If you are looking for a flight and the search engines say there is
no low level award availability, there are ways to be creative and check some alternative routes.
There are many airlines in the oneworld alliance, but the following miles programs are the most popular and the easiest to collect: British Airways Executive Club Avios American Airlines AAdvantage Miles US Airways Dividend Miles Provided you can find
low level award availability, you can fly to the... [Read more...]
Not exact matches
In addition, upgrade
availability is often in greater supply than
low -
level award availability, meaning you have a better chance of being able to work your way into a premium cabin in the first place.
This part was easy, since there was
low -
level award availability on American Airlines through Chicago, so I booked 2 tickets for 12,000 British Airways Avios and $ 5 each.
Since there was
low -
level availability and the flights are during American Airlines» «
low» European
award season, I was able to book the tickets for 20,000 AAdvantage miles and $ 69.60 each.
A word of warning about how Delta's
award booking engine works: if any flight segment is lacking
Low level availability, the overall miles cost will be increased.
A 2014 study ranked US Airways 24th out of 25 airlines worldwide for
lowest -
level award availability, and found that
award flights on US Airways required more miles on average than any other major U.S. or Canadian airline.
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.
So the results of a recent study by consulting firm IdeaWorks, which ranks airlines by
award availability should come as no surprise — it shows that Delta ranked last (23rd out of 23) with the fewest
low -
level award seats available based on the nearly 7,000 queries it conducted.
I say you have enough miles in theory for Hawaii and off - peak Europe because in practice, US Airways is known as one of the stingiest airlines for
award availability at the
lowest levels.
And creating five
award tiers doesn't necessarily mean more
award availability at the
lowest level.
It claims this will mean more
award availability at the «
lower levels,» but that doesn't mean more
availability at the
lowest level.
And remember, using Pay with Points means you don't have to find Saver or other
low -
level award availability.
After locating non-stops
award flights at the
lowest point
level that met our schedule, I went to koreanair.com to confirm the
availability I found on delta.com.
If you live in a community well - served by
low -
level Delta
award availability, then earning a slew of cheap Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles is an easy way to supplement your existing Delta SkyMiles
award balances.
If you ever manage to find
low -
level award availability with Delta, you could make a killing redeeming cheaply - earned Virgin Atlantic miles for that
award, though I certainly wouldn't hold my breath.
There's also a special
award chart for
award flights on Delta, as long as there's
low -
level availability.
These can be as
low as 20,000 miles each way for a Super Saver
award, but you will find much better
availability at the Saver
level for 30,000 miles.
If I'm thinking about using Avios, I will search first on American's site to see if there is
award availability at the
lowest level, called «MileSAAver.»
Paying with cash, therefore, has to be compared not just to capacity - controlled
low -
level seats, but also to more expensive last - seat -
availability awards.
They promised to double the
low -
level award availability, and they [it seems] delivered.
While there's no hard data on
award availability, the general consensus is that
low -
level Delta
awards are more plentiful than they used to be.
But here's the very important thing to know: Not all partners will show up on an airline's online
award booking — and the Big Three have some of the worst
availability of Saver (
low)
level awards of any airlines.
For years, fliers have complained about stingy
award availability on Delta flights at the
lowest redemption
levels.
Thanks to their
award chart devaluation I'm going to be crediting my Delta flights to Alaska Airlines next calendar year (hopefully after a status match gets me to MVP Gold or MVP Gold 75K), but in the meantime Platinum Medallion is absolutely priceless for the ability to rebook
awards — for free — from the «medium» and «high»
levels to the «
low»
level as
award availability appears.
Here's how the airlines fared in
low -
level award seat
availability (which is 12,500 miles each way):
This doesn't tell the whole story as we won't know what kind of
availability Delta will release in the new «
Level 1» lowest level award category just
Level 1»
lowest level award category just
level award category just yet.
Since American Airlines has clamped down on
low -
level award availability during the holidays (I was very fortunate to score a Christmas - New Year's sAAver - ish fare last time around), our next trip to Nicaragua will be well after the holidays.
Overall, this partnership is good news because Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest, so there are now more options to book Delta flights without having SkyMiles (though partners like Virgin Atlantic only get access to
low -
level awards, meaning
availability can be slim on certain routes).
Award availability on Alaska matches what you'll see on Alaska's own website (for redemptions at the
low / saver
level).
From the WSJ article: Delta has been rapped in recent years for having stingy
awards ticket
availability at the
lowest mileage
levels.
If you want to travel this summer and you're not seeing a lot of
availability at the
lowest award level, your options are limited.
This makes the program competitive with both Delta and United
low -
level awards, assuming you can find
availability.