One of the most important discoveries for me was the idea of booking travel through airline partnerships. Different airlines have different methods of determining the amount of points needed for a flight. Because of this, certain airlines have sweet spots for points redemptions. A classic example is the Turkish Airlines sweet spot for domestic flights on United Airlines.
Turkish Airlines uses a region based award chart for determining point redemptions. That means that flights cost a fixed amount of points depending on the beginning and ending region(s) of the flight. For example, you can fly anywhere within the United States for 7,500 points in economy and 12,500 points in business class. This includes Alaska and Hawaii, which usually have higher points costs via other airlines.
There are many more examples of booking flights using a partner airline instead of the airline you are actually flying on. However, since there are many airlines that use dynamic pricing, you can’t know the exact point price unless you actually search for the specific flight you want. For that reason, understanding alliances and partnerships can help you search effectively for the best redemption.
Partnerships
Airline partnerships are relatively straightforward, but can look different depending on the specific airlines involved. Basically, two airlines come to some agreement allowing customers of the both airlines to have access to more flights. This allows you to book flights for one airline using cash or points, through another airline’s program. This also lets you book a flight with multiple segments that might have different airlines on each segment (assuming they’re partners).
I won’t go into all of the specific partnerships around, as there are too many to list, and they can change over time. So, the easiest way to find out is to look on a specific airline’s website for their partners. Keep in mind that some partnerships may not allow you to book flights using points, so make sure to check what’s possible, and even confirm with a search for a specific redemption you have in mind.
Alliances
Airline Alliances are similar to partnerships, except they include a large group of airlines all working together. This massively increases the amount of locations you can reach as well as the potential sweet spots for your points. There are 3 airline alliances: OneWorld, Star Alliance, and SkyTeam.
OneWorld Airlines
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Finnair
- Iberia
- Japan Airlines
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- Royal Jordanian
- Sri Lankan Airlines
Star Alliance Airlines
- Aegean Airlines
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air India
- Air New Zealand
- All Nippon Airways (ANA)
- Asiana Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Avianca
- Brussels Airlines
- Copa Airlines
- Croatia Airlines
- EgyptAir
- Ethiopian Airlines
- Eva Air
- Lot Polish Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Scandinavian Airlines
- Shenzhen Airlines
- Singapore Airlines
- South African Airways
- Swiss
- TAP Air Portugal
- Thai Airways
- Turkish Airlines
- United Airlines
SkyTeam Airlines
- Aerolineas Argentinas
- AeroMexico
- Air Europa
- Air France
- China Airlines
- China Eastern
- Czech Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Garuda Indonesia
- ITA Airways
- Kenya AIrways
- KLM
- Korean Air
- MEA (Middle East Airlines)
- SAUDIA
- TAROM
- Vietnam Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
- Xiamen Air
In short, if you want to book a flight on a specific airline check if a partner airline has better value for your points. This can be especially useful if you have transferable points that can be transferred to multiple airlines within an alliance. Before deciding where to transfer your points, check which airline has the best value for your points.
Also, alliances have elite status that can be matched from airlines within the alliance. These elite statuses can give you benefits such as priority boarding, access to airport lounges, extra baggage allowance, or other benefits.
Use the lists up above as a reference when you’re looking for benefits or flights to expand your options and find great value for your points.