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How Are Award Flight Tickets Priced and Why Is It Important?

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Table of Contents

Why should i care about award ticket pricing, major award ticket pricing structures, award sales, final thoughts.

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In the realm of points travel, people often brag about booking “free travel.” Unless you’re booking a ticket through the Chase Travel Portal , for example, you’re probably not going to get an outright free ticket.

When you use points to book travel, particularly when you use transferable rewards points via an airline partner such as United MileagePlus, you’ll pay a certain amount in miles and a certain amount in cash.

The reason why this exists is that airplane tickets consist of 2 pieces: the fare and the taxes and fees.

The miles or points you pay will cover the fare, while you’ll be responsible for paying the remaining taxes and fees. In many cases, your taxes and fees will be minimal, thanks to the absence of fuel surcharges .

When we compare different frequent flyer programs, we pay the most attention to the cost of the miles for a particular flight . But how do airlines price award tickets?

Let’s walk through all of the different award pricing schemes. As you’ll find out, different airlines follow different pricing structures!

The most basic reason why you should care about award ticket pricing is that you want to get the best points and miles deal out there.

Why pay 500,000 points for a first class flight when you can book the same flight for 80,000?

By having a deep understanding of what pricing strategies frequent flyer programs employ in pricing award tickets, you’ll be able to effectively find the cheapest price for the same flight!

For example, a business class flight on Lufthansa from San Francisco International (SFO) to Munich International (MUC) can cost:

• 56,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles
• 63,000 Avianca LifeMiles
• 65,000 EVA Air Infinity MileagePlus miles
• 70,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points
• 70,000 United MileagePlus miles
• 72,000 Singapore KrisFlyer miles

If you know where to look, you can get the best redemptions and save some miles . With that being said, let’s group pricing structures together and talk about the differences across various loyalty programs.

Airline frequent flyer programs incorporate tons of different nuances into their business model. Although we’ll strictly be talking about pricing structures in this guide, they can also differ across the board in terms of stopover/open-jaw allowances and much more.

When talking about award pricing structures, there are 5 major categories:

• Region-based pricing
• Distance-based pricing
• Dynamic pricing
• Fixed-value pricing
• A combination of award pricing schemes

Region-Based Frequent Flyer Programs

Region-based frequent flyer programs, also known as zone-based frequent flyer programs, divide up the world into zones, effectively grouping countries together .

This method of consolidating dozens of countries into a single region is then followed by consistent pricing for flights between 2 specific regions. The key point to remember here is that where you fly to/from within a specific region doesn’t usually matter.

For example, if you look at American Airlines AAdvantage’s award chart , you’ll find that zone “South America 1” consists of many countries. If you were planning on flying to Germany in business class, you’ll pay the same price as long as you originate from any location within South America 1.

In other words, flights from Bolivia will cost the same as flights from Peru or Colombia. It doesn’t matter where specifically you’re flying from or to — as long as the route falls within a specific pair of regions, you’ll pay the same price.

Examples of Region-Based Frequent Flyer Programs

Anytime you see an award chart that is split up into regions on the left-most column and on the top-most row, you’re probably looking at a region-based award chart.

Some examples include:

• American Airlines AAdvantage
• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (mostly)
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smile

How to Maximize Region-Based Frequent Flyer Programs

There is no standard way of deciding which countries fall into specific regions — every frequent flyer program chooses which countries fall into its respective regions differently.

Generally speaking, flying further will cost more miles. Therefore, if you can fly further for the same number of miles, you’d be hitting a “sweet spot.”

For example, if you were considering flying to Colombia, you’d find most frequent flyer programs categorize Colombia as part of South America. However, some frequent flyer programs categorize Colombia as part of “Northern South America.” Since U.S.-Northern South America flights command lower mileage prices compared to U.S.-South America flights, you’d be saving a bundle of miles by locating programs that have unique region categorization.

Distance-Based Frequent Flyer Programs

The second-most-common frequent flyer program redemption structure is described as distance-based. Overall, the easiest way to describe this structure is: the further you fly, the more you’ll pay in miles .

Distance-based frequent flyer programs separate flight distances into distance brackets. The way it works is that your flight’s distance falls into a distance bracket. From there, you will pay a fixed price for the award redemption.

You can compare these distance brackets loosely to tax brackets. With tax brackets, you’ll pay a certain percentage of your income depending on which range your income falls into.

Let’s take 2 flight examples:

• John K. Kennedy International-New York City (JFK) to Hong Kong International (HKG): This route measures 8,072 miles
• Beijing Capital International (PEK) – Cape Town International (CPT): This route measures 8,051 miles

If we’re looking at a distance bracket of 8,001 to 10,000 miles, you’ll find that these 2 redemptions should cost the same in miles, despite being completely different routes geographically.

In all, distance-based frequent flyer programs charge a fixed number of miles for all flights within a specific distance bracket , regardless of where you’re flying to globally.

Examples of Distance-Based Frequent Flyer Programs

The easiest way to tell if you’re looking at a distance-based award chart is if you see a column that delineates a series of distance brackets.

Some examples of distance-based frequent flyer programs include:

• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• British Airways Executive Club .

How to Maximize Distance-Based Frequent Flyer Programs

Distance-based frequent flyer programs were designed to level the playing field for award redemptions. In general, succeeding looks like booking a longer award flight for the same mileage price.

Since distance-based frequent flyer programs split up the distance spectrum into distance brackets, a “sweet spot” would be considered booking towards the upper bound of a distance bracket .

For example, if you find a distance bracket of 6,001 to 8,000 miles and are looking to book a flight from Logan International-Boston (BOS) to Hong Kong International (HKG), you’ll find a total flight distance of 7,970 miles.

This 15-hour 35-minute flight is at the top end of the spectrum, and booking this would cost the same as booking a flight from Vancouver International (YVR) to Hong Kong International (HKG), which is only 13 hours 55 minutes long. In other words, you’ll enjoy a longer flight for the same price.

Dynamically-Priced Frequent Flyer Programs

Our next frequent flyer program structure is one that gets endless hatred . Dynamically-priced frequent flyer programs are unique in the sense that there could be many different award prices quoted on an identical flight .

Simply put, the award price you’ll pay for a specific ticket will vary by factors including, but not limited to:

• Seasonality
• Cabin load factor
• Number of award tickets already redeemed in the same cabin
• Number of tickets desired

The way it works is as follows:

• An airline will create fare buckets for award tickets, just like for revenue tickets. These are commonly referred to as award levels or award buckets.
• An airline will allocate a certain number of seats to each award level.
• As travelers book these award tickets, the number of seats in each award level will decrease, with the cheapest award buckets disappearing first.
• As the number of travelers booking award tickets increase, the lowest available award level will get more and more expensive.

This, in a nutshell, is how dynamic award pricing works. One of the main criticisms of dynamically-priced frequent flyer programs has been the lack of transparency . When airlines don’t publish and standardize their award pricing practices, travelers lose faith in and get spooked by constant devaluations .

Because there isn’t an official document that confines the award prices to a specific number, dynamically-priced frequent flyer programs can get devalued within a blink of an eye.

Let’s take an example route of a nonstop Air France business class flight from Los Angeles International (LAX) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). Because Air France/KLM Flying Blue is a dynamically-priced frequent flyer program, you’ll see several different award prices, ranging from decent to exorbitant:

• 67,500 miles
• 72,000 miles
• 118,500 miles
• 141,500 miles
• 209,000 miles
• 285,000 miles

Depending on when you book, you’ll find award prices that change over time, hence dynamically-based.

Examples of Dynamically-Priced Frequent Flyer Programs

One of the telltale signs of a dynamically-priced frequent flyer program is the appearance of numerous different award prices for the same flight on different days.

If you see this, you’re most likely looking at a dynamic award pricing system. Examples of dynamically-priced frequent flyer programs include:

• Delta SkyMiles (on its own flights)
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles .

How to Maximize Dynamically-Priced Frequent Flyer Programs

It can be difficult to eke out amazing value from dynamically-priced frequent flyer programs. When trying to do so, you’ll be starting at a disadvantage, knowing that these programs are designed to make attaining great redemption value as difficult as possible .

Anecdotally, there have been reports of people making terrible redemptions for Delta business class for 395,000 Delta SkyMiles one-way to Africa!

One of the best ways to maximize dynamically-priced frequent flyer programs is to research what exactly the cheapest level awards cost on specific routes. Then, you’ll know, for example, that a solid redemption value would be to snag low-level award tickets. For example, if you know that a flight’s cheapest price is 50,000 miles, then you’ll know to look for tickets that cost 50,000 miles to get the absolute best deal.

Fixed-Value Frequent Flyer Programs

Fixed-value frequent flyer programs are less common and difficult to maximize. As the name suggests, these frequent flyer programs assign a fixed value to their points. Specifically, they assign a narrow range of values to their points.

The amount of miles you’ll pay for a flight is tied to:

• The revenue ticket’s cost
• The mile’s fixed value range

For example, if you are booking a ticket that is worth $500 and you see a fixed value of 1-1.1 cents per mile, you will pay anywhere from 45,454 miles to 50,000 miles for this ticket.

There’s no special optimization or routing rules to implement here. In a sense, this scheme is the most “boring.”

Examples of Fixed-Value Frequent Flyer Programs

One of the telltale signs of a fixed value frequent flyer program is you research lots of different flights in the same program and you find that the mathematical value is always around the same ballpark .

Another sign is that you see mileage quotes that are not “nice, clean, round numbers” — for example, 18,362 miles compared to 20,000.

Some examples of fixed-value frequent flyer programs are:

• Air New Zealand Airpoints (1 Airpoint Dollar is worth NZ$1)
• Southwest Rapid Rewards points (1.4-1.6 cents per point)
• JetBlue Plus miles (1-1.4 cents per point).

How to Maximize Fixed-Value Frequent Flyer Programs

The only way to get outsized value from these frequent flyer programs is if your redemptions can fall within a spectrum of values.

If you take JetBlue Plus points, for example, you’ll see that the value of your miles is 1-1.4 cents per point. To get closer to the 1.4 cents per point end of the spectrum, you’ll need to take out your calculator and start doing some math to figure out the cents per mile value on several different redemptions you’re considering.

Besides that, it’s – by definition – impossible to extract much-added value from fixed-value frequent flyer programs.

Mixed Programs

The very last program we’ll be talking about is what’s known as a mixed program. Mixed programs are simply those that incorporate a combination of the above-discussed programs.

When airlines offer award redemptions, they often separate the pricing as follows:

• Award structure for their own flights
• Award structure for alliance flights (if applicable)
• Award structure for all other partner flights

Examples of Mixed-Based Frequent Flyer Programs

A particular frequent flyer program may employ different award structures for each of the 3 sub-programs. This concept isn’t new, but it’s an important distinction nonetheless.

An example of a mixed program is Delta SkyMiles . For flights on Delta Air Lines, you’ll find a dynamically-based structure, while partner flights command a region-based structure.

Another example of a mixed program is Etihad Guest . Etihad isn’t in any major alliance and Etihad Guest charges for its own award flights in a semi-region-based scheme. For its partners, Etihad Guest will either use a distance-based or region-based structure, depending on which exact partner you’re looking to book.

How to Maximize Mixed Frequent Flyer Programs

The easiest way to maximize mixed frequent flyer programs is to understand sweet spots within each sub-program. What does that mean?

For example, you can redeem 25,610 Etihad Guest miles for Czech Airlines business class flights between Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG) and Incheon International-Seoul (ICN). This outlandishly good redemption is only possible if you know the pricing structures for these loyalty programs.

Hot Tip:  If you’re looking for more redemptions to maximize value, explore our ways to redeem Delta SkyMiles as well as redeem Etihad Guest Miles to get the most out of your points.

This isn’t a loyalty program structure. Rather, award sales are released to incentivize specific groups of people in loyalty programs by offering great discounts on mileage redemptions

Some of these programs include:

• Air France/KLM Flying Blue ( Promo Rewards )
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer ( Spontaneous Escapes )
• Avianca LifeMiles ( Star Alliance Award Sale )
• American Airlines ( Web Specials )
• Delta SkyMiles ( Flash Deals )
• and Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles ( Award Ticket Promos )

The only real way to maximize this is to wait for an award sale to occur before redeeming miles. That way, you can lock in a fantastic discount for business and even first class award tickets.

In closing, award travel is complex. Pricing out award travel is many times more complex than pricing out revenue travel. When you’re booking cash tickets, you can simply go to Google Flights and you’ll get one of the lowest, if not the lowest, quotes on prices.

The same isn’t true for award travel. You need to study airline award programs extensively and have an idea of which particular redemptions are the best and cheapest.

There’s tons of information out there, but booking fantastic business and first class tickets is only getting harder and harder. Getting a hang of the fundamentals and the underlying logic of award pricing structures will be instrumental to your success in booking coveted first class tickets and not bankrupting yourself in the process.

Now, you have all the knowledge you need on how award travel is priced!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are award tickets.

An award ticket is simply a special airline ticket paid with airline miles. These are often referred to as reward tickets.

You spend miles in order to get free (or heavily discounted) flights, and these flights are known as award tickets.

How do you get award tickets?

You get award tickets by redeeming miles with a specific airline for travel on a particular flight.

You can’t redeem miles for award tickets on all airlines. You must strategically pick which miles to earn and which miles to redeem when thinking about booking travel.

How does airline ticket pricing work?

Airline ticket pricing is complicated. There are complex computer software algorithms that determine ticket prices. There are also computer software algorithms that determine whether or not certain tickets are available for redemption.

Refer to the rest of this guide to learn how airline award ticket pricing works.

How many seats are in a flight award?

It depends. The airlines very carefully regulate the inventory of seats available. At any point in time, they can remove or add seats at their discretion.

Do airlines release more award seats?

Sometimes. For example, British Airways is known for releasing lots of extra award seats all at once. Typically, you’ll find out by subscribing to BA press releases.

On the flip side, airlines can also pull award availability at any point in time, especially if they see lots of seats being sold for cash.

How far in advance should I book an award flight?

Generally, you should plan your travel as far out as possible (11-12 months in advance). However, there are some airlines, such as Japan Airlines, that release lots of unoccupied award seats in first and business class a few days before departure.

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A Complete Guide to American Airlines Award Travel Rules

Reviewed by Ryan Smith

AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers .

American Airlines AAdvantage ® is one of our favorite mileage programs. Thanks to dozens of partners, you can fly to over 1,000 destinations using AAdvantage miles. And American Airlines has (largely) kept its partner mileage redemption chart the same for over seven years now. In this post, we'll cover all the rules for American Airlines award travel to help you use miles for your next adventure.

One of the key ways to get more value from your rewards is to spend a little time learning the rules for booking awards with the points and miles you acquire. Each program has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. Once you understand them clearly, you’ll be able to choose the program that best suits your goals for a particular trip.

Page Contents

Types of Rules

Award pricing, redemption partners, which airlines can i book using american aadvantage miles, can i use my miles to book for another person, how far in advance can i book my ticket, can i put an aa award travel reservation on hold, does american charge a close-in booking fee, does american charge a phone booking fee, how much does it cost to include a lap infant, how much does american airlines charge to change or cancel an award ticket, does american airlines allow free changes within 24 hours, how can i track award flight changes, can i book a stopover with american miles, can i book one-way travel with american miles, can i book an open jaw with american miles, can i fly with multiple partner airlines on the same trip, can i book an itinerary with multiple classes of service, can i book a round-the-world ticket with american miles, american third-region exceptions, published route requirement, maximum permitted mileage (mpm), american airlines award segment limits, married segment logic, final thoughts.

