Why the Caribbean?

Here’s our fourth installment in the Ultimate Honeymoon series: the Caribbean.

The Caribbean is a highly desirable place for honeymooners from the US:

1. It has world class beaches, snorkeling, scuba diving–all that one might want on the traditional honeymoon
2. The proximity to the US makes it easy and (relatively) cheap
   
3. On certain islands, you could split your time between beaches and exploring tropical rain-forests, but it might be hard to pry you away from that pristine beach.
   
4. At a max of 2-5 hours from the US, it’s just so convenient
   

How to Get There:

Pay for Airfare

Deciding which island in the Caribbean will probably be the hardest part of your planning–there are just so many choices. To throw out a few data points on airfare, U.S. to:

• Turks & Caicos, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Jamaica etc… ≈ $519 – $670
• Barbados, Martinique, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Saint Vincent, Sint Maarten etc… ≈ $690 – $1,120

Sample cash airfare prices

So, yes, heading just a few hours to the southeast of America can easily cost you $1,000+ per person! Now here’s how to do it with airline miles (for free!):

Use British Airways Avios miles/points

The first thing to know about British Airways Avios points is that, because British Airways is a member of the Oneworld Alliance, you can use its points to book flights on American Airlines. The great news is that American Airlines basically has a monopoly on flights to and within the Caribbean.

Furthermore, British Airways/Iberia Avios miles are [glossy term=”distance based awards”]:  on the surface, it seems like you’re getting a bad deal on award redemptions. But, as with anything involving miles, it opens up possibilities to find great values on non-stop short distance flights.

Partner awards that especially interest me are the direct flights from Miami on AA. In many cases, Miami ends up being a short hop to exotic and foreign destinations. A big thing I look for when I travel is to get away from what’s familiar and comfortable — and you don’t necessarily have to travel across the globe to achieve that. Using your British Avios to book on American Airlines can be your answer to a relatively inexpensive honeymoon in this part of the world.

Benefits of using British Airways Avios to consider when researching:

• As briefly stated above, British Airways’ award chart has some great values for getting from the U.S. to the Caribbean:
  

How to get British Airways Avios

• Earn 50k Avios by signing up for a Chase/British Airways credit card:
• You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Avios (see bottom of post for tutorial on transferring). Points transfer at a ratio of 1:1 so you’d need in the ball park of 18,000 to 80,000, depending on distance and if travel is in economy or business class. Currently, the best American Express signup bonus is for the Premier Rewards Gold card with a bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards points–not a great deal. It’s been 50,000 – 75,000 points in the past, so you might want to wait for that offer again:
  

  Not the best signup bonus but still useful if you need AMEX points

Sample Itinerary

Sample dates of: Monday, Sept 15 to Monday, Sep 22

Day 1: Dept New York-JFK to Antigua-ANU
Day 1-4: Relax on Antigua
Day 4: Fly from Antigua-ANU to Tobago-TAB
Day 4-6: Explore Tobago
Day 6: Take early morning ferry from Tobago to Port Of Spain. Sightsee a bit before taking a flight from Port Of Spain-POS to Miami-MIA. Spend the night in South Beach.
Day 7: Fly from Miami-MIA to Newark-EWR.

Price to book this itinerary with $cash x 2 = $3,108 for a couple

Total Avios miles needed: 64,000 Avios + $255 total for 2 people

Analysis = return of 3.86 cents/mile on your BA Avios or AMEX Membership Rewards points is pretty awesome.

Destinations Leaving New York

View AAtoCaribbeanOnly-FromNYC in a larger map

Destinations Leaving Dallas-Ft. Worth-DFW

View AAtoCaribbeanONLY-DFW in a larger map

Destinations Leaving Miami-MIA

View AAtoCaribbeanONLY-MIA in a larger map

Intra-Caribbean Flights with Avios

British Airways flies a surprisingly large number of routes within the Caribbean.  These options can save you hundreds of dollars if you’re interested in doing some island hopping and really opens up your possibilities. Here are the destinations served:

Legend: Red = British Airways operated flights (confirmed bookable with Avios)
Green = Codeshare American Airlines, operated by Seaborne Airlines (confirmed bookable with AA miles, not positive about Avios)

As stated in the caption, any flight in Red on the map or with a designation of BA in the below chart is 100% bookable with British Airways Avios miles. All of the flights are under the 651 miles threshold and therefore qualify as “Zone 1” and will only require 4,500 Avios miles for a one-way flight.

The flights in Green are operated by Seaborne Airlines and codeshared as American Airlines flights. The American Airlines site confirms that you can book Seaborne Airlines flights with American AAdvantage miles (link): “Use AAdvantage miles to book award travel on Seaborne flights to or from San Juan, Puerto Rico and the routes noted below, with the AAdvantage participating airline awards. These awards allow travel on any combination of AAdvantage participating carriers.” It does state that, to book a flight, you’ll have to call the American Airlines reservation line to inquire about award availability and to book. A quick search on AA.com confirmed that the award space isn’t visible online. When I searched for British Airways Avios space on one of the Seaborne Airlines routes, San Juan-SJU to Fort-de-France-FDF, it came back that the route isn’t operated by BA or any of its partner airlines. This could mean that it is not possible to book the Seaborne Airlines routes with Avios or that you simply have to call British Airways to book– in the same way you must call AA to book with their miles.

