How do I book flights with miles?
39% God Save the Points
29% Your Mileage May Vary
16% Miles for Family
16% Other
Booking flights with miles involves using your frequent flyer account to reserve award tickets on your airline or its partners. The process varies slightly by program, but the core steps remain consistent. Your Mileage May Vary +6
Choose Your Frequent Flyer Program
- If you have miles with Delta, use the Delta website to book award flights on Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, or other partners.
- For United or Star Alliance members, log in to your account and use the “Star Alliance Award Ticket” option to book with miles. 🔗
- Turkish Airlines members can book via the “Award Ticket – Buy a Ticket with Miles” option on their site.🔗
Search and Book
- Use the airline’s award search tool to find available flights. For flexible dates, use calendar views to compare prices.
- If booking with a partner airline, ensure you’re logged into the correct program where your miles are held. 🔗
- For some partners (e.g., Etihad, Virgin Atlantic), you may need to call the airline directly after securing space.🔗
Complete the Booking
- Confirm seat selection, baggage, and change fees before finalizing.
- Pay only the applicable taxes and fees—miles are used as the primary payment.
- Always check your email for a confirmation with the booking code.🔗
Transfer Miles (If Needed)
- If your miles aren’t in the right program, transfer them via a transfer partner (e.g., Amex to Aeroplan, Capital One to Flying Blue).
- Note: Transfers may take minutes and are often instant.🔗
Important Notes
- You won’t earn miles on award tickets, even if you upgrade.
- Always book through the airline where your miles are held, not the one you’re flying on.
Your Mileage May Vary 29%
Partner Award Flight Confusion? The Playbook for Booking, Seats, Baggage & Changes
Using your miles to book airline tickets seems like a straightforward process. You earn miles and then redeem miles, a process points and miles people call “earn and burn.” Hopefully, you’ve learned that by taking advantage of airline alliances and partnerships, you can redeem miles for flights on airlines other than the one you earned them from. In other words, you can book flights on Lufthansa with United MileagePlus miles or fly on Cathay Pacific by redeeming American AAdvantage miles. This knowledge opens up an entire world of possibilities. One part of this process that most confuses people new
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Turkish Airlines ‘Miles & Smiles’ Points Sweet Spots
You’re fully excused if the loyalty program fo Turkish Airlines, known as ‘Miles & Smiles’ has eluded you. It’s not a first linear thought for most US based travelers, or many in Europe and elsewhere, either. With that said, you might want to make yourself more aware. It’s a gem of a loyalty program, with some real value left to be had, like 45,000 points for a long-haul one way business class flight between the US and Europe. As the program gains credit card transfer partners, it’s only getting easier to take part. Here are a few sweet
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Tutorial: How to book an award flight on Air France/KLM
Earlier this week, I mentioned that I saw some good award space for next summer using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles. A few readers reached out to me and asked how to book these flights before the Capital One 20% transfer bonus ends on July 31. For most people, especially newbies to the miles and points hobby, Air France and KLM are not sites we use frequently, and they can be a bit quirky. If you’re someone who is new to booking with Air France/KLM, read on. Step 1: Create your own Flying Blue account. It’s free. **Step
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How Do Frequent Flyer Miles Work?
I first started paying attention to the world of miles and points back in 2013. I had an upcoming family reunion scheduled for Lake Tahoe in the Summer of 2014, and I knew that 8 cross-country plane tickets were going to cost at least $3000. I had heard of miles, points and frequent flyer miles before, but that trip was the impetus for me to get serious about it. I opened a few credit cards, and used the signup bonuses to accrue 140,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points to get a free flight for my family of 8 to Lake Tahoe
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New 25-50% OFF Discounts Using Miles In Business Class + Economy With Air France + KLM “Flying Blue” …
Using miles for a “free” ticket is already a cunning deal, especially when you can secure business class for peanuts. Taking 25-50% off the miles you actually need to get the job done in the first place? That’s worth popping some champagne on the ground before you even jet off! Air France + KLM’s “Flying Blue” frequent flyer program continue to offer one of the best values in travel, and you can even create their useful miles instantly using quite a few different types of credit card points, yep, even if you’ve never flown… Each month, on the
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Do I Still Earn Miles – If I Use Them To Book My Flight?
There’s something very emotional about cashing in a whole bunch of miles. They take so long to collect, yet only seconds to spend. Unless of course, you live in a country where you can earn 60,000 of them almost instantly, for buying a latte. Whatever pace you earn em’ – there’s just the one question on peoples minds as they cash in: will I at least earn some miles back on the flights I’ve just booked? The answer for most people is NO if we’re talking airline miles, sometimes with credit card points – but there are exceptions. If
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Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Sweet Spots [19k Miles to Europe and More]
Turkish Airlines is the best airline in Europe based on Skytrax Ratings. It also has flights from India (Delhi & Mumbai) to Istanbul, with further connecting flights to other parts of the world, especially Europe. Even Indigo uses Turkish Airlines to connect Indian travellers to Europe with the help of their codeshare agreement. But there is so much more. You can use your Turkish Airlines Miles to fly to Europe, Canada, the USA, and the Western world. Here’s how to find the sweet spot with Turkish Airlines Miles from India. Developing Story: Turkish Airlines have published new award
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Award Alert: Business Class for 4 To Europe, 55,000 Points Per Person
On Straight To The Points, I share great business and first class award flight opportunities via my private Award Alerts newsletter. Today, I wanted to share my most recent alert with the God Save The Points audience as we know business class to/from Europe is very popular. To receive alerts about premium cabin award space for 4+ people, make sure you sign up for Award Alerts. Right now, these alerts are focused on awards to/from the U.S. and Canada. Now, let’s get into it! Here’s a fun one for those looking for a great way
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Award Alert: ANA First Class For 2 From 110K Miles Round-Trip Per Person
On Straight To The Points, I share great opportunities to book business and first class flights with miles and points via my private Award Alerts newsletter. To receive alerts about premium cabin award flights for 2, 4 or even more people that you can book with miles, make sure you sign up for Award Alerts. Right now, these alerts are focused on awards to/from the U.S. and Canada. Now, let’s get into it! First, a big thank you to everyone who has joined the newsletter. We crossed the 5,000 subscriber mark the other day and continue