↓ It's Not Just What You Do, It's How You Say It American Airlines announced a new five - tier award chart, eliminated
stopovers on award flights and discontinued oneworld Explorer awards in early April with no advance notice to members.
Back in August, I posted about some negative changes that United was making to
stopovers on award flights, effective October 6th of this year.
A sweet spot for Asia Miles is the fact that they allow up to 5
stopovers on award flights, so these miles could be of great value if you go that route.
But you also get free
stopovers on award flights booked with Alaska's excellent international airline partners, including Emirates, Cathay Pacific and Qantas.
The ability to use
stopovers on award flights can save you significant amounts of money.
Not exact matches
Because British Airways calculates the price of an
award based
on individual
flight segments, this means you can actually make a
stopover for as long as you want and the ticket will cost the same.
It used to be that
stopovers in Delta hubs were allowed, which created opportunities for Canadians in Windsor (using Detroit airport) and Vancouver / Victoria (using Seattle airport) to tack
on free
flights onto
award flights.
Secondly, it appears that
stopovers are no longer allowed
on Skymiles
award flights.
Unfortunately, American does not allow for
stopovers, so if you'd like to visit Hawaii
on your way to Fiji or someplace else in the Pacific afterwards, you'd need to book two separate
award flights.
Based
on this check, it looks like using the
award flight to travel from Chicago to Istanbul, then from Antalya home through Luxembourg with the one allowed
stopover, is the best option.
It costs 25K miles + booking fees and taxes to fly
on a roundtrip (with
stopovers)
award flight.
This is also in line with Donna's goal to fly business class or first class as much as possible
on this trip, as a business / first
award booking with a
stopover in Luxembourg takes no more points than a direct
flight back to Chicago would entail.
Having said that, Air Canada has one great feature — you can get up to two free
stopovers and one open jaw
on a round - trip
award flight.
Again using United's one - way
award search tool as a guide, I began searching not for
flights from Auckland to Los Angeles, but rather for
flights from Auckland to Honolulu, then for
flights from Honolulu to Los Angeles, knowing that Honolulu would be a viable
stopover target
on the return journey.
They have also increased the value of their
award redemption options by offering an extra
stopover on their own
flights, as well as through partnerships with select airlines.
They have also increased the value of their
award redemption options by offering an extra
stopover on their own
flights,... read more
I've also written about a nice opportunity to get free
stopovers on domestic
flights, making the Alaska Airlines
award chart particularly valuable: How to Book
Awards on Emirates with Alaska Airlines Miles Alaska Airlines
Awards: Two Domestic One Ways for the Price of One It does take 90,000 miles each way to fly First Class, however, and the big downside is that Alaska... [Read more...]
Because British Airways calculates the price of an
award based
on individual
flight segments, this means you can actually make a
stopover for as long as you want and the ticket will cost the same.
Use if: Singapore Airlines allows one free
stopover on a round - trip Saver
flight (or 2 free
on a Standard
Award flight), which will allow you to visit a new destination.
The flexibility of a
stopover (staying at a destination more than 24 hours after landing en route to another destination)
on a one - way international
award (2 total for round - trip
flights), 2 open - jaws (departing from a different city than the one you landed in), and Starwood Preferred Guest and Alaska credit cards to generate points and miles would be the first option I would consider.
To capitalize
on what United offers for
award tickets, you will need to know a few strategies for booking
flights, including their
stopover and open jaw rules.
A look at how you can make the best of American Airlines's very restrictive rule that prevents travelers from booking
stopovers on AAdvantage
award flights, plus a tip
on how to search for
award flights that some airlines won't show you.
The fact that Alaska Airlines
awards allow a free
stopover on one - way
award flights is a big benefit.
On the shortest
flights within Canada or between Canada and the United States, members can book round - trip
awards with either one
stopover or one open jaw.
Apparently, devaluing
stopovers wasn't enough, and United has now decided that if you wish to actually pay the prices they publish
on their
award chart, you can only select from the
flight options they display for you — no longer are you able to piece together your own itinerary using multi-city search without paying extra.
While Alaska Airlines offers free
stopovers in Fiji
on one - way
award flights to Australia or New Zealand, even if you book with one of their partners.
This is because United has a competitive
award chart for economy
flights, offers a free
stopover on round trip international
flights, and has no fuel surcharges.
In this post, we'll show you how to use United's free
stopover policy to save miles
on an
award flight to Australia.
Alaska Airlines allows
stopovers even
on one - way domestic
award tickets, and you can redeem Alaska Airlines miles
on Alaska
flights and American Airlines
flights!
Alaska Airlines allows you to make a free
stopover on one - way
award flights, even if they're booked
on one of the carrier's partners.
In addition, the program allows you to build in a
stopover on one - way international
award flights.
To move to Alaska after AA devalues: Can you get a free
stopover on one - way 12.5 K
award anywhere except SEA since I'm only seeing AK
flights available to where I travel at the lowest level.
↓ They Figured You Didn't Want a
Stopover At the end of October, Delta SkyMiles members starting noticing that they could no longer book stopovers through the Delta website on international awards (or more specifically, the awards price out as cumulative one - way flights instead of a st
Stopover At the end of October, Delta SkyMiles members starting noticing that they could no longer book
stopovers through the Delta website
on international
awards (or more specifically, the
awards price out as cumulative one - way
flights instead of a
stopoverstopover).
Delta can be valuable for 40K domestic
awards on flights that would otherwise cost $ 800 + or high level 50K w / o
stopover on AA or UA.
On Turkish Airlines: One stopover is permitted where award tickets are used for flights on Turkish Airline
On Turkish Airlines: One
stopover is permitted where
award tickets are used for
flights on Turkish Airline
on Turkish Airlines.
Alaska Airlines allows a free
stopover on one - way
award tickets that are redeemed
on Alaska Airlines operated
flights.
That chart has some real values, such as the ability to fly business class between the US and Europe for 90,000 miles roundtrip instead of the usual 100,000, the ability to pop around Europe with several extra
flights thrown in for 115,000 miles in business class instead of 100,000 miles roundtrip plus another 20,000 miles for each and every additional intra-European
flight, and the ability to fly to Australia in business class via Asia (not normally allowed
on a single
award ticket) for an extra 25,000 miles — and make
stopovers in Asia, and throw in Australian domestic
flights at the same time.
For Aeroplan
award tickets that are only
on flights operated by Air Canada, 2
stopovers are allowed
on any roundtrip to the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico.