For me, transferring points to an airline partner and then using them to book international first and business
class flights around the world is the best use of my points but I understand not everyone wants to, or can travel internationally every year.
I have been extremely fortunate that I have mastered the mile and point games to secure first class and business
class flights around the globe.
Not exact matches
Three
flight attendants proceeded to restrain Harriott in the plane's first
class cabin duct tape and zip ties
around her ankles and wrists.
Take the long way
around campus: leave to
class a bit early and walk up that extra
flight of stairs or bike ride to
class, it all adds up in the end
However, if you hunt
around on different dates, you can find
flights using 3 - cabin aircraft with first
class for 18,000 Avios.
You may fly on Alaska — but not on other partners — for no additional miles in order to connect to a partner
flight, so you could theoretically fly from as far as Orlando or Fort Lauderdale to Seattle in First
Class on Alaska, then onwards in Business
Class on Cathay Pacific from Seattle to Hong Kong and Hong Kong to Johannesburg, taking the extreme long way
around the globe.
That was my plan this time
around too (in fact, the original article I drafted on this topic was entitled «How I Saved Over $ 10,000 on Business
Class Flights»).
For instance,
flights on the Bangkok — Hong Kong route are only of
around two hours, so you can book a Cathay Pacific first -
class ticket by spending no more than 22,500 Avios.
A
flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong lasts
around two hours and can be booked on Cathay Pacific First
Class for only 22,500 British Airways Avios.
Pricing for our 1 Year Ultimate Luxury
Around the World Wellness Trip starts from # 156,000 pp, with Business
Class flights.
With the estimation that today's early 30 year olds won't be able to retire until they are 73, this
around the world trip which tops # 156,000 with business
class flights is an investment in your health and well - being.
A lot of people prefer the in - air product of Jet Blue over Southwest for longer
flights since it has tv's, free wifi, more leg room, business / first
class «Mint» cabins, allows you to pick your seat, etc. but both airlines constantly rate among the best for award availability, making them both solid choices for getting
around the country, in terms of finding award seats.
Based on a few tests on the Avios Calculator it would appear that most Business
Class flights of
around 2,000 miles or more in distance will earn 140 Tier Points.
Also, if you were planning an
around the world trip where you wanted to cover a few short haul business
class flights, this benefit could've worked nicely.
Booking United
flights with Singapore Airlines to get
around the US in business
class is actually cheaper than United and you'll be saving 10,000 miles per round trip ticket.
The special menu was originally an exclusive perk for first
class flights from London, but was later expanded to include
flights to Milan, New York, Paris and Tokyo and highlights dishes from the Michelin - starred chefs of many of properties
around the world.
I could have confirmed business
class on the Singapore - Bali leg if we took the later
flight arriving
around 9 PM, but we would prefer an earlier arrival.
Typical business man knows their next business or first
class flight is just
around the corner.
Make sure you play
around with your
flight options when booking these trips as you'll have a far better Business
Class seat if you book your
flight on an American Airlines aircraft rather than on operated by British Airways.
As an example, the JAL First
Class redemption I booked between Tokyo and London earlier this year set me back 70,000 AAdvantage miles (booked pre-devaluation) and $ 22.60 in taxes and, to me, a one - way First
Class flight over that kind of distance is probably worth
around $ 2,000.
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:
As this screenshot from my booking shows, I booked the round trip Qatar Airways
flights for $ 1,252.97 which, a the time of booking, came to $ 1,402.95 or
around # 1,068 — not bad for
flights on one of the world's better Business
Class carriers
As I often suggest travelers take «positioning
flights»
around Europe (and the US) to make the most of any great Business
Class fares that come
around or to make the most of award availability that appears somewhere that isn't your home airport, I thought I'd share my experience of doing just that at Zurich airport.
Buy on board food options are commonplace on most airlines» short - haul routes all
around the world but, when it comes to long - haul
flights, it's generally only the low - cost carriers like WOW and Norwegian that ask Economy
Class passengers to pay extra for their food.
