what’s the easiest way to book award flights with miles?
20% Running with Miles
20% BaldThoughts
20% Point Me to the Plane
40% Other
Finding award seats and booking them can be streamlined by using a few online tools and following a simple sequence:
Quick‑step workflow
- Search on the airline where you hold the miles – Start with the carrier’s own website (or its alliance partner site) to see if award space is available. For SkyTeam use Flying Blue or Delta, for Oneworld use British Airways or American Airlines, and for Star Alliance use United or Aeroplan (see the alliance‑specific site list) God Save the Points .
- Use a mileage‑friendly search engine – Point.me lets you enter your origin, destination and mileage program, then shows all award options across every airline you have points with, making the “find‑and‑filter” step almost automatic BaldThoughts .
- Leverage OTAs for a broader view – Sites like Kayak or Google Flights can reveal all possible routings; although they don’t display award inventory, they help you spot routes you might not have considered and then you can check those on the airline’s site Running with Miles .
- If you prefer a hands‑off approach, try an award‑booking service – Companies such as Juicy Miles will do the searching and reservation for you, which is useful when you don’t want to spend time learning the quirks of each program Point Me to the Plane .
- Book through the program that holds the miles – Once you’ve identified a flight, complete the reservation on the airline (or its partner) where the miles are earned; you cannot book a partner flight on the carrier you’re actually flying unless you use the miles‑holder’s site or call them directly Your Mileage May Vary .
Following these steps—search with a mileage‑aware tool, verify on the carrier’s site, and then book through the miles‑holding program—generally provides the smoothest path to securing award tickets.
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Tuesday Tools and Tips: Using OTAs for Award Searching
Welcome back to our series called Tuesday Tools and Tips. This is a series to help the traveler and runner with various tools and tips that will help to make your training and traveling easier. If you have suggestions or questions that would apply to this weekly series, feel free to contact me and let me know and I will work it in! Booking award travel can be both a fun and frustrating experience at the same time. While it is great to have multiple programs to draw from with miles and points, it can also lead to confusion