Top 8 Airline Miles Programs – 2016 Edition

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Tara

I last made my recommendations of which airline miles programs to join back in 2012 so with all the changes I think it’s time for an update! Which programs are still good? Which ones no longer exist? Which ones are less valuable than before? How can Australians and Americans get free miles from credit cards? Read on!

WHAT MAKES A PROGRAM “GOOD”?

I attribute greater value to programs which require minimal outlay of cash (no fuel surcharges) and better opportunities to get miles from everyday credit card spend and sign up bonuses.
“Buy miles 100% bonus” deals may have value to people who have cash to outlay but since this is a guide for cash poor people who want to travel I am not including them here.
These recommendations are for eco-tourists so I haven’t considered luxury travel to Europe and Asia redemptions.
Free miles from E-Rewards is a plus.
I have not taken elite programs into account in any of the below programs.
I am not a credit blogger so please use other resources to find the best deals on sign up bonuses.

1. American Airlines AAdvantage – One World member

Has more options between USA and Australia on Qantas, Air Pacific or Air Tahiti Nui, also great for LAN or AA to South America and Africa via Qatar or direct QF flights. Can book several of their partners online with AA planning to add more as they go along. One way awards at half round trip rates. Save AA miles for long hauls if possible, use BA for short haul. No fuel surcharges except BA and IB awards. E-Rewards participant.

Americans get miles from Citibank co-branded cards and the grandfathered Barclays Aviator cards (not available to new applicants). You can also transfer points from SPG best done in blocks of 20k to get 5k bonus.

Australians get miles by transferring preferably blocks of 40k Amex MR points to get 20k SPG, then blocks of 20k SPG to get 5k bonus.

2. United Airlines Mileage Plus – Star Alliance member

Good for awards to South-east Asia on UA, SQ & TG; Central & South America on Copa & Avianca and Africa on South African, Ethiopian and Egypt Air. Also very good for intra-Latin America and intra-Africa. E-Rewards participant.

Americans get miles easily via Chase’s Ultimate Rewards cards and co-branded United Explorer card.

Australians have a much harder time getting miles as the SPG route is a poor value at 20k SPG gets 10k United plus bonus of 2500. Most Aussies will find Singapore a better Star Alliance partner.

3. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer– Star Alliance member.

Don’t keep miles in here if you can’t use them within 3 years because they expire whether you have activity or not. Be careful of fuel surcharges on Asian routes. Good for redemptions on NZ between Australia and Pacific islands & redemptions on Avianca & Copa for Central/South America trips as no fuel surcharges.

Americans get miles from Chase’s Ultimate Rewards cards, Citibank Thank You cards, American Express Membership Rewards & SPG.

Australians get miles from American Express Membership Rewards 1000:1000 and transferable rewards programs from Westpac and ANZ.

4. British Airways Avios and Iberia Avios– One World members

Same Avios currency but you need to join both BA and IB’s versions to maximize it. Pretty easy to earn Avios via E-Rewards and can also credit stays at Accor hotels to Iberia’s program and transfer easily between BA and IB. Not a great program for long haul or itineraries needing connections but excellent for short haul within South America on partner LAN, the BA-Comair flights within Southern Africa or within Australia on partner Qantas. Some nice 5th freedom flights in the Caribbean – Trinidad to St Lucia gets you between 2 islands with good birding.

Americans get miles from Chase’s Ultimate Rewards cards and co-branded British Airways card. You can also transfer points from SPG best done in blocks of 20k to get 5k bonus.

Australians get miles by transferring preferably blocks of 40k Amex MR points to get 20k SPG, then blocks of 20k SPG to get 5k bonus. Aussies need to use a European or American address as they don’t accept memberships with Australian addresses.

5. Flying Blue – Sky Team member

Be careful as most redemptions here attract fuel surcharges. Flying Blue can get you some places that are otherwise very difficult to get to such as Kenya Airways flights to Madagascar and Garuda domestic Indonesia flights (no surcharges). Also use on short haul flights on Gol, Aerolinas Argentinas (no surcharges) and some other interesting partners. Participates in E-Rewards. Miles expire after 20 months of when they were earned unless you credit a Sky Team flight to Flying Blue. Non-flying activities such as credit card spend and E-Rewards don’t renew your expiration date.

Americans get miles from Citibank Thank You cards & Amex Membership Rewards. You can also transfer points from SPG best done in blocks of 20k to get 5k bonus.

Australians get miles by transferring preferably blocks of 40k Amex MR points to get 20k SPG, then blocks of 20k SPG to get 5k bonus.

6. Virgin Velocity – Not in an alliance.

Good for short-haul to New Zealand and Pacific islands, domestic Australia flights and sometimes long haul to USA and Asia. Participates in E-Rewards.

Americans get miles from transfering SPG points best done in blocks of 20k to get 5k bonus. You need an Aussie address to join.

Australians have numerous credit cards (basically every bank in Australia) that earn Velocity points directly or transfer there. Keep an eye out for huge sign on bonuses which have greatly improved in the last year or so. There is a new partnership with BP to get 2 points per litre with occasional targeted bonuses.

7. Etihad Guest – Not in an alliance

I never looked twice at this program until they partnered up with Flybuys. I did a recent review with Aussies in mind (sorry Americans) and found some interesting options with partners and decent value to Africa. Probably not a good program for Americans to join, better to use AA redemptions on Etihad awards. Beware of miles expiring after 2 years, don’t transfer them until you are within booking range. Activity does not renew the expiration.