The cheapest way to get
around the Europe is via second -
class train or bus, or searching for inexpensive domestic
flights on budget airlines.
Flights are already on sale for the Boston — Las Vegas route with roundtrip fares starting at
around $ 257 for Basic Economy, $ 287 for regular Economy
Class and $ 447 for Delta Comfort +
Miles & More offers hugely discounted Business
Class round trip
flights from select Europeans cities to destinations
around the world.
Flying Blue does assess fuel surcharges on award
flights, however the highest we've seen is
around $ 250 for a business
class flight to Europe.
As well as that, any airline or alliance that I choose to fly also needs to be one that regularly offers good deals on the routes I want to fly — as the airlines
around the world gradually increase the cost of award travel it's becoming increasingly important, for those of us with a healthy aversion to Economy
Class, to be able to find great value Business
Class fares to keep our
flights comfortable.
When it comes to
flights, a domestic, round - trip
flight in economy
class costs 25,000 miles, and first
class is usually
around 50,000 miles.
I've started to see more and more good transatlantic Business
Class fares in past few weeks with fares to Chicago from $ 1,680, fares to Vegas from
around $ 1,620, a great sale out of Prague which saw
flight prices as low as $ 1,346 and, of course, the amazingly low fares I posted yesterday.
Flying Blue does assess fuel surcharges on award
flights, however the highest I've seen is
around $ 250 for a business
class flight to Europe.
Wednesday newsletters always feature trip reports of my
flights around the world (in Business and First
Class), in addition to luxury hotel reviews.
For example, the standard redemption rate in business
class to Europe from North America for Flying Blue is 125,000 points and when you can book partner
flights, such as Delta the total fees remain reasonably low at
around $ 165.
First let's look at roundtrip business
class flights from various cities with none or one stop en route (we don't have all listed, so check
around!)
The
flight is short (
around three hours), but if you're looking to try Emirates renowned first
class service without breaking the bank, Australia is the perfect destination.
Just a short
flight away, are the sister islands of both Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, with world
class dive sites in and
around both islands, including the Russian Frigate and famous Bloody Bay Wall.
Upgrades with miles are available for fares in Y, B, R, L, U and M economy fare
classes to premium economy for an amount tied to the length of the
flight,
around 10,000 miles for U.S. - to - U.K.
flights.
A sane person could definitely spend that for
flights in First
Class and three stop overs
around the world on two of the best international airlines.
As expected, the card's entire rewards structure is based
around the American Airlines partnership - you earn AAdvantage miles, and your sole redemption options are
flights and
class upgrades.
Seat -LCB- SEAT -RCB- is an Economy
Class seat that may have extra legroom due to the exit row in front, however the close proximity to the lavatories may be bothersome, and passengers may often congregate
around or bump this seat during the
flight.
SkyMiles are useful
around getting to Europe in Business
Class without surcharges, though for
flights in 2017 they are charging 140,000 miles roundtrip, up from the 2016 rate of 125,000 miles.
I had a good experience on two recent
flights — they offer a solid Economy
class product for short
flights around Europe!
However, because of the wide - open availability (especially for more than one first -
class seat on the same
flights) and relative ease of the points - transfer process, Ultimate Rewards / Korean SkyPass were my programs of choice this time
around.
They typically operate two
flights a day, and the
flights almost always have nine business
class award seats each 11 months out, and in my experience that availability sticks
around until close to departure.
If you have debt, and have a lower salary then perhaps you need to forgo the Business
Class flights, earn miles and points aggressively, and use them to turn
around your financial situation.
During our
around the world adventure, sampling the best first and business
class cabins, we took a ride on Qatar Airways
flight 57 from Doha to Munich, aboard their state of the art Airbus A350 - 900.
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.
With a dozen
flights a day that have first
class cabins, you can pretty reliably plan
around this even without flexibility.
Fares: Checking September roundtrips today, business
class flights between LAX and Sydney (or Brisbane) are running
around $ 5,300, premium economy is $ 2,100 and economy is $ 973.