On this week’s podcast, Kyle recaps a whirlwind trip that included an overwater villa in Bora Bora, driving the wild landscapes of New Zealand, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, and a 10-seat mezcal bar in Sydney - booked almost entirely using points and miles … including several business class flights! The guys walk through how he did it, cover some highlights and hard lessons, too. Plus, they talk about some stellar SkyMiles sales to Mexico, an update on how the ongoing government shutdown is affecting travel, and debrief from the Thrifty Traveler team’s recent retreat in Palm Springs.

It’s finally time for a mistake fare episode! Kyle and Gunnar talk about the most exciting fares in the world of flight deals, when airlines accidentally sell tickets at ridiculous discounts. The guys talk through their favorite mistake fares from over the years, how to find and book the next one, and what you need to watch for. Plus, they discuss why holiday flight deals are so much better this year, their new favorite mileage program that might not be on your radar, and Delta’s possibly problematic credit card rule.

This week, Gunnar and Kyle (who both coincidentally wore fresh Lululemon gear on the pod, courtesy of new $75 credits) spend some extra time digging into the ongoing government shutdown and what it means for travelers heading to airports today, tomorrow, next week and beyond. But the big topic of the day is diving into the premium travel boom, as airlines install fancier seats, build new airport lounges, and generally cater to the upper crust. Gunnar and Kyle debate whether or not that’s good news for budget travel. Plus, they enjoy an Alaska Airlines executive’s recent jab at his competitors and chat about United’s exciting new routes.

This week, a bonafide travel hacker and self-proclaimed “bad boy of the travel industry” joins the show to discuss his two services that help millions travel more for less. Jonathan Weinberg is the founder and CEO of our beloved AutoSlash and, more recently, HotelSlash. So who better to hop on the podcast and make both Gunnar and Kyle smarter about the worlds of hotel and car rental booking? Jonathan talks about his career before getting into travel – including his firsthand experience being in the Twin Towers on 9/11 – and then walks us through how and why he founded the two money-saving booking platforms that Gunnar and Kyle use all the time. Plus, we chat about Georgia (the country, not the state) and get a little giddy about a handful of new Park Hyatt properties in the pipeline.

Using points and miles to travel for less is what we’re all about … but even two brilliant, handsome podcasters like us (yes, that’s sarcasm) need some help to earn more of them, get organized, and redeem those awards for better travel. So this week, we open up our toolboxes and run through the tools we use to travel better - including a few tools we created for our listeners to use for free! Come to get smarter about points and miles, stay to hear the rollercoaster that is Gunnar’s self-esteem during this episode.

Gunnar and Kyle celebrate their recent travel bookings (a.k.a. “Getting Booksy”) before diving into an extremely busy couple days of travel news. Gunnar introduces an unhinged new “Stoke Scale” to help the guys rank a flurry of new route announcements from Italy to Hong Kong, and more. Plus, they break down stories you need to know about the Park Hyatt Tokyo, Hilton’s woes, Delta’s future in Mexico City, some intriguing new Capital One transfer partners, and more!

After months of waiting and weeks of leaks, The Platinum Card from American Express has finally relaunched with tons of new features and credits…and a whopping $895 annual fee. This week on the Thrifty Traveler Podcast, we break down this overhaul of one of the most popular (and priciest) travel credit cards out there to decide if all the new perks can actually add up to nearly $900 in value - and what current cardholders should do ASAP.

This week, the guys dig deep on their favorite travel app: Flighty! Ryan Jones, the CEO of the incredibly powerful and beautifully designed flight tracking app, joins the podcast to explain how Flighty keeps travelers up-to-date using data data and what they’ll love about the new iOS features on the app. Plus, the guys compare their own delay data, pick their favorite underrated features, and discuss other travel apps and websites that are doing it best.

This week, we have on the most interesting man in travel: Peter Thornton! As Thrifty Traveler’s Senior Award Deal Analyst, Peter is responsible for finding all the best uses for your points and miles, but his long career in travel has touched nearly every aspect of the industry. From being a flight attendant to finding mistake fares for Airfare Watchdog and now analyzing points and miles deals, Peter knows more about airfare than anyone out there. And he’s the only one who played guitar for Ja Rule, Paul Walker, and Vin Diesel at MTV Spring Break 2001…yeah, we get that story on the pod, too!

It’s our first ever mailbag episode! Kyle’s on vacation, so we lined up a bunch of the best questions we’ve been asked and gave you our best advice. We tackle topics such as positioning flight tips, what we would pay for a Delta One upgrade, how to maximize your Amex Platinum credits with a refresh coming, destinations that exceeded our expectations, airlines as NFL quarterbacks, and the best and worst parts about our jobs. And remember: Be like Kyle and take your vacation days, people!

