Beginning today,
the cost of award travel on Alaska Airlines - operated flights will vary with the distance traveled, much like award travel booked with British Airways Avios points.
As most people know by now, American Airlines has begun to devalue their AAdvantage loyalty program and, come 22 March 2016,
the cost of award travel will be going up.
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.
Customers who book relatively simple award tickets, especially with a stopover closer to their final destination, will see almost no impact in
the cost of their award travel.
The other significant change coming for Mileage Plan members is that
the cost of award travel on American Airlines - operated flights will be going up in many cases (and, in some cases, going down).
From 22 March 2016 the AAdvantage program will be devaluing and
the cost of award travel will be going up — substantially in the case of the aspirational awards like those on Etihad.
As airlines increase
the cost of award travel, add on yet more surcharges and restrict the availability of awards the value of miles / points will decrease....
To create a point of comparison, we took a look at
the cost of award travel between New York and London, with both these cards.
The cost of award travel with Spirit Airlines depends on two factors — time of year, and region.
Here's Alaska's chart comparing new and old
costs of award travel:
Not exact matches
Make sure you check the points
cost of the
travel portal, as well as when transferring to an airline or hotel to book an
award.
Starting in 2008, the Elsevier Foundation supported a program at UC Irvine, allowing it to offer
travel awards of up to $ 1000 to help its tenure - track assistant professors and recently tenured associate professors cover the
cost of bringing their toddlers (and also perhaps caregivers) to a meeting, or arranging additional child care at home.
The internship, which includes a stipend and
travel costs to and from Washington, DC, is under the guidance
of the
award - winning science writers and editors
of the world's largest interdisciplinary science journal.
The BEST ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
AWARD distinguishes the vehicle in each class to hold claim to the lowest
cost of ownership when considering purchase and operating
costs across the first 6.5 years
of vehicle ownership (87,594 vehicle miles
traveled, the average distance
traveled by the vehicle's first buyer).
Of course, traveling with a partner to land the «double bed» suite will require twice the cost of the 107,500 per traveler that the U.S. West Coast to Singapore award require
Of course,
traveling with a partner to land the «double bed» suite will require twice the
cost of the 107,500 per traveler that the U.S. West Coast to Singapore award require
of the 107,500 per traveler that the U.S. West Coast to Singapore
award requires.
In today's world where cross country
travel often
costs less than $ 400, and
award seats are scarce, it may make sense for reward card holders to start weighing the benefits
of airline cards against those
of reward cards that offer cash back or a generous statement credit.
It can often be difficult to put an exact value on airline miles because the
cost of the
award ticket often depends on availability, date and time
of travel, and the popularity
of the route.
Your credit card miles and points can get you access to
award seats that let you
travel for just the
cost of taxes.
The
cost of traveling with an infant varies by airline when booking
award tickets.
When booking economy class flights, you should always compare the
cost of an
award ticket if you transfer Ultimate Rewards points to the
cost of using points to book through the Chase
travel portal.
It can often be difficult to put an exact value on airline miles because the
cost of the
award ticket often depends on availability, date and time
of travel, and the popularity
of the route.
The mileage
cost of first class
awards is actually the same for the low and regular seasons so there are plenty
of travel dates from which to choose.
By looking at your past and future
award redemptions (and the
cost of your paid
travel) you can determine which cards deliver outsized returns over a 2 % or 2.22 % cash back card.
I personally would use the card to pay for
award ticket taxes, hotels, and any other
travel costs that would otherwise take money out
of my pocket for this hobby.
Travel from the West Coast to Hawaii is another one
of those routes that falls nicely into a low -
cost award tier compared to most other programs.
Make sure you check the points
cost of the
travel portal, as well as when transferring to an airline or hotel to book an
award.
All
of the
awards cost 120,000 Asia miles, which is the standard
award price for
travel between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
The mileage
cost of British Airways
awards is given in Membership Rewards points, since this chart shows the combined effects
of Membership Rewards transfer bonuses and a
Travel Together Ticket.
The
cost of traveling with an infant varies by airline when booking
award tickets.
American will still collect some taxes and fees, but they will be reduced since it does not pass on the
cost of any fuel surcharges for
award travel on Etihad.
That puts it within the range
of 20,001 - 22,000 miles
traveled, so a business class
award costs 125,000 miles and carrier surcharges are just $ 319.
Plus, for
travel less than 700 miles, the
cost of a United Airlines
award will remain at 10,000 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.
It's recommended to stick with short haul flights as they pass on fuel surcharges for
award travel, greatly increasing the
cost of long flights.
To me, if an airline says a flight to Europe should
cost 60k miles in economy and I'm willing to stockpile 240k miles for my family to
travel, and I have a reasonable amount
of date flexibility, I think I should be able to get the
award at some point.
You can also use the
Travel Codex
Award Maximizer tool to get an idea
of redemption
costs between different regions for an upcoming trip
of your own, including the
cost of redeeming Asia Miles.
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.
If you aren't able to spend enough to earn the miles needed for
award flights, and you also aren't able to take advantage
of the
travel perks, you won't be able to justify the
cost of carrying the card each year.
The last Business Class promo
award is for
travel between Europe and the Seychelles at a
cost of 112,500 roundtrip.
21 March 2016 will be the last day to book
award travel with AAdvantage Miles before the
cost of those
awards increases... in some cases by over 40 %.
Increased the
cost of awards on for
travel on its own aircraft so, even if you could find an
award seat, the value proposition is quite often simply not there.
Of the two types of miles earnings - award miles and premier qualifying miles - award miles have been an after thought since United, along with the other big 2 U.S. airlines, went revenue - based, meaning miles accrue not by distance traveled, but rather determined by fare type and cost of ticke
Of the two types
of miles earnings - award miles and premier qualifying miles - award miles have been an after thought since United, along with the other big 2 U.S. airlines, went revenue - based, meaning miles accrue not by distance traveled, but rather determined by fare type and cost of ticke
of miles earnings -
award miles and premier qualifying miles -
award miles have been an after thought since United, along with the other big 2 U.S. airlines, went revenue - based, meaning miles accrue not by distance
traveled, but rather determined by fare type and
cost of ticke
of ticket.
The
Travel Together Ticket allows you to book two
award tickets by paying the Avios
cost of one ticket and the taxes and fees for both tickets.
Calculating the
cost of an international
award on ANA avoids the Zone 1 - A / B confusion and may be cheaper than a partner
award, but you may only use these
awards for
travel on ANA and for ANA codeshares operated by Air Japan.
UK - based flyers will see an incredible 72 % increase in the
cost of a Delta One
award to the west coast if they now wish to
travel on dates in the newly introduced Peak Season while US - based flyers will be expected to pay 55 % more for a Delta One
award to the UK / Europe.
I always recommend that readers find out the
cost of a night at the properties they would like to visit (at the time
of year they would like to
travel) and then compare that
cost to the
cost of an
award night paid for with points purchased in this sale.
Check if
awards are available for the time
of year you're planning to
travel, check the
cost of cash fares for the same dates and, only then and if buying miles would save you money, pull the trigger on a miles purchase.
First, AH only offers information for the air portion
of award travel, not hotels, and they don't provide some
of the helpful details Pointimize does such as equivalent cash
costs and value... etc..
Further, since the
award chart is distance - based, domestic versus international
travel does not play a direct role in deciding the
cost of your
award ticket.
Business travelers are able to leverage this activity at no personal
cost and tend to be the recipients
of the most free
travel awards (assuming they want to get back on an airplane after all that work - related
travel).