Stack Promo Award + ThankYou Transfer Bonus = 8k Points to Europe (ENDS SOON)

There are just two days left to take advantage of the 30% transfer bonus between Citi ThankYou Points and Flying Blue, and three days left to book Flying Blue's August Promo Awards...the cheapest of which will get you from New York City to Paris for only 8,000 ThankYou Points if you stack both promotions.

New Amex Offers: 20k points for $1k Spend with Air France or KLM

American Express is offering some lucrative incentives to spend on their cards right now. Not everyone will have these Amex Offers available as they are targeted.

The Coolest Thing You Can Do with 12.5k to 92.5k Delta SkyMiles

Updated 5/14/15 with current prices and routing rules. Screen shots show old prices.

Delta SkyMiles get a bad rap--very deservedly so--for the lack of Saver (Level 1) award availability that Delta releases, the fuel surcharges Delta charges on awards, the inability to add stopovers on awards, and the fact that Delta deleted its chart from the internet.

But it does not follow that Delta miles are worthless.

How to Get to Europe in Business Class This Summer for 31,250 Miles

Flying Blue--the loyalty program of Air France/KLM, Air Europa, Kenya Airways, and TAROM--has released its newest Promo Awards that let you fly in Business Class this summer from Washington DC to anywhere in Europe for as little as 31,250 miles each way plus fuel surcharges.

There are also discounted Promo awards from other North American cities to Europe in other cabins.

Flying Blue is a 1:1 transfer partner of Membership Rewards and Starpoints.

What cities are these Promo Awards good for?
How do you book a Promo Award?

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

Update 11/6/14: Here is an Anatomy of an Award post in which we book the theoretical award below for an actual client!

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.

Anatomy of an Award: Membership Rewards to Argentina

I recently booked a family of four an economy award from Miami to Buenos Aires with their Membership Rewards. It was an interesting award that I think demonstrates the complexities and fun of booking with American Express points.

I won't talk about that award specifically, but I'll use it as a jumping off point for discussion since it illustrates a typical Memberhip Rewards situation.

A System to Get to Europe with Delta SkyMiles

I use three steps to get to my European destination with Delta SkyMiles. For each direction:

Find transatlantic space.
Find domestic space within the US on Delta or Alaska from my home airport to the international gateway.
Find intra-European space to my destination.

Those steps are roughly in order of difficulty--though many times finding domestic space on Delta is impossible at the low-miles price.

Getting to Tahiti with Delta Miles

See last week's post on getting to French Polynesia with American miles.

This post will be about getting to French Polynesia–Tahiti, Bora Bora, and more–with Delta SkyMiles. This is an award I get asked to book frequently through my Award Booking Service, and I wanted to share some free tips.

French Polynesia is a French-speaking “overseas country” controlled by France. It is south of Hawaii and east of Australia. The main tourist spots are Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Mo’orea. People go to French Polynesia for the absolutely stunning beach-and-island landscape.

Free First Class Next Month: Using expertflyer.com

Hey there, you're reading an outdated post! The updated series from April 2015 can be found here.

This is the twenty-seventh post in a monthlong series. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete.

Free First Class Next Month: Using AirFrance.us for Award Searches

Hey there, you're reading an outdated post! The updated series from April 2015 can be found here.

This is the twenty-sixth post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flier miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.

Yesterday, I talked about using delta.com for award searches.