The drawback is that one way awards typically cost the same
as roundtrip awards so you pretty much want to just stick to booking roundtrips.
The drawback is that one way awards for some partners cost the same
as roundtrip awards so you often want to just stick to booking roundtrips.
Not exact matches
Awards can be booked
as one - ways for half the price of a
roundtrip.
It does have a restriction on economy class
awards, so that could be
as much
as 20,000 LifeMiles discount on a
roundtrip economy class ticket to Colombia, or 18,000 miles to Central America.
However, I eventually found my way to American's
award chart, where I noticed something exciting: «Off - Peak» travel from the US to Europe could cost
as little
as 40,000 points
roundtrip.
American's drab
award chart held an exciting surprise: off - peak travel from the US to Europe could cost
as few
as 20,000 miles each way, or just 40,000 miles
roundtrip.
If booked
as a
roundtrip, combined with 1.5 cent per point uplift through Chase or AmEx, cash prices might be comparable and you wouldn't have to contend with
award availability.
Unfortunately, in November 2017, Japan Airlines began assessing cash surcharges on
awards as high
as $ 1,600 for a US to Dubai
roundtrip.
One - way travel requires the same
award redemption level
as roundtrip.
The worst way to use Emirates
awards is on routes you wouldn't want to use Emirates for in the first place: bad routing mixed with high prices, such
as North America to Australia for 150,000 miles
roundtrip in economy, or eastern North America to western North America for 155,000 miles
roundtrip in economy.
The taxes on your
roundtrip award flight using Avios on Aer Lingus to Dublin will only be around $ 150, while flights routed from Heathrow cost nearly twice
as much in fees.
To be fair, I should point out that most other airline programs offer domestic
award roundtrips for
as few
as 25,000 miles — but it's getting increasingly difficult to find
awards at that level.
This means that redeeming with LAN is a great deal when you are booking
awards to lower South America where
awards can be
as low
as 90,000
roundtrip in business class.
A Miles & More Business Class
award flight between the US and Europe will cost 105,000 miles
roundtrip and,
as you can see from this randomly selected set of dates, a JFK to Frankfurt
roundtrip will cost around $ 2,500:
The mileage costs shown are for
roundtrip travel
as ANA one - way
awards are not bookable with Virgin Flying Club miles.
On specific number of paid qualifying
roundtrip flights (
as outlined in the offer) members can earn 5,000 bonus
award miles, 10,000 bonus
award miles or up to a maximum of 25,000 bonus
award miles.
Many
award tickets, such
as flights to Europe, are on par with those of other competing airlines, with economy tickets starting at 60,000 miles
roundtrip plus taxes and fees.
Virgin America gives the most economical option
as you only need 80,000 Elevate points for a Business Class
roundtrip or 45,000 Elevate points for a one - way
award while, with Delta, you'll soon need 90,000 SkyMiles for a one - way Business Class
award.
The Business Class deals aren't that impressive
as, if you double up the costs to get the price for a
roundtrip, the final cost of the
awards isn't too dissimilar to a lot of Business Class cash fares offered by airlines when the sales are on — and with cash fares you often have a greater choice of dates and you earn miles
as well.
With British Airways, which operates a distance - based
award chart, flights to Montreal can start
as low
as 9,000 miles
roundtrip, depending on where you are based.
Depending upon the destination, fliers can save
as much
as 7,500 miles off of a
roundtrip saver
award ticket.
Therefore, I rarely recommend booking through them — generally it makes sense to transfer to Delta, unless you need a one - way
award, which Delta charges the same price
as a
roundtrip.
Prices will be in Econ / Biz / First for
roundtrip prices (
as the
award chart above appears to be) and compared to other OneWorld partners.
When redeeming on American Airlines, you can take advantage of American's off - peak
award tickets to Central & South America
as well
as Europe, which offer
roundtrip coach tickets to Europe for just 40,000 miles.
Unlike United, American and most other frequent flyer
award programs, it's not possible to book a one way
award using US Airways Dividend miles for half the price of a
roundtrip — you'd pay the same amount
as the
roundtrip.
