Author Archives: Bill

Anatomy of an Award: Tahiti, New Zealand & Australia on One Trip Using Delta Skymiles

Posted on April 3, 2013 | 24 Comments

Two of the most frequent destination requests we receive at our Award Booking Service are Bora Bora and Australia/New Zealand. These are the aspirational trips that families want to take after diligently saving their frequent flyer miles. Luckily, both trips can be accomplished in a single award. Even better–Delta SkyMiles are the mileage currency to use. We recently had a couple with a sizable SkyMiles balance who wanted to visit both places. It wasn’t easy, but we were able to put the award together for them.

SkyMiles have received a terrible reputation for their redemption potential, and rightly so. The award search tool is a broken mess that doesn’t even display proper availability. Scott wrote about this in his post, A Major Problem with Delta.com and The Only Solution. The itineraries you are presented often have ludicrous domestic layovers. The mileage costs are astronomical.

Even with all of this deserved bad press, you can still book that dream Tahiti/New Zealand vacation using SkyMiles.

Delta charges 100k/150k miles per person for an economy/business roundtrip award ticket from North America to the South Pacific. You aren’t able to redeem SkyMiles for international first class awards.

Delta charges the same 100k/150k in economy/business roundtrip for travel from North America to Australia and New Zealand. All of these locations are lumped into the same Southwest Pacific region and priced the same by Delta. That’s not a sweet spot, but it does potentially allow us to include both on a single award and not be punished for it with higher mileage costs.

As Scott detailed in his post, Master Thread: Free Oneways on Delta Awards, Delta allows both a stopover and an open jaw on their award tickets. This dream trip won’t have a free oneway because we will need both the stopover and open jaw to construct the itinerary.

Luckily, the couple in question’s home airport was LAX. Both Air France and Air Tahiti Nui partner with Delta and fly nonstops from LAX to Papeete, Tahiti (airport code: PPT), the primary jumping off point to Bora Bora. To find business class availability, we searched Expert Flyer. For more information, check out Scott’s post, Free First Class Next Month: Using Expert Flyer to Redeem Delta Miles.

This couple wanted business class availability, so we avoided searching Air France’s flights. Why? Air France has excellent economy space on this route, but I’ve never seen more than one business award seat to PPT. As suspected, our search didn’t find two business class seats on the same flight.

With Air France out of the equation, it was time to search Air Tahiti Nui. Luckily, we found two business class seats on the same flight. I highlighted the space in red, so you can see what to look for in your searches.

The drawback to using SkyNiles on Air Tahiti Nui awards is the fuel charges Delta imposes. They aren’t as bad as flying to London on British Airways, but it’s still not pleasant! Expect to pay around $250/person for flying to Papeete oneway. Scott wrote about this extensively in his comprehensive post, Getting to Tahiti with Delta Miles.

Below is a map of our trip as presently constructed:

As mentioned above, Delta allows a stopover on their award tickets. In this Anatomy of an Award, PPT is your stopover city. Spend a week (or more) lounging in an overwater bungalow–it’s up to you. You will just need to connect to Air Tahiti Nui’s thrice-weekly service to Auckland, New Zealand. They fly this route every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

Business class space isn’t available every PPT-AKL flight, but you can usually find two seats if you plan far enough in advance. As luck would have it, we found two seats on the day our client wanted.

The trip now extends to New Zealand as you can see below. The green leg is the one we just included.

That’s a great outbound itinerary, but what about the inbound? We already used our stopover in PPT, but we can still utilize our open jaw. The inbound itinerary doesn’t have to originate in Auckland, it can start anywhere in New Zealand or Australia provided there is award space to connect you back to the United States.

Delta doesn’t fly anywhere intra-Oceania, and their premium availability on their Sydney -> Los Angeles nonstop is ridiculously scarce. We will need to use Delta’s partner, Virgin Australia to get our clients home.

Scott’s already written up how great Virgin Australia’s award space is relative to its peers in his post Sydney Harbor for New Year Fireworks.

Virgin Australia flies nonstop to Los Angeles from Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. Their premium cabin availability is fantastic, even during peak travel times like Christmas and New Years. You just have to search day by day for award seats because the Delta award calendar doesn’t display dates with Virgin Australia space.

Virgin Australia flies from these airports to LAX.

I plugged in Brisbane -> Los Angeles in late February and found the exact flight I wanted: Virgin Australia’s nonstop priced at the low mileage level.

The full trip is mapped below with the final leg in green.

Los Angeles to Tahiti //Stopover// Tahiti to Auckland (destination) //Open Jaw// Brisbane to Los Angeles

How do I connect from Auckland to Brisbane?

Air New Zealand, Virgin Australia, Qantas, Air China, and Emirates all fly the route. You can get on any of these airlines with miles or cash. Scott flew from New Zealand to Australia in Emirates first class. That looks like the most fun way to go.

I just checked Kayak and see multiple AKL-BNE flights on Virgin Australia. Why can’t I book any of those?

Three of the four nonstops you see are codeshares with Air New Zealand, which isn’t a SkyTeam partner. You can’t use SkyMiles to book those flights because they are actually operated by Air New Zealand.

What if that single Virgin Australia flight is sold out of award space?

I would use United miles to book a cheap oneway on Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand (for 17,500 miles in economy) or American Airlines miles to book with oneworld partner Qantas for a mere 10,000 miles in economy.

Don’t forget about British Airways Avios, either. You can use them to book Qantas flights as well, though they sometimes don’t display Qantas space properly.

If all else fails, you can purchase a cash ticket, as this route is relatively inexpensive when booked far enough in advance.

I want to use my open jaw and fly out of Sydney or Melbourne instead of Brisbane. Is that possible?

Yes! Finding award availability between AKL-SYD should be even easier using American or United miles. Virgin Australia only operates codeshares with Air New Zealand on this route, unfortunately.

Note that I’ve found it much easier to find award space on the Virgin Australia nonstops between Sydney/Brisbane -> Los Angeles than from Melbourne -> Los Angeles.

How much are the total taxes and fees on an award like this?

The award we priced for our client had total fees of approximately $364 per person, the majority of which came from the fuel surcharges on the LAX-PPT and PPT-AKL legs.

How do I book this award?

Though you can search for Virgin Australia space online, you need to call Delta directly to book this award. Calling is the only way to book Air Tahiti Nui space.

I’ve heard horror stories about Delta agents. How do I ensure my call to book goes smoothly?

You need to write down the flight numbers, dates, and times of all the flights you want and feed them to the agent. If they are still confused (some don’t even know that Air Tahiti Nui is a Delta partner), tell them to look for business class award space in the “I” fare bucket. That usually does the trick.

