Award tickets to / from London will see a cut of around 12 % for economy awards (a saving of approximately $ 70 return) and a smaller, 6 % ($ 50 return) saving for
premium economy awards.
If you subscribe to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club, you can redeem economy and
premium economy awards at a 30 % discount between now and September 22.
While the American Airlines AAnytime rewards have long represented a decent value proposition a significant increase in perks for around twice the miles, similar to booking
a premium economy award the new award chart that went into effect this June has completely changed that landscape.
Not exact matches
These rates increase to 30,000 / 60,000 miles for
awards booked in
premium economy, and 40,000 / 80,000 miles for business class flights.
SWISS first class
awards are not bookable using KrisFlyer Miles and neither are
premium economy seats on Star Alliance partner airlines.
Award pricing is much more reasonable for
premium economy, with certain dates pricing at 65,000 Skymiles one - way between Detroit and Seoul, Tokyo or Beijing — or even better: 99,000 Skymiles roundtrip for these 3 routes, with great availability.
There are also some
premium cabin
award seats available, though not nearly as many as you will find in
economy.
Effective April 28, British Airways has devalued their
award chart for
premium cabin
awards (
Premium Economy, Business and First class
awards)
Quick tip: if you are planning on using miles to upgrade, search for business class
award space prior to booking your
premium economy ticket.
Until our
premium economy seats are assigned a fare class and loaded for sale, it's too soon to say what the upgrade policies will be or what rates will be applied for redemption
awards.
A huge caveat, however, is
award availability, which is much harder to find in
premium classes than an
economy seat.
The
award calendar is meant to show the saver
economy /
premium award availability across a two - month period, so that you don't have to check one day at a time.
To use it, you just input your route, choose one - way or roundtrip, the cabin you want to fly in (
economy,
premium economy, business, or first), whether you're willing to make a stop or not, the type of
award (peak or off - peak), and which frequent flyer program (the 20 airlines are listed below) or credit card (Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and / or Starwood Preferred Guest) you want to use and search.
You can not redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for
premium cabin
awards on Singapore airlines routes that are operated by A380, B777 or A350 (you can still redeem
economy awards)
Qantas is an
award wining, full service airline and Qantas A380
premium economy product is the perfect mix between the hard
economy seat and a lie flat shell style throne for your next 16 hour flight.
Specifically, four different flights have
award space in first class, business class, or
premium economy.
Under this type of program, Cathay would only
award status - earning points to travellers who purchase
premium cabin seats or the most expensive
economy class seats (which are often just as expensive as the cheapest
premium cabin seats).
If American doesn't alter the cost of
Economy or Business Class
awards then, depending on how
Premium Economy is squeezed in, there could be some very good value redemptions to be had (
Premium Economy if the
premium over
Economy Class is low or Business Class if the
premium over PE is low... it will be one or the other).
Economy cabin
awards on this route are often easier than
premium seat redemptions.
There are 12
premium Economy promo
awards available this month and the value proposition varies quite a bit:
This will mean the
award will cost 110,000 Asia Miles in
economy, 132,000 Asia Miles in
premium economy, or 175,000 Asia Miles in business.
That
award chart is particularly valuable for
premium cabin redemptions, since business class and first class
awards cost 2 and 3 times the cost of
economy, respectively, instead of the 3 and 4 times charged on the standard Executive Club
award chart.
Now that Singapore Airlines is actually flying aircraft with their new
Premium Economy product (e.g. A350 service between Singapore and Amsterdam) the airline has decided to upgrade its
award charts to reflect the new product (as well as to re-price certain
premium cabin
awards to / from Europe).
To clarify, I mean if you're paying cash (by cash I mean hopefully using a credit card that gets travel
awards) for your
economy ticket, you may be able pay a similar amount of cash to buy points / miles and then use those points / miles to book
premium cabin travel.
One of the best values for a U.S. traveler is an
award flight between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, which costs 72,000 miles in
premium economy and 120,000 miles in business (72,000 and 120,000 Membership Rewards points respectively).
AAdvantage miles offer the cheapest rates for
economy and
premium class
award seats to Tasmania.
Effective April 28, British Airways has devalued their
award chart for
premium cabin
awards (
Premium Economy, Business and First class
awards) Only positive change in this devaluation is the introduction of off - peak
awards on British Airways
awards (not applicable for partner
awards like Cathay Pacific).
But it's not nearly enough to just allocate them some kind of uniform valuation, as some miles may be very valuable for a given type of redemption (e.g. Avios for short - haul
economy awards) and quite a poor value for other types of redemptions (for Avios, ultra long - haul in a
premium cabin with high mileage cost and often high fuel surcharges).
Known for its
award - winning customer service, JetBlue offers travelers a
premium experience that includes unlimited free snacks and drinks, plus the most legroom in
economy class (based on average fleet - wide seat pitch of U.S. airlines) and the first checked - in luggage for free (a), as well as the most free live entertainment of any U.S. airline.
On the Qantas chart,
awards begin at 8,000 points in
economy, 12,000 points in
premium economy, 16,000 points in business, and 24,000 points in first for one - way flights up to 600 miles.
British Airways displays
award space in only three cabins at a time, including
premium economy, so you'll also need to select «first class» if this is your preference.
So while standard
economy saver
awards will remain unchanged, get ready for some «enhancements» to the
premium awards and even the standard
economy awards.
While you can't redeem points for Even More Space seats (
premium economy), you can often buy up to that section of the cabin using cash after you've made your
award reservation.
Virgin Australia Velocity points can be redeemed for four types of
awards:
economy,
premium economy, business and first.
Virgin Atlantic is offering a 30 %
award sale on
economy and
premium economy flights which can get you to London for just 12,500 miles.
In recent years Virgin Atlantic's frequent flyer program hasn't garnered any Freddie
awards the Oscars of the airline frequent flyer industry but the airline has been consistently raking in accolades from Travel Weekly Globes for favorite airline to Business Traveler magazine for best
premium economy.
While I agree that this isn't a particularly lucrative
award chart for
premium cabin flyers, there are a couple of options that could make some sense to those with Membership Rewards points who don't mind
economy.
While many frequent flyers daydream about aspirational
premium class
awards, there are plenty of international
economy options that will get you from A to B happily and at a fraction of the cost.
The
award charts are identical for
economy awards, but United charges a large
premium to fly its partners» Business and First Class products versus its own.
So since Alaska lets you redeem for JAL
premium economy, you shouldn't have any trouble finding those seats when first & business class
awards aren't available.
Standard
awards under 2,000 miles will cost the same in
economy,
premium economy, and business class, and British Airways will introduce off - peak pricing for certain
awards on its own metal.
American Airlines has, at best, average
award availability in
economy and even less so with
premium award seats.
For flights exclusively on Alitalia, you'll want to follow their specific charts for
economy and
premium economy, or business class
award travel.
You'll need more lead time for
premium awards, such as an international first - class ticket, than you will for a domestic
economy flight.
From the U.S. to Japan,
award seats begin at 50,000 miles for round - trip in
economy, 65,000 for
premium economy, 100,000 for business class and 140,000 for first class.
Most days, the
award results look like this, with 10 flights on Dragonair and Cathay Pacific having
award space in
economy,
premium economy, and business class.
Business and First Class
awards often cost less than double an
economy award, so miles are fantastic for people who want to fly
premium cabins.
All SkyMiles
Award Tickets will be booked into WestJet's
Economy class, and Members may purchase upgrades into WestJet's Plus (premium economy) class at chec
Economy class, and Members may purchase upgrades into WestJet's Plus (
premium economy) class at chec
economy) class at check - in.