Americans get miles from Citibank Thank You cards. You can also transfer points from SPG best done in blocks of 20k to get 5k bonus.

Australians get miles from American Express Membership Rewards 1000:1000 and the new Flybuys partnership FB 10,000: EY 4000.

8. Qantas Frequent Flyer – One World member

Use for domestic Australia or short-haul to NZ, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Has fuel surcharges on most routes with the possible exception of LAN intra-South America.

Americans get points from Citibank Thank You cards.

Australians get points from co-branded Qantas cards, just about every bank in Australia has them. Unfortunately the Woolies and Optus partnerships are gone so much harder to get points now outside of credit cards.

Obviously not everyone needs to use ALL these programs. It depends on where you want to go. Situations change so you need to be constantly evaluating. A month ago I wouldn’t have considered Etihad Guest but now I can see getting at least 16,000 free miles each year just by grocery shopping at Coles and using bonuses. From the previous list US Airways Dividend Miles is gone and the Avianca Lifemiles program is no longer as valuable as it once was due to devaluations. It is no longer so easy to get Qantas miles as they eliminated their best “every day spending” partners. American may lose it’s #1 position if they devalue their awards. I say as long as it’s free to join a program, then do so as you never know what deals may come in the future!

Best & Worst Frequent Flyer Programs

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Tara

This interesting interview takes a look at how the 25 largest frequent flyer programs in the world stack up when it comes to redeeming your miles.

Here are the best and worst airlines for using travel rewards. I have bolded the programs that I use and added my observations.

1. airberlin, top bonus

1. Southwest, Rapid Rewards – I joined this one just because it seems to be the only way we can fly from SJU (Puerto Rico) to mainland USA. No availability on other programs the date I wanted.

3. Virgin Australia, Velocity – easy to redeem on their own flights, even managed to snag a domestic USA route I needed for next year on Delta!

4. Air Canada, Aeroplan

5. Singapore, KrisFlyer – yes, easy to get flights but crazy expensive fuel surcharges!

6. JetBlue, True Blue

6. Lufthansa/SWISS/Austrian, Miles & More

8. Air Asia Group, BIG

9. Alaska Group, Mileage Plan

9. British Airways, Executive Club – my go-to program for shorthaul OneWorld flights

9. China Southern, Sky Pearl Club

12. United, MileagePlus – partner availability better than their own flights but excellent online booking interface.

13. Qantas Group, Frequent Flyer – easy to book but expensive fuel surcharges.

14. Alitalia, MilleMiglia

14. GOL, SMILES

16. American, AAdvantage – better availability on international than domestic, no fuel surcharges!

17. Cathay Pacific, Asia Miles

18. Emirates, Skywards

19. Air France/KLM, Flying Blue – useful for flights in exotic places on KQ & GA

20. Turkish, Miles & Smiles

21. Delta, SkyMiles

22. Scandinavian, EuroBonus

23. Air China, PhoenixMiles

24. Avianca, LifeMiles – easy to use on their own metal but I hear not so easy on partner awards.

25. LAN, LANPASS – had to join as I couldn’t get flights to Galapagos any other way. Call centre is useless. They take your complaint, raise a “case number” when apparently disappears into a black hole. Why do they even bother?

15% Bonus When You Transfer Credit Card Points To Virgin Velocity

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Tara

If you have a credit card from any of the banks below, you have 2 more weeks to take advantage of this promo. They do these bonuses once a year, maybe twice if you are lucky. Since I am an advance planner, I wait for them when I have a trip planned to a Velocity destination like Rarotonga, Tasmania or anywhere else they fly.

Velocity Promo

If you do not have an Amex card, I can get you up to 40,000 sign-up bonus points if I refer you. Please post below in the comments and include your real email (which won’t be published) and I will email you a referral. I can refer for several different Amex cards. Although some of the cards have a high annual fee, it can be offset by the free airline ticket that comes with the card.

Amex Referral

Getting To Central Asia With Frequent Flyer Miles

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Tara

Out of the countries classified as “Central Asia”, the ones that offer the best birding are India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. This is one area you have to carefully check how your airline’s program defines Central Asia, sometimes Sri Lanka is put into South-East Asia. If you are married to or involved with a non-birding partner, this is a great region to plan a trip to as they will find plenty to do while you are off chasing birds. Unfortunately, being so far from everywhere it can be very expensive to get there whether you use miles or cash. Let’s look at a few options using the top 8 frequent flyer programs for eco-tourists.

Central Asia Map

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

AMERICAN AADVANTAGE

For most people, joining American Airline’s AAdvantage will be the best option. They have quite a few credit card options to quickly build your miles stash and a few partners such as E-Rewards and various hotels where you can transfer points in. The region is called “Indian Subcontinent and Middle East” on this chart and includes Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Maldives, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan.

Please note that Sri Lanka is in South-East Asia for award purposes so you would do better to use Avios for routes between India and Sri Lanka.

Airlines which serve this area include British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas with Malaysian Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines and Qatar Airways joining very soon.

Peru Award2

USA and Canada: Each way is 45,000 economy; 67,500 business; 90,000 first. You can use British Airways, Air Berlin, Finnair, Iberia and Etihad but there are no stopovers allowed.

