What’s the easiest way to book flights with miles?
20% FrequentMiler
20% Boarding Area
60% Other
Booking award flights is simplest when you use a frequent‑flyer program that lets you both earn and redeem miles directly on the airline you want to fly, without extra transfers or complicated partner rules.
Tips for the easiest mileage bookings
Pick a primary partner that’s a direct codeshare partner of the carrier you’ll fly.
For example, Qantas Frequent Flyer is a codeshare partner of Air Niugini, letting you earn and redeem Qantas miles on Air Niugini flights with a straightforward distance‑based award chart Miles to Memories .Choose programs known for a user‑friendly online interface.
Flying Blue (Air France–KLM) is highlighted as one of the most user‑friendly platforms, offering a simple redemption site and frequent “Promo Rewards” that lower mileage costs Boarding Area .Don’t assume foreign programs are harder than U.S. ones.
Many foreign carriers are “not significantly more complex” than domestic programs, so you can often book award tickets as easily as with U.S. airlines FrequentMiler .Use the airline’s own website or its alliance partner’s site to search and book.
Booking directly through the program’s website (e.g., aa.com for American Airlines miles, or the Qantas site for Qantas miles) avoids extra steps and keeps the process smooth Points with a Crew .
Following these steps—selecting a direct partner, using a platform with a clean online booking tool, and treating foreign programs like domestic ones—makes mileage redemptions as easy as possible.
The easy foreign airline frequent flyer programs you should be using
On Monday, I published a post arguing that a popular transferable currency is relying too much on a single domestic hotel transfer partner. In the spirited response in the comments, a few people mentioned valuing familiar domestic frequent flyer miles over foreign programs. It was implied by some that domestic programs like United MileagePlus are easy to use and that foreign programs involve difficult hoops to jump through. While there certainly are some foreign carriers that make redemptions particularly challenging (which I’d argue isn’t always a bad thing as the sweet spots that require more effort are often more available!),
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