Fly Free: Frequent-Flier Miles Secrets
If you have the inventory and the time, a Round-the-World (RTW) award is a great way to make the most of your miles. It allows you to circle the earth in one direction, with up to a year to complete the trip, on a single reward ticket. Some options to consider:
• Oneworld includes up to 16 stops and is priced according to your trip’s total miles. So you could stop at Cairo, Dubai, and Auckland during a 27,000-mile New York–Madrid–Sydney–Rio de Janeiro–New York itinerary, and the whole journey would still only cost you 140,000 miles.
Caveat: with only 10 partner airlines, Oneworld’s routes and availability may be limited compared to those of other RTW’s.
• SkyTeam’s RTW gives you six flight segments for 140,000 miles. Be aware, however, that open-jaw trips (landing in one city, making your way to another city, and then departing from there instead) count as half-segments, and that each of these flights may incorporate one stopover of up to 24 hours.
• Alliance’s 20 airlines give travelers the best worldwide coverage, but its RTW requires the most miles: 200,000 for a five-stop RTW trek.
Fly Free: Frequent-Flier Miles Secrets
