Award Tickets (airline tickets purchased with frequent flyer miles or points) allow you travel the world using your earned rewards, plus some additional taxes and fees. Award tickets are meant to reward you for your loyalty to a given airline/frequent flyer program, however, with the ability of transferring in miles/points from a bank program, the whole “loyalty” aspect has changed – you don’t have to be loyal to an airline or a program to make the best use of it if you can simply transfer in points and book a ticket.
Award tickets and redeeming your miles for them can be both simple and complicated – if you’re booking a standard domestic flight online, it is simple. If you are planning a round-the-world journey which involves calling the airline and booking over the phone, it becomes complicated, especially if you aren’t familiar with the rules of the frequent flyer program you are using. There are some basic aspects that everyone should know about award tickets – whether you’re booking a simple domestic hop or a complex multi-region itinerary.
fly on award tickets around the world
Award Tickets Flexibility
Award Tickets are more flexible than cash tickets – in that they can be easily canceled for no fee or a low fee (when compared to the cost of canceling a cash ticket). Some airlines have completely gotten rid of cancelation or change fees on award tickets while other airlines still charge them – however, these range from $25 – $150 per passenger per ticket, so it isn’t that huge of a deal if you need to change or cancel. When you cancel and redeposit the miles back to your account, you do also get all of the associated taxes/fees/fuel surcharges refunded to your credit card. If making a change, remember that a difference in miles and taxes may apply.
Some promotional or discounted mileage tickets are not eligible for changes or cancelations – so be sure to clearly check the terms and conditions before redeeming your miles.
Miles + Taxes/Fees/Surcharges
The miles or points required for an award ticket are always determined by the issuing airline and frequent flyer program, not the airline your are flying. For example, if you are using United Airlines miles to fly their partner airline, Lufthansa, the amount of miles are determined by United Airlines – since you are using their miles.
The taxes and fees on your award ticket are determined by a variety of factors including the airline you are flying, where you are departing from, where you are flying to, what class you are flying, etc. The taxes and fees are the same on award tickets as they are on cash/revenue tickets – basically, the “base” fare of the cash ticket is covered by the miles, on an award ticket, but you are still responsible for the taxes/fees.
In addition to the miles and taxes/fees required, some airlines and frequent flyer programs make you pay “fuel surcharges” – these are usually between $100 to over $1,000 in some cases and they depend on the airline you are flying, where you are departing from, and what cabin you are flying in. Fuel surcharges are always charged on cash/revenue tickets, but not always on award tickets. It is up to the airline that is issuing your ticket (the frequent flyer program you are using) if they pass on these fuel surcharges or not. Most programs no longer impose these charges, but some still do – therefore it is very important to check what the total cost is before issuing your ticket and transferring points in to make a booking.
Mixing Airlines on Award Tickets
The rules of your award ticket are determined by the airline issuing your ticket (the airline miles you are using). In addition to rules like how far you can fly (maximum permitted mileage), the regions you can transit, and how much a ticket costs in miles, your frequent flyer program also determines which actual airlines you can fly on your award ticket and if you can “mix” airlines. Most frequent flyer programs allow you to mix (fly multiple) airlines on an award ticket as long as all of those airlines are partners with the airline that is issuing your ticket. For example, let’s say you are redeeming Air Canada Aeroplan points to fly Etihad Airways and United Airlines – you can book both EY and UA on one ticket issued by Air Canada, even though EY and UA are not airline partners.
There are still some frequent flyer programs which do not allow you to mix or fly multiple airlines on award tickets – these are an exception rather than the norm, but they do still exist. Generally, the bigger the airline and frequent flyer program, the more you can “do” on an award ticket. If the airline is smaller and does not have many partnerships, expect there to be limitations. The whole purpose of airline alliances and partnerships are so that you can fly somewhere where “your” airline can’t fly you – so that extends to award tickets as well (in addition to cash tickets, of course).
fly on award tickets around the world
All in All
While there are tons of rules, exceptions, terms, and conditions for award tickets, sometimes it can be very difficult to understand all of them. The truth is that some people don’t know or even need to know every single rule – if you simply visit the airline’s website and book what is available and that works for you, then that’s great; however, if you are planning a bigger redemption, then you will likely need to study the frequent flyer program you are using and what is allowed and how you can use the program, the rules, and award chart to your advantage.