Hey {{first name | reader}},

Happy Friday!

Trinity Airways just unveiled one of the strangest new business class products I have seen in a while. Then I want to explain how I organize my own trips, because planning travel with points is completely different from planning a normal vacation.

Here's what's inside today's post:

If Trinity Airways does not sound familiar, that is because until literally yesterday it was called T'way Air.

The South Korean low-cost carrier officially rebranded as Trinity Airways on September 10, and as part of its expansion it is preparing to take delivery of Airbus A330-900neos.

The business class on those new planes is interesting, to say the least.

Trinity will be the launch customer for a seat called the Optimares SoFab. There will only be 12 business class seats on the A330-900neo, and every seat has direct aisle access and converts into a fully flat bed.

The unusual part: the seat does not recline.

Instead of a traditional reclining seat, it works more like Finnair's AirLounge concept. You sit inside a fixed shell, and when you want to sleep, the seat converts into a flat sleeping surface.

Even stranger, Trinity is not installing traditional seatback entertainment screens either. So this is a very stripped-back interpretation of long-haul business class.

Lie-flat bed? Yes. Direct aisle access? Yes. A normal reclining seat? No. A big screen in front of you? Also no.

The timing is funny because I am actually flying Trinity Airways in October. I will still be on one of their older aircraft rather than the new A330-900neo, so I probably will not get to try this new seat yet. Trinity's current widebody fleet includes A330-300s with older angled-flat business-class seats, along with former Cathay Pacific 777-300ERs with reverse herringbone business-class seats.

Still, I am excited to see what the airline is like in person, especially now that they are clearly trying to reinvent themselves. I will report back after the flight.

This is something I think people underestimate when they first get into points.

Traveling with points requires a completely different mindset from normal travel.

The traditional way of planning a vacation usually starts like this: "I want to go to Japan from October 10 to October 20." You have a destination, exact dates, and then you search for flights.

With points, that is probably the hardest possible way to start. It is absolutely possible, but you are immediately limiting yourself to whatever award availability happens to exist for one destination on one very specific set of dates.

The way I usually think about it is almost the opposite.

I start with: "I want to travel."

And then I figure out where and when based partly on what opportunities are available.

That works particularly well for me because one of my goals is to visit as many countries as possible during my lifetime. I do not necessarily need the next trip to be one exact destination. Instead, I start by thinking about regions of the world I want to explore: Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Northern Europe, and so on.

Then I start researching award options. What airlines fly there? Which loyalty programs can book them? Are there good fifth-freedom routes? Are there interesting connections that let me add another destination?

This is also why I normally start thinking about major trips a year or more in advance. It gives me time to watch points sales, buy miles when the price is good, wait for award calendars to open, and adjust as availability appears.

I also use AI a lot during this part of the process. Not to blindly follow whatever it tells me, but to help map out possibilities. I ask about different routings, airlines that connect certain regions, which programs can book those airlines, and combinations I might not have thought of on my own. Then I go verify the options and build the trip around what is actually bookable.

That is how I sometimes end up with trips that look completely strange on a map. A while back I combined Northern Europe, Egypt, the UAE, and India in one month. That was not because I sat down and decided those four places obviously belonged together. The trip developed because of the flight opportunities I found. That is the fun part.

Then the process changes.

If you absolutely need to go to one destination on specific dates, your goal becomes finding the best deal possible within those restrictions. Maybe there is a good award. Maybe you need to position to another airport. Maybe you fly one direction with points and pay cash for the other. Or maybe the cash fare is simply better.

The less flexible you are on destination and dates, the more flexible you need to be about how you get there.

Once the flights are locked in, then I start planning the actual trip. That is when I use AI to help build itineraries, while also doing a lot of research myself.

And honestly, a huge amount of that research now comes from TikTok and Instagram, alongside travel blogs. One of my favorite parts is watching my algorithm slowly figure out where I am going. I will start researching Seoul or Tokyo, and suddenly my entire feed becomes restaurants, neighborhoods, cafes, day trips, and random places I would never have found otherwise. By the time I arrive, it feels like the internet has been planning the trip with me for months.

So if you are trying to travel more with points, I think the biggest adjustment is this: do not always decide exactly where you are going first.

Sometimes, see where the points can take you.

That's it for today. Enjoy the weekend, and more deals, news, and trip ideas coming your way on Monday.

Catch you in the clouds,

Tomi from Points Master

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