February 24, 2025 • 30 mins
Airline alliances are essential to maximizing your points and facilitating family travel. By understanding and utilizing these partnerships, families can find better availability, save points, and streamline their travel experiences.
• Explanation of airline alliances
• Importance of booking through the correct airline system
• Discussion of major airline alliances
• Real-world examples of leveraging airline partnerships
• Tips for sweet spot locations and maximizing miles
• Insights on transfer bonuses from banks
• Recommendation of award search engines
• Key strategies for family travel planning
If this episode was helpful, make sure to subscribe and follow us on Instagram at TravelPartyof5 for lots more points and miles tips for your family of five or more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you've ever tried booking award flights for a
family of five or more, you knowit's not always easy.
Airline alliances might just bethe key to unlocking more
availability, better routes andcheaper redemptions, and we're
sharing how we think aboutairline alliances and some
real-life examples in today'sepisode.
Listen in Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
And I'm Dwayne.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five
podcast, where we share how wetravel as a family of five
around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
We will also share how we use points and miles to
travel as affordably as possibleand sometimes even completely
free.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So if you're wanting to travel more with your family
but you're not sure how, we'dlove for you to listen in.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn
a thing or two to get youcloser to your next trip.
Welcome back, listeners.
We appreciate you listening.
Hope you're off to a great day,week, month year.
(01:18):
Hello.
Yes, we appreciate you.
So what's the topic today?
What are we going to be talkingabout today?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
We are diving deep into the world of airline
alliances, which can be maybe alittle bit of a dry topic, so
we're going to try to make itfun with some real life examples
.
But the reason for this episodeis I've been getting a bunch of
questions on Instagram latelyaround.
(01:48):
Basically that all boil down tonot having a good understanding
of airline alliances and howthings like that work.
So, like people are saying,like how can I use my Alaska
miles to book this AmericanAirlines flight?
I see it on the Americanwebsite, but it's not on the
Alaska website or like versionsof that, and so we are.
(02:14):
What we're not going to do islike word vomit all of the
alliances and all their rulesand details and status and
partners.
We're not going to do thatbecause that's a snooze fest and
that's also way too muchinformation for one podcast
episode.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And who likes word vomit?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Instead, what I'm aiming for is this is a how you
should think through alliancesto help you book your next trip.
So the goal here is not toagain bombard you with facts and
statistics, but instead toexplain how to think about
alliances so that you can usethem to your advantage and so
that you're not stuck with abucket of points that you can't
(02:54):
use for what you want.
And we've also got a fewexamples throughout the episode
of how we've leveraged airlinealliances to save points when
booking trips for our family offive.
Alliances to save points whenbooking trips for our family of
five.
So I think first let's explainwhat an alliance is.
An airline alliance Do you know?
No, I'm listening to thisepisode as if you're learning to
(03:20):
.
Yes, so an airline alliance isbasically when multiple airlines
work together to make traveleasier and more convenient for
its passengers.
So instead of each airlineoperating by itself, they share
things like flights, sometimesairport services, and this way
you can travel to more places,like on the same ticket.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I mean, yeah, this is how you booked our trip to
Europe, or no?
Didn't you use some kind of?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
On the way back.
Yeah, that's one example that Ihave coming up.
So I asked ChatGPT to give mean analogy of airline alliances
to share.
I hate that guy.
Chatgpt saves me so much timein my life.
He's great.
So, okay, I'm going to give youthe two that it that it gave me
(04:07):
that I thought were kind ofdecent.
Some of them were.
I was like, oh, that doesn'treally make sense, okay.
So the first one is airlinealliances are like a school bus
system.
Okay, so imagine you live in abig town with many different
schools.
Each school has its own buses,but they can't reach every
single neighborhood.
So if your school's bus can'ttake you all the way home, it
(04:31):
hands you off to another bus inthe same network.
You don't need to buy a newticket or switch to a different
system.
You just hop onto another busthat's part of the same system
and it gets you home.
Okay, that was the first one.
The second one that I thoughtwas fairly decent is imagine
your town has a library, but itdoesn't have every book you want
.
Luckily, your library is partof a bigger library network that
(04:53):
includes libraries in othertowns.
If your library doesn't havethe book you need, you can
borrow it from another libraryin the same network.
You don't need a new librarycard and you don't have to pay
extra, you can just pick it upfrom your local library.
In the same way as those twoanalogies, airline alliances
work together.
So if your airline doesn't flyto a certain city, a partner
(05:16):
airline in the same allianceprobably does, and so your
ticket, your baggage, all ofthose work across the network,
just like your library card oryour school bus ticket would
work across different librariesor neighborhoods.
So I thought those were fairlydecent analogies that kind of
explain what an alliance is.
(05:38):
Another thing that like anothervocab word, if you may, that I
wanted to mention is a lot oftimes people will say oh well,
that's, we're flying on UnitedMetal, but we booked through Air
Canada.
Let's say Air Canada and Unitedare in the same alliance.
What they're saying is that theflight is operated by United
(06:02):
Airlines, so it is UnitedAirlines Metal.
Right, the plane is UnitedAirlines, but you can book it
using some of their alliancepartners, for example, in this
case, air Canada.
Okay, so when someone says oh,it's American Airlines Metal,
right, that's what they mean,and that's with a T, not a D.
(06:23):
Metal M-E-T-A-L.
Yes, am I saying it like metal,like in a war?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I would.
If I were listening, I'd belike is she saying metal or
metal, oh or metal or metal, ormetal or metal.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So here's why alliances can be really
important, especially if you'rebooking for a family like like
ours.
We have five people.
That's a lot of points that youneed.
So, number one there's moreairlines to choose from, which
gives you more seat availability.
Number two, you have theability to book partner awards
(06:57):
using different pointscurrencies and you can save
money.
And number three, this kind ofgoes for everyone.
And number three, this kind ofgoes for everyone.
It's just your baggagetransfers are seamless, right?
So, like a lot of times, you'llbook one ticket and you'll have
a layover and one segment willbe on one airline and the second
segment will be on a different.
But you don't have to like getyour bag and recheck it.
(07:18):
It just is checked seamlessly,even though it's two different
airlines, because they're in thesame alliance.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You know what I mean.
I mean don't they do thatregardless, they do.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And you're not even well no, not necessarily.
Like if I were going to fly onAmerican Airlines, right, and
then I were going to fly on,like, Air France.
Those are in two differentalliances.
I could never book one ticketon both.
I would have to book one ticketon American and then one ticket
on Air France.
Those are in two differentalliances.
I could never book one ticketon both.
I would have to book one ticketon American and then one ticket
(07:49):
on Air France, and I'd have topick up my bag in the middle.
Are you sure about that?
Yes, I'm positive.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I don't know about that.
What?
Because I'm saying when youcheck into the airport, they're
like what's your finaldestination?
You say whatever Japan, and youget to the airport're like
what's your final destination?
You, you say whatever japan.
And you get to the airport, yougive them your bags and you
know you fly whatever americanand then you have to transfer to
japan airlines.
I don't know if they're thesame lines they are.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
They're the same alliance, whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's why you can do that or ana on nippon airways,
like they're gonna put your bagon that and ain't flight, right?
You know, yeah, they are,they're going to put your bag on
that in any flight, right?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
No, yeah, they are.
They're not.
They're asking what's yourfinal destination within their
alliance is what they're asking,because if you were going to
book through two separatealliances, you would have to
book two separate tickets.
Dwayne is frowning at me rightnow for everyone that can't see.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I get the two tickets part.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
But I don't think you have no luggage.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You do because delta would not fly if you had a
flight on american airlines.
Okay, delta is not going todeliver your bag to tokyo if
you're flying on american whatI'm saying is the baggage claim.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
People that are underneath the airport that are
doing the bags see that yourdestination is japan and it says
, whatever flight, they're gonnatake your bag to that right,
but the the name, thedestination that's on your bag
matches your ticket, right?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
so like if you go to the american airlines counter,
they're gonna say what's yourfinal destination?
And if I say you know japan,but I'm flying on delta to japan
, they're gonna be like that'sweird, this says lax, you know.
Like they're not gonna fly yourbag on a different airplane
than you're on.
That's a security risk I'm justsaying.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I've traveled a lot when I was young and I don't
know if my mom was using thealliances I doubt it but we
never used to have to take our,get our bag, recheck it well, I
think that's the key is oh, youare a hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
She was booking on different alliances and had no
idea yeah, like I, I have noidea like she was booking on,
like she was booking a ticketfrom tokyo to new york.
Let's say okay, for there wasprobably different airlines
within that ticket if you had alayover.
But she would have no idea,because that's what an alliance
(10:10):
does.
You have no idea.
When I flew to Montreal, myfirst leg was on United and my
second leg was on Air Canada,but it was all booked as one
flight.
My bag, if I had checked a bag,would have gone through to
Montreal.
But that's because they're inthe same alliance.
Okay, yeah, but if they were indifferent alliances, you
couldn't have even booked theticket all the way through.
(10:31):
Is what I'm saying.
Does that make sense?
yes, that makes sense are youjust yesing me to death?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
no, I'm just saying like, if I'm gonna use two
different alliances, I'm gonnabook my ticket from New York or
Tokyo to New York two differenttickets, I get.
Gonna book my ticket from newyork or tokyo to new york two
different tickets, I get that.
But what I'm saying is theairport's gonna hand your bag
off to the, the last airlinethat's gonna get you to new york
from tokyo.
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Like you're not gonna have to go pick up your bag and
then recheck it the airline isnot going to send your bag to a
city that they are not flying to.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I know that You're not listening to me.
So we're taking a flight fromTokyo to New York.
Do you have a layover?
Of course I have a layover.
Where is it?
Wherever it may be, but I'msaying at that layover
destination they're going totake my bag.
I mean sorry, bad example,tokyo to New York.
You're going to have to recheckyour bag because it's
(11:28):
international.
So let's say, la to New Yorkand my layover's in Oklahoma,
okay, in two different airlines.
Oklahoma Airport is going tomake sure my bag gets to New
York on that flight.
That needs to go to New York,even if it's not the same
alliance.
You see what I'm saying You'renot going to go to Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
You're not right.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Recheck your bag in.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Because if you're on two separate alliances, you've
booked two separate tickets.
That's what I'm saying to you.
You cannot fly on two differentalliances on the same ticket.
So in your scenario, you wouldhave had to have booked LA to
Oklahoma on, let's say, starAlliance, and then Oklahoma to
New York on one world alliance.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
That's what I'm saying.
I get that.
I get that.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So in that scenario you would have to pick up your
bag in Oklahoma and you wouldhave to recheck it with your new
airline because they're notpart of the same alliance.
Okay, but if you just bookedLAX straight through to New York
and the airline said you have alayover in Oklahoma, then you
are correct that you do not haveto pick up your bag because
(12:34):
they will check it all the waythrough.
Even if it's two separateairlines, they're in the same
alliance.
Do you understand what I'm?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
saying Gotcha, let's move forward.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Okay.
Okay, so there are three majoralliances.
They are SkyTeam, oneworld andStarAlliance.
I'm not going to name everysingle airline within each
alliance, but SkyTeam hasairlines like Delta, air France,
klm, virgin Atlantic, koreanAir.
(13:07):
One World is American, alaska,british Airways, cathay Pacific,
iberia, japan Airlines, qantas,qatar, etc.
And then Star Alliance is AirCanada, united, ana, that Dwayne
mentioned, Avianca, lufthansa,tap, air Portugal, turkish,
singapore and more, and so Ialready mentioned this.
(13:30):
But when I flew to Montreal lastmonth, it was one ticket booked
all together, but my first legwas on United, my second leg was
on Air Canada.
They are in both in the StarAlliance Alliance Um.
I also earned United miles forall the legs of that flight,
including the one that was onAir Canada, because the United
(13:53):
uh, my United um member numberis the one that I put in the
thing when I booked it.
I probably could have earnedAir Canada miles instead if I
had wanted to, but I didn't.
So one thing to notice is thatbudget airlines so think
Frontier Spirit, um in Europe,like Ryanair or even Southwest
(14:14):
technically, is considered abudget airline in Europe, like
Ryanair or even Southwesttechnically is considered a
budget airline, and sometimesJetBlue.
