Frequent flyer miles expert Scott Grimmer explains how to maximize your frequent flyer miles by flying "trick" awards that take you to more places for fewer miles than 'should' be possible.

1. Trick Awards
Stopovers, Open Jaws, Free One Ways
Chicago Seminars 2014
Scott Grimmer
MileValue.com

2. Get Excited
Redeeming miles well is a rush because
 Saving miles means more trips
 Cramming in more places for free means more
you see more

3. Topics
 1.5 trips for the price of 1
 Save miles by adding a flight
 Don't pay the fuel surcharges everyone else is
 Use the airlines' award charts against them
 BIG TRIPS by combining multiple tricks

4. Not My Goals
 Tediously go over the stopover and open jaw
rules of every airline
 Talk about the “real” Round-the-World awards

5. Your Tools
 Open Jaws
 Stopovers
 Free One Ways
 Award Charts
 Knowing Where to Search
 Wikipedia
 Your Charm

6. Open Jaw Definition
 The end of your outbound not matching the
start of your return
 The end of your return not matching the start of
your outbound
 Example: New York to London, returning Paris
to New York

7. Open Jaw Takeaways
 Two open jaws are possible per roundtrip
 Open jaws can't usually be in the middle of the
outbound or return

8. Stopover Definition
 Stopping for more than 24 hours along the
route to your destination
 Example: Stopping for a week in Munich for
Oktoberfest on the way to Croatia

9. Open Jaws and Stopovers on Legacies
(per roundtrip award)
Airline Open Jaws And/Or Stopovers
American 2 0
United 2 And 1
Delta 1 And 1
US Airways 1 Or 1
 American eliminated stopovers in April 2014
 American and United allow one way award
bookings
 None of the airlines allow a stopover on one
way awards

10. Free One Way Definition
 Taking a free stopover at your home airport on
an award to add a later (or earlier) one way trip
for zero extra miles
 Like stopping in Chicago for three months after
a trip to Europe before a free one way to LA

11. United Free One Way

12. A Simple Open Jaw R/T

13. Add a Free One Way

14. United Free One Way

15. Cheap One Ways on United Awards

16. 30k + 30k + 30k = 77.5k

17. Cheap One Ways on United Awards

18. These United Slides Were Hard to
Put Together
Multi-city searches on united.com:
 Not all choices shown
 Frequent error messages (call in)

19. Free One Ways on US Airways
Awards
 1 Stopover or 1 Open Jaw rule vs. 1 Stopover
and 1 Open Jaw needed to make a free one
way

20. Can't Do This

21. More Flights Equals Fewer Miles

22. Add Dummy Legs
1 Stopover and Zero Open Jaws After Dummy Legs

23. Hawaii/South America Award with
Singapore Airlines Miles
 The Deal: 50k Singapore miles roundtrip from
Hawaii to South America, 80k in Business

24. You Have Singapore Miles
1:1 (not quite instant) transfer partner of
 Chase Ultimate Rewards
 American Express Membership Rewards
 Citi ThankYou Points
 SPG Starpoints (20k points → 25k miles)

25. Singapore Basics
 Member of Star Alliance with United
 Has access to all the Saver award space
released by all Star Alliance partners
searchable on united.com
 No fuel surcharges on United, Copa, Avianca
 1 free stopover, up to 3 more for $100 each
 6 segments maximum per roundtrip

26. 6 Segments is the Tough Part
 3 Segments each direction means you need to
live in a city with a direct flight to South America
or to Hawaii

27. 4 Parts to the Award
(1) Hawaii to your home airport
(2) Home airport to South America
(3) South America to your home airport
(4) Home airport to Hawaii (skip-able)

28. Putting It All Together

29. Putting It All Together
(1) Kauai to Los Angeles (home, free stopover)
(2) Los Angeles to Buenos Aires
(3) Buenos Aires to Los Angeles (home, stopover
for $100)
(4) Los Angeles to Kona
50k Singapore miles total in economy + taxes +
$100

30. Putting It All Together

31. How I Found the Deal
35k roundtrip “within” Hawaii/Central America, 60k in business/first

32. No Fuel Surcharges ex-Brazil
 British Airways Business and First with
American Airlines miles
 Singapore First Class from Sao Paulo to
Barcelona
 Lufthansa First with Lufthansa Miles & More
miles up to 361 days in advance
 Air France Flying Blue Promo Awards

33. British Airways First Class without Surcharges

34. BA Business on the A380

35. Singapore First Class GRU-BCN

36. Singapore First on a 777

37. Fifth Freedom Flights
 Sao Paulo to Barcelona on Singapore
 Dubai to London on Qantas
 JFK to Vancouver on Cathay Pacific
 Auckland to SYD/BNE/MEL on Emirates

38. Dubai to London on Qantas

39. New York to Vancouver on Cathay Pacific

40. Cathay Pacific First Class on a 777

41. Auckland to Australia on Emirates
 Tag routes to Sydney, Brisbane, and
Melbourne
 75k Korean miles roundtrip or 68,500 Emirates
miles one way

42. Emirates First Class on an A380

43. Same Flight, Many Prices
United First Class to Hawaii

44. United First Class One Way Price
 40k United miles
 35k Lufthansa Miles & More miles
 30k Singapore miles
 27.5k Asiana miles

45. Subtract Miles by Adding Flights
 Whenever you can go to a cheaper region via a
more expensive region

46. Bottom One is Cheaper with US
Airways Miles

47. Japan to Oceania with United miles

48. Layering Some of These Tricks
 Delta miles: LAX-ICN, CNS-MEL//MEL-LAX
 United miles: ICN-NAN//NAN-AKL(-NRT)
 British Airways or Emirates miles: AKL-SYD
 British Airways: SYD-CNS

49. Six Destinations, Four Awards

50. Delta Award with Stopover and
Open Jaw across Regions

51. United Award When Adding Flights
Reduces Price Plus Hidden City
 27,500 miles + taxes
 15k North Asia to
Oceania and 12.5k
Oceania to Japan
 Free stopover in
Auckland on the way
and get off in
Auckland on return

52. Fifth Freedom from Auckland to Sydney

53. Many Prices, One Flight

54. Six Destinations, Four Awards

55. Totals
 150,000 Delta miles
 27,500 United miles
 30,000 British Airways Avios
 Plus government taxes (no fuel surcharges)
 207,500 miles for Six Destinations, mostly in
Business Class

56. Questions?
 Anything I said
 Any award routings you're looking at
 Award routing rules