Our roundup of this week's top 5 travel deals

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This week brings discounted Flying Blue awards to Europe, a pair of major transfer partner devaluations, and a new way to earn double United miles on rent payments.

Plus, there's a new credit card offer worth considering if you're in the market for American Airlines Admirals Club access. Let's dive into this week's top travel news and deals.

Air France and KLM's Flying Blue program is back with this month's Promo Rewards, and December includes a surprisingly ​broad selection of routes to Europe with 25% off awards​.

When you book by December 31st for travel through May 31, 2026, you can get one-way economy flights to Europe starting at 18,750 miles from 11 U.S. cities, including Houston, New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, and Detroit.

Premium economy is also available from Miami for 30,000 miles, and business class from San Francisco starts at 45,000 miles one way.

What makes this month's promotion particularly useful is the geographic spread. With eligible cities scattered across the country, more travelers can either drive or take a positioning flight without breaking the bank.

​Points Path Pro and Founders Club members​ get live Air France and KLM points pricing directly in Points Path, and you can also access the calendar view on Air France's website by leaving the date field blank when searching to view award availability by month, which makes it easier to spot dates with the discount.

Keep in mind that Flying Blue's taxes and fees can add up, especially in premium cabins, so check the total out-of-pocket cost before committing. And while business class awards at 45,000 miles one way are an excellent deal, availability will likely be limited at that price.

Many people may not realize that you can pay your rent with a credit card through ​Bilt Rewards​ and earn extra points without needing the actual Bilt credit card. This week, the company made that option a little more lucrative for those with United cards.

United MileagePlus personal cardholders can now earn 2 United miles per dollar when paying rent on time through Bilt using any participating United card. This includes the United Gateway, Explorer, Quest, Club, and Presidential Plus cards.

You'll earn up to 2x miles on the first $50,000 in rent payments each calendar year. However, the catch is the 3% processing fee, which Bilt charges when paying rent with any credit card that isn't a Bilt credit card.

To take advantage of this new bonus, you'll need to ​​add your United card to your Bilt Wallet​​, set it as your preferred rent payment method, and then pay your rent through Bilt's platform.

Remember that even if your landlord doesn't accept credit cards or charges a fee to use them, Bilt will give you a connected ACH account to use to pay your rent so you don't get charged a landlord fee, or even mail a check to your landlord if needed.

Since this is technically a partnership between United and Bilt and not a Chase card benefit, when you pay rent this way, one mile will post with your Chase card statement as usual, and the second mile will post as a bonus directly to your United frequent flyer account.

Whether paying the 3% fee is worth it comes down to how you value United miles. Essentially, you're buying United miles at 1.5 cents each by doing this. That might make sense if you're also earning elite qualifying miles toward status, but isn't as valuable if you're not chasing status.

Bilt also has an existing bonus deal with Alaska Airlines that's considerably more attractive. When you ​​link an Alaska credit card to your Bilt Wallet​​ and use it to pay rent, you'll still pay a 3% fee, but you'll earn 3 miles per dollar. Since Alaska miles can be extremely valuable, that return may very well be worth the cost.

If you're willing to pay for American Airlines Admirals Club access and want to get something extra for it, this new credit card offer could be a great option.

Right now the ​​Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard​​ is offering 100,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after $10,000 in spending within the first three months of opening the account. That's a significant amount of spending, but if you have large business purchases coming up, the miles could be worth it.

The card now comes with a $595 annual fee, up from the previous $450. Citi has also started charging for authorized users, which now cost $175 for up to three users, and $175 for each additional user after that.

You'll get up to $360 in annual statement credits with this card spread across four categories: Lyft, Grubhub, Avis or Budget car rentals, and Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. You'll also get priority boarding, free checked bags for you and up to eight companions, and 25% savings on in-flight food and beverage purchases.

But what you're really paying for with this card is Admirals Club membership, which normally costs $850 on its own. The membership covers you, your immediate family or up to two guests, and any authorized users you add to the account. If you frequently fly American and would use the lounge access, that alone can justify the card's annual fee.

The wave of transfer partner devaluations that started with Emirates earlier this year isn't slowing down, as another credit card issuer is about to lower its transfer ratio with the airline.

This week, Capital One announced that starting January 13, 2026, transfers to Emirates will drop from the current 1-to-1 ratio to 4-to-3, meaning 1,000 Capital One miles will only end up resulting in 750 Emirates miles when you make a transfer.

If you're planning to use Capital One miles for Emirates awards, you'll need 25% more miles after the change takes effect. That's an even steeper hike than the other banks who've made Emirates ratio changes in 2025.

Back in July, Citi cut their Emirates transfer rate by 20%, and American Express followed suit shortly after. Chase simply walked away from the partnership entirely rather than accept worse terms.

With Capital One cutting their rate, that leaves Bilt as the only major bank program still offering 1-to-1 transfers to Emirates. We'll have to see if the dynamic startup company can hold onto its now-sole position as a full value Emirates transfer partner, or if it ends up dropping its rate as well.

But it's not just Emirates who's cutting transfer ratios. In a somewhat more surprising turn of events, effective March 1, 2026, American Express Membership Rewards transfers to Cathay Pacific will decrease from 1-to-1 to 5-to-4, meaning 1,000 Amex points will net you just 800 Cathay Pacific miles instead of 1,000.

The Cathay Pacific devaluation feels more significant because it could signal the start of a broader trend. Right now, Cathay has four major bank transfer partners offering 1-to-1 ratios — Amex, Bilt, Capital One, and Citi.

If the pattern this year with Emirates has taught us anything, it's that when one issuer agrees to worse terms, the others may eventually follow, so we'll see if we need to be on the lookout for more bad Cathay news in 2026. Thanks to our ​friends at Frequent Miler for spotting this change​.

That wraps up this week's biggest moves in the travel world. But don't miss our recent guide on why ​the ABC islands are our favorite warm winter escape​​. Have a great weekend! ✈️

This story may contain links through which we are compensated when you click on or are approved for offers, and we may receive compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. All prices are accurate as of December 7, 2025, at 7pm ET.