This is already a good deal because those partners do
n't have fuel surcharges on their domestic routes (and a few international ones).
If you have these miles, I recommend you think about trips you can take on routes that do
n't have fuel surcharges to begin with.
First, understand that whether or not you'll
have fuel surcharges on your award tickets depends on both the miles you're using and the airline you're using them to fly.
Well, Air France's Flying Blue program
also has fuel surcharges, and since Delta now allows one - way redemptions, they've lost that advantage too.
Other partners not listed may
still have fuel surcharges on regular tickets, but the program has decided you won't be responsible for them when you redeem miles.
The big keys are that you can earn them quickly, they allow international stopovers and open jaws and they
never have a fuel surcharge.
The major drawback is that AA
miles have a fuel surcharge on them when you fly on British Airways, which makes it very difficult to use them to fly to Europe.
Example: Taipei - based China Airlines does not
have fuel surcharges while Shanghai - based China Eastern and Guangzhou - based China Southern, do.
And not all
programs have fuel surcharges, just as most North American programs don't add them to awards on most partners, South American programs are a place to go to avoid fuel surcharges too.
Considering AAdvantage from now... Just one thing to add to your list: flights within Brazil on
TAM have no fuel surcharge either.
There are no fuel surcharges on BA flights within Europe booked with Avios, plus partners airberlin and Niki have no fuel surcharges
If want to fly to Johannesburg on one of the American Airlines or US Airways partners you can pick Iberia Airlines via Madrid (the
route has fuel surcharges, but they are very small), or Qatar Airways via Doha, Qatar.
Previously, you would earn significantly fewer miles if your cash ticket was in a low fare class, but Flying Club members now earn 100 percent miles on all tickets, and all awards
have fuel surcharges several hundred dollars lower on economy class award tickets.
Of course you can avoid fuel surcharges altogether with Avios by flying on carriers that
have no fuel surcharges as covered in this recent post, but Iberia has very good availability and it's always good to have another option.
These awards
still have fuel surcharges, but they are usually much less than when booking premium cabin flights on Virgin Atlantic metal.
Even though American doesn't
have fuel surcharges on its own flights, that might not be an option for getting to Europe.
Aer Lingus flights does
have a fuel surcharge, but it is nothing compared to that of British Airways».
Another good thing about United is that it doesn't
have a fuel surcharge, not even on partner airlines.
You can predict in advance if your award ticket will
have a fuel surcharge.
Domestic flights within the U.S. don't
have any fuel surcharges, so you don't have to worry about this if you use Miles & More to book a flight on partners like United and US Airways within the United States.
ANA does not
have fuel surcharges on its own flights, but does pass on fuel surcharges from partner airlines.
Another good thing about United is that it doesn't
have a fuel surcharge, not even on partner airlines.
Aer Lingus flights does
have a fuel surcharge, but it is nothing compared to that of British Airways».
However, try to avoid booking Delta awards originating in Europe, as
they have fuel surcharges.