In our last post on stopovers, we talked about how to use United's free stopovers to see two places in Europe for the same amount of
miles as a roundtrip.
Not exact matches
Approximately 110 students, grades 7 - 12, travel
as many
as 100
miles roundtrip to attend this modern, one - room, 17,000 - square - foot «schoolhouse.»
This powertrain combo also seems to be rather efficient
as I did a nearly 60 -
mile roundtrip commute and the fuel needle barely moved.
The Ford Escape was one of six compact SUVs we drove 450
roundtrip miles from the coastal region of Southern California to the mountains surrounding Big Bear Lake, California,
as part of our most recent Compact SUV Comparison Test.
In the capital city of San Juan, take in numerous cultural attractions
as well
as a lively nightlife, or, by taking the ferry to Vieques Island (just $ 4
roundtrip) where you can relax and soak in the sunshine on
miles of secluded sandy beaches.
Aeroplan is a Star Alliance member, and requires 60,000
miles for the Economy
roundtrip, just the same
as United.
For flights that would normally cost over $ 600
roundtrip,
as is the case with many cross country flights within Canada, this would be a good use of 25K
miles.
It does have a restriction on economy class awards, so that could be
as much
as 20,000 LifeMiles discount on a
roundtrip economy class ticket to Colombia, or 18,000
miles to Central America.
American's drab award chart held an exciting surprise: off - peak travel from the US to Europe could cost
as few
as 20,000
miles each way, or just 40,000
miles roundtrip.
For example, even though the calendar is colored green for our travel dates, nearly every
roundtrip from Jacksonville comes in at 120,000
miles,
as opposed to just 100,000
miles from LAX.
Compare this to American and Delta, each of which require 25,000
miles at minimum for the
roundtrip flight (Delta doesn't even offer the option of a discount for one - way) and are likely to require a step up in
miles for Medium or High level flights
as part of the itinerary.
It wasn't so much about saving
miles (45,000 Virgin Atlantic vs 48,000 Delta isn't a big difference and I could have used ~ 43,000 Membership Rewards for the ~ $ 650
roundtrip tickets)
as it was finally using some of the Virgin Atlantic
miles.
SkyMiles member already, you can earn a bonus of
as many
as 10,000
miles for signing up for the program and flying an international
roundtrip flight within your first six months of membership.
The worst way to use Emirates awards is on routes you wouldn't want to use Emirates for in the first place: bad routing mixed with high prices, such
as North America to Australia for 150,000
miles roundtrip in economy, or eastern North America to western North America for 155,000
miles roundtrip in economy.
25,000
miles would probably be the standard redemption for Delta but they sometimes have specials (like right now in September 2016 where you can find cheaper redemptions for short - haul routes like the 11,000
miles I found for a
roundtrip from Los Angeles (LAX) to Las Vegas (LAS) or even routes
as low
as 10,000
roundtrip if you're able to piece it together.
This
roundtrip flight would net me 4,670 EQMs plus 2,336 bonus
miles (non EQMs) due to my status
as MVP.
If that is your travel situation, you need to focus on British Avios, which offers fantastically cheap, distance - based redemptions in the U.S. for
as low
as a few thousand
miles roundtrip.
And don't forget a
roundtrip from North American to Australia on ANA could be
as low
as 105,000
miles in business class!
To be fair, I should point out that most other airline programs offer domestic award
roundtrips for
as few
as 25,000
miles — but it's getting increasingly difficult to find awards at that level.
Nevertheless, middle - of - the - road or exceptional doesn't really matter here
as Business CLass is always better than Premium Economy or Economy Class and at 55,000
miles — 70,000
miles for a
roundtrip long - haul Business Class booking this is a great deal.
A
Miles & More Business Class award flight between the US and Europe will cost 105,000
miles roundtrip and,
as you can see from this randomly selected set of dates, a JFK to Frankfurt
roundtrip will cost around $ 2,500:
The mileage costs shown are for
roundtrip travel
as ANA one - way awards are not bookable with Virgin Flying Club
miles.
On specific number of paid qualifying
roundtrip flights (
as outlined in the offer) members can earn 5,000 bonus award
miles, 10,000 bonus award
miles or up to a maximum of 25,000 bonus award
miles.
