Before You Book That Award Ticket, Be Sure To Shop Around; How I Booked My Flight To NYC Last Week

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Related post: Master Chart: Here Are The Best Ways To Book Every American Or Alaska Award Flight Within The US And Canada!

Earlier this week I wrote about my experience flying from NYC to Cleveland and watching a pair of gate agents argue with a pair of flight attendants and a mother flying with her infant, over her Doona.

I booked that Sunday-Monday trip 2 days beforehand.

I love using miles for aspirational trips, as that’s where the best value can be had for trips that you could otherwise not afford. We have used miles to fly in first class to 6 continents (well, 7 if you count the flight to a boat) and treasure those memories.

But you can also get great value out of your miles domestically.

For example, the cheapest last minute flight from Cleveland to NYC that Sunday was $400, or over $500 for a flight leaving after I could catch a Shacharis at home:

And the return flight was similarly priced as well:

So, of course. I looked at my mileage options.

You can do quick math to figure out the bank points needed, without having to open those sites. With a Sapphire Reserve you’ll get a value of 1.5 cents per point and with an AMEX Business Platinum Card you’ll get a value of 1.54 cents per point after the 35% points rebate. Divide the cost of a $950 round-trip flight by 1.5 to see that it would cost around 63K bank points for those flights.

What about airline miles?

American wanted 24,000 miles for a flight that would get me to NYC in time for the L’chaim:

Delta wanted 22.5K miles for an early-morning flight, or 50K miles for a flight at a reasonable time:

United wanted 15K miles, or 16.7K miles for a flight at a reasonable time:

Or 13.5K United miles for Club cardholders:

Of course, anyone mileage savvy knows that you also have to look at partner airlines.

Skyteam carriers Virgin Atlantic and Air France Flying Blue have Delta flights between Cleveland and NYC for just 7.5K miles or 5.5K miles respectively, however Delta blocks all domestic partner award space within 3 weeks of the flight.

I confirmed that was still the case on the Virgin site and ruled out Delta:

Star Alliance carrier Air Canada charges just 6,000 miles+$34 to fly on United, but United only releases a limited subset of flights to partners, so the only option there was for a 6am flight.

Same goes for Lifemiles at 6.5K miles+$15.

OneWorld carrier BA had the AA flights available in first class for 24K Avios+$5.60. That’s certainly better than 24K in coach with AA miles, especially considering that it’s much easier to obtain Avios from bank point transfers and that there are often 30% transfer bonuses.

Qatar would be able to book this for 20K Avios+$10, but would have to be booked over the phone.

Qantas would be able to book this for 18.4K Miles.

And finally, there’s Alaska. In a few days from now, you’ll be able to transfer AMEX points to Hawaiian and from Hawaiian to Alaska at a 1:1 ratio.

They wanted just 9K miles+$19 in first class, so this was an easy choice:

For the return flight, AA wanted just 8.5K or 9.5K miles:

United wanted 15K miles:

Or 13.5K United miles for Club cardholders:

BA wanted 12K Avios, though Qatar would have been 9.5K Avios over the phone, Qantas would have been 8K miles, and Etihad would have been 6,043 miles:

Air Canada was just 6K miles, but only had the 8:29pm flight available:

And Alaska wanted just 4.5K miles for coach:

Thanks to AA status, I booked AA4366 for 4.5K miles, got upgraded to first class, and even had an empty seat next to me. And thus began the showdown at the gate.

What are your favorite uses of miles?