I love to fly. Explore. Discover. You’re probably reading this forum because you do as well.
I had detailed in the past on how to make the most of your flying experience, and generally speaking it works. I virtually always end up with an exit row seat, next to an unoccupied seat, or if I’m feeling dashing and a bit devious I’ll cause some sort of seat malfunction so I can change my seat to a better one.
Despite all this wonderful advice, there is nothing quite like flying first class or business class on a trans-continental route. No amount of game will get you a full beginning to end first class or business class experience unless you pay for it.
But do a quick search on Kayak, and you’ll quickly realize that you can buy a small car for the price of a ten hour flight in a premium cabin.
So how have I figured out how to fly in business and first class cabins on two round trips in the past year for a fraction of the cost?
I will provide you with practical, easy to follow actionable advice that can turn a major transcontinental flight into a truly world class experience.
One note: This advice is what works for me. I will agree there are much more complex ways to do the same things I do, paying even less for tickets. However, I feel comfortable with my ROI on the price I pay for flights and time I spend researching/acquiring miles.
The simple goal is to accumulate significant amounts of airline miles to subsequently use to book ‘award tickets’ on a specific airline or one of its partners.
Each airline and alliance has their own set of specific rules for booking awards tickets, which in some cases creates a huge opportunity to fly in a first class or business class cabin for mere pennies on the dollar.
The absolute key to executing this is to identify the route(s) you plan to fly and diligently research what airline/alliance provides the best value for using miles.
If you cannot execute this step effectively, which requires ~8-10 hours of research for a novice, then this is probably not for you.
I’ll provide you with an example of how I decided whose miles I should accumulate and later how I went about accumulating a significant amount of those miles in a very short amount of time:
I’ve recently accepted a job working in an Asian city that does not have direct service from the Eastern US. This job will require moderate regional travel, oftentimes to Hong Kong. Additionally, I will likely fly 4-6x a year round trip trans-pacifically.
I asked myself:
1. What airlines have service at both my US airport and my Asia airport? I certainly don’t want to fly multiple airlines because my miles will not go as far or have unnecessary connections.
I identified Cathay Pacific, Qatar Air, Aeroflot, All Nippon Air, Asiana, EVA, Finnair, Japan Air, Korean Air, Singapore Air, and Delta.
2. What airlines fly the long way to Asia(through Europe)? I don’t want to spend 35 hours flying.
I can eliminate Qatar, Aeroflot, Finnair, and Singapore as a result.
3. What airline/alliance has the best mileage redemption rates for my desired trip(s)?
This certainly took me the longest time because I searched every airline’s mileage chart in addition to their ‘alliance mileage chart’(a chart that shows you how many miles you need to book an awards flight on one of that airline’s alliance partners).
I can quickly eliminate any SkyTeam airlines, because booking SkyTeam rewards is notoriously difficult with many blackout dates. Moreover, they offer a terrible redemption value. Goodbye to Delta and Korean.
I’m now left with Cathay Pacific, All Nippon, EVA and Japan air.
All Nippon, Asiana, and EVA are part of the Star Alliance. JAL and CX are part of Oneworld.
Understanding this I went to look at the rewards chart for travel to South Asia for Star and Oneworld.
A quick glance will indicate that flying business/first class to Asia from North America is significantly fewer miles on Oneworld than it is on Star.
My decision is now easy. My goal is to accumulate as many miles as possible for an airline that partners with Oneworld. Since miles can be booked across one alliance, all I have to do is now accumulate miles for an airline within Oneworld. For example, I can accumulate American Airlines miles but still book with Cathay Pacific, Qantas, British Airways, Japan Airways, and many other airlines using those same AA miles.
In a future post I will detail what credit cards I’ve signed up for and how I accumulate miles in a way that fits my budget.
I had detailed in the past on how to make the most of your flying experience, and generally speaking it works. I virtually always end up with an exit row seat, next to an unoccupied seat, or if I’m feeling dashing and a bit devious I’ll cause some sort of seat malfunction so I can change my seat to a better one.
Despite all this wonderful advice, there is nothing quite like flying first class or business class on a trans-continental route. No amount of game will get you a full beginning to end first class or business class experience unless you pay for it.
But do a quick search on Kayak, and you’ll quickly realize that you can buy a small car for the price of a ten hour flight in a premium cabin.
So how have I figured out how to fly in business and first class cabins on two round trips in the past year for a fraction of the cost?
I will provide you with practical, easy to follow actionable advice that can turn a major transcontinental flight into a truly world class experience.
One note: This advice is what works for me. I will agree there are much more complex ways to do the same things I do, paying even less for tickets. However, I feel comfortable with my ROI on the price I pay for flights and time I spend researching/acquiring miles.
The simple goal is to accumulate significant amounts of airline miles to subsequently use to book ‘award tickets’ on a specific airline or one of its partners.
Each airline and alliance has their own set of specific rules for booking awards tickets, which in some cases creates a huge opportunity to fly in a first class or business class cabin for mere pennies on the dollar.
The absolute key to executing this is to identify the route(s) you plan to fly and diligently research what airline/alliance provides the best value for using miles.
If you cannot execute this step effectively, which requires ~8-10 hours of research for a novice, then this is probably not for you.
I’ll provide you with an example of how I decided whose miles I should accumulate and later how I went about accumulating a significant amount of those miles in a very short amount of time:
I’ve recently accepted a job working in an Asian city that does not have direct service from the Eastern US. This job will require moderate regional travel, oftentimes to Hong Kong. Additionally, I will likely fly 4-6x a year round trip trans-pacifically.
I asked myself:
1. What airlines have service at both my US airport and my Asia airport? I certainly don’t want to fly multiple airlines because my miles will not go as far or have unnecessary connections.
I identified Cathay Pacific, Qatar Air, Aeroflot, All Nippon Air, Asiana, EVA, Finnair, Japan Air, Korean Air, Singapore Air, and Delta.
2. What airlines fly the long way to Asia(through Europe)? I don’t want to spend 35 hours flying.
I can eliminate Qatar, Aeroflot, Finnair, and Singapore as a result.
3. What airline/alliance has the best mileage redemption rates for my desired trip(s)?
This certainly took me the longest time because I searched every airline’s mileage chart in addition to their ‘alliance mileage chart’(a chart that shows you how many miles you need to book an awards flight on one of that airline’s alliance partners).
I can quickly eliminate any SkyTeam airlines, because booking SkyTeam rewards is notoriously difficult with many blackout dates. Moreover, they offer a terrible redemption value. Goodbye to Delta and Korean.
I’m now left with Cathay Pacific, All Nippon, EVA and Japan air.
All Nippon, Asiana, and EVA are part of the Star Alliance. JAL and CX are part of Oneworld.
Understanding this I went to look at the rewards chart for travel to South Asia for Star and Oneworld.
A quick glance will indicate that flying business/first class to Asia from North America is significantly fewer miles on Oneworld than it is on Star.
My decision is now easy. My goal is to accumulate as many miles as possible for an airline that partners with Oneworld. Since miles can be booked across one alliance, all I have to do is now accumulate miles for an airline within Oneworld. For example, I can accumulate American Airlines miles but still book with Cathay Pacific, Qantas, British Airways, Japan Airways, and many other airlines using those same AA miles.
In a future post I will detail what credit cards I’ve signed up for and how I accumulate miles in a way that fits my budget.