UK and Europe: Each way is 20,000 economy; 30,000 business; 40,000 first. You can use British Airways, Etihad or (coming soon) SriLankan Airlines; or use Finnair, Air Berlin or Iberia to get to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong or anywhere Qantas flies.

Australia and New Zealand: Each way is 30,000 economy; 45,000 business; 60,000 first. You can use Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Malaysian.

QANTAS

For Aussies who have easy access to Qantas points via their employer or Everyday Rewards, it’s worth checking out QF’s awards to Central Asia. Use their points calculator as the awards are distance based, not by country. The awards look expensive compared to AA, UA and US but if you got your points for free, might as well enjoy them! Here is an example of what you could expect from one way in economy from Sydney to Mumbai.

AVIOS (BRITISH AIRWAYS AND IBERIA)

Later this year, Sri Lankan Airlines will join One World, which opens up bargain redemptions for local short routes. In the examples below, the awards will range from 4500 Avios to 10,000 Avios. Compare the distance traveled with the screenshot of the Avios distance chart below.

: .

: AVIOS AWARD CHART

STAR ALLIANCE AIRLINES

No matter where you live, the two best programs to use in Star Alliance are United and US Airways. Both have their pros and cons. With United, you can book partner awards online, book one-way awards and get lots of miles via several Chase credit cards; but if you can’t get these cards it can be hard to get miles in United Mileage Plus. With US Airways, the major drawbacks are you have to book round-trips and you can’t book online, you have to call them. The advantage with US Airways is that they offer frequent “Buy miles, get 100% bonus free” promos and in the past, they had the wonderful Grand Slam promos where it was possible to do partner transactions and with careful planning you could get about 120,000 miles for $400-600 incremental cost. The US Airways Grand Slam hasn’t been seen since Sept-Nov 2011, unfortunately they didn’t do it in 2012. Depending on where you live, Avianca/Taca Lifemiles could be useful too, but it is hard to use their booking engine for complicated routings so I suggest saving them for USA-Central/South America where they offer better value and ease of booking.

: US Airways Chart

US AIRWAYS (round-trip only) Region is South & Central Asia which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Chagos, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

USA and Canada: Economy 80,000; Business 120,000; First 160,000. You can use United, Air Canada, Air New Zealand (hard to get) or sometimes take the “scenic route” via Asia using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana or ANA (All Nippon Airlines). US has recently started enforcing MPM (maximum permitted miles) so some Asian routings may not be acceptable.

UK and Europe: Economy 70,000, Business 90,000; First 110,000. Most people try to get routings using Singapore, Thai, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines. Some airlines do not give US Airways business or first class awards such as Singapore, Lufthansa and Swiss.

Australia and New Zealand: Economy 70,000, Business 90,000; First 120,000. You can fly on Singapore, Thai and Air New Zealand.

UNITED AIRLINES (can book one-way or round trip.

The award chart is too big to copy paste here so please follow this link to see the whole chart.

USA and Canada: (each way) Economy 40,000; Business 60,000; First 80,000. You can use United, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Turkish, LOT, Egypt Air or sometimes take the “scenic route” via Asia using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana or ANA (All Nippon Airlines). You can easily see the routings via their online award booking engine.

UK and Europe: (each way) Economy 30,000, Business 50,000; First 60,000. Most people try to get routings using Singapore, Thai, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines. You can easily see the routings on their online award booking engine but be careful if you are looking at business or first class awards as sometimes they offer mixed class awards and the long-haul section could be in economy with a short sector in business or first.

Australia and New Zealand: Economy 30,000, Business 45,000; First 60,000. You can fly on Singapore, Thai and Air New Zealand.

Here’s an example of London to Mumbai, as you can see they quote both the miles and taxes and the business class award are “mixed class” and if you hover over the fare, you can see which flight is in which class.

LHR – BOM

You can see how much cheaper it is to fly from Brussels due to the very high UK departure taxes.

These are just a few examples, please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

If you need ideas on how to acquire frequent flyer miles, please see the Resources tab and Miles and Points tab. which I will update with new offers for free or cheap miles.

LIST OF PARROTS IN CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES

INDIA

NEPAL

SRI LANKA

Sizing Up The AA – US Merger

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Tara

AA US Merger

It’s all over the main news channels and the travel blogosphere, AA and US have announced their imminent merger on Valentine’s Day no less! FlyerTalk and other travel blogs are buzzing madly with speculation on what this all means for them. Both airlines are on my list of top 8 airlines for eco-travelers. So far, all we know officially from AA in regards to the frequent flyer programs:

Enjoy a more rewarding travel experience with American Airlines AAdvantage® and US Airways Dividend Miles.

At this time, American and US Airways will remain separate companies and each company will maintain its current loyalty program. Your AAdvantage miles are secure and existing miles will continue to be honored. Likewise, your elite qualifying miles and your elite status, including lifetime status granted under the Million Miler^SM are secure and remain intact. In addition, you will continue to earn miles through existing AAdvantage participating companies, including the Citi^®/ AAdvantage credit cards and will be able to redeem those miles for the same great awards – flights, upgrades, car rentals and hotels, just to name a few.

You will continue to have options for travel and benefits both domestically and internationally through our continued membership in the oneworld^® Alliance. As they do today, our oneworld^® partners will offer you access to a range of destinations, airline choices, and mileage earning and redemption opportunities.

