Flying Blue also allows a stopover and open jaw
routing on roundtrip awards, so even if you have to pay fuel surcharges, you may be able to get well more than the standard 1 cent per point or less that Citi gives for ThankYou point redemptions.
Not exact matches
This is especially true for West Coast flyers
on routes like Los Angeles to Portland or Seattle for just 15,000 miles
roundtrip in the Main Cabin, 22,000 in Main Cabin Select or 30,000 miles in Virgin America's cushy First Class.
That means flying
roundtrip on this Aer Lingus
route for the same number of points as a one - way in most other programs, whether flying in Economy or Business.
There are a few caveats: flights to most non-Virgin Atlantic
routes or destinations are not searchable online, and
roundtrip flights returning from Europe specifically to the United States often tack
on hefty fuel charges.
Flying Blue, the loyalty program spearheaded by Air France and KLM, puts many of its
roundtrip routes on sale under its Promo Rewards.
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.
Roundtrip between New York and Italy runs 45,000 miles in economy, 90,000 miles in business and 135,000 miles in first class, while United charges 60,000, 115,000 and 160,000 miles, respectively, for the same
route on their own planes.
The taxes
on your
roundtrip award flight using Avios
on Aer Lingus to Dublin will only be around $ 150, while flights
routed from Heathrow cost nearly twice as much in fees.
Per the American Airlines oneworld award chard, a
roundtrip Business Class fare
on any of these three
routes will cost 150,000 miles + taxes (which will be low)
While the number of miles needed for a Business Class redemption isn't exactly low (you're better off trying to get to / from Europe
on United's own aircraft which will only cost 115,000 for
roundtrip Business Class), the taxes for a premium cabin award are low for a European
route.
Flights are already
on sale for the Boston — Las Vegas
route with
roundtrip fares starting at around $ 257 for Basic Economy, $ 287 for regular Economy Class and $ 447 for Delta Comfort +
Here is a chart of some randomly chosen British Airways
routes from London together with the number of Avios and AAdvantage Miles required for a
roundtrip Business Class award ticket
on each
route:
I'm going to have to position from London to Helsinki to catch my Qatar Airways Business Class flight and, although I was planning
on booking the cheapest possible fare to and from Helsinki, this is yet another
route on which you can earn 160 Tier Points for a
roundtrip Business Class fare.
Virgin now offers four daily
roundtrips on the important business
route.
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.
American Airlines will be taking delivery of its first 787 - 9 Dreamliner somewhere around the end of this month and we already know that the inaugural flight will be
on the Dallas — London
route (a one - off
roundtrip) and that the airline will be using the Dallas — Los Angeles
route for crew familiarization.
Note: If you were planning
on taking a
roundtrip economy ticket, I'd check with what
routes are served by Alaska and Virgin America first to make sure you could use this
on your travels since their networks don't cover the US equally.
Alaska Airlines will charge your 85,000 miles
roundtrip in business class
on each
route.
Singapore sold tickets
on the two
routes for roughly $ 8,000
roundtrip.
United had relatively friendly award
routing rules that allowed one stopover and two open jaws
on roundtrip award tickets.Those rules are gone now though and have been replaced by the «Excursionist Perk,» which is essentially a free segment
on an international itinerary.
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.
It is totally possible to pay $ 500 in fuel and fees
on a
roundtrip to Africa depending
on the airline and
route.
Even better, Singapore Airlines also releases saver awards
on this
route which requires even fewer KrisFlyer miles: only 65,000 miles for the
roundtrip in First Class!
This charge can be anywhere between $ 400 - over $ 1000
roundtrip per ticket depending
on your
route and class of service.
AAdvantage would require you to redeem at least 17,500 miles each way for a total of 35,000
roundtrip on its lowest MileSAAver Off Peak award seats, but using British Airways Avios for the same flights would cost just 12,500 each way since it's considered a medium - haul, so you're saving 10,000 miles
on a very popular
route.