Want to go to Hawaii, London, or Tokyo using frequent flyer miles? No sweat. All the alliances fly there, and fly there often. In fact, you’ll most likely have your pick of partners.
But what about trying to get to a more remote destination, like the Maldives?
This is where using frequent flyer miles can take a bit of work and planning.
And while it might be a bit of a pain, I’m guessing it will all be worth it once you see this:
I’ll be using the Maldives, one of the world’s hardest spots to travel to, as an example. However, this step by step process can be used for any destination you wish to travel to.
Step 1: Use Wikipedia to Find Out What Airlines Fly in To The Airport
We all know Wikipedia is an invaluable resource for basically anything, and it doesn’t disappoint here. If I’m not familiar with an airport and what airlines fly there, I always first turn to Wikipedia.
Here is the list for airlines flying in and out of Male International Airport (MLE), the main airport in the Maldives.
Step 2: Figure Out Which Airlines You Can Use
Most of the airlines on the list above aren’t of interest to us because they aren’t part of an airline alliance.
What you’ll need to do is figure out which airlines are part of one of the three major alliances: OneWorld, Star Alliance, and Skyteam.
If you’re not a complete frequent flyer nerd (what, you don’t have them memorized?), head back to Wikipedia to see a list of all 3 airline alliance members.
Here are the airlines flying in to Male, broken down by alliance:
OneWorld: British Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar (joining late 2013), SriLankan Airlines (joining late 2013)
Star Alliance: Austrian, Singapore Airlines, Turkish
Skyteam: Aeroflot, China Eastern Air, China Southern, KoreanAir
Step 3: Determine How Many Frequent Flyer Miles it Will Cost
This step is easy. Simply head to milez.biz and plug in your starting point and your destination.
Check to see if any of the carriers happen to be cheaper than the others.
For Philadelphia (PHL) to Male (MLE), United, USAirways and Delta costs 80k roundtrip in economy or 120k in business, whereas American Airlines costs 90k and 135k.
Step 4: Take Inventory of Your Points and Consider Transfer Partners
Now that you know how much it costs for each airline to fly to your destination, you’ve got to figure out if you have enough points to get there.
Don’t forget to consider points, such as Chase, American Express, or Starwood Preferred Guests (SPG), that you can transfer to airlines.
Here’s a sweet infographic about what points transfer to what airlines:
(courtesy of idoru at Flyertalk)
Since I’m looking at flying using United, USAirways, AA, or Delta miles, I have the following transfer options:
Chase points –> United.
American Express points —> Delta or USAirways (if you use a work-around).
SPG points —> AA, Delta, USAirways
After considering transfers, determine which airlines you’ll have enough miles in.
Step 5: Check for Flight Availability
Now, for the (sometimes) hard part. Luckily, there are some good tools out there to make it easier.
The first place to start is Award Nexus, you can get a free login by using your Flyertalk login on this page. This site is great because it allows you to search across all three alliances, but it can be a bit complicated to use
Of course, there will be plenty of times where you won’t find availability right away.
If you are not finding availability with Award Nexus, here are a few tricks to try:
2. For more complicated itineraries, such as PHL to MLE, you may need to search in segments. The computer systems may not be able to handle a request with so many layovers.
In this case, if I was looking for OneWorld flights, I’d search from PHL to Kuala Lumpur (KUL), since I know Malaysia Airlines flies from KUL to MLE. Then, I’d search separately for the KUL to MLE route.
3. Look for routes from other close airports. For example, I may choose to look for flights from New York (JFK, EWR, LGA) since there are many more international flights from those airports than PHL.
Check the bigger airports in your area, as they will often have a lot more availability, especially for long international flights.
Step 6: Book Your Tickets
After finding the flights you want, write down all the information, including times, flights numbers, and the airports you are flying from and going to.
Most likely, you won’t be able to recreate the tickets on the airline’s website whose miles you are using, so you’ll have to call the airline directly and spoonfeed them the information you’ve found.
For example, the two flights I found on AwardTravelr above from PHL-MLE would not show up when I searched for them on USAirways or United’s websites. Depending on what miles I decided to use, I’d have to call up that airline and book the tickets over the phone.