You can continue to book, track and manage flights and your AAdvantage account on AA.com.

Ultimately, the combined company is expected to offer members more opportunities to earn and burn miles from an expanded global network of routes and partnerships, unmatched redemption options — including flights, hotels, car rentals, vacation packages, one-way awards and lounge memberships – and much more.

And from the US Airways site:

Enjoy a more rewarding travel experience with US Airways Dividend Miles® and American Airlines AAdvantage®. Both programs are among the most popular loyalty programs in the world and will continue to offer best-in-class elite programs, unmatched redemption options and more ways to earn miles from an expanded global network of routes and partnerships.

Until the merger is complete, US Airways and American Airlines will remain separate companies and each company will maintain its current loyalty programs (US Airways – Dividend Miles and American Airlines – AAdvantage). Existing miles will be honored, and there will be no impact to your US Airways MasterCard® or US Airways Visa® card. You can continue to earn and redeem mileage for travel awards with us and our Star Alliance partners. You can also continue to book, track and manage flights on usairways.com.

THE EFFECT ON ECO-TRAVELERS

It’s going to be tough to assess the effect on eco-travelers because both alliances have their strengths. Right away, I can see that people traveling between North America and the South Pacific are going to have to fork out more miles in the AA program. These awards currently cost 75k in Y and 125k in J using AAdvantage vs 80k in Y and 110k in J on US Airways. If a trip to Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands and other Pacific Islands is on your wish list and you want to travel in business class, you might want to consider bringing it forward to take advantage of the bargains on US Airways. Economy travelers will find AA’s award cheaper.

Once US Airways leaves Star Alliance for One World, you won’t be able to access some airports like Rarotonga. If you have a trip planned and had earmarked US miles to pay for it, check to see if it will be accessible using One World carriers. Star Alliance/US Airways also had an edge on awards from North America to Africa, North-east Asia and Central Asia.

WHICH STAR ALLIANCE CARRIER TO USE?

Americans will probably be better off with United since there are several credit cards that can be used to either direct sweep to UA or transfer via Ultimate Rewards. If you are not an American and can’t get the Chase credit cards, first check what kind of credit cards you CAN get. Chances are, you may be able to transfer them to another Star Alliance partner such as Thai, Singapore, Lufthansa, ANA, Asiana or Avianca-Taca.

If you can’t get any credit cards, Avianca-Taca LifeMiles will be the main source of buying miles cheaply to redeem on Star Alliance carriers. They currently have a share miles 100% bonus promo until the end of Feb but you must have been a member prior to the promo being released. People who want premium cabin awards may be frustrated if they can’t find the same cabin class all the way through. You can’t mix classes such as Y from MCI-LAX and J from LAX-BKK for example. If you only want an economy award, you’d be fine with LifeMiles.

ONE-WORLD IS GOOD FOR ECO-TRAVELERS

Assuming you don’t have other issues such as elite benefits, hub airports and upgrade certificates, the change can be positive for most eco-travelers. One World does cover most of the places we want to go. LAN and new partner TAM (soon to be One-World) have South America pretty well covered and can even get you directly from Australia to South America without having to transit the USA. Qantas can get you to anywhere in Australia, several places in New Zealand and many Pacific Islands. New partner Malaysian and original One-World member Cathay Pacific can get you between Europe and Asia/Pacific. Qatar and Sri Lankan are joining soon. AA also has non-alliance partners of interest such as Air Tahiti Nui, Air Pacific and Etihad. PLUS, once the miles are merged, you will be able to use your hard-earned US miles for one-way awards!

THE BAD NEWS

The merger puts the last nail in the coffin of the US Grand Slam promo that netted some of us huge amounts of miles at a very low cost between 2008-2011. They didn’t have it last year but we could only hope for 2013 – well hope no more!

US has traditionally had 100% bonus miles on buying miles several times a year. AA has been more conservative with only 30-50% bonus on buying miles and they have it tiered so if you only need a few to top up to an award level, it could be as low as 10% bonus. If you want to top up your US account now, there is a targeted promo to US Mastercard holders for 100% bonus and 50% bonus to everyone else.

If you want the US Mastercard, better get it now. The current best offer is this one. The Chairman’s offer which had the 10,000 anniversary bonus miles was pulled today. We don’t know if this card will be churnable going forward so will have to monitor the FlyerTalk thread for new data.

If you have upcoming hotel bookings and/or car rentals you plan on crediting to an airline, check the offers on both AA and US for the best deal.

Sharebuilder is currently offering 2500 US miles for new accounts. Most of us already did this one for the last Grand Slam in 2011 but if you haven’t done it yet, might as well grab some cheap miles. Use the portal from the US page.

TIME TO ASSESS YOUR TRAVEL PLANS

The likely timeline for full integration has been posted by several people, this one on FlyerTalk sounds pretty logical to me. Star Alliance awards will be more expensive on United Mileage Plus or Avianca-Taca LifeMiles than they are in US Dividend Miles. Size up your travel plans and see if it’s worth doing them sooner rather than later or if it would work better in your favour to wait until the phase where they let you move miles back and forth between the two programs for a few months. Miles To The Wild will be keeping you updated with any new developments as they are released.

