Make no mistake: people fail to appreciate just how massive Asia really is. When you’re flying from Southeast Asia to North Asia, you’re looking at much longer flight times than journeys across the United States, and it goes without saying that doing it comfortably in business class is a total game changer. With high fares all over the place, is an amazing region to cash in your miles for an upgraded experience, and we’ve got the best ways for you to do it!
One way business class: 25,000 miles.
How To Book Award Flights: Online at EVA Infinity Mileage Lands.
Transfer Partners: Capital One, Citi.
While one way awards are great value at 25K a pop inside Asia, EVA is super useful for round trips in Asia, because they allow two free stopovers en route to your final destination country, whereas one ways offer no stopovers at all.
Basically, on a round trip you can start anywhere in Asia, stopover in Taipei or another country (as long as it’s not the same as your final destination) and then carry on to your final destination, and then on the way back you can stop somewhere else again, which effectively allows you to see so much of Asia for 50,000 miles all in. Taxes run around $275 on a round trip, and half on a one way.
One way business class: 22,500 – 25,000 miles.
How To Book Award Flights: Online at Alaska Mileage Plan for JAL, or over phone for all Cathay Pacific bookings. You can find space for Cathay online using BritishAirways.com.
Transfer Partners: Marriott Bonvoy, frequent points sales.
Alaska recently did away with stopovers on one way flights within Asia, but the fantastic value of being able to book one way flights for 25K points with low taxes and fees remains excellent for intra Asia travel, which can span great distances.
Alaska offers travel on JAL, Cathay or Singapore Air in Asia, and Japan Airlines is a brilliant option for getting from Southeast Asia to Tokyo, or vice versa. Even India counts as Asia, which means you can cover considerable distance for a relatively small number of miles. Stick to JAL or Cathay for these 25K miles options.
One way business class: 21,000 miles.
How To Book Award Flights: Aegeanair.com. If you don’t yet have Aegean Points, search on United since availability will be the same. Aegean only allows searches if you have points, but availability will be the same you see on United once you have points in place.
Transfer Partners: Marriott Bonvoy, frequent points sales.
Aegean regularly offers points sales which bring you enough points to book these flights for around $390 all in. 21,000 miles is an incredible value for intra Asia flights, and Aegean is arguably now the best value to book flights within Asia.
Southeast Asia and North Asia all counts as one region, so even if you’re trying to go from Bali to Seoul, it’s just 21,000 one way. These flights can easily span over 7 hours in the air and cost $1300 and up using cash alone, so booking them for 21,000 points or buying the 21,000 miles needed for $390 in a great sale can represent fantastic savings.
One way business class: 16,500 – 62,000 miles.
How To Book Award Flights: BritishAirways.com.
Transfer Partners: Chase, Amex, Marriott Bonvoy, Points Sales.
British Airways Executive Club is an interesting wildcard for booking flights within Asia in business class because of its distance based pricing. Short flights require just 16,500 points one way, and medium hall flights like Hong Kong – Tokyo require 22,000. The longest flights will require 62,000 points.
The key here is that British Airways Avios are relatively easy to acquire, and that will only become more true as more credit cards add them as a transfer partner in the coming month. With easy access to Avios and excellent availability on Malaysian, JAL, Cathay Pacific and Royal Jordanian, there are lots of ways to turn Avios into flights. Plus, this is one of the best ways to cash in Avios without steep surcharges added to British Airways own flights.
Leave a comment