Redeem Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles

HawaiianMiles is the frequent flyer program of Hawaiian Airlines and you’re able to both earn and redeem miles on all eligible Hawaiian Airlines flights. If you don’t have any HawaiianMiles you can transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards (1:1 ratio and instant transfer) or Marriott Bonvoy (3:1 ratio and average transfer time is 1-2 days).

The award chart can be viewed here. You will notice there are a few award charts – depending on the regions you are traveling from and to. Flights within Hawaii are usually inexpensive and therefore it may not make sense to redeem miles for those (unless traveling during a peak period where the revenue cost is high but there is award availability).

The best redemptions include:

• Hawaii to/from North America in First Class for 40,000 miles one-way
• Hawaii to/from Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand in Business Class for 65,000 miles one-way
• Hawaii to/from Pago Pago and Papeete in Business Class for 47,500 miles one-way
• Hawaii to/from Pago Pago and Papeete in Economy Class for 27,500 miles one-way

All prices mentioned above are for the lowest (saver) level award availability. Redeeming 40,000 miles for a one-way First Class lie-flat seat on a nonstop flight from New York to Honolulu is a fantastic redemption and something you’re unlikely to find on other U.S. airlines.

redeem miles for flights on Hawaiian Airlines

Redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles

You can redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles on select Hawaiian Airlines flights – but not all flights. Furthermore, any flight within Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines requires a separate award and cannot be combined with other Hawaiian Airlines flights (for example, Kauai – Honolulu – Tokyo cannot be booked on one award). You can redeem AA miles for Hawaiian Airlines flights within Hawaii and their international flights from Honolulu.

Award pricing is based on AA’s flight award chart for oneworld and partner airlines. You’re able to mix and match airlines, for example, you could fly Honolulu to Tokyo on Hawaiian Airlines and then Tokyo to Osaka on Japan Airlines all on one award. You can fly to the Asia 2 region via the Asia 1 region (Japan and Korea), so an award like Honolulu – Tokyo – Kuala Lumpur on Hawaiian Airlines and Malaysia Airlines is totally fine as long as the connection in Tokyo is under 24 hours.

Highlights of AA’s award chart include:

• Hawaii to Asia Region 1 in Business Class for 52,500 miles one-way
• Hawaii to Asia Region 2 in Business Class for 55,000 miles one-way
• Hawaii to the South Pacific in Business Class for 65,000 miles one-way

If there’s award space you could potentially fly something like Honolulu – Auckland – Sydney – Perth for 65,000 miles one-way in Business Class on Hawaiian Airlines and Qantas which would be a great use of AAdvantage miles.

If you don’t have any AAdvantage miles you can transfer points from Marriot Bonvoy (3:1 ratio and average transfer time is 2 days), Citi sometimes allows transfers from ThankYou points to AAdvantage but this isn’t permanent and rather an “offer” that has appeared before.

Redeem United Airlines MileagePlus miles

United Airlines no longer publishes an award chart so award redemption levels will vary but expect to redeem around 7,700 miles for a one-way flight within Hawaii in Economy. You can also add on a flight within Hawaii as part of your larger itinerary from the mainland U.S. For example, you can redeem United miles for a United flight from San Francisco to Honolulu and then Honolulu to Maui on Hawaiian Airlines all on the same award.

If you don’t have any MileagePlus miles you can transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards (1:1 ratio and instant transfer) or Marriott Bonvoy (3:1.1 ratio and average transfer time is 1-2 days).

Redeem Delta Air Lines SkyMiles

Delta Air Lines no longer publishes an award chart so award redemption levels will vary but expect to redeem around 7,500 miles for a one-way flight within Hawaii in Economy. You can also add on a flight within Hawaii as part of your larger itinerary from the mainland U.S. For example, you can redeem Delta miles for a Delta flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu and then Honolulu to Maui on Hawaiian Airlines all on the same award.

If you don’t have any SkyMiles you can transfer points from American Express Membership Rewards (1:1 ratio and instant transfer) or Marriott Bonvoy (3:1 ratio and average transfer time is 1 day).

Redeem Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points

Virgin Atlantic has some unique airline partners and one of them is Hawaiian Airlines. You can view the award chart for Hawaiian Airlines here. Virgin Atlantic miles are relatively easy to earn since you can transfer them from American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou points (1:1 ratio and instant transfer) or Marriott Bonvoy (3:1 ratio and average transfer time is 1-2 days).

Highlights of the award chart for Hawaiian Airlines include:

• Hawaii – West Coast Mainland USA in Business Class for 40,000 points one-way
• Hawaii – South Pacific in Business Class for 47,500 points one-way
• Hawaii – South Pacific in Economy Class for 27,500 points one-way
• Hawaii – Asia/Australia/New Zealand/East Coast Mainland USA in Business Class for 65,000 points one-way

fly to Hawaii using miles

Other Hawaiian Airlines Partners

Hawaiian Airlines is also partners with China Airlines, Japan Airlines, jetBlue Airways, Korean Air, and Virgin Australia. You may be able to also earn/redeem these points for travel on Hawaiian Airlines flights, but it is either hard to earn some of these miles/points or the value isn’t so great.

All in All

Hawaiian Airlines has some unique and cool flights that are outside of Hawaii for which you can redeem miles. Award availability in Economy is generally okay on their Asia flights, but harder to find on their South Pacific flights; First/Business Class is harder to book using miles, but not impossible.

Sometimes the best way to get to Asia or the South Pacific is via a stop in Hawaii. The U.S. state is conveniently positioned along the path of flights to the South Pacific and since those can generally be long from the U.S. mainland, a stop in Hawaii to stretch your legs (or even explore the islands for a few days), could be just what you need on your next trip.