While American AAdvantage and US Airways Dividend miles offer the best deal for booking Cathay Pacific
awards from the U.S to Hong Kong, at just 67,500 miles each way for Cathay Pacific First Class with AAdvantage miles and 120,000 miles
roundtrip with US Air Dividend Miles, the problem is you don't get access to Cathay
awards as early
as Cathay's own Asia Miles frequent flyer members.
Economy
awards to Europe, for example on Lufthansa or Turkish Airways, cost 60,000 LifeMiles
roundtrip, the same
as United MileagePlus miles.
While a Business Class
roundtrip to the Maldives on Qatar or Etihad Airways used to cost only 60,000 Advantage miles, this
award redemption increased to 85,000 miles since March 2016 (but that is still an excellent deal and considerably less
as compared to other frequent flyer programs, which charge at least 110,000 miles).
They're making some other changes to their program
as well, like adding more
award tiers, allowing one - way
awards for half the cost of a
roundtrip, etc..
Rules: For international,
roundtrip award tickets, United allows two open - jaws and one stopover (
as long
as the total number of connections for each direction does not exceed 3.)
- Miles & More is the mileage program of Lufthansa
as well
as Austrian and SWISS, and members get more access to premium
award tickets - All three airlines are part of Star Alliance, so you can use these miles on any of the 27 partner airlines including US Airways and United (and Miles & More
awards can be booked one - way, which US Airways
awards can not)- You can book a
roundtrip domestic business class
award on United and US Airways for 35,000 miles, or a first class ticket for 50,000 miles.
There are many options for free
award travel, such
as 2
roundtrip economy tickets within the US, 1
roundtrip economy ticket to Europe with miles to spare, 1 one way business ticket to Europe (just need another 500 miles).
That chart has some real values, such
as the ability to fly business class between the US and Europe for 90,000 miles
roundtrip instead of the usual 100,000, the ability to pop around Europe with several extra flights thrown in for 115,000 miles in business class instead of 100,000 miles
roundtrip plus another 20,000 miles for each and every additional intra-European flight, and the ability to fly to Australia in business class via Asia (not normally allowed on a single
award ticket) for an extra 25,000 miles — and make stopovers in Asia, and throw in Australian domestic flights at the same time.
Chase covers you and your immediate family (children up to 22), and it covers
award flights
as long
as your
roundtrip flight (or bus, train or cruise) in whole or in part is paid for by the card.
Discount is only available on
roundtrip flights, one - way travel is still priced
as a regular, non-discounted Saver
Award.
2) If you don't have enough points for the
roundtrip award flight you want, book a one - way flight with miles / points and pay for the return («Unlike years ago, when one - way cash tickets cost
as much or more than a round trip, many destinations now offer one - way cash tickets for half the price of a round trip,» the company said).
Discounted Saver
Award is combinable with other award types as long as the itinerary is roundtrip (e.g., a member can book a Standard Award for the outbound portion of an itinerary and a Saver Award for the return portion, or vice versa) but only the flight segments purchased with a qualifying Saver Award will be eligible for a disc
Award is combinable with other
award types as long as the itinerary is roundtrip (e.g., a member can book a Standard Award for the outbound portion of an itinerary and a Saver Award for the return portion, or vice versa) but only the flight segments purchased with a qualifying Saver Award will be eligible for a disc
award types
as long
as the itinerary is
roundtrip (e.g., a member can book a Standard
Award for the outbound portion of an itinerary and a Saver Award for the return portion, or vice versa) but only the flight segments purchased with a qualifying Saver Award will be eligible for a disc
Award for the outbound portion of an itinerary and a Saver
Award for the return portion, or vice versa) but only the flight segments purchased with a qualifying Saver Award will be eligible for a disc
Award for the return portion, or vice versa) but only the flight segments purchased with a qualifying Saver
Award will be eligible for a disc
Award will be eligible for a discount.
Roundtrip award flights will range between 35,000 miles (economy) to 60,000 miles (first class) to fly United from the continental U.S. to Hawaii
as a KrisFlyer partner flight.
Hawaiian Airlines
awards can be booked
as one way or
roundtrip, and has 3 tiers of
award prices (Super Saver, Saver, and Anytime).