Changing The Frequent Flyer Number On A BA Avios Award

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Tara

This is a nifty little trick I learned on FlyerTalk in this thread. Hat-tip goes to turkeyRIOO for showing me how to change the frequent flier number in my Avios booked award ticket from LAX to OGG on AA. When I booked it a few months ago, I didn’t really care which frequent flier number showed up as I don’t have elite status on any airlines. I was able to book seats on AA.com and that was enough.

Just a couple weeks ago, I got a Citi AAdvantage Amex which comes with nice little benefits like priority boarding and one free bag for me and also for my husband who is booked on the same PNR but to access the benefits, you must have your AAdvantage number in the booking. I was able to pull it up on AA using “Find A Reservation” but the frequent flier field had my BA number in it and it was greyed out so I couldn’t change it.

I could have called AA to change it but with no elite status, I usually end up on hold for 30-40 minutes, but the Finnair trick worked like a charm. The details are in the FlyerTalk thread referenced by turkeyRIOO.

It’s quite simple, just go to Finnair.com, enter your name and BA record locator. You will see a link to update your details. Click on this, enter your AAdvantage number and done! Then go back to AA.com and you should see you Advantage number in your profile under the reservation.

How To Prioritize Your Airline Miles Goals

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Tara

I have my Top 8 programs that I concentrate on for miles collection to maximize opportunities in both One World and Star Alliance. I am not lucky enough to have employer paid travel that allows me to earn “free” BIS (butt-in-seat) miles so I have to be more creative in using partners to earn miles. However with limited funds, there is only so much I can do and even within my Top 8 programs, I need to prioritize whose miles I want to earn first. Sky Team doesn’t interest me at all because I don’t like their major US partner – Delta’s frequent flyer program. If Virgin Australia joined Sky Team, they may be of interest but for now they have nothing to offer me that I can’t already get from Star Alliance and One World.

Factors that I don’t care about but you might: Business travel (employer’s preferences), paying for mileage runs and earning elite status.

KNOW WHERE YOU WANT TO GO AND WHICH AIRLINES CAN GET YOU THERE

I want to go to destinations that offer good birding with a high population of parrot species. I also have family in the USA and I attend a major parrot conservation conference in Tenerife, Spain every 4 years. If there are promos (Grand Slam, credit cards) that allow me to easily acquire miles I would spend them on business class for at least long-haul, otherwise we would fly economy if that’s all we can afford. So here’s how this all adds up.

SOUTH AMERICA – can be reached directly from Sydney on LAN with connections elsewhere. Y class is reasonably easy to get, J class is very difficult.
CENTRAL AMERICA – could reach from South America via LAN or from the USA via Avianca-Taca, Copa, US Airways, United (Star Alliance) or American and LAN (One World).
ASIA (INDIA, SRI LANKA, THAILAND, MALAYSIA, INDONESIA) – easily reached on either alliance with generally good availability in award seats.
EUROPE – has good connections with both alliances to major European cities, however only Iberia (One World) can get me all the way to Tenerife. I want to avoid using BA for long haul due to high taxes.
USA – this is the most difficult award for me to get as there is a lot of demand from both USA and Australian based frequent flyers. Award seats in business class are very hard to get, even economy is drying up on Air New Zealand. It can be possible to route via Asia but MPM (Maximum permitted miles) can cause problems. For Star Alliance, NZ would be ideal if they would just start releasing award seats! Otherwise, we need to connect in either BKK or SIN and again in NRT or ICN to get to the USA. For One World, Qantas has the only direct flights but since I am using AA miles, I also have Hawaiian and Air Pacific as potential award routes. Unfortunately no stopovers are allowed.
PACIFIC ISLANDS – We go to Rarotonga every few years so my husband can see his family. Only served by Air New Zealand (Star Alliance) and Virgin. Other islands that are on our radar with airlines that can get us there are: Tahiti (NZ), Fiji (Qantas, Air Pacific, Virgin, NZ).
DOMESTIC AUSTRALIA – One World has the monopoly on alliance based flights – Qantas. I can also earn miles on Virgin with everyday shopping and partners.
AFRICA – I have a bucket list birding trip I would like to do with stops in DAR for Tanzania, JNB and PLZ for South Africa and MRU for Mauritius. This trip would have very high out of pocket costs on the ground so would require years of saving or a Lotto win. There are options with both Star Alliance (South African, Turkish, Ethiopian, Egypt Air) and One World (Qatar, Malaysian) but once again this is a major goal I would have to save a long time for. I would most likely use United miles for this one, possibly Avios for JNB-MRU.

KNOW WHICH AIRLINES SERVE YOUR HOME AIRPORT

I use Google flights to look this up. Just type in “Flights to LAX”, replacing LAX with your home airport code. In my case, this is BNE. Now scroll through the list and pull out the airlines which are in alliances and non-allianced airlines that you have easy access to partner earnings on.

Qantas – One World
Cathay Pacific – One World
Malaysian Airlines – One World
Air New Zealand – Star Alliance
Thai Airways – Star Alliance
Singapore Airlines – Star Alliance
EVA Air – future Star Alliance
Virgin Australia – not in an alliance but able to get free points from local partners
Hawaiian Airlines – not in an alliance but partner of AA
Air Pacific – not in an alliance but partner of AA
Emirates – doesn’t partner with any airline I can easily earn miles with so not a good option for me.

CAN YOU CONNECT IN A LARGER AIRPORT WITHIN YOUR COUNTRY?

