Many travelers have Australia on their bucket list. There really is something for everyone, from the snorkeling and diving at the Great Barrier Reef to wineries, cool cities and spectacular beaches. 

The competition for the very limited number of award seats to get there, however, is fierce. Airlines’ frequent miler programs certainly don’t make it easy and finding award space on the nonstop flights from the U.S. could be quite a challenge.

If you’re anything like us, nearly every moment of this pandemic has been spent dreaming of travel. Especially as we try to avoid nauseating headlines like “Corona” being on the rise for baby names. With U.S. residents barred from entering Europe for the foreseeable future, now is the time to focus on feasible travel.

In this three-part series, we are looking at the basics of the cheapest domestic awards.

The Citi Prestige offer mentioned in this post is expired. See the new offer and analysis here.

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Citi ThankYou Points have added a new airline transfer partner--its 12th--Virgin America Elevate Points. The normal transfer ratio will be 1,000 ThankYou Points to 500 Elevate Points, but there is a 25% transfer bonus through October 21, 2015, so 1,000 ThankYou Points equal 625 Elevate Points at the moment.

How ThankYou Points Work
As a quick refresher, there are two ways to use ThankYou Points:

Use them like cash to purchase any flight on any airline with no blackouts.