Landing a premium
class award ticket in First or Business class on Singapore has traditionally been a difficult task for North American points and miles collectors due to the common Singapore Airlines practice of offering first and business class award space almost solely to members of their own KrisFlyer program.
For example, a one way domestic business
class award ticket in the contiguous U.S. redeemed through Singapore Airlines will cost 20,000 miles, 17,500 economy to Hawaii or 30,000 business to Hawaii.
Not exact matches
By creating high energy
in her
class through game - like questioning, every minute was a learning opportunity and every student engaged with each question
in hopes of being
awarded a
ticket.
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.
In fact, the pricing on Business class Saver awards is so reasonable that cardholders who normally couldn't afford business class could easily rack up enough United Miles to fund a round - trip ticket to Europe or Asia in business clas
In fact, the pricing on Business
class Saver
awards is so reasonable that cardholders who normally couldn't afford business
class could easily rack up enough United Miles to fund a round - trip
ticket to Europe or Asia
in business clas
in business
class.
With this
in mind, British Airways»
award chart provides a great option to book nonstop economy
class award tickets from the West Coast to Hawaii on both American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
Expect to pay ~ $ 400
in fuel surcharges and taxes per long - haul segment on
award bookings, but that's still cheaper than paying for a business or first
class ticket.
The taxes and fees on a round - trip first
class award ticket will be roughly $ 700 but for two 10 - hour flights
in first
class, that's not bad at all.
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.
If you've still got an Aeroplan / SWISS First
award ticket (s) hanging around
in an ambiguous state it might be worth holding on to it until you can change it to a Lufthansa First or Business
Class ticket.
As per
award chart, a round - trip
ticket from New York City to Honolulu costs 35,000 Elevate points
in economy and 80,000 points
in business
class.
The confusion began when the new
tickets were booked
in «Y»
class instead of the original «T.» T is the common code used on
award tickets and Y usually indicates paid coach fare.
Award tickets in business class are usually in the range of 1.5 times the price of an award ticket in economy c
Award tickets in business
class are usually
in the range of 1.5 times the price of an
award ticket in economy c
award ticket in economy
class.
Head off for a weekend
in Mexico or the Caribbean
in coach
class for as little as 25,000 miles round - trip for an off - peak
award ticket, or 50,000 miles round - trip
in business
class for a MileSAAver
award ticket.
You probably can't book a business or first
class award ticket, since those are significantly more expensive
in cash terms than when using miles.
What I like about the below is that one credit card bonus would give you enough
award miles to book a one - way
ticket in business
class (or round - trip
in economy).
A United round - trip
ticket in business
class will only cost you 88,000 ANA
award miles, or 55,000
award miles
in economy, and ANA doesn't add fuel surcharges on United flights.
In the past, you could not mix an Economy
Class seat into a First
Class award, and would have to find your way to the gateway city on another
ticket.
You can fly Emirates or Qatar Airways
in business
class on a one - way
award ticket for 66,000 Enrich miles from the U.S. East Coast to the Middle East.
Airlines will generally issue a limited number of lower mileage «saver»
award tickets on a flight
in each
class of service, and then offer additional
award seats to flyers at a premium.
This is because round - trip flights operated by Delta and originating
in the U.S. do not incur fuel surcharges, thus keeping your out of pocket expenses below $ 200 for both economy and business
class award tickets.
For 60,000 miles, you can book a round - trip
award ticket in economy
class.
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.
The number of HawaiianMiles required to book an
award ticket is determined by the regions involved
in your booking, as well as the
class of service.
For 50,000 Flying Club miles, you can book a round - trip
award ticket on South African Airways
in business
class from Washington - Dulles (IAD).
If there is no
award availability
in economy, then redeeming your miles for a business
class ticket still makes economic sense.
Often if you are looking to build
in a stopover, even redeeming the number of miles required for a business
class award ticket will save you some money over a revenue
ticket.
With this
in mind, British Airways»
award chart provides a great option to book nonstop economy
class award tickets from the West Coast to Hawaii on both American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
You can upgrade
award tickets to a Big Front Seat for cash, which is equivalent
in size to standard domestic first
class on most airlines.