The post Redeeming Miles for Hawaiian Airlines Flights appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

Sadly the same can’t be said for Business Class or First Class bookings through MileagePlus. United does charge ridiculous amounts of miles for some regions where other frequent flyer programs charge much less.

Nevertheless, United’s MileagePlus is still a fantastic Star Alliance frequent flyer program with some interesting sweetspots. While MileagePlus is a region-based program, it does feature distance-based redemptions… to some extent. These are short, usually nonstop flights within a single region. The beauty is that these awards do not cost a ton of miles whereas they might cost a lot of cash if buying last minute.

Travel the World

5k: Flights in Japan

United has interesting pricing for flights inside of Japan. They cost just 5,000 miles one-way in Economy Class – that applies to all trips inside of Japan, not just nonstop flights. For example, a flight from Sapporo to Osaka via Tokyo will cost just 5k miles one-way on Star Alliance partner ANA – that’s an incredible deal.

If you do not have United Airlines miles, you could also use British Airways’ distance-based program and redeem Avios on Japan Airlines. The redemptions in Japan are quite interesting because United allows you connecting flights for no additional cost. With United’s 8k sweetspot (see below), the flights must be nonstop.

7k: Flights in Hawaii

United Airlines partners with Hawaiian Airlines (not a Star Alliance member) for flights in Hawaii, which means you can redeem your MileagePlus miles for these flights. Flights in Hawaii cost 7,000 miles in Economy Class one-way, even if you have connecting flights. You can fly, for example, from Lihue to Kona via Honolulu in Economy for 7k miles.

Flights in Hawaii can be expensive, usually around holidays or last-minute flights, so redeeming United miles is a great deal. Hawaiian Airlines has a ton of flights between the islands, so finding an award seat isn’t hard.

8k: Flights under 800 Miles

You can book any Star Alliance flight outside of the United States and Canada for 8,000 United Airlines MileagePlus miles as long as the flight is under 800 miles in distance and it is a nonstop flight, of course in Economy Class.

This is great for intra-Europe travel on airlines like Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, etc. that charge a fortune for last minute one-way flights. A simple Frankfurt – Munich flight can go for over $500 last minute… or just 8k United miles (transfer Chase points).

Never Stop Exploring

10k: Short U.S. Flights

The standard price for a one-way Economy Class flight in North America is 12,500 miles in Economy Class. However, for shorter trips, United will price certain flights for less than 12.5k. For example, Seattle – San Francisco is generally 10,000 miles one-way in Economy Class… even if the flight isn’t nonstop. Even with a connection through Los Angeles, it will generally still cost 10k. This applies to other shorter trips as well, such as Newark – Boston, which will also 10k miles.

The 10k and 12.5k price for a one-way trip will be booked into Economy (X) class and therefore X class must be available. If you see a trip costing more than 12.5k, then it likely isn’t a Saver Award but rather a more expensive non-Saver Award and won’t book into “X” Class.

12.5k: The “Standard” Price – Maximize It!

A one-way Economy Class trip in North America will cost you the standard price of 12,500 miles. However, did you know you can truly maximize that price when traveling to Canada? Star Alliance partner Air Canada operates flights to numerous Canadian destinations on which you can redeem your MileagePlus miles. The continental U.S. and Canada are considered the same zone, so Saver Awards will cost 12.5k miles one-way in Economy Class.

You could literally fly across the continent from Whitehorse to Miami via Vancouver and Montreal for just 12.5k miles one-way in Economy Class. This trip can cost more than $600 USD, so it is a fantastic use of miles. You will pay more in taxes and fees on the award ticket as there are Canadian fees added, but it still will be worth it compared to the expensive cash ticket.

In Conclusion

United’s MileagePlus frequent flyer program has a few distance-based sweetspots which I consider to be fantastic and use them on a daily-basis when booking flights for clients. Most people have Chase Ultimate Rewards and therefore they easily have United miles.

Remember to check all of your options before booking, as the same flight might cost much less when booking through another program. Remember that if you have AMEX, Chase, Citi, or Marriott points, you can transfer them to a variety of programs, so be sure to check which redemption is the best!

The post United Airlines MileagePlus Distance-Based Sweetspots appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

Fly LH with ANY Star Alliance miles

Star Alliance is the world’s largest (and best) airline alliance. You can virtually travel to every single destination in the world on a Star Alliance airline – the alliance serves the most destinations in the world. Many passengers fly with Star Alliance as the alliance offers a smooth transition between carriers, including baggage checking to your final destination, seat assignments on all carriers, creative flight routings, etc.

As mentioned in Redeeming Miles from Airline X on Airline X’s Partners, you can redeem ANY Star Alliance miles for travel on ANY Star Alliance airline as long as there is award availability. You can redeem United Airlines miles for travel on Lufthansa, you can redeem Turkish Airlines miles for travel on Singapore Airlines, etc. Redeem your miles from any airline in that alliance for travel on other airlines in that same alliance.

Star Alliance Member Airlines

• Aegean Airlines
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air India
• Air New Zealand
• ANA
• Asiana Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• Avianca
• Brussels Airlines
• Copa Airlines
• Croatia Airlines
• Egyptair
• Ethiopian Airlines
• EVA Air
• LOT Polish Airlines
• Lufthansa
• SAS Scandinavian Airlines
• Shenzhen Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• SWISS International Air Lines
• TAP Air Portugal
• THAI Airways
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines

Any miles you may have with any of these airlines will allow you to book an award ticket on any of the airlines in Star Alliance, if there is award availability.

