Area book tour at companies like LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Dropbox, Tesla, Airbnb, and Evernote. Post any related questions in the comment section and I will respond. I hope you enjoy!

Each man’s death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

– John Donne

The Mass for Palm Sunday of the Passion of Jesus begins by celebrating his triumphant procession into Jerusalem.  “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Before long, though, the joy yields to sad confusion as the psalmist cries, “My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?”  This emotional about-face always catches me by surprise.

This past Sunday, my mind was wandering a bit during the lengthy reading of the Passion narrative when suddenly a single, sobering bell tolled.  Then again.  And again.  It chased away my wandering thoughts, and allowed my mind to refocus on the unsavory details of Jesus’ betrayal, torment, and death.

* * *

We’d all just as soon forget about the unpleasantness of death.  And there are plenty of legitimate good things that keep our eyes focused on living, loving, and thriving.  But when a lone bell — or news of a tragic plane crash — pierces the air and the ear, it reminds us of mortality.  Good Friday reminds us that there can be no new life at Easter without passing through the pains of death.  We lose loved ones to death in grand, visible-to-the-world ways — funerals of grandparents, parents, siblings, friends.  But we also carry unseen losses that ring in the corners of our hearts everyday: the death of relationships…of jobs…of hopes…of youthful optimism…of trust…of…of…

Holy Week takes us through the highs and lows of human relationships.  An intimate supper among companions leads to betrayals, both glaring and subtle.  The Passion narrative — a story of love — reminds us of the soft underbelly of our human condition, where we hear how Jesus’ friends — his friends, no less! — are caught bartering, backsliding, and betraying him.  These days — these “holy days” — are when God cloaks his divinity, and submits to us at our conniving, self-interested worst.  If we are honest, we might ask ourselves: This is wondrous love?  What wondrous love is this, pray tell?

In a beautiful podcast for Good Friday, TJP’s own Brendan Busse encourages us not to run from our discomfort and incomprehension; not today, at least.  For today,

The air is full of the tragic inevitability of death… We don’t FIX this one. We don’t have an answer to why this happens. It is an extravagant waste and a senseless loss. And this kind of suffering only God can bear. This is God’s work. Eventually Jesus entrusts his spirit to God, and we must do the same. We stand by the cross, we embrace the grieving, we offer only our compassion, and God’s divinity is hidden on the cross – and hidden too in our compassion for the crucified. If we trust the promise of love, we must go to the darkest places, we must sit with the suffering and be a source of compassion…

What wondrous love is this, exactly?  Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote that the only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity we reach at the far side of complexity.  Today, with Jesus, we don’t get to fix life’s complexities and pains — but we are invited to pass through them, at the foot of the cross with Jesus.  But we are not alone at the foot of the cross — we stand with one another, in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in need.  Brendan Busse again:

Who is in need of compassion today? Who suffers alone? Who are the crucified? Who do you sit with in suffering or stand with in solidarity?

Without trying to fix this suffering, try instead of feel it. What does this compassionate suffering feel like? And what prayers rise from this place? What prayers rise from Calvary?

Easter will come soon enough…but for today, let us not run from death, but honor its passing.

 

Pray with Brendan’s 19-minute Podcast here, assembled by the dynamic duo of Br. Matt Wooters, SJ and Louis Hotop, SJ.

Maybe by now you’ve heard the story of the California woman who shortly after her 29th birthday learned that she had brain cancer. About two months after her initial diagnosis, she learned that it was a very aggressive, incurable cancer and she was given six months to live. She and her new husband moved from their San Francisco home to Oregon, because Oregon allows terminally ill patients to end their own lives with the use of a physician-prescribed drug.

She is young. She loves her husband, he loves her. She has a pretty good idea of how the next months will play out. She wants her final months, and especially her death, to be dignified.

I understand all that. But I would like to tell you a brief story about another life. One that was also challenged by cancer, that was given a limited time, and that was also full of love and dignity.

