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How To Fly to Colorado Ski Resorts From 5,000 Net Amex Points Round-Trip

Oct. 16, 2017
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6 min read
Skier with sun and mountains
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Don't you love it when the stars align to create a great deal? Back in July, we told you about how you can get lie-flat business class for under 11,000 Membership Rewards points (these flights are still not a bad deal at 15k points). And in a return of a deal from April, you can book round-trip first class flights to Japan from just 70,000 Membership Rewards points.

Thanks to a couple of new Amex Offers today, we have a few new sweet spots from combining deals for flights to a couple of popular ski resort towns in Colorado. As these deals require nonstop flights, let's break out the deals by origin.

From Seattle, San Diego, Chicago and Dallas

Deal: Fly round-trip to Steamboat Springs for 5,000 net Membership Rewards points

  1. Short-haul nonstop flights (up to 1,151 miles) on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines cost just 7,500 Avios each way / 15,000 Avios round-trip.
  2. Membership Rewards now transfer to Avios at a 1:1 ratio. So, round-trip flights will cost 15,000 Membership Rewards transferred to Avios.
  3. A new Amex Offer is giving targeted cardholders 10,000 Membership Rewards points for spending $500 at Steamboat Ski Resort.

Routes: There are two seasonal nonstop routes to Steamboat on American Airlines and two on Alaska Airlines:

  • San Diego (SAN) to Steamboat/Hayden (HDN) on Alaska: Wed/Sat/Sun from December 16-March 25
  • Seattle (SEA) to Steamboat/Hayden (HDN) on Alaska: Tues/Wed/Sat/Sun from December 16-March 25
  • Chicago (ORD) to Steamboat/Hayden (HDN) on American: daily from December 15-April 8
  • Dallas (DFW) to Steamboat/Hayden (HDN) on American: daily from December 15-April 2

Availability: Award availability is a lot better on the Alaska routes than on American's (of course). But, there's even currently availability on the AA routes starting mid-February. Both Alaska and American Airlines availability shows up on AA.com. Just make sure to choose the "Non-stop only" option once your initial search results load.

Searching award availability on AA.com shows every flight in January has award space on Alaska's flight from San Diego (SAN) to Hayden (HDN).

Booking: You can book American Airlines awards on the British Airways website. If you're unfamiliar with the process of searching and booking flights on British Airways' website, read this post. Unfortunately, you're going to have to call BA to book Alaska awards.

From Atlanta and Minneapolis

Deal: Fly round-trip to Steamboat Springs for 10,000 net Membership Rewards points

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  1. Domestic Delta flights cost 25,000 Virgin Atlantic miles round-trip
  2. 30% transfer bonus from American Express Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club means 20,000 MR transfers into enough Flying Club miles for a round-trip.
  3. A new Amex Offer is giving targeted cardholders 10,000 Membership Rewards points for spending $500 at Steamboat Ski Resort.

Routes: There are two seasonal nonstop routes to Steamboat on Delta:

  • Atlanta (ATL) to Steamboat/Hayden (HDN): 6-7x weekly from December 21-April 2
  • Minneapolis (MSP) to Steamboat/Hayden (HDN): 6-7x weekly from December 21-April 2

Availability & Booking: While low-level Delta award availability can sometimes be harder to find than a unicorn, Virgin Atlantic is selling many dates on these nonstop routes for just 25,000 miles round-trip through its website. However, it seems the carrier is trying to make it hard for you to search. A Flying Club web agent told me that the airline was only testing online booking last week and the feature has been removed. That said, we are still able to search using the website:

From Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Minneapolis

Deal: Fly round-trip to Aspen for 14,000 net Membership Rewards points

  1. Domestic Delta flights cost 25,000 Virgin Atlantic miles round-trip
  2. 30% transfer bonus from American Express Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club means 20,000 MR transfers into enough Flying Club miles for a round-trip.
  3. A new Amex Offer is giving targeted cardholders 6,000 Membership Rewards points for spending $300 at Aspen Snowmass.

Routes: There are four seasonal nonstop routes to Aspen on Delta:

  • Atlanta (ATL) to Aspen (ASE): daily from December 21-April 2
  • Los Angeles (LAX) to Aspen (ASE): 6-7x weekly from December 21-April 2
  • Minneapolis (MSP) to Aspen (ASE): daily from December 21-January 7, then Saturdays through March
  • Salt Lake City (SLC) to Aspen (ASE): daily starting December 21

Availability & Booking: Again, your best option for searching and booking is through Virgin Atlantic's website. There's a surprising amount of award availability at just 25,000 Flying Club miles:

But, You Need an Amex Card

These deals are only good if you have a Membership Rewards-earning American Express card — both for the Membership Rewards you'll need to book these flights and for the Amex Offers that'll get you a bunch of points back. And valuable offers pop up all the time: 5,000 points for paying for your Amazon Prime membership, $160 cashback for spending $800 on Delta, 10,000 points for spending $500 through AmexTravel.com.

If you don't have an American Express earning Membership Rewards points, here are some of the top offers available now:

  • The Platinum Card® from American Express: 60,000 Membership Rewards points for spending $5,000 in three months
  • The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: up to 75,000 Membership Rewards points for spending $20,000 in three months
  • The Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express: 50,000 Membership Rewards points for spending $5,000 in three months

Where are you going to go skiing or snowboarding with these awesome deals?

Featured image by Getty Images/iStockphoto

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