I do hold to One Mile at a Time's policy of never keeping more than enough miles to redeem for a couple of first
class international award tickets.
Not exact matches
If you book an
international business or first
class award ticket, the value of your miles could be significantly higher.
While this isn't the best way to earn Alaska miles because of the cost, it can help you get those last few miles needed for to book a first
class award ticket with Cathay Pacific, one of Alaska's best
international partners.
Remember that for
international business or first
class awards, you'll be avoiding the cost of a
ticket that could cost thousands of dollars.
However, the lack of first
class award tickets on
international routes does impose an upper limit since those often represent the most valuable use of miles.
Low level
award redemptions for premium business
class international round - trip
tickets can usually be found for 140,000 miles, but Delta occasionally has flash sales where those
awards cost just 110,000 miles.
Ranging anywhere from $ 5 for domestic
awards to $ 1,000 + for upper
class international itineraries,
award ticket fees are not foreign to
award travelers.
When
award space is availble, it's not too difficult to find an economy
class award ticket for 25,000 miles instead of paying $ 500 (valuing miles at 2 cents each), or an
international business
class award ticket for 120,000 miles instead of $ 6,000 (valuing miles at 5 cents each).
You'll need more lead time for premium
awards, such as an
international first -
class ticket, than you will for a domestic economy flight.
JAL
International First
Class and Business
Class award tickets mileage requirements are changing, see the charts below for flights from Vancouver and other North American cities to Japan (not until Nov 1, 2015, now that's advance notice!!).
Someone redeeming for U.S. domestic flights that are normally inexpensive will typically get much less face value out of the same number of miles or points than someone redeeming for an
international first
class award ticket, which could have a retail value of $ 20,000 or more.
Other prize winners include Lebohang Kganye and Simon Gush, South Africa (Prix Coup de Cœur du jury, prix de l'Institut français: $ 1,500); Aboubacar Traoré, Mali (
International Organisation of La Francophonie Prize: $ 3,000); Em» Kal Eyongakpa, Cameroon (The Tierney Bamako
Award: project development in collaboration with Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg); George Senga, DRC (Royal Air Maroc, Prix Léon l'Africain: 2 business
class tickets to Marrakech including accommodation), Lucia Nhamo, Zimbabwe (Special prize, Lanchonete.org: residency in Sao Paolo).