They have also started requiring significantly more miles to
book partner awards such as Virgin Atlantic Upper Class which now costs 85,000 miles one - way to London.
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.
That's because there are some fantastic ways to utilize these
partners such as
booking Singapore Airlines Suites (or first class), Delta One, and Etihad's
award - winning first class known as The Apartment.
If you
book awards on
partners such as Brussels Airlines, Swiss Air, or United Airlines, these surcharges won't be a problem.
You can
book airline
awards on Turkish Airlines or Lufthansa via Star Alliance
partners such as United, using 70,000 United miles each way in business class or 30,000 miles in economy.
Non-alliance
partner awards can not be found on the Asia Miles website, so you'll need to look up
award space elsewhere (
such as the operating airline's website) and then call Asia Miles to
book the ticket.
You can fly on Star Alliance
partner Austrian by
booking with a frequent - flyer program
such as United MileagePlus from 60,000 miles per round trip or even by
booking via Avianca LifeMiles, also for 60,000 miles per round trip, though without the $ 75 close - in
award ticketing fee that United charges within 21 days of travel.
Delta SkyMiles can be used to
book award flights on Delta, any of their SkyTeam
partners, or individual airline
partners such as Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Australia.
You can't fly any airline, but thanks to airline alliances,
such as Oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance, you can
book award flights on
partner airlines.
The worst values with HawaiianMiles come when using those miles to
book partners with disadvantageous
award charts,
such as ANA, American Airlines and Korean Air, which charge significantly more miles for the same routes than Hawaiian does.
There are basically three different ways to
book award flights domestically: 1) revenue - based
awards with Southwest, JetBlue, or Virgin America; 2) distance - based flights with British Airways Avios; or 3) traditional region - based
award redemptions with domestic airlines,
such as United, American, Delta, and Alaskan (or any other alliance
partners).
For most long - haul premium cabin
partner awards you are better off
booking through other Star Alliance
partners such as Aviana, ANA or Asiana.
Assembling
such a trip is a major research undertaking to find all the necessary
award availability on Singapore Airlines and its
partners, and you have to call to
book.
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.
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.
The points you earn can be used to
book award travel on Cathay Pacific and anyone of their oneworld
partners such as Japan Airlines and American Airlines.
And that's to
book British Airways
awards (or their
partners like American Airlines) using a different carrier,
such as Iberia, a Spanish airline.
The Asiana website does not bring in
partners flights on
award searches, so you need to find availability on another Star Alliance
partner's website
such as United, and then call to
book.
American is part of the OneWorld Alliance which allows you to use your miles to
book award flights to Singapore on
partners such as JAL, Cathay Pacific, and Malaysia Airlines.
If you want to
book your
award ticket online, that can be done for Miles & More airlines
such as the ones I just now listed, but when
booking with non Miles & More
partners,
such as other Star Alliance
partners, you must call in.
Book European
awards using British Airways miles — you'll be hit with massive surcharges on BA flights, which all go through London and are heavily taxed; even on
partners such as American there will be high fees
Considering the fact that United does not pass on carrier imposed fuel surcharges for
award tickets even on
partners, some people prefer to
book partners such as Lufthansa with United miles to avoid these charges, even though 70,000 miles is higher than other programs would charge for that flight in business class.
Such an increase would lower the number of
awards booked by
partners, solving or, at least, ameliorating the problem.