• Booking rules cover the details you need to know to get your trip confirmed. Can you use your miles to book a flight for your grandma? How much does it cost to add an infant who doesn’t need her own seat? How far in advance can you confirm your flights?
• Change and cancellation rules cover all the fine print to ensure you don’t pay unnecessary fees and know exactly what to expect if your plans change.
• Itinerary rules cover your options and limitations for the flights you add to your trip. For example, can you add a stopover in Europe on the way to Asia? Can you book a one-way flight at half the price of a round-trip? Will you save miles if part of a business-class trip is in economy?

American Airlines AAdvantage Award Travel Costs & Partner Airlines

Before we get started, two important factors aren’t covered in this post: award pricing and redemption partners.

The number of miles you need and the taxes and fees you’ll pay out of pocket are determined by the type of points you redeem. In many cases, the costs in miles and money can be more important than other rules. This post isn't about how much you'll spend for an AA award or a comparison of AA's booking prices against competitors.

You can use AAdvantage miles to book travel with more than 20 partner airlines . But it’s also true that you can use dozens of different types of points to book flights operated by American or its partner airlines. If you aren’t familiar with this, check out our beginner’s guide to award travel planning .

If you’ve done a good job of diversifying your points and miles, you should have the option to use rewards from other frequent-flyer programs to book a similar (or identical) itinerary. When using AAdvantage miles makes the most sense, here are the rules.

American Airlines Award Booking Rules and Fees

Yes, American Airlines will let you book a flight for anyone you wish. However, program terms and conditions prohibit selling miles, so you shouldn’t book for people you don’t know or receive payment to book on someone else's behalf.

When paying for the taxes and fees on award tickets, American Airlines requires that the name on the credit card match the name of the AAdvantage account holder. Thus, your brother can't use your credit card when booking a ticket using his miles.

Related: Rules on Booking Award Flights for Other People

You can redeem AA miles up to 331 days before departure. Some of AA's partner airlines — like British Airways and Cathay Pacific — make awards available almost one month earlier than this, but that requires booking with those programs.

Related: How Far in Advance Can You Book Airline Award Tickets?

American has one of the most generous hold policies of any frequent flyer program. Members can hold an award for five days if the award is booked more than 14 days before departure. Less than 14 days from departure, members can hold awards for 24 hours. Even within 24 hours of departure, you can get a hold until two hours before departure.

American Airlines no longer charges a close-in-booking fee. In February 2020, American Airlines eliminated its $75 close-in booking fee .

What is this? Some frequent flyer programs charge an extra fee when you book a ticket within 21 days of departure. American Airlines award travel no longer has this fee.

American Airlines no longer charges a fee to book reservations over the phone. Before November 2020 , AA charged a $25 fee to book travel within the U.S. by phone but waived this fee for tickets that couldn't be booked on AA.com. The fee jumped to $35 for international travel, but this is gone also. However, this fee remains in place for cash fares booked over the phone.

The cost to add a lap infant to an AAdvantage award depends on where you're flying:

• International awards: American charges 10% of the cash price of an adult ticket to add a lap infant to your reservation. If you’re flying on a business- or first-class award, 10% of the retail ticket cost can be a lot of money.
• Domestic awards:  Within the U.S. or to Canada, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, there is no additional cost.
• You can add your child to your ticket by calling AA reservations at 800-433-7300. If travel is within the U.S. (including Puerto Rico), you also can add a lap infant online when booking a trip or modifying an existing reservation.

But a caveat: AA will charge the full mileage price if you add an infant at the time of booking. A best practice is to book tickets without the infant on the reservation, and call AA after booking to add the infant. This way, you don't have to redeem more AAdvantage miles than is necessary.

Here’s American Airlines' resource on traveling with children and infants.

Related: These are the best award programs for traveling with a lap infant

American Airlines Award Travel Change and Cancellation Rules

The AAdvantage program really shines with its rules for travel changes and cancellation policy. The airline eliminated change and cancel fees in November 2020 and (re)added the ability to change certain awards in July 2023 .

American Airlines no longer charges a fee to change or cancel an award ticket. Before November 11, 2020, American Airlines charged up to $150 per passenger to change or cancel an award ticket — unless you had Executive Platinum elite status.

Now, you can cancel award tickets and have your miles reinstated free of charge up to one year after the ticket was issued. The latest you can cancel an award ticket is before the first flight in your itinerary departs.

The U.S. Department of Transportation requires airlines serving the U.S. to allow travelers to put itineraries on hold or to change or cancel a ticket for 24 hours after booking without a penalty. American meets the requirement with the (up to) five-day award hold, so it isn't legally required to allow cancellations in the 24-hour grace period.

With that said, American has historically honored requests for free cancellation within 24 hours of booking an award. Please let us know in the comments if your experience is different.

Related: 24-Hour Cancellation Policies for Major U.S. Airlines

AwardWallet tracks all your travel plans automatically (and alerts you to any changes) by importing reservations from your email or connected accounts. The best method for getting all your travel plans into AwardWallet is to link the email you use for reservations.

American Airlines Award Travel Itinerary Rules

American Airlines does not allow free stopovers on award travel. Any connection of 24 hours or more on an international award will result in paying for more than one award ticket.

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have a lot of redemption partners in common. Alaska MileagePlan allows free stopovers as long as you follow a few rules. That combines with the fact there are some awards we recommend booking with Alaska miles instead of American miles .

Yes, you can book one-way awards with American Airlines AAdvantage miles. American typically charges half the price of a round-trip award for one-way itineraries. However, some round-trip Web Special awards will price out cheaper than two one-way awards. And some AA routes will offer a cheaper per-price flight on round-trip bookings than the cost of two one-way awards.

Pro tip: For international tickets, be aware that many countries require proof of onward travel. Thanks to American's generous five-day hold policy, you can create a record locator for a return trip without actually confirming the ticket. If you prefer to have a confirmed reservation, consider booking a fully refundable ticket or using a ticket-rental service like OneWayFly .

American allows open-jaw tickets at both the origin and destination. An open jaw ticket that includes more than one region will be priced as two one-way awards.

If you don't know what we're talking about, check out our beginner’s guide to stopovers and open jaws .

Yes, American allows you to combine partners on an award ticket. Award prices are the same for all partner airlines, so there shouldn't be any extra cost if your flights are operated by more than one carrier.

However, any itineraries including partner-operated flights are ineligible for Web Special pricing. It might be cheaper to book an itinerary that only has AA-operated flights, depending on the route.

American prices its awards according to the highest class of service you book on your itinerary. This differs from some programs like Avianca LifeMiles , which charge a prorated number of miles based on the percentage of your trip in each class. With American, you won't save any miles by booking one flight in economy and other flights in business class.

However, American does not have any rules that prohibit you from booking a ticket with different classes of service (you may see this referred to as a “mixed-cabin award”). This can be a good thing. In some situations, you might not be able to find business- or first-class awards for the entire trip.

For example, if you're flying from Amsterdam (AMS) to Boston (BOS) via New York (JFK), you might find a business-class ticket across the Atlantic, but the short flight from New York to Boston might only be available in economy. You can lock in that award, and if the short flight becomes available in business class, you might be able to upgrade without paying any extra miles.

Most domestic “first-class” awards are treated as business class when you pair them with an international flight. In other words, you won't be charged the first-class price on an international business-class award when you add a domestic flight in AA's domestic first class.

Pro tip: American's mixed-cabin award rules generally work in your favor. But be aware that American will happily charge you the business-class price for itineraries with a 10-hour flight in economy and a 45-minute flight in business class.

Some frequent flyer programs — like All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles — offer a 'round-the-world (RTW) ticket at a discount compared to booking each award flight separately. Trips with stops in more than one award region (as defined here ) are not a strength of the AAdvantage program.

American uses a zone-based award chart, which means that the price of travel between two regions (like Europe and the Continental U.S.) should be consistent, regardless of the specific origin and destination airports. Prague to Los Angeles should cost the same number of miles as Dublin to Boston — even though the former is twice the distance!

However, when your itinerary connects at an airport that is not in the same region as your origin or destination , American Airlines may charge you for each trip separately. For example, if you book a flight directly from Paris to New York, you’ll pay the Europe-to-U.S. price on the award chart. But if you fly from Paris to Doha (in the Middle East region) and then to New York, you’ve transited a “third region”.

As a general rule on award travel booked with American Airlines, you’ll pay more when you transit through a third region. But American has a list of exceptions that don’t require separate awards.

Unless otherwise noted, North America includes the regions of the contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

You can find an in-depth discussion of the third region exceptions for AA award travel in this FlyerTalk forum . However, note that some of the content is outdated.

Itinerary Rules for Complex Award Bookings

The remaining routing rules aren't likely to be a factor for most award bookings. However, if you find yourself unable to book the flights you want online, one of these could be the problem. It's worth noting that American's reservations system is known to make mistakes. If you see a price in miles that is higher than what you expect based on the award chart, check these rules first.

It's also worth noting that few American reservations agents understand these rules (or even know they exist). If the computer says 110,000 miles, that's what the agent will try to charge you. Fortunately, the AAdvantage program does have a process for manually ticketing reservations when the system makes a mistake. If you've checked these advanced rules and the price doesn't look right, ask your agent to check with the rates desk or a supervisor.

American Airlines' general award travel rule is that awards must be booked on a published route. More specifically, the airline that flies you across the ocean (the overwater carrier) needs to sell a ticket between your origin and destination.

Let's take a trip to the Maldives for example. There's no better way to go than in Etihad's Apartments. However, in order to book an AAdvantage award, Etihad has to sell a ticket between your origin and Male (MLE). To confirm this, you'll want to check ExpertFlyer's Fare Information search . If you're unfamiliar with the tool, check out our guide to ExpertFlyer before proceeding further.

While it's not as exact, you also can search the route on Google Flights and see if there's an option to book on Etihad.

If you're departing from a major hub, such as New York City or Los Angeles, you aren't going to have any issues finding a ticket sold by Etihad:

However, there are no published fares on Etihad between Billings, Montana (BIL) and Male:

Thus, you wouldn't be able to book an AAdvantage award on Etihad flights on this route. If you run into this dilemma, it may still be possible to book the ticket depending on the agent who's ticketing the award. Otherwise, you might need to buy a separate “positioning” flight from the smaller airport to a major hub with a published fare to your final destination.

Related: Free Holds, Maximizing Award Regions, Other Tricks for Booking Awards Using AAdvantage Miles

“Maximum Permitted Mileage” is a lovely piece of jargon that means exactly what it says. For each origin and destination, there is a maximum number of miles you can travel. This American Airlines award travel rule relies primarily on the “published route” requirement explained above. However, in cases where your desired award ticket isn't a published route, you may still be able to book it if the itinerary is less than 125% of the MPM.

Unfortunately, the MPM isn't published online. ExpertFlyer members can check the MPM under the “Travel Information” section:

American allows up to two connections (three flight segments) on one-way domestic awards. You can add one more connection (four segments) on one-way international awards.

For round-trip travel, you must follow these same limits in each direction of travel. Your destination is the first stop that lasts more than 24 hours (international) or 4 hours (domestic). If your trip requires more than this limit, American Airlines will charge you for more than one award.

In the past, American Airlines released award availability flight by flight. Say you wanted to fly from Los Angeles (LAX) to Frankfurt (FRA). If you found award availability on a flight from Los Angeles to Dallas–Fort Worth and on a flight from Dallas–Fort Worth to Frankfurt, you could book the award. Likewise, someone just flying from Dallas to Frankfurt also could book an award on just that nonstop flight.

That all changed in late 2017. Instead of releasing award availability by flight, American Airlines now releases award availability by trip . Under these rules, you might only be allowed to book the Dallas to Frankfurt flight if you start in Los Angeles or some other city — but not in Dallas. If you want to start in Dallas, you might need book a connecting flight through Charlotte or Miami on the way to Frankfurt to book the cheapest award. Married segment logic might prohibit booking a nonstop flight from A to B on certain routes.

This irritating way of releasing award availability is referred to as “married segment logic.” That's because the award availability for each individual flight is “married” to the entire itinerary. Put simply, American uses these rules to make the cheapest awards less convenient with the hope of getting you to pay more miles for a nonstop award.

American Airlines AAdvantage miles can be extremely valuable if you know how and when to use them and are aware of the basic rules for award travel. While there is certainly a learning curve for more complex itineraries, there are plenty of awards you can book at a great price with limited experience.

American's policy for putting award tickets on hold is among the most generous of any frequent flyer program. When planning travel that will require more than one type of miles, it's a huge asset to be able to lock in your AAdvantage award for up to five days while you figure out the other parts of your trip.

The rules for changing tickets are another standout feature of this program. American Airlines eliminated award mileage redeposit fees, so you no longer have to pay a fee to cancel an award.

The AAdvantage booking rules are more complex than revenue-based programs like Southwest Rapid Rewards and JetBlue TrueBlue . However, a little extra effort to learn how this program works can pay huge dividends.

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If I use AA miles to book a flight on JAL, is there a fee if I cancel and are the miles redeposited to AA?

Hi Toan, the miles will be redeposited to AA, yes. AA doesn’t charge award cancelation fees on most awards. You can find details on change/cancel fees here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/airline-award-ticket-change-and-cancellation-policies/

If I book an award ticket with miles, use the outbound ticket and then cancel the rest will the return miles be put back into my advantage account?

That’s a good question. I generally book one-way awards (unless the round-trip is cheaper, which it can sometimes be) to avoid this issue. I’d reach out to AA with that question if you’re facing that situation on an already-booked award.

Hello! Please, do you know if Mxp/Mia no stop flight will resume this year? I have advantage miles and I’d like to use them.

Thanks for this very comprehensive breakdown of the AAdvantage program rules, a lot of which I didn’t know. The 5 day hold is very important, as is the ability to cancel more than 60 days out without penalty — might help in making longer term plans, which is what we are all doing now! Thanks again for this post!

HI! How can I use American Airlines miles when booking in Iberia for example?

AA.com does show some results for Iberia, and you should be able to ticket those awards on AA.com. I don’t think AA.com is very reliable for showing you all the Iberia options. You can use a site like ExpertFlyer (paid) for Iberia biz class, or you can use British Airways to find options that AA.com doesn’t show. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, just call AA to use your miles.

Thanks, however I would like to do the opposite. Use the miles I have in AA to but a ticket in Iberia, is it possible?

Yes, that is how I understood your question. You can book a flight on Iberia with AA miles. You need to call AA and they will book you on an Iberia flight if it is available.

Thank you Erik! I’ll try that!

Really very usefull information. Up to some years ago, American Airlines allowed makes a reservation using miles with a free stop. But now, it is not possible to make a reservation with a free stop in the route. Very clear all information. Thanks!!!!

This is a great and complete guide to the Aadvtange rules. Do you have any information on Aadvtange miles redeemed for Latam airlines flights are still honoured? American lost a good partner in South America to earn and redeem miles on short flights in the region. Any thoughts would be welcome!

I can’t find an option in the mileage program that takes into consideration unaccompanied minors.