Searching Star Alliance Award Space

Searching for award space on Star Alliance is incredibly easy due to United Airlines’ website – United.com which displays ALL Star Alliance airlines and their available award flights. If you see an available flight on United’s website, you can generally book that flight with any Star Alliance miles – you would just have to call your frequent flyer program and simply provide them the available flights you found on United’s website.

When searching for award flights, always search one-way at a time. There is often more availability shown when searching just one direction instead of round-trip.

Search Star Alliance Award Space on United.com

To begin the search, make sure you select “one-way” and proceed to fill out the form with your desired routes, dates, number of passengers, etc. Make sure you check the box marked “search for award travel“.

The next page will display flight results with many combinations, including a calendar which will show you the lowest price in miles. You can easily switch between dates on the calendar to find the best available flights for the lowest price.

Award Availability Results

Above the calendar, you have a few options including the ability to switch between results for Economy/Business/First Class, the ability to show only nonstop flights, and also an option to open a 30 day calendar which shows award availability for the whole month.

Below the calendar, you will find flight results for your desired date (selected in green on the calendar):

Award Availability Results

United’s website will display many flight options that are available using miles. Once you have found your desired flight with your desired cabin of service, you can expand the flight details:

Award Availability Results

The details section of a certain flight combination is incredibly useful as you can check the exact flight times, connection times, operating airlines, aircraft types, etc.

Award Types

United Airlines offers two award flight “types” – Saver Awards and Everyday Awards. You will notice (above in the image, for example), that there are two options for this flight – a Saver Award in Economy Class and Business Class, and an Everyday Award in Business Class.

Saver Awards

Saver Awards are the award flight types you should be booking – they are the lowest cost available in miles, however have fewer seats available. You can only book Saver Awards using other Star Alliance miles. Therefore if you are planning to use other miles but would like to use United.com to find flights, make sure you find Saver Awards as only those will be bookable using other Star Alliance miles.

You will notice that Saver Awards have different booking classes than Everyday Awards. Throughout Star Alliance, every airline has the same booking classes for Saver Awards:

• Economy Class = “X”
• Business Class = “I”
• First Class = “O”

If there is space in either X, I, or O classes (as designated on the award availability), you can book these flights using any Star Alliance miles.

Everyday Awards

Everyday Awards are only available if you are using United miles. There will always be more Everyday Awards flights as those are significantly more expensive and therefore there will be more seats available using miles. You should never be booking Everyday Awards as they are a terrible use of miles. Furthermore, Everyday Awards are only available on United Airlines flights – not on Star Alliance flights.

Booking Award Flights

If you are using United miles to book your desired flights, you can simply “select” your desired flight and proceed with the booking process. One you have found flights, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards, for example, and continue with the booking process.

If you are using United.com only to locate award availability, once you have found your desired flights, you will want to call your Star Alliance frequent flyer program to book the flights you found, at the Saver Award level. You may not necessarily have to call – you might even be able to book online with your desired Star Alliance frequent flyer program.

In Conclusion

United’s website is the best way to find Star Alliance award availability. However, it is important to remember that while the same flights should be available to other Star Alliance airlines (Saver Awards), the cost will be different and the rules of the ticket will apply from whichever frequent flyer program you are using.

Furthermore, it is important to note that all airlines have different routing rules – for example, United may show you a certain flight combination and while United will let you book this combination using their miles, Lufthansa, for example may have different rules and may not let you book the same routing. It is important to check the award rules with your desired frequent flyer program.

As always, if you have any questions, please post them below!

The post Searching Star Alliance Award Space using United.com appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

United’s program used to be in the top 5 of the best frequent flyer programs – now, non-U.S. programs are in the lead. For example, Lufthansa Miles & More, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, and Aegean Airlines Miles+Bonus are fantastic Star Alliance programs which can provide incredible value for your miles if you redeem them the right way. The problem is it is hard to earn miles in international programs if they do not partner with any major American transferrable points currency like American Express Membership Rewards or Marriott Bonvoy.

Nevertheless, United’s program still offers some great redemption options – most of which aren’t on United and aren’t in the North America region. Highlights include Star Alliance partner flights outside of North America for 5-8k miles one-way, fantastic redemption options within Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific, no fuel surcharges on all partner airlines, etc.

Saver and Everyday Awards

MileagePlus Saver Awards are the lowest-priced flight awards. These are booked into Economy (X), Business (I), and First (O) classes. Whenever redeeming on a Star Alliance partner airline, these are the classes you will be redeeming for. Virtually all non-U.S. airlines only feature Saver Awards and do not feature Standard Awards which cost more miles but have more availability.

United features Saver and Everyday Awards on their flights. Saver awards offer the lowest price but do not feature tons of availability. Everyday awards are most likely available on most flights but cost a fortune and you should never redeem your miles for an Everyday Award since it is never worth it.

The United MileagePlus Excursionist Perk

Most frequent flyer programs feature free stopovers on round-trip tickets. There are also programs that allow free stopovers on one-way tickets, but most only allow them on round-trip itineraries. Do note that not all programs allow stopovers, for example, American Airlines does not – while Alaska Airlines allows free stopovers on one-way tickets.

United Airlines used to call their stopover, well, a stopover – but that has now been changed. The United name for a stopover is Excursionist Perk. Don’t ask me why. Essentially, the United MileagePlus Excursionist Perk is a free stopover on a round-trip ticket. However, not every ticket will qualify for a free stopover.

