For SkyMiles members redeeming exclusively for flights with Delta, miles can be used to
book these award flights in the continental U.S. from as low as 5,000 - 10,000 miles one - way on select routes.
When
booking award flights in premium cabins, it's sometimes possible to get up to 15 cents per point in value (or even higher)!
Because Chase points are some of the most flexible travel rewards points in the business, you can also redeem them airline travel when you want to
book an award flight in addition to your Marriott award night.
However, you may be more interested in
booking award flights in coach, and you can often get two or even three round - trip economy flights for the same number of points or miles as a single business or first - class flight.
Not exact matches
Keep
in mind you are only allowed to
book award flights for yourself and eligible family members.
While co-branded airline credit cards offer special benefits to frequent flyers of one specific airline, general travel rewards cards can offer more flexibility
in redeeming
award flights and other travel
bookings.
Tip # 4: The Cash and Points option can also be valuable
in some instances; look into this as a hybrid of
booking an
awards flight.
His YA Fantasy Sci - Fi series The Hidden City of Chelldrah - ham received a gold
award for Best Series for High School Age, and the first
book in the series, Stig's
Flight of Encounters,
awarded gold
in the Middle School Age category.
This gives the card a decent level of flexibility and options to
book award travel
in spots where Alaska Airlines may not offer
flights.
On an American Airlines
flight, business class and first class
award bookings will include about $ 280
in taxes and fees for a round - trip ticket.
Most airlines will open their
flights to new reservations about 11 months
in advance, and if you're able to
book your travel then, then you'll have one of the best opportunities to find available
award seats on the
flights you want.
This card also
awards 5X points
in American Express Membership Rewards for
flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel, plus 1X point for other eligible purchases.
Just a quick note about
booking awards on these partner airlines: while Etihad
award flights may be
booked online, you must redeem miles for partner
awards over the phone by calling the Guest Services Centre at 877-690-0767 at least 14 days
in advance.
It might seem odd, but if you have a connecting
flight from one of the states
in Zone 2, you can
book the cheapest possible
award to Hawaii.
Keep
in mind you are only allowed to
book award flights for yourself and eligible family members.
All other Star Alliance
bookings will require a stop
in Asia, which can add a significant amount of time depending on
flight schedules and
award space.
American AAdvantage and Alaska Mileage Plan give you a couple simple options to
book both American Airlines and Qantas
flights to Australia from anywhere
in the U.S.. However, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Japan Airlines Mileage Bank both have distance - based
award charts that can provide some interesting options.
If you are thinking about earning some SkyMiles to
book an
award flight, you'll need to keep a few things
in mind about Delta.
You can
book round - trip
award flights to Dublin from these US cities for 26,000 British Airways Avios points
in coach during the off - season:
Double points are
awarded when a
flight is
booked directly with an airline using the Gold Card, and the same result is achieved, double Membership Rewards ® points, when using the Gold Card at a restaurant
in the United States.
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.
If you want to
book the same
award flight in economy class, it will only be 23,000 Avios for a one - way
award booking.
Virgin Atlantic agents are not always well - versed
in researching and
booking partners
award flights.
With
award tickets starting at 4,000 - 4,500 Avios
in economy or 7,750 - 9,000 Avios
in business class for any
flight less than 651 miles you'd be able to
book 22
flights with that 100,000 point bonus.
For example, you can
book a one - way
award flight from the West Coast to Hawaii
in coach for 12,500 British Airways Avios points.
Tip # 4: The Cash and Points option can also be valuable
in some instances; look into this as a hybrid of
booking an
awards flight.
For instance, if you took an
award flight to Hawaii
in July, 2017, use Expedia or your favorite travel
booking site to look up the price of
flights in that same class of service
in July, 2018.
However,
booking award flights (especially
in business or first) on United rather than partners, has a major advantage.
While I mentioned this back
in September
in the context of Marriott
Flight and Hotel packages, it's also true that you can simply transfer Starpoints to Marriott
in order to
book award stays.
All other Star Alliance
bookings will require a stop
in Asia, which can add a significant amount of time depending on
flight schedules and
award space.
While having to use Qantas's website and call
in to
book Fiji Airways
awards is a pain, it's also the reason why
award availability on these routes tends to be more open than, say,
flights on Qantas to Australia that can be
booked on American's website.
Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to avoid including British Airways
in American
award flights to Johannesburg if you
book through American's website.
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.
American AAdvantage and Alaska Mileage Plan give you a couple simple options to
book both American Airlines and Qantas
flights to Australia from anywhere
in the U.S.. However, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Japan Airlines Mileage Bank both have distance - based
award charts that can provide some interesting options.
You could also
book an
award flight on Eva Air to Southeast Asia
in one of the nicest business class cabins out there.
If you often redeem United miles for
award flights less than 21 days prior to departure, holding this card automatically waives the $ 75 close -
in booking fee.
The most difficult part of all
award bookings is honing
in on an
award that balances your dates, your preferred
flights and your destinations.
For example, Hawaiian uses a distance - based
award chart for
flights booked on All Nippon Airways (ANA), the largest airline
in Japan.
With so many ways to earn and redeem points, you can
book award flights to just about anywhere
in the world!
When making my
bookings a few weeks prior, space was unavailable, but I knew that US Air and American often opened up more
award seats
in the day or two preceding a
flight.
Unfortunately, American does not allow for stopovers, so if you'd like to visit Hawaii on your way to Fiji or someplace else
in the Pacific afterwards, you'd need to
book two separate
award flights.
Noting the specific dates you'd like to take each of these
flights also greatly decreases the likelihood of United's
award engine timing out and returning an error not because a
booking is invalid but simply because it has too many variables to process
in the time allowed by the
booking engine.
This might be a good opportunity to take advantage of the Barclaycard Arrival's $ 466
in free travel for some readers, but because Donna has so many Ultimate Rewards points, it may make sense for her to use some of them to pay for the
booking as opposed to transferring the points out to United to
book a one - way
award flight.
With business class
flights to the Caribbean and northern South America, United's
award regions allow you to
book premium cabins
in a variety of ways.
Keep an eye on the partners of your Host program, and learn which search engines show partner
flights, and when you'll need to call
in to
book an
award.
While it's possible to maximize value further and take advantage of the 10 % Redemption Bonus right away by
booking flights and splitting hotel nights into separate
bookings over the course of a few days, we'd keep things simple
in this case by recommending Tiffany's husband apply his bonus toward the taxes and fees on the Alaska
award bookings, wiping out these costs entirely, and having Tiffany apply her bonus toward the total hotel
booking at Hotels.com.
Interested
in which credit cards he used to
book all the
award flights above?
Keep
in mind, the
award prices of Southwest
flights are pegged to the cash ticket cost so it can vary based on the day you
book.
Saver Economy space was available for this
flight, meaning the total for an
award came to just 40,000 miles + $ 128.90, including the $ 75 close -
in booking charge that's waived for elites.
If you live on one of the coasts,
booking a transcontinental
award flight in a premium cabin is a great way to use MileagePlus miles.