[aside headline="The Key Element" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]The key to making this strategy work is establishing mileage banks with your preferred carrier’s partners; by using a credit card that gives you access to the multiple airline mileage programs. The best ones are American Express Starwood Preferred Guest, any American Express card that gets you into the Membership Rewards program, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.[/aside]
We live in a time when borders of all kinds have fallen, except for one: the line we draw between domestic and interna- tional flights. The twain meet at a gateway, but other than that, they live in separate corners of our mind. Here’s one small bit of proof: Most travelers, whether novice or mileage-program veterans, would never think of using an international airline mileage program for domestic U.S. travel. Get ready for a new border crossing.
Before we go any farther, let’s recap the term “loyalty partner awards.” This is an award you book on one airline using miles from one of its loyalty program partners. For example, you can use Alitalia miles for travel on Delta, and Japan Airlines miles for travel on American. Sometimes they are alliance partnerships, other times they are direct partnerships.
Getting a Three-for-Two (33% Off)
Let’s start with a New York-Los Angeles flight on Delta, which charges 60,000 miles round-trip for a free First Class domestic award ticket through its own loyalty program, SkyMiles. But book the award using Alitalia miles (a points-transfer partner with Amex Rewards and Starwood) and the cost is only 40,000 miles round-trip (or 35,000 points with Starwood). If you do this three times, the third ticket is, in effect, free because the 120,000 miles you’ve spent only buys two tickets using SkyMiles. See chart below for more sample mileage savings.
Partner Mileage Program Comparison Sample
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