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How To Use ExpertFlyer To Automatically Search for Award Space and Upgrades

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ExpertFlyer Membership Tiers

Awards & upgrades availability search, flight alerts, seat alerts, aircraft change alerts, fare information search, flight status search,  flight details, flight schedule alerts, travel information and reference data, additional resources, final thoughts.

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If you’re an award traveler, follow Upgraded Points closely, or are interested in aviation and credit card points, you’ve probably heard of ExpertFlyer.

Planning trips with points and miles can be overwhelming, complicated, time-consuming, or all of the above. All of this hinges on a single factor: award availability. ExpertFlyer is one of the best, most user-friendly ways to access this highly valuable information .

ExpertFlyer is incredibly useful in many ways, but its best use is searching for award availability. Though the tool does much more than that, we’ll focus on availability, which can also be known as “award space” or “award seats.”

This comprehensive guide will provide a thorough walk-through of ExpertFlyer. We’ll start with an introduction and dive into the tool’s features, benefits, and costs. And finally, we’ll look at how to search for award availability, upgrades, flight details, and more.

Introduction

ExpertFlyer is an incredibly useful tool, as we’ve already stated. However, most of the key features are only available with a fee membership .

With a free membership, you can see seat maps (with real-time availability) and set 1 seat alert at a time to find out if the seat you want becomes available. You also can find seat reviews from users on SeatGuru .

For anything else, you’ll need a paid version. A free 5-day trial for new members and 2 paid membership options exist .

A membership to ExpertFlyer can help you with award and upgrade searches, fare searches, flight timetables, flight status, seat maps, and much more. Let’s quickly touch on the membership tiers and why you may want to opt for the top one.

There are 2 tiers of membership: Basic and Premium.

With Basic, you’ll pay $4.99 monthly for up to 250 queries. You can check data from over 400 airlines, search for direct-only flights, search for awards and upgrades, access detailed seat maps, create seat alerts, and more.

The main thing missing from Basic membership is flight availability alerts . With a Premium membership, you’ll have unlimited queries per month, access to flight availability alerts, flight schedule alerts, aircraft change alerts, all published fare pricing, flexible searches of up to 3 days plus or minus your search date, saved queries, and even the mobile edition of ExpertFlyer . Note that paying $99.99 annually saves money over paying $9.99 per month (an annual cost of $119.88).

We’ll look in-depth at each of these features below, but the most important benefit of Premium membership is that you get to set flight alerts. Say you are looking for 2 ANA first class tickets from New York to Tokyo, but there are no flights currently available with any first class space.

With Flight Availability Alerts, you can receive email notifications if/when 2 first class seats open up for an award redemption based on the dates you’ve specified. This eliminates much of the stress associated with award bookings, automating much of the award availability search. Getting an alert when the seats become available means you don’t need to check again, day after day.

This perk alone may be worth the upgrade to Premium membership over Basic, but that’s up to you to decide. Let’s dig into the bread and butter of ExpertFlyer: award and upgrade availability search.

Awards & Upgrades

Flight awards and upgrades are at the heart of points and miles travel, so it makes sense that we spend a significant chunk of time on this.

Generally speaking, the process of securing an award flight consists of 2 parts:

• Award search (most difficult part)
• Award booking (least difficult part)

Award searches often cause headaches and consume the most time. But ExpertFlyer’s flight award and upgrade availability search removes much of the hassle in this sense.

In addition to availability searches, ExpertFlyer offers flight alerts, seat alerts, and aircraft change alerts; we’ll touch on these in the coming sections.

The ExpertFlyer Awards & Upgrades Availability Search receives input information from the user (you) and performs the award search. You can only search 1 airline at a time, and not  all airlines are searchable with ExpertFlyer .

Here’s the list of searchable airlines:

• Aegean Airlines
• Air Europa Lineas Aereas
• Air Mauritius
• Air Seychelles
• Air Tahiti Nui
• Alaska Airlines
• American Airlines
• British Airways
• Canadian North
• China Airlines
• China Southern Airlines
• CSA Czech Airlines
• Garuda Indonesia
• Gol Transportes Aereos
• Hainan Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• JetBlue Airways
• Kenya Airways
• Kuwait Airways
• Philippine Airlines
• Qantas Airways
• Shanghai Airlines
• Turkish Airlines
• Xiamen Airlines

And here are some airlines you cannot search for using ExpertFlyer:

• Adria Airways
• Air China International
• Air New Zealand
• All Nippon Airways (ANA)
• Asiana Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• Avianca Costa Rica
• Bangkok Airways
• Brussels Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• Croatia Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Ethiopian Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Qatar Airways
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thai Airways International 
• United Airlines
• Virgin Australia

You’ll notice that the list of unsupported airlines is much longer after recent changes, where ExpertFlyer lost access to nearly all Star Alliance carriers in early October 2023 . While this diminishes the breadth and utility of the tool overall, it remains useful in some aspects.

Once logged into your ExpertFlyer account , you’ll arrive at the following landing page:

You’ll want to click the button that says Awards & Upgrades in either menu:

After you click either of the awards and upgrades buttons, you’ll arrive at a search page with several fields you’ll use to conduct your search:

Let’s look at an example query:

In theory, all you need to perform an award search is your airport pairs, number of passengers, travel dates, and airlines. However, repeating these searches is extremely tedious, and ExpertFlyer does a great job of reducing your burden.

Here are some of the displayed options:

• You can search using flexible dates (up to 3 days plus or minus)
• You can search for multiple booking classes (first and business class, upgrade fares)
• You can restrict your award search to nonstop flights only

After initializing a query, let’s see what the search results would look like:

I did an award search according to the filled query above, looking for 2 business class seats on American Airlines between New York and London. These are the results. There are 4 nonstop flights, plus numerous connecting options. Of the nonstop flights, 2 have available seats.

In this case, AA 104 and AA 106 have business class award space. Additionally, the on-time departure percentage is displayed in the Frequency Reliability column. In our case, neither is very good — both below 80% on-time performance.

Note that the flight availability may be displayed in a different format . Other airlines may show  Yes  or  No in the results, indicating whether there are sufficient seats for your inquiry. American Airlines, though, shows the number of available seats.

The query search form may look slightly different depending on the airline you’re searching on. For example, if you choose American Airlines or British Airways as your carrier, you can select connecting airports. This option isn’t available with all carriers.

In our case, we’ve chosen to connect in New York (JFK) between Los Angeles (LAX) and Paris (CDG). American Airlines has countless flights on both legs of this route, and saver space (bookable by partners) can be rare.