Just over three years ago, my brother Tony was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma – a very rare cancer of the bile duct. He only knew at first that he was stricken with a vicious case of jaundice, but a quick-thinking physician sent him immediately for a CT scan. What they found was a massive lesion – 14cm – on his liver, and subsequent scans showed that it had already metastasized to the lymph nodes. There would be no cure, and his blood was so poisoned by jaundice that they couldn’t even start treating the cancer directly. That was in June, he was 45, and we would be lucky if he was still with us at Christmas. Tony, then, knew despair.

That summer we went as a family – Mom, Dad, Tony, and me – for one last trip to the Eastern Sierra, a wonderfully beautiful place crowded with so many happy memories; where we had spent dozens of summers together camping and hiking and fishing – being a family. One morning, Tony and I went for a slow, painful walk.

At one point on the walk, Tony looked at me through tear-soaked eyes and said,

“Do you really think God would hold it against me if I were to make my own decision about when to end it all?”

Or, in other words: Would it really be such a sin to stop the ordeal, the anguish, and the misery he knew he was facing?

“I don’t know,” I replied through tears of my own.

“But,” I went on to say, “what I do know is that we love you so much, and we want to be able to love you all the way through this; we would support you, and it would never be a burden on us to be with you and care for you even in your suffering. Tony, please, let us do that for you. Let us love you to the end, whenever that may be.”

But just after that, the biliary drainage catheter that the doctors had placed – the one that came out of his right side and connected to a bag that he wore strapped around his leg, the one that became a permanent part of his body – started to bring the jaundice under control. And once the jaundice came under control, his oncologist could start a chemotherapy regimen – smaller than recommended so Tony could handle it. Almost immediately, he started to make a turn for the better: he was in less pain, and the jaundice went away so he wasn’t always nauseous. His energy returned, and his spirits lifted.

Thanksgiving came – and oh what a Thanksgiving that was! And then Christmas came. The six months given to him when he was diagnosed came and passed. Tony once again felt strong, positive and happy. He was playing gigs with his band again, and he was going for hikes and soon enough short backpacking trips, and even going skiing. He fulfilled a dream of going to Italy, and got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

All the while, the reality of his illness was always right in front of him: chemotherapy every two weeks, regular replacement of the catheter, sometimes on an emergency basis when it got misplaced, like it did when Tony and I went to Glacier National Park and I had to drive him three hours to the nearest hospital. But really, for two years, Tony’s life was… well, it was like a miracle. He had his dignity, and death no longer seemed imminent. And we thanked God. Despair had been replaced by courage.

Last year, Tony had a major setback. He suffered an aneurysm on an artery attached to the tumor. He spent most of the summer in the hospital while his doctors tried to figure out a way to stop the bleeding; they finally came across a similar situation in a medical journal, and found the successful treatment via an unconventional method. Tony finally came home from the hospital, but he never fully bounced back. That summer marked a turn for Tony, and he knew it, but he kept fighting. And as one chemotherapy regimen ceased being effective, the doctors cycled through the next combination, and when that stopped, so on through the next.

Last December, on top of Tony’s illness, our dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. It had already spread to the bones by the time it was caught. There would be no cure for him either. He advanced very rapidly, and very soon his pain became unmanageable without the help of hospice. Even though Tony had his own fight, he was there to help my mom care for my dad. It was not easy for him, but Dad had been there for him when he first got diagnosed, and now Tony was there for him. Who wouldn’t do that for someone they loved? Courage was magnified by heroism.

Dad died this past May, at home, quietly, under the care of my mom and my brother, with the support of hospice. And the three of us, my mom, Tony, and I, we mourned together.

Just after my dad died, Tony got the news that he had run out of treatment options. There was simply nothing left that medicine could do to stem the advance of his cancer. So Tony made the decision – on his own, in his own dignity – to stop medical care and transition onto hospice. This time, I could be there for him. Steadily he declined. With the help of hospice, we could manage his comfort medicines, which we tried to balance between pain relief and giving him the lucidity he wanted. His friends had time to come and say goodbye. Then there came a point when pain relief mattered more, and we had the ability to manage that, and keep Tony comfortable.