While I usually fly economy class, I would consider splurging and flying business for this trip. With 28+ hours of total flying plus numerous layovers, the extra comfort and lounge access during the layovers would probably be worth it.
Final Word(s)
Using frequent flyer miles to get to some destinations, especially remote places like the Maldives, can sometimes be difficult.
However, if you follow the six steps above, you should be able to use your frequent flyer miles for any dream destination you have, no matter how far away it is.
What are some of the tricks you have for using frequent flyer miles to get to remote destinations? What are some of the more obscure places you have traveled to? Inspire us in the comments below!
The Free Flight Primer is a series of posts which will show, step by step, how to earn and then redeem frequent flyer miles.
I’ll be providing links to tools and websites that are helpful, tons of screenshots or video tutorials of various steps that may prove confusing, and of course, my own thoughts and opinions on the process.
I’ll also be providing a real-life case study using an actual client to better illustrate the process.
You’ve picked your destination, found out what airlines fly there, checked availability of flights, and earned your points. Now you’re on the homestretch. The only thing left to do is book your award and pack your suitcase (which I promise won’t be part 8).
Step 1: Determine Whether You Can Book Online
For all airlines, if you are flying “metal”, which means that you are using that airline’s miles and only flying on that airline (for example, you are using AA miles to book flights and flying ONLY on AA and no partner airlines), then you can book online. And while each airline’s booking system is set up a little different, they are for the most part, pretty straight forward. You sign in to your account, search for availability, and click on the tickets. Then you’ll be taken to a screen that shows how many points you have, how many it costs, and what the total out of pocket cost you have to pay is for fees and taxes. After you enter all your personal details and payment details, you are finished.
The problem comes when you are using an airline’s miles but flying on partner airlines (using AA miles but flying Iberia, BA, etc.). Unfortunately, most airlines DO NOT let you book most partners online and you’ll be required to call in and book.
To make it easy for you, I’ve created a chart that breaks down what you can and cannot do online for the five most popular airlines that people in the States have miles with. I’ve also included how much the fee is to book by phone, the phone number to call if you can’t book your ticket online, and if there is a short notice booking fee. Some airlines charge a fee if the date of booking a ticket is within a certain amount of days of your departure (completely lame if you ask me). I’ve also linked below to their page of rules regarding award travel if you want to read more about it (thrilling stuff, let me tell you!).
Case Study: Rob will be using AA miles but flying on Iberia, meaning he will have to call AA to book the travel.
Step 2: Call and Book Your Ticket
If you can’t book online, then you need to call and book your ticket. It doesn’t sound too complicated, and it isn’t usually, but there are a few tips that might help you.
Always have your itinerary figured out before you call: Use the skills you learned in Parts 3, 4, and 5 to find flight availability. Write down all the information for the itinerary you want or keep the window open on your computer when you call. Don’t assume the rep on the other line will find you the right or best flight. Don’t waste all your hard work by failing to be prepared and then finding out later you are on a different flight from the one you originally wanted.
Ask to have the phone fee waived: Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. I always just mention that I couldn’t book the ticket online because they don’t allow you to book partners online or else I would have. If you sound knowledgeable and prepared, making the job easier for the rep, there will be a better chance you get the fee waived. Of course, being nice helps as well. Hey, it never hurts to ask.
Ask to put the ticket on hold: If you have any doubts at all (about the dates, about the flight numbers, about the passenger names) then ask to put the ticket on hold and get everything in order. This guarantees you have the tickets if you want them but doesn’t lock you in to anything at the moment. Each airline has different rules, but AA will hold your ticket for 5 days. Just remember to call back before the hold is up and actually book your tickets or they will be released and you’ll be out of luck. Also, remember to write down your tracking number somewhere safe and save yourself a lot of headaches later.
After booking your ticket, you should be all set, which brings us to an end of the Free Flight Primer. I hope that you’ve found the information easy to understand and valuable. Based on your comments and emails, I’d consider it a success. If you have any other questions, suggestions for future video tutorials and guides or if the Free Flight Primer has helped you book an award ticket, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
The Free Flight Primer is a series of posts which will show, step by step, how to earn and then redeem frequent flyer miles.
