Airline ticket purchases, mileage point purchases, mileage point transfer fees, gift cards, duty - free purchases, award tickets and fees incurred with
airline alliance partners do not qualify.
The following as specifically excluded in the fine print: Airline ticket purchases, mileage point purchases, mileage point transfer fees, gift cards, duty - free purchases, award tickets and fees incurred with
airline alliance partners do not qualify.
Not exact matches
American
Airlines is part of the oneworld
alliance, so if you're going somewhere American doesn't fly, you can use your AA miles to book flights on any of its
partners.
However, the Membership Rewards program's travel
partners include something that Citi ThankYou
does not have — a domestic
airline that's part of a major
airline alliance.
Though its lineup
does not include any major U.S. carriers, ThankYou is
partnered with at least one
airline in each of the three big
alliances.
Southwest
does not have
airline partners or
alliances for domestic travel.
Etihad isn't part of an
airline alliance, but they
do have a lot of different
airline partners.
As mentioned above, Hawaiian
Airlines is not part of an
alliance, but
does have a number of
airline partners.
However, the Membership Rewards program's travel
partners include something that Citi ThankYou
does not have — a domestic
airline that's part of a major
airline alliance.
Fiji Airways doesn't participate in any of the major
airline alliances, but thankfully, they
partner with three programs that can be of use for miles - and - points travelers.
Virgin America is not part of an
alliance, but it
does have a number of
airline partners.
It is important to note that Southwest
Airlines does not
partner with any of the major
airline alliances.
Although Alaska is not part of any of the three major
airline alliances, they
do have a diverse network of
partners, resulting in a unique award program.
Though its lineup
does not include any major U.S. carriers, ThankYou is
partnered with at least one
airline in each of the three big
alliances.
Etihad isn't part of an
airline alliance, but they
do have a lot of different
airline partners.
As part of the smaller oneworld
alliance, British Airways doesn't have quite as many
partner award opportunities as members of the larger
alliances, like United
Airlines, but the fact that it lets you book nearly all
partner awards online makes it simple to use.
Delta doesn't have separate award prices for its
partner airlines, most of which participate in the SkyTeam
alliance.
The biggest advantage to searching the ANA website is that it usually shows all of the
alliance partners (with some exception mentioned below), which is very handy for
airlines like Singapore Airlines which don't usually show up on United or A
airlines like Singapore
Airlines which don't usually show up on United or A
Airlines which don't usually show up on United or Aeroplan.
Singapore is an
alliance partner as well, but since you can't redeem LifeMiles for Singapore First, I'd recommend just transferring to Singapore
Airlines directly since they are also a transfer
partner) Compared to United or Air Canada redemptions, a key to LifeMiles is that they don't pass on any carrier's fuel surcharges.
Fees not charged by the Card Member's
airline of choice (e.g. wireless internet and fees incurred with
airline alliance partners)
do not qualify for statement credits.
Alaska
Airlines doesn't belong to a major worldwide
alliance but it has built up a good range of
airline partners with whom you can use Alaska Miles.
Alaska
Airlines may not be part of any big
airline alliance but it
does have an impressive set of
airline partners with whom you can use Mileage Plan Miles.
They don't pass on fuel surcharges to award tickets, and you can use United miles to book award flights with their Star
Alliance partners (the largest
airline alliance in the... read more
Southwest
does not have
airline partners or
alliances for domestic travel.
No benefits for MVP members (although not surprising since lower tier members at other
airlines often don't receive much when traveling on
alliance partners).
They've got
partners from every major
alliance: Star
Alliance, oneworld, and SkyTeam and even have prized
airlines like Emirates and Etihad that don't belong to a major
alliance.
A lot of
alliance partners don't allow you to search for award availability for other
partners on their website and that's really annoying because that means you'll always have to call in to book and you're not sure what that
airline is seeing in terms of award availability.
As you can see, Chase doesn't have a ton of
airline transfer
partners, but you can take advantage of
alliances.
If you go through the list of travel
partners and don't see a
partner you think you'd even use, then find the
alliance partners for that
airline and re-evaluate.
Although it is not a member of any of the big three
airline alliances — oneworld, the Star Alliance or SkyTeam — Alaska
does have codeshare agreements with a number of
partner airlines, including Aeromexico, Air France, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Emirates, Fiji Airways, KLM, Korean Air and
airlines, including Aeromexico, Air France, American
Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Emirates, Fiji Airways, KLM, Korean Air and
Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Emirates, Fiji Airways, KLM, Korean Air and Qantas.
Any mileage programs marked with a * show pricing that is only available if your award
does not include any
alliance partners (i.e. you only fly American
Airlines flights if using American AAdvantage or United
Airlines flights if using United MileagePlus).
Also, although there is no domestic
airline besides Virgin America (with a 500 to 1,000 transfer ratio), don't forget that you can always utilize
alliance partners to book on domestic
airlines.
You can
do that because the
airlines American Express
partners with are in
alliances with those
airlines.
Emirates isn't a part of an
airline alliance, but they
do have several
partners like TAP Portugal, Korean Air, Virgin America, and more.
I find better award space on United's
partners to most parts of the world than I
do on any other
airline alliance.
I
did not include lists of
alliance partners since that information is readily available, so if it says Star
Alliance, you can assume you can use ANA, United, US Airways, etc. to book an award on that
airline, plus whatever non-
alliance partners I list.
See related: How
do I redeem miles on
alliance partner airlines?
Because of transfer
partners and
alliances, just because you have one type of miles
does not necessarily mean you're limited to one
airline.