But you can fly
there on an award ticket to cut costs.
The area is served by Punta Cana International Airport, and getting
there on an award ticket has never been easier.
The area is served by Gregorio Luperón International Airport, and there are a few airlines that will get
you there on an award ticket.
Mexico City is one of the busiest hubs in North America, making it easy to fly
there on an award ticket, no matter who you have miles with.
Soon enough, most carriers will be able to get
you there on an award ticket, but for now the options are limited.
Easter Island is far away, but there is no shortage of options to get
there on an award ticket.
Not exact matches
Even with these concerns, though, you can see that
there are plenty of ways to book
award tickets and save a ton of cash
on your flights to London.
Get
there: Fly Star Alliance carrier TAP Portugal direct to Porto (OPO) or connecting in Lisbon (LIS)
on a partner
award ticket booked through United Mileage Plus.
Yes,
there has been a Centurion Lounge at LaGuardia Airport for some time... but if you are flying out of NYC
on an international
award ticket, you're probably going out of JFK.
While an
award ticket to Asia
on a United partner airline can be expensive,
there are three main reasons that make it worthwhile.
There's big news out there about airlines changing loyalty programs to award frequent flyer miles based on how much your ticket costs, not how far you travel... and that's going to... Read Mo
There's big news out
there about airlines changing loyalty programs to award frequent flyer miles based on how much your ticket costs, not how far you travel... and that's going to... Read Mo
there about airlines changing loyalty programs to
award frequent flyer miles based
on how much your
ticket costs, not how far you travel... and that's going to... Read More...
This part was easy, since
there was low - level
award availability
on American Airlines through Chicago, so I booked 2
tickets for 12,000 British Airways Avios and $ 5 each.
As long as
there's qualifying activity
on your Mileage Plan account — including flying
on Alaska, Virgin or their airline partners, redeeming miles for
award tickets, eating at Mileage Plan Dining restaurants, buying items via Mileage Plan Shopping portal and credit card spending — your miles won't expire.
There has been a lot of talk lately about a shift in the industry to revenue - based frequent flyer programs, where travelers are
awarded miles based
on the cost of the
ticket and not the number of miles flown.
There's a way around this problem: crediting miles
on one airline to another in order to pool your miles and get an
award ticket sooner.
While many airlines have made it more difficult to score a stopover
on award tickets,
there are still some options out
there such as United's Excursionist perk that can include legal stopovers
on some itineraries.
While
there is nothing wrong with economy class or budget travel, many points - pinching travelers miss out
on bargains because they aren't even looking at the price of the business - class
award tickets.
But while
there are lots of great ways to earn bonus miles, Etihad has squashed one of our favorite benefits
on first class
award tickets.
There will be revisions to the fees for changes or cancellations to your
award ticket or flight upgrades
on Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and our partner airlines.
Because the miles are being used to purchase a cash
ticket you don't have to wait for
award availability to open up — as long a
there's seat for sale
on the aircraft customers can use miles to pay (or part pay) for that seat.
Most programs offer better rates for flights between the U.S. and Israel, though it might make sense to purchase an
award ticket if
there's no availability
on other airlines.
But luckily
there are some rare cases in which you can use hidden city
ticketing on your
award flights.
convert Avios points are extremely cost effective when redeemed for short - haul flights
on both American Airlines and British Airways, although the cost of an
award flight will increase if
there are multiple segments as the cost of a
ticket with multiple segments is based
on the combined cost of each individual segment.
Although I don't fly United very often (mostly because when I do I deal with nasty / clueless employees or my travel reservations simply aren't honored), I rank their frequent flyer miles as the most valuable mileage currency out
there thanks to low fees
on award tickets, the ability to book one - way
awards and great airline partners in Star Alliance.
There are some excellent deals to be had
on American Airlines
award tickets booked using Etihad miles.
This means
there are many options to redeem Asia Miles for
award tickets with a variety of carriers
on flights all around the world.
Even with these concerns, though, you can see that
there are plenty of ways to book
award tickets and save a ton of cash
on your flights to London.
REMEMBER: Virgin Atlantic, like British Airways, charges high carrier fees
on award tickets so
there will be a substantial cash payment to be made alongside the miles outlay.
There is no benefit to booking a round - trip
award ticket as all are priced out
on a one way basis.
And finally,
there are different routing rules for
award tickets — Alaska, for example, allows a free stopover in each direction so you can visit three different cities
on a single round - trip itinerary.
There is still a great opportunity to book
award tickets on Emirates out of Hong Kong thanks to their law preventing surcharges.
You can visit three destinations
on the same
award ticket, and
there are no artificial routing restrictions.
However,
there is one amazing sweet spot for using Virgin Atlantic miles: partner
award tickets on All Nippon Airways (ANA).
There used to be no change fees
on some airlines if the city pairs remained the same
on award travel, so I looked into committing to booking a round - trip
ticket with
awards.
Even though a normal
ticket costs $ 5,706,
there are only $ 98 in surcharges from travel
on Asiana that will be passed
on to travelers booking an
award ticket.
There are also no holds
on awards tickets though.
However,
there are no holds
on awards tickets, and you can not mix partners
on one itinerary.
Get
there: Fly Star Alliance carrier TAP Portugal direct to Porto (OPO) or connecting in Lisbon (LIS)
on a partner
award ticket booked through United Mileage Plus.
There are quite a few options to get to Los Cabos
on an
award ticket.
Right now,
there is an AMAZING
award ticket sale going
on with an airline called Garuda Indonesia.
Many people didn't like doing this because
there are no one - way redemptions available and SKYPASS requires you to jump through a lot of hoops to complete bookings and places restrictions
on who you can redeem
award tickets for (limits to family members, etc.).
Their
award rates are based
on the
ticket fare so
there's no standard
award chart for their redemptions.
Only in difficult situations, when
there is no
award availability, should you rely
on the Membership Rewards online travel portal to book a
ticket.
There is just one problem, traveling around the world
on Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
award tickets is not possible.
I never know my schedule more than a couple months out in advance, so when they settled
on a date for a January 2014 reception in India back in April 2013, I simply searched for a one - way
award ticket from Los Angeles to Mumbai to get
there the day before.
Even though you don't earn elite miles
on award tickets and I value my airline elite status greatly,
there's something extremely satisfying about booking an expensive domestic flight and only paying $ 2.50 in fees, which is what most carriers charge per segment
on domestic US flights (plus any
ticketing fees).
Korean Air's dates are a little better, but
there are two major stretches — from May 15 - June 30 and July 17 - August 23, as well as the holidays from December 10 - 31 that you won't be able to book an
award ticket on Korean Air.
There was another great suggestion that if American's website is showing 2 seats availability, you can open separate browsers and book those
award tickets on both American AND US Airways site (and possibly British Airways site also), due to the latency in how the websites talk to each other.
There are two
award types for
award tickets on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir.
With MileagePlus you can then take Air New Zealand flights from Sydney to New Zealand
on the same
award ticket, though
there's often no Business Class space
on the short 3 hour Sydney to New Zealand flight, so you may have to suck it up in coach for that leg.