April 5, 2011
Gary mentioned the offer is back tomorrow afternoon, the application is here
The British Airways Visa is offering 50,000 bonus miles after first purchase and 50,000 after spending $2,500 on the card within three months. There’s a
Other than that, you will also get
- Earns 1.25 miles per dollar. This way, it’s as good for earning BA miles as spend on a Starwood Amex (though of course without the same flexibility)
- No foreign currency transaction fees. International travelers need one of those, and this card provides a reasonable compromise between cost and earning from among the cards with this benefit (same fee as the Hyatt card with better earn, much lower fee than the Continetnal Presidential Plus Mastercard, the United Visa that comes with lounge membership, or the Amex Platinum).
- Free companion award ticket after $30,000 in spend each year. This makes even awards which are pretty pricey through the BA chart much more manageable. You must fly British Airways metal, though, and that does mean incurring some pretty high fuel surcharges.
I personally think this is a great card to keep because Chase offers different miles bonus for card members, the value is more than enough to offset the annual fee.
If you don’t know where to burn these miles, I wrote “Some best uses of British Airway miles” few months ago, hopefully can give you some better idea
Posted by Troy under British Airways, Oneworld |
April 4, 2011
Just few days ago, I mentioned a humor about Hilton Q2 5000 bonus BA miles promotion, now the offer is active
You must register then have eligible stays completed after registration, member will fixed miles option will earn 500 base miles+1000 bonus miles per stay or 100+250 miles for Hampton Inn, up to 5K
Posted by Troy under British Airways, Hilton |
March 31, 2011
Some people may already know Hilton Q2 promotion, which equate next to nothing, 1000 bonus points per night. so if you are big spender, the bonus doesn’t help.
However, there are several other airlines bonus offer that are stackable with Q2 promotion
1 Triple Virgin Atlantic miles: Member who choose fixed miles will earn 1000 VS miles per stay(100 for Hampton Inn)+2000 bonus(200). I personally don’t like VS program very much, inability to combine partners and extremely high taxes, but if you want to top off VS miles, this is a good time. If you ever have a chance to fly PEK-LHR in business/first on Air China, it only costs you 63000 miles for business and 75,000 for first class, good luck on finding 2 seats
2 Triple Alitalia miles: Member who choose fixed miles will earn 600 AZ miles per stay(120 for Hampton inn)+1200 bonus miles(240). There are some good value in Alitalia program such as Middle East to USA only 80K in business class, but it’s not worth the effort to start from 0
3 5000 BA miles: This is a rumor, let see how it goes.
Posted by Troy under British Airways, Hilton, Other Airline Reward Programs |
February 1, 2011
Not too long ago, I talked about some best redemption options for British airways, one of then is Russia domestic, then, few days later, I mentioned AA redemption for award on S7 airline, but today I checked BA award again, they also separate Russia for award redemption.
Within Eastern Russia, 25000 for R/T economy, 50K for R/T business.
within Western Russia, 15000 for economy, 30K for business.
Btw Eastern Russia to Western Russia/Europe 3/North Africa is 35K for R/T economy, 70K for business.
It’s not a super deal now for people living in the states, because S7 doesn’t fly to US. you can not take advantage of 1 partner airline anymore. still ok to tour around the Russia
You can check destinations in Russia here
Posted by Troy under British Airways, Oneworld |
January 29, 2011
Acorrding to this FT thread, you can earn miles on all S7 flights and redeem AA miles on S7 flights, but for now, you can only use AA miles ALL partner award for S7 flights in West Russia, why? because AA has not figure out how many miles should charge you for flight within Russia, primarily flights across Russia from west to east.
* Destinations in Eastern Russia (east of the Ural Mountains) include Barnaul, Bratsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Kurgan, Nizhnevartovsk, Novokuznetsk, Novy Urengoy, Nadym, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Surgut, Tomsk, Ulan-ude, Blagoveshchensk, Magadan, Khabarovsk, Norilsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Vladivostok, Yakutsk
However, all destinations can be redeemed using one world award, which is distance based
This is not first time AA separate a country for award redemption, they separate Easter Island from Chile as part of south Pacific award, but remember few days ago I talked about British Airways miles?I think they will not separate Russian for award redemption, just like Easter Island is part of Chile. At least for now.