Thank you Mr. Paquet for a very informative article. As a senior citizen I have had to put my travel plans on hold to vist my grandchildren due to the virus. AwardWallet had notified me that my American award miles would be expiring soon and in browsing through the many blog articles I found yours which was clear and easily understood.

Another reason to like award travel: Canceling award travel is better than canceling a paid ticket in some obvious ways, and one less-obvious way. Canceled award travel tix go back into your mileage account. Canceled regular tickets just sort of disappear, and if you lose the email with the e-ticket, you could easily forget you even are owed a flight.

Thank you Erik for this great article, very useful, great tips! I always have many doubts and feel frustrated when trying to use my miles on the AAdvantage website. This 2020 there were so many changes that it turns even more confusing. Your guide encourages me to redeem my miles once and for all. Well done!

This is VERY helpful, thank you so much for putting all this in one place it’s all I needed. What about LATAM miles now? are they still going to be able to continue adding to the other oneworld companies?

Yes, LATAM is still partnering with most other Oneworld airlines for earning and redeeming flights. It seems LATAM probably didn’t want to leave Oneworld, but needed to because of the joint venture with Delta.

By far one of the most complete and thorough guides to using my awards miles I’ve seen. I’m new to this blog but this sold me on it. Well done!

Thanks for all the information. This article has clarified many doubts I had about the AAdvantage program.

Impressive guide! The free 5-day hold on awards is magical, I used it once to coordinate awards from two different programs and get tickets on the same flight.

So useful as I have miles that will expire in a few weeks and now I can extend them for 18 month.s Thanks!!

I find the married segment logic to be the most frustrating thing about the AAdvantage program. While trying to piece together an itinerary to Spain and Portugal last year, I was blocked at every turn by married segments. Granted, I was trying to book with Iberia Avios, but AA’s married segments were the problem. In the end, the only way I could make it work was to book separate itineraries with STL-ORD through AA and ORD-BCN through IB.

Any news regarding the aliance between AA & Santander rio bank? the expiration miles will be the same?

Hey Nicolas, I’m not very knowledgeable about Santander specifically, but the general rule for any transfer partner is that the miles become subject to the AA rules as soon as they arrive in you account. So if your question is about transferring points to AA, yes they will have the normal AA expiration rules.

I have always found it frustrating that at least half of the agents want to charge you the phone fee when you call in an award that can’t be booked online. Usually it gets cleared up quickly, but once I had an agent that insisted the Terms & Conditions were “wrong” and said it had to be charged.

While I know the industry is moving to dynamic pricing, I find the above AA program to be much easier to wrap your head around. I also use Delta, and it takes me a lot of checking flight after flight to find wide variances. It can be good if you get lucky, or ridiculously high. With the current AA program, you know what you are getting.

Everything is very well explained in order to take “advantage” of my AAdvantage miles. Thank you for this very useful guide!

Guia muy completa sobre premios en AA, excelentemente explicada y muy útil. Muchas gracias.

Defenitely I will use this guide the next time that I book an Aadavantage award

Very interesting guide. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find a space for awards in AA flights. I wish there was more flexibility in AA rules, but it is better and simpler than other airlines anyway. As a tip, it is always possible to book one way tickets separately, so you can actually buy the inbound flight and redeem miles for the outbound flight.

Thank you for this really useful guide, I did not know how many airlines were in one world

Very useful guide about how to use American Advantage miles. Thank you!

This was a very helpful article. I didn’t know that there are so many airlines in the alliance. We need to keep that in mind next time we are booking flights.

Not previusly aware of three flight limit on domestic award travel. Very limiting for me – going from HVN to BUR, my frequent request, is a minimum of 3 segments. HVN-PHL-PHX-BUR. If I cannot get on the PHL-PHX segment, I can’t travel.

Great info! Nice to have them all compiled on one post. Thanks!

This is a great breakdown of their rules. Thank you.

So sad that there’s no more stopovers on AA awards!

AA removed stopovers back in 2014. Thankfully there are still plenty of programs that offer stopovers! We list them all here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/beginners-guide-stopover-open-jaw/

They removed them in 2014 🙁

Thanks so much for putting all this in one place!

Thanks you for this full report on booking AA using miles. This is very useful!

Great tips!!! They once tried to charge me the fee for booking by phone when it was a promo that couldnt be booked by the web AA.com. Next time i will insist with different agents.

Possibly the most comprehensive post ever on AA Awards. Excellent & very informative. I did not now there was a service for obtaining a PRN for ongoing one way tickets.

I have AAdvantage, and thanks to him I was able to travel to the Perito Moreno Glacier with all my family. It is a very advantageous program. It is always good to review the rules, because I learn something new. Thank you

Thank you for this great reference article. I find that AA miles are very important to my award travel. So this information is very important to me.

Thank you. I found this a great guide to using AA rewards. The pro tips are really helpful – particularly the 5 day hold to help waiving fees

Great guide, bookmarked! thanks!

The one thing that really upsets me is the lack of flexibility between Advantage and AVIOS when these airlines are supposed to operate under One World

No living in Spain, I continued to log all my Iberia flights onto AA to find that I lost a huge benefit

I asked AA to reverse the awards so I could post to Iberia (who were open to this) – no chance.

I have been Exec Platinum and member since 1990 – customer service on this was poor

I am so glad they got rid of the close on fee that never made sense. Good in depth review of all the rules.

Many airlines have been removing a lot of fees and surcharges lately. That’s wonderful.

I just found out that they are not charging the $75 for close in according to this article. Finally they are starting to get rid of fees instead of charging for every little thing. Maybe they will get rid of baggage fees to attract more people to fly with them.

Definitely some positives recently! Another fee AA is getting rid of: starting July 1, you can change/cancel an award ticket 60+ days to departure with no fees.

It is fantastic that most partner awards can be booked online now. Let’s hope that the pandemic will be over soon.

I wonder if they’ll make any third region exceptions now that Royal Air Maroc has joined OW. I’m thinking of N America to the Middle East via Africa. That might come in handy for some if any of the Middle Eastern partners doesn’t have space available or if the flight schedules are better using RAM.

They got around having to add more third-region exceptions like that by moving Morocco to Europe! https://awardwallet.com/blog/aa-aadvantage-moves-morocco-europe/

If AA has the power to to move Morocco to Europe, can we put in a request to move the Himalayas to somewhere in the American Midwest? Would like them to be a nice day trip.

Wouldn’t that be nice?! I’d love to fly Qatar biz to the Himalayas for the cost of a domestic flight!

so useful! I’d refer to this if I need to book AA awards

American AAdvantage is one of my favorite frequent flyer programs. Thank you very much for the information. Unfortunately, as of August, it will not add miles with Santander Argentina. We will have to find new ways to continue accumulating miles, especially in this time when you cannot travel.

Really nice bookmarkable post. Thanks.

Good and informative post! I have about 80k miles i need to use but this article has helped me with some tips on how to book! American Airlines has been bad in the past so hope with these changes they have recently made, they stick to it

Good post to know all the options in the Program AA Awards, and how to maximize the use of miles Thank you Team AW

Another super helpful, easy to follow guide. Thanks, AW team!

Good guide! to understand the AA Awards travel rules!! Thank you

Miles and points are my favorite currency

What You Need to Know When Booking American Airlines Award Tickets

Advertiser disclosure: The Miles Genie has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products.  The Miles Genie and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Editorial disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analyses, and recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.

Have you ever tried to book an American Airlines award ticket with AAdvantage miles only to have sticker shock when the redemption price is higher than expected? I’ll explain why the redemption price you’re seeing when running a search for an award ticket may not match the redemption price that is published on American Airlines AAdvantage’s award chart.

This post is actually one of the first posts ever on this blog, but I update it anytime the AAdvantage program makes changes that could affect award travel. I originally wrote this post after I received a message from someone who was looking for flights to and from Brazil.  Her question was about how to get flights on American Airlines without redeeming over 100,000 miles for a round trip ticket in economy.  I realized I needed to explain different types of award ticket pricing, as well as award seat availability.

According to the AA award chart , a flight between the continental US and Brazil (South America zone 2) requires 30,000 AAdvantage miles each way for a milesAAver ticket.  The reason there were no tickets for 30,000 AAdvantage miles each way was because no saver level tickets were available.  

In this post, I’ll explain why saver level tickets (and web specials, sometimes) are the only award tickets you should be booking with AAdvantage miles*. I’ll also explain why AAdvantage miles may not be the best award currency to collect even if you only fly American Airlines. This post will specifically address the AAdvantage program, but several other airline programs have the same method of pricing award tickets.

*Update: AA now has an additional type of award ticket called a web special. Redemption prices for Web specials may be priced even lower than a milesAAver ticket. Web specials can only be booked with AAdvantage miles. You cannot use a partner program’s miles to book a web special. More on that a little later.

Overview of American Airlines AAdvantage program

How to earn aadvantage miles.

• Welcome bonuses on AAdvantage co-branded credit cards
• Spend on AAdvantage co-branded credit cards
• Making purchases through the AAdvantage  shopping portal
• You can earn miles the old fashioned way which is actually flying on a paid ticket (also known as butt-in-seat miles)
• AA is not a direct transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards BUT you can still book AA flights indirectly. Bonus: depending on the route, you may use less miles and points by booking using British Airways Avios and other partners.

AAdvantage Partners

• American Airlines is part of the Oneworld Alliance

• Air Tahiti Nui 
• Cape Air 
• China Southern Airlines 
• Etihad Airways 
• Fiji Airways 
• GOL Airlines 
• Hawaiian Airlines *
• Interjet 
• Seaborne Virgin Islands 

*You cannot use AAdvantage miles to book flights from the US mainland to Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines.  You can use AAdvantage miles to book flights between Hawaii and Asia or the South Pacific, or for Hawaiian inter-island routes on Hawaiian Airlines

This means you can use AAdvantage miles to book flights operated by these airlines.  Likewise, you can use the loyalty program of most of these airlines to book flights operated by American Airlines.

How many American Airlines AAdvantage miles do I need for an award ticket?

Unlike Delta and United, American Airlines publishes its award charts, which makes it easy to get an idea of how many AAdvantage miles you need for an award ticket.

For all award flights, AAdvantage has a region based (also called zone-based) pricing model. The entire world is divided into regions/zones and a fixed number of miles is required for travel from zone A to zone B.

This type of pricing model is different than that of some other programs we discuss on this site. For example, we often use the frequent flyer program of British Airways to book American Airlines flights. When we do this, the pricing is different because British Airways determines the redemption price and British Airways uses a distance based model.

With AAdvantage, the region based pricing means that the amount of miles required for a MilesAAver ticket from New York (contiguous 48 US states) to Cancun (Mexico) is the amount of miles required for a MilesAAver flight from DFW (contiguous 48 US states) to Cancun (Mexico). With British Airways, the redemption price could be different since the DFW to Cancun flight is a much shorter distance than a New York to Mexico route. Click here for more information about the different types of award ticket pricing.

AAdvantage has different pricing for award tickets operated by partner airlines, though the pricing type is still region based. I’ll discuss both scenarios.

Redeeming AAdvantage miles for partner airlines

For flights operated by partner airlines, you can refer to the partner award chart , which is pretty simple. There is only one price for each level of service (economy, premium economy, business, and first).

Note that there are off peak dates on US-Europe routes operated by partner airlines and those dates are January 10 – March 14 and November 1 – December 14.

These prices are similar to that of the milesAAver redemption prices for flights operated by AA, but remember, partner award flights are subject to availability and I’ll discuss that a little later.

Important update about partner availability: you can still use AA.com to search, but the search engine now looks different and it is sometimes tough to distinguish MilesAAver tickets from other types of AA tickets. The best way to search for AA availability to book with partner miles such as Etihad or British Airways is now with Qantas. I suggest searching Qantas (but don’t pay attention to pricing) to find space rather than trying to figure out what’s a saver ticket and what isn’t on AA. Click here for instructions .

Redeeming AAdvantage miles for flights operated by American Airlines

For flights operated by American Airlines, AAdvantage offers 2 types of award tickets in each class (economy, premium economy, business, and first). In the AAdvantage program these are called MileSAAver and AAnytime awards.  There are actually 2 tiers of AAnytime awards, but that is kind of irrelevant and I’ll explain why.

When you are looking at AAdvantage award charts for flights operated by American Airlines, you will see 4 different charts, 1 for each class of service:

• Premium Economy

Each chart has 3 tiers of pricing, with the exception of main cabin (economy), which also has off-peak MilesAAver pricing. The 3 tiers are MilesAAver, AAnytime Level 1, and AAnytime Level 2.

Also, there’s this sentence on AA’s website suggesting redemption prices could occasionally get even higher for AAnytime tickets: “AAnytime award levels vary by date and region. There are select dates that require a higher number of miles (in addition to Level 1 and 2 awards). When you search for awards while booking, you’ll see the applicable award level.”

Award seat inventory

To understand the difference between MilesAAver and AAnytime tickets, it may help if I explain award seat inventory.

With the exception of fare based pricing models such as Southwest Rapid Rewards, most airlines allocate a set amount of award seats for any given flight. Most airlines do not have an unlimited amount of award space on any given flight.  In other words, just because you see that 50 seats are available on a flight, it does not mean that 50 seats are available to book with miles.

The amount of seats varies and every airline has a different way of doing this, but this post will turn into a novel if I try to get into all of that. The point I’m trying to make is that airlines do not make every seat available to book with miles.

A good way to think about the American Airlines AAdvantage program is that the milesAAver level is their award seat inventory. These are also going to be the seats made available to book with partner programs. In other words, if you’re trying to book an AA flight with the programs of British Airways or Iberia as we often do , AA must have milesAAver availability.

For some airlines, once that award seat inventory is booked, you’re kind of out of luck. Then there are some airlines that will still let you book, but at a higher redemption price. American Airlines actually still lets you book a ticket on AA operated flights (it cannot be a partner flight) even if milesAAver seats are not available. These are the ‘AAnytime’ awards and as you can see in the chart above and the photo below, they require a lot of AAdvantage miles.  Sometimes twice as much as sAAver tickets.

The AAnytime awards are almost always available to book on any given route that is operated by American Airlines

A mileSAAver ticket from the US to Brazil in economy is 30k each way.  There is no milesAAver space on this particular route for these dates, so you are looking at the AAnytime award prices.  AAnytime awards generally cost so many miles that it’s a horrible value for your points/miles.  

So, when you see an AAnytime award, AA is basically saying ‘we have no award seats available but we will still give it to you if you’re willing to redeem a ridiculous amount of miles’. When you’re looking for award space on AA, it is generally only a good value for your miles  if there is mileSAAver space (or a Web Special) available.

If you do not see the tickets you need at first, keep checking.  American Airlines will sometimes randomly release extra award space, but there’s no way to predict if and when it will happen.

Different airlines release different amounts of award space.  Also, every airline releases award seats at different times, so it is a little tough to predict when the best time is to search for availability.  With that said, I always recommend starting your search as far out from your travel date as possible.   It helps to be a little flexible on your dates, but I realize that is not always possible for everyone.

In the past year, AA has rolled out one more type of award ticket: Web Special awards

Recently, AA has introduced a new type of award ticket called web specials. Web specials are award tickets that are priced differently than what is published on AA’s award charts for milesAAver and AAnytime tickets. Sometimes web specials are great deals and they are often priced lower than a milesAAver ticket on the same route. Web specials are exclusive to AAdvantage. You cannot use partner miles (such as British Airways or Iberia) to book web specials unless the seat is also available as a milesAAver ticket.