They're not on this listbecause they're not part of any
alliance, although Southwest andIceland Air have a new
(14:35):
partnership that's very recentand JetBlue.
You can also book using adifferent airline, which I
forgot, but it's coming up soon.
We'll talk about that in aminute.
So I think the most importantthing to note about booking a
flight using an alliance partneris you have to first consider
where the points that you havelive.
So what kind of points do youhave?
Because that will determinewhat types of partners you can
(14:58):
use.
So, for example, if you haveAlaska miles, which we briefly
talked about already, you haveto book on the Alaska website
and choose from the flights thatare available on the Alaska
website.
So if American Airlines, someof those flights may be American
Airlines operated flights, butif American Airlines operates a
flight, even if it's less points, and you can see it on the
(15:19):
American Airlines website, butit doesn't show up when you
search on Alaska, or it's morepoints when you search on Alaska
, it doesn't matter, because youdon't have any options.
You only have Alaska points,which means you have to book on
the Alaska website.
And that was one of thequestions I got was like you
know, the flight is less mileson American.
How can I use these miles?
(15:40):
And the answer is you can't.
And so I think people think, oh, this is an alliance I can.
I can book, you know, whateverI want in that alliance using my
Alaska miles.
And that's not the case.
It's whatever they show you asavailable on their website is
your only options, and so I alsowouldn't speculatively transfer
(16:01):
your points without having agame plan for how to use them.
Same thing if you have AmericanAirlines miles, you have to book
using flights available on theAmerican Airlines website.
So if British Airways or CathayPacific, which are in the same
alliance, has the same flightfor less points, it doesn't
matter, because the AA pointsdon't transfer.
(16:23):
So again, you're super limitedwhen you have points just in one
airline partner for the mostpart.
This is why points and milespeople are always harping on the
value of transferable pointscurrencies.
So, as a reminder, those aregoing to be points currencies
like Chase Ultimate Rewards,american Express Membership
(16:44):
Rewards, citi Thank you Pointsand Capital One Miles.
Those are the four major banks.
Each of those banks hastransfer partners that are
generally some hotels and someairlines that you can transfer
their points to, which enablesyou to unlock some of these
Alliance sweet spots.
For example, air France is atransfer partner of all four
(17:08):
major banks and you can then useyour Air France flying blue
miles to book flights on Deltafor likely a lot less points
than Delta is charging for thesame exact flight.
So the flight might be on Deltametal, but you can book it
using your Air France points,because they're in the same
(17:29):
Alliance.
And again, if you have if it'sAir France points that you have,
you have to find the flight onthe Air France website.
You can book a Delta flight ora KLM flight or whatever.
Hi friends, we are brieflyinterrupting the show to ask a
favor.
If you are enjoying thisepisode or any episode we've
done, we'd so appreciate it ifyou'd take one minute to leave
(17:52):
us a rating or a review,wherever you listen.
Now back to the show.
Okay, so any questions on that?
From what I just said, no, Imean I.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I think it's self-explanatory.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You've done a great job explaining it as a side note
, if anyone thinks that duane isright from our earlier
discussion, send me a dm oninstagram, and if you think I
was right, send me a dm oninstagram because I know the
truth.
Okay, let's talk about somesweet spots for families,
because using airline alliancesto your advantage can really
(18:29):
help you to save points.
Right, when you have to bookfor a family, it costs a lot of
points even to fly an economy.
One of the things that I liketo think about this for is
repositioning.
It's hard for families to do arepositioning flight because you
need, as a side note, arepositioning flight is when you
(18:51):
book a flight that's not atyour home airport and then you
have to take another flight toget from your home airport to
wherever your flight leaves from.
Okay, it's hard for families todo this because you still need
five flights to a differentairport and that can, if you're
using points, can be a lot, andif you're paying cash, it can be
(19:12):
a lot.
I mean, flights from Phoenix toLAX are 200 bucks a pop.
Usually.
That's $1,000 for our family.
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
It is.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
So using Alaska Airlines to book American
Airlines flights can sometimesbe a better option.
Alaska uses a distance-basedaward chart, so shorter
distances mean less points andthe Phoenix to LAX or Phoenix to
San Francisco can be booked foras low as 4,500 miles per
person one way, and that is afantastic option for a
(19:47):
repositioning flight.
Lax and SFO are both muchbigger airports with much better
international flight optionsflight options and in the same
alliance as that, britishAirways is also distance based
and can be used to book flightson American Airlines or Alaska.
(20:08):
And you can also transfer yourBritish Airways Avios between
Aer Lingus, iberia and Qatar, sothey all operate on the Avios
point system.
So they all operate on theAvios point system and you can.
You know some banks.
For example, chase has BritishAirways as a transfer partner,
so you could transfer yourpoints from Chase to British
Airways and then you couldtransfer your British Airways
(20:30):
points to either Aer Lingus,iberia or Qatar.
That is kind of the onlyairline that has that available
option.
Generally, once you transferfrom a bank to an airline, your
points are stuck there.
British Airways and those otherfew airlines are the exception,
but the key here again is tostart with where your points
(20:51):
live and then work from there.
So if you want to book a flighton Iberia and you have chase
points, you can transfer yourchase points to British Avios,
then transfer British Avios toIberia and again, that is the
only kind of airline group thathas that option, and here's a
real life example of that.
So in 2023, my grandfatherpassed away and I was able to
(21:16):
take my Chase Ultimate Rewardspoints, transfer them to British
Airways and book a same-dayflight on points to get there.
Thankfully, I was able to getthere before he passed away and
I also had zero stress about thecost of a last-minute flight.
I think I ended up payingroughly 20,000 points, if I
remember correctly.
I did have to book two separateflights because when I searched
(21:40):
on British Airways, it said noroutes available for the full
trip, so if that happens, Iwouldn't be discouraged.
I was able to figure out wherethat flight would typically
connect, which was Charlotte,and so then I booked two one-way
tickets.
I booked one from Phoenix toCharlotte and then a second one
from Charlotte to Wilmington.
(22:01):
Wilmington is a smaller airport, so I'm pretty sure that's why
there was no availability when Isearched for the full route.
Point.