A business class flight between North America and Europe can run
as low
as 62,500
miles per
roundtrip, but the $ 500 in taxes and fuel surcharges makes it somewhat less appealing.
While
Miles & More bargains can be spectacular for example, 30,000
miles in economy and 55,000 in business per
roundtrip between North America and Europe it also often has high fuel surcharges, which can be
as much
as $ 1,000 for premium class flights.
Many award tickets, such
as flights to Europe, are on par with those of other competing airlines, with economy tickets starting at 60,000
miles roundtrip plus taxes and fees.
For
as little
as 50K
miles roundtrip, you can jet off to one of these three countries, making it the redemption option to Asia!
You can book a
roundtrip flight from Hawaii to New Zealand or Oceania for a cost of 40,000
miles and you can add stopovers
as well to maximize your trip!
Paris — Vancouver for 93,750
miles roundtrip is easily the best deal here... especially
as the Air France aircraft on this route is a 777 - 200 with the airline's newer Business Class installed.
The Business Class deals aren't that impressive
as, if you double up the costs to get the price for a
roundtrip, the final cost of the awards isn't too dissimilar to a lot of Business Class cash fares offered by airlines when the sales are on — and with cash fares you often have a greater choice of dates and you earn
miles as well.
The rates for booking an ANA flight for only 75,000
miles roundtrip in low season in business class can come with fees
as low
as $ 86!
If you transfer to Air France KLM Flying Blue, you can get to Hawaii from the U.S. for
as little
as 30,000
miles roundtrip.
You can get from North America to what the airline calls Asia Zone I, which includes China, Korea, Taiwan and more, for
as little
as 45,000
miles roundtrip during the low season.
As shown above, 70,000
miles could get you a
roundtrip in economy to Europe or even Japan!
Singapore Airlines charges 25,000
miles roundtrip per person for this ticket (same
as American Airlines).
I'd still prefer to look into options like ANA for business class since it can be
as low
as 104,000
miles roundtrip to South Africa.
Even flying
as far
as Vladivostok only costs 40,000 to 60,000 AAdvantage
miles roundtrip in economy vs. 120,000 Aeroflot Bonus
miles.
Roundtrip domestic flights on those airlines can run
as little
as 12,000
miles.
With a little work, you can make those 100,000
miles worth at least twice
as much when redeemed for a first - class
roundtrip flight.
With British Airways, which operates a distance - based award chart, flights to Montreal can start
as low
as 9,000
miles roundtrip, depending on where you are based.
Depending upon the destination, fliers can save
as much
as 7,500
miles off of a
roundtrip saver award ticket.
Though Virgin America ties their redemptions to the current ticket price, when you book through Virgin Atlantic, you can get regional flights (e.g., West Coast flights from Seattle to San Francisco or San Diego) for
as low
as 8,000
miles roundtrip.
That means you would earn only 1,750
miles roundtrip as a base member, less than half of what one used to earn.
There's currently a promotion for redeeming JAL points for flights on Bangkok Airways —
as little
as 5,000 points for any
roundtrip under 1,000
miles flown.
I asked TPG contributor Jason Steele to put together this post on SPG's airline partners — including their alliances and non-alliance partners you can use their
miles on,
as well
as one - way and
roundtrip routing rules, and online versus phone —
as a comprehensive web resource on the Starwood Preferred Guest program and its airline partners.
The redemption rate can be
as low
as 85,000
miles roundtrip using JAL
miles, which is almost half of the
miles required by most other frequent flyer programs.
For instance you can read about the Pacific Hopper we flew for 40,000 United
miles roundtrip in business class, (also bookable
as a US Airways Pacific Hopper for 30,000
miles in business class).
The value equation dramatically improves if American's 100,000
roundtrip Business MileSAAver reward is available for the same itinerary,
as it places the $ 3,228 value on 100,000
miles.
Figure out how you would most likely use the
miles earned from that card, so that you can make the reward
as tangible
as possible: e.g. a
roundtrip business class ticket to Asia in June, so you price it and demonstrate the value
As an example, most airlines charge 25,000
miles for a
roundtrip domestic economy ticket anywhere within the USA and Canada.