Brisbane is not Australia’s major airport, Sydney is. However, since Star Alliance does not have a partner which serves domestic Australian flights, One World is going to give me a lot more options since I can use Qantas to get to Sydney, Melbourne or Perth from where there are additional flight opportunities. Using the Google Flights tool, I now look up flights to Sydney (SYD). Now I can see that in addition to the airlines that also serve Brisbane, I could connect on:

Etihad – partner of American and Virgin Australia, but not in an alliance
Air China – Star Alliance
Air Canada – Star Alliance
United Airlines – Star Alliance
Asiana – Star Alliance
Japan Airlines – One World
Air Tahiti Nui – AA partner, non alliance
Qatar Airways – future One World

ANALYZING THE INFORMATION AND SETTING THE PRIORITIES

On the surface, it looks like I should prioritize Star Alliance and seek out mile-earning opportunities on United and US Airways. BUT, the main problem is getting award seats from Brisbane as I don’t want to pay out of pocket for feeder flights to Sydney or waste Virgin miles. Two of the 3 Star Alliance partners (NZ, SQ) that serve Brisbane rarely release business class awards and even economy can be hard to find. TG is more generous and when EVA Air joins in a few months, hopefully they will also be generous with award seats and routes via TPE will fall within the MPM for US awards. On the other hand, One World has the only domestic Australian partner that allows me to route via Sydney’s international connections. American Airlines has 2 major partners that serve Brisbane – Air Pacific and Hawaiian and also Etihad via Sydney. So here is how I prioritized my airline programs:

MAIN PROGRAMS/LONG HAUL

1. American AAdvantage – because of more flexibility and domestic Australian feeder flights, extra partners like Etihad, Air Pacific and Hawaiian, one way awards permitted and most airlines I use bookable online. Also, One World and AA partners serve more of the airports that matter to me. Can transfer from SPG at 20k SPG = 25k AA and use E-Rewards and flower partners to top up. Citibank denied me the co-branded credit card but planning to try again in 6 months for the sign up bonus.

2. United Mileage Plus – would have been first place if they had a domestic Australian partner or better flights out of BNE; but I value one way awards and online booking so they edged out US. Can get miles from Chase’s Ultimate Rewards and co-branded cards and any partners which I can’t credit to AA.

3. US Airways Dividend Miles – good redemption levels but I find the restrictions of round-trip awards and having to call them to book awards stifling. They have had the best ever promo – Grand Slam which ran every Sept – Nov 2008-2011 which allowed us to earn huge amounts of miles fairly cheap and they also can run good 100% buy or share bonus promos, making it fairly cheap to buy their miles. If they merge with AA, these miles could potentially become AA miles which I personally value much higher.

SECONDARY PROGRAMS/SHORT HAUL

4. British Airways Avios – I used them for a bargain one-way LAX-HNL and also have them earmarked for short haul domestic Australian and intra-South America awards. Can transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards and E-Rewards.

5. Avianca/Taca LifeMiles – Good awards within Central America and South America, sometimes offers 100% buy/share miles promos. The credit card has an anniversary bonus of 6000 miles for $75 annual fee which is a good deal and painless.

6. Qantas – Awards are expensive so prefer to use AA as main One-World program, also Australian co-branded credit cards can have higher annual fees. I can get free miles from shopping and phone bills so I just let them silently accumulate.

7. Virgin – Good for credit card bonuses, transfers from Amex and short-haul to New Zealand and Pacific islands. Can earn miles with NAB card and Virgin mobile through everyday normal use.

8. Singapore Krisflyer – Has the best award rates between Australia and Pacific Islands, can use Amex MR to get miles but otherwise no easy “everyday spending” opportunities.

So now I know where I want to look first for incidental bonuses for car rentals, hotel stays, flowers, surveys and where to credit them to!

What are your miles collecting priorities and why?

Getting To South-East Asia With Frequent Flyer Miles

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Tara

The countries of South-East Asia’s bird populations are as colourful and diverse as you could expect from this culturally rich region. let’s concentrate on the countries which are classified as “South-East Asia” by the frequent flyer programs and have great birding and eco-tourism opportunities such as (alphabetically) Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. If you are married to or involved with a non-birding partner, this is a great region to plan a trip to as they will find plenty to do while you are off chasing birds. Unfortunately, being so far from everywhere except Australia, it can be very expensive to get there whether you use miles or cash. Let’s look at a few options.

South-East Asia

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

AMERICAN AADVANTAGE

For most people, joining American Airline’s AAdvantage will be the best option. They have quite a few credit card options to quickly build your miles stash and a few partners such as E-Rewards and various hotels where you can transfer points in. The region is called “Asia Zone 2” on this chart and includes Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Saipan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam. Airlines which serve this area include Cathay Pacific and Qantas with Malaysian Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines and Qatar Airways joining very soon.

Peru Award2

These figures are one-way so double if you want a round trip. The nice thing about AAdvantage is the flexibility, you may choose to go one way in economy and one way in business, or do an open jaw where you fly into Bali (DPS) for example and out of Bangkok (BKK). Please note that awards between South-East Asia and South America Zones 1 & 2 are not available so if you want a route like that you will have to join up two awards such as Asia-North America and North America – South America.