(22:25):
It was the beginning of ourtravel hacking journey, and so I
had to start with where do mypoints live?
And the only points I had werechase points and, so that you
know, left me a little bitlimited as to where I could
transfer them to, and BritishAirways ended up being the best
option.
Okay, another popular one isgoing to be flying to Japan.
Japan is a hot topic right now.
It seems like everyone iseither going there or wants to
(22:45):
go, and Japan Airlines is one ofthe best airlines to get you
there, even in economy.
And so, to the way that Iunderstand it, the only way that
you can book Japan Airlineswith points is by booking
through American Airlines orAlaska slash Hawaiian, and again
, you have to just start withwhere your points live.
(23:07):
So if you have AmericanAirlines points, you have to
book it on their website.
If the flight isn't there, youcan't do it.
It's very simple Find anotherday or time, you know, but
booking Japan Airlines usingAmerican Airlines miles for
economy or premium economy, evenfor five or more, is super
doable If you have AmericanAirlines points.
(23:27):
The way that you will know isthe flight number will say J, l
and then a number If it says AAand then a flight number that is
operated by American Airlines.
What you are looking for isit'll say operated by Japan
Airlines and the flight numberwill start with JL, and that's
how you know when you're lookingon the American Airlines
(23:48):
website.
Currently, as of time ofrecording, you can get economy
flights one way on AmericanAirlines and, I'm sorry, on
Japan Airlines using AmericanAirlines miles for 35,000 points
one way in economy.
Okay, what else?
Another sweet spot is going tobe using Air France or Virgin
(24:09):
Atlantic to book Delta flights.
Delta flights are often superhigh end points they call them
sky pesos for a reason but youcan generally book the same
flights that you'll see on theDelta website using Air France
or Virgin Atlantic for much lesspoints, and Air France has 25%
discount for kids under 11,which increases your points
(24:30):
savings even more.
This is the example I think youwere talking about earlier.
So when we fly home from Europenext month, I was able to book
all five of us on VirginAtlantic premium economy from
Madrid to Phoenix.
We have an overnight layover inParis for 150,000 points total
(24:50):
and the actual cost of theflights was 195,000 points, but
there was a transfer bonus atthe time from Amex to Virgin
Atlantic, which meant I only hadto transfer 150,000 Amex points
to get 195,000 points and wasable to book that for all five
(25:10):
of us.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
That's pretty good.
It's 30,000.
That's great Paris to Phoenix.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yes, and we.
So we're flying on Air Francemetal, so the flight is the same
flight that I could have bookedon Air France, but the same
flight on Air France was like400,000 points for premium
economy for all five of us.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I thought we were flying first class back.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
No premium economy yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I got to tell people that.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You've been telling people it was first class.
No premium economy, sorry,first class on the way to
Christmas markets.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Oh, maybe that's what I was talking about, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Okay.
So that brings me to the nextthing to keep in mind is
transfer bonuses.
So if there are multiple waysor airlines for you to book a
ticket, you have to first checkif there's any transfer bonuses
from the major banks to thatairline.
So, for example, flying Bluetransfers to all from.
You can transfer from all fourmajor banks to Flying Blue.
(26:10):
But if American Express has atransfer bonus to Flying Blue
and I have American Expresspoints, it makes the most sense
for me to transfer from Amexinstead of Chase or Capital One.
And I think, if you're not sure,make a quick spreadsheet, do
some award searches and trackthe points cost and the taxes
and fees cost and then reviewthat and choose the one that
uses the least amount of pointsand or the least cash for the
(26:32):
taxes and fees.
I will say the downside of thatVirgin Atlantic flight that I
booked in premium economy is thetaxes and fees were quite high,
like they were around $300 aperson, and so it was costly.
That was before Virgin Atlanticdid their.
They recently updated theiraward chart and went to a more
(26:53):
dynamic pricing model, whichgenerally is not good, but they
have good, some good options nowand lower taxes and fees.
This was booked before thathappened, so it wasn't super
cheap as far as the out ofpocket cash price.
So it did cost fewer points,but it cost a little more cash.
(27:14):
And then I think, my last.
So my last like tool orrecommendation would be to use
award search engines to findseats.
I really like seatsarrow.
I pay for the premium versionof that.
The other ones that you can useare pointme or expert flyer.
I don't use either of those.
I like seatsarrow, but you cando searches on there and start
(27:37):
to understand.
You know, okay, I can book, youknow, this same flight on Air
Canada as I could book on United, and on United it's 56,000
miles, on Air Canada it's 47,000, right, that's just an example.
I'm just pulling numbers out ofmy butt.
So don't you know, tell me youcan't find a word availability
for those points prices, butyou'll want to check to see if
(28:01):
different airlines have the sameexact flight and which one
costs less points.
Okay, that was a lot, and Ididn't go anywhere in depth as I
could have gone into all thealliances too.
I think sometimes less is moreso well, again, I just wanted
people to start thinking aboutlike this is how you should
think about the alliances andyou know, go from there If you
(28:26):
have questions reach out, don'thesitate.
DM on Instagram.
So I think, as a recap,alliances can really help you
save points, which is reallyimportant when you're booking
for a lot of people.
If you're struggling to findfive award seats, don't like
check alliance partners and ifyou need a process, I would
(28:48):
think about it this way.
So, number one start withwherever your points live.
Okay, if it's transferablepoints, figure out the transfer
partners that you can transferto, then make a list of which of
those partners are in the samealliance and start running award
searches on those airlines toget an idea of what flights cost
(29:09):
.
And, as a game, try to find thesame flight on more than one
airline's website and comparethe points cost.
If you don't have transferablepoints and you have flights
within a certain airline program, like American Airlines, you
have less flexibility and you'llhave to book whatever partner
flights are available, in thisexample, on the American
(29:30):
Airlines website itself.
So there's no point in lookingon Alaska because AA doesn't
transfer to Alaska, so itdoesn't really matter what's
over there.
Okay, I'm going to take a deepbreath.
If this episode was helpful,make sure to subscribe and
follow us on Instagram atTravelPartyof5 for lots more
points and miles tips for yourfamily of five or more, and
(29:53):
that's all we've got for today,my friends.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Yes, well, we appreciate you listening.
