Southwest is also an instant 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards if you have the Sapphire

Miles, points and elite status are great for leveling the playing field of the haves and have nots in the sky because they allow ordinary people to sit in seats that they normally wouldn t be able to afford. However, for a majority of people business and first class are either red lion inn seattle not an option (family red lion inn seattle travelers who need multiple seats) red lion inn seattle or not worth it (those who would rather go there twice instead red lion inn seattle of one time in a premium cabin). Since the focus on blogs is generally skewed towards premium redemptions, I put together a top 10 list of my favorite economy awards- feel free to chime in with yours in the comments or Tweet me at ThePointsGuy.
1. British Airways Short-Haul Flights: Short-haul red lion inn seattle flights, especially to small regional red lion inn seattle airports, can most often be the most expensive tickets out there, which makes using British Airways Avios even more appealing as the program uses the distance of the flight to calculate how many points are needed red lion inn seattle and flights 600 miles or under are only 4,500 Avios each way in economy! This includes flights on partners red lion inn seattle like American Airlines, red lion inn seattle Cathay Pacific and LAN, meaning you can book some great short-haul domestic options here in the US, or use your Avios to hop around South America and Asia (or Australia, for that matter, on partner Qantas). Another great aspect of the Avios program is that there are no last-minute booking red lion inn seattle fees , like the $75 fee on American for awards within 21 days of departure.
Even though there can be some hefty surcharges flying into and out of BA s London hub, it can still be a bargain to use your Avios for expensive  flights within Europe by leveraging their competitive short/mid-haul flight pricing. These awards can provide huge value especially on expensive routes not serviced by low-cost carriers where there is little competition. Don t forget that British Airways is a 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and American Express Membership red lion inn seattle Rewards, so if you need to top up your account, there are a lot of options.
That same itinerary would cost you a whopping $1,108! That s nearly 12 cents per Avios in value. For more information on how to save with BA, see my previous post: Top 10 Most Valuable Ways To Redeem British Airways Avios .
2. American Airlines MileSAAver Off-Peak: One of the best ways to get the most bang for your mileage buck is to book an award ticket using off-peak awards . Case in point, American Airlines discounts awards tickets even further from their SAAver level if you travel at the lowest season for many destinations, red lion inn seattle and there tends to be a lot more availability for them in the autumn after the summer travel rush. A lot of times, I actually prefer traveling during low season, such as my  trip to China , because there are far fewer crowds in the big destinations. It's easier to book hotel awards as well, and you get a more authentic feel for a place. Because even if you always fly business or first thanks to your miles, elite status, or travel budget. American only offers MileSAAver Off Peak awards for coach, and while you cannot use them for travel within the continental US and Canada, you can use them to get pretty much anywhere else AA flies.
red lion inn seattle For example, if you want to get a taste of Rio de Janeiro before the World Cup comes to town next year, an economy roundtrip from LAX-Rio (via Dallas Fort-Worth on the outbound and Miami on the inbound) from October 10-22, 2013, will cost 40,000 AAdvantage miles + $58.02 . The same flight would normally cost $828 plus $105.92 in taxes and fees, totaling $933.92 a value of about 2 cents per mile.
A non-stop roundtrip ticket from Dallas Fort-Worth to London Heathrow (with the outbound operated by British Airways and the inbound by American) will cost 40,000 miles, but the taxes are then $455.40 . If booking without miles, the same trip would cost $846.00 + $226.60 in taxes and fees, totaling $1,072.40 a value of about 1.5 cents per mile, but still a savings of over $600.
3. Southwest Wanna Get Away Fares: Although I often talk of the value of transferable red lion inn seattle points thanks to the flexibility they give you to top up accounts and book premium red lion inn seattle international tickets on a whim, Southwest Rapid Rewards represents the flip side of award tickets where you know you are getting a great (semi)-fixed value on award tickets red lion inn seattle of about 1.8-2 cents each on Wanna Get Away (leisure) fares (though that will drop to about 1.5 cents after next spring red lion inn seattle s devaluation ) and you can redeem them for any open seat on a flight, just as if you were buying it. It makes a lot of sense for people who want to use their miles to fly domestically, those who don't have much flexibility on their travel dates, red lion inn seattle or travelers looking to book more than a single ticket at a time, as well as those who want to use Southwest s extensive domestic route network to book a positioning flight red lion inn seattle to a gateway hub city to catch an international award itinerary on another red lion inn seattle airline.