The result? ExpertFlyer works its magic and up comes the unicorn that is American Airlines’ first and business class availability:

There are 2 seats available aboard the Flagship First class from Los Angeles to New York. Business class availability (3 seats then 2 seats) is featured on both legs. If you ever see 7 seats, more award seats may be available , but the maximum displayed is 7.

Can you see the power of ExpertFlyer’s award and upgrade search? Simply put, if you take the time to learn the system and how to query results and searches properly, you’ll have much to gain out of this.

One thing you’ll want to do is learn about fare classes. Some airlines, such as American Airlines, have different tiers of award tickets. Saver and everyday awards can have a drastic price difference. You’ll want to check off the correct boxes when choosing your fare classes to search. And if you are eligible for elite upgrades, those can add additional fare class options. Click here to learn about the different airline fare classes searchable with ExpertFlyer.

Let’s talk about some of the other core functions of ExpertFlyer.

Let’s go back to those American Airlines flights between New York and London with no business class seats available:

There are 3 buttons on the right side of the flight results page:

• The top button looks like a square with an exclamation point in the center and is used to create an alert for availability on the flight. This is known as Flight Alerts .
• The middle button gives flight information.
• The bottom icon looks like a chair and lets you view the seat map with real-time availability.

Flight Alerts allow you to automatically receive email alerts for either of the following scenarios:

• You see a flight you want, but it doesn’t have award seats at this moment. You want to receive notifications when there are award seats on the exact flight and for the exact number of people in the exact booking class you want.
• You see a flight with more award seats than you need, but you might be waiting on a better flight or more definitive travel plans. You want to be notified when there are fewer than a set number of award seats available so you can decide to book (or not).

Here’s what the dialog box looks like to create an ExpertFlyer flight alert:

You’ll want to name your flight alert, select your cabin class code, select At least or  Less than , choose the number of seats, and click  Verify and Create .

Let’s talk through a couple of examples.

• If you haven’t found enough seats for what you need, create an alert with At least and choose 2 (or the number of people you’re traveling with) for your availability quantity. This will notify you via email when there are 2 seats available on your flight.
• If you’ve found more seats than you need, this means you don’t have to book today for fear of the last seat disappearing. But you can choose Less than for an alert, choosing 3. That way, when just 3 business class seats are available (or less), you’ll know it’s time to make up your mind before the last seats are gone.

Double-check that your flight alert is operational and active by checking the box that says, “Have a test email of this alert sent.”

If you want to set a generic flight alert without performing an award or upgrade search, we’ll show you how here.

From the home screen, click on “Create Flight Alert.” This will take you to the following page:

Follow the instructions and fill in the necessary information to create your flight alert.

Award and upgrade flight alerts can help put an award traveler’s fears to rest. If you’re planning a trip and would love to travel on a specific route and aircraft, you can set up flight alerts with ExpertFlyer to automatically notify you when award space opens up. This is the single most useful perk of the Premium membership tier. 

If you’ve searched for award availability already and want to see the available seat map, ExpertFlyer makes that easy, too. Click on the chair icon to the right side of the search results. You can view the seat map of flights with and without available seats:

After clicking the chair button, a dialog box will pop up, asking you to select the cabin(s) you want to see the seat maps for:

After clicking  Search Seat Map , a display page similar to the following will show:

The legend is located at the top, and you can use this to determine if your “favorite” seat is already reserved. Furthermore, you can view the aircraft type for this flight.

The aircraft type is not as specific as it could be, however. For example, the seat map shown above is for a 777-300ER, though the seat map itself is only labeled “777.” Sometimes, it displays the exact variant, and other times, it doesn’t.

And remember what we said above about “7” as the maximum number of seats available? The search results said this plane had 7 business class seats available, but look at the map. The cabin is nearly empty.

If you want to perform a seat map search without first searching for award and upgrade availability, you can do so from the home screen:

After clicking the seat map button, you’ll arrive at a query page, which you can fill out to view your desired seat map:

The seat map search can help you determine if your favorite seats on your desired flight are available. Some examples include bulkhead business class seats, which can provide more legroom. The process is pretty simple, and the results are easy to interpret.

Another benefit of ExpertFlyer is seat alerts, which you can use similarly to flight availability alerts. These seat alerts will instantly notify you via email when your desired seat is available. There are many cases when this would be useful.

Let’s say you’ve found 2 seats available in Qatar Airways Qsuite business class; then the seat map shows you the only 2 seats left aren’t together:

You can use seat alerts to be the first to know when 2 seats together become available, and then you can call to request them or select them through “manage my booking” on the airline’s website.

Create a seat alert directly from a seat map search by clicking the “Create Seat Alert” button. Next, you’ll see an area to create your seat alert:

If you’re looking for specific seats, you’ll want to check the box that says  Select Specific Seats . In our example, you would choose Any 2 Seats Together .

Not all Qsuite seats are the same. Did you know some are closer together and some are further apart? Or what about the seats that face backward during the trip? Learn about these intricacies in our guide to Qatar Airways’ routes, plane types, and seat options on flights to and from the U.S.

The last main service we’ll cover from ExpertFlyer is the aircraft change alert . This is self-explanatory and much more straightforward.

Your flying experience can be adversely affected depending on the aircraft you’re flying in. An excellent example is Air France: You want to fly in Air France business class on the 777-300ER instead of the A380-800. If you originally booked a flight on the 777-300ER and it was suddenly changed to the A380-800, you’ll want to know so you’re not in for any surprises on the day of your flight.

This is just one example. If you’re flying with an airline that performs aircraft swaps frequently (such as British Airways or Lufthansa), it’s in your best interest to leverage this feature from ExpertFlyer.

You’ll access the Create Aircraft Change Alert from the main menu:

Fill out the flight information, name your alert, and click Verify and Create :

Other Services

Now that we’ve talked about the main benefits of ExpertFlyer, we’ll cover some of the lesser-known parts. These advanced tools might be out-of-scope for some travelers, but we did promise the ultimate guide to ExpertFlyer!

The fare information search is primarily for paid tickets rather than award tickets. Specifically, if you want to learn about the most current fare information for travel between 2 cities, this is one of the best ways to do it.

Some of the best applications of fare information searches are:

• Looking for Y-Up fares — more or less, these are instantly upgraded economy tickets into business class.
• Looking for RTW (around the world) cash tickets given a city and up to 3 airlines of choice.
• Checking how a different ticketing city can make your airfare cheaper.
• Checking how different negotiated corporate and government fares compare.