• a free stopover is not allowed in the same region where your travel begins
• your travel must end in the same region it began
• the stopover must begin and end in the same region
• the class of service must be the same or lower
• only one free stopover in the entire booking is allowed

Essentially, you can have a free stopover in another region as long as you book a round-trip itinerary that begins and ends in the same region.

Excursionist Perk Examples

There are virtually an unlimited number of ways you could use the Excursionist Perk – you can use it in any way as long as the above rules are met. The most common type of stopover will be on a simple, 3 leg, itinerary. For example:

• New York – Zurich
• Zurich – Frankfurt
• Frankfurt – New York

In this case, the Zurich – Frankfurt flight would be free as this would be the Excursionist Perk. You would only have to pay the mandatory taxes and fees for the Zurich – Frankfurt flight, but no additional miles would be collected. If you were to book this entire trip in Economy Class, then you would pay 60,000 miles for the entire booking.

United Airlines Partner Airlines

You can redeem United Airlines miles on all Star Alliance airlines and also on ALL United Airlines partner airlines, which include:

• Aer Lingus
• Aeromar
• Air Dolomiti
• Azul Brazilian Airlines
• Cape Air
• Edelweiss Air
• Eurowings
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Silver Airways

You can even mix some of these airlines with United or Star Alliance flights on the same ticket!

In Conclusion

It is always important to look for ways in which you can truly maximise your miles. Stopovers are one of the best ways to do that. Why book a separate flight when you can probably include that into your booking for free? In addition to stopovers, you can also use open-jaws to maximise your miles – whereby you can end your journey in a different place.

Remember that you can also have an unlimited number of 24h layovers on most bookings. This means you can visit a city for less than 24 hours and pay no additional miles as you are considered “in transit” and on a layover. Sadly if United’s website doesn’t show you an option with a long layover, you cannot add it in without paying more miles.

United’s program still has some value in it, despite the constant changes and devaluations. Redemption rates are quite good in select regions, Star Alliance features the most award availability, no fuel surcharges are imposed, etc. The fact is that most awards are booked through United because of the Star Alliance network – you can virtually get to anywhere in the world with the Star Alliance and truly maximise your miles.

Happy booking!

The post The United MileagePlus Excursionist Perk appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

United Airlines

United Airlines isn’t exactly known for a providing a wonderful service in First and Business Class. United has been struggling to shine and while their new Polaris Business Class product has been revolutionary for the airline, major cuts to the experience have left many passengers disappointed.

However, United’s frequent flyer program, MileagePlus, is actually fantastic – it is one of the best Star Alliance frequent flyer programs. You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio to United.

United shines in that their Star Alliance award flight search function and calendar is amazing. Whenever searching for Star Alliance award space, everyone should use United.com and then call their desired frequent flyer program to book. United’s website will display endless options for award travel – so you’ll easily be able to find your desired flight combination.

United’s MileagePlus frequent flyer program offers some excellent award redemption rates. Here are my favourite ways to redeem United Airlines miles.

Short, Non-Stop Flights Under 800 Miles

Non-stop flights with a flight distance of under 800 miles cost just 8k United miles in Economy. The flights must be outside of North America (so flights on Air Canada and United Airlines are excluded).

Here are a few examples of flights that price for 8k miles in Economy Class:

• Frankfurt – Munich on Lufthansa
• Zurich – Paris on SWISS
• Lima – Cusco on Avianca
• Athens – Islands in Greece on Aegean
• Flights around New Zealand with Air New Zealand
• Flights around Japan with ANA

Fly Lima – Cusco for 8k Miles!

There are an infinite number of 800-mile flights which can be booked for just 8k miles. The beauty of this award is that sometimes last minute, short flights cost a fortune – so it is great to be able to redeem just 8k miles.

Flying Lufthansa First Class

As far as I am concerned, the best Star Alliance First Class is Lufthansa’s. There’s no better way to fly. Booking Lufthansa First Class can be a challenge as Lufthansa only releases First Class award seats to partner airlines at most 14 days prior to departure – so last minute booking is required.

While no fuel surcharges are imposed on Lufthansa, United Airlines does charge a fortune for partner airline First Class awards.

Fly Lufthansa with no Fuel Surcharges!

Lufthansa First Class is worth every mile to me, and therefore I don’t mind paying such high costs – it is an amazing product and everyone should fly it at least once in their life.

Flights within the 48 States, Alaska, or Canada under 700 Miles

Sometimes last minute domestic flights can cost a fortune. Luckily, MileagePlus can save you a ton of money. United tens to release most domestic flight award availability closer to departure – so redeeming miles for a last minute flight can work in your favour. Normally one-way domestic flights cost 12.5k miles, however if the flight is under 700 miles, it will cost just 10k United miles. Examples include Seattle to San Francisco, San Francisco to Los Angeles, Newark to Boston, etc.

I recently needed to fly to San Francisco from Seattle last minute and most flights were pricing out for over $380 last minute. United’s flight cost me 10k miles + $5.60 (I didn’t pay the $75 close-in fee as I hold elite status so it was waived).

Fly THAI First Class to Thailand

SWISS features a great Business Class

United Airlines Partner Airlines

You can redeem United Airlines miles on all Star Alliance airlines and also on ALL United Airlines partner airlines, which include:

• Aer Lingus
• Aeromar
• Air Dolomiti
• Azul Brazilian Airlines
• Cape Air
• Edelweiss Air
• Eurowings
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Silver Airways

You can even mix some of these airlines with United or Star Alliance flights on the same ticket!