USA and Canada: Each way is 35,000 economy; 55,000 business; 72,500 first. You can use Qantas, Cathay Pacific, and Malaysian but there are no stopovers allowed.

UK and Europe: Each way is 35,000 economy; 52,500 business; 70,000 first. You can use British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Etihad or (coming soon) Malaysian Airlines and SriLankan Airlines; or use Finnair, Air Berlin or Iberia to get to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong or anywhere Qantas flies.

Australia and New Zealand: Each way is 25,000 economy; 35,000 business; 45,000 first. You can use Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Malaysian.

QANTAS

For Aussies who have easy access to Qantas points via their employer or Everyday Rewards, it’s worth checking out QF’s awards to South-East Asia. Use their points calculator as the awards are distance based, not by country. A long distance award such as Brisbane – Bangkok will cost more than a short one like Darwin – Denpasar/Bali. The awards look expensive compared to AA, UA and US but if you got your points for free, might as well enjoy them!

Qantas Awards

AVIOS (BRITISH AIRWAYS AND IBERIA)

By the time you read this, Malaysian will have joined One World, though the booking engine may not be online yet. Look for bargains in one way awards between Kuala Lumpur and nearby cities such as Singapore, Jakarta, Bali, Bangkok, Vientiane and Manila. In the examples below, the awards will range from 4500 Avios to 10,000 Avios.

AVIOS AWARD CHART

STAR ALLIANCE AIRLINES

US Airways Chart

Australia and New Zealand: Economy 70,000, Business 90,000; First 120,000. You can fly on Singapore, Thai and Air New Zealand.

UNITED AIRLINES (can book one-way or round trip.

The award chart is too big to copy paste here so please follow this link to see the whole chart.

USA and Canada: (each way) Economy 40,000; Business 62,500; First 80,000. You can use United, Air Canada, Air New Zealand (hard to get) or sometimes take the “scenic route” via Asia using Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Asiana or ANA (All Nippon Airlines). You can easily see the routings via their online award booking engine.

UK and Europe: (each way) Economy 55,000, Business 75,000; First 90,000. Most people try to get routings using Singapore, Thai, Lufthansa, Swiss and Turkish Airlines. You can easily see the routings on their online award booking engine but be careful if you are looking at business or first class awards as sometimes they offer mixed class awards and the long-haul section could be in economy with a short sector in business or first.

Australia and New Zealand: Economy 30,000, Business 45,000; First 60,000. You can fly on Singapore, Thai and Air New Zealand.

Here’s an example of London to Bangkok, as you can see they quote both the miles and taxes and the business class award are “mixed class” and if you hover over the fare, you can see which flight is in which class.

United Chart

You can see how much cheaper it is to fly from Brussels due to the very high UK departure taxes.

United Award ex-Brussels

These are just a few examples, please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

If you need ideas on how to acquire frequent flyer miles, please see the Resources tab and Miles and Points tab. which I will update with new offers for free or cheap miles.

LIST OF PARROTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES

Planning Your Trips In Advance

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Tara

WHY YOU SHOULD PLAN

Successful ecotourism trips are a bit more complicated than the usual trip to Hawaii or Europe so it is best to plan them well in advance. In most cases, you will be going to a much more remote area and way off the beaten track. Eco-lodges are small and can only take a certain number of guests so it can be very risky to just grab a last-minute fare to Brazil, Australia or Bolivia if you can’t also book your lodge. The best lodges book up well in advance. And if you are relying on frequent flyer miles to get there, it can be hard to get availability so you are better off booking as soon as possible after flights open up their award seats. In most cases, this will be at 330-335 days depending on your airline’s program and when the partner airlines make their flights available.

Before you can even book the flights, you need to know you will have enough miles on hand. Long-haul trips such as USA to/from Australia, Australia to/from Central and South America and North America to/from Asia can be costly even in miles and it may take you several years to save up enough depending on how you source your miles. If you want truly free trips, you need to source your miles from re-directing your everyday spending through credit cards and shops that give you miles but take care not to buy things you don’t need or overspend on your credit cards to the point where you can’t pay the bill in full each month.

WAYS TO SOURCE FREQUENT FLYER MILES

Credit card sign-up bonuses can be very lucrative but mind the annual fees and minimum spending requirements.
Spending on credit cards, even better if you can use a category bonus (office supply stores, restaurants, etc) for increased bonuses. An example of this is buying a gift card at an office supply store that gives you 5 x bonus miles and using the gift card to buy your groceries.
Manufactured spending such as using a miles earning credit card to buy reload cards (Vanilla, Green Dot, etc) that can be loaded on a card where you can access the funds via an ATM or withdrawal to a bank account. These methods do have their risks so I would study them carefully in FlyerTalk.
Surveys such as E-Miles and E-rewards, also some are available on MyPoints. They can be slow going, but if you are saving for a major trip, they do all add up. In the past, E-Rewards required an emailed invitation but now you can get a link to join in the “Earn Miles” section of your frequent flyer program.
Use the click-through link from your frequent flyer program to buy flowers. They often give 30 miles per $ on special occasions like Mother’s Day, Christmas and Valentines Day.
Transfer extra hotel points to your frequent flyer program.
Take advantage of promos. In the past, US Airways Grand Slam and Club Carlson’s Free Night Giveaway gave huge bonuses. Follow this blog by rss feed or email subscription as I will blog about any good promos that come up.
BIS (butt in seat) miles. If you are lucky enough to fly for work and have it paid by your employer, that’s free miles that also earn status!
Half-price buy miles promos. US Airways and Avianca Lifemiles are pretty good about offering promos where you double the miles you get when you buy them through their portal.

