Each program partners with a number
of airline partners so that you can transfer the points directly to an airline to book award flights.
Not exact matches
Southwest
Airlines does not have first class seats or worldwide
airline partners,
so many
of the elite benefits
of other
airline programs are not relevant.
You can chose to redeem points at a number
of travel
partners,
so you don't need to worry about being loyal to a single
airline or hotel.
With
so many
airline partners, you'll never lack for transfer options... and that might not even be the best part
of transferring Starpoints to
airlines!
American
Airlines is part
of the oneworld alliance,
so if you're going somewhere American doesn't fly, you can use your AA miles to book flights on any
of its
partners.
There are
partners that all
of the transferrable programs are aligned with, such as Singapore
Airlines so you could technically transfer in from all 4 (Chase, Citi, SPG, Amex).
Many
of the major carriers are part
of airline alliances that allow you to carry over the same status you enjoy with your primary
airline,
so that even when you fly on
partner airlines, you will enjoy the same perks and rewards for your paid travel that you have with your
airline of choice.
With
so many
airline partners, you'll never lack for transfer options... and that might not even be the best part
of transferring Starpoints to
airlines!
Bottom Line: Our # 1 recommended strategy to accrue (lots
of) Singapore KrisMiles is by collecting Chase points because they're
so easy to earn, and can also be transferred to many other
airline and hotel
partners.
Southwest
Airlines does not have first class seats or worldwide
airline partners,
so many
of the elite benefits
of other
airline programs are not relevant.
You can use your miles to also book travel with one
of 13 other
airline partners, though you will generally have less available dates to chose from by doing
so - at that point it'd be better to just have a credit card earning you miles with those
airlines you fly with.
Keep in mind that you're still earning a fixed rate
of return,
so these rewards are worth the same for coach, business class or any hotel room, and they can not be transferred to
airline or hotel
partners for award bookings.
Since
so many
airlines are members
of airline alliances (and those that aren't can
partner with other
airlines in ways you wouldn't expect), it feels sometimes that you can use points to fly on almost every one
of them.
To fully maximize on the frequent flyer programs, it is generally advisable to fly within the alliance, if your
airline is part
of a global alliance,
so that you can accrue miles on a host
of airlines and
partner businesses from across the globe.
In Randy's case, American
Airline's
partner Alaska
Airlines does fly into his home airport
of Victoria,
so he should be able to access this from Victoria or any
of his other preferred airports.
British Airways is a member
of the Oneworld Alliance,
so you'll be able to earn Avios each time you fly with one
of their
partner airlines.
The biggest advantage with the Delta SkyMiles is that the
airline has numerous international
partners so you can accrue plenty
of miles on your international travels.
Keep in mind that you're still earning a fixed rate
of return,
so these rewards are worth the same for coach, business class or any hotel room, and they can not be transferred to
airline or hotel
partners for award bookings.
There are a number
of airlines, hotels, and shopping venues that American Express has
partnered with
so members can redeem points.
Both American
Airlines and British Airways are part of the oneworld alliance, so you can use both airlines» miles for travel on any of the oneworld partners (including each
Airlines and British Airways are part
of the oneworld alliance,
so you can use both
airlines» miles for travel on any of the oneworld partners (including each
airlines» miles for travel on any
of the oneworld
partners (including each other).
Singapore
Airlines is also a direct transfer
partner of Amex, SPG, and Citi,
so you have plenty
of options.
United
Airlines is a member
of the Star Alliance,
so United miles can be redeemed on United
Airlines flights,
partner airline flights, or non-alliance
partner flights.
Last year, I mostly flew with American
Airlines or their
partners,
so I managed to acquire Gold status as
of the beginning
of 2014.
United
Airlines knows this and, after listening to customer feedback and going through hundreds
of on - the - ground and in - the - air taste tests, has
partnered with illycaffé
so its fliers can start their trips with delicious, premium Italian coffee, beginning next summer.
But all 11
of Citi's
airline transfer
partners — including Qantas, Virgin Atlantic, Air France and Qatar Airways — are based overseas,
so cardholders who do most
of their traveling on domestic carriers won't benefit.
You may not have ever heard
of the Colombian
airline Avianca, but its LifeMiles program is a 1:1 transfer
partner of the Citi ThankYou program,
so you can move your Citi ThankYou Premier and Citi ThankYou Preferred credit card points into that program easily and instantly.