If this appeals to you, play around in this area to get a feel for it. Let’s take a look at how to get to the screen. From the homepage, click the button that says Fare Information :

You’ll arrive at a fare information search page that looks like this:

Enter your departure and arrival airports, travel dates, any airlines you’re interested in, your cabin, and your currency.

What is Purchasing City ? This is the city from which the ticket will be purchased. You can select any city you’d like — and there’s a possibility that you’ll be able to save a lot of money on airfare by playing around with the purchasing city. Remember that just because you enter a city does not mean you can buy the ticket at a lower price.

A completed search form for travel between Los Angeles (LAX) and London-Heathrow (LHR) purchased in Bogota for travel on April 10 to 17, 2024, on 3 possible airlines (United, Virgin Atlantic, and British Airways) in business class paid with U.S. dollars will look like this:

When you click Advanced Options , your search criteria will be expanded, looking like this:

Here’s what the results will look like. There are a lot of letters and numbers that look like gibberish, but the important thing to observe is the table’s header, which describes each column. Another thing to check is the Legend for the icons on the right:

We won’t go in-depth, but this tool is for conglomerating all your cash ticket prices with specific booking and fare classes. It’s a super technical functionality and extremely useful for those who play around and learn it.

The flight status search receives inputs in 2 ways:

• By flight number, airline, and date
• By departure date, departing and arriving airports, and airline

This screen allows you to find out the status of any given flight. It’s especially useful for people who need real-time data like departure time, estimated arrival time, and even airline notes/comments from the flight.

Additionally, you’ll also see the historical TSA security wait times for the departing U.S. airport and any applicable delay information.

To check out this section, click the buttons as shown below:

After clicking the  Flight Status  button, you’ll arrive at the following screen. You can fill out the search fields by flight number and airline or click the other tab to use a city pair:

Click  Search ; a returned search will look like this:

There’s quite a bit of information here, including the reliability of your flight, the gate and terminal numbers, and even average delays. This is hugely useful for those who like to know what’s going on or are obsessive about logistics and planning.

In addition, you’ll get the terminal-wise TSA security historical wait times for your departing airport, which are super-detailed and broken down by the hour. Lastly, you’ll see any airport delays for either airport due to circumstances like weather, closed runways, etc.

This flight departed late. You can click the  View Additional Comments button to see some of the notes that the airline jotted down for this exact flight:

If you want to know more about the details of a given flight, ranging from the plane to the meals provided, you can do so using the  Flight Details button:

Simply fill in your departure date, airline code, and flight number. Click  Search :

Then, ExpertFlyer will perform the search and return the results to you:

Overall, this search is pretty simple, but it can be helpful for some of us. Clicking the button on the right that looks like an exclamation point lets you create a flight schedule alert, which we’ll discuss in the next section.

If you have an upcoming flight and need to be alerted whenever the flight schedule changes, you can’t always count on the airline to send you information in a timely manner.

This is what  Flight Schedule Alerts are for. Specifically, you can receive email notifications from ExpertFlyer whenever the schedule is changed for any flight in question.

If you’re on the Flight Details page like the image above, click the icon that looks like an exclamation point in a square . A box will pop up, prompting you to name your alert, select a schedule change tolerance, and send a test email:

The schedule change tolerance can range from Any Time Change  to  At least 2 hours .

This last section is a fusion of all the above travel-related functions.

Here are the key pieces of information this area provides:

• Ratings & Delays
• Minimum Connection Times
• Maximum Permitted Mileage
• Connecting Cities
• Interline Agreements
• Visa, Health & Passport

We won’t go in-depth on these since they are either very advanced, previously discussed, or of limited use for most travelers. To get to the page, click the button that says Travel Information :

Select the function you want to use by clicking the appropriate tab, then perform your searches:

We’ll touch on the utility of each button:

• Ratings & Delays: Searches for historical information about a flight, route, or airport.
• Minimum Connection Time: Tells you the time needed for a connection to be valid. It will vary depending on the airport, route, cities, and more.
• Maximum Permitted Mileage: Provides the maximum allowed mileage between 2 cities (limits backtracking). Useful for round-the-world or advanced award bookings.
• Connecting Cities: Shows all single and double connection points between 2 cities. You’ll still need to check the routing rules to determine whether your route is allowed for your specific ticket.
• Interline Agreements: Shows airlines with an Interline Agreement with the queried airline.
• Visa, Health & Passport: Will show airport taxes, health warnings/information, currency restrictions, customs rules and regulations, passport requirements and exemptions, visa requirements and exemptions , and visa/entry requirements based on your citizenship country and your destination countries.

On top of the standard ExpertFlyer services, you can also utilize tools like Airport Parking, Flight Explorer, FlyerTalk, Great Circle Mapper, Seat Expert, and SeatGuru. They aren’t owned wholly by ExpertFlyer, but they’re located all together in 1 convenient place.

Overall, ExpertFlyer is a tremendously helpful tool that should be in every frequent flyer’s arsenal. With the reasonable monthly subscription price of $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year for the Premium tier, it’s a no-brainer and is very affordable if you find the features useful.

There are countless benefits that have proven helpful in my travels, from the flight award and upgrade search to the seat alerts and the invaluable flight availability alerts.

Additionally, there’s quite a bit of non-award flight information that’s still an added benefit, though it may be more technical than everyday travelers want to worry about.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is expertflyer.

ExpertFlyer is an airline travel information website capable of finding award seats, flight upgrade space, seat maps, cheap tickets, and other travel-related information.

How much does ExpertFlyer cost?

ExpertFlyer has limited free functions and also offers a free trial period. The basic membership costs $4.99 per month. For the premium membership, you can pay as little as $99.99 per year or $9.99 monthly when paid monthly.

The functionality differences between basic and premium membership make premium the more beneficial tier.

What can you do with ExpertFlyer?

There are tons of applications for ExpertFlyer. You can:

• Search for airline award space
• Set up automated alerts to notify you when award space becomes available
• View seat maps to optimize seating (bulkhead, window, seats together, etc.)
• Look up travel and visa information
• Create automated alerts to notify you when a specific seat is unblocked
• Perform advanced fare and ticket searches

And much more!

Is Qatar Airways on ExpertFlyer?

No, Qatar Airways is one of 30+ airlines that are unavailable for searches on ExpertFlyer.

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About Stephen Au

Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.

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American Airlines Award Map Tool Is Back!

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The American Airlines award map tool is a powerful way to search for award inventory on American Airlines and participating partner airlines. In December 2019, American disabled a similar tool, but now the feature is back and ready for use.