In Conclusion

United Airlines’ MileagePlus frequent flyer program features a great number of award redemptions. Those listed above are my favourite ways to redeem United miles. The best ways to earn United Airlines miles are through the Chase Sapphire credit card which can earn you up to 3 miles per dollar spent (on travel and dining).

MileagePlus is a powerful frequent flyer program as it features an amazing number of partner airlines, decent award rates, doesn’t impose fuel surcharges on all airlines, and the website shows tons of different flight options when searching – so you can really customise your routing as you would like.

Happy Booking!

The post Best Ways to Redeem United Airlines MileagePlus Miles appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

It’s often easiest to search segment-by-segment, so knowing the hubs is essential, especially when you’re looking for international flights.

Keep in mind that if a particular airline doesn’t have a hub in a desired city, it doesn’t mean that the airline doesn’t fly to/from that city!

Here is a list of airline hubs for some of the US’s largest airlines:

United Airlines

International hubs are in bold

• Denver – Denver International Airport (DEN)
• Houston – George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
• Los Angeles – Los Angeles International (LAX)
• Newark – Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
• Chicago – O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
• San Francisco – San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
• Washington – Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
• Guam – Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM)
• Tokyo – Narita International Airport (NRT)

American Airlines

• Charlotte – Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
• Chicago – O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
• Dallas – Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
• Los Angeles – Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
• Miami – Miami International Airport (MIA)
• New York – John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
• New York – LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
• Philadelphia – Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
• Phoenix – Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)
• Washington – Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)

Delta

• Cincinnati – Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG)
• Detroit – Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW)
• Atlanta – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
• New York City – John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
• New York City – LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
• Boston – Logan International Airport (BOS)
• Los Angeles – Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
• Minneapolis – Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)
• Salt Lake City – Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
• Seattle – Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)

Southwest airlines calls the airports where they have a large presence as operating bases.

Southwest

• Dallas – Dallas Love Field (DAL)
• Chicago – Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW)
• Houston – William P. Hobby Airport (HOU)
• Baltimore – Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI)
• Atlanta – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)
• Denver – Denver International Airport (DEN)
• Las Vegas – McCarran International Airport (LAS)
• Oakland – Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK)
• Orlando – Orlando International Airport (MCO)
• Phoenix – Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)

Jet Blue doesn’t have “hubs”, but rather Focus Cities

Jet Blue

• New York City – John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
• Fort Lauderdale – Hollywood International Airport (FLL)
• Boston – Logan International Airport (BOS)
• Long Beach – Long Beach Airport (LGB)
• San Juan – Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport (SJU)
• Orlando – Orlando International Airport (MCO)

Alaska Airlines

Focus Cities are in bold

• Los Angeles – Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
• Portland – Portland International Airport (PDX)
• Seattle – Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
• Anchorage – Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC)
• San Diego – San Diego International Airport (SAN)
• San Jose – Norman Y Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC)

Conclusion

This list could come in handy to know how to plan your future travel.  It is also helpful so that you know which airline to pursue elite status with if that is one of your goals.  If you happen to live close to one of the airports that are listed as a hub for several airlines, then you have lots of options!

Which is your favorite airline hub?

The post List of Major Airline Hubs appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

Na Pali Coast in Kauai taken on our Honeymoon

We get a lot of questions about taking a dream vacation to Hawaii using rewards miles in our Travel Miles 101 Facebook group.

One question that gets asked many times is “Can I use frequent flyer miles to fly from one Hawaiian Island to another?”

The answer is definitely ‘YES,’ you can use miles.

In fact, the three major US legacy airlines (United, Delta and American) all allow you to use their miles for Hawaiian Airlines flights between islands (United lets you fly Island Air as well, though that’s a much smaller airline).

Here’s a step-by-step guide using each of the three programs plus I’ll show you how to find these flights on the Hawaiian Airlines website to see if using miles makes sense as they can be rather inexpensive to begin with:

Check What Flights Exist Using Wikipedia

The first thing I always do when getting ready to research award flights is to check out the Wikipedia page for the airports in question.

In this case, I assumed I was going from Maui to Kauai so I Googled “Maui Airport wiki”, found the airport code (OGG), and then scrolled down to the “airlines and destinations” section and found these Hawaiian Airlines options:

I was quite pleased to see Lihue (LIH) in Kauai as an option so I knew I’d be able to use United, Delta and American miles if flights were available.

Using United Miles to Fly Between Hawaiian Islands

Okay, the first thing we do is search from the United.com homepage.  In this example we’re flying between Maui (OGG) and Kauai (LIH) on May 15, 2017.  Notice that we clicked “search for award travel” and “nonstop”:

Here’s the award calendar that shows Saver Award Economy seats on the nonstop flights on May 15th (and all other days that month):

After clicking on the 15th we scroll down and see that there are 3 direct flights between OGG and LIH on Hawaiian Airlines:

The flight costs 6,000 United miles plus the standard $5.60 fee for each one-way flight between Hawaii Islands.

Using American Airlines Miles to Fly Between Hawaiian Islands

We first search from the main AA.com homepage with our flight details and click “Redeem Miles” and then “Search”:

Next we come to the availability calendar which looks promising as there is “Economy MileSAAver” availability every day for 7,500 American Airlines miles.

Out of habit I selected the “Non-stop only” dropdown option as well:

After we click “Continue” we see the same three flights that were available using United miles:

Total cost to fly a one-way between Hawaiian Islands using American Airlines miles is 7,500 miles plus $5.60.

Using Delta Miles to Fly Between Hawaiian Islands

From the Delta.com homepage we enter our familiar flight details and click the “show price in miles” button and then “find flights”:

Delta also shows the same three Hawaiian Airlines flights available using miles:

Total cost to fly a one-way between Hawaiian Islands using Delta miles is 7,500 miles plus $5.60.

