Given the devaluation of United MileagePlus, and the reduction by Asiana of
first class partner award seat allocations (including A380s), Korean looks like a better option for spending Chase Ultimate Reward points.
Now that United has two award charts for itself and for partners, it charges some ludicrous amounts for
first class partner awards.
Not exact matches
For only 65,000 MileagePlus
award miles, you can fly
first class one - way on a Star Alliance
partner such as Lufthansa.
One important point to remember when using United miles to book this flight is that Lufthansa only releases
first class award space to its Star Alliance
partners 14 days before departure.
JAL uses a distance - based
award chart and is not only part of Oneworld; it also
partners with Emirates (and hasn't devalued
first -
class redemptions like Alaska, another SPG transfer
partner).
And if you think that's bad,
First Class awards are going up even more, especially on American Airlines»
partners.
For example, see the New British Airways Avios Devaluation which really made
first class and business
class awards a terrible value, especially for peak travel dates on British Airways and on
partners, since all
partner awards are at the peak travel rate.
Using a Star Alliance
partner award, anywhere in North America to Hawaii on United is 17,500 miles each way for economy
class or 30,000 miles each way for
first class (on a two - cabin plane) with no fuel surcharges.
United Airlines changed its
award chart last year to create separate categories for
partner awards in business or
first class.
SWISS
first class awards are not bookable using KrisFlyer Miles and neither are premium economy seats on Star Alliance
partner airlines.
* It's important to note that all
award bookings on Etihad airways incur a
partner booking fee of $ 50 in economy, $ 205 in business, and $ 300 in
first class.
But Lufthansa doesn't release
award space to
partners further than 2 weeks in advance (at least that seems to be the pattern the last few years) so there were no other viable
First Class options.
Unlike Lufthansa
first class award space, which is only released to
partners about 2 weeks prior to departure, business
class is available long before that.
They told me they would not / could not honor the SWISS
First booking, but they could reaccommodate me on another carrier or in another
class of service if we could find
partner level
award space available.
That's because there are some fantastic ways to utilize these
partners such as booking Singapore Airlines Suites (or
first class), Delta One, and Etihad's
award - winning
first class known as The Apartment.
If you are more flexible and using a
partner program to book, start looking for Lufthansa
first class award space 15 days prior to your departure.
Another great redemption option is for
first class saver
awards on
partner airlines.
Compared to 115,000 American Airlines miles or 140,000 United miles for a
partner award, this is a great deal for long - haul
first class travel.
Finding
first class award seats on Cathay Pacific is getting tougher and tougher as the airline keeps limiting the number of available bookings made through
partner airlines.
With several routes to the US, a competitive
award chart, and plenty of
partner booking options, let's dive into ANA
first class.
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.
If you need to fly International
First and Business
Class awards on Star Alliance
partners you really may need to drop United completely.
Whether booking a
first class flight on ANA or booking a fun
partner award, ANA Mileage Club is a great program to know.
Simply put, if you want to experience this product, there is no other way to get this
award ticket, other than transferring your points to Singapore — because Singapore doesn't release its
first class award seats to its
partners.
Promo
awards, offering 25 - 50 percent off the standard
award chart, are available each month for select flights, but most passengers will spend the bulk of their miles on classic
awards, which can be used on any
partner airline but not on
first class cabins.
Finally, those who hope to book some of the most luxurious
awards on
partner Singapore Airlines will find their attempts thwarted: any
award in this carrier's
first class cabin on an Airbus A380 or Boeing 777 - 300ER is blocked in the system.
While economy
class awards aren't changing much, there will be some significant increases in the cost of business and
first class awards on American Airlines»
partners — flights on American Airlines have their own
award chart.
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer members have access to premium cabin
awards (such as
first and Suites
class seats) not released to other
partner airlines.
They don't let you book
First Class awards with
partners at all, they rarely have low - level
award availability (and I think this might get worse after the recent devaluation), you can only redeem round trip flights (one - ways are coming in 2015 though), and in general their miles are much harder to use than those of other programs.
Lufthansa generally only releases
award seats to
partners within a week or so of departure, so you can book business
class and change to
first -
class if availability opens up.
Many people like to transfer points to an airline loyalty program to redeem
first class flights or
partner flights as they have better
award values than your typical economy seat.
(Air Tahiti Nui doesn't offer
first class awards to its
partners.)
With an exception of last - minute tickets (within a couple weeks before departure), Lufthansa almost never shares its
first class award inventory with
partners.
Alaska Airlines increased the cost for business and
first class awards on flights with their
partner, Emirates.
You can get even better value if you use miles for high - end cabins on
award - winning
partner airlines, such as Cathay Pacific which regularly comes in right behind Singapore Airlines» famous suites in lists of the top
first class cabins.
Though Delta isn't known for offering a generous amount of
award space to its
partners, I was able to find four
first -
class award seats available in August from Denver to Maui via Los Angeles and Seattle using the online
award search engine for Alaska Airlines, which you don't even need an account to use.
The damage done to
First Class awards on
partner airlines mirrors that done to the Business
Class awards discussed above.
Lufthansa
first -
class seats on many planes include a bed completely separate from your seat, but it is one of the hardest
awards to get and they only appear on
partners» websites a couple weeks before take - off.
More expensive
first class awards on
partner airlines mean I now only consider using them for international business
class.
While with many airlines the
award chart sweet spots are found using one airline to fly a
partner, Korean Air gives great rates to fly its own wonderful
first -
class suite from one of its more than a dozen U.S. destinations, with
first -
class seats for 80,000 miles one way.
Korean Air doesn't
partner with any carriers from Oceania, New Zealand and Australia, and its significantly higher
award prices for these areas (up to 110,000 in economy and 240,000 in
first class roundtrip) reflect this lack of coverage.
In some limited circumstances, it might make sense to book an
award seat on a Star Alliance
partner in business or even
first class.
Unlike airlines such as Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa, Emirates does not have a regular schedule for releasing
first class award space to their
partner airlines.
Recently, the blogosphere exploded with the news that SWISS appeared to release
First Class award space to Star Alliance
partners.
Booked SWISS
First One day back in November 2017 SWISS released
partner award space in their
First Class cabin.
While you can't book Korean Air
first class with
partner miles, this actually ensures there is more
award space available.
You can book
first class award tickets on Japan Airlines through their own Mileage Bank program, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, or one of their Oneworld
partners.
One important point to remember when using United miles to book this flight is that Lufthansa only releases
first class award space to its Star Alliance
partners 14 days before departure.
Only 3
partner award rates were changed in business
class (1) and
first class (2).
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.