This tool is especially useful when you have a specific date for travel, but no destination in mind. In today’s post, we’ll cover how the award search map works and how to use it to find and book high-value awards.

What Is The Award Map Tool?

American's award map tool lets users search award inventory for particular dates across a wide region, rather than between two specific cities. Some basic criteria are required:

• Airport/city of origin
• Destination region (or interest)
• Dates of travel
• AAdvantage ® miles available to use

Users can further specify the class of cabin and number of stops for their prospective journey as well. The tool then displays every option that meets the chosen criteria, and in some cases, options that might cost a small amount of miles more than specified. This is fantastic for travelers who know exactly when they want to fly, but not exactly where they want to go.

Finding this tool on the American website was difficult – more difficult than it should be – so if you plan to use it I strongly recommend bookmarking the link . I actually could not navigate to the tool without going to the website's site map , eventually finding the award map tool under the “Award travel” section.

Where The Award Map Tool Shines

For each destination that the tool finds from a given award search, a total price in miles displays as well. Lately, American Airlines has expanded its Web Special awards to include many new routes.  For any flights that price below the mileage amount specified in the American Airlines award chart , you'll instantly know these are Web Specials. Within the continental U.S., Web Specials can be as low as 10,000 miles for what would otherwise price as 25,000 miles – a 60% mileage savings. Below is an example of the tool in action, searching flights from Philadelphia for a long weekend at the end of March:

I won't pretend all of the destinations that return are the most desirable. However, some appealing options do exist. Fly to Santa Ana, California for just 12,000 miles round trip and be at the beach in under 20 minutes after leaving the airport.

Where The Award Map Tool Sparkles

Recently, American Airlines extended Web Specials to include premium cabins , including European destinations for just 84,000 miles round trip. American's award map tool can help travelers find these deals on their dates of travel, too. While a daytime flight lets you enjoy all of the comforts of premium cabin travel to the fullest, the ability to lie flat for sleeping on the overnight journey to Europe is often the priority. You might not find 42,000 mile business class options on every date, but premium Web Specials are certainly out there.

As an added bonus, these Web Specials likely only involve flights on American Airlines metal, so you avoid the issue of sky high surcharges on British Airways flights. Strangely enough though, clicking on the “Book Now” link in the above screenshot won't take you to a page where you can book this award flight. For premium cabin Web Specials only, you'll need to search for these flights once again from the main American Airlines award search page .

Where The Award Map Tool Falls Short

Despite all the advantages of this tool, it has its shortcomings. Three specific issues prevent me from turning to this tool first when searching for Oneworld award space:

• Single Date Searches – You can only search singular dates at a time with this award tool. This clashes with one of the most important ideas when dealing with award travel: flexibility. Having to search over and over again to find whether travel is possible on a few different dates feels clunky, especially when other search tools allow for that capability.
• Limited Search Iterations – After only a handful of consecutive searches with the tool, the blue “Search” box would gray out and not allow me to click again. Especially when the award map tool can only search a single set of dates at a time, this presented a noticeable disruption.
• Lack of Award Levels – While a total mileage cost displays for all options that load on the map, award levels explicitly do not display.  This does not matter if you want to book awards with AAdvantage ® miles, but for booking awards through other Oneworld frequent-flyer programs, it is important to identify sAAver level awards. (For more detail on this, check out our post on booking American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios points .)

Final Thoughts

American Airlines' award map tool offers great functionality for those who know exactly when they want to travel.  However, those with a destination already in mind will find this tool inefficient.  Personally, I plan to use this tool as a “metal detector” for Web Specials.  By specifying a mileage amount just lower than the sAAver level mileage requirement, results will only include Web Specials.  The only decisions to make will be when and where to search.

Will you utilize this award map tool?

• Free checked bags for you and up to 4 companions on domestic itineraries
• Priority boarding to help you win the race for overhead bin space
• A 25% discount on inflight food, beverage, and Wi-Fi purchases
• Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on cable and satellite providers
• Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent at gas stations
• Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on select telecommunications merchants
• Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on car rentals
• Earn 2X miles for every $1 spent on eligible American Airlines purchases
• Earn 1X mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases

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I have a hard using this tool, doesn’t really work. I can see availability on AA website but using the same exact date won’t pull anything up here??

I’m glad this is back. I used to use it all the time

did somebody know if the awards with Qatar are still available ?

Thanks for this information! Great tool!

Definitely a helpful feature to plan trips and spend those miles. Would not know about this without your info.

This is a great tool. Super easy to use. I’m glad they brought it back. Now if AA will only eliminate its point expiration policy and get in line with Delta, United and SWA.

I love the idea of this tool as one for exploratory vacation planning. Sometimes, I really feel like getting away and using my miles at a certain time, but need some help identifying a new place to check out. Looking forward to trying this soon!

Sounds good, this tool is awesome. Thanks for share!

This is a great tool. Very glad that this has returned.

I love this tool

Has the potential to help searches once the bugs are ironed out.

having to nail down to one date range is too limiting for us here. Other bugs mentioned above are disconcerting as well.

I was not aware of this feature so thank you for highlighting it. Probably the most useful aspect is being better able to locate Web specials to maximize point usage. I have historically found it difficult to use my AA points effectively.

Great! I’ll be using this tool to figure out my travel plans this summer! 😀

The tool definitely is a good stepping stone to something better!

El programa de herramientas es muy simple de usar , es facil de enteneder y tiene muybuesnas opciones de premio usando millas atraves de la web solamente y hasta el momento. Pronto se podra hacer telefonicarmente como años atras.

Sounds like a very useful tool.

This seems very useful. I will play around with it today and see what kind of deals I can find! Thank you!

Interesting. I’ll have to check this out more deeply. I will say that I had some issues with the site when using Firefox (likely something to do with privacy settings). I switched to Chrome and everything worked as expected.

Finally we have this excellent tool available again. I used it a lot.

This is a great step forward on improving the AA Advantage program experience to the customers and certainl it helps to award flights. It would be great to increase the number of queries to search for, rather than having this non-sense limitation.

Despite some improvements to be made, this is a very useful tool. I like the possibility to enter the maximum amount of miles you want to spend. This prevents disappointments of popping up destinations I cannot afford.

I celebrate this news. This tool will save passengers a lot of time and money; since the search for the most efficient option when it comes to redeeming is usually quite cumbersome.

This is awesome! As someone with fixed dates of travel this is highly helpful – better than searching destinations one by one

It is a nice start but I would like some more features before I jump on this one.

How will this feature enhance a search if you already have the exact dates and destinations in mind?

Thanks for letting me know. I wish it would search multiple dates though.

