MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.
Mashable readers: Welcome to the best blog on redeeming frequent flyer miles. The way that I’ve traveled to over 20 countries this year and spent nine months abroad is by signing up for credit cards and using the miles to book business and first class awards.
Here is a post that explains to beginners what I do and why I do it. I wrote it for the benefit of new readers who were attracted to the site when MileValue was featured in the New York Times.
The card Alissa got was the US Airways Premier World MasterCard with 30,000 bonus US Airways miles after first purchase, enough for a roundtrip award to Europe or South America. It is a great card to get started with US Airways miles, which are the best to North Asia and Australia among other places.
Here are some other great posts on some US Airways awards I’ve booked, including my all time favorite award:
- Anatomy of an Award: South America, Africa, Europe, and North America in Biz for 100k
- How to Combine US Airways Promotions to Get Two Tickets to Europe for $284 Each
If you already have miles and think they’re worthless, you just don’t know how to use them. Subscribe to this blog by entering your email address in the top left corner. You’ll receive one daily email with all my posts, and you’ll be up to speed in no time.
Or you can skip the learning and use my Award Booking Service, which charges $111 per person to book your awards with your miles.
If you have a trip in mind but no miles yet, you should get a Free Credit Card Consultation from me, in which I tell you which cards to open to take your dream trip for free.
——————————————————————-
A Mashable article titled “How I Flew Around the World in Business Class for $1,340” was just posted by a self-described MileValue reader about her round-the-world business class award.
Most of my knowledge I gleaned on how to book this reward ticket came from the travel blog Milevalue. It’s a travel blog run by a 26-year-old guy who writes easy-to-read blog posts on how to find and book overly complicated reward flights.
Alissa Haupt used that knowledge to book a ten segment US Airways award from Minneapolis to Shanghai via Europe and back for only 90k US Airways miles in business class, 30k of which she got on first purchase from the US Airways Premier World MasterCard.
I’m very proud of the student I didn’t know I had, who did a pretty good job–with room for some improvement–on what sounds like one of her first awards.
What did she get right? What did she get wrong? How can you do better?
She got 30k miles by opening a US Airways Premier World MasterCard and bought the other 60k during a US Airways 100% bonus promotion for about $1,200.
This is a great way to get a business class award trip to Shanghai. As she points out later, her flights would have cost at least $5,000, and she paid less than a third of that.
I can’t give her an A+ for miles acquisition though. She could have “bought” 50k of the miles during the recent 100% Share miles promotion for about half the price she paid. Or she could have opened the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and Starwood Business Card to get all the miles from credit card sign up bonuses. The 60k Starpoints from getting both cards equals 75k US Airways miles.
She chose US Airways because it has by far the cheapest business class awards to China, great partner availability, and the most liberal routing rules. Excellent choice.
US Airways is a part of Star Alliance, so with those miles I was able to book travel on any of the company’s airline partners. (In fact, despite booking with US Airways, none of my flights were on that carrier.) US Airways is unique as its awards are booked without a computer to tell the booking agent whether or not the reward flight travels over too many miles or segments.
She searched award space segment by segment on united.com. Perfect choice.
I used United.com to search for reward availability, segment by segment, starting with the hardest first.
Not content to simply get to Shanghai, she added a three day stopover in Seoul and 23 hour layovers in Chicago, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Bangkok, Zurich, and Munich. And it sounds like she’s pretty happy she did.
More so, it was really wonderful to have the ability to hop around the world for one week. I ate wild-roast sausage in the rain in Frankfurt, attempted to only speak German for 24-hours straight (with mixed success) and fired a BB gun at a balloon over the Sea of Marmara in Istanbul (my first time firing any gun, ever). I partied the whole night long with hostel-mates in Bangkok, then had a Thai massage (hangover cure?). I ate Bi Bim Bap in Seoul, and toured tunnels dug by North Koreans under the Demilitarized Zone.
Once she found her award space, she called US Airways and fed the segments to the agent. Brilliant.
I called US Airways to book the award and fed the agent each flight segment.
I would not have held this award. If the agent was ready to book, I would have booked. Holding the award can lead to the problem that Alissa ran into of having the next agent balk at ticketing your award. Luckily Alissa knew how to solve that too: hang up; call back.
