The best North America and International mileage promotions going on now

Let’s say you could double the buying power of your loyalty miles overnight, even if you have none. Would you do it? Exactly.

Well, this is your moment because there are a number of mileage promotions available from major carriers to Europe and Asia right now. Some of the deals require booking and flying in the next few months, while others have a much longer window—into 2014 in some cases.

OPPORTUNITY #1: SKYTEAM’S CHEAPER-THAN-FREE BUSINESS CLASS UPGRADE TO EUROPE

Air Europa, Air France, and KLM, all SkyTeam alliance airlines and members of the Flying Blue mileage program, are offering Business Class to Europe for only 50,000 miles round-trip—half the normal rate. That’s the rate most airlines charge for coach class, making this deal a free upgrade.

Valid to 50 Destinations in Europe: The promotion is valid for all three European zones on the Flying Blue mileage program, among them the Canary Islands, Greece, Israel, and Morocco. See chart on page 5 for a complete list of countries in each zone.

BUSINESS CLASS TO EUROPE FOR $2,150

If you don’t have the miles: The best way to nail this deal is by transferring 40,000 Starpoints to Flying Blue—fewer miles than most carriers charge for coach, making this tw

o-pronged approach resultant in a “cheaper-than free upgrade”. (The 10,000-point transfer bonus brings the total to 50,000.) Or, transfer 50,000 Amex Rewards points.
Don’t have any Amex miles? Membership Rewards members can buy the necessary points for $1,250, which is a lot cheaper than the published fares ($4,000 plus), even though taxes on the award ticket start at about $900+. (Not a member? This is a good reason to become one.)

Air Europa, Air France, and KLM Destinations in Europe for 50,000 Miles Round-trip in Business Class

Fine Print: This cheaper-than-free-upgrade is valid for travel through June 30 (June 15 for Air Europa) from Chicago, Montreal, and New York. If you live in Boston or Philadelphia, or further west, you might consider buying a separate ticket to one of the applicable gateways—that’s how good this deal is. No changes and no refund if cancelled, so be sure you’re going. Details: Flying Blue

OPPORTUNITY #2: “BUSINESS CLASS FOR LESS THAN COACH” TO EUROPE, THE CARIBBEAN, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND MEXICO; AND TO EUROPE IN FIRST FOR LESS THAN BUSINESS CLASS

American Express Membership Rewards and British Airways have teamed up again to offer an amazingly good mileage-transfer opportunity: Through June 7 get a 35% mileage-transfer bonus on points transferred from Amex Rewards. This is even better when used with BA’s flight-distance award chart on many domestic and some international routes. You can reap the benefits even if you’re now not a member of BA’s loyalty program and get Business Class for less than coach to the Caribbean (for as little as 14,000 miles round-trip), Central America, Europe, and Mexico; and First Class for less than Business Class to London. Details: Amex Rewards

Best Use of the Promotion: Book award travel on oneworld partner airline American using BA Avios points. To many destinations this approach can be advantageous because AA uses a zone chart (which means every destination within a given zone costs the same number of miles) whereas BA uses a flight-distance chart (cost in miles equals the actual flight distance between the departure and destination cities). Also, note that award taxes for American flights booked with BA miles are often not the same as AA charges using AA miles for AA flights. This can, at times, be less (Miami-Montego Bay, Jamaica, with BA miles is $105, and with AA miles is $180) or, at times, more (New York-London with BA miles is $1,153 and with AA miles $286).

Please see chart on page 6 for more sample savings, and stay tuned to FCF’s newsroom alerts for more details on the routes where you can score best.

HOW TO SAVE UP TO 77% (AKA A 4-FOR-1)

With Amex Bonus + Flight Distance + Purchase Miles Business Class sample savings to the Caribbean Let’s take American’s Miami-Montego Bay route as an example. AA charges 60,000 miles for a Business Class award ticket and 35,000 miles for a coach class award ticket. Using BA Avios points that trip costs 18,000 miles for a Business Class ticket; but factor in the 35% transfer-bonus and the real cost comes down to 14,000 miles, a savings of 77% in miles and 46,000 miles less than AA charges for the same ticket.

You’ll be getting Business Class for less than coach in effect—in fact, you can get four tickets in Business Class with BA points for the cost of one ticket using American miles. Don’t have any points with Amex Rewards? You can buy 14,000 points directly from Amex Rewards ($350), giving you a savings of about $404 (53%) when compared to AA’s published fare of $754.

More Savings Examples Using BA-Avios Points

*Business Class rate.

Three drawbacks in using Avios points: Connecting flights are priced separately—for travel within Europe you might consider flying coach; the flight-distance chart can make some long-haul routes costlier than they would be on a carrier using a zone chart; and BA imposes high fees for award travel on BA flights ($1,100 to $1,200 for First and Business Class).

OPPORTUNITY #3: STAR ALLIANCE’S ALMOST-FREE BUSINESS CLASS UPGRADE TO TOKYO

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is offering Business Class tickets to Tokyo for 70,000 to 75,000 miles (60,000 from Honolulu), up to 44% less than most other airlines charge on this route. You can get this deal with 60,000 to 65,000 Starwood points, the amount many carriers charge for coach—making this equivalent to a free upgrade—by combining the Starwood Super Currency with the ANA promotion, which comes out with some frequency, as many of these promos do. That means you can almost plan around the free-upgrade strategy if you’re very flexible (see FCF August 2012 issue for more).

Amex Rewards members may purchase points instantly ($1,750 to $1,875). Given that ANA’s lowest published Washington, DC-Tokyo Business Class fare (28-day advance-purchase required) is $7,673 round-trip including taxes, that amounts to a savings of $5,107 ($1,875 plus award taxes for ANA $691; 67%). This is great when there are no Flash Sale or EasyUp fares to your destination in Asia.

Fine Print: Valid for travel Jan. 6 to Feb. 28, 2014 and April 1 to April 24, 2014 from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. From Honolulu only April 1 to April 24, 2014. Details: ANA Mileage Club.

OPPORTUNITY #4: ONEWORLD’S FREE UPGRADE TO PREMIUM ECONOMY TO TOKYO

Japan Airlines (JAL) is offering Premium Economy to Tokyo for 55,000 miles. It takes 45,000 Starwood Starpoints to get the seat—less than the amount many carriers charge for coach—making this equivalent to a cheaper-than-free upgrade.

Fine Print: Valid Jan. 14 through Feb. 28, 2014 from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.
Details: JAL Mileage Bank