MAKE A WISH LIST AND TRACK HOW MANY MILES YOU NEED

I use an Excel spreadsheet to track my personal wish list. It contains too much personal data to post it here but basically it is something like:

Indonesia – Using Virgin Australia miles sourced from credit card spend. Need 110,000 miles for 2 people. Economy. Booked
Central America – Using US Airways miles sourced from past Grand Slam. Need 240,000 miles for 2 people business class. Booked
Western Australia – Using AA miles sourced from credit card signup. Need 40,000 miles for 2 people economy class. Acheived.
Spain – Using US Airways miles sourced from past Grand Slam. Need 240,000 miles for 2 people business. Achieved.
India/Sri Lanka – Using US Airways miles from past Grand Slam and US Mastercard. Need 180,000 miles. Have 165,000 so 15,000 miles outstanding. I know I will get another 10,000 from the anniversary bonus on the credit card so I need around 5000 more miles. Easily achieved with a couple flower purchases and E-Rewards.
Caribbean Islands – Could do one way on United (90,000 economy) and one way on American (125,000 business for the return). Need to work on this one so now I know which credit cards I need to concentrate on next. Citibank AA cards, Chase United Explorer and SPG will serve my purpose.

Once that goal is achieved, I can start saving miles for other goals. I have my eye on French Polynesia and Fiji, Tanzania, Madagascar, Mauritius, Bolivia and Peru for future trips.

DON’T HOARD MILES, ENJOY THEM!

I have seen a lot of people get caught up in the excitement of the “chase” or pursuit of status so they go overboard on gift card schemes, buy miles they don’t have a plan for or just keep collecting miles without spending them. We never know what life has in store for us. We may be fit and healthy (and alive) now but who knows what will happen in the future. Airlines could go out of business like Ansett, SpanAir and Mexicana. Don’t be the person who ends up with a million miles in their account they can’t use because their health worsened, they lost their job or whatever. And you don’t get brownies points in heaven if you have left over miles. Earn ’em burn ’em and most of all enjoy ’em!

Getting To Australia With Airline Miles

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Tara

Australia is a major draw card for birders and should be on most eco-travelers dream trip list. Unfortunately, being so far from everywhere else, it can be very expensive to get there whether you use miles or cash. Let’s look at a few options.

ONE WORLD ALLIANCE

For most people, joining American Airline’s AAdvantage will be the best option. They have quite a few credit card options to quickly build your miles stash and a few partners such as E-Rewards and various hotels where you can transfer points in. This is my first choice for travel to/from Australia as you can book your award to anywhere Qantas flies domestically and not be dependent on gateway cities only. Example: Dallas-Los Angeles-Honolulu-Sydney-Alice Springs.

Peru Award2

These figures are one-way so double if you want a round trip. The nice thing about AAdvantage is the flexibility, you may choose to go one way in economy and one way in business, or do an open jaw where you fly into Brisbane (BNE) for example and out of Perth (PER). Australia is in the South Pacific region so you can see the miles required for most departing cities.

USA and Canada: Each way is 37,000 economy; 62,500 business; 72,000 first. You can use Qantas, Hawaiian Airlines, Air Tahiti Nui or Air Pacific but there are no stopovers allowed. AA no longer allows you to use Hawaiian Airlines between mainland USA and Hawaii and if you want to travel beyond Hawaii to the South Pacific you will pay 2 awards – USA-Hawaii + Hawaii-South Pacific.

UK and Europe: Each way is 45,000 economy; 60,000 business; 80,000 first. You can use British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Etihad or (coming soon) Malaysian Airlines and SriLankan Airlines; or use Finnair, Air Berlin or Iberia to get to Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong or anywhere Qantas flies.

STAR ALLIANCE AIRLINES

No matter where you live, the best programs to use in Star Alliance is United. With United, you can book partner awards online, book one-way awards and get lots of miles via several Chase credit cards; but if you can’t get these cards it can be hard to get miles in United Mileage Plus. Depending on where you live, Avianca/Taca Lifemiles could be useful too, but it is hard to use their booking engine for complicated routings so I suggest saving them for USA-Central/South America where they offer better value and ease of booking. Singapore’s Krisflyer also offers Star Alliance awards.

UNITED AIRLINES (can book one-way or round trip.

The award chart is too big to copy paste here so please follow this link to see the whole chart.

Here’s an example of London to Perth, as you can see they quote both the miles and taxes and the business class award are “mixed class” and if you hover over the fare, you can see which flight is in which class.

You can see how much cheaper it is to fly from Brussels due to the very high UK departure taxes.

These are just a few examples, please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

If you need ideas on how to acquire frequent flyer miles, please see the Resources tab and Miles and Points tab. which I will update with new offers for free or cheap miles.

OTHER AIRLINES

If you are from the USA, you may also want to try Virgin Australia awards booked with Delta miles or Qantas awards booked with miles sourced from the Citibank Premier Thank You card. It is virtually impossible to get J class awards these days on QF with AA miles as members of Qantas Frequent Flyer have access several weeks earlier and snap them up.

LIST OF PARROTS IN AUSTRALIA