Where to buy plus miles

Another option: Purchase a cash fare and save your points for the next flight. The standard purchase price for most airlines is quite high.

For example, both Delta and United sell miles starting at 3. And small purchases of American Airlines miles can cost nearly 4 cents per mile. Unless you urgently need miles, it makes sense to wait until the next bonus offering.

There are some exceptions—such as Etihad Guest. The Etihad Guest program offers excellent redemption rates on American Airlines, Royal Air Maroc and its eclectic mix of other partner airlines. The standard purchase rate for Etihad Guest miles is just 2 cents per mile. Like most other airlines, Etihad Guest offers periodic mileage sales that drop the purchase rate even lower.

Two cents per mile is a reasonable enough rate that you can still get value even when paying full price, depending on what redemption you have in mind. Many airlines offer a mileage boost option when you purchase or check-in for a flight. As with buying miles without a bonus, it rarely makes sense to buy miles this way. The airline is just trying to take advantage of the fact that you already have your credit card out to make a purchase. At the same time, AA is selling miles for as little as 1.

Meanwhile, United recently sold miles for as little as 1. Anyone who has needed to book a last-minute flight knows how expensive last-minute tickets can be. Airlines rely on business travelers buying last-minute tickets to generate a large portion of their revenue. While airlines try to maximize revenue from business travelers, airlines never want to leave empty seats on a flight.

So, although cash prices may be high, the airline may release award availability for more flexible travelers. You can take advantage of this situation by using miles when you need to book travel at the last minute.

For example, in April , I was in Los Angeles when I learned that my grandmother was suddenly admitted to the hospital.

However, American Airlines offered award flights for 20, miles. Thankfully, I had enough miles in my account to cover the cost of this award. But, AA consistently runs mileage sales, and purchased AAdvantage miles usually post to the account right away.

So, if you find yourself in a similar situation, you could top off your account with a purchase of miles and then redeem them right away for an award. As the coronavirus pandemic surged in March , I was one of many travelers that relied on miles to book last-minute one-way international flights to get home from overseas.

In this case, I was able to transfer points into my Virgin account from Citi ThankYou points to complete the booking. The other time that it can make sense to buy miles is for business and first class awards. By both utilizing a mileage sale and airline sweet spots, you can get an incredible experience for a more reasonable out-of-pocket cost. That reduces the purchase rate to as low as 1.

How far can , miles get you? Well, United charges just 60, miles for business class awards to Europe. That means you can buy enough miles to book a one way business class award to Europe for two people. American Airlines recently sold miles with a bonus. With , AAdvantage miles, you can book an award ticket on Japan Airlines in first class from the U. Japan Airlines offers a spectacular first class product, and it charges a hefty price to book it.

As we showed above, buying miles can sometimes make sense. The main alternatives include transferring points from a transferable currency or earning miles through a credit card.

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Sign-up Successful! Welcome to The Points Guy! He's been a miles and points fanatic since and previously wrote for Upgraded Points and Credit Karma. Outside of the travel world, Andrew is a cyclist, craft coffee aficionado and — despite now living in NYC — a Chicagoan at heart. LifeMiles improves Canadian award prices, makes awards more valuable. Carnival Cruise Line names new ship, reveals Texas homeport.

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