Distance Based Awards versus Zone Based
 

Because I have nothing better to do with my time :p I started looking into this on my blog.

The short version:

Looking specifically at distance-based Oneworld partners versus zone-based ones, here are a few examples, mostly from Asia Miles, of where it’s more advantageous.

A lot of people here know about that most of the east coast to Europe is only 60,000 Asia Miles in business class (with one stopover allowed), but so is SEA to NRT or JFK to GIG. In both cases a decent savings over getting the award from the carriers (JAL or AA) you'd actually fly.

The weirdest savings I turned up was using only 65,000 LANPass kilometers (worth between 32,500 and 40,400 miles depending on how you earn them) to go from BOS to DUB, which would be an even better savings in the summer when AA charges peak rates. I haven’t got a LANPass account, so haven’t tried to book it, but if someone does, would you let me know?

There’s a rather long version of this at my blog with more facts and figures – right now it’s at the top, but here’s a direct link to the posts:

http://www.leighwitchel.com/blog/arc...ng_around.html
http://www.leighwitchel.com/blog/arc..._around_1.html

Hope it's of some use!

Indeed, some zoned awards are really good, ANC to TNR for 120k in biz on Skyteam seems like a good deal!

I've written a tool that calculates the # of miles needed for awards on different airlines/alliances (also a oneworld RTW itinerary validator).

http://jph.bytestacker.com/award.htm

it may be a bit out of date with new continental/skyteam Sleazypass awards.

BOS-SYD is over 10k miles and only 90k points in business on United's chart...

There is some good info in your blog FlyBalletGuy. As a fairly new member to FlyerTalk, I'm continually trying to learn strategies to maximize my award miles and posters such as yourself help out quite a bit. Thanks.

Thanks for the kind words, hannibal.

I think that more advantageous distance rewards are the exception rather than the rule but Asia Miles' C zone (2501-5000 miles one way) awards are especially good for travel to Europe from the East Coast or in some cases South America. But to the South Pacific, for instance, I think United beats them from every area. That's why I have 90,000+ United miles waiting for the right time to go to Australia :)

Don't wait too long. I think gleff mentioned in his blog that United might "revalue" their awards to match the competition. BTW enjoyed reading your blog through gleff's link ^

They are also very good for Europe to parts of Asia, particularly parts of South Asia. :)

The routing I got to work was ATH-BKK (4920 miles) on JAL. 105K miles from AA, 110K from JAL, 60K from CX.

25,000 miles traveled for 90,000 UA miles in C
 

BOS-UA-LAX-NZ-AKL-NZ-PER and back.

Busiess class, 90,000 UA miles.

Because my stepmom was trying to figure out what to do with her Membership Rewards points, I did a bit more searching on Star Alliance and Skyteam as well as OneWorld. ANA also has a distance based award system for Star Alliance partners - the magic number for them is 8,000 miles total distance for 65,000 miles in Business. That's as far as JFK-TXL, but I don't think much use on transpacific jumps. It's not as dramatic a savings as CX vs. BA or AA but it could be of some use.

More on my blog - http://www.leighwitchel.com/blog/arc...mileage_1.html

zone based versus , mileage based???
I can't begin to wrap my head around this.
I see that Air Miles is zone based , but who uses that anymore??
All my points are through Aventura , Aeroplan and SPG.
do I just look for airlines that are zone based and plan travel around that airline and where it goes?
Anyone with some patient to guide me would be showered with many smiles!!
donna

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Aeroplan is a zone-based scheme.

SPG points can be transferred to a variety of programs, some of which are zone-based, and others of which are distance-based. Which scheme works better for you will vary from redemption to redemption. Example: a one-way Coach award from YYZ/YUL to JFK on AA costs 12,500 AAdvantage miles, but the same award can be had for only 4,500 BA Avios, because the flight distance is so short.

YYZ/YUL/YOW to a couple different nearby AA destinations can be a great use of Avios! ^

The post #2 tool from seven years ago is no longer up...I wonder if any other FT'er is maintaining a current tool? I had a similar question recently on a short route where I considered moving some Starpoints to cover it...

Moderator action
 

This question is perhaps best researched in the Travel Tools forum, which did not exist in 2006:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-tools-701/