Web Specials are often great deals, but there is a catch: no changes are allowed. You can cancel and have your miles redeposited, but a fee may apply.

How to book award flights with AAdvantage miles:

For flights operated by AA and most partners, you can search for availability and redeem AAdvantage miles at AA.com :

• American Airlines
• Air Tahiti Nui
• Alaska Airlines
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Fiji Airways
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas Airways
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian Airlines
• S7 Airlines
• Seaborne Virgin Islands
• SriLankan Airlines

To redeem AAdvantage miles on these carriers, you have to call the reservations department:

Fees that you may have to pay for American Airlines AAdvantage award tickets:

• Phone booking fee: $25-35, but if you are booking a ticket with a partner that cannot be booked online, this fee is waived.
• Changing an award ticket: no fee within North America as long as the origin, destination, and ticket type (economy, etc) remain the same
• Canceling an award ticket: The charge to reinstate miles is $150 per ticket

NEW: Through the rest of 2020, due to the pandemic, AA is waiving change and cancel fees for most award travel. Award tickets booked after January 1, 2021 continue to have more lenient change and cancel policies than in the past, but some fees may apply. You can read all of the terms here .

Can I upgrade from an economy milesAAver ticket to a business milesAAver ticket if it becomes available?

Technically, this is a redeposit ($150 fee), but some agents will allow you to change from an economy milesAAver ticket to a business milesAAver ticket without making you pay the fee.  Some agents will charge only the difference in miles.  This is only possible IF a milesAAver ticket becomes available.

If you switch from a milesAAver to any AAnytime ticket or vice versa, you will most likely be charged the redeposit fee. Again, agents have some discretion, so you could try to hang up and call again if you don’t like the first answer 🙂

Again, for the remainder of 2020, most fees that would normally apply are waived.

A few tips for booking American Airlines award tickets:

Look for availability patterns .  If you have a trip in mind, I suggest searching availability periodically even if you do not know your dates.  This may give you a general idea of their availability patterns.  For example, when I was searching for tickets to Brazil as mentioned at the beginning of this post, I noticed that there is generally good economy milesAAver award ticket availability any time of the year except for the months of December and January.  Checking for availability patterns in the early phase of trip planning may help you figure out dates that work best for your schedule and for award ticket availability!

Don’t forget about partners that aren’t bookable on AA’s website.  For example, LATAM (a South American carrier) is an AA partner, but those flights cannot be booked online with AAdvantage miles.  If you do an award search on AA, LATAM will not show up as an option even if it’s available.  The best way to check availability for LATAM flights is on the British Airways website.  If you find award availability on LATAM on the British Airways website, you can call AA and book the LATAM flight with AAdvantage miles.

There is no magic trick to make American Airlines release more award seats.  But here are a few more tips:

• If you have transferable points such as American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, you aren’t limited to American Airlines and Oneworld partners.  Check other airlines that partner with American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards.
• Start your search as early as possible.  You’re a lot more likely to find tickets if you are 6 months out vs. 2 months out.
• Check alternate dates if possible
• Consider flying into/out of other cities.  For example, if Dallas to Paris is not available, try Dallas to another European city.  Then either take a train or a cheap intra-Europe flight to Paris.
• Wait it out.  This is risky, but sometimes airlines open more space as the departure date approaches.

You can book flights operated by American Airlines with several partner airline loyalty programs

You do not necessarily have to have AAdvantage miles to book an American Airlines flight.  Frequent flyer miles with partner programs, such as British Airways and Etihad, can be used to book flights operated American Airlines flights as long as milesAAver award tickets are available.

This is important because it is how we are able to book American Airlines flights with transferable points such as Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Amex Membership Rewards points.

Here are instructions for booking American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios (miles). As always, never transfer points from Ultimate Rewards, American Express, etc., until you have confirmed availability for your dates.

Why I generally do not use credit cards that earn American Airlines miles

I fly American Airlines quite a bit since DFW, an AA hub, is my home airport.  I generally do not use AAdvantage co-branded credit cards for everyday spending, though.  Here are my main reasons:

• I prefer flexible (transferable) points such as American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards.  That way, I have several airline transfer options when I am ready to redeem my points.
• I can book AA flights by transferring American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards to partner airline programs.  Neither of these directly transfer to American Airlines, but they transfer to programs that I can use to book AA flights.
• American Airlines can be stingy with ‘SAAver’ award ticket availability, particularly in international business and first class.  If the only miles I have are with American Airlines and there is no availability on AA or its partners for my date and routes, I have no other options.  But with transferable points such as Chase UR and Amex MR, I can check other airlines for availability.
• When award tickets are available on American Airlines, some of their routes require less miles if you book the flight with miles from a partner.  For example, AAdvantage requires 57,500 AAdvantage miles each way in business class from the US to Europe.  Etihad, a non-alliance partner of American Airlines, currently requires 50,000 Etihad miles each way on the exact same American Airlines flight . I can transfer 50,000 Amex MR points to Etihad and then use the Etihad miles to book the American Airlines flight.

Earn 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points

No matter what your travel goals are, opening a Chase Sapphire Preferred should be your top priority.  The welcome bonus is worth at least $750 in travel, the annual fee is reasonable, and the rewards (Chase Ultimate Rewards) are easy to earn and redeem.

Current offer:  Earn 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.

Check out our list of 36 Ultimate Rewards redemption ideas !

As of August 16, bonus categories have been added and/or improved!

• Earn 5 points per dollar on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Earn 2 points per dollar on other travel purchases
• Instead of the old earn rate of 2, you can now earn 3 points per dollar on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout)
• 3 points per dollar on online grocery purchases (this excludes Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• 3 points per dollar on select streaming services
• Earn 1 point per dollar on all other purchases

Also, receive credit of up to $50 annually on hotel stays purchased through Ultimate Rewards. New cardmembers will receive this credit immediately and existing cardmembers will start earning after the next anniversary.

Each anniversary, you’ll receive bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made the previous year. This excludes any sign up bonus points, so it’s only on points earned from spending.

The annual fee is $95, but the welcome offer alone is worth a lot more than that.

Related: 3 ways to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for American Airlines flights

If you already have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, click here for other Chase and Amex cards that earn rewards that I feel are more valuable than AAdvantage miles.

Are you an American Airlines AAdvantage loyalist?

I get it, I am too, but it doesn’t mean you should only collect AAdvantage miles. Overall, the American Airlines AAdvantage program and award chart is decent (for milesAAver tickets).  There are some great routes for AAdvantage miles if you can find saver availability. For example, you can book a roundtrip award ticket to Italy for 45,000-60,000 miles (depending on peak and off-peak dates).

As I stated above, I prefer to earn flexible points that can be transferred to several different airlines and hotels.  If you only use an AAdvantage credit card to collect miles, you are limited to American Airlines and its partners when it’s time to redeem.

With that said, AAdvantage credit cards should not be overlooked when it comes to the best cards for benefits, especially if you frequently fly AA.

Is an AAdvantage credit card right for you?

If you fly AA more than twice a year, it may be a good idea to open an AAdvantage card.  First of all, the welcome bonus on American Airlines co-branded credit cards is often 50,000-60,000 AAdvantage miles.  After the first year, keeping an AAdvantage card provides benefits that may outweigh the annual fee, even if you do not use it for everyday spending.

There are two banks that issue AAdvantage credit cards, Citi and Barclay.  Since neither of these are issued by Chase, you should make sure you have the Chase 5/24 cards you want prior to opening one of the AAdvantage cards.  You can read more about that here .

I keep an AAdvantage co-branded credit card open year after year despite the fact that it has a $99 annual fee.  I rarely use it for purchases.  In fact, I don’t even use it for American Airlines tickets. Instead, I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve for the trip protection benefits. My AA card sits in a folder in our safe with my other “sock drawer credit cards.”  I only keep it for the perks.

• First of all, it allows free checked bags for up to 4 people on my reservation.  American Airlines raised its baggage fees for travel in the US and Caribbean to $30 each way (up from $25).  If Ryan and I fly once a year and each check a bag, that would cost $60 roundtrip for each of us or $120 total.  We usually try to carry on our luggage , but for some trips such as a ski trip or a trip with our kids , it’s nice to check bags for free.
• By having this card, we also get a higher boarding group.  This means that if we do not check bags, we will be able to board the plane while there is still room in the overhead bins for our carry on baggage!
• I get access to reduced mileage awards .

Final Thoughts

Here are step-by-step instructions on searching for milesaaver availability .  Award space availability at the saver level is essential for maximizing credit card miles and points.  This is true for any airline program, not just AAdvantage.

Using an airline’s credit card may not be my favorite for everyday spending, but airline credit cards are great for welcome bonuses and benefits.  Opening an AAdvantage card is a great way to earn a free flight to places like Europe and South America!  For everyday spending, there are other cards to consider.  Now is a great time to open the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The welcome bonus is currently 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Advertiser disclosure:  The Miles Genie has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products.  The Miles Genie and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Comments below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

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25 thoughts on “what you need to know when booking american airlines award tickets”.

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Can you buy an anytime award ticket in business with lots of miles, and if a mile saver appears swap out and get a refund of miles with no penalty?

Also, can you buy a business milesaver award with high BA/LHR charges and fees, and swap out if a better connection opens with low taxes and fees and get a money refund?

Great questions! I might need to address this in a post! The official policy is that you would have to pay the redeposit fee of $150 to get the difference of the miles refunded, but a phone agent may be able to waive that. I’ve seen many reports of AA not charging anything on a MilesAAver economy ticket that is changed to a MilesAAver business ticket (except the extra miles of course), but I am not sure about changing AAnytime tickets to MilesAAver.

You are supposed to receive a refund of fuel surcharges if you change. I don’t have any personal experience but I know when I looked into this not too long ago there were several reports of people fighting AA to get fuel surcharges refunded in this situation. So to answer the question, yes you should be refunded, but it may be a pain and require several phone calls to receive the refund!

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Wow, great post! I’m currently trying to learn the ins and outs of americans program before i call and book our outbound flight for my honeymoon and this almost everything i needed!

Awesome! Email me if you have any other questions!

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Thanks for a clear and succinct wrap up for using AA miles. Can I use AA points for inter-island travel on Fiji Airways…i.e. NAN-TVU.

Yes, you can. I believe the cost is 5,000 miles for inter-island Fiji flights. Fiji Airways now shows up on AA.com, so you should be able to book Fiji Airways with AA miles without having to call.

I fly quite quite often between the US and Korea (& Japan). In checking aa.com, Business/First MileSAAver seats are NEVER available between ICN and DFW (that option is grayed out every day between now and 1 year out) and I can only book Business/First AAnytime awards. Is this normal policy for AA (and/or other airlines) to simply not make business class saver award seats available without any announcement? If I had known this would be their policy I would have spent my money flying United instead since they do offer business class saver award seats between ICN and SFO…

It’s so frustrating! I noticed about a month ago that AA was doing this with business class seats on routes between DFW and Tokyo, too. Don’t expect announcements about this sort of thing from any airline. Technically, AA isn’t obligated to release any MilesAAver seats, but is it a good way to treat AAdvantage members? Absolutely not. Same goes for other airlines. A while back, AA promised to make more saver seats available system-wide. Not sure they’ve lived up to that.

Japan Airlines is a Oneworld partner, though. That may not help for Korea, but for Japan, JAL has better availability than AA. JAL space will not show up on AA.com. You have to call AA to book. The best way to search for JAL space would be to use British Airways Executive Club or Japan Airlines website.

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I can’t get the search to show anything about reward type. It just shows different mile amounts for the different flights. How do I get the view shown above? Advanced search doesn’t do anything different.

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Mileage Plan 101: The basics of booking award travel

• February 13, 2016
• Halley Knigge, Staff Writer
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Earning Mileage Plan miles is as easy as addi­­ng your member number to your ticket or when booking with Mileage Plan partners. Redeeming miles is just as easy, but if you’ve never done it before, you might not know where to start. Fortunately Alaska’s easy online search tool can find and book almost any Mileage Plan award ticket, including partner awards, and these tips will help you improve on the results.

(Look out for a future post that discusses international partner awards in more detail.)

Award Charts and Availability

Even during holiday periods and for popular destinations, you will be able to find award space. Mileage Plan has several different award levels , including “refundable” awards with access to the last seat on the plane.

For destinations served by Alaska Airlines, one-way awards start between 5,000 and 12,500 miles depending on length of trip. Refundable awards cost more, but as long as one seat is available for cash, you can still book it and even change or cancel your ticket without penalty.

Sample award levels on Alaska Airlines for travel within the lower 48 states, Alaska, and Canada. You can also redeem miles to receive a discount off a regular ticket.

You can mix and match awards to find the best price and availability. For example, you might book a discounted award at 12,500 miles in one direction and a refundable award at 30,000 miles in the reverse direction if you want the flexibility to lengthen or change your departure date or city.

Partner Airlines

Alaska’s Mileage Plan offers award travel on more than 15 different partner airlines, which can help you reach more destinations in the U.S. as well as international markets that aren’t served by Alaska Airlines – for a total of 900 destinations worldwide .

Each partner has its own award chart. For example, flying to Europe on Icelandair might cost more or fewer miles than if you were to fly with British Airways or American Airlines. You can’t mix and match different partners on the same award, but you do have the option of booking a different partner in each direction. Connecting flights on Alaska is also permitted.

Fees and Taxes

All travel comes with some government taxes and mandatory fees. These start at $11.20 for a round-trip domestic ticket but can be higher, particularly for international travel. Alaska Airlines will collect these fees in addition to the miles you redeem.

Some additional fees apply to partner awards. Each traveler must pay $12.50 in each direction or $25 for round-trip travel. There may also be carrier surcharges if you fly on British Airways or Icelandair. Finally, booking an award by phone requires an additional $15, but most travel can be booked online to avoid this fee.

Alaska doesn’t collect any fees if you change or cancel an award 60 days or more before departure. The cost is $125 per person within 60 days, but this is waived if you booked a refundable award or if you have MVP Gold or 75K elite status.

When to Book

An airline might release some seats early on when it publishes its schedule, typically 330 days before departure. A more likely scenario is that a few seats appear between two and six months before a flight. Availability changes constantly, so check back frequently!

Book separate one-way awards if you can’t immediately find the space you need in both directions. However, you might have to pay two fees to change or cancel each award if something better appears.

Gutsy travelers could wait until the last minute. During the last week or two many airlines have a good estimate of how many seats will be sold and how many will be empty, releasing additional award space. Fortunately, the tips provided here should help you book the right award with less effort.

A more in-depth post about the companion pass would be very useful. Particularly, I have the same issue with redeeming mine. I wasn’t aware that I can use it even if I’m not flying. That is a great tip, thanks Scott!

Thank you for a very informative piece. May I use Alaska miles to book trips between airports outside the US?

I have been attempting to search for tickets to Europe on a partner airline but keep getting an error that your site is experiencing technical difficulties and to try back later. I have tried for several days at different times of the day. I can occasionally get information on one set of dates but then if I try to search different dates or another partner airline I start getting that message. Any suggestions?

Hi Diana – we are looking into this!

What is the best way to use the companion ticket we get once a year. I always send it waste. Never use it.