If you are still experiencing trouble, politely hang up and call back to get a more competent agent.

This is a great itinerary! Can my family of four travel in business class on a similar itinerary?

Highly unlikely. I’ve never seen more than two business class award seats on the LAX-PPT or PPT-AKL legs on Air Tahiti Nui. Air France is even stingier with business class seats on their own LAX-PPT flights. This award is best flown by couples.

What if I don’t live in Los Angeles? Can I still book this award?

Delta is the worst of the legacy carriers in releasing low level domestic award space: economy or business. If you live elsewhere in the country (e.g. St. Louis), you may not be able to find low-miles-price award space to get to Los Angeles. In that case, you would have to purchase a separate ticket on another carrier to connect to Los Angeles.

Just make sure to leave yourself PLENTY of time before the LAX-PPT flight (at least four hours, more if you can swing it), as Delta is under no obligation to accommodate you if you miss the beginning of your award itinerary because your connecting flight was delayed or cancelled.

Recap

Delta SkyMiles are tough to redeem, but you can spend 150k per person and book an award ticket that includes stops in Papeete, Tahiti; Auckland, New Zealand; and Australia. These two locations are two of the toughest spots to find premium award space, and you can include both on the same itinerary with SkyMiles, an incredible deal.

This award is primarily for couples. I’ve never seen more than two business class seats on the two Air Tahiti Nui legs above.

If you don’t live in Los Angeles, you may need to buy a ticket to connect there. Delta is tightfisted with their low-level domestic award space, and you don’t want to miss out booking a dream vacation because you couldn’t link your home city to Los Angeles to start.

 

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Posted in Air France, Air Tahiti Nui, Delta, Virgin Australia

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Getting to the Maldives on Etihad using American Airlines Miles

Posted on March 22, 2013 | 34 Comments

At our Award Booking Service, we receive numerous requests to get our clients to the Maldives. This chain of islands located in the Indian Ocean is as aspirational an award as you can fly. Because of its relative seclusion, small geographic footprint, and overall demand, premium cabin award seats can be extremely difficult to find.

American Airlines’ partner Etihad Airways can be your secret weapon in booking this tough award. Though Etihad isn’t a member of the oneworld alliance, you can still use your AAdvantage miles to book travel on the Abu Dhabi-based carrier.

All flights to the Maldives and its surrounding resorts funnel through Male, the capital, and its international airport, airport code MLE. Etihad has a single daily nonstop from Abu Dhabi to Male.

How much does an Etihad award to the Maldives cost?

On American’s award chart, the Maldives is considered part of the Indian subcontinent. American charges 90k/135k/180k for economy/business/first class itineraries between North America and this region. The award chart below shows the price for oneway travel in each cabin.

 

Which North American cities does Etihad service?

Etihad currently has nonstops from New York-JFK, Chicago-O’Hare and Toronto. They are beginning service to Washington-Dulles on March 31st. Etihad operates a three-cabin flight from New York and Washington-Dulles to Abu Dhabi featuring first class. The other two cities are operated by two-cabin planes with business being the highest class of service.

How do I search for award space on Etihad?

The American Airlines website won’t display Etihad space. Etihad isn’t a oneworld partner, so American makes you do the sleuthing on your own. The very first step you need to take is to sign up for an Etihad Guest frequent flyer account.

One of the best parts about joining the Etihad Guest program is picking your title. Though being referred to as a “Baron” is extremely tempting, I opted for the plain vanilla “Mr.” when I joined.

After you have signed up and generated an Etihad Guest number and password, you can begin to search. From the Etihad Guest page, click “Redeem your miles.”

After clicking “Redeem your miles” you will be taken to the main award search page. The best way to search is segment by segment. You won’t be able to plug in your origin as Minneapolis and destination as Male because Etihad doesn’t serve Minneapolis. You need to secure the two tough segments first: the nonstop to Abu Dhabi from North America and the Abu Dhabi <-> Male segments.

Below is a sample search I ran from Washington-Dulles to Abu Dhabi in business class for two passengers. After entering my desired date, I clicked “Search flights” to reach the availability calendar.

After clicking “Search flights,” the next page can be a bit confusing. Etihad has several different award redemption levels. The only one that concerns us is award space at the “Guest Seat” level. If there are seats available in this category, then the award is bookable using American Airlines miles. Ignore the price that Etihad quotes as well. When booking, the American Airlines agent will correctly price the award at 135,000 miles roundtrip in business.

As luck would have it, the October 17 date I chose had business class award space for both passengers. To show you what this looks like, check out the screen shot below.

Etihad has a handy 7-day tool at the top to search surrounding dates quickly. Though October 18th has no award availability whatsoever, I decided to look for space on October 19th.

Though there is Business Freedom space on the 19th, that won’t help us book with American Airlines miles. American agents wouldn’t be able to see those seats. This date doesn’t have usable business class space.

Now that we have the IAD -> AUH segment. Let’s look for the AUH -> MLE segment. The transatlantic flight on October 17th arrives in Abu Dhabi at 7:45 p.m. on October 18th. That’s too late to catch the single flight from Abu Dhabi to Male, so you will need to overnight in Abu Dhabi. The next morning, October 19th, there are two business class seats to Male.

Our outbound trip has been secured! The itinerary is below:

Thursday, October 17th

  • Leave IAD 10:15 p.m. / Arrive AUH 7:45 p.m. (+1 day)
Saturday, October 19th
  • Leave AUH  9:35 a.m. / Arrive MLE 2:55 p.m.

For visual learners, here is our flight path laid out on the Great Circle Mapper.

The above oneway would be 67,500 AAdvantage miles, an absolute bargain for a onestop itinerary to Male.

If I find award space on Etihad’s site, how do I book?

You won’t be able to book online. You need to call American Airlines directly to book with an agent at 1-800-882-8880. You will be charged an unavoidable $25 per ticket phone processing fee.

I don’t live in one of the cities with an Etihad nonstop to Abu Dhabi, how do I take advantage?

As Scott wrote in his great post, the Five Cardinal Rules of American Airlines Awards, the “airline that operates the flight that connects the two regions must have a published fare for your origin and destination city pair.”

This means that if Etihad does not publish a fare between your city (e.g. Minneapolis) and Male, you can’t add domestic award space from Minneapolis to Washington-Dulles to the itinerary. American would reject the routing as one award and charge you for two awards–Minneapolis to Dulles roundtrip and Dulles to Male roundtrip.

How do I check to see if Etihad publishes a fare between my home city and Male?