I’ll be providing links to tools and websites that are helpful, tons of screenshots or video tutorials of various steps that may prove confusing, and of course, my own thoughts and opinions on the process.
I’ll also be providing a real-life case study using an actual client to better illustrate the process.
Parts 1-5 have focused on picking a destination and finding availability to that destination. Now, it’s time to shift our focus and actually begin getting you the miles you need to fly for free. If you’ve been following the Free Flight Primer and already have a stockpile of miles, great! But for most newbies, building up your miles balance is a crucial step. Let’s jump right in.
Step 1: Determine How Many Miles You Need
You did this back in Part 1, so I’ll just recap it quickly. If you want to re-read the full version, go here and scroll down to Step 3. The best place to start is milez.biz, which will give you the amount of points needed to fly to your destination across almost all airlines. Consider the following:
What airlines did you find availability on in Parts 3-5?
How many people are flying?
What cabin class do you want to fly?
Case Study: Remember Rob, our case study? He’s looking to fly from New York to Rome in late September. We found good award availability with OneWorld for the dates he wants, he is flying with his wife, and they are looking to fly economy. By looking at milez.biz or at the AA award chart we know that it will cost him 60k roundtrip per person, so he needs 120k AA miles.
Step 2: Determine What Credit Cards Will Get You Your Miles
Credit card signups are far and away the best way to earn miles quickly. There are other ways to pad your balance (which we will discuss later) but to get your free flights, you’ll need to apply for a credit card or two (or three, or four…). So now the question becomes which one?
If you are completely new to the game, I’d recommend you read my Tips For Picking the Right Card page, which gives you a simplified, general overview of what to look for in a credit card. On top of those considerations, we now must also look at our specific scenario and what airlines we are looking to fly.
Two basic recommendations:
1. If you are looking to fly OneWorld, by far the best sign up bonus available is the Citi/AAdvantage cards.
2. If you are looking to fly Star Alliance, there are a few Chase cards that make sense for you. Since Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to United, the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold [No longer available], and Chase Ink Plus are all good options.
In addition, the Chase United Explorer card is another good option.
Case Study: Rob is flying OneWorld, so he needs 120k AA miles. He already has 38k in his AA account, meaning that an extra 100k would put him over the 120k mark we need for him to fly to Europe and back.
Step 3: Apply for the card(s) and start making the minimum spend.
After getting approved for the card, every card has some requirement to meet before you get the miles in your account. For some cards, this is simply “after first purchase” meaning that you can buy one thing, no matter what, and you’ll get the miles.
For other cards, you must spend a certain amount in a certain time frame (i.e. $2,500 in 3 months). IF YOU DON’T HIT THE MINIMUM SPEND, YOU WON’T GET THE MILES. Always, always make sure you can hit the minimum spend.
Since you have already found the flights you want, the sooner you make the minimum spend, the sooner the miles post to your account. The sooner the miles post to your account, the sooner you can use them to book your flight.
See the pattern? The sooner, the better. Every day you wait is another day that the flights you wanted could be snatched up, so while I don’t advocate going out and spending just to spend, if your travel is coming up fairly soon, then I’d suggest making the spend as quickly as you feasibly, and responsibly, can.
Morals of the story:
1. Plan ahead if possible. It is going to be very difficult to go from 0 miles in March to booking a 100k worth of flights for travel in May. Not impossible, but difficult. Even if you do make the minimum spend and your miles post quickly, the award space that close to the travel date will most likely be gone.
2. If you do find yourself in the above situation and are under the gun to get miles, be flexible with your dates. Something may not be open on the Saturday that you want to leave, but it might be available on Tuesday. Make sure to check all options.
Case study: Rob’s wife applied for both the Citi/AA Visa and Citi/AA Amex using the two browser trick (now dead). She was instantly approved for both. She has met the minimum spend on the Visa and is now working on the minimum spend on the AmEx.
