The Cheapest Award Flights for Intracontinental Travel
When headed on an international award trip, most of us book the over-water segments segments first. This often leaves booking intra-destination flights at the bottom of our to-do list, and can result in making poor choices in using miles for flights within a foreign continent.
With the ongoing trend of airlines eliminating stopovers and open jaws from award tickets, booking cheap intracontinental award tickets is a great way to get more value out of your international itineraries. By visiting more than one destination after your long-haul flight from the states, you'll hopefully lessen the sting of no longer having stopover and open jaw capabilities. Today, I'll cover cheap award flights you can book when looking to fly within each continent — excluding, understandably, Antarctica.
Distance/Revenue-Based Award Programs Are Always Applicable
Before we review each continent, an important strategy to remember is to check the programs that charge for award flights based on the distance of the flight or the revenue cost of the ticket. As long as one of these distance- or revenue-based airlines (or one of their partners) fly in the continent you visit, it very well may offer the cheapest award flight regardless of which continent you're researching. Typically, if you find that a revenue-based program is offering the cheapest award flights, that means the revenue fare is low. In that case, it's probably worth saving your points or miles and paying cash for the ticket.
Here are a few such programs to keep in mind:
| Program | Notes |
|---|---|
| British Airways Executive Club | 4,500 Avios for flights between 1-650 miles in length on all Oneworld partners (North America Excluded) |
| Iberia Plus | Distance-based, with some routes offering lower fuel surcharges than BA |
| Virgin Australia Velocity | Distance-based award chart |
| Virgin America Elevate | Revenue-based for its own flights |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | Revenue-based |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | Revenue-based |
Keep Region Definitions in Mind
Not all airlines define regions the same, or for that matter even have the same number of regions. This means that depending on your specific destination, one program typically accepted as offering the cheapest award flights for the continent in question may not be the right pick in your case.
For example, some programs consider the Caribbean as a single region (United); others count some of the Caribbean with Hawaii (Flying Blue); and some may count it as part of North America (Aegean). In the same manner, many programs disagree on whether Egypt is in Africa or the Middle East. If you're flying to what could be considered a border country, study the region definitions closely.
With those guidelines in mind, let's look at each continent and see which programs offer the cheapest award flights. All costs are for one-way, economy flights.
North America (Including Caribbean/Hawaii)
| Program | Cost |
|---|---|
| British Airways Executive Club | 7,500 Avios for flights between 1-1,151 miles in length on American Airlines 12,500 Avios for West Coast to Hawaii on American/Alaska |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | 7,500 miles for US flights less than 500 miles in length |
| Delta SkyMiles | As low as 5,000 miles (typically on cheap revenue, short-haul flights) |
| Flying Blue | 12,500 miles to certain Caribbean destinations and 15,000 miles to Hawaii |
| Virgin America Elevate | Revenue-based for its own flights |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | Revenue-based |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | Revenue-based |
South America
| Program | Cost |
|---|---|
| Avianca LifeMiles | 5,000 miles intra-Brazil |
| Delta SkyMiles | 12,500 miles on GOL/Aerolineas Argentina |
| British Airways Executive Club | Varies by distance - great availability on LATAM |
Europe*
| Program | Cost |
|---|---|
| British Airways Executive Club | 4,500 Avios for flights 1-650 miles in length (often high surcharges) |
| Flying Blue | 8,500 miles for short-haul |
*The cheap rates of low-cost carriers in Europe often make it difficult to justify redeeming miles for award flights.
Africa
| Program | Cost |
|---|---|
| Flying Blue | 17,500 miles intra northern or southern Africa (lower rates may be available on some routes) |
| United MileagePlus | 17,500 miles intra northern or southern Africa |
| Singapore KrisFlyer | 15,000 miles intra Central/South Africa |
| American AAdvantage | 10,000 miles (check routing rules for partner/region combination restrictions) |
Middle East*
| Program | Cost |
|---|---|
| American AAdvantage | 17,500 miles (Oneworld members Qatar Airways & Royal Jordanian) |
| British Airways Executive Club | 4,500-7,500 Avios for flights 1-1,151 miles in length |
| Flying Blue | 15,000 miles short haul |
*Not a continent, but its unique geography and multiple definitions according to different award programs make it a region worth breaking out separately.
Asia
| Program | Cost |
|---|---|
| Flying Blue | 10,000-20,000 miles depending on route |
| Delta SkyMiles | 12,500-22,500 miles depending on route |
| United MileagePlus | 5,000 miles intra-Japan (routes up to 800 miles) |
| British Airways Executive Club | 4,500 Avios intra-mainland Japan routes |
| Alaska Mileage Plan | 12,500 miles on Cathay Pacific |
| Singapore KrisFlyer | 7,500-25,000 miles depending on origin/destination regions |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 20,000 miles for any intra-Asia |
Australia/Oceania
| Program | Cost |
|---|---|
| Flying Blue | 15,000 miles on Aircalin/China Airlines |
| Aegean/United/Asiana | 12,500 miles |
| Alaska Mileage Plan | 17,500 miles on Fiji Airways with one stopover allowed |
| Virgin America Elevate | 3,500-9,500 points intra-Australia |
| British Airways Executive Club | 4,500 Avios flights 1-650 miles in length |
Bottom Line
A common theme for most continents is the use of British Airways Avios for short- to medium-haul flights. Fuel surcharges on these routes when using Avios are also usually minimal (Europe excluded). Regardless of which continent you're visiting, pull the award charts (if available) for any program that catches your eye as a good deal, and make sure the region definitions line up with your expectations.
Another tip: You'll often find great deals when searching intra-region awards. When completing these searches, programs typically first route you out of your originating region to a hub, then back into the originating region to the destination you searched. This has the effect of allowing you a cheaper award ticket than if you only searched to the airline's hub. Here's the cost of an intra-Africa business-class award from Johannesburg (JNB) to Abijan, Côte d'Ivoire (ABJ) with a transfer in Paris (CDG):
Here's the cost if you just wanted to book just the JNB-CDG leg:
By adding a flight, you've effectively lowered the cost of the JNB-CDG leg by 25,000 miles.
What programs do you use for intracontinental flights?