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Royal Jordanian is offering cheap economy flights from New York City and Chicago to the Middle East, starting as slow as $502 roundtrip. Most flights have one connection. Travel dates are available in October and November of this year.
Contents
- When are the cheap fares?
- Mileage Earning
- Baggage Allowance
- Best Credit Card to Buy the Ticket
Roundtrips USA < > Middle East
All flights originate in Chicago or New York City, but there are lots of Middle Eastern cities to choose from, like:
- Beirut
- Cairo
- Doha
- Dubai
- Madinah
Flights to Doha, Dubai, and Madinah are a tad more expensive.
Available travel dates for the low prices span October and November of 2017.
The easiest way to see the cheap fares is on ITA Matrix. I normally recommend Google Flights as it’s a faster and easier tool to use, but for some reason the cheaper fares aren’t showing up there.
Search on ITA Matrix by calendar of lowest fares for acceptable trip lengths.
Secret flying has examples of dates with the cheap price, but I saw many more than what was listed there.
The following calendar is of roundtrip prices for a seven night trip in October between Chicago and Cairo.
To drop the price to $502, you’ll have to book through Momondo.
Beware that booking through these types of third party sites invites potentially worse customer service in case of needing a change or cancellation.
If you want the $502 price (to Cairo or Beirut), I’d search first on ITA Matrix and look for a roundtrip priced at $529. The same flight should be $502 on Monomondo.
The flights to Doha, Dubai, or Madinah are around $520 on Monomondo…
…and around $549 on ITA Matrix
Mileage Earning
Here’s how the process of crediting to a partner works if you’d rather not earn Royal Jordanian miles, which I imagine is the majority of you.
The most people will probably benefit from crediting to American Airlines instead. You’ll earn 50% of the distance flown, which (for example) between Chicago and Dubai is 3,623 redeemable American Airlines miles. You’d also earn 50% of the distance flown crediting to JAL.
Baggage Allowance
You’ll get two checked bags up to 50 lbs each for free, as well as a free carry-on and a free personal item.
Best Way to Buy the Ticket
Buy this ticket with the Barclaycard Arrival Plus. The card comes with 50,000 Arrival miles after spending $3,000 on the card in the first three months. Arrival miles can be redeemed for 1 cent each toward any travel expense. Here is How to Redeem Arrival Miles.
With the Arrival Plus, you don’t even have to wait to meet the minimum spending requirement before you spend the miles. Open an Arrival Plus, put whatever revenue tickets on the card you want now to help you meet the minimum spending requirement, and then redeem Arrival miles within 120 days to offset the charges. The Arrival miles you’d earn from the sign up bonus + the spending it takes to unlock it will cover any of the roundtrips mentioned in this post.
Don’t have the Arrival Plus card? Put it on whatever card you have travel statement credits for, like the Sapphire Reserve or Citi Prestige. Don’t have any travel statements credits to earn? Check out the Best Credit Card to Buy Airfare. Care more about travel insurance? Check out our Travel Protection Benefits series that covers policies of major cards.
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Hat Tip Secret Flying
Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.
With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!
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