BTW, British airways website now suppose award search S7
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, British Airways |
January 17, 2011
Many people have mentioned one of the best mileage redemption of using BA miles is with BOGO redemption certificate, which you can redeem miles required for one person, but fly 2. However, you need to have BA US or UK credit card and spending certain amount in order to get this certificate and pay high fuel surcharges and fees(more than $ 1000 per ticket(if stopover in UK to EU beyond). I know, 2 first class for $1000*2 is a great deal, but I think there are some other good ways to use BA miles too
British airways have 4 different kinds of redemption, BA only, BA+1 partner, 1 partner only and oneworld distance award. what I will talk about is 1 partner only award.
BA awards allow UNLIMITED en route stopovers, when I say unlimited, it’s truly unlimited, although the T&C mentioned most direct routing applies, well, the actual outcome depends on your luck with booking agent on the phone.
All award lists below are one way amount, R/T just double, First class on 3 cabin X3
1 Using on Lan for North America to South America or within South America or South America domestic， North to South America one way Economy is 20000 , business is 40000, within South America one way is 12500, business is 25000, South America domestic economy is 10000, business 20000.
2 From Europe to USA/Europe to Hawaii or Central America/USA domestic, if you want to tour USA using BA miles on AA. From EU zone 1 to USA Economy one way 25000, Business one way 50000. include Hawaii or Central America? Same amount. Just want USA domestic+Canada? Economy one way is 12500, business is 25000. welcome to America!
3 India domestic. Kingfisher Airways will join Oneworld soon, they have the best India domestic network, never been to India, no problem, Economy one way is 10000, business is 20000
4 Russia domestic, please check here
5 Japan domestic, Japan Airline. You can travel all the way from Sapporo to Naba. One way economy 7500, Business 15000.
6 Australia domestic on Qantas. Same thing, enjoy your tour in Australia, Economy one way 15000, Business 30000.
7 North America to Far East on CX, AA or JAL, 25K in Y, 50K in business one way. touring America to China/Japan or touring Japan from US or JFK-YYZ-HKG-xxx in Far East on CX
When planing your trip, try to plan with one direction, I am not saying you can’t get it done in one award with backtracking(there are people have done with serious backtracking), but it will be a lot easier to convince a agent to issue the ticket. Also, since award can be booked in one way, you can stop diff cities on your way back.
Please note: all above redemption collects fuel surcharge with exception of LAN, but I think the actul pay off are much more better than YQ, even in Economy class.
reader a1l613 reporst, BA doesn’t charge YQ for s7 redemption
Also, it’s still unclear whether BA charges YQ on AA or not. I know they don’t charge them before, but now AA charges BA, BA should also charge AA. online redemption still showing no YQ, unclear about phone booking
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, Award redemption, British Airways, Oneworld, Other Airline Reward Programs |
September 3, 2010
I am actually 3000 EQM short of keeping my EXP by end of the year and having a hard time to figure out how to make that 3000 up because I don’t live in States anymore.
Today, I login my account, my flight on BA using AA miles is posted as J CLASS fare and get me nearly 5K EQM!!!!!
Problem solved!
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, British Airways |
August 31, 2010
It’s very interesting to write about this today. I just took a flight from PRG-LHR in Business class, which was just first few row of the plane with middle seat blocked. There are minor difference with UK carriers, seats on left side are two bigger seats with one very small middle seat.
5 years ago, I took a flight from LHR-DUB on BMI with seat assignment 3C, at that time, I was general member of all airlines. The middle seat next to me was very very small, I was wondering who can fit in that seat at the time, not even a kid.
5 years later, I finally realized I was actually seating in the Business class, the seat was not intended for anyone.:P
Posted by Troy under 2010 Trip, BMI Diamond Club, British Airways |
May 16, 2010
View from the wing talked about his take on the very best airline mileage award values and I’d like to add more.