Step 4 (if necessary): Transfer the Points
For some cards, the miles you earn will go directly to your account with that airline (for example, the Citi/AAdvantage card earns you American Airlines miles). For other cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred. you’ll need to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to the airline of your choosing (such as United). This can be done online and if you are transferring Chase or American Express points, the transfers are instant (the only exception to this is if you are transferring AmEx to ANA, in which case it usually takes 48 hours). If you a transferring Starwoods points, be aware that they can take anywhere from a few days to two weeks.
Case study: Rob and his wife will not need to transfer points, since they are earning AA miles using the Citi/AAdvantage cards and will also be redeeming AA miles for their tickets.
Step 5: Earn Miles Through Ways Other Than Sign Up Bonuses
While signup bonuses will give you the bulk of your points, you can also pad your mileage balances in a variety of other methods. This is especially helpful when a signup bonus leaves you a few thousand points shy of the amount you need for an award ticket. For example, let’s say you sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the 50k signup bonus but you need 60k for your roundtrip ticket to Europe. If you are smart, you could end up with these 10k just by meeting your minimum spend.
Shopping Portals
The easiest way is to use shopping portals. I document why you should use them in this post and then show you how to use my personal favorite, the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall, here. To highlight our above example, if you went through the Chase UR Mall and spent $350 at Groupon, which was running a 30 points/$1 promotion, you’d already have your extra 10k.
I’ve harped on it continuously in other posts, but if you aren’t using shopping portals than you should start considering it, at least for the online purchases you already make.
“Regular” Spending
Each card, in addition to a sign up bonus, will offer some sort of mileage earning for using it. For most cards, it is 1 point/$1 spent, although some offer special bonus categories where they’ll give you 2 points/$1 or even 5 points/$1 spent. For the Chase Sapphire, you’ll get 2x points on travel and dining, meaning that if you used it only these two categories to make your minimum spend of $3,000, you’d end up with an additional 6k points above your sign up bonus.
If you only have one card, it makes sense to use it in lieu of cash as much as possible. You’ll be earning miles and not paying anything extra. If you have more than one card, start being cognizant of which cards give bonuses in what categories and tailor your usage accordingly.
Case study: After the sign up bonus, Rob will have enough AA miles to make his trip. The AA cards only offer 1/$1 for all categories, so after meeting the minimum spend, he’ll have an extra 5k AA miles in his arsenal.
Step 6: Sign up for Award Wallet to Track Your Points
The more involved you get in this game, the more confusing it can get to remember what points you have with what airlines. Why not use a free product that does all hard work for you? Award Wallet will store your account balances for all types of airlines and hotels (except AA, which has blocked Award Wallet) and will update automatically once you set it up. I can’t think of a single good reason not to use it, and recommend it to everyone I know.
The Free Flight Primer is a series of posts which will show, step by step, how to earn and then redeem frequent flyer miles. We’ll start at the very beginning of the process and work our way through every step, from picking a destination all the way up to booking the ticket. In between we’ll talk about tips for figuring out how many miles are needed for a certain flight, how to earn those miles, how to find seat availability, and much more. I’ll be providing links to tools and websites that are helpful, tons of screenshots of various steps that may prove confusing, and of course, my own thoughts and opinions on the process. It will be broken in to multiple sections and multiple posts, which will make it easier to read and easier to use as a reference at a later date. I’ll also be providing a real-life case study using an actual client to better illustrate the process.
Award Nexus is one of a few paid subscriptions tools (KVS and Expert Flyer are the other two main ones) that many frequent flyers will use to search for award availability. For most people, using the tools I showed you in Parts 3 and 4 are enough (and they are free). However, if you plan on earning a good amount of miles and redeeming them fairly often, it might make sense to look in to paying the small fee for one of these sites. While it does the same thing as the airline’s websites, it allows you to search ALOT quicker and ALOT more efficiently, as you’ll be able to see both OneWorld and Star Alliance flights at the same time, and compare and contrast them on the same screen.
While I’ve dabbled a little bit with the other two, and found them useful, I use Award Nexus most often. Best of all, it is free for a certain amount of searches and your points can be replenished, so if you aren’t using it heavily, you’ll never have to pay.
