Airlines partner up into alliances (Oneworld, Star Alliance, and Sky Team), which usually means you can use the miles from one program to book with one of its partners. We’ll talk about the best programs within each alliance.
Best miles for each airline alliance
Watch here:
Or listen here (or click “Follow” on the player below to select your preferred podcast app instead):
(01:00) – Star Alliance
(01:12) – United MileagePlus pros and cons
(03:16) – Air Canada Aeroplan pros and cons
(06:42) – Avianca LifeMiles pros and cons
(11:24) – Oneworld
(11:32) – American Airlines AAdvantage pros and cons
(13:56) – Alaska Atmos pros and cons
(16:55) – Sky Team
(17:08) – Delta SkyMiles pros and cons
(19:40) – Air France/KLM Flying Blue pros and cons
(22:10) – Virgin Atlantic Flying Club pros and cons
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It looks like at least some Alaska multi-partner awards are live now. The pricing isn’t great, but i just came across some. For an example, search for BCN – SEA on Dec 11, and then click to see additional flights and scroll all the way down, and you’ll see BA or AA + IcelandAir (apologies for crappy-looking formatting):
Multiple flights
20h 48m
11:50 am
BCN
KEF
ORD
11:38 pm
SEA
FI 993, FI 853 — Operated by Icelandair: BCN to KEF, KEF to ORD
AA 3221 — Operated by American Airlines: ORD to SEA
Main
42.5k
points
pts
+
$237
One way
last 5 seats
Partner Premium
Unavailable
Business
85k
points
pts
+
$237
One way
Mixed itinerary
Multiple flights
19h 20m
6:40 am
BCN
LHR
KEF
5:00 pm
SEA
BA 497 — Operated by British Airways: BCN to LHR
FI 451, FI 681 — Operated by Icelandair: LHR to KEF, KEF to SEA
Main
55k
points
pts
+
$252
One way
last 4 seats
Partner Premium
Unavailable
Business
110k
points
pts
+
$253
One way
last 2 seats
Where does one look for Delta partner awards? I never see anything when I visit the Delta site. Do tell…. Thanks!
What about Avios for Oneworld?
In my opinion, Avios don’t have the best redemptions – there’s just so few sweet spots where they are better than AA or AS or JAL plus they charge a $50 cancelation fee, which is fine on big J redemptions but really eats up any cost savings on short, cheap redemptions.
The positive for Avios is that you can transfer from basically any transfer option so if you only have one currency, you can book Oneworld flights even if you don’t have Citi or Bilt or CapOne.
thanks!
I would argue that you left off an important contender for oneworld: JAL. While they have about a $20 cancelation fee, their award tickets are fully refundable and they have the best rates for many flights to Europe and Asia if you can find saver availability.
They may have limited transfer partners, I don’t think it’s worse than Alaska (at least they transfer from CapOne as well as Bilt), but I don’t think they should be ignored as a oneworld contender.
Big downside is limited US availability based on what AA and Alaska release to partners and the hard expiration.