And Which Airlines Offer the Best Return When You Do
[aside headline="The Best Way to Use Double Miles" alignment="alignright" width="half" headline_size="default"]First Class, and when you’re flying on short notice in Business Class or not staying over a Saturday night. In both cases you may be ineligible for a discounted Business Class seat, which means you can easily pay $10,000.[/aside]
Sooner or later, everyone is faced with a seemingly “Indecent Proposal” from an airline—asking you to pay double or nothing: Pay double miles to get an award or you don’t get one.
The current scarcity of low-cost mile-age redemptions is the result of mergers, route consolidation, capacity cuts, and just plain stinginess. The bottom line: There just aren’t as many “saver awards” available as there were in years past
The three questions this article seeks to answer:
- Is paying double the miles ever worth it?
- If it is, which airline offers the lowest double miles award?
- Which destinations offer the best deals?
Is paying double the miles ever worth it?
That’s not to say that paying double is paying too much. There are two situations when it might be worth it.
#1 When the return on miles is high: That means 3¢ or more per mile because that’s the average cost of buying them, whether you’re using a saver or unrestricted award. The math is simple: Cost of Ticket ÷ Miles Required = Return Per Mile.
#2 When you’re getting a First Class seat: This almost always means using the award for an international ticket, which can easily cost $10,000 to $20,000. Here’s a guide, by continent, to using unrestricted awards to get First Class.
Africa: It’s a no-go most of the time either because the mileage cost is just too high or the flight schedule is too hard to keep with just one airline at times. (But Business Class, sometimes, can be worth it on Delta (230,000 miles), if you miss the advance-purchase deadline and the ticket price is $10,000 or more.)
Asia: Definitely go for First Class, especially on American and Singapore, which offer some of the lowest rates. On San Francisco-Hong Kong, for ex-ample, Singapore offers the second best rate (260,000 miles; though not valid for A380 First Class Suites) and the best seat. The ticket would otherwise cost $13,000+. (Currently Singapore flies a B777 on this route, but from Dec. 24 to March 24 it will operate the A380.) You can buy all the 260,000 miles directly from Amex Member-ship Rewards, and still save $4,000.
The lowest double-miles rate from most U.S. gateways is a First Class ticket to Tokyo on American, which charges 250,000 miles round-trip for a ticket that would otherwise cost $11,000 to $20,000.
Europe: American comes in first at 250,000 miles, the same amount United charges for an unrestricted Business Class award. Also, look at Singapore’s B777 First Class if you’re flying New York-Frankfurt from Dec. 27 through March 24. During that time a First Class standard award is only 220,000 miles. This is cheaper than a Busi-ness Class seat on United. Bring the price down to 180,000 miles by taking advantage of the Starwood 25% transfer bonus for every 20,000 miles transferred.
Hawaii: Not a region to cash in miles for an anytime award because rates start at 120,000 miles, but a First Class ticket starts at only $1,300 from the West Coast. The mileage return is too low. The only exception could be if you only want a non-stop flight from the middle of the country, which can cost $4,000+. But many times you can find a deal on Hawaiian Airlines from Los Angeles for around $1,200, making it worth buying a separate ticket to Los Angeles in many situations.
South America: American offers the best First Class rate at 250,000 miles for a ticket that can easily cost $10,000 to $18,000. (United charges the same rate just for an anytime Business Class award, so American mileage holders might count themselves as getting a “free upgrade” here by using American over United.)
South Pacific: At 320,000 miles, United offers the best value for a First Class ticket to Sydney, which can cost as much as $24,000 (from Washington). That’s a return of 7.5¢ per mile ($24,000 ÷ 320,000). Costly, but worth it if you have the miles and are looking to splurge.
Side notes and fine print:
- Unrestricted mileage awards are usually only valid on the airline with which you have miles, not its partners. Thus, an American AAnytime award cannot be used on Cathay Pacific and a United Standard award cannot be used on Lufthansa.
- If you can’t get a round-trip saver award, combine a saver and unrestrictive award for access to more award seats. This can be done with airlines that allow you to “mix and match” award levels, such as Delta and US Airways, or with airlines that offer one-way awards—yet another reason you want to play FCF’s One-Way Award Strategy Game, outlined in detail on page 2 in the March 2012 issue.
Airlines that offer anytime awards and also allow one-way awards include Alitalia (up to 67% of the round-trip cost), American, Singapore, and United. This would allow you to book an anytime First Class one-way on American and a saver First Class the other way on United, for example.
- Some airlines are not included in the chart below because they only offer unrestricted awards to elite members. Among these carriers are: Air Canada’s Priority Rewards, Air France’s Flex Award, British Airways Gold Award (only to top elites), and Lufthansa’s Senator Premium Awards (also only top elites). If this is you, you’re probably very familiar with the details.
- Maximize your award options by using a credit card program that allows you to transfer points to numerous airlines. The best ones are Amex Rewards, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Starwood. Again, the FCF issue covers them in detail.
Unrestricted Mileage Awards Levels (in thousands of miles)
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