Without a doubt, airline mileage award always get better value when redeeming on business/first class, but I know some people enjoy to visit more places than burning miles all at once, so I will also mention some good redemption on economy too. Back in 2008, I wrote an article to summarize all good value awards, but two years later, lots of them changed. here is my new summary:
American Airline:
70K/90K in business/first from Asia 2 to South Pacific including Easter Island
60K/90K in business/first from Asia 1 and 2 to Middle East
20K/40K in economy within Europe
20K economy within countries like Chile (excluding Easter Island), Argentina
Low season economy to Europe, South America 2 and Asia 1
Also, most importantly, all award can be redeemed for one way at half of RT cost.
Alaska airline:
Besides what’s Gary has mentioned in his blog, 7500 for one way travel within Alaska is also a great value
British Airways:
all economy/business award on single partner Lan from NA to South Aemrica(especially Southern South America) are excellent value.40K in economy, 80K in Business, all can be redeemed for one way at half of RT cost. Note: IPC(Eastern Island) is considered as part of Chile, so same amount as to South America
Also, all econ/business award on lan within South America/single country are also good value. 20K economy for within same country, 25K economy within south america, times 2 for business, divide by 2 for one way.
All BA awards allows unlimited stopover provided u are using the most direct routing, that means from LAX-IPC, you can get at least 2 stopovers, one in LIM, another one in SCL.
BA single airline to Asia in business class is considered a great value too.
British Midland:
BD still offers one the best award redemption table in business class. as mentioned before, no big changes since then. besides the great value in business class, there are some excellent value in economy class too.
one way Non stop flight within Europe from Zone 1 to 2, for Cash+miles, this award costs only 3000 miles+some cash. some non stop flights can be very expensive within the region.
Economy/business class within zone 5 or btw zone 5-6, within zone 5 costs only 5000 miles+cash in economy one way, but zone 5 covers almost entire Middle East/Central Asia/North Africa all the way to Tanzania.
Continental:
CO currently has exactly same redemption table as UA, but routing and award rule/availability are much much better than UA.
From North Asia-South Asia business class costs only 30K, you can go as far as Indonesia and you can find some crazy routing on Co website.
In addition, unlike most *A carriers program, you can combine non *A carriers with *A carriers when u searching online, that’s including VS upper class.
Don’t forget, you can one stopover+one open jaw with CO miles
For same amount, you actually get much better value with CO mile than UA.
Delta:
After NW and DL merged, DL have the worst availability in the entire industry, especially for award to Asia. However, with help of KL and AF, award to Europe/Middle East/central Asia/Africa are not that terrible yet.
100K business from US-EU with open jaw and stopover
110K business from US-EU, with stopover in EU, then open jaw from Africa/ Middle East/Central Asia or v.v
120K business from US-any Africa/ Middle East/Central Asia with stopover in EU and return from another region
If you are still wondering how to travel btw these regions Africa/ Middle East/Central Asia, BMI miles I mentioned above is your friend.
Also, 20K in economy anywhere within Asia is not that bad.
Note: Delta Awards allow one stopover+one open jaw for travel to/within any region provided their stupid system can recognize it.
KLM/AF:
KLM and AF offer 50% off redemption award year round to selected destinations, a lot of times, economy award from US-Europe can be as low as 25K, also business class award often half off too.
United:
Really, I can not find any,as I said, UA and CO have exactly identical redemption table, but UA has too many restrictions such as *A blocking, open jaw or stopover, not both. Non*A partner can not be combined with *A partner, etc……
US airways:
I just mentioned US airways few days ago, it’s one of the best program is US now.
US airways consider Russia as North Asia, from Russia-Hong Kong 20K in economy and most program consider Russia as Europe, so you only need 40K from Hong Kong to Europe in coach RT, first to Russian with US airways miles+AA miles from Russia to Europe.
or even better, fly to LED, then take a cruise to HEL.
Low season redemption on US own flight is a excellent deal too.
ANA:
I mentioned here and here how to best use ur ANA(AMEX rewards) miles.
Virgin Atlantic:
Whenever award is on sale
Lan(distance based)
Dan deals had a summary on Lan kilometers, best is for non stop short haul flight.
Once again, there are many good redemption levels to certain regions/countries on different programs worldwide, but accumulating and managing miles on those programs may not as easy as programs mentioned above, so I won’t suggest to put your miles into a program you are not to familiar with or just for a particular award unless u need to travel to/from that region frequently.