We’re going back to basics this week by showcasing all the strategies, tips and tricks that we use to book the cheapest flight - every single time we fly. That requires some mythbusting about the dumbest tips out there (here’s looking at you, incognito searchers and Tuesday-only bookers) and shed some light on the actual best tips (i.e. Google Flights Explore and price alerts). Never get fleeced on flights again with these tips. Special shoutout to the sponsor of this week’s episode, Abundo Wealth!

News, news, and more breaking travel news. There’s been so many big stories in the travel world lately, Gunnar and Kyle blew up the normal show format and spent the episode going beyond the headlines, breaking down everything you need to know. There’s more on new pricing shenanigans from airlines and Uber, the ins and outs of Alaska’s new loyalty program, a big upgrade for Google Flights, and much much more.

This week’s podcast is honestly just a selfish exercise for Gunnar, who uses his coworker’s expertise to plan a trip to the 2026 Olympics, get tips on flying with kids, and brag about how to make Thrifty Traveler Premium the best flight deal alert service out there. This week we welcomed Thrifty Traveler’s Product Manager, Tracey Burtch, to talk about how her time representing Team USA Figure Skating sparked a love of travel and how she now devotes her career to helping others do the same. Plus, Tracey recaps her biggest (and embarrassingly recent) travel mistake and some of her favorite deals ever.

Points and miles aren’t worth anything if you can’t use them. If you want to fly lie-flat business class (most of us, right?), it can be excruciating to find flights you can actually book with points. But some stand out as being much easier to book - if not downright easy. Gunnar and Kyle shine the spotlight on the airlines and routes where it’s easiest to score that business class seat using miles. Plus, they chat about rising surcharges on award tickets and look at why Gunnar is adding a new credit card to his wallet ASAP … from an airline he rarely flies.

The hilarious Jason Matheson - host of The Jason Show on FOX and a 20-year veteran of morning talk radio - joins the show to talk all things travel with Kyle and Gunnar. Claiming to be Thrifty Traveler’s #1 fan, Jason tells us what Canadian city sparked his love of travel before diving deep into what he loves about Hawaii and Disney. He also tries to sell the guys on cruising and he even reveals his bougiest travel take. Join us for the funniest episode of the Thrifty Traveler Podcast yet!

The world of airfare is changing before our eyes. Airlines have jacked up the price of one-way flights and targeted solo passengers with higher fares, too. And, more troublingly, carriers like Delta (and others) are now leaning on AI to set airfare … raising the prospect of personalized pricing. What does it all mean? Kyle and Gunnar break it all down on this week’s episode, telling you how airfare is changing, why, and who’s responsible. Plus, why this is your year to go to Costa Rica … and the airline that both Kyle and Gunnar are embarrassed to have never flown before.

We’re in the heart of the summer travel season, so Gunnar and Kyle put together a Travel Survival Guide to help you grease the wheels of your next trip. The guys dig into the best ways to avoid delays and cancellations (including sharing their own worst delays), plus tell you all the apps, tools, and knowledge you should bring with you on your trip to make it go smoothly this summer or fall. The guys also talk about TSA’s new (and drastically improved) shoe policy and the insane thing CLEAR wants to charge you for now. Stick around for Gunnar’s bougiest travel take.

It’s the news every points and miles aficionado has been waiting for: After years of pain, award travel is, in fact, getting easier. Alongside an undeniable trend in red-hot cheap airfare, outstanding deals keep popping up to redeem your points - whether you’re on the hunt for a discounted economy deal or a notoriously hard-to-book lie-flat award ticket. So Gunnar and Kyle dig into what’s driving this lovely new trend and, most importantly, the dozen or so deals that have us thinking that award travel has finally turned a corner. We’re calling it (working title) “Hot Flight Summer.” Come for Hot Flight Summer and stay for Gunnar’s hot fireworks take, a revelation about Kyle’s reality TV viewing habits, and why Virgin Atlantic really ticked us off this week.

Higher annual fees. More perks. New lounges. It never stops. The big banks are going bigger than ever on their “premium” travel credit cards. So, Gunnar (fresh off paternity leave) and Kyle bring Thrifty Traveler’s co-founder and credit card expert, Nick Serati, on the show to help break down all the recent moves from Chase, Amex, and Capital One. And they ask the $900-plus question: With annual fees approaching $1,000 a year, are we hitting a breaking point?

How can you find the best value for your SkyMiles? Are Delta SkyMiles worthless? Can you book Delta One for cheap? Am I an idiot for caring about SkyMiles? These are the questions we get about the wildly popular (yet maddening) Delta SkyMiles program, so we do our best to answer all of them and more. Whether you want to book quick, cheap flights within the U.S. or fly business class to Asia (and everything in between), we go over all the best ways to earn and burn Delta SkyMiles.