Short-Haul Flights: BA Avios Versus LAN Lanpass.

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Related:
BA Miles Are Now Avios…For Better Or For Worse.
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Get 1,000 LANPASS kilometers for signing up for a LAN account.
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Back in 2009 I broke the news on the exciting changes to the LAN Oneworld chart.  It’s an extremely lucrative chart for nonstop short-haul awards, which are typically poor uses of miles in most programs.

Last week BA moved to a chart that is also very generous for nonstop short-haul awards.  Many people are angry that they got rid of lucrative long-haul reward options like 40K flights to South America and 50K flights to Asia.  It could have been worse though, they could have left North America tickets at 25K which would have eliminated most of the value from the BA program, so all was not lost.

While many are saddened at the BA changes, for those who have miles across multiple programs (especially in valuable programs like American and Continental/United) then the changes can help as you now have great options for short-haul and long-haul redemptions without having to actually pay for tickets on either type of flight.

For example a last-minute round-trip ticket from Cleveland-New York today is $1,200. (Granted that most Clevelanders would drive the extra 15 minutes to Akron and take the Airtran flight from CAK to LGA for $400, but let’s say you wanted to fly into JFK instead of LGA or wanted to take the train right into the Cleveland airport). Here it would have made sense to use 25,000 AA miles on the short-haul ticket.  With BA or LAN though it can be done at a fraction of those miles. It’s so few miles that even if you have travel dates set more than 2 weeks in advance it still would be worth using the miles instead of paying for a flight, which is something that’s rarely worth doing with most mileage programs when flying domestic and planning ahead.

With American Express Membership Rewards (MR) or Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) you can also transfer points to British Airways.

If you have Starpoints though you’re in a very good position.  For long-haul flights you can transfer to American at a 20K:25K ratio for OneWorld long-haul flights, to Delta or Flying Blue at a 20K:25K ratio for Skyteam flights, to USAirways or Aeroplan at a 20K:25K ratio for Star Alliance flights, or to British Airways at a 20K:25K ratio or LAN at a 20K:50K ratio for Oneworld short-haul flights.

Let’s take a look at some of the rules and routes to see when it’s worth using BA miles or LAN kilometers for your next short-haul award flight.  With either airline you can book travel on AA or Alaska.  For AA, award space must be available at the sAAver rate, which you can check on AA.com.

BA:
-Partners with American Express Membership Rewards at a 1K:1K ratio and points transfer instantly.
-Partners with Chase Ultimate Rewards at a 1K:1K ratio and points transfer instantly.
-Partners with Starwood Starpoints at a 20K:25K ratio but the transfer can take 3-14 days.
-One-way redemptions are allowed.
-Families can pool miles, but if they do pool miles then you can only redeem miles for family members, not for anyone else.
-Online redemptions are possible, but often you need to call to find flights and book as not all flight options are shown on BA.com.
-Date changes and award cancellations are $40 online and $65 by phone.
-Charges fuel surcharges on all partners except for LAN and for AA flights within the western hemisphere.
-Charges double points for business class and triple points in first class

LAN:
-Partners with Starwood Starpoints at a 20K:50K ratio but the transfer can take 3-14 days.
-Round-trip required.
-All tickets must be booked over the phone and you must fax in proof of identity if redeeming for other travelers and you are not flying. Reportedly not required anymore!
-LAN retains a chart for travel on LAN only which has hidden gems like USA-Brazil or Peru for 48,000 kilometers round-trip, or less than 20,000 Starpoints round-trip, but travel isn’t allowed on AA. The route comparisons below are for travel on any Oneworld or partner airline.
-Date changes are free online or $50 over the phone and award cancellations carry a kilometer penalty ranging from 4K (for awards that cost up to 15K kilometers), 8K (for awards that cost between 15,001-30K kilometers), 10K (for awards that cost between 30,001-50K kilometers), all the way up to 35K (for awards that cost more than 300K kilometers).
-Does not charge fuel surcharges.  This creates opportunities for some long-haul awards like JFK-Amman-Tel Aviv for 44,800 Starpoints and no fuel surcharges.
-Charges double points in business class, but just 2.5 points in first class.

Route comparisons:
-Flight distances can be researched on the Great Circle Mapper.
-I’ve broken these down into every possible scenario and labeled each scenario with the first number indicating the BA zone and then 2nd number indicating the LAN zone. Bear in mind that flights booked with BA miles can be taken at half of these rates for one-way travel.
-City pairs are listed as examples for each scenario.

