While some airlines let
you pay for an award ticket for a partial number of miles as a combination of cash plus points, American Airlines does not offer this ability.
While some airlines let
you pay for an award ticket for a partial number of miles as a combination of cash plus points, American Airlines does not offer this ability.
I personally would use the card to
pay for award ticket taxes, hotels, and any other travel costs that would otherwise take money out of my pocket for this hobby.
I've even had friends get reimbursed for taxes and fees used to
pay for an award ticket on their selected airline.
Not exact matches
Airlines typically only offer a certain number of
award seats per flight, so your itinerary options will be more limited than if you were
paying cash
for your
ticket.
Unsurprisingly,
award space is not always readily available because so many people
pay for cash
tickets.
You may even
pay fewer points
for short - haul domestic flights than you would booking an
award ticket.
Expect to
pay ~ $ 400 in fuel surcharges and taxes per long - haul segment on
award bookings, but that's still cheaper than
paying for a business or first class
ticket.
However, if you have some additional miles laying around after an
award flight, you could use 5,000 extra miles to
pay $ 50 in fees
for an
award ticket.
Unless you
pay for airfare often, it might take a while to accumulate enough miles
for an
award ticket.
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.
The Companion
Award eVoucher entitles the Eligible Member to purchase a Companion
Ticket at the time of booking a Reward flight, without having to
pay for the price of the companion's flight.
This is one of the most underutilized perks of
award travel, and one that is not generally available to passengers who
pay for their
ticket.
With a
paid ticket, you would, of course,
pay for that transcontinental or Hawaii flight, but if
for example you've earned United miles with a credit card, you can use a United free one - way to maximize your
award.
While they no longer have an
award chart, you will
pay similar prices to those of the other major airlines, starting around 10,000 miles
for a one - way domestic
ticket.
The miles you redeem
for your
award ticket will always cover the base fare and will never cover the fees and taxes — you
pay those.
Pay With Miles — Purchase miles in increments of 5,000
for $ 50 each to reduce the cost of a cash
ticket,
award fees, and more.
It's one of those situations where simply buying miles and booking an
award is probably cheaper than
paying for a
ticket outright.
One interesting feature of Aeroplan's website is that you can search
for award availability to multiple destinations at once, similar to how you can enter multiple destinations when looking
for paid tickets with ITA Matrix.
This is one of the most underutilized perks of
award travel, and one that is not generally available to passengers who
pay for their
ticket.
Last week, I used my Chase Sapphire Preferred to book an
award ticket; my Chase Freedom to
pay a parking meter; my Citi Forward
for the pizza I ordered; my Chase Ink Bold to fill up the gas tank; my American Express Platinum Card to access a lounge; and my Hilton American Express card
for some vanilla - flavored medicine at CVS.
With the United MileagePlus program, you earn
award miles based on the amount of dollars you
pay for your
ticket and your elite status.
The caveat is that you will have to
pay a fuel surcharge
for your Miles & More
award ticket, while United does not collect these.
It's just that I'm really skeptical of
paying that much
for a flight when I could choose instead to redeem miles
for an
award ticket.
Then, the only remaining challenge is the flight home from Honolulu, which could be
paid for or redeemed as a separate
award ticket.
Soon, the
award miles you earn on Delta and United flights will no longer be based on the miles you fly, but on how much you
paid for your
ticket.
We love Arrival
for these kinds of trips because they can be used to help
pay taxes and fees on
award tickets and rewards you
for finding cheap cash bookings at hotels.
If you manage to avail such
award at 50 % off rate on the Europe — North America route, you'll need to
pay only 25,000 FlyingBlue miles
for one way business class
tickets and 12,500 miles
for one way economy class
tickets, making it an excellent deal!
For example, on a roundtrip economy award for two passengers between New York City and Heathrow, passengers redeeming a Travel Together Ticket would pay $ 999 in order to spend 28,571 Avios instead of 120,000 Skymil
For example, on a roundtrip economy
award for two passengers between New York City and Heathrow, passengers redeeming a Travel Together Ticket would pay $ 999 in order to spend 28,571 Avios instead of 120,000 Skymil
for two passengers between New York City and Heathrow, passengers redeeming a Travel Together
Ticket would
pay $ 999 in order to spend 28,571 Avios instead of 120,000 Skymiles.
You'd never be want to
pay for those seats using Flexperks or Arrival points as you'd have to spend ungodly amounts to cover the cash cost of the
tickets) To me, the flexibility to book seats I want, when I want, vastly outweighs maximizing the value I could theoretically obtain IF I could find availability using «optimal»
award programs.
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.
Finally, Alaska Airlines offers a companion discount
for paid tickets that could be useful if no
award space is available.
When you look
for an
award flight, always
pay attention to the cash portions of your
ticket to avoid or minimize fuel surcharges imposed by some Delta partner airlines.
In addition to the above miles you'll always
pay something in cash
for an
award ticket.
Even a
paid revenue
ticket has a (negative) miles component (the miles you earn from flying), while a domestic
award ticket will still have a low dollar cost ($ 11.20,
for example, in taxes and fees).
While we all love
award flights, we certainly
pay for a
ticket occasionally — or even frequently
for some.
In Croatia, Laura took bus trips and
paid for a
ticket to Lesvos Island, Greece since she couldn't find an
award ticket.
Additionally, using a combination of
award tickets and purchased
tickets for securing your airfare may result in
paying less.
You can estimate the surcharge before looking
for award space by using ITA Matrix to find the same itinerary as a
paid (or revenue)
ticket.
The results page will show me exactly how to transfer my points, how to search
for an
award ticket, what fees will I need to
pay, etc..
However, if you have some additional miles laying around after an
award flight, you could use 5,000 extra miles to
pay $ 50 in fees
for an
award ticket.
Pay with Miles — You can use extra miles in 5,000 - mile chunks at a value of $ 50 each to pay for part of a cash ticket, award fees, and so
Pay with Miles — You can use extra miles in 5,000 - mile chunks at a value of $ 50 each to
pay for part of a cash ticket, award fees, and so
pay for part of a cash
ticket,
award fees, and so on.
The most important aspect to understand is that you will also
pay for airport and government taxes on
award tickets.
Unsurprisingly,
award space is not always readily available because so many people
pay for cash
tickets.
Miles + Cash is a redemption option on
Award Tickets offered to all SkyMiles members where you can
pay for your flight using a combination of miles and dollars.
Taxes and fees
for Award Travel are the responsibility of the passenger and must be
paid at the time the
ticket is issued.
Unlimited Complimentary U.S. 50 Delta One, First Class & Delta Comfort + Upgrades
for a Companion: All
paid tickets (except E fares), Award Tickets, Miles + Cash, Pay with Miles tickets and SkyMiles Companion Certifica
tickets (except E fares),
Award Tickets, Miles + Cash, Pay with Miles tickets and SkyMiles Companion Certifica
Tickets, Miles + Cash,
Pay with Miles
tickets and SkyMiles Companion Certifica
tickets and SkyMiles Companion Certificates (2)
Pay with Miles
tickets are not eligible
for Best Fare Guarantee and may not be combined with any other forms of mileage redemption, such as
Award Travel
tickets and upgrades.
On November 15, I gave a presentation to the San Francisco Travel Hackers meetup about strategies
for accruing frequent flier miles now that most US - based airlines
award miles based on the amount of money
paid for your
ticket.
Taxes and fees
for award travel are the responsibility of the passenger and must be
paid at the time the
ticket is booked.