Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're spending it like I am with family and friends about to munch on turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, pie, and as few veggies as possible. This is absolutely my favorite holiday of the year.

Several years ago when traveling became such a part of my identity, I started saying I was "thankful I live at a time when I can get almost anywhere in the world within a day" at the what-are-you-thankful-for pre-dinner grace.

Introduction to Free One Ways (this post)
Free Oneways on American Airlines Awards (dead as of April 2014)
Free One Ways on United Awards
Free One Ways on Delta Awards
Free One Ways on US Airways Awards
Free One Ways on Alaska Airlines Awards
Three Vacations on Two Awards

A free oneway is a oneway itinerary to or from your home airport added on to another award for no additional miles.

The Delta SkyMiles program has a lot of drawbacks. One of the most annoying is that it charges fuel surcharges on award redemptions on several of its partners. For this post, I've compiled a list of SkyMiles partners that fly to the US, and I've priced out a roundtrip award from the US to their hubs in either economy or business class.

Delta miles can't be used for three-cabin first class redemptions. Awards cost the roundtrip price whether you fly oneway or roundtrip.

I've noted which awards incur surcharges and how much those surcharges are.

United has announced a 20% discount on economy class awards to Europe from January 15 to March 13, 2013:

United and United Express operated flights
Booked between now and November 15
Roundtrip economy class awards for 48k miles.

I'll break this promo down and compare it to the discounted awards to Europe being offered by American and US Airways.

United

Roundtrip awards entirely on planes bearing United and United Express paint jobs between the continental US, Alaska, and Canada and Europe in economy class, flown between 1/15/13 and 3/13/13, and booked between now and 11/15/12 cost 48,000 United miles.

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.

Alex writes:

I’m a huge fan of your free one-way series although it left me bitter at the very beginning when I realized how many great opportunities I missed by redeeming my miles incorrectly. But I’m trying to fix it now. [Scott: I get a variation of this frequently.

The American Express Platinum Card is one of the best credit cards for frequent travelers. The card comes with Delta, American, US Airways, and Priority Pass Select lounge access. (American/US lounge access ends 3/22/14.) Coupled with no foreign transaction fees and $120 towards Global Entry, this is a great all around travel card.

Many people balk at this card due to the $450 annual fee.

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.

1. Your Platinum Card's Membership Rewards will drop in value for Pay With Points redemptions on February 15, 2013 from 1.25 cents to 1 cent. This is pretty close to not being newsworthy, since Pay With Points is a bad deal at 1.25 cents. I'd rather transfer to Avios, Hawaiian Airlines, or even top off a Delta account before buying a cash ticket with Membership Rewards.

The Points Guy reports that you can call AMEX to cancel your Platinum card until December 30 at 800-525-3355 and receive a prorated refund of the $450 annual fee.

Prepaids are All the Rage--Add Another to the List (if You Live in New England)

Word on the street is that miles and points aficionados may be interested in prepaid debit cards. See How Much is Bluebird Really Worth? and my Bluebird Calculator.

The players involved have included the NetSpend card, Mio card, Wells Fargo prepaid card, US Bank and Nationwide Visa Buxx cards, and the American Express Prepaid card.