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Flight Intel


To ensure that Milez.biz users are always well-informed with the latest industry intelligence and our site boasts the most up-to-date data possible, we collect anecdotal material about award flights, organized by destination pairings and frequent flyer program. We’re always looking for the following type of information:
  • What are the fees and surcharges that travelers needed to pay in order to book their award flight?
  • How was the availability of a given route(s) when it came to booking the award flight?
  • Are there tricks that program members used in order to optimize their redemption?
  • Which specific flights were used for the award ticket? Are some flights better than others?
  • How does this award ticket compare to other programs and how does it compare to a ticket bought with cash?
  • Are there specific sweet spots in the award tables that one should try to take advantage of?
  • Are there exceptions to the award tables where our calculations are not accurate?
  • What was your overall experience with a particular award ticket?
  • Was it worth cashing your miles in for a given flight?
Let us know if you have intel you would like to share. We’d also be more than happy to link to your trip reports and sources, too! Click on the "comment" button for any of the miles calculations or email us through the contact page.

San Francisco (SFO) to Honolulu (HNL) with Miles from Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) / SkyTeam

Award availability to Hawaii is pretty good according the UponArriving.com. The surcharges for using Delta from San Francisco to Honolulu are a a mere USD 5!

Guide to Flying Blue Award Flights (uponarriving.com)

14 April, 2016

Houston (HOU) to Lima (LIM) with Miles from Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) / SkyTeam

The redemption miles needed to travel from North America to South America with Flying Blue compare very favourably to other programs. The round trip fees between Houston and Lima are USD 105.

Guide to Flying Blue Award Flights (uponarriving.com)

14 April, 2016

Houston (HOU) to Santiago (SCL) with Miles from Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) / SkyTeam

The redemption miles needed to travel from North America to South America with Flying Blue compare very favourably to other programs. The round trip fees between Houston and Santiago de Chile are USD 90.

Guide to Flying Blue Award Flights (uponarriving.com)

14 April, 2016

Zurich (ZRH) to Dubrovnik (DBV) with Miles from [OLD] Aeroplan (Air Canada) / Star Alliance

Croatia Airlines (OU) is a Star Alliance partner and offers direct flights from Zurich to Dubrovnik. The round trip surcharge on this direct flight is CAD 100. Dubrovnik can also be reached with other Star Alliance partners but the fees can be much higher, e.g. with Austrian Airlines through Vienna (VIE) CAD 400!

7 April, 2016

Zurich (ZRH) to Zagreb (ZAG) with Miles from [OLD] Aeroplan (Air Canada) / Star Alliance

Croatia Airlines (OU) and Swiss (LX) both offer direct flights from Zurich to Zagreb. The round trip surcharge on this direct flight is CAD 100.

Other Star Alliance partners can also be used but the fees can be much higher, e.g. with Austrian Airlines through Vienna (VIE) CAD 400!

7 April, 2016

Montreal (YUL) to Paris (CDG) with Miles from [OLD] Aeroplan (Air Canada) / Star Alliance

The direct Air Canada flight from Montreal (YUL) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) will incur almost CAD 600 in fees and surcharges. Swiss has a direct flight to Montreal from Zurich at very low surcharges and United Airlines is also an option for reduced fuel surcharges.
Read more at Milesopedia [in French].

3 March, 2016

Munich (MUC) to Chicago (ORD) with Miles from Miles & More (Lufthansa) / Star Alliance

Book business class one-way instead of round-trip, and you will save 1,000 miles due to the fact the Miles & More engine rounds down the amount of miles required for the one-way journey. Make sure the transatlantic portion of the itinerary is with LOT if you want to avoid the high Lufthansa surcharges.

Source: http://meinemeilen.com/top-15-mogliche-miles-and-more-pramienfluge/ [in German]

1 March, 2016

Christchurch (CHC) to Perth (PER) with Miles from Velocity Frequent Flyer (Virgin Australia) / Redemption Table 1

Great use of Velocity points of you can book the business class seats between Perth and Christchurch. The connection is in Melbourne which provides a one-stop connection between the two destinations.

Read a trip report on pointshack.com.au:
http://www.pointhacks.com.au/reviews/virgin-australia-the-business-review-a330-melbourne-perth/

11 January, 2016

Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) with Miles from Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Here's a nice write-up from topmiles.com on redeeming KrisFlyer miles to get to Sydney from Los Angeles (via Tokyo and Singapore) in Singapore Airlines first class suite for only 119,000 miles! Fees and surcharges for the one-way journey were USD 480. The trip was booked one-way and with the 15% discount given for online bookings.

Source: https://www.topmiles.com/blog/article/73/my--16-000-christmas-flight-on-singapore-airlines-first-class-suites-for--480

4 January, 2016

Madrid (MAD) to Barcelona (BCN) with Avios from Iberia Plus

The Madrid-Barcelona shuttle represents an exception in the Iberia award chart. The YEAR ROUND rates are 9,000 avios for full fare economy and 18,000 avios for business class.

22 December, 2015