The video below shows you exactly what you have to do to use Award Nexus. I’ve also provided some written instructions, and as always, if you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to comment below.
In order to sign up for an Award Nexus account you must be a member of Flyertalk. If you are not already a member of Flyertalk, you probably should be anyway, so go there first to sign up. You’ll then have to enter your exact Flyertalk handle (screename) in the box and your email. Your Award Nexus account may not be active right away (I can’t remember the steps that occur) but if it isn’t, it should be shortly.
Step 2: Find Awards Now
There are a lot of tools to dabble around with on Award Nexus, so when you get a chance, have a look around. For searching availability, click on “Find Awards Now”.
Step 3: Enter Your Information
Most of it is straightforward except for the boxes that you have to check. Whichever box you check determines which airline’s search function Award Nexus uses. To understand which ones you should choose, you can click on “Help & Info” and then the “tips” link. For Star Alliance, I have found that CO (which is Continental) and ANA work the best. However, don’t check both, as this will just give you duplicate results but cost you more points. For OneWorld, I only use QF (Qantas).
Step 4: Tailor the Results to Your Liking
Other than saving tons of time, Award Nexus is also great for allowing you to tailor the results exactly how you want. If you only want to see Star Alliance flights, then unclick QF box and it takes away all the Qantas (OneWorld) flights. If you want to sort the flights by departure time, click on the Depart heading and it resorts it. Want to see the results in a calendar view, then click on any of the numerous tabs at the top of the page. I usually like to use list or list (detailed) but anything is fine.
Step 5: Write Down All Your Details
If you find a flight you like, click on it and it will bring up a box with all the flight details, including total time, layover time, cities in and out of, etc. Remember, you can’t book on Award Nexus, it is only for searching, so write down all the details of the flight you like and call up the airline you have points with to book your ticket.
The Free Flight Primer is a series of posts which will show, step by step, how to earn and then redeem frequent flyer miles. We’ll start at the very beginning of the process and work our way through every step, from picking a destination all the way up to booking the ticket. In between we’ll talk about tips for figuring out how many miles are needed for a certain flight, how to earn those miles, how to find seat availability, and much more. I’ll be providing links to tools and websites that are helpful, tons of screenshots of various steps that may prove confusing, and of course, my own thoughts and opinions on the process. It will be broken in to multiple sections and multiple posts, which will make it easier to read and easier to use as a reference at a later date. I’ll also be providing a real-life case study using an actual client to better illustrate the process.
After rolling out the video tutorial style for Part 3 of the Free Flight Primer and asking for your opinions, the “masses” have spoken: they love it! That means that we’ll continue the trend, and today, I’ll be showing you two more video tutorials to help you find Star Alliance Award Availability. The first way to search will be using Continental, as the video below will show. Then, we’ll explore using ANA’s search tool. Enjoy the shows!
Using Continental to Search for Star Alliance Award Availability
Continental’s search function will find almost all of Star Alliance partner airlines, leaving out a few. It is not as inclusive as ANA’s website, but it is WAAYYYYY easier to use, which is why we are starting with it. If you find what you need on Continental, you won’t even have to deal with ANA. Also, you do not have to be a member of Continental’s frequent flyer program to use the award search function, a HUGE plus.
Step 2: Enter Your Preferred Itinerary
Make sure “Reward Travel” is clicked when you hit search. The first thing that shows up on the list of results will be any non-stop flights on Continental or United (they are merging, so they are considered the same airline). If there is no non-stop flights, then it will show Continental/United flights with stops, and after you scroll down, it will show the Partner flights.
I love the ease of the search page for Continental, as it not only provides the extra fees for the ticket but also gives you all the information you need in a really clear, easy to understand format. Just make sure to remember that the price in miles is for ONE WAY. After you select an outbound ticket, you’ll then go to another screen to select your return ticket.
Case Study: The best ticket we can find for Rob from Philadelphia to Rome is a 30k SaverPass that has a layover of 7 hours in Frankfurt. Not awful, but….not great. Everything else has an even longer layover. We’ll write this down as an option but play around with the dates and departure city to see if we can find something better.
