Flight Intel
- 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?
New York (JFK) to Panama City (PTY) with Miles from Miles & More (Lufthansa) / Star Alliance
When you travel from the USA to somewhere in Central America you can build a Caribbean stop over into your itinerary at no extra cost. Between New York and Panama City you might stop in Puerto Rico or St. Maarten. Panama City makes sense since it's the hub for Copa Airlines. There are no fuel surcharges on this itinerary.
Source: http://travelisfree.com/2015/05/02/best-use-of-lufthansa-miles-2/
2 May, 2015
Honolulu (HNL) to Babelthuap (ROR) with Miles from Miles & More (Lufthansa) / Star Alliance
The Hawaii to Oceania redemption costs 40,000 miles for a round trip ticket in economy. Miles & More allows stopovers on this do that you could add in Guam (GUM) on the first leg and Yap (YAP) on the return leg, without any extra charge!
Source: http://travelisfree.com/2015/05/02/best-use-of-lufthansa-miles-2/
2 May, 2015
Paris (CDG) to Bangkok (BKK) with Miles from Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) / SkyTeam
Overall fees for the round-trip flight in economy class between Paris and Bangkok will be between EUR 200 and 300.
See the article on voyageforever.com [in French].
28 March, 2015
New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) with Miles from Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) / SkyTeam
According to voyageurforever.com the fees for a round-trip journey between New York and LA are only EUR 5. Availability seems to be pretty good too!
See the article on voyageforever.com [in French].
28 March, 2015
Los Angeles (LAX) to Bangkok (BKK) with Miles from Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) / SkyTeam
The redemption is from North America (LAX) to Asia 2 (BKK), but you may get a routing through Europe at no extra cost. You can even interrupt your trip and create a North America - Europe - Asia trip with one redemption.
See the article on voyageforever.com.
28 March, 2015
New York (JFK) to Honolulu (HNL) with Miles from Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) / SkyTeam
According to voyageurforever.com the fees for a one-way journey between New York and Honolulu on Delta Airlines are only EUR 5.
See the article on voyageforever.com [in French].
27 March, 2015
Los Angeles (LAX) to Noumea (NOU) with Miles from Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) / SkyTeam
According to voyageforever.com you can book this for a one-way fee of 15,000 miles and even add a connection in Sydney (with stop-over)! Taxes and fees for the one-way trip are EUR 74.
(The award flight from LAX to Sydney on its own would be 50,000 miles)
See the article on voyageforever.com [in French].
27 March, 2015
Dakar (DKR) to Marrakech (RAK) with Miles from United Mileage Plus / Star Alliance
Even though you have to connect in a zone outside Africa to get from Senegal to Marrakech, United honours the Africa-to-Africa rate on this itinerary! Read a trip report on TAP flight from DKR to RAK via Lisbon (LIS).
http://www.mightytravels.com/2015/03/tap-portugal-economy-class-review-dakar-dkr-to-lisbon-lis-and-on-to-marrakech-rak-tp1480-tp1451/
27 March, 2015
Vancouver (YVR) to Stockholm (ARN) with Miles from [OLD] Aeroplan (Air Canada) / Star Alliance
Try to leverage the surcharge-free flights to Stockholm from Chicago. SAS, United Airlines and Swiss all have flights from ORD to Europe for very low fees. And SAS has a direct flight to ARN!
Read more at canadiankilometers.boardingarea.com.
16 March, 2015
Tokyo (HND) to Singapore (SIN) with Miles from [OLD] Aeroplan (Air Canada) / Star Alliance
Singapore Airlines does not charge fuel surcharges and both Singapore and Tokyo are in the same redemption zone (Asia 1) so that the round trip redemption is a pretty good deal, and only incurs approximately CAD 60 in surcharges.
Read more at canadiankilometers.boardingarea.com.
16 March, 2015