(Remember, Chase points are
so easy to earn and they have lots
of valuable
airline and hotel transfer
partners)
Emirates is not part
of any
of the major
airline alliances,
so it is in a position to
partner only with those brands that it finds align best with its own.
Regus, a provider
of virtual offices and meeting rooms, has
partnered with American
Airlines so that AAdvantage members can now earn miles when booking Regus services.
If you really want to fly Emirates, Japan
Airlines (with its distance - based chart) is still probably the most effecient way to book a premier cabin on Emirates, but you have to contend with the fact that it's only a transfer
partner of SPG,
so accumulating JAL miles can be somewhat
of an issue.
El Al doesn't have a lot
of airline mileage
partners — in fact, there are only three left since it lost the partnership with American (South African Airways, Air Mexico, and Qantas), but the appeal
of El Al, and one
of the major reasons why it has
so many devout followers, is security.
This sale does not include
partner airline flights (except for the Oslo flight)
so you must be departing from one
of Singapore
Airlines» U.S. hubs including Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York to take advantage
of this sale.
Your IHG ® Reward Club points can be redeemed at more than 5,200 IHG hotels around the world, as well as hundreds
of partners, including
airline miles and rental cars and
so much more.
Some
of them, such as Flying Blue and Singapore
Airlines are
partners to all three programs Citi ThankYou Points, American Express Membership Rewards, and Chase Ultimate Rewards,
so they might make easy options for booking domestic flights with United or Delta.
Any change
of this magnitude will require coordination from SkyTeam
airline partners as well as American Express,
so if it does indeed occur, we'll be writing all about it here on The TICKET.
These fees are often route specific and will often depend on which
airline partner of theirs you are flying with,
so you'll need to test out the routes to see what the fees come to.
Many
of them overlap
airline transfer
partners,
so you could combine sign - up bonuses to earn an award flight even quicker.
Of course, I didn't have the Sapphire Preferred at that time
so I couldn't have used them as the more valuable Ultimate Reward points which allow you to transfer them to various
airline and hotel
partners.
American Express's transfer
partners also cover all three
of the major
airline alliances,
so you'll be able to book award travel to anywhere through the Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam.
Finding the best uses for Starpoints via an
airline conversion often requires a bit
of lateral thinking
so, rather than focusing specifically on the
airlines that you can transfer Starpoints to, you need to consider those
airlines»
partners.
Unfortunately Malaysia
Airlines» Enrich program isn't an Amex transfer
partner (in either the UK or the US) and neither is it a transfer
partner for Starwood...
so you'll either have to have an existing Malaysia
Airlines Enrich balance or a stash
of US Citi ThankYou points (which convert to Enrich at a 1:1 ratio) if you want to take advantage
of this.
While most people reading this blog may not have a lot
of Hawaiian
Airlines miles the
airline is an Amex Membership Rewards transfer
partner so you could transfer over enough points for an award (at a 1:1 ratio).
American
Airlines is a part
of the Oneworld alliance,
so they are
partners with all Oneworld carriers, including:
From California, routes via Europe and Asia are pretty much the same distance,
so I have a lot
of options with United miles, which allow redemptions on plenty
of partners and don't limit routing rules like American
Airlines does.
Interestingly, American
Airlines isn't a transfer
partner of any
of the three major bank currencies
so, if I want to earn AAdvantage Miles outside
of my flight bookings, I have to transfer over SPG points to my AAdvantage account....
This sale does not include
partner airline flights (except for the European destinations)
so you must be departing from one
of Singapore
Airlines» four U.S. hubs including Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York to take advantage
of this sale.
Most
of the rest
of the Membership Rewards
airline partners (such as Air France, ANA, Aeroplan) charge stupid fuel surcharges on most
of their flights, which makes them mostly useless for those
of us who are
so cheap that we don't even want to pay a few hundred dollars for a premium redemption.
The miles towards elite qualification awarded on
partner marketed flights varies from
partner to
partner so, to get a general idea
of what each
airline offers, I selected a few
of each
airline's more prominent
partners and used them to get a range
of miles awarded for each fare class.
Finnair is a member
of the oneworld alliance and
so is
partners with American
Airlines & British Airways (amongst others).
So 11 out
of 10 to Silver Travel Advisor
partner Riviera Travel after the sad collapse
of Monarch
Airlines.