Ranking The Best and Worst Frequent Flyer Miles

by | Oct 31, 2013 | Frequent Flyer Miles for Beginners

2. ranking the best and worst ff miles

When many people first start earning frequent flyer miles, they make the mistake of focusing on the NUMBER of miles they are earning instead of the type of miles they are earning.

But here’s the problem:

Not all frequent flyer miles are created equal.

Not by a long shot!

Some are great all around.

Some are good in some instances but bad in others.

Some are super flexible but don’t offer the same value per point.

And some, well, they just generally suck (but are still better than nothing)!

If you’re unsure what types of miles you should be earning, here’s your primer.

Each type will have the pros and cons listed and then be given a score of 0-10 so you can judge them relative to each other.

1.  Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Chase-UR-points

Pros:

  • Transferable to multiple airline partners, including United and Southwest.
  • Transferable to multiple hotel partners, with the best value being Hyatt.
  • Easy to earn since there are many good sign up bonuses
    • Chase Ink Bold [This card is no longer available from Chase]
    • Chase Ink Plus
    • Chase Sapphire Preferred
    • Chase Freedom
  • Possibility of “paying with points” for flights with no award availability.
  • Ability to use for car rentals, hotels, or flights.
  • Instant transfers to partners.

Cons:

  • None

Overall

Score: 10 out of 10.

These are far and away my favorite points to accumulate since they are flexible, easy to earn a bunch of, and transfer instantly.

Your best value usually comes by transferring to United because United miles are great (keep reading for the United breakdown below) and then using for international travel.

Almost all my daily spending is done on a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Bold so that I can earn more Chase points.

2.  Starwood Preferred Guest Points

spg-points

Pros:

  • Transfers to TONS of airlines, with the best in most cases being American Airlines and USAirways.
  • Every time you transfer 20k SPG points, you’ll receive 25k miles, a 25% bonus.
  • SPG points can be used at Starwood hotels with their Cash+Points option, allowing you to stretch your points.

Cons:

  • SPG points have fewer options than Chase points for a big welcome offer/bonus.
    • SPG personal card
    • SPG business card
  • SPG’s best transfer partners, AA and USAirways, are a little more restrictive than United.
  • Transfers are not instantaneous and can take up to a week (better plan ahead)!

Overall

Score: 8.5 out of 10

The two keys to SPG are they that they transfer to AA, a great airline program to have miles in, and that they offer a 25% bonus.

60k SPG automatically becomes 75k airline miles, which is an amazing perk!

The major downside is that it is harder to get a large amount of miles through the welcome offer/bonus and that they don’t transfer instantly.

SPG points are a great way to diversify your mileage portfolio, and the SPG cards make good everyday spend cards, especially if you are looking for AA miles.

3.  United Miles

United mileage plus

Pros:

  • United miles never charge a fuel surcharge on their flights.
  • United allows one-way tickets.
  • They allow stopovers and open-jaws (meaning you can get 2 or 3 vacations for the price of 1)!
  • Chase points transfer to United, meaning it’s easy to earn a bunch of United miles quickly.
  • United is a member of the largest airline alliance and oftentimes has the best award availability.
  • It’s easy to book all partner airline awards online at United’s website.

Cons:

  • Unlike Chase and SPG points, United miles can’t be transferred and must be used solely on United.

Overall

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

As far as airline frequent flyer miles go, United is the gold standard.

The big keys are that you can earn them quickly, they allow international stopovers and open jaws and they never have a fuel surcharge.

United miles are BY FAR the most hassle free airline miles you can earn.

I earn Chase points as much as I can, and almost always end up transferring them to United.

Then, I’ll put together a crazy itinerary with stopovers and open jaws and get amazing value out of them!

4.  American Airlines Miles

American-Airlines-AAdvantage

Pros:

Cons:

Overall

Score: 7.5 out of 10

The major advantage AA has over United is their off-peak award chart, which I urge everyone to take advantage of.

The value is unheard of!

The major drawback is that AA miles have a fuel surcharge on them when you fly on British Airways, which makes it very difficult to use them to fly to Europe.

And for most people, Europe is high on their list!

Still, AA miles are a great complement to United miles.

Having both means that if you can’t find space with one airline, you still have a shot with the other.

5.  USAirways

USAirwaysMiles

Pros:

Cons:

  • DOES NOT allow one-way tickets
  • A little more difficult to earn large amounts of USAirways miles
    • Barclays USAirways card
    • SPG Amex personal
    • SPG Amex business
  • USAirways online system does not allow you to book partner flights, so you’ll have to call in each time.

Overall

Score: 6.5 out of 10

USAirways is like a little brother to United.

It has some of the great features, like never charging a fuel surcharge and allowing stopovers and open jaws, but also has one major drawback:

Not allowing one way tickets. 

This cuts down dramatically on your flexibility, not just in how you have to travel but in the amount of points you need to have.

With USAirways, if you want to travel to Europe, you NEED to have 60k miles because you have to fly roundtrip.

Whereas with AA and United, if you only have 30k in each program, you could mix and match.

Fly over with United, fly back with AA or vice versa.

And since earning USAirways miles isn’t as easy as earning United miles or AA miles, you can oftentimes get stuck with an amount that is hard to do anything with.

