Mileage Plan International Redemption Sweet Spots ?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: LAS, MPL
Programs: DL Platinum, 1 MM
Posts: 1,321
Mileage Plan International Redemption Sweet Spots ?
I loved Mileage Plan for their 20K coach to South America redemption sweet spot. That was at least 10K less than AA and UA, and who knows how much less than Delta. With the AA and Delta partnerships gone, are there any new international sweet spots? Looks like for Europe there are only BA and Icelandair left and South America will be unreachable on points. That leaves JL to Tokyo - anything else?
#2
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
I loved Mileage Plan for their 20K coach to South America redemption sweet spot. That was at least 10K less than AA and UA, and who knows how much less than Delta. With the AA and Delta partnerships gone, are there any new international sweet spots? Looks like for Europe there are only BA and Icelandair left and South America will be unreachable on points. That leaves JL to Tokyo - anything else?
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
Uh, you can still book AA for South America on award after 12/31/2017. The elite recognition and acquiring mileage for domestic flights got nuked, but not award redemption and getting miles internationally.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...er-overview:AA
Not so much. Not only is AA still an AS partner, LATAM is still an AS partner.
I think we'd all be quite surprised that LATAM doesn't fly to South America...
CX to and from Africa/India/Australia/Asia with HKG stopover.
CX J to Europe from HKG for 42.5k miles.
Ability to use the AS free stopover on a one way international award to stop in the international gateway/SEA/PDX/ANC and tack on a "free one way" to Hawaii/Mexico/USA (since the mileage for HKG-LAX-SEA is exactly the same as the mileage for HKG-LAX-SEA-KOA).
Or try DEL to SIN in J with a TYO stopover... for no extra miles (25k). That's an amazing value.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...er-overview:AA
You'll still be able to redeem miles on American flights globally.
I think we'd all be quite surprised that LATAM doesn't fly to South America...
CX to and from Africa/India/Australia/Asia with HKG stopover.
CX J to Europe from HKG for 42.5k miles.
Ability to use the AS free stopover on a one way international award to stop in the international gateway/SEA/PDX/ANC and tack on a "free one way" to Hawaii/Mexico/USA (since the mileage for HKG-LAX-SEA is exactly the same as the mileage for HKG-LAX-SEA-KOA).
Or try DEL to SIN in J with a TYO stopover... for no extra miles (25k). That's an amazing value.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Oct 21, 2017 at 12:00 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: RDU
Programs: AS MVP 75k, *G LT, Bonvoy LT Plat, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 62
The non-stop 5h40 direct SQ401 DEL-SIN costs $631 in J vs. 25 kmls + $40 on JL. With AS miles valued as 2c/mile it is $540 for 2 red eyes vs. $631 for a direct day-time flight.
Last edited by Terence.Hill; Oct 21, 2017 at 8:11 pm
#5
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
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#6
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
CX J JNB-HKG 42,500 Miles
CX J HGK-BOS 50,000 Miles
CX J JNB-HKG//HKG-BOS 62,500 miles
I booked two JNB-HKG-BOS J awards with a three-day stopover in Hong Kong last night for mid February. Whether you choose to look at it as JNB-HKG with a 20,000 mile add-on for HKG-BOS J or JNB-HKG J for a 12,500 miles repositioning flight for HKG-BOS, I think this is a sweet sweet-spot.
CX J HGK-BOS 50,000 Miles
CX J JNB-HKG//HKG-BOS 62,500 miles
I booked two JNB-HKG-BOS J awards with a three-day stopover in Hong Kong last night for mid February. Whether you choose to look at it as JNB-HKG with a 20,000 mile add-on for HKG-BOS J or JNB-HKG J for a 12,500 miles repositioning flight for HKG-BOS, I think this is a sweet sweet-spot.
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
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... without a stopover in TYO that you can take for weeks if you like. You’ve missed the point; you’re getting TWO long-haul business class flights and time in Tokyo for 25k. If you’re trying to your a lot of Asia a free stopover like that is useful.
#10
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Location: Benicia, California, USA
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Other J or F sweet spots?
Interesting discussion, OP. As someone who's shifting a lot of travel from AA to AS, I appreciate learning about what's being posted here.
Any other sweet spots for J or F travel?
Any other sweet spots for J or F travel?
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Just the fact you can stop-over is much better than AA. Though you lose the ability mix and match partners. Its AS + 1 partner in a single direction of travel so no AS/CX/JL unless you want a separate award
#12
Join Date: Nov 2014
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K
Posts: 102
If you want J travel to asia, I've been happy with redemptions and hard/soft product on Hainan the past year. I flew them with my wife to Shanghai as well as another trip to Bangkok. I'm booked to fly RT SEA-BKK-SEA again in december as well. They might not have the 'best' hard product out there, but the soft product (food, service, etc) is good, and I had one of the best transfer experiences EVER in PEK connecting to BKK. For the 2 J passengers that were transiting, they opened up a special VIP customs/immigration/security section just for us and shuttled us through in a very efficient and white glove manner.
Flights to/from south east asia are 50k each way, albeit not always at the best routing times. For example my upcoming return from BKK in december is a 130am (!!) flight, but I land in Seattle at 1030 am 'same day', so at least thats OK
Flights to/from south east asia are 50k each way, albeit not always at the best routing times. For example my upcoming return from BKK in december is a 130am (!!) flight, but I land in Seattle at 1030 am 'same day', so at least thats OK
#15
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
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If one did YVR/SFO/LAX-HKG-DXB, one way EK J is just short of RT CX J price.