My favorite way to use the discounted companion fare ($99 plus tax) is for travel to Hawaii. These fares can be $400 or more from Seattle but are sometimes $600 or more if it’s during the winter and I don’t plan in advance. Fortunately the companion still pays just $99 plus tax. So if it’s a $600 ticket for me and $99 for my wife, then it’s like paying $350 per person on average.

You can use the companion fare on any itinerary operated by Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air, including one-way flights, but expensive trips like this example are going to be the best deal. Sometimes short flights can be expensive, too. In general, the companion fare is a good deal for any ticket that costs more than $200.

If you can’t fly, that doesn’t mean the companion fare is wasted. You can use your credit card to purchase a reservation for two other people even if you aren’t one of the travelers.

Finally, remember that you can upgrade and earn miles on flights purchased with the companion fare. You can choose to buy a more expensive fare that is eligible for an MVP Gold Guest upgrade, or an instant upgrade on full fare tickets. The companion still pays just $99 + tax and can also request an upgrade.

Award travel on some partners (like Cathay Pacific) can only be booked through Alaska’s call center, not online. Is the $15 phone booking fee waivable for award travel on those partner airlines?

Hi Adam – the booking fee still applies.

How does one use partner airlines in booking with Alaska Air? Do you start at the Partner Airline Site and then add to Alaska, or the other way around? Thanks looking to travel from St.Louis to Sarasota FL

You’ll want to use the Alaska Airlines website or call Alaska Airlines if you’ll be using their miles. The partner only makes the award space available to Alaska, which can find it for you. Almost all partners display their award space on the Alaska Airlines website, so you can just search from Seattle to London, for example, and find flights operated by British Airways. The two exceptions are for travel on LAN and Cathay Pacific. Alaska Airlines representatives can still find this award space by phone, but it is not displayed on Alaska’s website.

I was on flight from PDX to Los Angles on January 29, 2016, that I was not given miles. Please see that it is credited to me. My name is Ralph Y Morgan, don 6/12/41. Thanks

Hi Ralph – this has now been credited to your account! (I removed your MP number from your comment.) Thanks, Halley.

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MileagePlus Air Awards

Now you can combine money and miles to book a flight. Search for a flight using money, choose Money + Miles as your payment method and select how many MileagePlus ® miles you want to use. Then, cover the rest of the cost with money. It’s that easy. Book now >

Traveling on an award ticket is not one-size-fits-all. You have the flexibility to choose the award type and class of service that suits your needs. All United awards are one-way, which means you can also choose a different class of service for each direction.

Pick the class of service you want, when you want. Maybe you need personal workspace on your outbound trip or want to start your vacation in style. You can travel outbound in one class and return in a different class. It’s your choice.

Book your award ticket now

Browse featured awards

Learn more about our broader range of award prices

Last Seat Availability Benefit

MileagePlus members can book awards without capacity controls on flights operated by United and United Express. If a seat is available, members have unrestricted access to book an award, even if it's the last seat on the plane.

Excursionist Perk

The Excursionist Perk is a free one-way award within select multi-city itineraries. Members who book an itinerary with three or more one-way awards will be eligible to receive one of those one-way awards for free if it meets all of these conditions:

• The Excursionist Perk cannot be in the MileagePlus defined region where your travel originates. (For example, if your journey begins in North America, you will only receive the Excursionist Perk if travel is within a region outside of North America.)
• Travel must end in the same MileagePlus defined region where travel originates.
• The origin and destination of the Excursionist Perk are within a single MileagePlus defined region.
• The cabin of service and award inventory of the free one-way award is the same or lower than the one-way award preceding it.
• If two or more one-way awards qualify for this benefit, only the first occurrence will be free.

Examples of award itineraries in United Economy ® :

United air travel award rules

• Awards have limited availability and are subject to capacity controls.
• MileagePlus members have access to last-seat availability for awards on United- and United Express-operated flights when redeeming miles to book award travel.
• Most travel award itineraries may be booked at united.com. Certain travel awards, such as flights operated by certain carriers, may only be booked over the phone with your local United Customer Contact Center. An award booking service fee will apply to all bookings made over the phone, regardless of whether it is possible to be booked at united.com. Please see the award fee chart for more details.
• Different cabins may be combined to create a single roundtrip award. Awards may not be combined or used with any other air travel certificate, discount coupon, premium offer or specific promotional fares.
• You can also book a one-way award if you wish to travel one way. If you redeem a roundtrip award and only travel one-way, the unused portion of the award will be forfeited.
• The origin and destination of the Excursionist Perk is within a single MileagePlus defined region.
• Only the first occurrence will be free if two or more one-way awards qualify for this benefit.
• Economy awards may be exchanged for a higher cabin, if available, for the difference in mileage and applicable award change fee. Travel awards may not be used in conjunction with promotional upgrades or MileagePlus Upgrade Awards.
• Travel awards are not eligible for mileage accrual with MileagePlus or any other loyalty program.
• Starting on January 1, 2023, travel awards booked using MileagePlus miles for award flights operated by United or United Express are eligible to earn Premier ® qualifying credits. Eligible award flights will earn 1 PQP per 100 miles redeemed, as well as 1 PQF earned per United or United Express flight. Visit the Premier Status Qualification page for more information on how to qualify for status.
• Waitlisting for travel awards is permitted in premium cabins on flights operated by United, and will be automatically confirmed, if the waitlisted cabin is available, based on the status of the account holder.
• Waitlisting may be requested for travel in a premium cabin up to 24 hours before flight departure. If the waitlist does not clear, you will automatically be added to the airport standby list upon check-in.
• Waitlisting for certain inventory types is not permitted.
• Connecting flights: Customers may waitlist on only one leg of the connecting flights and the flight must meet the required minimum connecting time.
• Nonstop flights: Customers can waitlist on only one flight per direction. Alternate dates and times are allowed.
• You may use miles for travel in United First ® , United Business ® or United Polaris ® business class, even if the space is not available. In these cases, United Economy in the same award type must be confirmed, and the front cabin will be waitlisted. If the courtesy waitlist does not clear, it will expire 24 hours before itinerary departure, and you will automatically be added to the airport upgrade standby list upon check-in. In these cases, you will be confirmed on a space-available basis by a United airport representative at the gate once the flight has closed for check-in. For United Polaris business class and United Business travel awards, the difference in miles will be refunded when the United Polaris business class or United Business class segment of the trip cannot be confirmed. Waitlist requests may only be made over the phone with your local United Customer Contact Center.
• Flight changes, including standby, may be made on the day of departure in accordance with the Same-Day Change Policy . All other itinerary changes may be subject to the applicable change fees, depending on geography and status level, and may require additional mileage. Please see the award fee chart for more details.
• Wholly unused or canceled MileagePlus awards may be re-deposited back to the account from which the miles were withdrawn. Award re-deposits are subject to applicable fees. Please see the award fee chart for more details.
• There is a $125 redeposit fee for members who do not show up for their flight and request a redeposit of their miles. This fee applies to all members.
• MileagePlus travel awards have no cash value except for applicable taxes, fees and surcharges. Requests for refund of taxes should be sent to refund accounting.
• Award tickets are valid one year from original date of issue. All travel must begin within one year from the original ticket issue date.
• United, United Express and Copa Airlines do not have any restricted travel dates for MileagePlus awards; however, some partners may have restricted travel dates.
• Pricing for award travel is determined by the city pair between which you wish to travel on a single award. Each city pair is part of an award region per one-way basis. Please see our interactive award chart for award regions.
• MileagePlus members are responsible for all applicable federal inspection fees, terminal facility fees, customs and immigration fees, infant tickets (when required for children under two years of age) and any other fees or surcharges applicable to award travel. Fees and surcharges must be paid by credit card only at the time the MileagePlus award is ticketed. Also, some international departure fees are due at the airport, payable in cash only.
• Once an airline ticket is issued, the passenger's name on the ticket may not be changed, and the ticket may not be used by anyone else. A name change requires that you redeposit the award for a service fee (payable by credit card only) and request a new award in the appropriate name.
• MileagePlus awards and mileage in your MileagePlus account may not be sold, bartered, traded, exchanged or purchased, except under programs fully authorized and/or sponsored by United Airlines. Awards and mileage obtained in violation of this rule will be void and confiscated. A violation of this rule may result in the termination of your MileagePlus membership and forfeiture of all mileage in your account. If a person other than the MileagePlus member or the person named on the reward attempts to use the award, it will be void and travel will be denied. Altered awards are also void. Awards deemed void will be confiscated and the mileage forfeited by the member. At the discretion of MileagePlus, actions which result in a void award may lead to membership termination and forfeiture of all mileage.
• In the event of a flight delay or cancellation, you will be re-routed on the first available flight in accordance with Our United Customer Commitment . Some partners may have different policies for re-accommodation during irregular operations.
• If you elect to travel in a lower class of service than specified by your award, you will not receive a mileage adjustment.
• All tax liability associated with the MileagePlus program and with the receipt and use of MileagePlus awards, including income tax, is the responsibility of the customer.
• If you fail to comply with the MileagePlus award rules, at United Airlines' sole discretion, you may be accommodated on a different flight than originally selected, seated in a lower class of service, denied ticketing or boarding, or be subject to other action as provided under the "Mileage or Award Abuse" provision herein. Travel on United Airlines or MileagePlus airline partners is subject to the filed tariffs and standard contract of carriage of the specific carrier.

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What You Need to Reach Medallion Status

In-page links.

• 2024 MQD Thresholds for 2025 Status , Go to footer note
• Earn Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) , Go to footer note
• MQD Boost & MQD Headstart , Go to footer note
• How the Medallion Year Works , Go to footer note
• One-Time Rollover MQM Conversion , Go to footer note

2024 MQD Thresholds for 2025 Status

Below are the thresholds to earn toward 2025 Status. As a reminder, MQDs will reset each calendar year. 

Earn Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs)

Delta & partner flights.

Slide 1 of 3 Earn $1 MQD per $1* spent on the ticket price for a Delta-marketed flight operated by Delta or by one of our partner airlines.

Delta SkyMiles® Amex Cards

Slide 2 of 3 Get closer to Status next Medallion® Year with MQD Headstart and MQD Boost: receive $2,500 MQDs each Medallion Qualification Year and earn MQDs on purchases with your Delta SkyMiles® Platinum, Platinum Business, Reserve and Reserve Business American Express Card.

Delta Vacations®

Slide 3 of 3 Go Beyond the Flight. Book your next vacation getaway and earn $1 MQD per $1** spent on your vacation experience.

*Basic Economy tickets are not eligible for earning miles in the SkyMiles® Program or earning credit toward Medallion and Million Miler Status.

**MQDs awarded for total package value will be apportioned between lead booker and others in the same itinerary. Excludes taxes, fees (including government-imposed fees), Basic Economy and similar fares, gratuities, room service, other booking charges, and insurance, as applicable. Other terms, exceptions, and exclusions apply. For additional details, visit our Terms and Conditions , Go to footer note .

Get Closer to Status Faster with MQD Boost & MQD Headstart

Introducing MQD Boost, a new way to get closer to Medallion Status as a Card Member by earning MQDs when you make everyday purchases on your eligible Delta SkyMiles American Express Card.

Beginning February 1, 2024, Delta SkyMiles® Platinum, Platinum Business, Reserve and Reserve Business American Express Card Members will receive an MQD Headstart of $2,500 MQDs per eligible Card type for the current Medallion Qualification Year.

Earn $1 MQD for Each $20 of Purchases

Earn $1 mqd for each $10 of purchases, how the medallion year works.

2023 Medallion Status was earned through flight and spending activity for the 2022 calendar year (January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022); 2023 Status is valid from the day it is earned until January 31, 2024.

2024 Medallion Status is earned by reaching the spending activity for the 2023 calendar year (January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023); 2024 Status is valid from the day it is earned until January 31, 2025. 

2025 Medallion Status is earned by reaching the spending activity for the 2024 calendar year (January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024); 2025 Status is valid from the day it is earned until January 31, 2026.

Your One-Time Rollover MQM Conversion

For Rollover Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) earned after qualifying for 2024 Medallion Status, you now have a one-time option where you can choose to convert your Rollover MQMs to MQDs or miles (or a combination of both). Members with MQM Rollover balances over 100,000 can also choose to extend their earned 2024 Medallion Status at a rate of 1 year per every 100,000 Rollover MQMs. This selection must be made by December 31, 2024, or Rollover MQMs will automatically be converted to MQDs.

The conversion ratio for MQDs will be 10 MQMs to $1 MQD and for miles, every 2 MQMs will convert to 1 mile.

Terms & Conditions

SkyMiles Member must meet the applicable Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) Threshold listed above to qualify for the corresponding Medallion Status. 

MQDs are the sum total of the SkyMiles Member’s spend on Delta-marketed flights in Main Cabin or above (flight numbers that include the “DL” airline code), inclusive of the base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges, but exclusive of government-imposed taxes and fees. MQDs also include select partner airline flights and select exception fares. 

Base fare and carrier-imposed surcharges for travel marketed by Core Global and Global Airline Partners and ticketed through a Delta channel (featuring a ticket number beginning with “006”) are also eligible to earn MQDs. For travel ticketed and marketed by Core Global and Global Airline Partners, MQDs will be awarded based on published Mileage Earn Charts at Earning Miles With Airline Partners .

Beginning January 1, 2024, SkyMiles Members can earn MQDs on Delta Award Travel tickets operated by Delta partners, in Main Cabin (or equivalent) or above, when booked through any direct Delta channel, with MQDs calculated based on miles redeemed toward the Award Ticket price divided by 100. Government-imposed taxes and fees do not earn MQDs.

Certain tickets, including but not limited to bulk, consolidator, cruise, vacation packages, inclusive tour and other tickets where the fare is not disclosed, will also count toward MQDs excluding bookings made through priceline.com or hotwire.com where the carrier is not disclosed prior to purchase. Miles and MQDs will be earned based on a percentage of distance flown as determined by the fare class paid as published at the time of travel. Refer to Earning Miles with Exception Fares . For purposes of mileage or MQD credit, “distance flown” means the calculated distance between origin and destination, as determined by Delta in its sole discretion, regardless of the actual distance traveled on any individual flight. Please visit the section regarding qualifying earn on Delta Vacations® packages for specific details of the MQD calculation on those fares.

Delta employee award travel, free, barter, pass travel and other similar tickets not eligible for mileage accrual will not earn MQDs.

Delta One®, Delta Premium Select, First Class, Delta Comfort+® and Preferred Seats purchases and paid Premium class upgrades, made through a Delta channel (including delta.com, Fly Delta mobile app, Delta Reservations, Delta kiosks, and select Delta airport locations) are eligible to earn MQDs. If a Delta One, Delta Premium Select, First Class, or Delta Comfort+ paid upgrade or Preferred Seat is purchased at the airport in Amsterdam (AMS), or Paris (CDG) for a Delta-operated flight, the Member will not earn miles or MQDs. If a Member purchases a Delta Comfort+, paid Premium class upgrade or Preferred Seat and Delta is not able to accommodate the Member in that seat or a similar seat, the Member’s purchase will be refunded and no MQDs will be awarded. If a customer voluntarily changes his/her flight or seat selection once purchased, a refund for the original seat purchase will not be provided and no MQDs will be awarded. MQDs will not be awarded for complimentary access to Delta One, Delta Premium Select, First Class, Delta Comfort+ and Preferred Seats. MQDs may only be earned by the Member traveling whose name and SkyMiles number is included in the reservation.