One Saturday night at the end of July, my friend Fr. John came to the house. We blessed Tony with the waters of Baptism, and we anointed his head and his hands with the Oil of the Sick. I held Tony’s head in my hands, and I kissed him, and Mom and I told him we loved him. This time, however, we told him it was ok to let go. He didn’t need to fight any more. Just a few hours later, Tony died.

In the end, we couldn’t take away Tony’s suffering, or my dad’s. The sadness and grief still weigh heavily on me and my mom. I’m not sure I can say that Tony’s suffering and death were beautiful. In fact, it was messy sometimes. Yes, there was pain; it was painful for him even though we did our best to manage it, and it was painful for us who loved him.

But his dying was never without dignity. I asked Tony to let us love him through his sufferings, and we were able to love him all the way through to the end. And in letting us do that, he showed us courage and heroism, and embodied real dignity. Tony’s journey through his own illness, suffering and death was nothing short of courageous; but that he did all this and cared for my dad in his illness and death is simply heroic. Courage and heroism aren’t born in complacency or contentment, nor are they the hallmarks of fearlessness and ordinary strength. They are created in response to trials and suffering, and they’re evidence of the triumph of hope over despair. Dignity too is made possible through courage and heroism, but love makes all of these possible; love in time of affliction is the condition that makes dignity a reality.

No, dignity isn’t opposed to suffering; sometimes in suffering dignity reveals its truest face.

A very close friend of mine and I have been having sort of a running conversation lately. We’ve each experienced a certain amount of failure in our lives and have each been on a personal journey of learning  that love is the way.

I knew that when I was younger. I knew that when I lived with drug addicts who would sell themselves for crack. I knew it when I lived with a homosexual cook who insisted we all call him “Auntie Ray”, and when I lived with Gail, the schizophrenic who refused to sleep anywhere else but on a mattress with no sheets in the basement.

I knew that it wasn’t just about doing all the right things right, knowing all the rules and being “appropriate.”

I knew that being a Catholic was about loving God and loving others. It wasn’t about having it all together.

When I was newly married, I felt I had a lot to prove. Not to my husband, because I knew he loved me just as I was. However, I felt that I had a lot to prove to other people who had judged me harshly and had rejected me because of my past mistakes.

Most of all, I felt I had to prove something to myself.

See, I had many things I was ashamed of. Mostly, I was ashamed of the kind of mom that I’d been before I got my act together. I was ashamed of being associated with disordered people and places.

I wanted to prove that I was a good mom now. Not a mom who left her son with babysitters all the time so she could do ministry. Not a mom who didn’t discipline her son properly. Not a mom who made corndog dinners for nearly two straight weeks.

Yeah. That happened. He survived. So did I. And I can actually cook now, thanks.

When I got married, I thought “Now I will prove that I can do a good job. Now I can show everyone that I’m not a bad person.”

I’d felt mistreated many times as a single mom. After I stopped doing music ministry and left the community I lived in for years, I put all of my efforts into raising my son. He went to Catholic school, and usually the other parents would not talk to me. They ignored me, and it was really painful. They would all talk to each other, but when I was at a meeting or outside the school waiting for my child, it was as if I wasn’t even standing there along with them. Even thinking about it now makes me really angry.

I remember  there was a mom who would openly talk about her sex toy parties. She was a married woman with two little kids. Man, was I pissed when I sat there and thought, “I’m a freaking practicing Catholic and I try my best to raise my son and do all the right things, and everyone ignores me. And this lady right here talks all about her gross parties and everyone still says hi to her.”

Being treated that way for so long made me feel like a crappy person. A worthless loser. A nobody.

I was tired of the injustice!! I would PROVE MYSELF!!