ExpertFlyer is the best way to check this. For simple instructions on how to check for published fares, read Scott’s post Free First Class Next Month: Using expertflyer.com.

What if they don’t publish a fare?

You will need to purchase the connecting flight with cash, use other miles to get to and from your home airport, or book the trip as two American Airlines awards.

Can I have a stopover on an Etihad itinerary?

Yes. As per American’s strict routing rules, a stopover must occur at the North American gateway city. In this case, you could have a stopover in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., or Toronto en route to Male or on your return home.

Are there any other ways to get to Male via the Atlantic?

Yes, but it’s a royal pain. American’s oneworld partner, British Airways, flies to Male from London-Gatwick. You will most likely need to fly into London-Heathrow and transfer to London-Gatwick.

To add insult to injury, you will pay steep fuel surcharges (over $1,000 per ticket) for flying on British Airways. For most it’s not worth it.

Are there ways to use American Airlines miles to travel to Male via the Pacific Ocean?

Yes! We will discuss transpacific routing to Male in an upcoming post.

Can I use my British Airways Avios to fly on Etihad? I know British Airways and American Airlines are partners.

No. American and Etihad have a partnership, but British Airways and Etihad do not.

Recap

Vacationing in the Maldives is on the bucket list of many frequent flyers. American Airlines’ little known partnership with Etihad can be your ace in the hole in booking this award. Etihad has solid premium cabin award space from several North American cities to Abu Dhabi. From their hub you can connect on to Male.

The routes to Male are some of the most competitive in the world. Using American miles to book an Etihad itinerary is a great way to travel in style while avoiding fuel surcharges and multiple long connections.

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Posted in AAdvantage, Etihad

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Anatomy of an Award: Negative 7,500 Miles to Fiji/Bora Bora Using United Miles

Posted on March 19, 2013 | 23 Comments

At MileValue, we constantly champion the free oneway on award tickets. Adding a free oneway is possible (to varying degrees) using all four legacy carrier’s miles. For more information, make sure to check out Scott’s comprehensive posts below:

Master Thread: Free Oneways on United Awards
Master Thread: Free Oneways on American Awards
Master Thread: Free Oneways on Delta Awards
Master Thread: Free Oneways on US Airways Awards

Free oneways are great, but nothing gets us more excited than “negative” awards. Negative awards occur when you add a segment that lowers the price of your award and allows you to add another destination to your vacation. The airline is rewarding you for flying more! For specific examples using American Airlines AAdvantage miles, make sure to check out Scott’s great post 7,500 Miles to Europe and Negative 7,500 Miles to South America.

I wanted to give another example of a negative award that we just booked for a client at our Award Booking Service, this time using United miles.

Our client wanted to travel from Los Angeles to New Zealand in business or first class and explore the country in earnest. The client wanted to depart in December and return in January, peak travel times to Down Under. This award would price at 135,000 United miles roundtrip or 67,500 oneway. On paper it was going to be a difficult award to secure.

As I detailed in the post, Where is the Award Space to Australia and New Zealand? These Exact Routes, premium cabin award space is readily available between Asia and New Zealand. This is legal routing on United awards, so it was the first place I looked. Sure enough there was plenty of space from Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo-Haneda. We then got our client to Christchurch, New Zealand on Singapore’s nonstop.

 

 The client’s outbound read as follows:

  • Los Angeles -> Tokyo-Haneda [ANA Business]
  • Tokyo-Haneda -> Singapore [Singapore Business]
  • Singapore -> Christchurch [Singapore Business]

With the outbound secured, our client asked if he could use his open jaw to return to Los Angeles from Auckland on the inbound. United allows both a stopover AND two open jaws on awards, so this was perfectly legal. We began to build his inbound originating from Auckland until he asked the million dollar question:

“Can I add a side trip anywhere?”

I began to look for great side trips that could connect in Auckland before continuing back to the US. My main weapon? Wikipedia. For more information, check out Scott’s post: How to Use Wikipedia to Book Awards Like a Pro.

Pulling up Auckland International Airport, I suggested he try Nadi, Fiji or Papeete, Tahiti. Our client opted for the former because Air New Zealand only operates the Papeete <-> Auckland flight twice-weekly and the Papeete flight was nearly twice as long.

Air New Zealand seemed to have business class space on nearly every Sunday but economy all other days. We selected a business class leg from Nadi to Auckland and then worked on getting him back to Los Angeles.

We used the same method of routing through Asia to get his party home in premium cabins.  His inbound itinerary read as follows:

  • Nadi, Fiji->Auckland [Air New Zealand Business]
  • Auckland->Shanghai [Air New Zealand Business]
  • Shanghai->Tokyo-Narita [ANA Business]
  • Tokyo-Narita->Los Angeles [ANA Business]

As I mentioned above, a roundtrip business class award ticket from the US to New Zealand is 135,000 miles/person. I placed the itinerary on hold using the method I just wrote about in my post, The Trick to Hold United Awards.

I was expecting the entire itinerary to price at 270,000 miles (135,000 x 2). When I called in to finalize, the phone agent took an eternity to price it out. When she finally returned, she said the entire award would be only 255,000 miles! I couldn’t believe it!

Why did the award price lower than expected?

Simply put: an award chart sweet spot! United charges 67,500 miles for a oneway business class ticket from the US to Australia/New Zealand. United only charges 60,000 miles for a oneway business class ticket from the US to Oceania. Adding the oneway from Fiji to Auckland actually saved miles on the award ticket. United priced the award as 67,500 + 60,000 as opposed to 67,500 x 2. We received a mileage rebate for including another city!

How is the client getting from New Zealand to Fiji?

They will be purchasing a cheap economy ticket with cash. They were already making their way across New Zealand, but this award chart discrepancy allows them to save miles and extend their vacation for the cost of a oneway cash ticket. That’s a great trade off.

Could this award be even better?

Absolutely! Our client wanted to make his way around New Zealand on his own. Remember that United awards allow a stopover AND open jaw. He already was using his open jaw to arrive in Christchurch but depart from Nadi. He still had a free stopover to use.

He could have flown US -> Asia -> Christchurch (stop) -> Wellington // Nadi ->Auckland -> Asia -> US

At 127,500 miles, the above itinerary is an insane value. The stopover in Christchurch would have helped the client continue to Wellington for no charge, but he opted to drive instead. After all, New Zealand is pretty scenic. Scott knows, he just spent time in Wellington and Queenstown himself.

Recap

I inadvertently tripped over a United award chart sweet spot. The cost in miles to fly from the US to the South Pacific is 7,500 miles less than from the US to Australia/New Zealand. By adding a oneway from Fiji to Auckland on an award ticket, we lowered the cost of the ticket by 7,500 miles per person.

