If booking a partner award, double check what the cost would be from the individual carriers, rather than just taking the quote from the ticket issuing airline.
The airline that ticketed the award still needs to communicate with the airlines that operate each flight, so
if you booked a partner award you may want to wait a couple days and then call the other airline to confirm it has your reservation on file.
@ WB —
If you book partner awards then they have to be roundtrip, though award rates are very similar.
Not exact matches
If you
book an
award flight with a
partner airline such as American Airlines and do not include a flight operated by British Airways on your reservation, you'll be required to pay peak - level
award prices.
Until recently,
if you wanted to
book an
award flight with a
partner of Singapore Airlines, you were required to call to
book.
If you don't already have a stash of Aeroplan points, you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points from your Business Platinum Card from American Express Open to Aeroplan, or
book an Air Canada flight as a
partner award through United.
For example,
if British Airways decides to increase the number of miles needed to
book an
award ticket, you can transfer your points to one of Amex's other
partners instead.
In early 2017, Delta started requiring more miles to
book award flights with
partners than
if you
booked the same route on a flight operated by Delta.
However,
if you are looking to
book an
award ticket on a
partner plane, you will need to call their reservation line at 1-800-874-8875.
Additionally, American Express often runs transfer bonus promotions with individual transfer
partners which can be very useful
if you need to
book an
award flight.
Flying from the East Coast, you can
book a business class
award for 110,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles
if you can find an itinerary that includes only 1
partner (American Airlines or Qantas).
This is not only a better deal (
if available) but also reflects the
award space provided to other
partners if you decide to
book through a different loyalty program.
If you're using Asia Miles and your
award booking includes 2 or more
partners, your
award will fall under a separate
award chart — the Oneworld multi-carrier
award chart.
They told me they would not / could not honor the SWISS First
booking, but they could reaccommodate me on another carrier or in another class of service
if we could find
partner level
award space available.
Keep in mind that
if you have to connect with their SkyTeam
partner Delta, you will be required to
book a SkyTeam
award, which is governed by a different
award chart and requires round - trip
bookings.
For example,
if British Airways decides to increase the number of miles needed to
book an
award ticket, you can transfer your points to one of Amex's other
partners instead.
If you are more flexible and using a
partner program to
book, start looking for Lufthansa first class
award space 15 days prior to your departure.
You can either find a different flight, use one of their airline
partners (
if using Avios to
book an
award), or use the BA «stopover» feature, which allows you to connect to a final destination in a city in the UK.
If you
book awards on
partners such as Brussels Airlines, Swiss Air, or United Airlines, these surcharges won't be a problem.
If you don't want to splurge on a more expensive
award ticket to fly a
partner airline across the Pacific Ocean, you can still get a taste by
booking an intra-Asia
award.
Unfortunately, Japan Airlines requires you to call to
book award flights with
partner airlines, but this is easy
if you follow the steps below.
If only
partner awards are available, then ANA will display all three
booking classes regardless of the original request.
If both
partner and ANA international
awards are available, then ANA will only display the requested
booking class and will display each option side - by - side.
Or
if I already know I'm going to
book a
partner award.
If you don't
book the
award directly with United or American but instead
book with one of their
partners, this is a distinct opportunity!
While Virgin Atlantic charges half of the miles required for a round - trip
award on its own flights, the
award rates will vary
if you
book a flight on one of their
partners.
If you want to
book an
award that includes any of their
partners you will need to search elsewhere and then call Singapore Airlines.
If you want to
book award tickets with any of Cathay Pacific's other
partners, you will need to call Cathay Pacific.
Additionally, American Express often runs transfer bonus promotions with individual transfer
partners which can be very useful
if you need to
book an
award flight.
Until recently,
if you wanted to
book an
award flight with a
partner of Singapore Airlines, you were required to call to
book.
if you are
booking with a
partner and United.com does not show
award space (there are often
partner flights available the web
booking options miss)
As far as
booking an
award ticket on a
partner flight goes, let's clear something up:
If you want to use Flying Blue Miles to fly to Hawaii on Delta Airlines, you would transfer your UR points to the Flying Blue program, NOT Delta's, and then call Air France or use their website to
book the
partner flight on Delta.
If you want to fly on different Alaska
partner airlines,
book two one - way
awards and get your two stopovers anyway.
but it can still be useful to be able to transfer Starpoints points to AAdvantage
if you're looking to
book partner awards.
Awards booked through American Airlines using AAdvantage Miles don't come with surcharges... but that's not the case
if you plan to use the miles for travel on a number of American's airline
partners — make sure you factor in these surcharges when working out just how good a deal an
award booking is.
If you want to
book a
partner award search on either United or ANA's website, then call in to complete the
booking.
The best process for
booking award tickets via Asiana depends on
if you want to fly on Asiana metal or
if you want to
book a
partner award.
As you can see, the lack of major U.S.
partners doesn't mean you can't
book an
award flight on a U.S. carrier
if they offer the best route to your destination.
With SkyMiles, you can buy
award flights on any of the 20 SkyTeam
partners if you
book through Delta.
Lufthansa generally only releases
award seats to
partners within a week or so of departure, so you can
book business class and change to first - class
if availability opens up.
If you want to in
book an AAdvantage or Dividend Miles
award flight, but can not find availability on these two carriers, look to their oneworld
partner, Air Berlin.
So
if you have miles with a Star Alliance
partner, you can
book an
award seat on Austrian.
TAP and Victoria
partner airlines or Victoria Programme
partners may refuse to grant an
award or benefit
if the client has already
booked a flight or service without clearly stating that the
booking is for a Victoria
award or benefit.
Korean Air allows holds on all
award tickets
booked through SKYPASS, but their policies differ
if you will be
booking travel on Korean Air or on one of their
partner airlines.
If you want to use Membership Rewards points to
book that
award, look for the green «MR» icon next to eligible transfer
partners.
If you
book Korean's own metal, you can also
book one way
awards (this isn't allowed on
partners).
You can ask the agent to waive this fee
if it was not possible to
book online (certain
partners and complex
awards, for example).
If there is a promo for an airline
partner that you are planning to use to
book an
award flight, take advantage of 10 %, 15 %, 20 %, or even 40 % transfer bonuses.
Japan Airlines requires you to call to
book award flights with
partner airlines, but this is easy
if you follow the steps below.
If your
booking involves a connection on a
partner of Japan Airlines (such as American Airlines), your
booking will fall under their
partner award chart, and you will need to call to complete the
booking.