$375 Roundtrip Business/First Class From Multiple US Cities to Haiti

American Airlines is offering $375 roundtrip premium cabin flights between the United States and Haiti. Flights aren’t direct, all have at least one connection in either direction, and are in a mixture of Business and domestic First Class cabins. These tickets are oddly pricing the same as economy tickets right now. I don’t think this is a mistake fare but you might want to wait a bit before booking any non-refundable accommodation or activities. Travel dates are available now through the end of the schedule (April 2018).

Contents

1. When are the cheap fares?
2. Mileage Earning
3. Baggage Allowance
4. Best Way to Buy the Ticket

$375 Roundtrips in Business from Various US Cities to Haiti

The cheap fare is available between…

• Seattle
• Atlanta
• Cincinnati
• Detroit
• Minneapolis
• Salt Lake City

…and Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The easiest way to see the cheap fares is on Google Flights. The cheap fares can be found now through April of 2018.

I brought up the following calendar of prices between Seattle and Port-au-Prince on Google Flights. You can fly pretty much any time you want for this price.

Once you find the fare, book on aa.com.

Mileage Earning

If you credit your flight to AAdvantage, it will depend on which route you fly, but if you have status and, for example, fly Detroit > Miami > Port-au-Prince > Miami > Detroit you’ll earn…

But remember you don’t have to credit miles earned to the airline’s program that you’re flying. Here’s how the process of crediting to a partner works.

Crediting to Alaska Airlines is probably a better idea if you’re more focused on earning redeemable award miles…

…as you’ll earn 150% of the miles flown (ticket is in fare bucket I–you can find it using ITA Matrix). If you flew the example from above–Detroit > Miami > Port-au-Prince > Miami > Detroit–and credited to Alaska, you’d earn 5,574 Alaska miles.

Baggage Allowance

You get a free personal item, free carry on, and two free checked bags up to 70 pounds each included in the ticket price.

Best Way to Buy the Ticket

If you have enough Membership Rewards, you should buy this ticket by Paying with Points (through the Amex Travel Portal) if you have the American Express Business Platinum card, which gives you a 50% points rebate on all Business and First Class fares (as well as on economy fares of your one chosen airline). If you Pay with Points, you’ll effectively be getting 2 cents of value per point on all Business/First fares after that rebate. A $375 roundtrip Business Class fare to Haiti would be only 18,750 Membership Rewards (37,500 before the rebate), which is much less than the 50,000 to 60,000 legacy airline miles you’d pay roundtrip for such a flight. Not to mention the 18,750 Membership Rewards is all you’d ultimately pay. With traditional miles, you’d pay taxes on the award as well. You’d even earn redeemable miles as well as elite qualifying segments/dollars/miles on the trip, which you wouldn’t if you were redeeming miles on the ticket as an award.

Note that if you’re interested in the Amex Business Platinum specifically for this 50% rebate benefit, you should apply by May 31, as Amex has decided that benefit is a little too generous. Those that apply June 1 and on will receive only a 35% rebate when paying with points, but if you apply before then you’ll have the 50% rebate benefit for a year before it devalues to match everyone else’s 35%.

If you don’t have an American Express Business Platinum/enough Membership Rewards to Pay with Points upfront, buy it with an Amex Platinum card for 5x earnings. Don’t have one those either? Check out the Best Credit Card to Buy Airfare. More concerned with travel insurance? Check out Travel Protection Benefits of Chase, Citi, & Amex Cards: Comparison Chart.

Credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Top Travel Credit Cards

Hat tip to The Flight Deal