Tricks like these help extract the maximum value from your miles. Award charts aren’t perfect because they’re designed by humans. Using these charts and the airlines’ own routing rules to your advantage saves you miles and creates incredible vacations like the one we just booked for our client.

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Posted in Anatomy of an Award, Award Booking, United

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The Trick to Hold United Awards

Posted on March 17, 2013 | 19 Comments

The ability to hold awards is extremely valuable especially at our increasingly popular Award Booking Service. Our clients might need to transfer their Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards into their frequent flyer accounts. They might need to purchase additional miles to reach the next award threshold or just simply firm up their hotel plans. Having a few days to hold an award is critical in these cases.

Of the four legacy carriers, American Airlines is the most generous. American offers a 5 day award hold. US Airways allows you to hold most awards for three days. Delta actually allows 48 hour holds, but you need to be creative to do so. For more information, check out Scott’s post, The Trick to Hold Delta Awards.

Unfortunately, unlike its legacy counterparts, United doesn’t allow award holds. This makes booking United awards for clients a frustrating challenge. Luckily, we have discovered a loophole that enables you to do so.

(You used to be able to hold United awards through a different, now-defunct trick. Hat tip to Meshugener of the Dan’s Deals Forum for letting me know of its demise.)

Similar to the Delta trick, you need to have a United frequently flyer account with little (or no) miles in in it. I created a second United account with my business address and all my relevant personal information. It has a 0 mile balance at all times.

When I need to book an award for a client, I start online and try to collect as many segments of the trip as possible. This makes future steps quite a bit easier. United.com is quirky, though, and will often spit back an error message if you are trying to piece together an ultra-complicated itinerary.

Subtract a segment or two and try your search again. As an example, I tried to hold a simple Denver -> Chicago oneway award for two people in business class. When I select the itinerary I want, I’m met with the following screen.

I need additional miles to secure this award. United should allow me to hold the itinerary for a day or two to get the necessary miles in my account, but they don’t have that option. Instead, I’m given options to pay for the privilege of holding the award for three days or one week. Both are terrible deals.

Instead of paying to hold the award, just go back to the search screen and add any segment to your itinerary that includes a Star Alliance partner. It does not matter if it’s domestic (on US Airways) or international. It also doesn’t matter  when this segment occurs as long as it is not flown on United metal.

I searched for Denver to Tokyo-Narita via Chicago because All Nippon Airways, United’s Star Alliance partner, has two daily nonstops on this route with good award space. I selected an itinerary that included my previous Denver -> Chicago leg and came to the checkout screen.

The Fare Lock option is no longer available. Instead I am met with exactly the button I want to see: “Reserve.” I click the Reserve button and enter all the passenger information. After giving United my pertinent contact information, I am asked to hold the award itinerary with a credit card.

After entering my credit card information, I can click “Reserve” to officially hold the itinerary. Note that the expiration date provided on this screen is always incorrect. The correct expiration date is given on the next screen.

After clicking Reserve, I am taken to the confirmation screen. United generates a confirmation number/record locator and gives the correct expiration date/time. I have circled the correct date in red.

When I’m ready to book, I simply call United.com support at 1-800-396-1751 and give the record locator that my reservation generated. I ask the agent to discard the segments I don’t want and ticket the award from the United account that has miles. That’s the second part of this trick. I started the award in a dummy account with no miles, but over the phone I can give the agent any account number to use to ticket the award.

(Beginner tip: In all major frequent flyer programs, anyone’s miles can be used to book an award for anyone. But you can’t easily or cheaply combine miles between two airline accounts.)

What if I can’t grab all the segments I want online?

If you have a lot of segments in your desired itinerary, chances are united.com will not let you secure them all at once. Grab as many as you can online and reserve them to generate a confirmation number. Immediately call united.com support to add the remaining segments you need.

You say that united.com initially displays an incorrect date for award holds, what is the real expiration date?

Award holds done via this method expire the next day at midnight. Because of this, you always want to reserve your United awards in the morning. That will give you as close to 48 hours as possible.

Shouldn’t these awards be subject to the $25 phone booking fee?

No. If an agent brings up this fee when you book, push back. Politely let them know that the award was initiated online but you weren’t able to grab all the segments you needed. They should waive the $25 fee or not even bring it up. If the agent does insist on the fee, hang up and call back.

Will my credit card be charged if I don’t book the award?

No. United asks for a credit card to hold the award. You might see a pending transaction of $1.00 labeled “Continental” on your credit card that will eventually fall off whether you book or not.

Does adding a segment in a different price category affect the final cost in miles for the award?

No. United will recalculate your award price once you finalize everything. I wanted a simple Denver -> Chicago itinerary but added the leg to Tokyo. Discarding the Tokyo leg will drop the price in miles back to the appropriate level.

Does the United frequent flyer account that reserved the award need to be the one that tickets it?

No, which is great news! I often reserve awards for clients under my dummy account and let them call in to confirm everything. I have not had a single issue doing this.

Recap

United does not allow award holds unless you are creative and trick their site. First you need an account with little to no miles in it. Then you need to search for an award that includes at least one non-United segment. Awards with partner segments can be reserved online, while all United-operated awards cannot be.

Reserve as many segments as you can online and then phone united.com support to tweak the itinerary. Finally have United ticket the award from whatever United account you want.

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Posted in Award Booking, Best Of, United

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How to Use the ANA Search Tool for Awards with United Miles

Posted on March 13, 2013 | 11 Comments

Yesterday I warned about the drawbacks of searching United.com for Star Alliance award availability  Sometimes, United.com will display phantom award space. Seats will show as available but in reality they simply aren’t there.

The best way to confirm Star Alliance award space is using the All Nippon Airways (ANA) search tool. ANA’s tool is trickier to use, but it’s the most reliable.

Unfortunately, ANA restricts members from searching Star Alliance availability unless they have miles in their account. This is presumably to curb the usage of the search engine by people who have United or US Airways miles but want to search ANA. ANA wants their site to be used by loyal ANA frequent flyers.

Fortunately, there is a trick to using the ANA search tool without any miles in your account! If you haven’t already, the first thing you need to do is sign up for a ANA Mileage Club account here. Though this page looks like a credit card application (no annual fee!) simply click “Apply Here” at the bottom of the screen.

After filling in your pertinent information, you will be assigned a Mileage Club frequent flyer number and a password. You can now click on the “Mileage Club” button at the top of the screen.

You will then be taken to the main ANA frequent flyer page. Click “For Details” on the Using Miles tab.