How to Tell if Using Miles is a Good Deal

The next thing I did was head over to the Hawaiian Airlines website to find the cash prices for these flights, so I entered our details in:

Here are the results which show our three familiar flights plus one other flight that day which evidently has no award availability:

These flights cost $111.00 which I’m assuming is all inclusive of taxes and fees.  So the apples-to-apples comparison after subtracting the $5.60 fee we pay on award seats is $105.40 we’d be saving using miles.

That means for 6,000 United miles we’re getting 1.75 cents per point in value and for 7,500 American or Delta miles we’d be getting 1.40 cents per point in value.

Though I always try to get 2 cents per point in value as a rough rule of thumb, this is not a bad deal at all, especially using United miles.

These are also small point requirements, so if you had some points remaining but not enough for an award ticket somewhere, you could make the case that this would help you fully utilize points that may not have otherwise had a simple redemption.

The post How to Use Miles to Fly Between Hawaiian Islands appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

Let me back up for a second. Just like many of you involved in this hobby, I was excited to learn about the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, and even more excited when I was approved for it. Now double that excitement when I envisioned what I would do with my 100,000 Ultimate Reward (UR) points, plus the additional points earned from everyday expenses.

I knew right away that my ideal use of the points would be to transfer them to United’s MileagePlus program and then use those miles towards 2 round-trip business class tickets from the US to Europe, for an upcoming trip that my girlfriend and I are planning.

After searching the web looking for tips and tricks on how to earn more miles, I stumbled upon a few people discussing the MPX app. Curiosity got the best of me, so I had to download it to my iPhone and try it out for myself. I’ve never looked back since.

What is the MileagePlus X app?

The MPX app is an official app from United which allows you to purchase digital gift cards to a variety of restaurants and businesses directly from your phone, while earning mileage bonuses to your United account. The beauty of this app is that the gift cards are purchased and loaded in real-time, so you can use the gift card on the spot. And, the miles post instantly to your account.

In addition to using the gift cards in-store, you can also use them on the retailers’ websites if they accept gift cards online. There’s even an option to purchase Amazon gift cards (more on this later).

What businesses participate in the MPX app?

A wide-variety of businesses are signed up to work with the app, and the cool part is that you can find them simply by relative distance to your location. Download the app and see for yourself, but the ones I use the most are:

• Amazon
• Panera Bread
• Red Robin
• Starbucks
• Regal Movie Theaters
• Bed Bath & Beyond

Once you set up the app, you can see all the businesses in the area that you probably visit regularly, where you can start earning bonuses. Below are screenshots of what is near me as I write this post (there are many, many more – these are just the absolute nearest 10 places):

How do I use the app?

Using the app couldn’t be simpler: download it from the App Store or Google Play Store, log in with your MileagePlus account information, and input your credit card information. And now, you’re ready to start racking up miles!

Bonus tip: If you have a United MileagePlus credit card from Chase and you add it to your MPX app, even if you do not use it for your purchases, you’ll earn a 25% mileage bonus on your purchases via this app – wow!

Here’s a real-life example:

It’s Tuesday around lunchtime, you just got out of a 2-hour staff meeting and you need to fuel up with something to eat before your 1:00pm meeting with the marketing department. You head downstairs and out the door to grab a quick bite at a nearby restaurant. As you walk to the car, you load up your trusty MPX app and see what’s around you. Feeling like a sandwich and soup combo at Panera? Perfect, because they offer 5 miles per dollar via the MPX app.

As you get to Panera and are waiting in line to place your order, open up the MPX app and press “Pay Now”. You’ll see your default credit card in the top right corner and a keypad to enter in the gift card amount in the middle of the page. Walk up to the register, place your order and wait for the cashier to tell you your total (including tax).

Once you get the total, $10.74 in this case, simply enter in that amount in the app and confirm your payment. This takes about 15 seconds and then generates a gift card number right on your screen! Inform the cashier that you are using a gift card to pay and hand them your phone, from which they key in the gift card number into their system. It’s that simple!

For the meal I was going to purchase anyway, I’ve just earned 53 miles!

Note: You can purchase a gift card for a higher amount than your bill, but then you’ll be carrying a gift card balance for your next visit. Personally, I’d rather just use the app again next time than have gift card balances to multiple places just sitting around.

What about category bonuses from credit cards?

Here’s why I brought up my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card earlier: I earn 3 points per dollar on dining when I use that card. What that means is that you can double-dip using the MPX app for a total of 8 miles per dollar in this situation.

How that works is simple. When you purchase the gift card with the app, you are still processing the charge with your credit card at the merchant, which in this case is a restaurant. So as far as Chase is concerned, your dining at a restaurant for the gift card amount.

When factoring in the additional 3 points per dollar (which I will later convert to United miles), this lunch has now earned me 85 miles.

Plus, remember the United credit card bonus I mentioned earlier? If I had that in my account as well, I would have received an additional 14 miles, for a grand total of 99 miles – just for one lunch!

How about online merchants, such as Amazon?

There are a few online-specific merchants in the app, with Amazon being the one that sticks out the most. While you only earn a bonus of 1 mile per dollar, it’s still an extra mile that you otherwise wouldn’t be earning for the Amazon purchase you were going to make anyway. Note: some retailers, such as Nordstrom, are not listed in the online section of the app, but you can still purchase their gift cards in the app and use them on the retailer’s website.