So when I got married, I tried to do all the things I could to be a good mom. I carried my babies in slings and I got a Land’s End diaper bag with a big monogrammed “S” on it, and I said the word “Appropriate” a lot. Because I was going to prove to everyone that I WAS appropriate now.

I was so desperate to prove that I was a good person. I wanted to fit in and be the kind of woman that people would call “faithful” and “on fire”. I wanted them to know that I wasn’t dumb and that I was a good wife and mom.

When I joined facebook, I was unstoppable. I posted every life site news article, every bad thing the democrats ever did or ever thought of doing. I went on a tirade when Old Navy sold a t shirt that somehow promoted gay marriage. “NEVER AGAIN WILL I SHOP AT YOUR STORE!!!!” I vowed to the world.

I got in arguments all the time about politics and abortion. I felt like I was really battling for the truth! I was good at it..I could cut people down with a few sentences, and boy it shut them up!

 

I WAS GOING TO SHOW THESE PEOPLE. I wasn’t gonna put up with any crap! Look at all those lazy Catholics! Look at how lukewarm they are! If only they were on fire LIKE ME.

 

Maaaaan, there was a fire burnin, alright. But it wasn’t the fire of the Holy Spirit.

And then. And then. And then.

God started showing me how ugly it was when other people talked that way. How much it hurt when people would shun me or people I love for not doing everything the perfect way, or for not having the same “zeal”. How being rude in the name of Christ is not Christ like at all. How un Christlike it was to treat people like scum because they’ve made mistakes or they’re not perfect like Jesus is perfect. To treat them as if they’re not even worthy of an acknowledgement.

 

I started seeing how much harm is done when we act like this, when we treat other people like this. And I also began to see the insecurity that fuels this way of acting.

Many of us have known shame and failure, and we have felt the awful feeling of worthlessness. That fear and shame can drive us to prove that we are worthy.

 

Over time, God has taught me and has been teaching me that acting like a jerk is not the answer. It’s not the way to show the world that Christ came to to seek and save the lost. It’s not the way to prove that I’m good enough or smart or loved.

Over time, God has helped me and is helping me to see that I am lovable and that I always was lovable to Him, despite my faults and failings. He also knows that sometimes I didn’t know any other way, and I was doing the best I could. I’m still learning.

I think there are a lot of people out there who are living with the shame of things they’ve done that God has already forgiven them for, yet they beat themselves up every day. I think it drives them to prove themselves just like I did.

I think there’s a lot of us who fail with the same sins every day, day in and day out..we feel like we’re never going to change, our situations are never going to change. But God is still with us. He still “makes all things possible.”

You don’t have to spend your life trying to prove that you have it all together. You don’t have to spend your life proving that you’re not who you used to be or that you’re not the worst version of yourself . Confess your sins and move on. Show some mercy to yourself and to others .. because love is the answer.

I shared the following picture and statement on Facebook and Instagram last night, and it got a lot of likes. I believe that’s because this is something we need to hear over and over and over again.

 

 

He knows all your secret fears and failings and faults…and He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. No matter what, He loves you.

“Do you remember the happiest moment you ever spent together?”
“The day we had lunch on top of the World Trade Center, and I got to tell her that I’d finally met someone.”

The 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, the famed and fabulous “E3,” met last weekend. Amidst the festivities and frivolities, controversy emerged.  The issue in question was the continuing deafness of some major game companies to the fact that women play video games and want to be included in questions of game design, gameplay, and the broader gaming community.

At the conference Ubisoft, a giant in the game industry, was showcasing its upcoming sequel to the blockbuster franchise “Assassin’s Creed.”  When asked about the possibility of having a female versions of the character for multi-player games, the developers responded by basically saying it was too much work to have women characters in the game.  Apparently not content with infuriating the community just one time, Ubisoft doubled-down. In a separate interview with Alexa Ray Corriea of Polygon, developers for the “Far Cry” series indicated that they wanted to make a female lead an option in that game, but, again, it was going to be just too much work. (No, seriously, they thought it would take too much time to animate women characters.)