Once on the Using Miles page, you should click “Partner Flight Awards.”

You will be taken to page with the handy ANA distance-based mileage chart and their routing rules. From here, click the small tab “Application & Ticketing” near the top of the screen.

You are given the option of phoning the ANA call center to book your award or simply searching using their online tool. We want to search online, so click the “members-only function” to reach the search query page.

You will be asked to log in to your account before continuing. Enter your ANA number and your password before hitting continue.

We have finally reached the award search page! To skip the previous steps, it might be handy to bookmark the search page for future queries.

Though we arrived at the award search page, notice that the Star Alliance Partner search is grayed out. I don’t have any miles in my account. Luckily there is a work around. Click “ANA International Flight Awards” to search for award seats on ANA-metal only.

You have to start with a dummy search because you can only search ANA operated flights.

The route you enter doesn’t matter just as long as it’s served by ANA. I always enter Los Angeles <-> Tokyo-Haneda (feel free to choose a different ANA route) and select the number of seats I want. The dates don’t matter either as you can change them later. After entering the airport codes and number of passengers, I then hit “Next” to look for award space.

You will see plenty of options on the next screen. After all, ANA serves Los Angeles to Tokyo with several nonstops. They are immaterial, though. You need to scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click “Use Star Alliance Member Airlines.”

Congratulations, as you have gone through the backdoor and can now search all Star Alliance partners. The search screen is nearly identical to the ANA-only screen. You should delete the “LAX” and “HND” airport codes before beginning your real search. Also change the third drop down (below “Select Region” and “Select Country”) back to “Select Airport.” If you don’t, your new search will likely yield an error message.

Can I plug in my city pairs and expect ANA to come up with good itineraries?

No. Searching Kansas City <-> Mumbai likely won’t yield anything usable. You should search segment by segment.

How do I search multiple segments?

Click the blue button “Flight Search” to add segments to your query.

This seems tedious. Any shortcuts?

Searching united.com is faster but can sometimes display false positives as we detailed yesterday. United’s site is a great place to get ideas while confirming them using ANA’s tool.

I never fly ANA, what’s the best way to deposit miles in my account to lift the Star Alliance search restriction?

American Express Membership Rewards transfer to ANA at a 1:1 ratio. Note that the minimum transfer amount is 1,000, and it usually takes around 48 hours for the miles to post to your Mileage Club account.

ANA is also a transfer partner of Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) points. Regular SPG members with no status must transfer a minimum of 2,500 points. Gold members  have a 1,500 point transfer minimum, and Platinum members have no restrictions. They can transfer 1 mile.

I value my Membership Rewards highly, do ANA miles have any value?

Absolutely! Scott detailed ANA’s great distance-based award chart in his post, How to Save Thousands of Miles Booking United Flights: Use Membership Rewards on ANA.

Though ANA assesses fuel surcharges on all Star Alliance partner flights except United and US Airways, their chart has some great sweet spots that allow for low mileage redemptions.

Recap

ANA’s search tool is the final word on Star Alliance availability. If united.com displays the space but you don’t see it on ANA’s site, the award isn’t bookable.

ANA restricts Star Alliance partner award searches to its own frequent flyers with a mileage balance. Luckily there is a work around that lets you bypass this requirement, though it takes a few extra steps.

If you don’t have the patience, simply utilize ANA’s two primary transfer partners American Express Membership Rewards and SPG Starpoints. Having a balance will ensure the Star Alliance search restriction is lifted.

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Posted in ANA, Membership Rewards, Star Alliance

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Beware Phantom Award Availability on United.com

Posted on March 12, 2013 | 24 Comments

Searching for award space can often be an exercise in frustration. The dates you want don’t have availability and premium cabin seats are often scarce. There is nothing in the world, however, more frustrating than phantom availability. You think you’ve found your dream trip only to have the rug yanked out from under you.

We recently received a request through the Award Booking Service where this came into play. A family of four was looking to travel from New York to Johannesburg, Africa in July using their US Airways miles. This was going to be a tough award to book, and it wasn’t made any easier by the phantom award availability on united.com.

What do we mean by “phantom”? We decided to look for Star Alliance space to Africa using united.com. For more information, make sure to check out Scott’s post Free First Class Next Month: Star Alliance Award Searches on United.com. At first glance, we would have no trouble finding space from the East Coast to Africa. There were dates with plenty of seats!

We were suspicious, though. That’s quite a few dates with four premium cabin seats to Africa. To find out out if July 10th really had four open seats, we verified the award space All Nippon Airways (ANA) Star Alliance search tool. The ANA tool is more accurate in displaying award space. The drawback? It’s more cumbersome to search than united.com.

We plugged in the individual New York -> Cairo -> Johannesburg segments into the ANA search tool. The initial results were promising! The EgyptAir JFK -> Cairo segment had at least four business class seats (indicated by the “OK” under the business class box).

 We weren’t so fortunate with the Cairo -> Johannesburg leg unfortunately. That segment was showing “X” in both business and economy, meaning there weren’t four award seats in either cabin.

This wasn’t an isolated incident either. We checked other dates on ANA that united.com displayed as having four business class seats. They simply didn’t match up. We couldn’t trust united.com for this route, especially using Star Alliance partner EgyptAir. We decided to look elsewhere.

Scott, who is currently in Argentina, had some success booking an award from Buenos Aires to Johannesburg (and beyond) using US Airways miles. For the complete breakdown, make sure to check out his incredible post, Anatomy of an Award: South America, Africa, Europe, and North America in Biz for 100k.

US Airways has very liberal routing rules. Scott and I both know that first hand. I was able to book a business class trip to Asia routing through Europe. For the breakdown of that trip, check out my post, Anatomy of an Award: US to Asia via Europe in Business Class for 90k Miles.

We decided to think outside of the box yet again. Perhaps routing this family of four from New York to South Africa through South America was the best option. South African Airways, another Star Alliance partner, has nonstop flights from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Johannesburg. We plugged in this segment and searched united.com. There were plenty of dates with business space again!

Or were there? We went back to the ANA tool to verify, and unfortunately, we were greeted with dreaded X’s from ANA’s search results.

Even if we tried to connect to Brazil using Star Alliance carrier TAM Airlines, we were met with phantom award space! We found a direct flight from New York to Rio de Janeiro on united.com on several July dates…..

But we were met with X’s on ANA’s search tool.

Which Star Alliance carriers have you seen phantom availability on united.com?

I have personally encountered this problem with Austrian, Brussels, EgyptAir, South African, Lufthansa, and TAM. There are reports that even United itself are also displaying seats that aren’t bookable. Proceed with caution!