If by chance the
award you're looking at goes down
in price (which will be true for economy and business
class tickets to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America, as well as economy
class tickets to India and the Middle East) then you may also call American and ask them to re-price the
award to refund the extra miles back to your account.
United typically charges 115,000 miles for round trip business
class awards from the US to Europe, so even if you value the hotel at $ 125 per night, you're getting $ 875
in hotel plus $ 2,500 (or more)
in value if you can redeem for a business
class round trip
ticket.
The Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program isn't that great either since they charge heavy taxes and fuel surcharges on
award tickets (100K points plus ~ $ 1,300
in taxes from LAX to LHR round trip Upper
Class).
Two caveats: You can't buy a first
class seat with miles from Delta, and if you're able to fly during the low season, you can get an off - peak
award ticket in economy from American or US Airways for only 15,000 miles.
For Economy
Class flyers this will probably make little difference as the British Airways Executive Club already essentially factors
in the cost of a fare when it
awards Avios — that's why the cheaper Economy
Class tickets only earn Avios based on 25 % of the distance traveled.
Europeans frequently have access to transatlantic Business
Class sales where the fares are well under $ 2,000 roundtrip (like here and here), so why would anybody pay over $ 3,400 for 115,000 miles
in a sale like this one to buy a Business
Class award ticket?
You are looking at about 150K miles for a one way first
class award ticket to Mumbai plus $ 327.90
in taxes / fees.
So, for example, if you're interested
in booking two first -
class award tickets from the continental United States to Hawaii, you'll need 160,000 HawaiianMiles.
If you assume that $ 2,500 is a fair price for a Lufthansa Business
Class roundtrip
ticket then, allowing for the $ 620
in fees you have to pay on the
award, 105, ooo miles is getting you $ 1,880 of value.
Yesterday I discussed how Asiana was the hot
ticket to getting first
class award awards for two to Asia with TONS of options on dates, even
in peak summer travel.
This is the cost of
award tickets in other
classes:
Members at the same Medallion level will be cleared
in order of fare
class groupings for revenue
tickets, Award Tickets and Pay with Miles1 tickets, with higher fare classes among all ticket types holding higher pr
tickets,
Award Tickets and Pay with Miles1 tickets, with higher fare classes among all ticket types holding higher pr
Tickets and Pay with Miles1
tickets, with higher fare classes among all ticket types holding higher pr
tickets, with higher fare
classes among all
ticket types holding higher priority.
They could earn the Avios by flying but, if they booked the cheapest Economy
Class tickets, it would take 57 round trip flights between New York and London to earn the 100,000 Avios needed for that
award (865 Avios
in each direction).
If an
award trip is taken
in different
classes, the highest
award rates will apply to the whole
ticket.
Certain premium cabin flight segments may earn different
award miles and Premier qualifying credits than those defined for your
ticketed fare
class in the chart above (your fare
class for each flight segment is displayed during booking and when viewing a
ticketed itinerary on united.com).
In fact, your experience with finding
award tickets will be much more pleasant than looking for business
class routes.
If you need to look
in a higher redemption
class, see if you can get an
award ticket for the same or fewer points by moving up a
class of service.
The
ticket must be booked
in H
class or higher on Lufthansa
in order to use the pass and the
award ticket still incurs taxes on their
ticket.
For the past few years two of the big «sweet spots»
in the AAdvantage program have been the cost of Business and First
Class award tickets, on Etihad, for travel between Europe and the Middle East.
Though I'm primarily discussing economy redemptions here, I also wanted to mention that booking through Virgin Atlantic, you can get first -
class award tickets for domestic travel
in the U.S. for an absolute steal: just 45,000 miles.
American have continued their assault on
award redemptions to Hawaii by implementing a 40 % increase
in the number of miles needed for a Business
Class ticket but,
in the case of partner
awards, this doesn't make much difference as most people would be flying to Hawaii on American Airlines and not a partner airline anyway.