Hopefully this was helpful andagain, if you have any questions
.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Also, let's take a vote.
If you think duane was right,let me know.
If you think I was right, letme know instagram at travel
party five, I'll.
I'll report back if there areif there are votes again, we
appreciate you okay, talk to youguys later.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Bye have a good one.
If you've ever tried booking award flights for a
family of five or more, you knowit's not always easy.
Airline alliances might just bethe key to unlocking more
availability, better routes andcheaper redemptions, and we're
sharing how we think aboutairline alliances and some
real-life examples in today'sepisode.
Listen in Hi, I'm Raya.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
And I'm Dwayne.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five
podcast, where we share how wetravel as a family of five
around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
We will also share how we use points and miles to
travel as affordably as possibleand sometimes even completely
free.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So if you're wanting to travel more with your family
but you're not sure how, we'dlove for you to listen in.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn
a thing or two to get youcloser to your next trip.
Welcome back, listeners.
We appreciate you listening.
Hope you're off to a great day,week, month year.
(01:18):
Hello.
Yes, we appreciate you.
So what's the topic today?
What are we going to be talkingabout today?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
We are diving deep into the world of airline
alliances, which can be maybe alittle bit of a dry topic, so
we're going to try to make itfun with some real life examples
.
But the reason for this episodeis I've been getting a bunch of
questions on Instagram latelyaround.
(01:48):
Basically that all boil down tonot having a good understanding
of airline alliances and howthings like that work.
So, like people are saying,like how can I use my Alaska
miles to book this AmericanAirlines flight?
I see it on the Americanwebsite, but it's not on the
Alaska website or like versionsof that, and so we are.
(02:14):
What we're not going to do islike word vomit all of the
alliances and all their rulesand details and status and
partners.
We're not going to do thatbecause that's a snooze fest and
that's also way too muchinformation for one podcast
episode.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And who likes word vomit?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Instead, what I'm aiming for is this is a how you
should think through alliancesto help you book your next trip.
So the goal here is not toagain bombard you with facts and
statistics, but instead toexplain how to think about
alliances so that you can usethem to your advantage and so
that you're not stuck with abucket of points that you can't
(02:54):
use for what you want.
And we've also got a fewexamples throughout the episode
of how we've leveraged airlinealliances to save points when
booking trips for our family offive.
Alliances to save points whenbooking trips for our family of
five.
So I think first let's explainwhat an alliance is.
An airline alliance Do you know?
No, I'm listening to thisepisode as if you're learning to
(03:20):
.
Yes, so an airline alliance isbasically when multiple airlines
work together to make traveleasier and more convenient for
its passengers.
So instead of each airlineoperating by itself, they share
things like flights, sometimesairport services, and this way
you can travel to more places,like on the same ticket.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
I mean, yeah, this is how you booked our trip to
Europe, or no?
Didn't you use some kind of?
Speaker 1 (03:45):
On the way back.
Yeah, that's one example that Ihave coming up.
So I asked ChatGPT to give mean analogy of airline alliances
to share.
I hate that guy.
Chatgpt saves me so much timein my life.
He's great.
So, okay, I'm going to give youthe two that it that it gave me
(04:07):
that I thought were kind ofdecent.
Some of them were.
I was like, oh, that doesn'treally make sense, okay.
So the first one is airlinealliances are like a school bus
system.
Okay, so imagine you live in abig town with many different
schools.
Each school has its own buses,but they can't reach every
single neighborhood.
So if your school's bus can'ttake you all the way home, it
(04:31):
hands you off to another bus inthe same network.
You don't need to buy a newticket or switch to a different
system.
You just hop onto another busthat's part of the same system
and it gets you home.
Okay, that was the first one.
The second one that I thoughtwas fairly decent is imagine
your town has a library, but itdoesn't have every book you want
.
Luckily, your library is partof a bigger library network that
(04:53):
includes libraries in othertowns.
If your library doesn't havethe book you need, you can
borrow it from another libraryin the same network.
You don't need a new librarycard and you don't have to pay
extra, you can just pick it upfrom your local library.
In the same way as those twoanalogies, airline alliances
work together.
So if your airline doesn't flyto a certain city, a partner
(05:16):
airline in the same allianceprobably does, and so your
ticket, your baggage, all ofthose work across the network,
just like your library card oryour school bus ticket would
work across different librariesor neighborhoods.
So I thought those were fairlydecent analogies that kind of
explain what an alliance is.
(05:38):
Another thing that like anothervocab word, if you may, that I
wanted to mention is a lot oftimes people will say oh well,
that's, we're flying on UnitedMetal, but we booked through Air
Canada.
Let's say Air Canada and Unitedare in the same alliance.
What they're saying is that theflight is operated by United
(06:02):
Airlines, so it is UnitedAirlines Metal.
Right, the plane is UnitedAirlines, but you can book it
using some of their alliancepartners, for example, in this
case, air Canada.
Okay, so when someone says oh,it's American Airlines Metal,
right, that's what they mean,and that's with a T, not a D.
(06:23):
Metal M-E-T-A-L.
Yes, am I saying it like metal,like in a war?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I would.
If I were listening, I'd belike is she saying metal or
metal, oh or metal or metal, ormetal or metal.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
So here's why alliances can be really
important, especially if you'rebooking for a family like like
ours.
We have five people.
That's a lot of points that youneed.
So, number one there's moreairlines to choose from, which
gives you more seat availability.
Number two, you have theability to book partner awards
(06:57):
using different pointscurrencies and you can save
money.
And number three, this kind ofgoes for everyone.
And number three, this kind ofgoes for everyone.
It's just your baggagetransfers are seamless, right?
So, like a lot of times, you'llbook one ticket and you'll have
a layover and one segment willbe on one airline and the second
segment will be on a different.
But you don't have to like getyour bag and recheck it.
(07:18):
It just is checked seamlessly,even though it's two different
airlines, because they're in thesame alliance.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
You know what I mean.
I mean don't they do thatregardless, they do.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
And you're not even well no, not necessarily.
Like if I were going to fly onAmerican Airlines, right, and
then I were going to fly on,like, Air France.
Those are in two differentalliances.
I could never book one ticketon both.
I would have to book one ticketon American and then one ticket
on Air France.