This can especially be the case with people looking for more than 1 or 2 tickets, since you’ll need a boatload of USAirways miles to get a family of four roundtrip.

Still, USAirways offers great perks, and I urge everyone to take advantage of their stopovers and open jaw rules.

6.  Southwest

southwest rapid rewards

Pros:

  • Every seat can be an award seat, so as long as their is a seat on the plane, you can book with your SW points.
  • No fuel surcharges or taxes when using points.
  • The ability to earn the SW Companion Pass if you get 110k points in a year.
  • SW points are easy to earn through sign up bonuses
    • Chase Southwest personal card
    • Chase Southwest business card
  • Chase points transfer to Southwest
  • No checked baggage fees
  • One-ways are allowed.

Cons:

  • Southwest and AirTran only fly domestically in the US and to a few spots in the Caribbean and Mexico.
  • No separate first class or business class cabins.
  • No stopovers.

Overall

Score: 6.5 out of 10

Southwest is the most difficult to rank because it is totally dependent on your travel habits.

If you only fly domestically, then Southwest may be at the very top of the list.

But for people who need to fly internationally or only fly business or first class, Southwest points are meaningless.

Their program as a whole has many more pros than cons, with the ability to earn the Companion Pass and the anytime award seats being the major benefits.

If you are someone who flies domestically, even if it’s only occasionally, getting Southwest points is a must.

7.  American Express points

american express logo

Pros:

Cons:

Overall

Score: 5 out of 10.

Amex points used to be the king of the castle, but my, how the mighty have fallen.

While the quantity of transfer partners, the quickness of the transfer, and the bonuses they offer are all great, the major issue is the quality of transfer partners.

It’s just not that good.

There are 6 transfer partners that make sense, but all are very situation specific and have major holes.

And this makes Amex points much harder to use than Chase points or SPG points, and therefore, much less valuable.

My recommendation would be to earn Amex points when there is a good offer out there, and then when you see a lucrative transfer bonus, jump on it!

8.  British Airways Avios Points

BA Plane Logo

Pros:

  • Very good in a few specific instances, like these 5 trips, when you don’t have to pay fuel surcharge.
  • No close in booking fee.
  • Easy to earn large amounts since all 3 points (Chase, Amex, SPG) transfer to British Airways.
  • Also has a decent sign up bonus for their own credit card.
    • Chase British Airways credit card
  • Great for short hop flights since they charge per distance flown.

Cons:

  • Most award flights incur a HUGE fuel surcharge.
  • BA’s website is very difficult to book with.
  • Very bad to use to fly to Europe (ironically), due to huge fuel surcharge.
  • Charges per distance flown, so very bad for long international itineraries.

Overall

Score: 4 out of 10

These are the trickiest to use and most situation specific miles out there.

And it’s because of this inflexibility that they are rated so low.

They can offer INCREDIBLE value if you use them to fly domestically within the US, from the East coast to the Caribbean, to South America, or from the West coast to Hawaii.

However, for any other type of international trips, they’ll charge a massive fuel surcharge and you’ll be stuck paying $400+.

Definitely learn what they are good for, use them for those types of trips, and avoid the fuel surcharges.

9. Delta miles

Delta-Skymiles

Pros:

  • Only airline to allow stopovers on domestic award tickets.
  • Won’t charge a fuel surcharge if you originate in the United States.

Cons:

  • VERY, VERY little availability.
  • Does NOT allow one-way tickets.
  • Hefty fuel surcharges if you originate outside of the US.

Overall

Score:  1 out of 10

Having miles is no good if you can never find availability, and this is Delta falls flat on it’s face.

The few good things Delta does, like allowing stopovers on domestic tickets, is overshadowed by the fact that it is EXTREMELY difficult to find availability with Delta.

It’s so difficult, that I personally have never earned 1 single Delta mile.

In fact, they are often referred to as “SkyPesos” because of how little value they have.

And if you’re someone who has been collecting Delta miles, I urge you to flee!

Start earning miles that are much more valuable, like United or American Airlines.

Final Word(s)

Not all miles are created equal.

Don’t just pay attention to the number of miles you have, but more importantly, focus on the TYPE of miles you have.

They are all dramatically different, each with their own good points and bad points.

The sooner you figure out what miles work best for you, the better off you’ll be when it comes to using them for what we all want:

FREE TRAVEL!

Personally, I focus most of my energy on earning Chase points, which I then convert to United miles.

Then, to a lesser extent, SPG points, which I usually transfer AA.

How would you rank the different frequent flyer miles out there?  What’s your favorite, and why?

Let’s open up a lively discussion in the comments below!

How to Get to the Maldives (or anywhere else in the world) Using Frequent Flyer Miles

by | Feb 26, 2013 | Frequent Flyer Miles for Beginners

Relaxation, personified.

Relaxation, personified.

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.

3a. how to get the maldives

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.

How to Get to Male Airlines Flying In

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)

(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:

1.  Search each alliance individually.  To do that, check out my guides, complete with video tutorials, on how to find OneWorld availability and how to find Star Alliance availability.

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!

(photos courtesy of marcinbaranowski, mrwallpaper)

 

 

 

 

 

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