Economy Sweet Spots Within United States

November 18, 2024 by Worldly Express

Welcome to my first blog! The number one thing people ask me on how to use miles is how they can travel to see family within the United States. This guide will be specifically for economy, to get from point A to point B the cheapest. So grab onto your hats because we have some delving to do.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

The best sweet spot hands down within short to medium distances is Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. Mileage plan has the best short distance award chart PERIOD.

Between 0-1400 miles, Alaska Airlines clock in at or less than 7,500 miles. For their own metal, their taxes and fees comes in at the $5.60 the TSA charges per passenger. If miles are set equal to 1 cent per point, this means that for flights up to 700 miles, they cost $55.60 one way. Between 701 and 1400 miles, it will be $80.60 one way. In a lot of cases, this will represent fantastic value, even comparable to budget airline flights. What's more, Alaska Airlines doesn't charge a change fees when changing or cancelling award tickets on their own metal.

Now, you might be thinking, "Hey, I don't live on the west coast so I don't fly on Alaska Airlines." The good news is that Alaska Airlines is a part of the Oneworld Alliance, meaning that they are able to book American Airline flights.

This is a fantastic deal, even with the partner award fee for American Airlines coming in at $12.50. Doing the same calculations, the flights under 700 miles comes to $57.50 and flights between 701 and 1400 miles cost $87.50. There is no change fee if you change flights with the same operating carrier. Unfortunately, the partner booking fee is unrefundable if you do decide to change your ticket.

Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles

The next up is a Star Alliance power house, Turkish Airlines. Despite getting devalued recently, the award chart within the United States still pose a great value.

Any award within the United States cost 10,000 miles plus $5.60 in TSA fees. By in the United States, I mean IN the United States. This means from East coast to Hawaii and Alaska all for the cost of 10,000 miles and $5.60. Now, again, you might be thinking, well Turkish Airlines doesn't fly within the United States. Fortunately, United Airlines do. These awards apply to United Airlines. When calculating total cost with 1 cent equal to 1 mile, this comes up to $105.6 one way. Name a time you could fly from New York to Hawaii for this price. I can't think of one.

Now, a cautionary tale. United has been real stingy with award availability to partners recently so it may be harder and harder to find seats. Turkish Airlines also doesn't have the best award change policies or customer service so proceed with caution.

Other Options

The above 2 programs represent the absolute best ways to get good value on domestic redemptions. However, Alaska is not a transfer partner to the major bank currrencies and Turkish Airlines is only a transfer partner of Citi Thank You Points and Capital Miles. Furthermore, sometimes a route is only served by one of the big 3 airlines, like Delta, which neither programs cover. I will list some alternative programs below that still allow you to use points on domestic redemptions.

Delta: Air France Flying Blue can be used for Delta redemptions.

United: In general, Air Canada's Aeroplan for short distances and Avianca Lifemiles for longer distances.

American and Alaska: British Airways Avios (able to be transferred 1 to 1 from any avios program). Ok for short distance flights.

JetBlue: Qatar Airways Avios (able to be transferred 1 to 1 from any avios program). Could represent ok value for short distances.