Thank you for this link. I really hope that American Airlines continues to improve this map, as it has the potential to greatly improve our award search process.

It is great! Maybe, the greatest award map tool provided by airlines.

I hope AA gets on the ball and fixes the glitches noted above.

I wish other airlines would make an award tool this easy to use.

that is great news! it make using and understanding miles earned quite easier.

This is a solid tool, especially having a graphical interface as a destination view, have seen some really decent Web specials on it as well in the past, glad to know its back.

This is a very helpful tool. Glad it’s back!

Agreed! Just in time for planning our fall travel.

Did not know about this tool – will be a helpful tool in finding flights. Sort of shocked that AA IT is actually behind this given all their other shortcomings.

Standing right next to you shocked. These are the same IT folks that seem to have struggled for years with intuitively designing their main AA.com domain to be user friendly?!

oh! cool! Now I’ve got to find it on the website. I like this option. I hope that looking for award seats becomes easier and easier online. Since the airlines get so much money from it all, I hope that some things change in using miles, as in maybe using some miles toward the cost or other options.

Then someone needs to convince AA that it’s best for them to start getting transfers from a credit card.

Wanna have a try on this tool

I encountered the greyed out SEARCH button after searching for a few different parameters. Went back to the article and see that you had documented that. Had to close the webpage and start all over again to get it to work.

I did not know about this tool at all. Since I do accumulate a lot of AA miles, this will be quite useful for me.

I even didn’t know the existence of this map. It’s a nice discovery for me!

Great news, finally bringing back the tool.

This is a great tool. I have found it’s often easier to get info about seats on BA for mileage redemption from AA these days.

Using the tool to seek out Web Specials is a great idea. Sometimes it is just fun to see where your few miles can take you.

Thanks for the update. I just checked Business/First out through December (January 2021 is blocked). Random dates, none showed availability for Business/First. Hopefully, they are just all gone, rather than a bug in the software. I will keep looking.

This is good news. Every tool we have at our disposal helps.

This map function seems to have one huge problem (beyond that you can search multiple dates at once as you noted). I just did 6 or 7 searches and they all showed me options on the map, but when I clicked one of the option all but once there weren’t actually flights available at the stated price. For example the map indicated business class flights to various places in Europe for less than 60k miles but when you click through all thats available is standard awards costing hundreds of thousands of miles. That makes this function useless.

Wow, that’s annoying. Did you try doing a search from scratch (starting with the standard AA redemption search ?) We noticed that the direct button from the calendar didn’t always work. But in most cases, the link just didn’t work at all, rather than showing different results. Keep us posted if you learn anything new and we’ll update the post.

Thanks for sharing, Drew!

AA needs to know about the bug ASAP so the issue can be addressed to soon!

Now, if only American will open up their premium saver award availability!

Definitely bookmarking for future reference! It would be nice if they expanded the search options to include parameters such as “cheapest dates” if you end up deciding on a destination but are flexible on dates.

Thanks for the alert. Would not have known without the post!

Hello, I would like to ask how I can get some AA miles to avoid losing the accumulated miles, thank you very much.

Hi Roberto, Please read this post: https://awardwallet.com/blog/american-airlines-miles-expire/

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How to Book an Award Flight on American Airlines Using AAdvantage Miles

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American Airlines AAdvantage miles can take you around the world, but redeeming them can be tricky. A flight you thought would cost 25,000 miles round-trip might turn out to cost 60,000 miles. Fees you thought would be around $5 are instead in the hundreds.

Simply put, redemptions can be hard.

That said, the sooner you learn how to redeem your American Airlines AAdvantage miles efficiently, the better equipped you’ll be to get the most value out of them. Here’s your guide to booking an award ticket with American Airlines.

How to find AAdvantage award tickets

Log in to your account.

If you’re reading this, you probably already have an American AAdvantage frequent flyer number and password. If not, you can become a member in minutes by signing up for free at AA.com.

If you have an account but can’t find your password, follow the prompts to have American Airlines reset it. Then, log in to your account and take note of your mileage balance.

Search for your award flight on the American Airlines website

On AA.com, select “Redeem Miles” and then enter your destination and dates. You’ll see results displayed as a grid, with different redemption types for different flights in different cabins. You can refine your search by the number of connections, the airline or other variables.

You can also choose a calendar view, which shows you available redemptions for a whole month. Look closely at each option you’re considering. Sometimes that nicely priced award seat may be for a not-so-nice itinerary, with multiple connections or overnight stays at connecting cities — or an itinerary that requires you to drive across town to another airport to make a connecting flight.

» Learn more: The complete guide to redeeming American Airlines miles

Check seating charts

For AA-operated flights, you can see exactly which seats are available before you book. In the search results, click “Seats” to call up a map showing you which ones are already taken and which ones you can reserve.

It’s the best way to make sure you don’t get stuck in a middle seat 15 rows away from your travel companion.

Use the cancellation policy on your award ticket to your advantage

American Airlines offers a 24-hour cancellation policy. So, if you see a redemption you like, book the award ticket knowing that you can cancel it and get a full refund of your miles as long as you cancel within 24 hours.

Things to know before booking American Airlines award tickets

There are a few points to keep in mind before booking your award so that you can get the best value from your miles.

American now uses dynamic award pricing

One of the last holdouts among domestic carriers, American finally did away with its award chart in Spring 2023. The number of miles you need to book an American Airlines flight now varies based on the travel date and demand. If you are booking a flight on a partner airline, you can use that airline's award chart to figure out how many miles you'll need.

NerdWallet values American AAdvantage miles at about 1.7 cents each . When considering redeeming your miles for award tickets, aim to extract a cent-per-mile valuation that meets or exceeds that valuation.

» Learn more: Your guide to the American Airlines and Oneworld partner award chart

You might have to pay hefty fees on international partner award flights

Your AAdvantage miles can be used to book flights on Oneworld airlines and American’s code-share partners; however, keep in mind that fees on these partner airlines, especially on British Airways, can be hefty.

For example, a flight from New York to London on American Airlines costs 30,000 AAdvantage miles + $5.60 in taxes.

But the same route flown on British Airways costs 30,000 AAdvantage miles + $229.20 in taxes.

Avoid these fees if you can help it by flying on AA partners that don't pass on taxes and fuel surcharges.

With some diligence and flexibility, you should be able to find enough good options to get you where you want to go on an award ticket.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024 , including those best for:

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

on Capital One's website

2x-5x Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options.

75,000 Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

on Citibank's application

1x Earn 1 Loyalty Point for every 1 eligible AAdvantage® mile earned from purchases.

