And for U.S. Residents Who Don’t See Their Departure or Destination City Named in the Examples
Far too often FCF readers think that our strategies only apply to the routes used to illustrate a given strategy, but that’s not true. The strategies and tactics we outline very often work no matter what your itinerary or departure country. See a short video here showing how to fly Business Class for the price of coach from the South Pacific to Europe.
Here are a couple articles from this issue that use concepts that apply to routes originating in Canada, Europe, Australia, and smaller U.S. cities.
From Our Report On Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Purchase Promotion (page 1)
This strategy uses Alaska’s unique “loyalty program” to save up to $19,100 on premium flights. You can join the program for free from almost every country in the world (on application form, under “mailing address” you will be able to select the appropriate country). Click here to see Alaska’s partner airlines.
The gist of this strategy is building a mileage war chest that you can use to book travel on Alaska’s partners. It doesn’t matter whether you ever intend to fly Alaska Airlines. It’s the miles that you want because of the access they offer—they’re a highly convertible currency. You have to be a member for 10 days before you can purchase miles and miles are priced in U.S. dollars.
The chart below shows potential savings if you live in Canada, Australia, or Europe.
Potential Business and First Class Savings via Alaska Airlines Partner Awards
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From Our Report On Mileage Upgrades for Travel Within the US and Canada
Mileage upgrades are one of the oldest strategies in the loyalty program book—and the most underutilized nowadays.
Canadian Residents: Air Canada is one of the few carriers that doesn’t offer mileage upgrades for all members. That leaves you with two alternatives. You can get a credit card such as the Amex-Starwood Starpoints Card, which offers point transfers to 29 partners. Or you can follow the strategy outlined on page 2. One thing you shouldn’t do is accumulate miles in Air Canada’s loyalty program if you don’t have to.
Other Non-U.S. Residents Flying to the U.S.: For long-haul flights, for example London to Chicago, you often get a better deal by “breaking the fare,” which means making a connection and buying a separate ticket for each flight segment. Flying on short notice London to Chicago via Orlando using two tickets (the first being a published fare, the second using a mileage upgrade from Orlando to Chicago with American) comes to $3,880, whereas booking the non-stop costs $5,552 on British Airways.
Other Non-U.S. Residents Flying to a Destination Besides the U.S.: Most international carriers offer mileage upgrades. Use the formula discussed on page 2 to compare the value of upgrading versus going for an award ticket. Too often even experienced travelers focus too much on getting the latter and miss out on many opportunities.