One example: It can be nearly impossible to get a business
class award flight from the United States to Australia, but it becomes much more doable if you have the time and flexibility to go through Hong Kong, Slotnick says.
Not exact matches
I'm lucky on the first try, and Aeroplan found an
award on Lufthansa's non-stop
flight from Seattle to Frankfurt in business
class.
Thanks to Korean Air's SkyTeam partner, you can book an
award flight on Air France in economy
class from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tahiti (PPT) for 60,000 Korean Air SkyPass miles.
In this post I'll show a few simple changes to a round - trip
flight between New York and London that can lower the fees for a business
class award from $ 1,124.56 to $ 391.86.
In economy
class, the
award cost is reduced
from 25,000 miles to 18,750 miles for a one - way
flight.
Here we had a stroke of luck, depending on how you look at it: while the direct service
flight from Los Angeles did not show availability for a Business
Class or First Class Saver Award on most dates, a mixed class award connecting through San Francisco was avail
Class or First
Class Saver Award on most dates, a mixed class award connecting through San Francisco was avail
Class Saver
Award on most dates, a mixed class award connecting through San Francisco was avail
Award on most dates, a mixed
class award connecting through San Francisco was avail
class award connecting through San Francisco was avail
award connecting through San Francisco was available.
For example, that one - way first
class flight from New York to Singapore had roughly $ 229 in airline fuel and insurance surcharges attached to the
award ticket.
For example, roundtrip business
class awards on Cathay Pacific
from the U.S. to Asia cost just 100,000 miles, whereas similar
flights would cost 140,000 to 180,000 miles on most competitors.
The
award chart lists a round - trip
flight from Los Angeles to the U.K. for 50,000 Flying Club miles in economy and 75,000 miles in business
class, which are fantastic rates.
From just Atlanta, there are nonstop
flights to nearly every major city in Western Europe, and business
class awards start at 67,500 miles each way.
From a positive point of view those with foreign - based MileagePlus accounts (or at least those with UK MileagePlus accounts) can now buy enough miles for two roundtrip Business
Class awards between Europe and the US on United operated
flights (115,000 miles each).
Award flight tip *: Round - trip business
class awards from the US - Europe cost 88,000 miles, just beware of high fuel surcharges on some partners.
The stand - alone Avios Travel Reward Programme is, for a very limited travel window, offering a 50 % discount on Avios Economy
Class award flights to New York & Boston
From London Heathrow & Gatwick.
It turned out that Singapore Airlines had 2
awards seats (again in Suites
Class) departing Hong Kong for Singapore 3 nights before the Suites
Class flight from Singapore to London.
Here's another ExpertFlyer screenshot showing 4 First
Class and a minimum of 7 Business
Class awards available on a single
flight from Santiago and Miami:
Award space is pretty reliable for travel
from / to USA and I have seen instances where there are as many as 4 business
class awards on a
flight.
Take a look a these screenshots
from American Airlines — all show Business
Class award availability on non-stop
flights between various US cities and London Heathrow:
Award flights from the 48 contiguous states to Japan on American Airlines are 65,000 miles round - trip in economy
class off - peak, and 70,000 miles peak.
The timing of the invite perfectly coincided with TAM's last first
class flights (the airline discontinued First Class as of November 1st), therefore I booked my award trip using US Airways miles for 120,000 miles in First class and routed myself from Mexico City to Kuala Lumpur via Miami, Sao Paulo and P
class flights (the airline discontinued First
Class as of November 1st), therefore I booked my award trip using US Airways miles for 120,000 miles in First class and routed myself from Mexico City to Kuala Lumpur via Miami, Sao Paulo and P
Class as of November 1st), therefore I booked my
award trip using US Airways miles for 120,000 miles in First
class and routed myself from Mexico City to Kuala Lumpur via Miami, Sao Paulo and P
class and routed myself
from Mexico City to Kuala Lumpur via Miami, Sao Paulo and Paris.
When I flew to Tokyo in January I had to position
from London to Frankfurt to catch a JAL Business
Class award flight on the 787 Dreamliner and when I had wanted to try out Cathay Pacific First
Class last year I had to position
from London to Zurich to catch that
award flight — London isn't exactly awash with
award availability.
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:
he stand - alone Avios Travel Reward Programme is, for a very limited travel window, offering a 50 % discount on Avios Economy
Class award flights to New York & Boston
From London Heathrow & Gatwick.
Aside
from the U.S. transcontinental first
class award, there are a few other routes where you could benefit greatly
from booking an American
award flight using Alaska miles.
The miles towards elite qualification
awarded on partner marketed
flights varies
from partner to partner so, to get a general idea of what each airline offers, I selected a few of each airline's more prominent partners and used them to get a range of miles
awarded for each fare
class.