If united.com displays the availability, shouldn’t United and US Airways agents be able to see the same seats when I call to book an award?

No. They are not going off of what you see on united.com. If a seat shows as available on united.com, but it is not available on the ANA search tool, a phone agent will not be able to book it.

Can I verify the space with ExpertFlyer?

Unfortunately, no. ExpertFlyer is pulling its data from United.com. For example, here are the results from our previous Sao Paulo -> Johannesburg route on South African Airways. (ExpertFlyer now gives yes/no answers on Star Alliance searches.)

Make sure to check out Scott’s post Free First Class Next Month: Using experflyer.com to learn more about searching for awards on the site.

If ExperFlyer isn’t reliable, what do I do about this issue?

Always check ANA’s tool before booking a Star Alliance award. Their site seems to mirror what phone agents can actually see and book, so you will save yourself time and anguish by doing a cursory check before calling in to reserve your award tickets.

Recap

United.com is a great place to start a search for Star Alliance award availability, but it’s only a starting point. Not all queries will display bookable award space. Unfortunately, united.com can sometimes act as a mirage: availability seems great when in reality there are far less seats for award tickets.

This story has a happy ending. We were eventually able to route the family through Vienna and Istanbul to Johannesburg and back. The search process, however, was much more complicated than expected.

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Posted in ANA, Anatomy of an Award, Award Booking, United

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Airline Elite Status Isn’t Worth It: An Expansion on Bill’s Piece in the New York Times

Posted on March 6, 2013 | 5 Comments

Greetings, MileValue readers! You may have noticed that I haven’t posted recently, as I’ve been helping out Scott and Tahsir with our increasingly popular Award Booking Service.

I did want to take a few minutes and explain my stance on airline elite status which was featured in today’s New York Times. [Scott: Everyone should click just to see Bill's photo. The pose is hilarious.]

“I’ve definitely noticed an erosion in benefits since I became elite,” said Bill Wilkes, a Delta SkyMiles Gold member, the second-lowest rank in Delta’s four tiers of elites. “Pretty much anyone who gets approved for a SkyMiles credit card can get priority boarding and a free checked bag.”

Mr. Wilkes, who works for a Major League Baseball team, noticed on a recent Delta flight from Baltimore to Sarasota, Fla., that more than half the passengers lined up when priority boarding was announced.

He estimates that he gets a complimentary upgrade — arguably the most important benefit of elite status — on only 15 to 20 percent of his domestic flights, compared with 40 to 50 percent several years ago.

With the newly announced changes to earning elite status with Delta, I’m officially declaring myself an “airline free agent.” Delta is the first of the legacy carriers to adopt a revenue component to earning elite status, but I’m confident they won’t be the last.

For those new to the frequent flyer game, the legacy carriers like American, Delta, US Airways, and United have typically rewarded elite status based on the number of miles each passenger flies in a calendar year. A flight from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. (about 2,300 miles) gets you much closer to elite status qualification than a flight from Baltimore to Atlanta (about 574 miles).

Many, including myself, exploited this by purchasing extremely inexpensive transcontinental flights to rack up elite qualifying miles (EQM, or MQM in Delta’s book) very quickly. Several years back, Delta even offered double MQM out of several cities, including Pittsburgh. I purchased several cheap fares from Pittsburgh to Long Beach and was a Platinum Medallion in no time.

The benefits were incredible. I was upgraded to first class on nearly every flight. The first time I missed an upgrade as a Platinum elite was because former president Jimmy Carter (and his bodyguards) were occupying most of the first class cabin. If it takes a former President to bump you from the front of the plane, you should probably take it in stride!

Though I enjoyed the benefits immensely, the process of re-qualifying each year became more and more cumbersome. I was spending discretionary income and precious time on mileage runs, but I wasn’t flying enough to justify the time and money commitment.

Now, Delta is introducing a revenue component to elite status qualification. To reach Gold status, you will still need to earn 50,000 MQM in a calendar year while also spending $5,000 on Delta-operated flights. You can waive the revenue spending requirement by charging $25,000 to a Delta co-branded credit card every year, but my spending is dedicated to clearing credit card sign up bonuses.

Besides, SkyMiles can sometimes be immensely frustrating to redeem, excluding a few specific spots like Australia and French Polynesia.

It’s time to rethink the strategy. I’m an airline free agent now, with loyalty to no carrier in particular. Will I miss first class? Maybe, but I can suck it up in coach for domestic flights. What about checked bags? Airlines co-branded credit cards offer this benefit along with priority boarding. I also avoid checking bags at all costs. How about priority security lanes? I’m signing up for Global Entry and TSA Pre Check, so that won’t be an issue.

I’m looking for the least expensive fares, bottom line.

My travel habits have also shifted. I will be traveling more on international itineraries in the future. The new goal is to accumulate miles for longhaul premium cabin redemptions. Most airlines simply don’t permit complimentary elite upgrades on international itineraries. American Airlines generously gives eight complimentary oneway systemwide upgrades to their top tier Executive Platinum members. I just can’t fly enough to justify reaching that goal!

In the end, I don’t think I will miss elite status. There are plenty of inexpensive ways to mirror most of the perks that come with it, and I can certainly handle domestic economy seats. If not, I will pay for an Economy Comfort or E+ seat with a bit more legroom or maybe fly JetBlue.

Who’s with me? Who’s throwing in the towel on airline elite status?

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Where is the Award Space to Australia and New Zealand? These Exact Routes

Posted on February 7, 2013 | 31 Comments

One of the most frequent requests we get for our Award Booking Service is finding premium cabin tickets between the US and Australia/New Zealand. People have been saving up their hard earned miles and want to splurge on a dream trip Down Under.

Both US Airways and United miles can be used to book ticket on Star Alliance partners, and there are a host of nonstop options between North America and Oceania.

US Airways charges 80k/110k/140k for travel between North America and the South Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand.

United is more expensive for business and first class tickets. They charge 80k/135k/160k for travel to Australia and New Zealand.

Unfortunately, nonstop premium award space is extremely difficult to find. I always begin searches for Star Alliance award space at United.com. Scott wrote two great posts about these searches. For more information, check out Star Alliance Award Searches on United.com and Tricking United.com’s Award Calendar.

To show you the lack of premium award space, I ran searches for two travelers in September and October. The proof is below. Los Angeles doesn’t display a single day with business or first class space.

San Francisco to Sydney is actually an improvement! I found a single day with direct business class space in my search (September 1st). It will probably be snapped up by the time this article is published, though.

Air Canada’s direct flight between Vancouver and Sydney had even worse award space than the two previous searches. Even economy tickets are hard to find.