Those are in two differentalliances.
I could never book one ticketon both.
I would have to book one ticketon American and then one ticket
(07:49):
on Air France, and I'd have topick up my bag in the middle.
Are you sure about that?
Yes, I'm positive.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I don't know about that.
What?
Because I'm saying when youcheck into the airport, they're
like what's your finaldestination?
You say whatever Japan, and youget to the airport're like
what's your final destination?
You, you say whatever japan.
And you get to the airport, yougive them your bags and you
know you fly whatever americanand then you have to transfer to
japan airlines.
I don't know if they're thesame lines they are.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
They're the same alliance, whatever.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's why you can do that or ana on nippon airways,
like they're gonna put your bagon that and ain't flight, right?
You know, yeah, they are,they're going to put your bag on
that in any flight, right?
Speaker 1 (08:25):
No, yeah, they are.
They're not.
They're asking what's yourfinal destination within their
alliance is what they're asking,because if you were going to
book through two separatealliances, you would have to
book two separate tickets.
Dwayne is frowning at me rightnow for everyone that can't see.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I get the two tickets part.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
But I don't think you have no luggage.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You do because delta would not fly if you had a
flight on american airlines.
Okay, delta is not going todeliver your bag to tokyo if
you're flying on american whatI'm saying is the baggage claim.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
People that are underneath the airport that are
doing the bags see that yourdestination is japan and it says
, whatever flight, they're gonnatake your bag to that right,
but the the name, thedestination that's on your bag
matches your ticket, right?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
so like if you go to the american airlines counter,
they're gonna say what's yourfinal destination?
And if I say you know japan,but I'm flying on delta to japan
, they're gonna be like that'sweird, this says lax, you know.
Like they're not gonna fly yourbag on a different airplane
than you're on.
That's a security risk I'm justsaying.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I've traveled a lot when I was young and I don't
know if my mom was using thealliances I doubt it but we
never used to have to take our,get our bag, recheck it well, I
think that's the key is oh, youare a hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
She was booking on different alliances and had no
idea yeah, like I, I have noidea like she was booking on,
like she was booking a ticketfrom tokyo to new york.
Let's say okay, for there wasprobably different airlines
within that ticket if you had alayover.
But she would have no idea,because that's what an alliance
(10:10):
does.
You have no idea.
When I flew to Montreal, myfirst leg was on United and my
second leg was on Air Canada,but it was all booked as one
flight.
My bag, if I had checked a bag,would have gone through to
Montreal.
But that's because they're inthe same alliance.
Okay, yeah, but if they were indifferent alliances, you
couldn't have even booked theticket all the way through.
(10:31):
Is what I'm saying.
Does that make sense?
yes, that makes sense are youjust yesing me to death?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
no, I'm just saying like, if I'm gonna use two
different alliances, I'm gonnabook my ticket from New York or
Tokyo to New York two differenttickets, I get.
Gonna book my ticket from newyork or tokyo to new york two
different tickets, I get that.
But what I'm saying is theairport's gonna hand your bag
off to the, the last airlinethat's gonna get you to new york
from tokyo.
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Like you're not gonna have to go pick up your bag and
then recheck it the airline isnot going to send your bag to a
city that they are not flying to.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
I know that You're not listening to me.
So we're taking a flight fromTokyo to New York.
Do you have a layover?
Of course I have a layover.
Where is it?
Wherever it may be, but I'msaying at that layover
destination they're going totake my bag.
I mean sorry, bad example,tokyo to New York.
You're going to have to recheckyour bag because it's
(11:28):
international.
So let's say, la to New Yorkand my layover's in Oklahoma,
okay, in two different airlines.
Oklahoma Airport is going tomake sure my bag gets to New
York on that flight.
That needs to go to New York,even if it's not the same
alliance.
You see what I'm saying You'renot going to go to Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
You're not right.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Recheck your bag in.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Because if you're on two separate alliances, you've
booked two separate tickets.
That's what I'm saying to you.
You cannot fly on two differentalliances on the same ticket.
So in your scenario, you wouldhave had to have booked LA to
Oklahoma on, let's say, starAlliance, and then Oklahoma to
New York on one world alliance.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
That's what I'm saying.
I get that.
I get that.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So in that scenario you would have to pick up your
bag in Oklahoma and you wouldhave to recheck it with your new
airline because they're notpart of the same alliance.
Okay, but if you just bookedLAX straight through to New York
and the airline said you have alayover in Oklahoma, then you
are correct that you do not haveto pick up your bag because
(12:34):
they will check it all the waythrough.
Even if it's two separateairlines, they're in the same
alliance.
Do you understand what I'm?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
saying Gotcha, let's move forward.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Okay.
Okay, so there are three majoralliances.
They are SkyTeam, oneworld andStarAlliance.
I'm not going to name everysingle airline within each
alliance, but SkyTeam hasairlines like Delta, air France,
klm, virgin Atlantic, koreanAir.
(13:07):
One World is American, alaska,british Airways, cathay Pacific,
iberia, japan Airlines, qantas,qatar, etc.
And then Star Alliance is AirCanada, united, ana, that Dwayne
mentioned, Avianca, lufthansa,tap, air Portugal, turkish,
singapore and more, and so Ialready mentioned this.
(13:30):
But when I flew to Montreal lastmonth, it was one ticket booked
all together, but my first legwas on United, my second leg was
on Air Canada.
They are in both in the StarAlliance Alliance Um.
I also earned United miles forall the legs of that flight,
including the one that was onAir Canada, because the United
(13:53):
uh, my United um member numberis the one that I put in the
thing when I booked it.
I probably could have earnedAir Canada miles instead if I
had wanted to, but I didn't.
So one thing to notice is thatbudget airlines so think
Frontier Spirit, um in Europe,like Ryanair or even Southwest
(14:14):
technically, is considered abudget airline in Europe, like
Ryanair or even Southwesttechnically is considered a
budget airline, and sometimesJetBlue.
They're not on this listbecause they're not part of any
alliance, although Southwest andIceland Air have a new
(14:35):
partnership that's very recentand JetBlue.
You can also book using adifferent airline, which I
forgot, but it's coming up soon.
We'll talk about that in aminute.
