1 Flight, 6 Different Ways to Book with Miles

Almost every traveler dipping their toe into the world of redeeming points and miles has some kind of “light bulb” moment: Suddenly, something clicks. You begin to see just how valuable points and miles can be – and that they can truly be worth all the effort, frustration, and complication.

For me, for many on our team, and I suspect for some of you, that “aha!” moment comes down to the power of airline alliances and partnerships. 

You start to see that American AAdvantage miles aren’t just good for booking AA-operated flights but Japan Airlines flights to Tokyo or Qatar Airways to the Middle East. And that, by utilizing the best of these workarounds, you can book the exact same flights for a fraction of the miles. 

Anyway, this is all on my mind because of what was easily the most absurd example of just how much you can save by using the right airline partner to book … and how much it’d have cost me using the wrong one. 

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My wife and I just got back from Southeast Asia, where we needed a one-way flight from Hong Kong (HKG) to Bangkok (BKK). Cathay Pacific flies that route, but cash prices weren’t pretty, even in economy, so down the rabbit hole I went, searching for the best to book it with miles.

Cathay’s in the Oneworld alliance, so there’s practically a dozen different options to book. Based upon which airlines are transfer partners with the big banks like Chase or Amex – meaning I can easily get the miles I’d need – that list narrows down to a half-dozen or so.

So I searched and searched and searched and searched again for the exact same Hong Kong-to-Bangkok early morning flight to see which option would work best. And not just based on the award rate, but the taxes and fees, too.

Let’s rank them from worst to first, shall we? 

• Qantas was charging a reasonable 16,100 miles … as well as $755 (!!!) in taxes and fees.
• Finnair went the opposite way: 35,000 Avios but just $97 in taxes
• American Airlines was promising: 17,500 AAdvantage miles and $47
• Not bad, British Airways: 13,500 Avios and $97 in taxes and fees
• Cathay’s own Asia Miles program could have booked for 9,000 miles and $102
• Better yet, Alaska was charging 7,500 points and $60
• And my final choice: 9,000 Avios and just $48 in taxes and fees by booking through Qatar Airways

Again: All those different rates and surcharges for the exact same flight! That is a wild amount of variability (and savings). There were even more options I didn’t list here!

So what’s the lesson (besides never booking Cathay flights with Qantas miles, of course)?

The takeaway for me is really just a reminder of how frustratingly valuable these partnerships and workarounds can really be – even for a short, two-hour flight in economy. And while this might be a laughably extreme example, there are savings out there for you, too.

You might just have to dig a little bit to find them.

This story originally appeared in our free daily newsletter, The Extra Mile – sign up now to get stories you won’t see here, exclusive deals, and more in your inbox every weekday!