Step 3: Enter Other Possible Itineraries
Another great thing about Continental’s search website is that it is really easy to switch around dates and cities. Scroll down to the bottom and in the left hand corner you can “Start New Search”. You don’t even have to leave that page and it will update you with the new results for your search. Hooray for intuitive design!
Case Study: Ok, now we are getting somewhere. We have two interesting possibilities. There are economy MileSaver tickets for 30k from both JFK (pictured below) and EWR, and both with layovers of 2 hours or less. Not bad. There is also another possibility that you can see on the screenshot below; a business class MileSaver for only 50k with only a short layover in Brussels. My client has mentioned that he wants to fly economy, but this illustrates a good point to remember: If you can’t find saver tickets in economy for the flights you want, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check saver business class tickets. They will most likely be less than the standard (anytime) economy tickets, and you’ll be flying in style! I’ll mention both the 2 economy options and the business option to Rob and see what he prefers.
Notice that the second flight listed has a standard economy ticket (the second column) listed for 55K and that the first flight has a business saver ticket for only 50k (the third column). Always, always check business saver availability if you can't find the economy saver availability you want!
Step 4 (if necessary): Book Your Ticket
If you are using United or Continental miles than you can book the ticket directly on the website. After picking your outbound and return flights, you’ll be asked to enter your OnePass number and password (if you haven’t already done so). If you are just using Continental as a search engine and booking using miles that you have with other Star Alliance members, then you need to write down all the information and call the airline that you have miles with and book with them directly.
Case Study: We have found some decent tickets going in and out of New York, but we can’t book them yet because Rob does not have any miles in a Star Alliance carrier. First, we’ll have to “earn” him the miles, and then book. But we’ll write these options as down as good possibilities.
Using ANA to Search for Star Alliance Availability
If you didn’t have any luck with Continental, then the next place to look is ANA. While this is a much bigger pain, it certainly isn’t impossible. You will have to trick the computer in to letting you search Star Alliance partners if you don’t have any miles in your ANA account (like me). The video takes you through step by step, but in case you’d rather read it or get confused, I’ve also written it out for you.
I searched for 20 minutes on ANA’s homepage, clicking through every conceivable place, and still was unable to get directed to their awards booking page that you need. Don’t fall in to the same trap. Just bookmark the page that I link to above and use it each time. Trust me, you’ll add years to your life.
You’ll need an ANA Mileage Club account to search, so if you don’t have one, you need to sign out of the Awards Booking Page (but bookmark it first!) and then go back to it once you have an account number and password.
Step 2: Trick the System
If you miles in your ANA account, then you don’t need this step. Simply click on the “Use Star Alliance Member Airlines” button and begin your search.
If you don’t have miles, you’ll first have to the “ANA International Flight Awards” button.
Enter any award flight you know ANA flies. I always use JFK in the from field and NRT (Narita-Tokyo) in the to field. Use any date and click next.
It will give you results for your search, but you don’t care about that. Scroll down and on the right hand side you’ll see the “Use Star Alliance Member Airlines” button again, but this time it will be blue and you’ll be able to click it. So…click it!
Now, you are in the system and able to enter any date, departure city and destination city that you want! You’ve tricked the system!
Step 3: Enter Your Preferred Itinerary
When you get to the search results page, ANA will only automatically show you the flights that fly non-stop. MAKE SURE TO HIT THE “CONNECTING FLIGHTS” BUTTON ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE TO SEE ALL AVAILABLE FLIGHTS. Don’t forget to do this for your return leg as well.
Case Study: There is nothing of real interest at all showing for Philadelphia to Rome.
Step 4: Enter Other Possible Itineraries
The annoying thing about ANA (ok, the millionth annoying thing) is that you have hit the search again button to change the city, which takes you back to the original page. HOWEVER, to simple change the date and keep the same cities, you only have to hit the forward or back arrows above the flight itinerary. ANA finally does something right!
Case Study: Looking from New York, I see the same flights from EWR and JFK that I saw on Continental’s sight but nothing new.
