I know what you’re thinking.
You’re thinking that using your American miles to fly on American was darn near impossible. You’re thinking there are no darn opportunities to use your United Miles. And you’re thinking Delta is darn expensive.
That’s a lot of darn thinking when it could be nrad thinking (that’s darn backwards).
We should know. FCF has been exhaustively scanning the big three U.S. airlines for opportunities for travel to Asia, Europe, Hawaii and South America.
And while they’re hard to spot, we can confidently say we’ve found some offerings you weren’t expecting.
Perception Buster Cluster# 1: AMERICAN Airlines
Summary of Near-Term American Free Award Ticket Opportunities:
To Europe: From Philadelphia to Budapest, Manchester and Shannon over the next three months in Business Class.
To Hawaii: Plus, from Los Angeles to Kauai and Honolulu, and Phoenix to Honolulu.
To South America: And even from Miami to Brasilia and Montevideo.
Say Where?
Budapest: The “Paris of the East,” Budapest is one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. Bisected by the Danube, Hungary’s capital is simply a bucket list must.
Manchester: Two hours north of London by train, experience a little northern hospitality in a city resplendent with Cathedrals, museums, squares and… soccer (they’re crazy about it).
Shannon: Home to 15th Century Bunratty Castle, Shannon resides in a picture-book part of Ireland with beautiful green surrounds dotted by whimsical medieval towns.
Montevideo: Overlooking a beautiful bay, Uruguay’s capital city is a laid back affair with great food and wine. Get your bearings with a walk along the coastal “Rambla”, the world’s longest continuous sidewalk.
Brasilia: Brazil’s “utopian” capital city is aesthetically distinctive, with many of its modernist buildings designed by famed Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.
Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking (again): “Budapest?! Manchester?! I’ve never remotely considered them as destinations to travel to. And Shannon? That’s the name of the kid who works at Starbucks down the road.”
I say: hold on.
We teach this all the time, and it works: you can use that long haul discounted premium flight as a “bridge” to the continent. It’s just a short, inexpensive leap to the place that’s really on your bucket list (although we’d still recommend spending some time in the bridge destination cities).
Also, when using American miles you can add on (for free) your home departure city to get to the U.S. departure gateway. This also works for onward travel in Europe on AA partners such as British Airways, Finnair and Iberia. It’s just like skipping stones where the first and last skips are free. More here:
Great Space, Snap Frozen
So how can you snag these deals? As always, we advocate that you are always ready to pull the trigger when a deal comes your way, but if you need a little more time to get your ducks in a row, American also lets you “snap freeze” free award space for five days. That can be a deal maker, because so often award space availability is like a shooting star. It looks amazing, but WHOOSH, then it’s gone. For American tickets booked 15 or more days in advance and online, AA usually holds free award space for five days.
Perception Buster Cluster #2: United Airlines
Summary Of Near-Term United Free Award Ticket Opportunities:
To Europe: From Washington, DC to Brussels and Chicago to Paris over the next three months in Business Class.
To South America: From Houston to Buenos Aires and Santiago, Newark to Buenos Aires, and Chicago to Sao Paulo over the next three months in Business Class.
United Snap Freezes Too
United offers the “Fare Lock” option, which, for a small fee, gives you a hold-time of three or seven days on United flights only, not partner flights. A three-day hold costs $9.99 and a seven-day hold $14.99. The price of a cheap lunch–can you beat it?
Perception Buster Cluster# 3: Virgin Miles & Delta Flights
With No Deals to Be Had With Delta SkyMiles, Here’s How to Fly the Airline:
Keen readers will know we’re very hot on using Virgin Atlantic miles (get them easy with Amex and Chase points transfers) for Delta flights because they open up low-cost award space not offered by Delta.
To Europe: From Boston and New York to London 90,000 Virgin miles round-trip.
To Asia: From Seattle to Beijing, and from Detroit to Nagoya or Beijing for 120,000 Virgin miles round-trip.