Best Economy Cabin Mileage Award Tickets

Gee, Great posting! Had I know the first deal (60K US Airways to Asian), I should havew taken it last year.

Q about US Airways 110K mile business class to Australia -- does it has an economy class version? Say, 60K miles, which still allows a stopover in New Zealand?

@ Andy -- They charge 80,000 miles for coach to New Zealand, you could do a stopover in Asia.

I would love to see some of the non ex-USA coach redemption listed too.
For instance Ex North Asia could be interesting since you can get there on the cheap using 90K miles then you can use another coach redemption to visit multiple places with stopovers.
Another good idea for future posts are maximizing award using overlapping regions from different programs.

@lucky,
Thank you. In that case, I'd prefer 110K business class. Anyway, I need to wait until late Jan or early Feb to book the tickets. I think I will ask you for help again by that time.

80K vs 110K? If you can spare additional 30K, I prefer business class, IMHO.
With 110K US Airways, I booked EWR-YVR-SYD-AKL then AKL-PVG-NRT-ORD-EWR (stop over in Japan for a week) all on business class for next spring.

The Southern South America American award is pretty amazing. My wife and I just took advantage of it to visit Chile (with a stopover to visit family in South Florida on the way) and because of the 10% rebate, it was just 72,000 miles for the both of us. These old American 767s on these routes are not great - but the service was top-notch. We also discovered that gate agents can make pretty much any change to these awards as long as their is "T" award class space available - and it usually is. We were able to move all our flights around without any extra charges.

I'm surprised there's no mention of ANA. Some great deals east coast-Europe for 38K miles or several options US-Caribbean/Central America for 22K miles. Just like with Avios you have to pick your metal carefully to avoid fuel surcharges but there's some bargains available.

No such thing as a good coach award... 😉

@Redhat,

Great advice. I am going to do a similiar trip as yours, but I will have a stopover in Sydney for 10+ days and stay at New Zealand for 5 days. I might consider buying some business and some coach class tickets on the same flight, to save some miles.

May I ask which airlines (for each segment) you will fly?

I need to make a trip to visit three cities: Taipei,Shanghai,and Singapore. How can I use the stop over and open jaw to book a united trip?

@ Joan -- Using United miles you could fly US to Taipei, have a stopover, then Taipei to Shanghai, then have an open jaw between Shanghai and Singapore, and then return from Singapore back home. That way you'd only have to separately transport yourself between Shanghai and Singapore.

Wife and I moved from Charlotte, NC to Sudbury, Ontario two months ago. Air Canada charges just 15k miles for round trip between these two cities and east coast as long as you book on their aircraft. You will also pay anywhere between $150-$200 in taxes and fees but its a great deal for us as flights can be at least $750 and most of the time that's with two stops, with one stop around $850 and more!

Hi Ben, Thank you for this helpful post. I will save it for reference. I have only 72K miles with United and would like to go from LAX to Moscow and Tokyo then back to LAX. I should be able to have a stopover in Moscow on coach, correct?

@ Daniel -- Yep, if you can keep it under the segment limit that should be possible.

@lucky,
Thanks for posting economy award redemption for the minority in the travel blog. I booked three economy tickets LAX-NRT-PEK-SYD for 60K each. Currently, AA charges 60K from LAX-EZE in mid-April. How do I find three economy tickets for 40K? How do I check LAN availability? Thanks

@ globetrotter -- You can check LAN availability on British Airways' website.

Are you saying the price is 60,000 miles for a one way to Buenos Aires, or for a roundtrip? If a one way it sounds like that's the standard award price they're charging you, which has last seat availability.

@Andy: Sure,no problem.
7 segments total which cover over 24K miles.
*UA: EWR-YVR
*AC: YVR-SYD
*NZ: SYD-AKL
*NZ: AKL-PVG
*NH: PVG-NRT (1 week stop over)
*NH: NRT-ORD
*UA: ORD-EWR

We scrapped the idea flying EVA from NRT-TPE -JFK due to late night arrival

HTH

What the hell do you know about flying economy???? 🙂

It's 60,000 miles one way. Why Evan #6 flew 80,000 miles less 10% discount for two round trips from MIA-SCL?Is it any different from LAX-EZE? BA does not show LAN availability, just AA and Iberia.

@ globetrotter - That indeed sounds like the "AAnytime" price, not the Saver Award price. Argentina and Chile are in the same zone, which should be 60,000 miles for a round-trip in Economy, or 40,000 if you can book off-peak like Evan did.

Lucky, thank you. I don't know why I have such a hard time wrapping my head around HNL LAX LAX LHR LAX HNL This is a trip we want to take but how do we originate in HNL? We live in Phx so getting to/from LA is no prob. Just not sure if we need to start in HNL. Please spell it out for me. Thx!

@ Carrie - Of course! You can originate in Phoenix, the segments to Hawaii are entirely optional.

Thx, but I want those Hawaii segments LOL! Just can't figure out how to physically fly it, I guess we would go to HNL on another tkt?

@ Carrie -- Basically the best you'll get out of it is a one-way to/from Hawaii. Unless Phoenix is your transoceanic gateway city you'd have to otherwise purchase separate tickets to your international gateway city.

Lucky,

1. For the off-peak award, can you book it and then change the date to peak time w/o incurring addl miles? Also, does the entire trip needs to be within the band of the off-peak or just start of the journey?
2.Can you add the free one-way to the Explorer award?

@ ff_lover -- Yes, the entire trip needs to be during the off peak period. If you change dates to a peak period you'd have to pay the mileage difference.

An Explorer award is distance based, so any segments you add would count towards that distance.

Thank you for your advice on November 7th about how to book a trip to Taipei, Singapore and Shanghai. How many miles will require to make this trip? I am sorry I did not respond right away, I am a senior and not always on line. However, your blog is one of my favorite readings. Thank you for sharing your expertise.

@ Joan -- Thanks for reading! It would cost you 65,000 miles in economy class for that itinerary.

I am confused. I booked a 62,500 first class award ticket on AA from Miami to Washington Dulles , then Dulles to London (LHR) in March 2014. Is there a way I can change the route to go to Hawaii in July 2014 for the one way stop over?

@ Phil N. -- Yes, you could have booked Honolulu to Miami, stopover, and then Miami to London, though in order to do that your transoceanic flight would have to depart out of Miami.

I have reservations at the Hilton Moorea in july and I am trying to book 2 couch rountrip flights on Air Tahiti. I have a reservation on hold until march 31st but I still don't have enough miles. How can I get an extra 70k AA miles by then?
Or which other way can i go?
I am thinking I can also just book one way (LAX-PPT) with the miles I have but how can I get PPT-LAX)??
I have 130K membership rewards.
Traveling at the end of june, coming back after 1st week of july.
Please help!!

@ helga -- Unfortunately the only way you can get miles that quickly is by buying them. Any other method (like credit card sign-up bonuses) will take longer.

Lucky, thanks for the reply.
Would i be possible to go on air france and come back on air tahiti or any other way?
Thanks

@ helga -- Yep, you sure can.