Step 5 (if necessary): Book Your Ticket
It’s probably unlikely that you’ll be using ANA for anything other than searching, but if you are using ANA miles to book the ticket, you can do it online. For everyone else, its the same old mantra: Write down the important information and call the airline who you have miles with and book directly through them.
Case Study: We aren’t ready to book yet, so nothing new to report.
The Free Flight Primer is a series of posts which will show, step by step, how to earn and then redeem frequent flyer miles. We’ll start at the very beginning of the process and work our way through every step, from picking a destination all the way up to booking the ticket. In between we’ll talk about tips for figuring out how many miles are needed for a certain flight, how to earn those miles, how to find seat availability, and much more. I’ll be providing links to tools and websites that are helpful, tons of screenshots of various steps that may prove confusing, and of course, my own thoughts and opinions on the process. It will be broken in to multiple sections and multiple posts, which will make it easier to read and easier to use as a reference at a later date. I’ll also be providing a real-life case study using an actual client to better illustrate the process.
Today, I’ll be trying out a new format and I’d love reader feedback. Instead of simply including screenshots of the entire process, I’ve decided to make a short 5 minute video that will show my computer screen as I walk you through the entire process of searching for OneWorld award availability. I’ll also provide a write up as a supplement to the video, emphasizing important points I may have glossed over during the video. I’m assuming that this video format is much more beneficial for readers, and that is why I’ve decided to give it a whirl. But hey, I could be totally wrong (I was certainly wrong in assuming that making a video would take less time than a posting screenshots)! Watch the video below and let me know what you prefer for future installations of The Free Flight Primer.
Important point:You need to be a member of Qantas’s frequent flyer program in order to search for award availability. If you are not already a member, sign up. It is free and takes less than 5 minutes, a small price to pay to search all OneWorld partners. Also, you DO NOT need to have Qantas frequent flyer miles in your account to search for availability (hooray!).
Step 2: Enter Your Preferred Itinerary
Make sure to have the tab titled “Award Bookings” highlighted and also to have selected “Qantas and Partner Classic Awards”. This will search all OneWorld alliance members.
Insiders’ Tip: I’ve found it easier not to select “flexible dates” even if mine are. If you choose flexible dates it bounces you back out to the calendar screen to change the date each time you want to search another date. If you don’t choose flexible dates, you can change dates after you have a flight list up and not bounce all the way back to the calendar screen.
Case Study: Looking for flights from Philadelphia to Rome on September 28th and from Rome to Philadelphia on October 13th gives us all British Airways tickets, not what we want at all (remember, high fuel surcharges). Ick!
Step 3: Enter Other Possible Itineraries
In Part Two, we already looked at possible routings for both our flight origin and destination. Hit “start again” on the left side column and enter the other itineraries you’ve felt could work for your trip.
Case Study: Rome is the only airport we can feasibly fly in to but instead of flying out of Philadelphia, we can fly out of New York. There is the Iberia flight we found in Part 2 that flies from JFK to Rome via Madrid, but it has not economy availability on the 28th. However, when I change the date to the 29th, we find an economy ticket on Iberia leaving at 6 p.m. This is a possibility, and the only real option we’ve found so far for OneWorld.
Coming home, there are no economy flights available on Iberia on either Sat Oct. 13th or Sun Oct 14th but there is some availability on Friday Oct 12th. Not the best option, but it is an option.
Step 4 (if necessary): Call and Book Your Ticket
If you find the flights that you want, awesome! Call and book your ticket. REMEMBER, WE ARE USING QANTAS AS A SEARCH ENGINE, NOT TO ACTUALLY BOOK OUR TICKET. Unless you are actually planning on using Qantas miles, you can not book this ticket online. You will have to call up the airline whose miles you are planning to use and book it through them. For our case study, it is American Airlines. Make sure to write down all the information about the flights you want, such as all the flight numbers, the times, and the cities you’ll be flying to and from. Then, you’ll call the airline you want to book with, tell them the information, and they should be able to pull it up and book for you.
Case study: We did not find tickets that worked perfect for us, so for now, I’ll write down the options I’ve decided are decent (the Iberia flights) and next try searching for Star Alliance availability.
