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First time points redemption
Hi, this is the first time I am considering using points for travel so I am very new at this.
I have heard that flights are more reasonable if you continue your flights around the world. So we, 2 of us, are thinking of going from LAX to Dubai for a week, then to S Korea for another week and to LAX.
How would I go about finding out if it is possible and how much it would be. I am hoping to fly business, and either looking for a sale or using points to upgrade to business. I have 165k Amex points and 75k with BofA.
Also, is it true that fares are lower to continue the travel around instead of a round trip back?
Thank you.
Welcome [USER=5759]@JPark[/USER] – I’m not familiar with the BofA points program so hopefully someone else can jump in with that. You’re not going to have enough Amex points for two people for both legs but you may be able to get at least one leg for both of you.
I’d start by looking at the Award Maximizer tool created by Scott of Travel Codex: [URL]https://www.travelcodex.com/award-maximizer/[/URL]
That will show you how many miles it will take at the saver level for each airline. You’ll be interested in the ones that are transfer partners of Amex MRs.
You can then look at Greg the Frequent Miler’s Transfer Partner Master List Post:
[URL]https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/transfer-partner-master-list/[/URL]
which will show you which transfers are 1:1 and which are not.
Once you see what airlines you might fly, then start looking for award space. Only after you find the space would you want to transfer your points.
It’s a lot to take in for a first redemption so if we need to better explain something just let us know.
I believe the BofA travel rewards are used to offset travel charges to your card (in this case, airline award fees, or regular paid tickets), so you wont be able to transfer them to airlines.
Amex points can be transferred to airlines, and MidSouth’s recommended links are great places to start
Award fares arent necessarily lower if you travel around the world. Given the state of various airline programs, it’s highly dependent on where you’re flying between and the airline program used to book awards. For paid travel, round trip is almost always cheaper than one way (for international travel, less so for domestic)
It also matters when you are planning to go given that award availability and flight cost varies during certain periods. What does your travel window look like?
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