70,000 Earn 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $7,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.

on Chase's website

1x-5x 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

60,000 Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

United’s Interactive Map Search Now Includes Award Travel

Award space now visible on united airlines’ interactive map search tool.

Last year, United Airlines introduced its interactive map for revenue flights. Powered by Google Flight Search, it allowed for filters including budget and travel interests.

Travel interest filters include:

• Beer & breweries
• Food & drink
• National parks
• Skiing & snowboarding
• Snorkeling & scuba
• America, who knew?

I was curious about the last one and filtered by “America, who knew?”. Destinations included:

• Albuquerque (ABQ)
• Bozeman (BZN)
• Charlotte (CLT)
• Chicago (ORD)
• Cleveland (CLE)
• Jackson Hole (JAC)
• Orlando (MCO)
• Portland, Oregon (PDX)

A United spokesperson told me:

“After a long period of not traveling for many of our customers, we understand many members are sitting on accounts with lots of miles and we want to help them find memorable ways to use those miles. United is expanding travel options for MileagePlus members to benefit how, where and when members use miles this summer and beyond.”

The tool is only valid for United or United Express-operated flights. While still a helpful tool, I’d love to see the tool expand to include MileagePlus partners as well. It would also be great to be able to filter by cabin class of service. The current tool only supports economy class (“cheapest”) searches (except in the rare cases where the price of business class is less than the price of economy class, which does occasionally happen).

Specifically, I’d love to be able to input a destination, choose nonstop flights only, and quickly see nonstop premium space for the next 12 months…that would truly be a powerful tool.

Still, the new tool helped me see the cheapest fares (I always search by one-way, but you can search by one-way or round-trip) to Latin America and to Europe, which I like to keep an eye on as I eye future family travel (Europe) and work toward visiting every country in the world.

United’s interactive airfare search tool now includes both revenue and award space. Use this tool to see how far your miles will take you, but don’t stop there – remember, it will not show partner award space, which is often the smartest way to use your miles.

You can check out the map here .

About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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Very cool! Going to go use it now!

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SkyMiles Deals

You’ve earned the miles, now learn where they can take you. Explore deals to cities you already love or discover new destinations that await you. 

* Additional fees/restrictions/baggage charge may apply , Go to footer note . Fares shown are round-trip.

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Advertised fares are based on real-time itinerary pricing available at delta.com. Fares are subject to availability and may change at any time prior to completion of ticketing. Cancellations/Refunds/Changes: Tickets are non-refundable except in accordance with Delta’s cancellation policy. Fees may apply for downgrades/reissues and itinerary changes. Contact a Delta agent or visit delta.com for details. For Award tickets, changes to origin, destination, routing, date and time are permitted except for Basic Economy tickets, and the mileage difference (and any applicable taxes) for the new Award ticket will apply. Members may change or cancel Award tickets without a redeposit or change fee for travel originating from North America to anywhere in the world (including flights operated by joint venture and codeshare partners), excluding Basic Economy fares. Basic Economy Award Travel tickets are non-refundable, but may be canceled before departure for a cancellation charge which will be assessed in miles. Any remaining mileage balance will be redeposited into your SkyMiles account. Mileage difference, taxes and fees apply for any changes. Changes to Pay with Miles tickets are determined by the fare rules of the ticket purchased.

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For travel within the United States (including Puerto Rico), $35 USD fee for 1 checked bag and $45 USD fee for second checked bag. For travel between the United States and Canada, $35 USD fee for 1 checked bag and $45 USD fee for second checked bag. For travel between the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Central America (excluding El Salvador and Panama), Caribbean, Guyana or Bermuda, $35 USD fee for 1 checked bag and $45 USD fee for second checked bag. For travel between the United States and Mexico, $35 USD fee for 1 checked bag and $45 USD fee for second checked bag. For travel between the United States and El Salvador or Ecuador, $35 USD fee for 1 checked bag (Basic Economy only) and $45 USD fee for second checked bag. For travel between the United States and Panama, $35 USD fee for 1 checked bag (Basic Economy only), and $45 USD fee for second checked bag. For travel between the United States and South America (excluding Guyana & Ecuador), no fee for first checked bag and $60 for second checked bag. For travel between United States and Europe, $100 USD or 85 EUR fee for second checked bag. For travel between United States and Africa, the Middle East, and India, no fee for first checked bag and $100 fee for second checked bag (Basic Economy Only). Allowances subject to size/weight limits. For travel between United States and Asia (excluding Australia, New Zealand, China, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea), no fee for first checked bag and $100 USD fee for second checked bag (Basic Economy only). For travel between United States and Australia, New Zealand, China, Fiji, or Papua New Guinea, no fee for first checked bag and $100 USD fee for second checked bag. Allowances subject to size/weight limits. Contact a Delta agent or see Excess Baggage for details.

Award Travel:

Award Travel is subject to government-imposed taxes and fees and carrier-imposed charges, which are the responsibility of the passenger and must be paid at the time the ticket is booked. Taxes/fees/carrier-imposed charges depend upon the itinerary, and will be from $12 to $150 round-trip for Basic Economy travel within the U.S, the Caribbean, Latin America, and up to $340 for Main Cabin travel to Europe. Award Seats are limited and may not be available on all flights or in all markets.

Miscellaneous | Fares, fees, rules, and offers are subject to change without notice. Other restrictions may apply.

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Award Travel Updates

Introducing a broader range of award prices.

As of November 15, 2019, we’re no longer publishing an award chart listing the set amount of miles needed for each flight.

The details:

• Some award prices will be lower than what was published in our chart.
• Other award prices may be higher than they were previously, especially if you’re traveling at a popular time.
• We’ve removed close-in fees, so you won’t be charged the extra fee of up to $75 for booking last-minute award travel.
• You’ll find the exact amount of miles needed for your trip at booking. If your dates are flexible, an award travel calendar is available on united.com or in our app.

Frequently asked questions

What is changing, when will these updates take effect, how many miles will i need for award travel.

We're no longer publishing an award chart listing the set amount of miles needed for award travel on United ® , United Express ® or Star Alliance™ partner flights. Prices for award flights will now fluctuate based on a variety of factors.

Why are you making these changes?

Increasing award prices for the most in-demand flights allows us to offer lower prices on other flights. If your award travel is flexible, these updates will help you make the most of your miles.

How will these updates affect award travel availability?

MileagePlus members can continue to book award travel without blackout dates.

Do the lowest-priced awards have any extra flight restrictions?

No. Our lowest priced awards do not have any added restrictions; the fare rules for all award travel apply.

