A $25K Airbnb, Amazon charging a return fee, An Arctic road trip and more [Saturday Selection]

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British Airways is launching flights to high-demand destinations that can only be booked with points, Amazon is dipping its toe into return fees and there’s a $25,000/night Airbnb in the Hamptons. All that and more in this week’s Saturday Selection.

British Airways launches “points-only” flights 

British Airways Airplane

Cash prices for airfare have been soaring recently and it doesn’t look like things are going to be letting up in the near future, making points and miles even more useful. Sometimes, though, availability can be a problem. British Airways is offering a somewhat-novel alternative. Copying an idea that Qantas played around with before the pandemic, BA is launching “Avios-only” flights. These flights are only bookable with points, not cash, and will be offered at normal Avios award pricing. Avios-only flights will start this Fall to select destinations and will only be made available to Executive Club members (ie, BA won’t release seats to partners).

Amazon starting to charge return fees

a person packing a box

Amazon has long had a free-return policy on most products that it sells, allowing us to drop unwanted items off at a UPS store, no questions asked. Well, evidently, they now have some questions. Amazon is now charging customers $1 if they bring returns to UPS when there is a Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, or Kohl’s closer to their address.

 What a $25,000/night Airbnb looks like

Exterior image 2
Photo courtesy of Airbnb

A couple years ago, Nick wrote about using Hyatt points to stay in a German palace and I used a few thousand Chase Ultimate Rewards points to stay in a Spanish Castle last year. So, surely a little 9-bedroom house in the Hampton’s could be had for a similar price? Think again. Your Mileage May Vary writes about the “Cobb Road Daydream,” billed as the most expensive Airbnb in the United States. While peak times such as Summer weekends and New Year’s Eve will set you back a cool $25K/nt, the off-season rates are a bargain at $14K/nt. Luckily, parking is free.

Virgin Atlantic Launches Lame Award Sale

two men posing for a picture
Richard Branson trying to get Greg to fly Virgin Atlantic economy

Virgin Atlantic has an odd award sale going on until April 27th that gives 20% off award flights, in some cases during peak dates in the Summer. So why is it lame? For starters, it only applies to economy seats and Virgin’s substantial surcharges aren’t discounted. So, while you can get a discount of up to 10,000 Virgin Points, you’re still on the hook for $200-400 in fees for a roundtrip economy flight. Also, it’s only good to five destinations from London Heathrow: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Tel Aviv. To make it even more confusing appealing, the discount on the first four cities is good for flights between May 1 and July 31, but Tel Aviv has completely different dates: April 1 through May 31. Those folks at Virgin really know how to cook up a deal.

A road trip to the Arctic Ocean

Man swimming in cold water — Stock Photo, Image
Artist’s rendition of my wife and my visit to the Arctic

Two things that I absolutely love are road trips and the Far North. My wife and I have done several road trips in North North America, including one to Deadhorse, Alaska where we got to dunk ourselves in the Arctic Ocean (spoiler alert: it’s very cold). Sriram over at Travel Codex wrote a fun report about his recent trip to the Nordic Far North that included his own brush with the Arctic Ocean, as well as a visit to the northernmost point in Finland (and the EU).

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