Travel Miles 101 Roundup – Week Ending 10/30/15

Our mission with Travel Miles 101 is to make the world of earning and redeeming travel rewards points simpler and more accessible for regular people.  We know you don’t have hours to pore over the hundreds of new articles published every day, so this post starts a weekly feature where we curate the essential information for you to consume in one place.

Travel Miles 101 is a collaborative effort and a true community, so if you have news or links that you feel should be included, please comment below and post the link!

Important News:

British Airways Ending 4,500 Avios Redemptions:

British Airways announced that as of February 2, 2016 the cost for one-way award flights that were previously 4,500 Avios (under 650 miles in one-way distance) would be increased to 7,500 Avios for award travel “originating or terminating in the United States of America” on American Airlines & Alaska Airlines.  For more details, see BA’s official post:

http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/executive-club/spending-avios/north-america-reward-flights

This ‘sweet spot’ redemption was always too good to last indefinitely, so it isn’t a huge surprise.  They haven’t announced any other changes which is a positive and you still have 3+ months to book these flights at 4,500 Avios.

New Aer Lingus Routes:

In other Avios-related news, Aer Lingus announced three new routes to the US and you can use your BA Avios to fly on these routes without the huge ‘fuel surcharges’ you’d pay on BA flights (and most other partners excluding Air Berlin):

Aer Lingus will expand to fly non-stop flights between Dublin and:

• Hartford (starting September 2016)
• Los Angeles (starting May 2016)
• Newark (starting September 2016)

Southwest opens their schedule through June 3, 2016:

Unlike most airlines, Southwest Airlines only opens their flight schedule roughly 6 months in advance, so it is big news when they extend the schedule at Southwest.com.  You can now book flights through 6/3/16.

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Essential Reading:

The most informative articles we came across this week:

• The Points Guy: European Destinations with the Best Award Availability
• Travel is Free: 8 Best uses of AA [American AAdvantage] Miles
• Million Mile Secrets: Can you Share AMEX Membership Rewards & Citi ThankYou Points With Your Spouse?
• Milevalue: Which Airline Gift Cards Are Reimbursed By American Express Platinum $200 Fee Credit
• Milevalue: United Three One Ways Awards – A great look at how to maximize the “free stopover” United allows on round-trip award flights with what Scott is referring to as “three one ways.”
• Milevalue: Anatomy of an Award: Island Hopper, Palau, and Philippines for 47,500 United Miles – A nice look at how to maximize United miles to “hop” across a region (Drew from Travel is Free has a series of brilliant articles on hop to hop with miles including this one we dug up on The Pacific Hopper)
• One Mile at a Time: Getting Creative When Award Space isn’t Available and Redeeming Miles to Hawaii Can Be Tough – These articles give you a feel for the flexibility and creativity you need to employ to redeem miles when it seems like award space just isn’t available.  Very important to cultivate this mindset!