WantsAmex

I have around 100k AMEX points. What is the best way to use my points to fly from JFK to Barcelona?

Who should I transfer to?

morphogencc

Probably British Airways.

You can get a direct flight for about 40,000 points on American Airlines using Avios (and you'd probably avoid the fuel surcharges from landing in the UK).

Your other options could be transferring to Cathay Pacific or Air france.

mia

Economy or Business? One passenger or more?

What have you already checked? Iberia is the obvious place to start.

WantsAmex

I checked BA but couldnt find any available dates. I think it was looking for a reward seat.

One passenger. I would do first/business class if my points are enough.

Duke787

If you can get 10k more (either AMEX or SPG to transfer over), Aeroplan is 110k for RT J on *A to Spain. Note the charge fees on some airlines but not all airlines. For Europe specifically I believe you are looking for UA, SK, LX, SN, and TK for low or no fuel surcharges.

Two stopovers or 1 stopover 1 open jaw included when booking roundtrip.

bgriff

It is worth checking what Delta is charging as well. You won't have enough points for business on Delta, but you might have enough for coach, and Delta has a nonstop flight option.

Aeroplan also worth checking for both business and coach. Check out of EWR as well when searching Aeroplan; you might find something on the nonstop United flight from there.

In theory British Airways or Iberia would be useful for an Iberia connecting flight or the AA nonstop flight, but awards tend to be scarce on those flights.


If you absolutely want to use your points for this trip, Delta is the only one of these that will definitely be available, but it might be at a steep price. So up to you whether you want to pay what they're charging. Similarly you could also consider the Amex Travel site which will let you redeem at 1 cent per point against regular airfares, so your 100,000 points could buy you a cash ticket selling for up to $1,000.

WantsAmex

Since Delta flies there, I am thinking I can transfer to Virgin Atlantic, then use my VA points to book a flight on delta. 90k for First class.

bgriff

DO NOT make that transfer without calling Virgin and making sure they have availability for Delta first. Virgin will have access to seats on Delta on only a small number of dates.

You will also likely have to pay over $1,000 in fees booking using Virgin miles, which you would not have to pay booking using DL miles (or Aeroplan miles for a UA flight).

If you still want to go with Virgin, search on Delta's site for dates when the JFK-BCN flight is available for 70,000 miles one-way or 140,000 miles roundtrip and then call Virgin to check if they have availability on those dates. It is not guaranteed that they will, but on dates when it is more than 140,000 miles on Delta's site, it is almost certain Virgin won't have access to seats.

WantsAmex

Really? I did this before and didnt have to pay fees. I wasnt traveling to Euro[e. Is that why?

guv1976

This is supremely bad advice.

BAEC's hefty surcharges do not just apply to flying on BA -- or to London. Redeeming BAEC Avios on AA for JFK-BCN nonstop will have very high surcharges too.

​And in the absence of a transfer bonus offer, it now takes 50,000 Amex (U.S.) MR points to yield 40,000 BA Avios.

WantsAmex

hmm, this is what I see

Duke787

Yeah Virgin won't have access to that. They only have access to the 30k/70k level.

I said it once and will say it again, Aeroplan is likely your best option.

bgriff

Probably. The "carrier-imposed surcharges" (formerly "fuel surcharges") that VS charges on awards vary a lot by region: domestically in the US there are none, to Asia they are usually only $100-$200, but to Europe they are at least $500 in most markets, and on JFK-BCN in business class they happen to be over $900, plus over $100 in other taxes and fees. (There are legal reasons for the lack of surcharges domestically, but there isn't any specific reason for the Asia vs. Europe differences and it's essentially just based on how airlines have chosen to behave over time in those markets.)

You can see this breakdown by searching for the flight on ITA Matrix and clicking through to see the price details. VS will charge everything other than the base fare when redeeming miles.

roundtree

I did this recently with Iberia, but only after I confirmed that they had award space available for April 2018. Was able to land two business seats for 136000 Avios and $400 in fees/taxes. Based on the specific flights that I wanted, that saved me just over $6600, or about 4.9cpp.

Hard to beat the Iberia deal for off-peak flights, but even the peak flights would have been anywhere from 2.3cpp or 3.3cpp (depending on the specific flights).

Word of warning: I had to call to reserve the flights instead of using Iberia.com. Every time that I tried to book via the website, I got a message that they had refused my card. After wasting a lot of time confirming with the various card issuers that I had tried, it was definitely an Iberia issue and not the cards being declined.