So I think the most importantthing to note about booking a
flight using an alliance partneris you have to first consider
where the points that you havelive.
So what kind of points do youhave?
Because that will determinewhat types of partners you can
(14:58):
use.
So, for example, if you haveAlaska miles, which we briefly
talked about already, you haveto book on the Alaska website
and choose from the flights thatare available on the Alaska
website.
So if American Airlines, someof those flights may be American
Airlines operated flights, butif American Airlines operates a
flight, even if it's less points, and you can see it on the
(15:19):
American Airlines website, butit doesn't show up when you
search on Alaska, or it's morepoints when you search on Alaska
, it doesn't matter, because youdon't have any options.
You only have Alaska points,which means you have to book on
the Alaska website.
And that was one of thequestions I got was like you
know, the flight is less mileson American.
How can I use these miles?
(15:40):
And the answer is you can't.
And so I think people think, oh, this is an alliance I can.
I can book, you know, whateverI want in that alliance using my
Alaska miles.
And that's not the case.
It's whatever they show you asavailable on their website is
your only options, and so I alsowouldn't speculatively transfer
(16:01):
your points without having agame plan for how to use them.
Same thing if you have AmericanAirlines miles, you have to book
using flights available on theAmerican Airlines website.
So if British Airways or CathayPacific, which are in the same
alliance, has the same flightfor less points, it doesn't
matter, because the AA pointsdon't transfer.
(16:23):
So again, you're super limitedwhen you have points just in one
airline partner for the mostpart.
This is why points and milespeople are always harping on the
value of transferable pointscurrencies.
So, as a reminder, those aregoing to be points currencies
like Chase Ultimate Rewards,american Express Membership
(16:44):
Rewards, citi Thank you Pointsand Capital One Miles.
Those are the four major banks.
Each of those banks hastransfer partners that are
generally some hotels and someairlines that you can transfer
their points to, which enablesyou to unlock some of these
Alliance sweet spots.
For example, air France is atransfer partner of all four
(17:08):
major banks and you can then useyour Air France flying blue
miles to book flights on Deltafor likely a lot less points
than Delta is charging for thesame exact flight.
So the flight might be on Deltametal, but you can book it
using your Air France points,because they're in the same
(17:29):
Alliance.
And again, if you have if it'sAir France points that you have,
you have to find the flight onthe Air France website.
You can book a Delta flight ora KLM flight or whatever.
Hi friends, we are brieflyinterrupting the show to ask a
favor.
If you are enjoying thisepisode or any episode we've
done, we'd so appreciate it ifyou'd take one minute to leave
(17:52):
us a rating or a review,wherever you listen.
Now back to the show.
Okay, so any questions on that?
From what I just said, no, Imean I.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
I think it's self-explanatory.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You've done a great job explaining it as a side note
, if anyone thinks that duane isright from our earlier
discussion, send me a dm oninstagram, and if you think I
was right, send me a dm oninstagram because I know the
truth.
Okay, let's talk about somesweet spots for families,
because using airline alliancesto your advantage can really
(18:29):
help you to save points.
Right, when you have to bookfor a family, it costs a lot of
points even to fly an economy.
One of the things that I liketo think about this for is
repositioning.
It's hard for families to do arepositioning flight because you
need, as a side note, arepositioning flight is when you
(18:51):
book a flight that's not atyour home airport and then you
have to take another flight toget from your home airport to
wherever your flight leaves from.
Okay, it's hard for families todo this because you still need
five flights to a differentairport and that can, if you're
using points, can be a lot, andif you're paying cash, it can be
(19:12):
a lot.
I mean, flights from Phoenix toLAX are 200 bucks a pop.
Usually.
That's $1,000 for our family.
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
It is.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
So using Alaska Airlines to book American
Airlines flights can sometimesbe a better option.
Alaska uses a distance-basedaward chart, so shorter
distances mean less points andthe Phoenix to LAX or Phoenix to
San Francisco can be booked foras low as 4,500 miles per
person one way, and that is afantastic option for a
(19:47):
repositioning flight.
Lax and SFO are both muchbigger airports with much better
international flight optionsflight options and in the same
alliance as that, britishAirways is also distance based
and can be used to book flightson American Airlines or Alaska.
(20:08):
And you can also transfer yourBritish Airways Avios between
Aer Lingus, iberia and Qatar, sothey all operate on the Avios
point system.
So they all operate on theAvios point system and you can.
You know some banks.
For example, chase has BritishAirways as a transfer partner,
so you could transfer yourpoints from Chase to British
Airways and then you couldtransfer your British Airways
(20:30):
points to either Aer Lingus,iberia or Qatar.
That is kind of the onlyairline that has that available
option.
Generally, once you transferfrom a bank to an airline, your
points are stuck there.
British Airways and those otherfew airlines are the exception,
but the key here again is tostart with where your points
(20:51):
live and then work from there.
So if you want to book a flighton Iberia and you have chase
points, you can transfer yourchase points to British Avios,
then transfer British Avios toIberia and again, that is the
only kind of airline group thathas that option, and here's a
real life example of that.
So in 2023, my grandfatherpassed away and I was able to
(21:16):
take my Chase Ultimate Rewardspoints, transfer them to British
Airways and book a same-dayflight on points to get there.
Thankfully, I was able to getthere before he passed away and
I also had zero stress about thecost of a last-minute flight.
I think I ended up payingroughly 20,000 points, if I
remember correctly.
I did have to book two separateflights because when I searched
(21:40):
on British Airways, it said noroutes available for the full
trip, so if that happens, Iwouldn't be discouraged.
I was able to figure out wherethat flight would typically
connect, which was Charlotte,and so then I booked two one-way
tickets.
I booked one from Phoenix toCharlotte and then a second one
from Charlotte to Wilmington.
(22:01):
Wilmington is a smaller airport, so I'm pretty sure that's why
there was no availability when Isearched for the full route.
Point.
(22:25):
It was the beginning of ourtravel hacking journey, and so I
had to start with where do mypoints live?
And the only points I had werechase points and, so that you
know, left me a little bitlimited as to where I could
transfer them to, and BritishAirways ended up being the best
option.
Okay, another popular one isgoing to be flying to Japan.