I moved my
flight from October 18 to October 25, when the calendar indicated a first
class award was available.
Another 30,000 miles (25,000 transferred Starpoints) would get you a one - way
flight from Europe in Lufthansa first
class, with increased access to
award seats compared to redemptions of partner
award miles.
For instance, it's only 55,000 miles for a round trip Business
Class flight from Europe to the US on a Mileage Bargain
award.
Specifically, you'll usually get the most value
from your miles when you book either last - minute tickets or
awards in business or first
class flights.
Combining these two
award bookings in order of date flown results in a one - way biz
class flight from any two cities in the US, a one - way
flight biz
class from San Francisco to Panama City, a roundtrip biz
class between Bogota and Lima, and an economy roundtrip between San Francisco and Newark.
On the inaugural
flight I enjoyed my economy
class seat in 16H, but on the return
flight I was able to upgrade to business
class with help
from the Booking Guru
Award Service.
If you pay for Business or First
Class flights then you can still rack up a lot of miles
from flying but those of us flying at the back are seeing a far lower rate of return than ever before — Delta and United (and soon American) base the number of miles they
award travelers on the cost of the ticket purchased (less taxes) so the cheaper ticket you by the fewer miles you'll earn.
Business
Class awards on
flights under 650 miles will be going
from 9,000 Avios to 15,00 o Avios (66.67 % increase) and First
Class awards on the same
flights will now cost 30,000 Avios (another 66.67 % increase).
Contrast that to what I saw when searching for departures
from Frankfurt, Milan, Paris and Zürich where I often saw 2 First
Class awards and up to 8 Business
Class awards available on the same
flight!
Level will offer 6 fare
classes: Basic Economy offers a
flight from A to B with 1 piece of handluggage and you'll pay extra for seat assignment, food and checked luggage, but do earn (some) Avios
award miles.
Delta furthered its own string of unannounced devaluations by drastically increasing the
award price of business
class flights to and
from India.
The levels shown here are for
award flights in economy, business, and first
from / to the Continental U.S. Remember that Delta doesn't let you redeem SkyMiles for first -
class travel.
ANA offers round - trip
award flights from North America to Japan for 70,000 miles round - trip in economy
class and 115,000 in business
class.
ANA offers round - trip
award flights from North America to Georgia for 55,000 miles round - trip in economy
class and 88,000 in business
class.
ANA Airlines of Japan offers economy
class round - trip
award flights from North America to Africa for 65,000 miles round - trip, and just 104,000 miles in business
class.
Unfortunately American Airlines did devalue it's
award chart
from when I booked my
flight, so we'll need to get 230,000 miles to replicate my
flight from Abu Dhabi to LAX for two people in First
Class.
Elimination of 15 % online booking discount: The online booking discount of 15 % for all SQ reward
flights booked through their web site made
award trips great value — I was able to book my First
Class flight from Manila to Europe for only 72,250 miles one - way — using United MileagePlus miles for the same trip would have cost 115,000 miles!
On the redemption side, the
award chart to /
from Europe isn't too bad (62,500 miles for a transatlantic one - way in business
class) and you get access to much better availability on AF / KL's own
flights that when booking with Delta.
Those
award prices for
flights to Paris are for economy seats, but if you really want to fly close to the one you love for Valentine's Day, you can book first -
class seats on the Singapore Airlines A380 that flies
from JFK to Frankfurt, Germany.
For example, it costs 100,000 Qatar frequent flyer miles to upgrade to first on a
flight from New York to Doha, versus 105,000 miles for a first
class award.
Look at how great
award space is in First
Class on the Newark to /
from Los Angeles and San Francisco
flights after October 25.
While other programs typically lump
award flights to Tel Aviv as part of the Middle East, North Africa or even the Indian subcontinent — and charge as much as 50 % more to get there — you can fly round - trip
from North America to Israel in economy
class using just 50,000 Flying Blue miles.
-LSB-...] There's plentiful
award space in business
class — on fully flat beds — for 120k miles roundtrip for
flights completed by May 31, 2014 and 140k miles roundtrip for
flights from June 1, 2014 on.
Here are some sample first / suites
class one - way saver
award rates and fuel surcharges
from the US: Only A380
flights have private suites, but their «regular» first
class is nothing to sneeze at either, it's among the very best in the world!
Last year, Delta and United each announced a radical transformation of their frequent flier programs, switching
from awarding miles based on the distance flown to fare based, rewarding business travelers paying top dollar for first
class and last minute
flights at the expense of other fliers.
Your secret weapon for Business
Class award space to Europe this summer is United's daily seasonal
flight from Newark to Hamburg.