Using Amazon as an example, it’s quite easy to use the MPX app for a purchase. Once you’ve added the items you want to your cart and are in the checkout process, Amazon will offer a variety of payment methods as options (credit card, debit card, bank account, or gift card). Choose gift card and then go to the MPX app on your phone to purchase and generate a gift card for the amount of your shopping cart. Use the gift card number you generate in the app on Amazon’s website for payment and you’re all set.

Here’s what an Amazon (as well as any other retailer/restaurant) gift card looks like in the app:

I know what some of you may be thinking right now: “85 miles? That’s it? How am I supposed to get a substantial amount of miles for a free flight?” To answer this question, all you have to do is take a small step back to look at the bigger picture.

Building off my lunch example, I eat at Panera Bread about twice per week. Now, look at the sum of just those lunches over a 52-week period – that comes out to 8,840 miles. So those 2 lunches per week pack a bit of a punch in getting us closer to our goal of those 2 free business class tickets to Europe.

Establishing a strategy using average monthly expenses

Evaluate your regular purchases made throughout an average month (below with a number next to each to show miles per dollar earned just with the app, i.e. before any credit card category bonuses):

• Going out to dinner with friends to The Cheesecake Factory (5), Kona Grill (5), or a wide-variety of other restaurants featured on the app,
• Grabbing your morning Starbucks (2),
• Getting an oil change at Jiffy Lube (5),
• Picking up some new makeup at Sephora (5),
• Going to see a movie at Regal (5) or AMC (5),
• Purchasing some new linens at Bed Bath & Beyond (4), or
• Picking out some new clothes for the kids at the Gap (5).

The list literally goes on and on, and once you start using this app, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can get to your travel goal. You’re spending the money already, so you might as well be strategic about it and get as many miles for your dollars as you can. The hundreds of dollars you are spending every month can easily translate to tens of thousands of miles per year!

Personally, I’ve been using this app for a few months now and have been earning miles left and right. In fact, with the amount of extra miles I’m earning from this app, I won’t even have to open an additional Chase card for the sign up bonus, because I’ll be at 230,000 miles before I know it. Hope this has been helpful and please ask me any questions – I’ll do my best to answer them and get you closer to your goal!

The post How to Use the United MileagePlus X App to Boost Your Miles Even Further appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

To summarize Jordan’s question:  He’s new to travel rewards and just got started by opening a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card.  His wife opened one as well, so they’ll each earn the bonus.  By my calculations he’ll be very close to 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after earning the bonus and authorized user bonus on each card (plus points for regular spending).

They want to visit Europe sometime during 2017 with a longer stay in Estonia plus some additional travel to Italy and France.  Since they are new to this hobby, he’s looking for some easy ways to make this happen.

How Jordan Can Use Chase Ultimate Rewards Points on a European Vacation

I think Jordan made a smart choice to get started with Chase Ultimate Rewards points, as they provide a ton of flexibility.  The easiest way to book a European trip would be to mock it up through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal and see what deals he can find.

When you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card you get 1.25 cents per point in value when booking through the Chase UR portal, so their 120,000 points would be worth $1,500 in travel booked through Chase.

While that may be a reasonable option if you were just visiting one European destination, the likelihood would be slim that Jordan and his wife would be able to put together this trip to Estonia plus a stop in Italy and France for just 120k points through Chase UR.

So it is time to get a bit creative!

Tallinn, Estonia

I love using United Airlines miles for international trips, especially when you want to include a stopover in another destination.   United is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, so you can transfer your UR points to become United miles.

In Jordan’s case both he and his wife would want to consolidate their 120,000 miles into one of their United frequent flyer mile accounts (free to setup, free to transfer) so they can book the two tickets together.

120,000 miles is actually the EXACT number they need to book two round-trip flights to Europe from the United States using United miles, so they are in great shape.

Excursionist Perk Explained

Here’s United’s very clear explanation of the new Excursionist Perk (entire article here):

In Jordan’s case this will allow him to travel from the US to European City #1, get an entirely free flight to European City #2, and then fly back to the US on a third flight (this can be from City #2 or an “open jaw” from any City #3 (so you don’t have to fly back from any of the cities you previously flew into or out of!)).

And all this costs the same 60,000 miles as if you were just doing a simple round-trip from let’s say New York to London.  This is an amazing perk!

Jordan’s Itinerary

Okay, so taking what Jordan told us above, we’re going to use the following as his trip itinerary (I assumed he was flying out of New York City since he didn’t specify, but this would work for any US city):

• New York City to Paris
• Paris to Rome
• Tallinn, Estonia back to New York City

Here’s how you put this trip together on United.com:

First, go to the main homepage and click “Multi-city” as shown below:

After you click “Multi-city” you are brought to this page where you have to enter your first two segments of the trip:

In this case we said that Jordan would be traveling from NYC to Paris on May 1st and then from Paris to Rome on May 6th.

The next step is to click “Add another destination” which allows you to enter your next segment:

In this case we entered Tallinn, Estonia flying back to NYC on May 20th and then clicked “Search.”

I just wanted to mention at this point that Jordan and his wife will have to make their way from Rome to Tallinn on their own, as that isn’t part of this flight itinerary.

If they wanted to just do a stopover in Paris and then fly from Paris to Tallinn, that would be part of the 60,000 mile booking, but since we’re throwing in another city (could be Rome or anywhere else really…), they would have to make their way to their final destination.  Flights within Europe are very inexpensive, so this doesn’t seem like a big hurdle to see another city on their big trip.

Moving on with our booking example:

As you can see, there are Saver Economy award seats nearly every day in May on this NYC-Paris route.  On May 1st we selected a nonstop flight from EWR-CDG.

