These off -
peak airline awards are a great value, especially when you're able to pair them with discounted award redemptions.
Not exact matches
Because Mileage Bank miles are a bit harder to earn, it could be easier for you to use American AAdvantage miles to book off -
peak economy class
award tickets for 45,000 miles round - trip on flights operated by American
Airlines.
If you are booking an economy class
award from the west coast, we suggest you consider using 45,000 American AAdvantage miles to fly American
Airlines during their off -
peak season as you can easily earn the necessary miles their co-branded Citi and Barclays offerings.
If you book an
award flight with a partner
airline such as American
Airlines and do not include a flight operated by British Airways on your reservation, you'll be required to pay
peak - level
award prices.
Before, the off -
peak awards were from October 15 to May 15 each year, so American
Airlines is cutting the dates from 7 months out of the year down to under 4.
The American
Airlines coach
award tickets were 1 - way off -
peak awards which cost 17,500 to 22,500 American
Airlines miles per person and 40,000 to 50,000 American
Airlines miles during regular times.
The same round - trip coach
award flight to Europe will cost you 60,000 American
Airlines miles during
peak times, plus taxes and fees.
Etihad's American
Airlines award chart includes off -
peak economy
awards for certain destinations.
A complete list of off -
peak discounted
award pricing can be found on this American
Airlines AAdvantage
award chart.
That's on par with American
Airlines» off -
peak awards.
When you mix Iberia and a Oneworld partner
airline (or mix 2 Oneworld partner
airlines), there is an entirely different
award chart that is not subject to
peak and off -
peak dates (see here).
To increase your chances of finding affordable
airline awards during spring break, check alternate nearby airports or consider flying on slightly less
peak days to get the flights you want.
Airline award availability on
peak travel dates to popular family destinations generally gets worse as the months roll by.
Finally, American
Airlines continues to offer off -
peak awards at a discounted price when you travel on its own aircraft.
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.
To use it, you just input your route, choose one - way or roundtrip, the cabin you want to fly in (economy, premium economy, business, or first), whether you're willing to make a stop or not, the type of
award (
peak or off -
peak), and which frequent flyer program (the 20
airlines are listed below) or credit card (Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and / or Starwood Preferred Guest) you want to use and search.
Though American charges a late booking fee and relatively hefty change fees, it has pretty reliable availability booking in advance or close - in (except for big holiday seasons like Christmas) and incredibly low off -
peak award rates internationally, so your American
Airlines miles can be more valuable than those of other domestic carriers.
Economy class
award tickets to Lisbon cost about the same on all of the alliances, except for American
Airlines» off -
peak awards.
Korean has some of the best first - class
award availability of any
airline and charges a very reasonable number of miles during its off -
peak dates.
Award flights from the 48 contiguous states to Japan on American
Airlines are 65,000 miles round - trip in economy class off -
peak, and 70,000 miles
peak.
Off -
peak awards are not applicable for partner
airlines.
Vietnam
Airlines domestic
peak awards are limited to two weeks a year.
At 60,000 miles, economy class
award tickets to Florence cost the same using any alliance, unless you fly during American
Airlines» off -
peak season, between October 15 and May 15.
Alaska's
award chart for American
Airlines includes American's off -
peak rates, but with the added benefit of two free stopovers per roundtrip.
American
Airlines also offers some of the best
awards to South America, allowing you to reach Argentina and Chile — typically the higher - priced «Southern South America» zone — for just 40,000 points roundtrip off -
peak.
(In a confusing twist, most
airline programs use the word «saver» to indicate partner
award space, while British Airways uses «
peak.»)
American
Airlines offers off -
peak economy MileSAAver
Awards from the US starting at 12,500 miles each way and anytime level 1
award tickets for 25,000 each way.
On the one hand American
Airlines have once again done away with off -
peak awards on travel to anywhere but the 48 contiguous states (
awards to Hawaii are again hit hardest) but they've given a little bit back by reducing the numbers of miles needed for travel to Central America and South America Region 1.
American
Airlines puts many of its economy class
award redemptions on sale for travel during off -
peak times of year when demand slows.
If you are booking an economy class
award from the west coast, we suggest you consider using 45,000 American AAdvantage miles to fly American
Airlines during their off -
peak season as you can easily earn the necessary miles their co-branded Citi and Barclaycard offerings.
There's only one exception to this: when American
Airlines has off -
peak economy
award prices.
Because Mileage Bank miles are a bit harder to earn, it could be easier for you to use American AAdvantage miles to book off -
peak economy class
award tickets for 45,000 miles round - trip on flights operated by American
Airlines.
If you book an
award flight with a partner
airline such as American
Airlines and do not include a flight operated by British Airways on your reservation, you'll be required to pay
peak - level
award prices.
Several
airline programs, including British Airways, use an on and off -
peak award calendar.
The cheapest way to get to Aruba is to snag an off -
peak award on Spirit
Airlines.
Awards on British Airways partner airlines always price as «Peak» a
Awards on British Airways partner
airlines always price as «
Peak»
awardsawards.
As it happens, in my case, prices were nowhere near this low when I wanted to fly to Maui — they were just under $ 2,200 — so the American
Airlines off -
peak award saved me around $ 1,800 and netted me a return of 4.5 c / mile.
Alaska
Airlines will also be ending some discounted off -
peak awards in economy class.
Unlike British Airways, Virgin Atlantic doesn't have
peak and off -
peak award pricing — it's a one - price - fits - all scenario — and this leads to situations where the cheaper
airline option will depend on the time of year you want to fly (at least for Economy and Premium Economy bookings).
Reward flight results is more complex due to the varying rules with the different
airlines, by accurately following routing rules that include low /
peak seasons and black - out date, Pointimize provides real - time cash pricing and
award prices.
Something which a lot of travelers forget is that American
Airlines has an off -
peak season for
award travel on it's own planes (this doesn't apply to flights on partners such as British Airways)-- as illustrated by this handy table buried deep inside AA.com:
The
airline has instituted off -
peak award discounts, but they are only available on British Airways flights and not on partner
airlines.
If you can travel during the low season between September 7 and November 14, American
Airlines offers off -
peak MileSAAver
awards for only 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy.
Even though United
Airlines doesn't provide a standard off -
peak award chart, I find that they're pretty good about promoting their
awards with discounted rates.
If you're able to get the 50,000 - mile version of the Alaska
Airlines Visa Signature card, you're golden because its enough for a round - trip, off -
peak award.
American
Airlines offers off -
peak awards that can save you some serious miles.
Even with the off -
peak pricing, American
Airlines awards to Hawaii are pretty steep compared to other frequent flyer programs.
Economy
award tickets to Santorini cost 60,000 miles with any of the
airline alliances, unless you fly during American's off -
peak times at the beginning or end of Santorini's tourist season.
Economy class tickets to Switzerland cost roughly the same with all of the alliances, with the exception of American
Airlines off -
peak awards.
There are three basic types of American
Airlines rewards: off -
peak, MileSAAver, and AAnytime
awards.