Rio, Copacabana, and Taylor Swift

Allison and Jackie take over the pod to discuss the news and to share more about their recent trip to Rio de Janeiro to see Taylor Swift in concert.

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Post of the week

Alicia Carroll shared that her miles were stolen by hackers. Use unique passwords, Two-Factor Authorization (2FA), and AwardWallet.

News

• American Airlines Adjusts How Card Spending Counts Toward AAdvantage Status
• British Airways Hikes Avios Awards on American and Alaska
• You Can Now Redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Miles Online for Aeromexico Flights
• Credit Card Perks You Can Gift for the Holidays

Highlight feature:

• Jackie’s flights - Entire trip report
• Allison - 
  • AA economy down DFW-GRU
  • How's economy on Latam
  • Cheap AA award for GOL
  •  AA Business Class GRU-DFW (55,000 AAdvantage miles, topped off with BILT Rewards)
    • Traffic in Sao Paulo is deceiving
• Hilton Copacabana - A+ views of the beach, 50k and 5th night free
• Taylor Time - making friendship bracelets (with friends from Award Travel 201) presidential suite, extreme heat alert day and concert postponement
• Other Rio things - Christ the Redeemer, Brent’s meat map, caipirinhas, parrot pet, Escadaria Selarón and best $1 caipirinhas (2000 tiles from 60 countries)
• Paraty
• Brazil Visa requirement beginning Jan 10, 2024
  • $80, electronic visa submission
  • a flight reservation showing arrival and departure
  • two free visa pages
  • a bank statement showing a balance of at least $2,000 and the most recent 30 days of transactions

Tip of the week

Passport turnaround times are short right now! Great time to get or renew yours, turnaround within a few weeks.

Where To Find the Award Travel 101 Community

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1. For more intermediate and advanced strategies, join Award Travel 201 community
2. To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.
3. You can also email us at contactawardtravel@gmail.com.

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