You’ll note that United is showing this as a segment that costs 15,000 miles, but they are actually prorating the normal 30,000 mile one-way from the US to Europe across this flight and the Paris-Rome flight we mocked up next:

Again we find tons of Saver Economy award availability, and the total for the first two segments equals 30,000 miles plus $56.90 (60k plus $113.80 for the two of them).

The return flight availability looks like this:

Again, lots of Saver Economy award seats and this is a wonderful one-stop itinerary back from Tallinn to NYC!

After selecting the flights the entire trip comes out as follows:

120,000 United miles transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards plus a very manageable $178.12 in unavoidable taxes and fees for the following itinerary:

It took me about 3 minutes to mock this award flight up on United.com, so I’m quite confident that with the right flexibility and planning time that Jordan and his wife can take a wonderful trip to Europe next year using just the Ultimate Rewards points they have already earned!

I hope this step-by-step explanation was useful for you and, as always, if you have any questions, please ask them below in the comments section.

The post How Do I Use Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to See Multiple Cities in Europe? appeared first on Travel Miles 101.

This will be a useful post for everyone, especially those with transferable points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards.

Here was her recent post in our Facebook group:

I followed up asking for some more info and here was her response:

Summary of Andrea’s Situation:

She was looking to book two round-trip tickets from Salt Lake City to Kauai, Hawaii, and she started her search on United.com.  She wound up finding two Saver Level tickets for this round-trip; Saver Economy seats are each 45,000 miles round-trip to Hawaii using United miles, hence the 90,000 total for two tickets she quoted above.

She had 71,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points which she transferred to her United MileagePlus account with the intention of buying the remaining 19,000 miles from United to complete this booking.

United attempted to charge her $690+ dollars to buy the 19,000 miles she needed, so she didn’t move forward with it since the flights only cost $1,000 total for the two round-trip tickets when paying cash.

Mistakes Andrea Could Have Avoided:

Buying Miles from Airlines is Usually a Terrible Deal

Andrea found out firsthand that buying miles directly from an airline is usually a terrible idea as they are absurdly expensive.

In Andrea’s case she needed 19,000 United miles which would have cost $665 plus a “7.5% excise tax,” bringing the total up over $700.

That’s a completely ripoff and definitely not worth it!

Always Check the Cash Price First to see if Redeeming Makes Sense

We like to squeeze as much value from our miles as we can!  We use a rough calculation that we hope to get 2 cents per point in value on award flight redemptions.

This is a very loose guideline, but one that is helpful as a background calculation to see if redeeming makes sense.

So in Andrea’s case, we’d hope to get 2 cents per point in value out of her proposed 90,000 point redemption, so it would meet the 2 cents/point value if the two flights cost $1,800 or more (90,000 x $0.02 = $1,800).

She said the cash price was actually only $500 each ticket for a total of $1,000 for the two tickets.  So even best-case scenario she was only getting slightly over 1 cent per point on her redemption, which is not ideal for Chase Ultimate Rewards/United miles.

In Andrea’s case she also could have tried to book these flights directly through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.  If you have the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred you get 1.25 cents per point in value (1.5 cents per point with Sapphire Reserve) so her 71,000 points would have been worth $887.50 and she could have paid the difference between the roughly $1,000 price she found elsewhere and that $887.50 on her credit card.

While this wouldn’t have been an ideal redemption either, it might have been a plausible one for Andrea.

Don’t Transfer Your Points Until you are 100% Ready to Book

Chase Ultimate Rewards and other ‘transferable’ points are ultra-valuable because of the flexibility they afford you; Chase UR can transfer to become miles/points with 11 different partners including some of our favorites such as United, Southwest, Hyatt and British Airways.

But once you transfer the points to one or more of those partners, you cannot transfer them back, so they are stuck there.

That means you only transfer them when you are 100% certain the award flights or hotel nights are available and you have enough points to book.  The vast majority of the transfers from Chase UR are instant, so you can literally log into your Chase account, transfer the points and then see them in your airline/hotel account within seconds.

Now all is not lost here, as Andrea still does have 71,000 miles sitting in her United MileagePlus account, but that is not nearly as flexible as having 71,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.

Always Look for ‘Sweet Spot’ Redemption Options

It is not always easy to know your array of options when booking award seats; there are often ‘sweet spots’ to certain destinations where you can use a different mileage currency to book for substantially fewer points.  This was unfortunately the case with Andrea’s trip to Hawaii.

Her instincts were correct to start her search with United as they are usually the easiest option to find Saver Level award seats in my experience.

She even found the exact seats she wanted at the Saver Level, so everything was going wonderfully.

However, this one piece of information would have saved her redemption:  You can book flights to Hawaii on United Airlines planes using their Star Alliance partner Singapore Airlines’ miles for only 35,000 per round-trip ticket.

So in this case it would have only cost 70,000 Singapore miles for the exact same United flights she found Saver availability on.  And, since Singapore Airlines is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards she could have sent 70,000 of her 71,000 UR points to Singapore and booked these flights.

Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Help!

Alexi and I have tried to build the most helpful and supportive travel rewards community on the internet here at Travel Miles 101, so you don’t have to struggle alone.  We  are always here to help!

Every day in our Facebook group, we field dozens of questions from people who are looking for some guidance, and with a community of over 3,500 members there is always a wealth of knowledge and insight.

So don’t hesitate to reach out if you have a question!

The post Caution: Avoid these Mistakes when Booking with Ultimate Rewards Points appeared first on Travel Miles 101.