How Airline Miles Work

What Exactly Are Airline Miles?

How do airline miles work? Airline miles are a way for you to earn free flights. You earn miles by flying or with certain travel credit cards. Free flights can be redeemed based on the number of miles collected.

Airlines have loyalty programs to reward you for flying with them. The more you fly with them, the more miles you earn.

Don't worry, we'll show you how to earn miles without flying.

When you have racked up enough miles with an airline, you can trade them in for a free flight. This is called an award seat.

How many miles do you need for a free flight? In general, 12,500 miles is enough to get you a free one-way flight (economy class) in the continental United States. But some times of year, like Christmas, can cost double.

Award seats have limited availability. On every flight, there are only a certain number of seats allocated for those redeeming with miles. So, it's best if you have schedule flexibility when booking with airline miles.

You can use the miles for a flight on that airline and its partners.

How Do Airline Miles Work?

It's also important to know that each airline works differently when it comes to miles. They usually work in a few ways:

Zone based: This is when there's a set number of miles required to go from one region to another. For example, domestically within the U.S. or from North America to Europe. Generally speaking, it doesn't matter where your starting and end points are. If they are within the region, it will require the same number of miles. The best value here is on long international flights. United and American have zone-based award charts. Most airlines operate on this model.

How much is 20,000 miles worth? For 20,000 miles, you can book a flight to countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean, some Hawaiian destinations, and anywhere in the continental United States. Some airlines and times of year will cost more, however.
Distance based: This is when the miles needed depends on the actual distance traveled between destinations. For example, New York to Europe would require fewer miles than Los Angeles to Europe would. The best value is on short flights. Or this can work out better depending on where you live. British Avios and Cathay Pacific Asia Miles use distance-based charts.

How much is 40,000 miles worth? Depending on the time of year, you can go almost anywhere with 40,000 miles. Choose from destinations in Asia, Europe, North and South America and the Caribbean. Of course, different airlines may have their own restrictions.
Cost based: This is when the number of miles needed is directly related to the cost of the flight. So this is often great for off-peak travel and short distances. JetBlue and Southwest have cost-based programs.

How Can You Earn Airline Miles?

This is the fun part!

There are two main ways to get airline miles:

You can directly join the airline's loyalty program and fly with them. This method is good if you have a favorite airline you always fly with. Joining the loyalty program is free and you do not need any special credit cards.

Every time you book an eligible flight with the airline (and participating partners), you get miles. Some airlines give you one mile per actual mile flown. Some airlines give you 5-6X the miles per dollar spent. If you fly enough with them, you will eventually get enough points for a free flight.
Or you can rack up miles fast with travel rewards credit cards. This is the fastest way to earn miles. There are many travel rewards cards that allow you to earn general travel points. First, they usually offer generous bonuses in the form of tons of miles. And second, you earn miles on your everyday spending.

After you have accumulated enough miles, you can redeem them for flights. The bulk of this course focuses on maximizing this method.

Smart Ways to Earn Miles

There are other smart ways to earn miles without flying. Two of our other favorite ways are:

Online shopping portals: Many airline or travel cards have an online shopping portal where you can earn miles or bonus points at partner online retailers.
Dining programs: Many airlines also have a dining program that gives you extra miles for eating at participating restaurants near you.

We will talk more about these in tomorrow's lesson.

Is Capital One a good travel card? Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is another great choice in travel credit cards. Capital One Venture offers 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Plus receive a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit in your first cardholder year. This card earns 2 miles per dollar on all purchases. There are no foreign transaction fees. You get up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✓®. There is a $95 annual fee.

How do I redeem Capital One Venture miles? Capital One gives you several options. You can book travel directly through Capital One's rewards portal. Or buy the tickets separately with your card and use the Purchase Eraser feature. You can also redeem your miles for cash back (of gift cards).

How many Capital One miles do I need for a flight? It depends on the cost of the flight. $1 equals 100 Capital One miles so a $300 flight will cost 30,000 miles.

How Many Miles Do You Need for a Free Flight?

This question is not easy to answer because airlines all organize their award charts differently. But we'll try to give you a general idea.

From the Continental U.S. to (one-way, Economy):

Domestic: around 12,500 points
Hawaii: 15,000 - 22,500 points
Mexico/Central America/Caribbean: 12,500 - 17,500 points
Europe: 25,000 - 30,000 points
Asia: 35,000 - 40,000 points
South America: 20,000 - 30,000 points

These numbers are approximate to give you an idea of how many miles it will take for each trip.

Of course, it will differ based on your airline's award chart and where you are going. For example, you can fly domestic one-way for as low as under 4,000 miles with Southwest (which has a cost-based program).

In general, distance-based and fare-based awards are better for short distance travel. Zone-based awards are better for long distance.

How many miles for a free flight with United? United offers free one-way economy flights for 10,000 miles to some destinations less than 700 miles. Longer flights can cost 12,500 miles or more, depending on time of year.

Key Takeaways

Airline miles can be used on that airline and any of its partners.
Award seats have limited availability, so you will have to be flexible.
Applying for travel reward cards is the fastest way to earn miles without flying.

Tomorrow, we will go into more detail on ways you can earn miles without leaving the ground.

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Disclaimer: The information for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by CreditDonkey. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.