All other ancillary purchases or fees including but not limited to checked baggage fees,  Delta Sky Club® memberships, Wi-Fi passes, in-flight food and beverage purchases, unaccompanied minor fees, pet travel fees,  mileage purchases, ticket change fees, Direct Ticketing Charge (DTC), same-day confirmed fees, Administrative Service Charge (ASC), and External Reissue Charge (ERC), do not count toward earning MQDs.

Please allow up to 6-8 weeks after completion of a Delta-marketed flight (DL flight number) for miles and MQDs to be deposited in SkyMiles account.

Platinum MQD Boost:

Effective January 1, 2024: Basic Card Members will earn one (1) Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) for each $20 of eligible purchases charged to their Delta SkyMiles® Platinum and Delta SkyMiles ® Platinum Business American Express Card or any Additional Cards on the Card Account during a Qualification Year. MQDs earned during a Qualification Year are used to determine qualification for Medallion Status for the subsequent Medallion Year for the Basic Card Member. MQDs have no cash value and are not redeemable for Award Travel or other SkyMiles redemptions. MQDs are not transferrable or assignable to any other person and cannot be gifted to another SkyMiles member.

Medallion Status Qualification and Medallion Benefits rules and policies apply and may be viewed at delta.com/medallion . MQDs will not extend or roll over from year to year, and MQD balance will be reset to zero on or about January 1 each calendar year. Medallion Status is calculated annually based on activity during a Qualification Year. A Qualification Year is from January 1 to December 31 of a given year. The close of the Qualification Year is December 31, without regard to the time of the year that the Card Account is opened. This means that for the first year of Card Membership, the Card Member's eligible purchase period for the MQD Benefit may be shorter than twelve months.

Eligible purchases are purchases for goods and services minus returns and other credits. Eligible purchases do NOT include fees, interest charges, cash advances, purchases of travelers' checks, person-to-person transactions, purchases or reloading of prepaid cards, purchases of gift cards, or purchases of other cash equivalents. American Express relies on the transaction date submitted to us by the merchant, which may differ from the date you make a purchase, to determine whether the purchase counts toward the MQD threshold in that Qualification Year. This means that in some cases your purchases may not count toward the MQD threshold in the year in which you made the purchases. For example, if you make a purchase on December 31 and the merchant lists the transaction date as January 1 when they submit the transaction data to us, your purchase will be counted in the Qualification Year which began on that January 1. MQDs will be deducted from the MQD Balance (and may result in a negative MQD Balance) for any returns or other credits, and Delta reserves the right to adjust, remove, or suspend Medallion Status if you return, reverse or charge back eligible purchases in a way that reduces your MQD balance below the threshold of any Medallion Tier for the preceding Qualification Year. If Delta and/or American Express determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with this MQD Benefit in any way or that you intend to do so, Delta may not credit, Delta may freeze, or Delta may take away MQDs from your account or terminate your participation in the SkyMiles Program.

MQDs may take 8 to 12 weeks after the eligible transaction posts to the Card Account to be posted to the Basic Card Member’s Delta SkyMiles account. Basic Card Members can confirm their MQD progress for a Qualification Year by logging into their SkyMiles account on delta.com or in the Fly Delta app.

  Reserve MQD Boost:

Effective January 1, 2024: Basic Card Members will earn one (1) Medallion Qualification Dollar (MQD) for each $10 of eligible purchases charged to their Delta SkyMiles® Reserve and Delta SkyMiles ® Reserve Business American Express Card or any Additional Cards on the Card Account during a Qualification Year. MQDs earned during a Qualification Year are used to determine qualification for Medallion Status for the subsequent Medallion Year for the Basic Card Member. MQDs have no cash value and are not redeemable for Award Travel or other SkyMiles redemptions. MQDs are not transferrable or assignable to any other person and cannot be gifted to another SkyMiles member.

All Medallion Status Qualification and Medallion Benefits rules and policies apply and may be viewed at delta.com/medallion. MQDs will not extend or roll over from year to year, and MQD balance will be reset to zero on or about January 1 each calendar year. Medallion Status is calculated annually based on activity during a Qualification Year. A Qualification Year is from January 1 to December 31 of a given year. The close of the Qualification Year is December 31, without regard to the time of the year that the Card Account is opened. This means that for the first year of Card Membership, the Card Member's eligible purchase period for the MQD Benefit may be shorter than twelve months.

Delta SkyMiles® Reserve and Reserve Business American Express Card MQD Headstart

Effective February 1, 2024 : Basic Delta SkyMiles Reserve and Reserve Business American Express Card Members (each, an “Eligible Card”), will receive two thousand five hundred (2,500) Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) which will be deposited into their SkyMiles account linked to an Eligible Card during each Qualification Year. Additional Card Members are not eligible. 

Starting with the 2024 Qualification Year, MQDs will be deposited within six to eight weeks after February 1 for existing Card Members. New Card Members and Card Members upgrading from another Delta SkyMiles American Express Card that is not eligible for the MQD Headstart benefit to an Eligible Card will be eligible for the MQD Head Start benefit. MQDs will be deposited within six to eight weeks after an Eligible Card Account is opened, and thereafter every subsequent year within six to eight weeks after February 1 while the Eligible Card Account is open; however, if a New Eligible Card Account is opened during November or December of a Qualification Year, MQDs will be applied to the Qualification Year in which the Card is opened. MQDs earned during a Qualification Year are used to determine qualification for Medallion Status for the subsequent Medallion Year for the Basic Card Member. MQDs have no cash value and are not redeemable for Award Travel or other SkyMiles redemptions. MQDs are not transferrable or assignable to any other person and cannot be gifted to another SkyMiles member.

All Medallion Status Qualification and Medallion Benefit rules and policies apply and may be viewed at delta.com/medallion. MQDs will not extend or roll over from year to year, and MQD balance will be reset to zero on or about January 1 each calendar year. Medallion Status is calculated annually based on activity during a Qualification Year. A Qualification Year is from January 1 to December 31 of a given year. The close of the Qualification Year is December 31, without regard to the time of the year that the Card Account is opened. Delta reserves the right to cancel, rescind, or void any MQDs or to cancel or downgrade Medallion Status (based on the adjusted number of MQDs earned) if the Card is cancelled or downgraded to a non-Eligible Card within 60 days after the date that MQDs are deposited or within 60 days after the Eligible Card renewal date. To receive the MQDs, your account must not be canceled or past due at the time the MQDs are posted to your account. If Delta and/or American Express determine that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with this MQD Headstart in any way or that you intend to do so, Delta may not credit, Delta may freeze, or Delta may take away MQDs from your account or terminate your participation in the SkyMiles Program. 

Basic Card Members can confirm their MQD progress for a Qualification Year by logging into their SkyMiles account on delta.com or in the Fly Delta app. Regardless of the number of Eligible Cards a SkyMiles Member may hold, each SkyMiles Member may only receive one $2,500 MQD deposit per Eligible Card type each Medallion Qualification Year and is limited to a maximum or four deposits across all Eligible Cards each Medallion Qualification Year (for $10,000 MQDs total). Card Members who upgrade from an Eligible Platinum or Platinum Business Card to an Eligible Reserve or Reserve Business Card will not be awarded an additional $2,500 MQD deposit for the Reserve or Reserve Business Card, and Card Members who downgrade from an Eligible Reserve or Reserve Business Card to an Eligible Platinum or Platinum Business Card will not be awarded an additional $2,500 MQD deposit for the Platinum or Platinum Business Card.

Delta SkyMiles® Platinum and Platinum Business American Express Card MQD Headstart

Effective February 1, 2024: Basic Delta SkyMiles Platinum and Platinum Business American Express Card Members (each, an “Eligible Card”), will receive two thousand five hundred (2,500) Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) which will be deposited into their SkyMiles account linked to an Eligible Card during each Qualification Year. Additional Card Members are not eligible. 

Earning MQDs on Delta Vacations

Beginning January 1, 2024, SkyMiles Members will earn one (1) MQD per US$1 of the Total Package Price for every completed Delta Vacations package when booked through Delta Vacations online, via our vacation experts, or through an authorized third-party travel agency. “Total Package Price” means the total value of the package in USD spent on Eligible Flights, base hotel rental rate, base car rental rate, but excluding taxes, fees, insurance, room service, other booking charges, amounts paid directly to the hotel, car or activity provider, or any element of the booking which is paid or reduced by vouchers or discount codes. “Eligible Flights” means Delta-marketed flights in Main Cabin or above (flight numbers that include the “DL” airline code), flights marketed Core Global Airline Partners that have a Delta ticket number (ticket number beginning with “006”) and SkyTeam-marketed flights operated by a SkyTeam member airline that have a Delta ticket number (ticket number beginning with “006”), in each case which booked through Delta Vacations online, via our vacation experts, or through an authorized third-party travel agency. Eligible Flights expressly excludes flights marketed by airlines that are not Delta Core Global Airline partners or SkyTeam members. Qualifying car rental bookings include rentals at a participating location for one or more days at rates other than travel industry rates or discounts, wholesale of tour package rates or discounts, wholesale tour package rates, insurance/dealer replacement rates, corporate and government rates, group travel discounts, or rentals in conjunction with a frequent flyer car award, or other corporate agreements applicable to the respective car company.  

SkyMiles members will be awarded the MQDs as follows:

All passengers listed in the Delta Vacations booking will earn on the flight portion of the package based on the following:

• Flight Option #1: If the sum of all passengers  Exception Fares  is greater than or equal to the Total Package Price, then the number of flight MQDs earned by each passenger = (Total Package Price/ total # of passengers on the booking itinerary) 
• Exception Fares is less than the Total Package Price, then the number of flight MQDs earned by each passenger = MQD’s for such passenger’s flight calculated using the Exception Fare policy. 

In addition to the MQDs earned on the flight component (if applicable), the passenger who books the package will earn MQDs on the non-flight portion of the Total Package Price based on the following:

• If the flight MQDs for all passengers were calculated using flight option 1 above: No additional non-flight MQDs earned
• If the flight MQDs for all passengers were calculated using flight option 2 above: The number of additional non-flight MQDs earned by the lead booker = Total Package Price – (sum of all passengers’ Exception Fares)
• If no flight is attached to the booking, only the lead booker earns non-flight MQDs equivalent to the Total Package Price

This calculation does not apply to packages of 8 people or more (“Group Packages”). On Group Packages, each passenger will only be eligible to earn MQDs on the flight portion of the package using the Exception Fares policy.

Generally, posting of MQDs and miles to a SkyMiles member’s account depends on when Delta receives information related to the qualifying purchase. For Delta Vacations miles and MQDs, please allow up to 6-8 weeks after completion of a Delta-marketed flight for flight miles and MQDs to be deposited in SkyMiles account and 8 weeks after completion of eligible car rental or hotel stay for miles and MQDs to be deposited in SkyMiles account. No MQDs will be awarded for any portion of the package not consumed by the passengers in the booking. 

Rollover MQMs

As of January 1, 2024, SkyMiles Members will no longer earn Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs). Medallion Qualification Miles and Medallion Qualification Segments will not be calculated or used to determine Medallion Status qualification. Beginning Feb 28, 2024, SkyMiles Members possessing a Rollover MQM balance after qualification for 2024 Medallion Status will have the option to convert their final Rollover MQM balance (earned up to December 31, 2023, at 11:59:59 PM CST) into miles, MQDs, or, for Rollover MQM balances of 100,000 MQMs and higher, into Medallion Status extensions (or a combination of all, if applicable).

If miles are selected, the Rollover MQM balance will be converted at a ratio of 1 mile per 2 MQMs. If MQDs are selected, the Rollover MQM balance will be converted at a ratio of 1 MQD per 10 MQMs. SkyMiles Members can split their Rollover MQM balance conversion between miles and MQDs based on 25% increments, and subject to the conversion ratios in the previous sentence. For example, a SkyMiles Member can elect to convert 25% of their Rollover MQM balance into miles and the remainder 75% into MQDs.

SkyMiles Members with a Rollover MQM balance at or greater than 100,000 MQMs also have the option to extend their earned 2024 Medallion Status using their Rollover MQMS at a rate of 100,000 MQMs per one year of Status extension. Using the 100,000:1 ratio, Members may select the number of years of Status extension they desire, up to the number for which they are eligible. Medallion Status will not be awarded for partial years; any Rollover MQMs exceeding a 100,000 threshold, and which are not used for Status extension, can be converted into miles or MQDs using the applicable conversion rate above. For example, a SkyMiles Member that has 550,000 Rollover MQMs and who has earned Diamond Medallion Status for the 2024 Medallion Qualification Year is eligible to extend their Diamond Medallion Status for up to 5 years (500,000 Rollover MQMs) and can elect to convert the remaining 50,000 Rollover MQMs into miles, MQDs or a combination of both at the conversion rates above.

If a SkyMiles Member does not make a selection by December 31, 2024 11:59:59 PM CST, all Rollover MQMs will automatically be converted to MQDs. Members will be able to select their conversion preference until the selection window closes on December 31, 2024 11:59:59 PM CST. Miles/MQDs and Medallion Status extension are nontransferable and can only be credited to the SkyMiles Member’s account who was in possession of the Rollover MQMs. Selections are final, irrevocable and not changeable.

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Using Points

Pay for your jetblue trip with points.

Hate having to fly a huge number of miles to earn an award trip? So do we. That’s why the number of points you need to book on JetBlue is based on the current price for that trip — not some sky-high pre-set minimum. When airfares (or hotel rates) are lower, so is the amount of points required. And, there’s no restriction on travel dates.  

JetBlue flights 

Redeem TrueBlue points for any JetBlue flight  — any seat, any time — with no blackout dates¹ (excludes Blue Basic fares).

JetBlue Vacations® packages 

package? Redeem points on the flight, hotel and car portion of a flight + hotel package.²(Want to use points to pay for a flight + cruise package? It’s on the horizon.)

To search for your next trip, just select points instead of dollars.  

Pay for your JetBlue trip with Cash + Points

Short on cash? Cash + Points lets you pay with almost any combination of cash and TrueBlue points — starting with as few as 500 points.³  It’s also just the ticket when you’re short on points for an award trip, don’t have a lot of points but still want to go somewhere, or you do have a high point balance but are saving up for something.  

You can use Cash + Points to pay for any JetBlue flight (excluding Blue Basic fares). And, you’ll still earn TrueBlue points on the cash portion.

JetBlue Vacations packages 

 You can also use Cash + Points to pay for the flight, hotel and car portion of a flight + hotel package (excluding travel insurance, certain taxes and fees), but you won’t earn TrueBlue points on the cash portion the way you do when booking flights alone. Other restrictions apply. 

TrueBlue members have the option to book with all points, all cash, or with Cash + Points, so you can compare the points-only vs. Cash + Points options before you book to see what works best for you. Then, use the handy slider widget to choose your preferred combination during payment. You can also call 1-844-JB-VACAY (528-2229) for help booking a JetBlue Vacations package. 

Redeem points on other airlines

Now you can both earn and redeem TrueBlue points with a growing number of airline partners, including Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways .

See each airline for rules and redemption rates. 

New! Pay yourself back with Points Payback

JetBlue Plus Cardmembers can redeem TrueBlue points for a statement credit toward purchases of $25+ (maximum $1,000 per year).

