Alaska Airlines: On April 18 started offering one-way awards for partner British Airways; also offers them on American and Delta. For more on why this is so valuable, see FCF’s April issue. Alaska Airlines Link
American Airlines: On April 11 launched new Chicago-Dusseldorf service using a two-cabin B767, with economy and Business Class. Free seats are hard to come by; better to try upgrading using miles. American Airlines Link
Icelandair: On Oct. 28 starts non-stop service (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday) from Newark to Reijavik and onward to many other European cities, including Frankfurt, London, Paris, and Rome just to mention a few. Existing gateways: JFK, Boston, Seattle, Denver, and Toronto, and seasonal service from Washington, D.C., Minneapolis-St. Paul, Orlando, Halifax, and Anchorage (starts May 15). With a rudimentary Business Class, is an airline that can, at times, be used as a back-up plan when fares are high because fares can be as low as $2,500, with no advance-purchase. Icelandair Link
Lufthansa: This Star Alliance airline adds daily Vancouver-Munich summer service starting May 16 through the end of October using an A330. Free seats look like they’re hard to come by. Lufthansa Link
Turkish Airlines: This Star Alliance airline launched its fifth U.S. gateway, Houston, on April 1, with four flights a week (Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday). It goes to six times a week on July 3. See our April 23 alert for promotional fares in Premium Economy. Turkish Airlines Link
Virgin Atlantic: Now is a credit card transfer point partner with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, so you can transfer 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards at a 1:1 rate for 1,000 Virgin Atlantic miles. That said, the reason to have a Chase card is to get United points, while still having other options, so this is a non-starter for me, but perhaps not for a few of you who think Chase should be your number one card, for whatever reason, although mine is Starwood, even if Chase is second, but only for the sake of United—a long way of saying: If you want Virgin points, get them through your Amex card (most of you have points laying around) or through Starwood, which will give you a 25% bonus, just about the equivalent of a free upgrade. Virgin Atlantic Link