How can I find the lowest priced award for my travel?

The award calendar on united.com or in our app will continue to show the lowest available price for your destination.

Will I earn miles on my flight if I book an award?

No. As with current award bookings, award travel in the future will not be eligible to earn miles with MileagePlus or any other loyalty program.

What if I need to change my existing award?

If you need to change your award ticket, you will be issued a new ticket for which new pricing and additional fees may apply.

What if I purchase a close-in award before November 15, 2019?

The close-in booking fee will still apply to all tickets booked within 21 days of departure prior to November 15, 2019. We will not refund fees paid prior to November 15, even if travel occurs on or after November 15.

Are you changing the Excursionist Perk?

No, we are not making any changes to the Excursionist Perk. It will remain a benefit of the program.

Why do I see higher award prices close to the trip departure date?

Award pricing is based on a variety of factors, including demand, route, airline, and how far in advance the award ticket is purchased. Generally, booking your award flight further in advance will help you find the lowest price, and booking closer to departure may result in a higher price.

Are there still Saver Awards and Everyday Awards?

Even though award pricing can now fluctuate, you may still see fares labeled as Saver Awards or Everyday Awards, which is designed to help you find the lowest priced award available for your cabin. Saver Awards are the best offering we have on a particular flight. You can also visit our Flight awards deals page to check out our lowest award fares.

About United MileagePlus®: The world’s most rewarding loyalty program

• Last year, members took the most award flights in the history of the program.
• Between United and Star Alliance TM award flights, we offer award travel to more destinations than any other U.S. airline — more than 1,300 destinations in over 190 countries.
• MileagePlus offers more ways to use miles than any U.S. airline.
• Besides air travel, there are also opportunities to use miles for experiences or everyday items like eGift cards, starting as low as 1,000 miles.
• Readers of Global Traveler have selected MileagePlus as the Best Overall Frequent Flyer Program for 15 years.

7 of the best airline award chart sweet spots

One important distinction between advanced award travelers and those newer to the world of points and miles is how each group searches for award space.

Those with experience earning and burning points and miles will carefully study various partner award charts, looking at where to transfer their flexible points and what sweet spots they can utilize. Meanwhile, beginners may log into their United MileagePlus or American Airlines AAdvantage account, search for the destination they want to visit and book the first award they see regardless of price or convenience.

While anyone can accrue a good amount of points by earning welcome bonuses on top travel credit cards , this difference in redemption strategies is huge. Using the right partner program to book your award could save you as much as 50%, depending on the carrier and route.

With major programs switching to dynamic pricing and 500,000 miles for one-way business-class flights to Europe becoming increasingly common, it's more important than ever to know the best ways to maximize your points and miles.

Today, we'll look at some of the best value sweet spot award redemptions. While this list is not exhaustive, if you plan to travel to one of these destinations and have points at your disposal, these are surefire ways to get an excellent redemption value every time. If you're new to the world of points and miles and any of these destinations interest you, you can use this as a road map to instant success.

ANA premium cabins to Japan with Virgin Atlantic points

Virgin Atlantic's partner award chart for ANA is one of the best sweet spots out there. While availability can be hard to come by, and the first-class rates recently increased , this remains an incredible use of Virgin points.

The sweet spot

For this sweet spot, it's important to know that the prices differ if you're flying from the West Coast versus the central and eastern U.S. You can also book one-way flights for half the round-trip prices noted below.

ANA's new business class is called " The Room ," and its new first class is referred to as "The Suite." Both are excellent products that we are big fans of here at TPG — and flying in either means you can visit the always-popular Japan.

You're allowed an open-jaw routing as long as you stay within the same region of the U.S. (West or Central/East). This means you can mix and match airports wherever you find award space.

For example, flying from Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Tokyo's Narita International Airport (NRT) and then returning from Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND) to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) would be a valid itinerary, costing only 95,000 points in business or 170,000 points in first class.

Availability can be scarce — you will have the best luck booking 12 months in advance (as soon as the seats are loaded) or last minute (less than 14 days before departure when unsold seats are often loaded for awards). Your best bet for finding availability is to search for it using the United MileagePlus website and call Virgin's Flying Club to book.

Related: Feels like first class: Flying ANA The Room business class from LA-Tokyo

Earning Virgin Atlantic miles

Virgin Atlantic miles are among the easiest to earn . You can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards , American Express Membership Rewards , Citi ThankYou Rewards , Capital One , Bilt Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy to Flying Club. Keep an eye out for transfer bonuses from Amex or Citi that could drop your costs even further.

Related: How to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for maximum value

Iberia business class to Spain with Avios

Iberia Avios can unlock one of the cheapest ways to fly to Europe in business class.

The key to this sweet spot is to fly a nonstop, Iberia-operated flight of 3,001 to 4,000 miles on off-peak dates (check Iberia's peak and off-peak calendar ). This is because Iberia uses a distance-based award chart for its flights.

Iberia operates several transatlantic flights that fall into the 3,001- to 4,000-mile distance band. As such, you can book Iberia flights between the following city pairs for just 34,000 Avios, plus modest taxes and fees:

• Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD).
• BOS to Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN).
• JFK to MAD.
• JFK to BCN.
• IAD to MAD.

While flights from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) to MAD are slightly outside this range, they also price at 34,000 Avios one-way in business class .

Earning Avios

There are three primary ways for U.S.-based travelers to earn Iberia Avios:

• Transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards or Marriott Bonvoy.
• Transfer Avios from British Airways, Qatar Airways or Aer Lingus.
• Sign up for a new (or use an existing) Avios-earning card , such as the Iberia Visa Signature® Card .

Related: 4 versions of Avios: When to use Aer Lingus, Qatar Airways, Iberia and British Airways

Qatar Airways Qsuite business class to the Middle East or Africa with AAdvantage miles

Qatar Airways has won numerous awards for its innovative Qsuite business-class product , regarded as one of the world's best business-class experiences .

If you don't live near a Qatar Airways gateway, you may be able to find an itinerary that allows you to connect domestically in the U.S. for the same cost.

You can search for award availability online , even if you don't have the necessary miles. Just note that award space may be difficult to come by, so check back regularly if you can't find flights on your desired route.

Earning AAdvantage miles

There are a few American Airlines cobranded cards you can use to quickly accrue AAdvantage miles.

• Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® : Earn 50,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $2,500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening ($99 annual fee that's waived the first year; see rates and fees ).
• Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® : Earn 75,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after spending $5,000 in purchases within the first five months of account opening ($99 annual fee that's waived the first 12 months; see rates and fees ).
• Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® : Earn 70,000 miles after you spend $7,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening ($595 annual fee, see rates and fees ).
• AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® : 50,000 AAdvantage bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.

