No award seats with Alitalia? Plenty with Air France and KLM for U.S. and rest of the world (from 43k miles)
Our hunt for the most interesting prize places continues, after poking around and unearthing some real golden tickets [...]
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Continue our hunt for the most interesting prize places, after poking around and unearthing some real golden tickets today we want to focus our attention on the proposals of Air France and KLM.
The two companies of theSkyTeam alliance are bookable either using Alitalia miles That directly converting the points Membership Rewards in the program Flying Blue.
The second option is almost always preferred for the simple reason that the Flying Blue program has costs in terms of points that are more advantageous: for example, the fare to the U.S. starts at 21,500 points one way, instead if booked through AZ miles, it costs more than twice as much, 50k MM points.
According to rumors, it seems that the U.S. will reopen borders early summer, booking in August could also be a fairly quiet period from the perspective of the pandemic situation. By that time, the U.S. expects to have vaccinated nearly 100% of the adult population, and the same goal should be reached in the old continent.
Therefore, we tried to identify some examples of how to go to the United States or Thailand while spending a few hundred euros, with a flexible ticket at 100%, and using as few FB miles as possible.
Award seats on Air France's many routes to the U.S. and KLM are plenty, in some cases we found as many as 6 business class seats to fly from one of the many Italian airports where the two companies operate, and after stopping over in Amsterdam or Paris, arrive in the United States.
Flying from Genoa to New York is possible at only 43k miles plus €208 in taxes. While the same itinerary using AZ points would cost 100k miles and almost twice as much in taxes.
But it is not only New York that has free seats; the West Coast is also reachable. As you can see in this example, the flight from Florence to San Francisco costs only 21,500 FB miles plus just under 110€ in taxes.
The same route from Florence in business class costs exactly twice as much: 53k miles and €237 in taxes. There are 6 free seats, so enough to travel with the whole family.
Flying to Los Angeles from Palermo costs slightly more: 26.5k miles and €118 in taxes, in this case the cheapest route has two stops, but the difference with a booking made with Alitalia is stark.
If you are not interested in the United States and aim instead toward Southeast Asia, with the Thailand planning to reopen borders starting October 1, here's flying from Italy to Bangkok costs starting at 72k FB points and just over €160 in taxes.
The same route in business class can be booked with 234k FB points and 373€ tax for a round-trip ticket, in this case it is better to use Alitalia points since, if vacancies are found, the cost with Etihad o China Eastern would be 240k Millemile points and just under 80€ tax.
In conclusion
Although the change between points Membership Rewards and Flying Blue miles is one of the worst with a 3:2 rate, the cost for Amex users is still cheaper than booking through points Alitalia Millemiglia.
In addition to this, by booking directly on the French-Dutch carrier's program you will pay less taxes and have many more schedule options and especially many more award seats available on each flight.
- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back