As you might imagine, this got them in no small amount of trouble.  Indeed, the blowback was so intense that developers and PR types decided to just stop talking when interviewers asked about the issue.  Ubisoft tried to raise the defense that their games already contained strong female characters and a diverse cast.  Fair enough.  Yet this reply undercuts the very defense they offered in the first place: that women characters would require too much work.  If they’ve already figured out the magic recipe to make female character models, how much extra work is it to make one more?

This is not to say that video games (or any media for that matter) need to be total paragons of virtue and diversity.  Yet, the fact remains that, despite the reality of female gamers, video games companies too often act as though their only target demographic is 15-year old boys.  Some companies are trying to improve the scene, that is true.  But that’s not enough.  This video, compiled by Rebellious Pixels, highlights the face of gaming at E3 this year:

 

In the past, we at TJP have discussed how video games can be artistry, and how they can cause us to reflect on the human experience.  They can be good ol’-fashioned fun.  Or, as was noted in these pages at the start of E3, they can help us explore and discover a spirituality of hope.  This great potential makes it all the more frustrating, then, when developers decide to follow the easier and well-trod path of catering uncritically to the quick-and-easy.  What is needed is more developers willing to do the right thing, even if it takes more time.  Maybe this will not be the easiest task for them. But, then again, what is right and what is easy do not always coincide.

Apropos of nothing, here’s a quick video of a Japanese illustrator who goes by the name Satsuma, working with a Northern white-faced owl perched on his hand. The clip is humourous in and of itself, but it’s especially fascinating to see the stabilization of the bird’s head and eyes while he works. Strangely mesmerizing. (via Tastefully Offensive)

“Dear Kitten” is a cute Friskies ad, presented by BuzzFeed and narrated by the great Ze Frank, about an adult cat welcoming a new kitten to his home. The cat talks to the adorable little kitten about the human larvae that smells like milk, introduces him to wet cat food, and warns him about the evil monster known as “vacoom.”

Cats everywhere are promising big changes for a taste of wet cat food. What will your cat do?

shouldbecleaningmyroom:

this is the most intense butt wiggle I have ever seen.

the butt wiggle is so strong that the cat actually begins to float.

You spend a lot of time in front of your TV, but chances are you may not be using it to its full potential. It's not just about better picture, either—a good TV setup requires the right cables, a good remote, and a lot more. Here are 10 tweaks for creating the ultimate TV setup.

Read more...

Movie Trivia: The original version of Alien didn’t cast Sigourney Weaver in the lead role. She ultimately landed the role when it was learned that the original lead, Mitzy the Cat, had a debilitating allergic reaction to cephalopods. 

Ze Frank describes the “marvelous” octopus, one of the most intelligent animals of all the invertebrate, in his new video “True Facts About The Octopus.” Parts of the video were shot on location at Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California. We’ve previously written about Ze Frank and his funny True Facts web series.

music by Tom Moore

beefranck:

chatblanc:

funnywildlife:

Capybara by maortizjr on Flickr.

Just walking the capybara ~ as one does ~

I…um, yeah…alrighty then

I want to be just like her when I grow up.

Photographer Bert Jonkhans took these terrific shots of Hessel The Labrador Retriever and Hannes The Cat at their home in The Netherlands.

Submitted by Hilary K. as seen on Reshareworthy.com.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: BFFs, kittehs, puppehs

photos courtesy Joey Morris and LACE

After 7 long months of obsessively scribbling away on a large wall, artist Sean Sullivan “threw in the towel,” in part because he had exceeded his allotted time period by 4 months! The resulting mural was “Grand Pale Maw,” an expansive wall drawing that encompassed the entire rear corridor space of LACE in LA. Grand Pale Maw—Sullivan’s first large scale mural—was on display only through January 2012 but thanks to these photos documenting the process we can still ogle over them. (via Lost at E Minor)