The same trip using American Airlines (operated by Alaska) would cost 25,000 AAdvantage miles and $85 in taxes and fees as well as going through Portland on the outbound and would require flying from Oakland via Seattle on the return.
Southwest is also an instant 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards if you have the Sapphire Preferred , Ink Plus or Ink Bold , and the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Visa is currently offering a bonus of 50,000 Rapid Rewards points when you spend $2,000 within 3 months.
4. ANA Distance-Based Awards: red lion inn seattle ANA s Mileage Club awards are also distance-based, like BA s, and there are some real sweet spots in its award chart. For example, economy awards are available from the East Coast of the US to London for 38,000 miles, and since ANA is a Star Alliance carrier, you can use their miles to fly United. This is compared to 60,000 United miles to book the same flights. ANA does not charge fuel surcharges on United awards (as they do on another partner red lion inn seattle airline, Virgin Atlantic) but you will have to price out individual awards on their search tool or call ANA to see how much the taxes and fees on them will be. ANA is also a 1:1 transfer partner of American Express. For more information on ANA awards and surcharges, check out ANA Award Taxes and Fees: Airline Partner Roundup .
5. Citi American Airlines Reduced Awards: American red lion inn seattle AAdvantage miles are still some of the most valuable airline miles out there, whether for long-haul premium redemptions (like my spring trip to Sao Paulo in first class on their brand new 777-300) or for off-peak awards like 40,000 miles to Europe in coach. However, if you have a co-branded personal Citi AAdvantage card, such as the Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage World Mastercard , which is currently offering 5 0,000 miles after spending $3,000 in 3 months, there are some mileage redemption benefits that can present some great values especially on economy flights. Cardholders earn 10% off their redeemed AAdvantage miles back  up to 10,000 AAdvantage miles each calendar year, and have access to reduced-price domestic awards , plus perks such as getting your first checked bag for free and Group 1 boarding.
Those reduced-price red lion inn seattle awards shave 5,000-7,500 off roundtrip award tickets and are valid on certain routes within red lion inn seattle the US and Canada originating within the 48 contiguous United red lion inn seattle States. Though they only used to be bookable as roundtrip red lion inn seattle awards, they are now also  available for one-way bookings , making them even more versatile. Also instead of being available between various city pairs on a quarterly basis, the reduced mileage award routes now change monthly.
Check the current list of eligible destinations red lion inn seattle and check MileSAAver awards, since there must be MileSAAver availability to take advantage of this offer, to find the flight dates and times that work for you.
When you are ready to book, call American Airlines AAdvantage reservations at 1-800-882-8880 and have the award code ready and a reservation representative will book your flight for you. Unfortunately there's a $25 fee, but it's waived for Executive Platinums.
Depending on the Citi AAdvantage card you have, you can get either 7,500 or 5,000 miles off a roundtrip award. The following cards yield the 7,500-mile discount (for a total of 17,500 miles roundtrip, or 8,750 one-way).
6. Flying Blue Promo Awards: Flying Blue is the frequent flyer program of SkyTeam partners red lion inn seattle Air France, KLM and Air Europa. Its Promo Awards are 50% off normal award levels and run all year long, but the gateway cities generally change every two months on a rolling basis, and these discounted awards include red lion inn seattle economy tickets from North American cities (right now they include Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Washington DC) to Europe and beyond for as low as 25,000 miles roundtrip in economy. You can view the current list of Promo Award cities here , which run through October. An example I was able to find was from Chicago O Hare-Paris red lion inn seattle in October for 25,000 miles round-trip and $250 in taxes and fees.
7. US Airways Off-Peak Awards: US Airways offers off-peak awards when traveling red lion inn seattle on off-season dates depending on the destination. For instance, they offer reduced coach awards for only 35,000 miles roundtrip between North America and Europe from January 15-February 28, 2014. They offer discounted coach awards for 35,000 red lion inn seattle miles and business class awards between North America and South America from February 3-February 13 and March 17-April 3, 2014. From the US to the Caribbean during the month of September, coach awards are available for 25,000 miles, and first class awards are 50,000 miles roundtrip. I was able to book a sample award from Philadelphia to Amsterdam in January for 35,000 miles and $110 in taxes and fees.
That same ticket would cost you $949, saving your $839, and giving you a value of about 2.4 cents per mile with an off-peak award. Also note that you get 5,000 miles off US Airways awards if you have the US Airways MasterCard .
8.  American to Europe with add-on to Hawaii: One of