All customers travelling on full or discounted fares, frequent
flyer award tickets or upgrades are considered revenue customers.
For example, United Airlines has the most generous policy on round trip international frequent
flyer award tickets.
Redeem them as early and as often as possible since the airlines continue to change the rules on the minimum number of miles you need to redeem to get that frequent
flyer award ticket.
Not exact matches
If you redeemed United miles for an
award ticket but need to cancel your trip, you can get the miles refunded to your frequent
flyer account.
For example, an American Airlines frequent
flyer can use AAdvantage miles to book a flight on British Airways, and the cost of that
ticket will be based on the American Airlines mileage
award chart.
As a general rule that
award tickets do not earn frequent
flyer miles since they are paid for with miles, the same way you do not earn hotel points when you redeem points on an
award stay.
Though many flagship carriers now
award redeemable miles based on the cost of a
ticket, HawaiianMiles still lets
flyers earn miles based on the distance of their flight.
Many travelers who earn frequent
flyer miles aren't always interested in booking an
award ticket.
There's big news out there about airlines changing loyalty programs to
award frequent
flyer miles based on how much your
ticket costs, not how far you travel... and that's going to... Read More...
Majority of airlines require
flyers to buy more expensive
tickets if they wish to cancel and normally charge a cancellation fee for
award bookings, unless the
flyers have some status with the respective airline.
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.
There has been a lot of talk lately about a shift in the industry to revenue - based frequent
flyer programs, where travelers are
awarded miles based on the cost of the
ticket and not the number of miles flown.
As a general rule that
award tickets do not earn frequent
flyer miles since they are paid for with miles, the same way you do not earn hotel points when you redeem points on an
award stay.
You can fly on Star Alliance partner Austrian by booking with a frequent -
flyer program such as United MileagePlus from 60,000 miles per round trip or even by booking via Avianca LifeMiles, also for 60,000 miles per round trip, though without the $ 75 close - in
award ticketing fee that United charges within 21 days of travel.
Its
award chart is in kilometers, which works out quite well for a U.S.
flyer, and there are no surcharges added to Aeroméxico's own
award tickets.
On many of these trips, I combined the home exchange with using frequent
flyer miles, getting an exotic 1 - 4 week vacation for no more cost than the small airline fee for booking an
award ticket.
I am nowhere near the 200,000 frequent
flyer miles that I will need for a business class
award ticket to Bangkok.
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.
If you have additional travel companions, you might be able to get a small point discount on additional
award tickets that can cost at least 15,000 miles less than the primary
flyer's
ticket.
Australian Business Traveller is now reporting that the airline is about to reduce fuel surcharges even more — and the big winners will be
flyers booking
award tickets to / from the US.
Many frequent
flyer programs
award airline miles that can be used instead of cash to buy
tickets, upgrades, and other perks.
Normally the best use of frequent
flyer miles is for international premium cabin
awards because these are expensive
tickets if you pay with cash but not very expensive if you pay with miles.
Although I don't fly United very often (mostly because when I do I deal with nasty / clueless employees or my travel reservations simply aren't honored), I rank their frequent
flyer miles as the most valuable mileage currency out there thanks to low fees on
award tickets, the ability to book one - way
awards and great airline partners in Star Alliance.
So this means that I can sign up for the American Airlines AAdvantage frequent
flyer program, earn miles while flying on Alaska Airlines and once I've accumulated enough miles for an
award ticket, use those miles on Cathay Pacific using the
award booking system on AA.com.
This discount makes the first class
award ticket to Asia one of the cheapest redemptions among frequent
flyer programs.
Though Air Canada spun off its frequent
flyer program Aeroplan years ago, making it a separate for - profit entity, it is still one of the most valuable ways to travel on
award tickets in the Star Alliance, the largest global airline alliance.
Though you'll see a somewhat similar approach with some domestic carriers, like Virgin America and Jet Blue, who charge their frequent
flyers a redemption rate based on the current cost of the
ticket, most carriers break out their
award redemptions into zones.
Still, China Airlines charges higher change fees on
award tickets than some Asian frequent
flyer programs:
If you redeemed United miles for an
award ticket but need to cancel your trip, you can get the miles refunded to your frequent
flyer account.
But using miles for the outbound
ticket I found a one - way
award ticket could be purchased with American Airlines for 40,000 frequent
flyer miles.
Frequent
flyer miles that are used for
award travel have significantly greater potential value if you redeem them for otherwise high - priced
tickets.
Frequent
flyer miles were originally designed to be redeemed for
award tickets, but the airlines now offer dozens of different ways to spend your miles.
Flying Blue, the frequent
flyer program of Air France and KLM, has announced changes to the program that impact
award ticket redemption.
Why, because of their greed, you see the way the frequent
flyer system is going, in most cases you have to pay a fee to get an
award, if you want a
ticket in a week you have to pay a lot of money.
But today, most major US airlines now
award frequent
flyer miles based on the amount that you paid for your
ticket, starting at five miles per dollar and rising if you have elite status with their frequent
flyer programs.
Members of Delta's SkyMiles frequent
flyer program which is free to join, can utilize the Miles and Cash redemption option when purchasing certain
award tickets.
Revenue - based loyalty program: A frequent
flyer program that does not
award miles or points based on the number of miles a member travels, but rather the amount of money they spend on their cash
tickets.
Tickets start at $ 599, and members of Miles & Smiles, the carrier's frequent
flyer program, can get
award seats and upgrades on this route at a 25 percent discount.
Gary Leff is Condé Nast Traveler's recommended travel specialist for frequent -
flyer mileage
award tickets, and he's sharing his secrets.
Some frequent
flyer programs will pass on those carrier - imposed surcharges on
award tickets while others, such as United Airlines, do not pass on these surcharges.
British Airways has a great frequent
flyer Program except the high fuel surcharges on
award tickets, you can pool your miles using BA Household Account.
While it might not be easy to get an international
award ticket from a smaller hub, as well as hubs where Delta is the only one or one of a very few options, you can always get to a major airport on a reduced fare or an
award ticket with another frequent
flyer program.
All three of the major U.S. airlines» frequent
flyer programs — American Airlines AAdvantage, United MileagePlus and Delta SkyMiles — are based on one - way
award tickets, so normally you can buy two one - way
tickets or a roundtrip to your destination for the same price.
United's frequent
flyer program, MileagePlus, allows one free stopover per round - trip
award ticket.
United's frequent
flyer program, MileagePlus, allows you to use one stopover and two open jaws for free on a round - trip
award ticket.
British Airways is being sued by a group of
flyers for imposing fuel surcharges on
award tickets.
If you're collecting miles and playing the frequent
flyer awards game, you're probably already familiar with the airport taxes, fuel surcharges and other fees that often get added to your
ticket.
- Australia: This can be a difficult business class
award ticket to find, but Delta gives
flyers some breathing room through its partnership with Virgin Australia.
It's surprising that we don't hear about more frequent
flyers booking
award tickets to Botswana, Africa.
The airline is raising rates on
award tickets without any notice to
flyers, which seems to be its practice since deleting its
award chart.