Donate points

Donate your points., got questions.

We’ve got answers. Visit TrueBlue FAQs to learn more.

50,000 points = $500 in award travel.

• Certain taxes and fees excluded. Terms apply.

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What does visa-free travel mean? Is it actually free?

H owever, for countries such as Canada or France, travellers can simply arrive, clear customs, and have their passports stamped without the need for prior visa arrangements. This ease of access stems from bilateral agreements between nations, granting citizens visa-free entry privileges.

Read more: Visit to 6 gulf countries to soon become possible with the latest multi-nation visa

Under regular visa-free travel conditions, individuals can cross borders freely with their passports. While customs clearance usually requires only a passport, some countries may request additional documentation, such as proof of onward travel, before granting entry. For example, Thailand, a popular backpacking destination, often seeks evidence of sufficient funds and onward travel plans from visa-free travellers. Despite these requirements, they are typically straightforward to fulfil and are loosely enforced.

Furthermore, certain countries may impose airport or departure taxes, even for visa-free travellers. Although these fees are generally nominal and payable upon departure, they contribute to the overall travel experience and expense.

While visa-free travel offers expedited entry processes, its significance extends beyond mere convenience. For individuals accustomed to the privileges of a strong passport, the true value of visa-free travel becomes apparent when confronted with visa-restricted destinations like China, necessitating arduous visa application procedures. Visa-free travel eliminates the need for completing forms, submitting applications, and awaiting embassy approvals, streamlining the travel experience.

Read more: Top 6 passports that offer visa-free access to more than 190 countries

Moreover, visa-free travel enables spontaneous travel opportunities, allowing individuals to explore destinations without the logistical constraints associated with visa procurement. Conversely, visa-restricted travel entails embassy visits, application processing times, and uncertainties regarding approval timelines, potentially hindering impromptu travel plans.

Despite its benefits, visa-free travel is not without its limitations and considerations. Citizens of countries with extensive visa-free access may overlook alternative travel opportunities available to them. Additionally, visa-free privileges do not guarantee seamless entry experiences, as immigration officials may subject travellers to scrutiny or additional questioning.

In short, it can be said that while visa-free travel simplifies entry procedures and facilitates spontaneous travel, its significance is subjective and contingent on individual circumstances. Strategic planning and consideration of alternative travel options can mitigate the perceived limitations of visa-free privileges, ensuring a tailored travel experience aligned with personal preferences and objectives.

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So how do we make money? Our partners compensate us. This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. Here is a list of our partners .

The Do’s and Don’ts of Award Travel in 2022

Sam Kemmis is a travel rewards expert at NerdWallet specializing in airline and hotel loyalty programs. In a previous professional life, he wrote comedy until a nomadic lifestyle and a lifelong obsession with saving money turned his attention to travel rewards. He is no longer funny. His work has been featured by The Associated Press, The Points Guy and Fast Company. He has spoken about travel rewards at CardCon, the Altitude conference and AwardWallet's "Award Travel 101" podcast. He is based in Ojai, California, and teaches mindfulness meditation because that's what you do in Ojai.

Megan Lee joined the travel rewards team at NerdWallet with over 12 years of SEO, writing and content development experience, primarily in international education and nonprofit work. She has been published in U.S. News & World Report, USA Today and elsewhere, and has spoken at conferences like that of NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Megan has built and directed remote content teams and editorial strategies for websites like GoAbroad and Go Overseas. When not traveling, Megan adventures around her Midwest home base where she likes to attend theme parties, ride her bike and cook Asian food.

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money .

There’s finally light at the end of the … tunnel? Year? Air cabin aisle, indicating an emergency exit?

Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and other experts are strongly discouraging travel throughout the winter, the vaccine rollout has many once-frequent travelers wondering if it’s time to dust off those travel credit cards and old rewards points and miles to book travel in 2022.

Or is it too soon? We’re all looking for that sweet spot between availability and feasibility — between pulling the trigger on booking travel before everybody else does and booking it too early and needing to reschedule (again).

I made and broke so many travel plans in recent years out of a misplaced sense of optimism that I’m hesitant to prognosticate. With my luck, aliens will probably arrive on Earth when this article publishes, rendering it woefully obsolete.

Extraterrestrial invasions aside, there are some clear “do's” and “don’ts” for considering whether, how and where to travel in the coming year.

Do: Book flexible fares and rooms

One of the big travel news stories to come out in recent years was the decision by many airlines to eliminate change and cancellation fees on most fares, including some award tickets booked with miles. This followed a series of ad hoc policies throughout the year and changed the paradigm for how to book flights.

In short: The stakes are now way lower. You can use points or cash to book tickets for summer 2022 without worrying as much about eating huge fees if your plans change, the vaccine doesn’t work, aliens blow up the moon or … whatever the year has in store.

A couple of caveats before you go booking travel willy-nilly: First, many “basic economy” fares can't be changed or canceled, period. Second, many budget airlines, like Spirit and Frontier, have more limited flexibility. You should avoid these low-cost fares and airlines until normalcy returns.

Hotels haven’t made such sweeping changes to their change and cancellation policies, but they were always less strict than airlines. Plus, it’s generally easier to book hotel rooms last-minute, so you don’t need to sweat the lodging just yet.

Don’t: Play the case rate guessing game

It can be tempting to try to read the epidemiological tea leaves to understand when you might have find a window of low case rates in your destination of choice, and therefore when it will be safer to travel. Yet even the most endearing infographic that shows where you stand in line can’t estimate when you’ll actually get your shot in the arm. Too many variables lie in the way.

And if you’re like me — neither old nor young, have no health problems and aren’t considered an essential worker — then you’re likely near the back of the line. Does that mean you should give up hope of booking travel this year?

Not necessarily.

Airlines and hotels are chomping at the bit to lure travelers back this year, which means rates are low and award availability is open. For normal, economy travel, this open availability doesn’t mean much, but for those looking at once-in-a-lifetime bookings, it’s a big opportunity.

For example, I’ve been trying to book first class seats on Singapore Airlines from Los Angeles to Tokyo since I started collecting points, but availability on this route is usually scarce. Searching for flights in the fall, I found loads of availability at the lower saver rates, meaning a one-way flight costs “only” 107K Singapore miles.

Similarly, while Alaska Airlines’ partnership with Emirates is a shell of its former self, some sweet spots do remain, such as flying to Asia “through” Dubai from the West Coast with a long stopover of a week in between flights. This is essentially two trips in one, and business class fares were still available when I searched.

On the hotel front, notoriously tight availability like that at the Hyatt-affiliated Ventana in Big Sur, California, is also open in the spring.

Yes, these are all extremely high-end redemptions, and I usually preach simplicity and utility when it comes to travel rewards. They’re not “low value” redemptions by any means; the Ventana room runs $1,600 a night when paying cash, which works out to 3.3 cents per point for the above redemption, well above our valuation for Hyatt points .

But here’s the real takeaway: This year will offer an unprecedented opportunity to book notoriously elusive award travel. If you’re sitting on a stack of points, now could be the time to burn them.

Don’t: Count on borders to open immediately

Yes, some models predict that infection rates will drop in the coming months, but that doesn’t mean that wary destinations will immediately open their borders to American tourists when they do. And, frankly, I’m not sure I’d want to visit any country that would have me as a visitor right now.

I expect that countries will be slower to open their immigration checkpoints than we might have thought. You might be able to book a flight to Europe for the fall, but that’s no guarantee that you’ll be allowed in when the time comes.

That said, if you’ve booked a flexible ticket, this uncertainty shouldn’t be a big deal. You can just push back your flight.

The bottom line

When people ask me why I like to visit Mexico City, I say it’s because it’s just dangerous enough to scare off the tourist hoards. Traveling in 2022 presents a similar opportunity and conundrum: If you play your points and miles just right, you can score a good ticket to an uncrowded destination. But if you fly too close to the sun and book early, you risk having your plans dashed (yet again) by COVID-19 uncertainty.

Make sure to keep it flexible, reasonable and fun. It might be your last chance to fly in business class before the aliens arrive.

Unsure how to use your points and miles? I’m here to help. In this column, I answer your questions about the baffling world of travel rewards, cutting through the jargon to provide clear answers to real problems. Send your questions to [email protected] .

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are some of the best travel credit cards of 2024 :

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee:   Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards:  Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card  

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

on Chase's website

1x-5x 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

60,000 Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

1.5%-5% Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.

Up to $300 Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!

on Capital One's website

2x-5x Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, every day. Earn 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, where you'll get Capital One's best prices on thousands of trip options.

75,000 Enjoy a one-time bonus of 75,000 miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $750 in travel.

Experts recommend always having a ‘Plan B’ for summer travel

The vacationer reports that 82% of americans plan to travel this summer.

(InvestigateTV) — A 2023 Business Insider survey found that 38% of travelers bought insurance for their trip , meaning they saw at least the possibility of interruptions to their plans.

The report revealed the most common concern was flight disruptions, followed by health emergencies, but even smaller issues such as a lost credit card or travel costing more than expected can sour the trip.

One action that can help ameliorate issues that arise is creating and funding a vacation plan.

Cherry Dale, a financial coach with the Virginia Credit Union , said using a credit card for most purchases while on vacation is a form of security, but she also recommends that vacationers have cash and other credit cards on hand, just in case.

“If you are exchanging cash make sure it is a legitimate place. If you are at the airport, that’s often a great place to get in and if you’re traveling internationally and exchange there,” Dale suggested. “Often times it can be difficult if you’re in a foreign country to do those exchanges, even going to an ATM, you can make it happen, but often times it is more costly to do that.”

She said planning ahead of time how to access money on a trip is key. And she added that travel insurance is a really good idea as well.

“Making sure that where you’re going to stay is insured as well. And even if you’re flying, looking at if your flights are insured,” Dale noted. “How you’re going to get reimburse at the end of the day if it does not happen, as well.”

Dale advised people to contact their financial institution if they are getting ready to travel to another state or out of the country.

Credit card companies are often on the lookout for credit card fraud. So, setting a travel notice is a way to minimize the chance of your credit card company flagging a charge you authorized on vacation.

Copyright 2024 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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• Tony Awards 2024 Best & Worst Moments, Snubs And Surprises – Review

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• Tony Awards 2024: The Complete Musical Numbers

By Greg Evans

NY & Broadway Editor

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• Andrew Rannells Will Not Reprise Acclaimed London ‘Tammy Faye’ Performance On Broadway; Actor Blames Contract Issues

Last night’s 77th Annual Tony Awards featured some terrific musical performances. We’ve compiled them all, so take a look and decide for yourself which shows should have taken home trophies, and which performance left you most excited about planning a trip to Broadway .

In no particular order:

Water For Elephants : “Anywhere Another Train” and “The Road Don’t Make You Young”

RELATED: ‘The Outsiders’ Wins Best Musical At Tonys: Full Winners List

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Illinoise : “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us”

Cabaret : “Willkommen”

RELATED: Jonathan Groff Breaks Down In Tears After Tony Awards Win, Tells Daniel Radcliffe & Lindsay Mendez: “You Are More Than Old Friends, You Are Soulmates”

Merrily We Roll Along : “Old Friends”

RELATED: Daniel Radcliffe Thanks A Crying Jonathan Groff After Tony Awards Win For ‘Merrily We Roll Along’: “I Will Never Have It This Good Again”

The Who’s Tommy: “Pinball Wizard”

RELATED: Alicia Keys “Had To Do Something Crazy” At The Tony Awards & Is Joined By Jay-Z For “Empire State Of Mind” Performance

Hell’s Kitchen: “The Gospel” and “Authors of Forever” and “Fallin”; Alicia Keys and Jay Z perform “Empire State of Mind”

RELATED: Angelina Jolie Just Won Her First Tony Award & Owes It All To Daughter Viv

Stereophonic: “Masquerade”

RELATED:   ‘Wicked’ Stars Idina Menzel & Cynthia Erivo Bring Their “Green Girl Power” To The 2024 Tony Awards

The Outsiders: “Tulsa ’67/Grease Got a Hold”

RELATED: Hillary Clinton Gets Standing Ovation At Tony Awards & Delivers Message “On How Important It Is To Vote”

Suffs : “Keep Marching”

Hillary Clinton gets standing ovation in surprise appearance at #TonyAwards pic.twitter.com/wtiKBLDjxK — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) June 17, 2024

Ariana DeBose Opening Number

And last but definitely not least: the Chita Rivera tribute with Bebe Neuwirth, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ariana DeBose

RELATED: Ariana DeBose Pays Tribute To Chita Rivera At Tony Awards: “I Literally Would Not Be Here Without Chita Blazing The Trail”

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Complete guide to changing and canceling award tickets

Getting compensation can be difficult when airlines cancel flights due to weather, crew scheduling, maintenance or other reasons. However, when you need to make changes or cancel your own reservations, you'll often face steep fees. Fortunately, many airlines have permanently waived these fees for both paid and award tickets.

For airlines that still impose fees, there are strategies to minimize or avoid them, such as taking advantage of schedule changes or travel waivers. Here are some tips on how you can dodge fees when changing and canceling award tickets.

The best ways to avoid airline change and cancellation fees

We'll take a closer look at change and cancellation fees in a bit. For now, here's a list of some possible strategies for avoiding them:

• Look for a travel waiver.
• Keep an eye out for schedule changes.
• Remember the 24-hour rule .
• Have a good reason.
• Consider your credit card coverage .
• Earn elite status.
• Use a credit card travel credit to cover your fees.
• Don't pay cancellation or change fees until you have to.

Overview of change fees

Although legacy U.S. carriers no longer charge change fees on most tickets, some other airlines do. You must pay a fixed fee and any fare difference to switch to a different flight. These fees can vary based on the airline, fare class, destination and how far in advance you make the change.

Many airlines offer same-day changes on the same route for a fixed fee. However, same-day change fees are often waived for elite members. The advantage of same-day changes is that you likely won't have to pay any fare difference if you switch to a more expensive flight.

Related: Losing elite status this month? Keep benefits with these airline status matches and challenges

Overview of cancellation fees

As with change fees, the legacy U.S. carriers no longer charge cancellation fees on most tickets. However, if you are subject to a cancellation fee, you'll generally receive a travel credit minus the cancellation fee.

Most major U.S. airlines do not provide refunds to your original payment method unless there are specific circumstances, like a significant schedule change. That said, on award tickets, many will refund the mileage plus any taxes and fees if you need to cancel.

Change and cancellation policies by airline

Each airline has its own cancellation and change policies; some are more restrictive than others. Here's a look at some major carriers and their respective policies.

Air Canada's change policy for award flights is more straightforward than for paid flights, as it doesn't vary by route.

You'll always get free changes when booking Economy Flex, Economy Latitude, premium economy (flexible), business-class (flexible) and first-class (flexible) awards. Meanwhile, Economy Standard, premium economy (lowest), business-class (lowest) and first-class (lowest) awards have a flat change fee of 100 Canadian dollars (per direction, per ticket). Change and cancellation fees are waived for Aeroplan Super Elite members.

Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines removed change and cancellation fees permanently in response to the coronavirus pandemic. That said, you must change or cancel your flight before departure to be eligible for flight credit. You will be liable for any fare difference if you choose to change a flight. Saver fares — Alaska's term for basic economy — cannot be changed or canceled.

