Dynamic airline award pricing is out of control — here are some ways to beat it
How many points and miles will you need for your next flight redemption?
That will largely depend on whether the program uses dynamic pricing.
Previously, most airline loyalty programs used a zone- or distance-based award chart, allowing members to look up how many points or miles they would need between any city pair in any class. There may have been a peak and off-peak award chart requiring around 20%-30% more miles on dates when demand was higher. But you could be confident a business-class flight to Europe would cost no more than about 60,000 points or miles each way, provided there was availability.
Then several major airline loyalty programs switched to dynamic pricing. They argued that if they offer low prices during off-peak periods when planes aren't full, redemption prices should be high during busy travel periods like summer and school holidays, when travelers are willing to pay high cash fares.
But what would a reasonable increase be?
A 50% increase could be reasonable. Perhaps even at 100% more than the lowest level, members could be assured they could book the flights they wanted.
Unfortunately, as some members paid whatever the dynamic price for the seats was, airline programs kept raising these amounts.
Just how absurd has dynamic pricing become? Let's look at the worst instigator, Delta SkyMiles, the first major program to remove award charts in 2015.
How many miles would you expect to pay this summer for a seven-hour business-class flight from the East Coast to the United Kingdom? Remember, those programs that have retained an award chart would charge around 60,000 miles on peak dates.
Would you expect to pay 100,000 miles? As much as 150,000 miles?
How about 315,000?
At our current valuation of 1.41 cents each, those 315,000 SkyMiles would be worth almost $4,500.
For a seven-hour one-way flight.
If the idea of parting with several hundred thousand miles for a single flight would make you reconsider your travel, here are some tips to beat dynamic pricing.
Related: Want cheap economy award flights to Europe this summer? Focus on these programs
Check partner prices
While the American Airlines AAdvantage program has recently switched to dynamic pricing for its own flights, flights operated by partner airlines are still priced at sensible rates, and great deals can be found.
Looking at pricing from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) in business class, a nonstop American Airlines-operated flight can cost 281,000 miles. You can save more than 200,000 miles by booking a flight with partner airline Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH).
While the connection takes a few extra hours, we think it's well worth the six-figure mileage saving. Plus, the onboard product is terrific too.
Related: Onboard Etihad's 1st Airbus A350 flight to the US, featuring a new business-class product
Book through a partner program
If you have valuable transferable credit card points, you'll have plenty of options for redeeming them. Say you want to fly on Delta but don't want to pay the SkyMiles dynamic pricing. You could consider booking Delta flights with a partner airline like Virgin Atlantic. Unfortunately, I only see economy-class redemptions on Delta through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
However, the minimal fees and taxes are the same and the number of points required is significantly smaller through Flying Club for the same Delta-operated flights.
If you want to fly business class across the Atlantic, you should consider flying Virgin Atlantic rather than Delta (still booked through Virgin's Flying Club program). While you would need to pay almost $1,000 in fees, taxes and surcharges (compared with only $6 through SkyMiles), Virgin's dependable award chart means you can book a business-class flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) for only 77,500 Virgin points instead of the 300,000-plus Delta would charge.
We value those 200,000 credit card points far higher than the $1,000 in fees and taxes you will need to pay through Flying Club.
Related: Dynamic pricing vs. fuel surcharges — which is the lesser of two evils for your next redemption?
Here is another example: If you want to fly from the West Coast to Hawaii on American Airlines, you could redeem 20,000 AAdvantage miles plus $5.60 in taxes and fees, which is at the lower end of how American dynamically prices its own flights.
However, you could book the same American flight through its partner British Airways' Executive Club program, paying the same fees and taxes and only 13,000 Avios.
Consider seasonal flights during shoulder season
While Air Canada's Aeroplan loyalty program is a valuable redemption option thanks to its wide and diverse range of partners and generous routing rules, the dynamic pricing on Air Canada-operated flights can be tough to swallow.
However, consider routes that have seasonal summer demand, like Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ) to Copenhagen Airport (CPH). While flights in August are priced at over 300,000 Aeroplan points each way, redemption prices drop sharply during the shoulder and low-season months as the schedule drops to three flights per week.
As well as saving hundreds of thousands of miles per flight, you'll enjoy fewer crowds and more temperate weather. You can check which flights are seasonal on the airport's or airline's Wikipedia page, or use Google Flights to see when frequencies drop outside of peak periods.
Related: United MileagePlus vs. Air Canada Aeroplan: Which program now has the cheapest redemption rates?
Look for redemption specials
Some of our favorite airline loyalty programs offer discounted awards on select routes during promotional periods. Recently we have seen offers from the following:
Flying Blue's Promo Rewards are especially worthwhile, given the list is updated monthly and there are some incredible bargains to be found. In the past, I've booked Air France's excellent business class from Miami International Airport (MIA) to Paris-Charles de Galle Airport (CDG) for under 40,000 Flying Blue miles, one of my best-ever redemptions.
This month's Promo Rewards include economy-class flights from various U.S. and Canadian departure cities to Europe starting from just 11,250 miles each way, plus fees, taxes and carrier-imposed surcharges. Considering Flying Blue has dynamic pricing, with economy rates up to 80,000 miles each way, these offers represent an excellent discount.
Bottom line
As someone who checks award pricing and availability almost daily, I continually gasp at how high dynamic rates are now priced by major airline loyalty programs. Unfortunately, they look like they are here to stay; if a member is willing to pay 300,000-plus miles for a single flight, why would the program offer it for 50,000?
There are tips and tricks to get around this, though — consider flying on partner airlines or booking through partner programs that have retained award charts. Also, fly outside of peak periods and keep an eye out for regular discounted rates.
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