Scenario 1-1 (Flights between 1-310 miles):
New York-Boston, Los Angeles-Las Vegas, London-Paris, Miami-Nassau, Miami-Key West, Amman-Tel Aviv.
BA: Zone 1, 9,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 7,200 Starpoints or 9,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 1, 12,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 4,800 Starpoints)

Scenario 1-2 (Flights between 311-466 miles):
New-York-Montreal, New York-Toronto, New York-Cleveland, Chicago-Toronto, Sydney-Melbourne, Miami-Grand Cayman.
BA: Zone 1, 9,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 7,200 Starpoints or 9,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 2, 16,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 6,400 Starpoints)

Scenario 1-3 (Flights between 467-621 miles):
New York-Detroit, Miami-Atlanta, Miami-Cancun, Miami-Montego Bay.
BA: Zone 1, 9,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 7,200 Starpoints or 9,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 3, 18,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 7,200 Starpoints)

Scenario 1-4 (Flights between 622-650 miles):
Valparaiso-Dallas
BA: Zone 1, 9,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 7,200 Starpoints or 9,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 4, 20,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 8,000 Starpoints)

Scenario 2-4 (Flights between 651-807 miles):
New York-Chicago, Hong Kong-Shanghai
BA: Zone 2, 15,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 12,000 Starpoints or 15,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 4, 20,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 8,000 Starpoints)

Scenario 2-5 (Flights between 808-932 miles):
Chicago-New Orleans, Los Angeles-Cabo San Lucas
BA: Zone 2, 15,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 12,000 Starpoints or 15,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 5, 24,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 9,600 Starpoints)

Scenario 2-6 (Flights between 933-1,151 miles):
New York-Miami, Cleveland-Miami, Hong Kong-Bangkok
BA: Zone 2, 15,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 12,000 Starpoints or 15,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 6, 28,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 11,200 Starpoints)

Scenario 3-6 (Flights between 1,152-1,242 miles):
Chicago-Miami, Los Angeles-Dallas
BA: Zone 3, 20,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 16,000 Starpoints or 20,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 6, 28,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 11,200 Starpoints)

Scenario 3-7 (Flights between 1,243-2,000 miles):
Chicago-Los Angeles, Hong Kong-Singapore.
BA: Zone 3, 20,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 16,000 Starpoints or 20,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 7, 54,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 21,600 Starpoints)

Scenario 4-7 (Flights between 2,001-3,000 miles):
Los Angeles-Hawaii, New York-Costa Rica, London-Tel Aviv, New York-Los Angeles, Miami-Los Angeles
BA: Zone 4, 25,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 20,000 Starpoints or 25,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 7, 54,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 21,600 Starpoints)

Scenario 5-7 (Flights between 3,001-3,106 miles):
London-Lagos
BA: Zone 5, 40,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 32,000 Starpoints or 40,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 7, 54,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 21,600 Starpoints)

Scenario 5-8 (Flights between 3,107-4,000 miles):
Dallas-Hawaii, New York-London
BA: Zone 5, 40,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 32,000 Starpoints or 40,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 8, 100,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 40,000 Starpoints)

Scenario 6-8 (Flights between 4,001-5,500 miles):
London-Johannesburg
BA: Zone 6, 50,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 40,000 Starpoints or 50,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 8, 100,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 40,000 Starpoints)

Scenario 7-8 (Flights between 5,501-6,213 miles):
New York-Amman
BA: Zone 7, 60,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 48,000 Starpoints or 60,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 8, 100,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 40,000 Starpoints)

Scenario 7-9 (Flights between 6,214-6,500 miles):
Vancouver-Hong Kong
BA: Zone 7, 60,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 48,000 Starpoints or 60,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 9, 140,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 56,000 Starpoints)

Scenario 8-9 (Flights between 6,501-7,000 miles):
S. Francisco-Hong Kong
(Exception: Other flights from North America to Hong Kong that should fall into scenario 9.9 are actually being priced by BA as zone 8 flights, these include flights to/from Hong Kong and Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto)
BA: Zone 8, 70,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 56,000 Starpoints or 70,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 9, 140,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 56,000 Starpoints)

Scenario 9-9 (Flights between 7,001-9,320 miles):
Los Angeles-Sydney, Chicago-Delhi
BA: Zone 9, 100,000 miles round-trip. (Approximately 80,000 Starpoints or 100,000 MR/UR points)
LAN: Zone 9, 140,000 kilometers round-trip. (Approximately 56,000 Starpoints)