For those with huge Dividend Miles and Mileage Plus balances, this post isn’t meant to discourage you! I want to show you the routes I use to book travelers to Australia.

Hands down, the best Star Alliance award space to Australia is via Asia.

Is that legal routing?

As Scott wrote in his post US Airways Award Chart Sweet Spot: Australia via Asia, US Airways allows this routing. You are even permitted a stopover on US Airways award tickets, so you can build in a long stop in Bangkok or Seoul before continuing on to Australia. That’s an incredible value: two trips and two continents for the price of one!

I actually just booked two business class tickets for a couple traveling from Australia to the US. The US Airways agent mistakenly priced the award at 120,000 miles each, 10k more expensive than the award should be. I had to politely ask her to verify with the rate desk. After a 15 minute hold, she returned with the correctly priced itinerary.

What about award tickets using United miles?

I don’t know anyone who knows exactly what United allows. Scott doesn’t know. He wrote: I Don’t Know United’s Award Rules.

But we do know from experience that United will let you route to Australia via Asia on certain routings. The common elements of successfully ticketed itineraries are fewer segments and simpler routings.

Which routes have the best availability from Asia to Australia?

In my experience, Thai Airways’ twice-daily flights from Bangkok to Sydney are an absolute treasure trove of premium award space.

It’s hard to find a day without business and first class space.  That makes this segment an award booker’s dream! Here is the same September/October search for two travelers from BKK-SYD.

If the options out of Bangkok don’t suit your needs, there are plenty of alternatives. Asiana has good availability from Seoul to Sydney on their nonstop.

Don’t forget Air China or even Singapore, which have plenty of business space from their respective hubs in Beijing and Singapore. (Note that the Singapore business class space available is NOT on the A380s that service this route. For space like that, you need to use Singapore miles.

Note that not all business class space on Singapore is bookable with US Airways miles. Certain aircraft are specifically excluded from US Airways partner award chart. I have pasted the full restrictions below to help you on your search.

What are the best routes from Asia to New Zealand?

For many, Australia isn’t the goal. New Zealand offers its own charms. Scott had a fantastic time in Wellington and Queenstown.

Logistically speaking, Auckland is the easiest city to find award space from Asia. Air New Zealand is notoriously tight fisted with their premium space on the nonstop from Vancouver, but they offer two solid alternatives: Tokyo-Narita and Osaka.

Business class space from Tokyo-Narita was decent in September, but almost nonexistent in October.

Air New Zealand’s thrice-weekly nonstop from Osaka, Japan had business class space on nearly every flight! That’s a hidden gem route you should keep in your back pocket. How did I even find out about this route? Wikipedia. For more details, make sure to check out Scott’s post How to Use Wikipedia to Book Awards Like a Pro.

Don’t forget about Thai Airways from Bangkok, either. The award space isn’t nearly as good as their segment to Sydney, but I found plenty of days with space.

 Any other tips or tricks when planning these awards?

Remember that US Airways charges 110k/140k for business/first class tickets between North America and the South Pacific region, including Australia and New Zealand.

Interestingly enough, US Airways charges 120k/160k for business/first class tickets between North America and the South Asia region. This region includes Thailand and Singapore, so if you are planning on visiting these countries, adding a leg to Australia or New Zealand will actually save you miles!

Recap

North America to Australia is one of the most requested and most difficult award tickets to book. United and Air Canada are notoriously stingy in releasing premium cabin space on their nonstop flights. They know they can sell those seats and that people will pay for more expensive Standard award tickets.

To get around this lack of space, consider routing via Asia. Star Alliance carriers  including Thai, Asiana, Air China, and even Singapore release a good number of seats from their hubs to Sydney.

If New Zealand is your goal, consider Air New Zealand (Tokyo and Osaka) and Thai Airways from Bangkok.

Your trip will certainly take longer by traveling through Asia, but the opportunity to fly great carriers like Thai and Singapore is hard to pass up. You also won’t be stuck in economy on those long haul segments!

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Posted in Award Booking, Star Alliance

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Southwest and AirTran Get Cozier: What It Means For You

Posted on February 3, 2013 | 1 Comment

According to this thread on FlyerTalk, Southwest Airlines has started to display bookable AirTran flights on its own website. The first AirTran city pairs offered on Southwest.com are Atlanta <-> Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta <-> Fort Myers. A sample screenshot of the newly available flights is below.

These flights are still bookable on AirTran’s website. The prices for economy and business appear to be the same, though no equivalent to “Anytime” economy fares is offered by AirTran.

Why should I book AirTran flights on Southwest’s website?

You should book this flight through Southwest if you are flying in economy and checking a bag. Southwest allows two free checked bags. AirTran, on the other hand, charges $25 for the first checked bag and $35 for the second.

Why should I book AirTran flights on AirTran’s website?

AirTran offers the ability to select your seat. You pay for this privilege, though. The cheapest seats are $6 per segment. If you decline to pay, you can select your seat when checking in, no earlier than 24 hours before the flight.

If you are an AirTran elite, the seat selection fee is waived. You also receive free checked bags and the possibility of complimentary first class upgrades at the gate. It definitely makes sense to book with AirTran directly in this case.

What about earning? Is it better to earn A+ credits or Southwest Rapid Rewards points?

That depends on the price of the flights and how much you fly AirTran. Scott wrote a good post on How to Exploit the Southwest-AirTran Merger. He also detailed the conversion ratios between Rapid Rewards points, Rapid Rewards credits, and A+ credits. The exchange ratios are below:

  • 1,200 Rapid Rewards points converts to 1 A+ credit
  • 1 Rapid Rewards credit to 1 A+ credit
  • 1 Southwest Standard Award (two oneways) to 16 A+ credits
  • 1 A+ credit converts to 1 Rapid Rewards credit
  • 16 A+ credits can be used to fly two oneways on Airtran, and 16 Rapid Rewards credits can be used to fly two oneways on Southwest.

Some people are visual learners, so Southwest has a handy website to help explain all the possible conversions. They also produced a chart to show the available transfers.

If you are still reeling from all of this, here is a basic explanation. Rapid Rewards points are a fixed value point system. The number of points needed to book an award ticket is dictated by the price of the fare.

19,200 Rapid Rewards points are worth approximately $324 (1.69 cents each according to the Mile Value Calculator). The same 19,200 Rapid Rewards points convert into 16 A+ credits or 16 Rapid Rewards credits, which are enough for a roundtrip award ticket. 1,200 points = 1 credit.