You'll get your miles and taxes refunded when canceling award tickets, but the $12.50 partner award booking fee and $15 call center booking fee (for awards booked over the phone) are nonrefundable.

Same-day confirmed changes cost either $25 or $50 and are waived for MVP Golds, 75Ks, 100Ks, American AAdvantage Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum members. You do not have to pay a fare difference for same-day changes when available. The fee is also waived for those traveling on the same reservation.

Allegiant Air

Although a low-cost carrier, Allegiant imposes a relatively reasonable $25 fee per person, per segment when you change or cancel your ticket. However, any changes or cancellations must be made within seven days of departure unless you've purchased Trip Flex . This add-on allows a one-time change or cancellation until one hour before departure, though you can't add it after the fact. You must add this surcharge when you book your flight.

American Airlines

American Airlines no longer charges change or cancellation fees for flights within the U.S. or to/from Canada, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Further, all other international itineraries starting in the U.S. aren't subject to change or cancellation fees. You will only pay the fare difference when changing flights.

Unfortunately, this does not apply to basic economy tickets. These tickets cannot be changed or canceled unless a travel waiver exists. You can cancel all award tickets and receive your miles back.

Check out this guide for more details on changing or canceling your American Airlines flight.

Delta Air Lines

Like American, Delta Air Lines no longer charges change or cancellation fees on flights within the U.S. or international itineraries starting in the U.S. This policy includes award tickets. You're only responsible for the fare difference if you change to a more expensive flight. As you might expect, basic economy tickets cannot be changed or canceled.

Check this link for more details on Delta's change and cancellation fees.

Frontier Airlines

Frontier imposes no change fees on flights more than 60 days from departure. However, there's a $49 change fee from 59 to seven days before departure. That climbs to a $99 fee within seven days of departure. All of these change fees are in addition to any fare difference.

The carrier has no change fees if you purchase its add-on option called The Works and Flight Flexibility.

Check this link for more details on Frontier's change and cancellation fees.

Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian doesn't charge change or cancellation fees on Main Cabin fares or higher. However, you are responsible for paying the fare difference when switching to a more expensive flight.

JetBlue doesn't charge change or cancellation fees on paid or award tickets unless you book Blue Basic. These tickets cannot be changed or canceled. You are only responsible for paying the fare difference if you move to a more expensive ticket. You will be charged a $25 fee if you process your change or cancellation over the phone. Further, same-day changes cost $75 and the fee is waived for Mosaic elite members .

Southwest Airlines

Southwest is famous for not charging change or cancellation fees, though you'll have to pay any difference in fare. You can also receive a credit if the fare goes down . The credit can only be used by the person whose name originally appeared on the ticket.

However, if you change an award ticket that has dropped in price, any additional points are redeposited in the member's account and can later be used for travel by anyone. Just note that you must cancel paid Wanna Get Away reservations at least 10 minutes before your departure time. Otherwise, you'll forfeit the entire value of your ticket.

If you want to move to an earlier or later Southwest flight, you'll have to pay the fare difference on a Wanna Get Away ticket. These fees don't apply to customers booked in Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime or Business Select tickets. A-List and A-List Preferred Members can take advantage of free same-day change and same-day standby benefits even on Wanna Get Away fares.

Check this link for more details on Southwest's fare options.

Spirit Airlines

Like Frontier, Spirit has a tiered system for flight change and cancellation fees. Modifications are free if you change your flight more than 60 days before departure. Between 59 and 31 days, you'll pay $69; between 30 and 7 days, you'll pay $99; and within 6 days of departure, you'll pay $119.

If you have Spirit elite status , you're eligible for free same-day standby to an earlier flight.

United Airlines

United waives change and cancellation fees for all flights within the U.S. and Puerto Rico, between the U.S. and Mexico and the Caribbean and all international flights departing the U.S. As usual, this doesn't apply to basic economy tickets, and you're responsible for any fare difference. United also doesn't charge redeposit fees when you cancel award tickets.

Related: How to refund a nonrefundable airline ticket

How to avoid change and cancellation fees

The airline might be open to waiving your change or cancellation fees in certain cases. We previously mentioned ways to avoid these fees, but now let's look at specific strategies you can try.

Look for a travel waiver

Travel waivers are typically given by airlines when they expect a large number of delays or cancellations. This could be due to bad weather, natural disasters or recent virus outbreaks. Airlines prefer to offer flexibility to travelers ahead of time instead of dealing with last-minute changes at the airport. The details of travel waivers differ depending on the airline and reason for the waiver, but they generally allow you to change or cancel your flights without any fees.

You can find travel waivers on the airline's website. Generally, these will show at the top of the website and on the screen when you check in for your flight. The airline may even contact you if you're eligible for a travel waiver, so keep your eyes on your inbox before you travel.

Keep an eye out for schedule changes

You may be able to avoid change and cancellation fees if your flight schedule changes after you've booked your ticket. For instance, if your original departure time was 1 p.m. but changes to 2:30 p.m., you might qualify for free flight changes or cancellations. Airlines often notify you of these schedule changes through email, but it's also important to regularly check your trip details to catch any changes.

In general, many U.S. airlines offer a full refund if there is a schedule change of 90 minutes or more to your flight's departure or arrival time. However, each airline has its own policy regarding schedule changes, so it's advisable to refer to our comprehensive schedule change policies guide for specific information on your chosen airline.

Remember the 24-hour rule

U.S. airlines are required by law to offer free holds or refunds within 24 hours of booking, if the flight is more than seven days in the future. This can come in handy if the price drops or you are still nailing down some travel details. This also applies to tickets booked through credit card sites like Amex Travel and the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal .

Have a good reason

Travelers can often get change fees waived in the event of illness, a death in the family or other extraordinary circumstances like a natural disaster. Just be prepared to offer supporting documentation.

Consider your credit card coverage

If you used a travel rewards or airline credit card to pay for your booking, it may include trip cancellation and interruption insurance . This insurance can potentially cover your change or cancellation fees and other eligible nonrefundable expenses. For instance, if you have a valid reason to cancel or modify your trip (like jury duty or a serious illness) and you booked with the Chase Sapphire Reserve , you can receive up to $10,000 in reimbursement per trip.

In case of an emergency that qualifies for your credit card's trip delay or cancellation coverage, you might have more concerns than just airline fees. However, knowing these protections are available if needed is reassuring.

Remember that to benefit from this coverage, you usually must pay for part of the covered trip with your credit card. This can include paying for award taxes and fees or using points to purchase a ticket through a platform like the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

Earn elite status

One of the greatest advantages of having airline elite status is that certain tiers with select carriers will waive change fees on same-day changes. This added flexibility is great if you want to move to an earlier or later flight at the last minute.

Use a credit card travel credit or redemption to cover your fees

If all else fails, you can use travel credits from a premium travel card like The Platinum Card® from American Express or the Chase Sapphire Reserve or redeem miles from a card like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees ) to cover your change or cancellation fees.

If you go this route, you'll still be subject to paying these fees, but you may be able to cover them with a statement credit or your miles. This is most applicable to award tickets since the change or cancellation fees are often an additional out-of-pocket expense. With paid flights, the fees are deducted from the value of your ticket.

In the case of the Amex Platinum, you can only cover the change or cancellation fee for the airline that you've selected to use for your $200 annual airline fee credit (enrollment is required). You can choose this airline when you first get your Platinum Card and once per year after that. It's also worth noting that Amex's system will determine which purchases are (and are not) eligible for the credit. Please read our f ull guide to the Platinum Card's airline credit for more information on what qualifies.

The Sapphire Reserve card has a more relaxed travel credit that automatically applies to the first $300 in various travel purchases each year. This credit resets once per calendar year, so if you've yet to use your credit, charge the change or cancellation fee to your Sapphire Reserve and you'll be automatically reimbursed for the fee.

Finally, if you must pay a change or cancellation fee out of pocket, you could always charge it to a card like the Capital One Venture or Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (see rates and fees ) and then use your miles at a fixed value to cover the cost. However, transferring your Capital One miles to travel partners will likely get you a much higher redemption value.

Don't pay cancellation or change fees until you have to

When you book a flight and later need to cancel, it's best to avoid paying the cancellation fee until necessary. Airlines can sometimes announce schedule changes, delays, or cancellations, allowing you to change or cancel your trip without paying any fees. Remember that if the airline cancels the service, you should receive a refund to your original payment method, not just a travel voucher. This can be a valuable tool if the airline cannot provide the service you booked.

However, it's important to understand your specific airline's policies. Unused tickets can sometimes be rebooked after the flight by paying the same change fee that you would have paid in advance. Certain carriers may require you to cancel or change your flight before the scheduled departure. Familiarize yourself with your airline's rules to make the best decision.

For Capital One products listed on this page, some of the above benefits are provided by Visa® or Mastercard® and may vary by product. See the respective Guide to Benefits for details, as terms and exclusions apply.

Related: Missed your flight? Here's what you need to do

Bottom line

Changing or canceling a flight can be a hassle, especially if it means paying a hefty fee. Keep this page handy for future reference when changing a flight.

It could save you a significant amount of money, potentially hundreds of dollars, depending on your flight type. So the next time you change a ticket, you know to mitigate your out-of-pocket expenses.

Additional reporting by Benji Stawski, Jason Steele and Kyle Olsen.

EURO 2024: All you need to know

Monday, June 17, 2024

Article summary

When is it? Where is it? Who's qualified? How does it work? All your UEFA EURO 2024 questions answered.

Article top media content

Article body

Where is euro 2024 being held  .

Germany is hosting EURO 2024, having been chosen to stage the 17th edition of the UEFA European Championship at a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Nyon on 27 September 2018. Türkiye was the only other nation that bid to hold UEFA EURO 2024. West Germany hosted the 1988 edition, but this is the first time Germany has staged the UEFA European Championship since reunification. The 2006 FIFA World Cup also took place in the country.

What are the dates for EURO 2024?

The UEFA EURO 2024 final tournament began on 14 June and runs until 14 July 2024. The group stage concludes on 26 June, with the knockout stage beginning on 29 June.

As the host nation, Germany were seeded in Group A and occupied position A1; they therefore played the opening match – a 5-1 win against Scotland – at the Munich Football Arena on Friday 14 June. Germany/West Germany have featured at every EURO since 1972. West Germany won the 1972 and 1980 editions, while the reunited Germany triumphed at EURO '96 .

Who qualified for EURO?

The draw for the final tournament was held in Hamburg on Saturday 2 December.

Group A : Germany, Scotland, Hungary, Switzerland Group B : Spain, Croatia, Italy, Albania Group C : Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England Group D : Poland*, Netherlands, Austria, France Group E : Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine* Group F : Türkiye, Georgia*, Portugal, Czechia

* Qualified via play-offs

Sign up for a free MyUEFA account to watch live streams and on-demand content, play games and challenge your friends, win money-can’t-buy prizes, and apply for tickets to Europe’s biggest games.

What is the tournament format?  

The format is the same as it was for UEFA EURO 2020 . The top two in each of the six final tournament groups proceed to the round of 16 along with the four best third-placed finishers.

Where and when will the final of EURO 2024 be played?

Berlin's Olympiastadion will stage the final on Sunday 14 July 2024.

What are the EURO 2024 host cities?

The ten venues chosen to host games at the tournament include nine of the stadiums used at the 2006 World Cup, plus the Düsseldorf Arena.

Uniquely, the Munich Football Arena is staging matches for the second EURO in succession; Bayern München's home ground was one of 11 arenas that held games during UEFA EURO 2020.

Host venues are as follows:

Berlin : Olympiastadion Berlin (current capacity: 71,000) Cologne : Cologne Stadium (43,000) Dortmund : BVB Stadion Dortmund (62,000) Dusseldorf : Düsseldorf Arena (47,000) Frankfurt : Frankfurt Arena (47,000) Gelsenkirchen : Arena AufSchalke (50,000) Hamburg : Volksparkstadion Hamburg (49,000) Leipzig : Leipzig Stadium (40,000) Munich : Munich Football Arena (66,000) Stuttgart : Stuttgart Arena (51,000)

When did EURO 2024 tickets go on sale?

The latest UEFA EURO 2024 ticketing information can be found here .

What sustainability measures are in place at EURO?

In line with increased societal expectations around football needing to accelerate action on social and environmental sustainability, the UEFA EURO 2024 tournament wants to lead by example through targeted measures and investments. The full Environmental, Social and Governance strategy can be found here .

Are there EURO 2024 fan zones in Germany?

Every host city will welcome supporters to dedicated fan zones with public viewing installations. Check out the event guide for each host city for further details on how to prepare for your EURO 2024 experience in Germany, whether you have a ticket or just want to soak up the atmosphere during the football festivities.

What is the best way to get around Germany?

Travelling by train and public transport is the most convenient and sustainable option to travel during the tournament. EURO 2024 ticket holders have access to discounted national and international train tickets, as well as a 36 Hour Travel Pass for public transport at no extra cost .

Is there an official EURO 2024 match ball?

FUSSBALLLIEBE, the Official Match Ball of UEFA EURO 2024, is being used during the final tournament . It was unveiled in November 2023 by UEFA and adidas at a special event in front of the Olympiastadion in Berlin. German for "love of football", FUSSBALLLIEBE features adidas Connected Ball Technology for the first time at a UEFA EURO.

Who is the EURO 2024 mascot?

The official tournament mascot is named Albärt following a vote conducted among UEFA.com users and schoolchildren across Europe, through the UEFA Football in Schools programme. Albärt, a teddy bear, won 32% of the vote. The ursine mascot was first introduced to Germany fans in Gelsenkirchen in June 2023, ahead of the national team's friendly game against Colombia.

Who are the city ambassadors for EURO 2024?

Berlin : Kevin-Prince Boateng Cologne : Harald Schumacher Dortmund : Roman Weidenfeller, Annike Krahn Düsseldorf : Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, Sandra Mikolaschek, Selin Oruz Frankfurt : Alex Meier, Deborah Levi Gelsenkirchen : Gerald Asamoah Hamburg : Patrick Esume Leipzig : Professor Dr Jörg Junhold, Anja Mittag, Jürgen Zielinski Munich : Dr Felix Brych Stuttgart : Cacau, Niko Kappel, Eli Seitz

Is there a EURO 2024 volunteer programme?

The volunteer team is complete! Over 146,000 football enthusiasts submitted their applications to become a volunteer at EURO 2024, with 16,000 volunteers from 124 nations subsequently selected.

Being a volunteer is a one-of-a-kind adventure: a hands-on job that encompasses everything from interacting with fans to driving trucks and assisting with accreditations. The volunteers will represent Germany in the ten host cities and stadiums during the event, welcoming guests from all over the world, as well as playing a central role in making the tournament a EURO for all, bringing to life the motto 'United by football. Vereint im Herzen Europas.'

Is there an official EURO 2024 song?

FIRE – from Italian producers Meduza, American pop-rock trailblazers OneRepublic and German singer-songwriter Leony – has been released on all streaming platforms. The song, written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and produced by MEDUZA, merges the Italian group's much-loved anthemic house production, OneRepublic's compelling soundscapes and Leony's pop expertise into a track that embodies the fervour and spirit of football and music fans alike.

Is there an eEURO?

UEFA eEURO 2024 began with the online qualifiers in March 2024 and will conclude with the final in Germany this summer. EA SPORTS FC™ 24 is the official platform for UEFA's eEURO.

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