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Flying Blue Eliminates Free Stopover on Award Tickets

Current State of Affairs With Flying Blue

Flying Blue is the frequent flyer program of Air France-KLM. They share it with some partners: Kenya Airways, Tarom, Aircalin, and Transavia. It is one of Europe’s major frequent flyer programs, along with Executive Club (British Airways) and Miles&More (Lufthansa group).

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Use the Fifth Freedom Right to See More Places

Fifth freedom flights

World leaders tend to argue about everything, but they have worked out a lot of issues to make sure that most of our flights go smoothly. The International Civil Aviation Association (ICAO) recognizes five Freedoms of the Air that make modern commercial aviation possible. Since all countries are protective of their borders and revenues, international treaties had to be put in place to ensure that airlines can fly freely anywhere in the world

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Types of Frequent Flyer Redemptions Explained: Region, Distance and Revenue Models

Frequent flyer programs have come a long way since American Airlines introduced AAdvantage in 1981. The vast majority of world airlines have frequent flyer programs, and while they differ widely, each of their redemption schemes is based on one of the three underlying principles: region-based, distance-based or revenue-based.

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The Kings of Stopovers: Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific Programs

Stopovers are an incredibly valuable tool that allows you to see more places for the same amount of miles. This is one of the most underutilized perks of award travel, and one that is not generally available to passengers who pay for their ticket.

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Which Airlines Allow Stopovers and Open Jaws?

Stopovers and open jaws are great way to see more of the world for less money. Some airlines allow you to add a stopover to your award ticket itinerary on the way to or from your final destination. So what exactly is a stopover and an open jaw and which carriers let you take them? Read on for the airlines and their rules.

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Best SPG Transfers for Select Foreign Carrier Awards

There is no such thing as a perfect airline frequent flyer program, which is why rewards programs like Starwood Preferred Guest are so great. They allow you to transfer points to the airline of your choice when the need arises and when an award ticket you’re looking for costs less with one airline program than another. Here are a few examples of some goal-oriented transfers that can save you a great deal of miles.

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Maximize Your SPG Points With Transfers to American and JAL

Starwood Preferred Guest is an excellent reward program because of its incredible flexibility. It has more airline transfer partners than any other program, including American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou. On top of that, some of those airlines partner only with SPG. In this post, we’ll look at why you should consider transferring your valuable Starpoints to two of those exclusive airline partners: American Airlines and Japan Airlines (JAL).

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Why You Should Transfer SPG Points to Alaska Airlines

Transfer SPG points

Starwood Preferred Guest is a hotel loyalty program, but it’s different from other hotel programs. It allows members to transfer Starpoints to most of its 36 partner airlines at a 1:1 ratio. Plus, you’ll get a 5,000-mile bonus for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer to a frequent flyer program.

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United Just Changed a Fundamental Rule for Booking Award Travel

United Just Changed a Fundamental Rule for Booking Award Travel

One of the most valuable features of many airline  loyalty programs is the ability to book a stopover during your itinerary. How does a stopover differ from a regular connection? Usually you must arrive and depart within 24 hours during international connections (or within 4 hours during domestic connections).

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Learning Airline Terms Can Pay Off With a Free Night in Paris

travel to paris

Many things in the airline industry are not always clear. Surely, you have overheard someone in an airport or on a plane lamenting that they have a layover of two hours in the airport. Or perhaps, you caught part of a conversation of someone having a stopover for a couple of hours. Technically they are not the same thing, and one can actually be a good thing as it can give you the chance to stop somewhere en route before going on to your final destination.

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See More of Europe on Air Canada with Stopovers

We discussed how to use Aeroplan‘s stopover rules to visit more places in South America. Aeroplan (Air Canada’s program) allows two stopovers or one stopover and one open jaw on a roundtrip award ticket.

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See South America With Free Stopovers on Air Canada

Air Canada is one of the world’s largest airlines and a member of the Star Alliance. Aeroplan, Air Canada’s loyalty program, has generous routing rules on award flights. A round-trip ticket can include two stopovers or one stopover and one open jaw.

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See South America With Stopovers on Alaska Airlines

You might be surprised to find that you can use Alaska Airlines miles to fly to South America. And Alaska’s flexible stopover policy makes its loyalty program, Mileage Plan, a great option for booking that itinerary.

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See Fiji, Australia and New Zealand With Stopovers on Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines allows you to make a free stopover on one-way award flights, even if they’re booked on one of the carrier’s partners. This flexible policy makes it possible to go to multiple destinations without spending more miles. In this post, we’ll look at several possible itineraries that include Fiji, Australia and New Zealand.

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Use Free Stopovers on Alaska Airlines’ Partners

Alaska Airlines’ generous booking policies allow you to make one free stopover per one-way domestic award ticket, or two stopovers per roundtrip. But you also get free stopovers on award flights booked with Alaska’s excellent international airline partners, including Emirates, Cathay Pacific and Qantas.

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See the Pacific Northwest With Free Stopovers on Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines’ generous stopover policy allows you to take one stopover per one-way flight, or two per roundtrip, without adding any cost to your ticket. The best part is that the rule also applies to domestic flights, not just international itineraries. In this post, we’ll look at how to take advantage of these rules to visit three destinations in the U.S. for the price of one round-trip award flight.

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Using Stopovers on Alaska Airlines to See More

Alaska Airlines has a generous booking policy that allows passengers to make a stopover on a one-way ticket. That means that you can make two stopovers on a round-trip ticket, which is even better than United’s policy, which allows for one. In this post, we’ll show you how to use that rule to see more places without spending extra miles.

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Using Layovers on American Airlines to See More of Europe

Layovers are usually involuntary. They occur when travelers have make connections and transfer from one plane to another. Nonstop flights are normally more expensive, so you’d typically include an unnecessary layover in your itinerary for only one reason—to save money. But, if you time it right, you can also use a layover to see more without spending extra miles.

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Using Stopovers on United to Save Miles: Australia and Fiji

In this post, we’ll show you how to use United’s free stopover policy to save miles on an award flight to Australia. As an added bonus, this mile-saving itinerary also takes you to the exotic island of

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Using Stopovers on United to See More: The Caribbean and Central America

United’s frequent flyer program, MileagePlus, puts Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America into one region. That means that you can fly from the U.S. to anywhere in the region for 35,000 miles in economy. United also lets you take one free stopover per roundtrip, so you can visit two destinations in this region for the same amount of miles.

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