If you can find an award ticket that costs more than approximately $324 cash, it makes sense to convert 19,200 Rapid Rewards points into credits for a standard AirTran or Southwest award. Just be sure to verify that there is standard award space on your desired flights before making the conversion.

So what’s the final call?

You must decide between Rapid Rewards points and credits. A standard roundtrip flight will earn 2 A+ credits, but the Rapid Rewards points you could earn vary depending on flight prices.

For example, if your roundtrip ticket earns 2,000 Rapid Rewards points versus 2 A+ credits for each segment, AirTran appears to be the site to book with. 2,400 Rapid Rewards points converts to 2 A+ credits. However, I don’t think you should always look at it from this standpoint.

More than anything, I value the flexibility of Rapid Rewards points over A+ credits. Unless you fly AirTran regularly, it might be hard to accumulate the 16 credits required for an award ticket.

Accumulating Rapid Rewards points allows you to book Southwest award flights when needed. You can also convert 19,200 points into 16 credits if the award you want costs more than approximately $324 out of pocket and there is standard award space available.

Recap

A few AirTran flights are now bookable on Southwest.com. I’m sure more will be added in the coming weeks as both carriers are inching (very slowly) towards completing their merger.

If you don’t hold elite status with AirTran, I would book any AirTran flights on Southwest’s website that I could. Checked bags are free and you earn Rapid Rewards points which can be used on Southwest flights. Rapid Rewards points also convert into A+ or Rapid Rewards credits, which could make sense if you are booking an award flight that costs more than $324.

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How We Value Hotel Points

Posted on February 1, 2013 | 5 Comments

Not all points are created equally. At MileValue, we take pride in assigning values to frequent flyer miles and analyzing their best uses. Scott worked up the Mile Value Leaderboard, and his math reveals the rational step-by-step method he used to arrive at his cent per mile valuation. He even created a Mile Value Calculator to help you with your own valuations if you want to take a crack.

In the coming months, we will assign a value to hotel points as well. The process is going to be a bit trickier. After all, not everyone appraises hotel rooms the same way. Scott enjoys meeting new friends at hostels or even couchsurfs. It’s how he gets incredible locals-only experiences and stretches his dollars even further. I love hostels, especially the Wombat’s City Hostel in Munich. Most times, though, I prefer hotel rooms.

This article will serve as an introduction to hotel point valuation as well as a peek behind the curtain at our formula. Feedback is encouraged and appreciated. We want to get this right.

What value do you assign to a hotel room?

The value of a hotel room is the lesser of the best available price and your subjective valuation. For example, I need a hotel room in Richmond for a wedding and the prevailing rates are about $110 a night. The wedding is for a good friend. I would pay up to $300 for a hotel room, but I can’t use $300 for my calculation if hotel room prices are $110. The lower price is what I have to use.

On the flip side, let’s say I’m contemplating going to Hawaii during Christmas season and rooms rates are outrageous, over $600 a night. I would only pay up to $300 for a room. I need to use the lesser valuation ($300 instead of $600) when calculating cost.

For more thorough information, make sure to check out Scott’s first-ever post, How Much are Frequent Flyer Miles Worth? A Guide.

What other factors will go into your valuation?

When booked through the official hotel website, your paid stay should earn credit towards elite status. If you value Gold status with Starwood Preferred Guest program at $250, one Starwood hotel stay should factor in 1/10th of that valuation. It takes 10 stays to reach Gold status.

If you are using points for an award night, you also need to consider the points foregone by not paying cash. At Starwood hotels you earn 3 Starpoints on every dollar spent on the base rate of the room. By booking a stay with points, you are forfeiting the opportunity to earn points.

Our basic formula for hotel points is below:

Point value = (value of the room + value of earning status – cash outlay)/ (points used + points foregone)

Which programs will you be analyzing?

We will start with arguably the most popular program, Starwood Preferred Guest. From there, we want to assign values to other major chains: Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Priority Club.

Once we build our rankings for those five programs, we hope to branch out to even more, including Wyndham, Club Carlson, Choice Hotels, and Best Western.

How will you separate points that are close in value?

There is a lot that goes into understanding hotel points. Small quirks in each program might raise or lower the value of each program’s points. Below are some questions we aim to tackle through this process.

Which points can be used for room upgrades? Some programs, such as Hyatt, allow you to spend additional points to secure a suite or room with club access. For special occasions, that can be incredibly valuable. Other programs, like Priority Club, only let you use points to book a basic room. You must contact the hotel directly and negotiate payment for suites.

Sometimes, though, you don’t need to pay more points for a room upgrade. Scott used the infamous $20 trick in Hawaii and was given an incredible view.

Which points count towards elite status? Starwood award nights count towards elite status. They are trying to engender loyalty and shift your travel spend away from other hotel chains. Other programs, such as Hyatt, don’t count your award nights towards elite status. Though I’ve been told it’s simply an IT issue at the present time, it’s still a glaring negative compared to other programs.

In that same vein, not all hotels even recognize your elite status on award stays. Priority Club is famous for not being obligated to offer certain benefits on award stays. On the other hand, I’ve been treated very well as a Starwood Gold member, regardless of my booking method. When I stayed at the Moana Surfrider in Waikiki on points, I was upgraded to an Ocean View Deluxe room without prompt.

Which points can be transferred to frequent flier programs? We will be devoting a lot of time to this question. It seems like most programs allow transfers of hotel points into frequent flier miles. That doesn’t mean it’s a great value. Starpoints, with a giant list of transfer partners, are the gold standard of hotel transfers. Wyndham points also have a surprisingly favorable transfer ratio. That means something, especially when you are in need of miles to top off an award ticket.

Versatility is the key to booking both hotel rooms and award flights. Being able to swap points into miles when needed and at a generous ratio is incredibly helpful.

Which programs offer “cash & points” award nights? Cash & points is a great way to stretch your hotel point balance, but not all cash & points options are the same. Marriott’s program simply allows you to combine a paid reservation and a points redemption. That’s misleading, at best. Starwood’s cash & points award chart had some great deals, but it’s recently been devalued. We will show you which cash & points are good deals.

Which programs have the best aspirational awards? There is something to be said for using points to book a luxury hotel, especially one that is normally out of your budget. Some programs, Hilton and Hyatt in particular, have great ways to snag those dream hotel rooms (think: Maldives or Bora Bora) for fewer points than you would expect.

 Recap

Determining hotel point valuations will take time, but we think it’s an important complement to our Mile Value Leaderboard. Everyone has different preferences and budgets for hotel rooms. Our goal is to rationally compare each hotel point and its features, so you can make an informed decision on which to earn. And so you can make decisions between booking award nights and booking cash night.

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