We flew a couple of great domestic flights on Qantas — Cairns to Sydney in economy class and Sydney to Melbourne in business class. Both flights were fantastic domestic flights with good onboard product, and great service!
As the mid-point of the year has now come and gone, I figured it was that time of the year to compile my travel statistics for the year thus far. Though I’ve taken a couple wonderful trips, my rate of travel lags FAR behind my pace in 2013.
Flying to Australia on frequent flyer miles in the Winter is no small feat. I used United miles to fly between the USA and Sydney in United Global First Class. Domestic Australia flights on Virgin Atlantic and Qantas were planned with British Airways Avios, American Airlines miles, and cash.
An analysis of United, Delta, and American’s saver-level business class award space on the premium JFK-LAX/SFO shows that both Delta and American are MUCH more generous with this premium award space, as it’s almost impossible to find space on United.
The cheapest way from the USA to Europe is by using British Airways Avios for a flight on Aer Lingus from Boston to either Dublin or Shannon. At 12,500 Avios for economy or 25,000 Avios for business, this redemption is one of the best mileage values out there!
United announced that they are moving to a revenue based earning structure for its MileagePlus program in 2015, and it’s not all bad — unless you’re the one paying for the ticket! I analyzed the new program’s earning structure and compared the earning rates in 2014 and 2015.