The Delta/Virgin Atlantic partnership is one to keep in mind any time you see low-level award availability on either airline. Last April we flew on Virgin Atlantic Upper Class using Delta SkyMiles. Next April we’re planning to fly DeltaOne using Virgin Atlantic miles. Ironically, it’s almost always better to pay with the partner’s miles rather […]
Breaking Through Peak Vacation Airfare Pricing with Partner Awards
Booking windows are just opening up for the Massachusetts school break in April 2020. And as usual, the opening salvo from carriers like Delta is a bit of a gut punch. But with a Delta partner award, I was able to find great award pricing on direct flights at perfect times. Let’s work through an […]
Dog Catches Car: The AA Etihad Apartment Trick Worked But I Let It Go
I was saying a couple of weeks ago how I did some research on booking Etihad Apartments with AA miles and found that I was unable to do so. See: What I Learned: Booking An Award For Travel On Etihad But after some more exploring, along with guidance from experts, I found that I was able […]
Booking Tools: A [Re]Introduction to Airline Route Mapper.
Dear Airline Route Mapper, Hello Old Friend. I’ve missed you. I often times think back to those years we spent booking award tickets fondly. I will say that ever since I lost you there’s been a hole where you once were–never quite filled by the replacements that I found. Sure, I pivoted to spending my […]
Using Great Circle Mapper to Find Flight Distances
Today I’ll expand on a site that everyone needs to get familiar with for booking award travel. Great Circle Mapper (www.gcmap.com) is a site so embedded in award travel searches that I can’t think of a blog that doesn’t use. Today I’ll go over how to use GCmap to find flight distances between routes, and discuss […]
Brandon Asks: Boston to Singapore Using Miles
Today’s Brandon Asks is from Tim… “Can you help get our family of three from Boston to Singapore this summer using points & miles? Departing BOS between July 24-27, returning from SIN roughly 3 weeks later. We’re open to any cabin of service, but if we’re in Economy we’d like to limit it to one […]
Brandon Asks: Help Me book My First International Award Trip
Today’s Brandon Asks is from reader Oscar who wants help with the following: I am relatively new to travel rewards. I have been able to book a few domestic flights with Southwest using companion passes, but I am now desiring an international trip. My wife and I are seeking 2 economy, or maybe even business class, […]
East Coast / West Coast: Travel to Hawaii With Miles (West Coast Edition)
Today we’ll start a new series here on Milenomics. East Coast / West Coast will be an occasional series where Robert and I discuss something related to points and miles from two totally different points of view. The idea for this series builds upon the importance of following and reading local blogs. Today’s post will […]
Reader Mailbag: How to Book Business Class Tickets with Miles?
Robert and I are starting a new feature here at Milenomics, a Reader Mailbag of sorts. You can contact me via my email link in the top, or tweet either of us on Twitter with possible questions. I can’t guarantee we’ll answer them all but we’ll do our best. Today’s Question: Reader Brandon (*ahem*) has […]
You (and I) Have Probably Been Valuing Miles All Wrong.
Quick recap: Miles are dead, yadda, yadda, yadda… — What’s the value you earned from using your miles instead of buying a ticket in cash? This is an important metric to use; it helps us to decide when to use our miles, it also lets us put a value on the miles we earn. Yesterday we discussed […]