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, AMEX Membership Rewards, BMI Diamond Club, British Airways, Continental Airline, Delta, General Frequent Flyer Advice, Other Airline Reward Programs, United Airlines, US airways |
May 4, 2010
In the previous post, I mentioned I was able to score 1 seat on business class at 120K using Delta miles on Delta own mental for trans pacific flight,but did not ticket due to bad schedule. I decided to use BA miles for flight on JL, since BA website doesn’t show JL seats anymore, I had to call to book.
It only took me 15 minutes to get ticket issued on the date/time/cabin from PVG-NRT-LAX in Business class. so easy to find a seat as it’s only few days left before departure and seats are wide open for awards.
Total cost 50K BA miles(one way)+200 USD including call center phone and fuel surcharge.
Posted by Troy under Award redemption, British Airways |
March 4, 2010
I mentioned earlier about Hilton Q2 promotion, but it looks like there are more than just points.
you also got miles promotion coming, but we don’t know whether is one or the other or combinable with points offer. we will see. Please Note: One of airline offer is 5K BA miles per stay
American Airlines 1,000 Mile Bonus
Promotion: HHonors members with American Airlines selected as their preferred airline will earn 1,000 Bonus AAdvantage Miles for each qualifying stay of 4+ nights at participating Hilton Worldwide hotels.
Target: American Airlines AAdvantage members worldwide. To qualify, guests must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Promo Dates: April 1 through June 30, 2010.
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JetBlue Double TrueBlue Points
Promotion: HHonors members with Jet Blue as their preferred airline will earn double base TrueBlue points for each qualifying stay at participating Hilton Worldwide hotels.
Target: JetBlue TrueBlue members in North America. To qualify, guest must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Promo Dates: April 6 through July 15, 2010.
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Delta Skymiles 300% (3x) Bonus Miles
Promotion: HHonors members with Delta preference will earn triple Delta Skymiles for each qualifying stay of 2+ nights at participating Hilton Worldwide hotels.
Target: Delta Skymiles members worldwide (includes former Northwest Airlines Worldperks). To qualify, guest must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Promo Dates: April 1 through June 30, 2010.
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Aeroplan Double Miles
Promotions: HHonors members with Aeroplan as their preferred partner will earn double Aeroplan miles for stays at participating Hilton Worldwide hotels in US and Canada.
Target: HHonors members with Aeroplan as preferred partner. To qualify, guest must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Promo Dates: June 1 – August 31, 2010.
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Virgin Atlantic Triple Miles Promo
Promotion: HHonors members with Virgin Atlantic as their preferred airline will earn triple Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for stays at all Hilton Worldwide hotels.
Target: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club members. To qualify, guest must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Dates: April 1 through June 30, 2010.
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Alitalia Triple Miles Promotion
Promotion: HHonors members with Alitalia as their preferred airline carrier will earn triple Alitalia Miles for stays at all Hilton Worldwide hotels.
Target: Millemiglia Club members. To qualify, guest must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Dates: March 15 through June 15, 2010.
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British Airways 5,000 Bonus Miles Promotion
Promotion: HHonors members with British Airways as their preferred airline carrier will earn 5,000 bonus miles for stays at all Hilton Worldwide hotels.
Target: British Airways Executive Club members. To qualify, guest must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Dates: April 1 through June 30, 2010.
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Emirates Triple Miles Promotion
Promotion: HHonors members with Emirates as their preferred airline carrier will earn triple miles for stays at all Hilton Worldwide hotels.
Target: Emirates’ Skyward Club members. To qualify, guest must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Dates: March 1 through May 31, 2010.
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Flying Blue Triple Miles Promotion
Promotion: HHonors members with Flying Blue as their preferred airline partner will earn triple miles for stays at all Hilton Worldwide hotels.
Target: Flying Blue Club members (includes Air France and KLM). To qualify, guest must be an HHonors member and must register for this promotion at the HHonors hosted landing page.
Dates: April 1 through June 30, 2010.
Posted by Troy under American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airline, Delta, Hilton, Other Airline Reward Programs, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club |