Japan is a hot topic right now.
It seems like everyone iseither going there or wants to
(22:45):
go, and Japan Airlines is one ofthe best airlines to get you
there, even in economy.
And so, to the way that Iunderstand it, the only way that
you can book Japan Airlineswith points is by booking
through American Airlines orAlaska slash Hawaiian, and again
, you have to just start withwhere your points live.
(23:07):
So if you have AmericanAirlines points, you have to
book it on their website.
If the flight isn't there, youcan't do it.
It's very simple Find anotherday or time, you know, but
booking Japan Airlines usingAmerican Airlines miles for
economy or premium economy, evenfor five or more, is super
doable If you have AmericanAirlines points.
(23:27):
The way that you will know isthe flight number will say J, l
and then a number If it says AAand then a flight number that is
operated by American Airlines.
What you are looking for isit'll say operated by Japan
Airlines and the flight numberwill start with JL, and that's
how you know when you're lookingon the American Airlines
(23:48):
website.
Currently, as of time ofrecording, you can get economy
flights one way on AmericanAirlines and, I'm sorry, on
Japan Airlines using AmericanAirlines miles for 35,000 points
one way in economy.
Okay, what else?
Another sweet spot is going tobe using Air France or Virgin
(24:09):
Atlantic to book Delta flights.
Delta flights are often superhigh end points they call them
sky pesos for a reason but youcan generally book the same
flights that you'll see on theDelta website using Air France
or Virgin Atlantic for much lesspoints, and Air France has 25%
discount for kids under 11,which increases your points
(24:30):
savings even more.
This is the example I think youwere talking about earlier.
So when we fly home from Europenext month, I was able to book
all five of us on VirginAtlantic premium economy from
Madrid to Phoenix.
We have an overnight layover inParis for 150,000 points total
(24:50):
and the actual cost of theflights was 195,000 points, but
there was a transfer bonus atthe time from Amex to Virgin
Atlantic, which meant I only hadto transfer 150,000 Amex points
to get 195,000 points and wasable to book that for all five
(25:10):
of us.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
That's pretty good.
It's 30,000.
That's great Paris to Phoenix.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yes, and we.
So we're flying on Air Francemetal, so the flight is the same
flight that I could have bookedon Air France, but the same
flight on Air France was like400,000 points for premium
economy for all five of us.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I thought we were flying first class back.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
No premium economy yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
I got to tell people that.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You've been telling people it was first class.
No premium economy, sorry,first class on the way to
Christmas markets.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Oh, maybe that's what I was talking about, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Okay.
So that brings me to the nextthing to keep in mind is
transfer bonuses.
So if there are multiple waysor airlines for you to book a
ticket, you have to first checkif there's any transfer bonuses
from the major banks to thatairline.
So, for example, flying Bluetransfers to all from.
You can transfer from all fourmajor banks to Flying Blue.
(26:10):
But if American Express has atransfer bonus to Flying Blue
and I have American Expresspoints, it makes the most sense
for me to transfer from Amexinstead of Chase or Capital One.
And I think, if you're not sure,make a quick spreadsheet, do
some award searches and trackthe points cost and the taxes
and fees cost and then reviewthat and choose the one that
uses the least amount of pointsand or the least cash for the
(26:32):
taxes and fees.
I will say the downside of thatVirgin Atlantic flight that I
booked in premium economy is thetaxes and fees were quite high,
like they were around $300 aperson, and so it was costly.
That was before Virgin Atlanticdid their.
They recently updated theiraward chart and went to a more
(26:53):
dynamic pricing model, whichgenerally is not good, but they
have good, some good options nowand lower taxes and fees.
This was booked before thathappened, so it wasn't super
cheap as far as the out ofpocket cash price.
So it did cost fewer points,but it cost a little more cash.
(27:14):
And then I think, my last.
So my last like tool orrecommendation would be to use
award search engines to findseats.
I really like seatsarrow.
I pay for the premium versionof that.
The other ones that you can useare pointme or expert flyer.
I don't use either of those.
I like seatsarrow, but you cando searches on there and start
(27:37):
to understand.
You know, okay, I can book, youknow, this same flight on Air
Canada as I could book on United, and on United it's 56,000
miles, on Air Canada it's 47,000, right, that's just an example.
I'm just pulling numbers out ofmy butt.
So don't you know, tell me youcan't find a word availability
for those points prices, butyou'll want to check to see if
(28:01):
different airlines have the sameexact flight and which one
costs less points.
Okay, that was a lot, and Ididn't go anywhere in depth as I
could have gone into all thealliances too.
I think sometimes less is moreso well, again, I just wanted
people to start thinking aboutlike this is how you should
think about the alliances andyou know, go from there If you
(28:26):
have questions reach out, don'thesitate.
DM on Instagram.
So I think, as a recap,alliances can really help you
save points, which is reallyimportant when you're booking
for a lot of people.
If you're struggling to findfive award seats, don't like
check alliance partners and ifyou need a process, I would
(28:48):
think about it this way.
So, number one start withwherever your points live.
Okay, if it's transferablepoints, figure out the transfer
partners that you can transferto, then make a list of which of
those partners are in the samealliance and start running award
searches on those airlines toget an idea of what flights cost
(29:09):
.
And, as a game, try to find thesame flight on more than one
airline's website and comparethe points cost.
If you don't have transferablepoints and you have flights
within a certain airline program, like American Airlines, you
have less flexibility and you'llhave to book whatever partner
flights are available, in thisexample, on the American
(29:30):
Airlines website itself.
So there's no point in lookingon Alaska because AA doesn't
transfer to Alaska, so itdoesn't really matter what's
over there.
Okay, I'm going to take a deepbreath.
If this episode was helpful,make sure to subscribe and
follow us on Instagram atTravelPartyof5 for lots more
points and miles tips for yourfamily of five or more, and
(29:53):
that's all we've got for today,my friends.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Yes, well, we appreciate you listening.
Hopefully this was helpful andagain, if you have any questions
.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Also, let's take a vote.
If you think duane was right,let me know.
If you think I was right, letme know instagram at travel
party five, I'll.
I'll report back if there areif there are votes again, we
appreciate you okay, talk to youguys later.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Bye have a good one.
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