Success: Three Cousins in “Miles Training” all Book International Trips with Miles and Free One-Ways!
I just want to say that I am so proud of three of my cousins for making some very good uses of their miles (other cousins, don’t worry, I am proud of you for other things too!). They all booked international tickets and even added free one-ways to make sure to maximize their miles. No one leaves miles on the table on my watch! They all planned two trips ahead so they could stretch their miles across multiple journeys, worked patiently to find award seats and even called customer service themselves to price and book their itineraries (with me conferenced in, of course, in case something goes wrong).
By creating stopovers in their home cities, my three cousins were able to add free one-way trips onto their transcontinental itineraries. In each case, this covered half a trip they were planning to take later on months later. The lesson to be learned here is it really does pay to think ahead as you can save tens of thousands of miles this way!
Diana: Round-trip to Milan and a free one-way to Vancouver for 60,000 United Airlines miles
Miles saved: 12,500 (The one-way trip from Chicago to Vancouver is free)
Cousin Diana is going to Milan with her husband in October followed by a trip to Vancouver in winter. They are using United miles for their trip. Normally, a round-trip to Milan from Chicago would cost 60,000 United miles economy. However, with United airlines miles, an international round trip allows a stopover and two open-jaws. Diana included an open-jaw between Chicago and Vancouver (leaving from Chicago, returning to Vancouver) and included a stopover in Chicago. Her itinerary:
- Outbound: Chicago to Milan
- Inbound: Milan to Vancouver with stopover in Chicago for 3 months
This round-trip still only cost her 60,000 miles and includes a one-way trip to Vancouver on top of her round-trip to Milan.
She then got the return flight from Vancouver to Chicago for 12,500 miles separately.
The two trips cost her 72,500 miles total with the “free one-way” trick rather than 85,000 (60,000 round-trip to Milan and 25,000 round-trip to Vancouver).
If you want to book free one-way trips like Diana with United Airlines miles, read:
How to Add Free One-Way Trips On United Airlines Awards
Anna: Round-trip to Europe and a one-way trip to Guatemala City for 62,500 United Airlines Miles
Miles saved: 15,000 (The one-way trip from New York to Guatemala City only cost 2,500 additional miles)
Cousin Anna (who is also a cousin of Samba for Miles) will be flying to Paris, taking a multi-city train journey through Europe and returning from Prague this fall. She is also traveling to Guatemala next spring. She made full use of United’s international routing rules, which allow a stopover and two open jaws on a round-trip:
- Outbound: New York to Paris
- Inbound: Prague to Guatemala with a stopover in New York for 6 months
This is still considered a round-trip, but Anna’s trip actually has two open jaws. One at the origin (start in New York, return to Guatemala) and one at the destination (fly into Paris, return from Prague). Her stopover is in New York.
Diana got a free one-way returning to the same region where she started (U.S. and Canada), but Anna’s additional one-way was slightly more advanced. Instead of returning to U.S. and Canada, she returned to a completely different region. For this reason, she paid the Europe to Central America award price on the way back, which was 32,500 miles instead of 30,000. So, I admit it, her additional one-way was not actually free. It was 2,500. Regardless, it should have cost 17,500 if she did not use the “additional one-way trick”.
Anna will, of course, need a ticket back from Guatemala. Since availability from Guatemala to New York is pretty good on Star Alliance, she is not allowed to book her return leg until she collects enough miles for her next trip… so she can get another cheap one-way!
To learn about saving miles on one-way trips to different regions like Anna, read:
Roman: Economy class Chicago to Hong Kong, Business class Bangkok to Chicago + a one way trip to Cancun in spring for 90,000 American Airlines miles total
Miles saved: 30,000 (The one-way trip in business class from Chicago to Cancun is free)
Cousin Roman will be traveling to Asia this winter and has a wedding to attend in Cancun the following spring in May. He is using American Airlines miles to fly to Hong Kong in economy and return from Bangkok in business class. Because he managed to include a non-stop segment from Beijing to Chicago, Chicago becomes his international gateway city. American Airlines allows a stopover within North America in an international gateway city so he decided to stop until May, when he will connect to his trip to Cancun.
American Airlines prices all awards as one-way trips. Roman’s flight from Chicago to Hong Kong cost him 35,000 miles. His flight from Bangkok to Cancun in business class with a 4 month stop in Chicago cost him 55,000 miles. This is the same as the cost of just the flight from Bangkok to Chicago in business class. The flight from Chicago to Cancun does not cost him any extra miles although it would cost 30,000 miles if booked by itself.
You can read about Roman’s step-by-step process to book his Asia trip with miles in my post:
Planning a Trip to Asia with American Airlines Miles: Part 1 of 2
Planning a Trip to Asia with American Airlines Miles: Part 2 of 2
To learn about adding free one-way trips within North America using American Airlines like Roman, read:
How to Add Free One-Way Trips on American Airlines Awards
Looks like Roman won this round of saving miles with free one-ways, but Svetlana is still ahead of the pack (present company excluded). Which of my cousins is booking a miles trip with free one-way next? If you thought I was out of cousins, don’t worry, there are plenty left!
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Some of the challenges I’ve had with trying to take advantage of the free one-way is that you have to wait until you are close enough to fit both trips within the 11 month window. I usually book my trips 11 months out since 4 award seats can be hard to find on certain airlines like Iberia where they only have 4 business class award seats per flight from JFK-MAD.
That’s certainly true and I’ve come across that myself a few times. You actually have one year to use the ticket, which gives you an extra month. Sometimes, when I would book 11 months out, I would book my free one-way destination and then change dates later once availability opens. United has removed the ability for free date changes on award tickets, but you can still do this on American Airlines.
Fortunately, with all three cousins, their big international trips were in the next few months.
Hi,
I love reading your blog!!
I am planning to go to Hong Kong as well, I am new to this miles and points game . I am saving some united points to use for the trip. I will be leaving EWR(newark) to HKG(hong kong), I am thinking to stopover to Singapore or Japan or hawaii too, if I can get a one-way ticket to any of this places. My closest airport is PHL( philadelphia).
Thank you so much for your input! :) Keep up the good work! :)
I am actually going on a trip to Asia with United miles myself in December. The destination is Thailand, but we are also stopping in Singapore and Tokyo for a few days each. You may be interested to read how I planned my itinerary: . I basically got a trip to Singapore on the way there, and then Phuket to New York with a stopover in Tokyo on the way back. It was all one round-trip and I only had to buy a ticket from Singapore to Phuket, which only cost $100.
Thank you very much for the blog compliments and I am glad you find it helpful!
Hi – have you written about free one-ways via United? My understanding is that you can’t do it based on one-way booking, you have to book round-trip. Is this true also for American? Thanks!