Flight prices are ridiculous these days. Have you looked lately? They’re very high compared to the past.
My family has several domestic trips coming up over the next year, and I’m trying my best not to fork over a ton of cash to make these happen. So, I’m constantly looking for ways to use my miles and points stash for “reasonable” redemptions.
Finding a Deal to Miami
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m going on a free Carnival cruise out of Miami. Since the trip is close to the holidays, cash prices for flights are running over $500 round trip. That’s crazy!
While I can certainly use Southwest Rapid Rewards to book any flight, the cash and points prices are not great. The cheapest nonstop flight is currently running around 15,000 points one-way.
I figured my best bet is to find an AA Web Special Award (sometimes as low as 6500 miles) or a regular MileSAAver award on American (12,500). If I find a MileSAAver nonstop award on AA, I can book the same flight using only 9000 British Airways Avios (AA partner that uses a distance-based award chart). I have Capital One miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards points that both transfer to British Airways Avios. Are you following me so far?
A few days ago, bam! AA released MileSAAver seats for one of the dates I need. Yee-haw! I just needed to transfer some points to British Airways and book the tickets.
But wait, it gets better. Chase currently has a 30% transfer bonus to British Airways through July 31. So, with that bonus, I just needed to transfer 6923 points from Chase to BA Avios per ticket.
To recap:
Award Price Using AA Miles: 12,500 miles
Award Price Using BA Avios: 9000 points
Award Price Using BA Avios + 30% Chase Transfer Bonus: 6923 points
Bottom Line
I don’t always get the best deals with my miles and points. But when I do, I celebrate, even if it’s a small win. I’m crossing my fingers that AA will release more MileSAAver award space before July 31 so that I can take advantage of the Chase to BA transfer bonus again.