The information for the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard® has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to American Airlines AAdvantage at a 3:1 transfer ratio. Additionally, if you pay your rent with Bilt Rewards or spend on the Bilt Mastercard® (see rates and fees ), you can transfer your points 1:1 to AAdvantage. Points transfer from Bilt to AAdvantage instantly.

Related: Best uses of American Airlines miles

Cathay Pacific business class to Asia or Africa with Alaska miles

The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan used to be one of our favorite airline programs, as the program once offered some incredible award flight sweet spots . Sadly, Alaska has removed many of its award deals, but Cathay Pacific is one of the remaining Mileage Plan sweet spots that you should book before it disappears.

Flying with Cathay Pacific from the West Coast to its Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) hub will cost 30,000 miles each way in economy. If you can find available seats in premium cabins (which is difficult), you'll pay 50,000 miles per person in business class and 70,000 miles per person in first class.

You can also continue on to several points in Asia, such as various destinations in India and Dubai International Airport (DXB), paying just 50,000 miles per person for a one-way flight in economy. Expect to pay 62,500 miles for a one-way business-class ticket and 70,000 miles for a first-class ticket.

Unfortunately, Cathay Pacific's premium cabin seats are extremely tough to find. If you find availability, we recommend booking immediately. If you need to cancel your ticket later, Alaska will redeposit the miles and refund the taxes and fees without penalty.

Earning Alaska miles

Alaska miles aren't the easiest to earn, as they are not linked to any major transferable program. Thankfully, Alaska's broad list of airline partners means you can earn when flying with many different airlines.

Alaska Airlines also has two cobranded credit cards with Bank of America.

• Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card : Earn 60,000 bonus miles plus Alaska's Famous Companion Fare™ ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) with this offer. To qualify, make $3,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.
• Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card : Earn 50,000 bonus miles and Alaska's Famous Companion Fare; ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after you make $3,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.

Related: Which credit card should you use for Alaska Airlines flights?

Short-haul flights on British Airways with Avios

With dynamic pricing in some programs showing up to 100,000 miles for a single flight in economy, British Airways is a good alternative. The Executive Club program offers low prices on short flights.

British Airways only charges 4,750 Avios each way for off-peak flights it operates from London to destinations up to 600 miles away. This includes destinations in Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, France, Germany, Austria and Italy. Taxes will set you back just $31 (this can vary depending on current exchange rates), though you also have the option to reduce this to $1 by redeeming 9,250 Avios.

Award flights include full-size cabin baggage and checked baggage.

Earning British Airways Avios

The easiest way to earn a meaningful number of Avios for everyday spending is by applying for the British Airways Visa Signature Card . You'll earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. TPG values Avios at 1.5 cents each , making the full bonus worth $1,125.

The British Airways Visa Signature has a $95 annual fee and earns 3 Avios per dollar spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and Level. Plus, you can earn 2 Avios per dollar spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel. All other purchases earn 1 Avios per dollar spent.

British Airways is also a transfer partner of Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy, making Avios one of the easiest currencies to earn .

Points transfer from Capital One, Chase, Bilt and Amex at a 1:1 ratio (in addition to occasional transfer bonuses of up to 40%), while Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to Avios at a 3:1 ratio. Plus, you'll get a 5,000-Avios bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred.

Related: 5 reasons why you should care about British Airways Avios

Air France-KLM Flying Blue promo awards

From paid ticket sales to redemption promotions , there are endless opportunities to book travel at a discount. However, few sales are as reliable as the Promo Rewards we see each month from Air France-KLM Flying Blue .

With Flying Blue adopting dynamic pricing with highly variable rates in all classes, this monthly offer is an excellent way to save on award travel.

These monthly Promo Rewards regularly appear on the Flying Blue website and offer discounts on flights to and from select cities or region pairs. All discounts are only bookable through the end of the month, and there's a set travel window.

Each month, the destinations, discounts and classes change, so keep an eye out for what is currently available. In the past, we have seen deals like:

• 39,000 miles in business class from Miami International Airport (MIA) to London's Heathrow Airport (LHR), flying KLM.
• 22,500 miles in premium economy class from IAD to Munich Airport (MUC), flying Air France.
• 11,250 miles in economy from ORD to Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN), flying Air France.

Earning Flying Blue miles

Boosting your Flying Blue balance is easy since the program partners with all major transferable points currencies.

You can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio from American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. You can also transfer Marriott points at a 3:1 ratio, with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points you transfer.

Based on our tests, Amex , Bilt , Capital One , Chase and Citi transfers should post almost instantly. However, that wasn't the case with our test transfer from Marriott , which took three days to arrive in our Flying Blue account.

Related: Is KLM premium economy worth it on the 787 Dreamliner?

Domestic United flights with Turkish Airlines' Miles&Smiles

United's dynamic pricing means you won't find a set price for flights booked via the MileagePlus program . However, when there is saver-level inventory (the X fare class for economy or the I fare class for business), Turkish Airlines' Miles&Smiles becomes one of the best options available.

For any domestic flight in the U.S., including to or from Hawaii, Turkish requires just 7,500 miles each way in economy. If you're lucky enough to find domestic first class, those award tickets only cost 12,500 miles each way.

For example, we found a round-trip ticket in economy from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Hawaii's Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole (KOA) that only requires 15,000 Turkish miles plus $11.20 in taxes and fees.

This exact same flight would be 25,800 United miles.

The key to this sweet spot is finding saver-level inventory. You can search for these fares on United.com , though note that award tickets in any fare class other than X for economy and I for business class are not bookable through partner programs.

Earning Turkish miles

Miles&Smiles partners with a trio of programs: Capital One, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Bilt Rewards. You can transfer rewards from any of these programs at a 1:1 ratio, and our tests indicate that transfers should process instantly.

Related: The ultimate guide to Citi ThankYou Rewards

Bottom line

When it comes to making award reservations, you need certain stars to align. A little bit of flexibility is required to make the process run smoothly, and that might mean changing the dates of your trip a bit or opting for a destination with more plentiful award space. If these three things fall into place, you'll have a solid award flight.

However, there's a fourth element to the equation: value. If you can score one of the above sweet spots, you're essentially guaranteed to get incredible value from your redemption.

Additional reporting by Andrew Kunesh and Ethan Steinberg.

See Bilt Mastercard rates and fees here .

See Bilt Mastercard rewards and benefits here.

Updated as of 4/18/2024.