I was able to put the flights on hold for three days…Once I was certain I wanted to travel on these dates, I called back to book the reward. I had to hang up and call again several times before I found a booking agent who was able to book the tickets for me.
In the end she paid 90k miles plus $140. She got 30k of the miles from a credit card sign up and bought 60k for $1,200. Her total outlay was $1,340 plus one credit pull.
That’s a heck of a lot better than the alternative.
According to my quick search on Kayak, it would have cost somewhere between $5,000 in cash to fly between Minneapolis and Shanghai business class on my dates, and $19,000 to book the trip around the world.
Overall, she did a very good job for what sounds like her first award. Positives:
- She identified the best program for her trip.
- She took advantage of lax routing rules and 23-hour layovers.
- She bought miles when they went on sale to get to the amount she needed.
- She searched on the right website.
- She led the call with the US Airways agent.
- She hung up/called back when she ran into a dead end.
She could make a few improvements:
- She could have gotten all the miles from credit card sign ups by getting two more of the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, Starwood Business card, and US Airways business card.
- She could have bought the miles cheaper during a Share miles promo.
- She could have ticketed when she got a friendly US Airways agent instead of holding.
- She could have saved herself a lot of time by using the MileValue Award Booking Service for only $111, though it sounds like she enjoyed the process.
And the article had a few minor errors that I corrected in a comment.
Congrats to Alissa for a fantastic and super cheap award that met her needs. I would like to correct a few minor errors though.
“US Airways also is unique because it allows you to have an unlimited number of layovers that are 24 hours or less, and one stopover — of any time length — in a city in the same region of your destination. My region was North Asia, so I used my free stopover in Seoul.”
In fact, all major airlines allow virtually unlimited layovers up to 24 hours on awards. I just did six on an intra-Europe United award to see seven countries in a week. Also, her greater than 24 hour layover could have been in any region including Europe.
It’s always very exciting for me to hear about a reader using knowledge they learned at MileValue to book a dream award. Whether you share it on a blog like Mashable, show me the award routing in person like reader Victor did at the Chicago Seminars, or just drop me an email, please share your success stories with me!
Check out the full Mashable article and share it with your newbie friends, so they have an idea why we’re into this hobby and the tangible benefits one can get from collecting miles.
Full Article: How I Flew Around the World in Business Class for $1,340
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℠ 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!
Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
Wow, thats a awesome award. Good Job Alissa and Thank You Scott on the Blog that helps us all so much.
Im leaving on Tuesday SJC-NRT-PVG and im gonna try to upgrade on Ana.. Kinda wish I thought about flying US airways, but to be honest most US airlines to asia really kinda sucks. Food and service lack are always just below asian airlines. Hopefully the airline gods will let me upgrade..If not its still a 787 =)
Scott, I price SPG points more w0uldnt the better option be just reg buy the points?
What do you mean by upgrade? I don’t know of ANY good value upgrades. The good value way into business class is to use miles to book a business class award. And US miles can be used to book the ANA 787 in business class. See https://milevalu.wpengine.com/fantastic-business-class-award-space-to-asia-through-october/
I would rather use SPG points than cash, so I would rather open the credit cards.
Originally I assumed I would be able to upgrade just segments for 50k miles, but the more I think about it the more your right. Upgraded to Business is basically almost the same as booking an economy awards.
I think next time im gonna use MileValue Award Booking Service…
Forking out that much cash to buy miles is an anathema to what this hobby is all about. And when I look at the itinerary all I thought was meh – who but a tiny subset of people would think 23 hr layovers on a trip are a positive? Maybe some think that’s fun, but we know it’s really just a PITA for most people – rushing out of the airport to go see a place for a few hours, only to rush back, go thru all the security rigamarole? Shoot me first.
To each his own. I also had a fantastic time on my week of 23 hour layovers. Try it. You just might like it. And don’t forget that security in most countries is far briefer and less intrusive than in the USA.
And I bet she’ll soon be one of the featured bloggers on MMS. God help us all….
I didnt’ know US Airways allows unlimited layovers. I thought the max was 8 flight segments.
Unlimited 23 hour layovers subject only to the segment limitation. In general it gets really hard to ticket US Airways awards above 10 segments, which would make 8 23-hour layovers, the practical maximum.
