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MMMondayMemo: Credit your flight to a partner
Each Monday, Miles has decided to drop a tip, hint, tutorial, trick that maybe you’ve missed or haven’t heard before. If you’re an expert in this field, some of these may be things you already know, but there are a lot of beginners out there who are just getting their feet wet which is why we created the Monkey Miles Monday Memos. This week we will take a look at why you may want to credit your flight to a partner.
I recently flew on BA, but didn’t credit to BA. Who did I credit my flight to, and why? Let’s take a look.
Crediting your flight to a partner can earn you more points, streamline your travel, and earn you Elite Status, but the crazy thing is….SO MANY PEOPLE DON’T DO IT?!
I can’t tell you how many times I get into conversations with people that have a few miles sprinkled over many airlines. I’ll ask them why they don’t credit their flights to one partner to build up a balance and the answer consistently is “I had no idea you could do that.” Yep, it’s true. It’s a super simple, effective, and a TOTAL SENSE MAKER to credit your flight to a partner.
Airlines can have stand alone partners or be a part of an alliance, or both.
American Airlines is a part of the One World alliance. So if you fly on Cathay Pacific you can earn AA miles and vice versa. But, you can also earn miles on Etihad which isn’t a part of One World. It’s a stand alone partner. Unsure what an alliance is? Check out our MMMondayMemo that explains it. You may not fly all of your flights on AA, but that doesn’t mean you can’t align your travel.
Here are their One World partners:
And then their “other” partners
What this means is if you fly some flights on Cathay Pacific, Etihad, and Air Berlin it makes more sense to credit those to one airline than to each airline individually. The other little sweet spot about partners is they earn a % of the miles flown as EQD. Now that airlines are requiring a certain amount of $ spend to hit status, you can make those valuable EQD without actually spending that much money.
Here’s BA’s EQD chart for AA.
If you caught a cheap business class fare from Europe to LA for $1000 you’d only earn $1000 EQD if you booked it through AA. Book it through BA and fly 12000 miles roundtrip – you’ll rack up 3000 EQD. Pretty solid, right?
I’m seeking Alaska MVP 75 this year. They aren’t part of any alliances and I’d argue maintain the best program out there. Let’s take a look at their partners.
Alaska Air isn’t a part of an alliance like One World or SkyTeam, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still credit flights taken on other airlines to Alaska. Here’s a look at all of their partners.
Each of those partners have their own earn rates. I recently flew on BA and credited to Alaska. Why did I do that? Look at how many miles I earned.
Even though I was flying on British Airways I didn’t credit my flight to them because Alaska Airlines MileagePlan miles are FAR MORE valuable. For instance, with no elite status, a discount business class ticket earns 250% of the miles flown. If you’re Alaska MVP 75…you earn 375% of the miles flown. THAT IS INSANE!
If I’m flying on United I credit my miles to Singapore Airlines. Why? I love their chart, they award miles on distance, and have great partners.
The big one here is that they award miles based off distance flown. If you find a $200 roundtrip fare from LA to NYC, United will give you 1000 miles. What will Singapore award you? Just shy of 5000
These are just some basic concepts to understand and utilize in your travel to help you get the most return on your investment.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.