A ‘blog’ with 2 posts gets picked up on Mashable, conveniently promoting MileValue.
We’re smarter than that…
Conspiracy!
Suggesting somebody get both SPG cards for the purpose of earning US Airways miles is really bad advice IMO. US Airways miles are easy to earn & cheap to buy, and SPG points are neither. They’re also far more valuable for other uses…
Other than not knowing that the share promo was coming (and honestly how could somebody new to the hobby know that it even existed?), I think she did a fine job earning US Airways miles. I have a much bigger problem with a 15 hour layover in Chicago (didn’t notice if she said she had family there or something), a 24 hour layover in Frankfurt (of all the places in Europe to visit????) and only 8 hour layover in Istanbul..
But check out the things she did. Those layovers all sound awesome. Frankfurt isn’t the most exciting city, but I’ve enjoyed my two one-day trips through.
I agree that she nailed it on the way back. Munich and Zurich are great, easily accessible and fun places to kill a day. Frankfurt is puzzling, though… why not just connect FRA to VIE, AMS, etc and spend a day there??
Above 10 segments would have been very tough to ticket, but I am not sure if that’s the reason. Having done MUC and FRA both, FRA is far easier to access the airport because of the high speed train link. And I love going out on the area by the river at night (forget the name).
Jeez Louise all you nay sayers! So negative! Why in the world do you read the blog in the first place???
Btw Scott, My family of three will be traveling Business Class Via USAirways Miles from SFO To Auckland, spending 3 weeks camping, then 4 days in Sidney, With 23 hours to burn In Seoul on the Areturn. We’re totally jazzed and ready to go! Thanks for all the tips!
That is a great trip. And great program choice to get the award for only 110k per person, far less than with other airlines!
Scott,
It seems I remember you had suggestions for good strategies for air travel within New Zealand?
Thanks in advance,
Kevin
https://milevalu.wpengine.com/milevalue-guide-to-dirt-cheap-domestic-flights-in-new-zealand/
But Grab a Seat is dead.
Scott,
In the above mentioned booking using Usairways miles, United changed the departure time of our first domestic leg, which leaves our connection to our next (Also United) flight bit tight.
Having Been Booked With Usair Miles, Is United Obligated To Provide Options As When BookedWithThereOwnMiles?
You call US Airways to make any changes you’d like to make now.
I can’t believe that no one caught on to what she was doing in china… The flight could of still saved her money. Opening a SPG while great would of given her one more minimum spend in a short time maybe she didn’t want to deal with blue bird. Plus there is a 50/50 chance her teaching program gives her a flight stipend anyways this trip could of been free or near free alreeady. Major props to her.
Overall this is an awesome reward! I agree though that if calling US Airways agents get frustrating, it’s well worth it to use an award service to book it. Next Feb, I have to go to a close friend’s wedding in Cairo and then a week later go to a family reunion in Taiwan. An economy class ticket NYC-CAI-TPE-NYC roughly cost $3000! Thanks to US Airways, though, I’m able to do the above itinerary in LH/MS/TK/BR business class! 🙂 I had 40k miles already and just topped it off by buying 30k miles during the 100% bonus promo. I’ll admit it took 5 calls to make it through (some phone agents claim it should be 120k instead of 90k since I’m stopping over in Middle East.)
Awesome award!
The title of her article is a little misleading as she technically did not fly around the world, but she sure did a lot of world travelling out of one reward. Very impressive.
You say it would be an “improvement” to use an Award Booking Service. However, it’s better for a frugal traveler to book an award by him or herself because it saves $100. Of course, I understand that some people don’t have the time to search for award space and deal with sometimes incompetent agents on the phone. I guess it’s good that the option is out there, and many people probably find award booking services to be helpful.
I’m inspired. With just ONE credit card pull + a generous pocket, she traveled the world for a week!
Note to self: Get over having to do everything perfectly correct.
Your award service was able to find a great flight for me using my us air points going to Barcalona and returning from Venice with Lufthansa but now US Air won’t see the flight. Why does this happen?
I’m sorry I don’t understand what exactly has happened. Can you reply to the email thread you have with the Award Booking Service with more info please?