Here’s a quick comparison of how much money you could save by booking one of these routes with points instead of $cash$:

Sample booking and analysis for one-way flight from Saint Lucia-UVF to Port Of Spain, Trinidad-POS on Oct 13

Analysis for one-way flight from Antigua-ANU to Punta Cana, Dominican-PUJ on Oct 8 = great value of 4.83 cents return on your Avios!

How to Book an American Airlines Award with British Airways Avios

1. Search AA.com –> Book Award Travel for available dates. If you’ve made your mind up on a destination, then search until you find dates that will work and make notes. If you’re flexible on destination but have fixed dates, then I suggest searching all of the routes and making detailed notes– this will help you put the puzzle together later. Full guide on searching American Airlines availability.
   …
2. If you don’t already have the miles, Transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points to BA Avios
   
   
3. Login to BritishAirways.com –> Executive Club –> Spending Avios –> Book flights with Avios and search the exact dates and cities you found from the AA website. If all is well, you should find your flights. Proceed through the booking process.
   
   
   I always select the top choice which represents points due + taxes only. Any of the choices further down are essentially giving you a choice to buy Avios for 1.3 cents. Some might see this as a good deal, others not. Personally, I skipped it because, with the promo going on, I can transfer AMEX points to BA Avios at a cheaper price than buying those same miles for 1.3 cents/Avios. For example, if you expect to earn 1.5 cents/points on your AMEX and you add in the 35% bonus, you’ll find that you can transfer AMEX miles to Avios at a cost of 1.11 cents/point vs buying them for 1.3 cents.
   …
4. All done! You can now head back to AA.com and add the new itinerary to your account by searching the flights and dates. This should load up your full reservation in the American Airlines system and allow you to review and pick your seats.

BOTTOM LINE: Using British Airways Avios miles could be your answer to free honeymoon flights to crystal clear waters and great beaches without having to travel too far from home.

The post Ultimate Honeymoon: The Caribbean for Free with British Airways Avios first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

A few cheap last minute ideas:

1. Freeport, Bahamas-FPO
   Dates: July 4th to July 8.
   From Miami-MIA for 9k AMEX Points/Avios per passenger by converting your American Express Membership Rewards Points –> British Airways Avios.
   More info on how to book: Award Travel Guide: Finding best award seats on American Airlines and Cheap travel to Caribbean/Latin America with British Airways/AMEX points
   
   
2. Bermuda-BDA
   Dates: July 4th to July 8th
   From Miami-MIA for 15k AMEX Points/Avios per passenger by converting your American Express Membership Rewards Points –> British Airways Avios.
   More info on how to book: Award Travel Guide: Finding best award seats on American Airlines and Cheap travel to Caribbean/Latin America with British Airways/AMEX points
   
   
3. Nashville-BNA
   Dates: July 3/4 to July 7/8
   From New York LaGuardia-NYC using 15k AMEX Points/Avios per passenger by converting your American Express Membership Rewards Points –> British Airways Avios.
   More info on how to book: Award Travel Guide: Finding best award seats on American Airlines and Cheap travel to Caribbean/Latin America with British Airways/AMEX points
   
   
4. Buenos Aires, Argentina-EZE
   Dates: July 4th to July 7th
   From Atlanta-ATL using 77.5k Delta SkyMiles/AMEX Membership Rewards Points per passenger. I wouldn’t normally recommend redeeming your Delta SkyMiles at anything other than the “low level” (60k SkyMiles in this case) but I consider it worth it to pay an extra 17.5k SkyMiles if the dates work well for you. You’d have 3 full days in Argentina with direct, overnight flights–so no daylight wasted on an airplane. Not the best return ever but decent:
   

BOTTOM LINE: This is just a sampling of some of the last minute flights out there. Report back if you’ve found others!

The post Deal Blitz Alert: Last Minute 4th of July Weekend Award Travel first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

British Airways/Iberia Avios miles are [glossy term=”distance based awards”] distance based awards:  on the surface, it seems like you’re getting a bad deal on award redemptions. But, as with anything involving miles, it opens up possibilities to find great values on non-stop short distance flights.

One partner award that especially interests me is the direct flights from Miami on AA. Miami ends up being a short hop in many cases to exotic and foreign destinations. A big thing I look for when I travel is to get away from what’s familiar and comfortable — and you don’t necessarily have to travel across the globe to achieve that.

Using your British Avios to book on American Airlines can be your answer to a cheap vacation in this part of the world:

Non-stop flights to the Caribbean & Latin America on American Airlines — From Miami-MIA/FLL

View AAtoCaribMIA in a larger map

Non-stop flights to the Caribbean & Latin America on American Airlines — From New York-JFK/EWR/LGA

View AAtoCaribNYC in a larger map

Non-stop flights to the Caribbean & Latin America on American Airlines — From Dallas-Ft. Worth-DFW

View AAtoCaribDFW in a larger map

How to Book

1. Search AA.com –> Book Award Travel for available dates. If you’ve made your mind up on a destination, then search until you find dates that will work and make notes. If you’re flexible on destination but have fixed dates, then I suggest searching all of the routes and making detailed notes– this will help you put the puzzle together later. Full guide on searching American Airlines availability.
   …
2. If you don’t already have the miles, Transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points to BA Avios
   
   
   
   
3. Login to BritishAirways.com –> Executive Club –> Spending Avios –> Book flights with Avios and search the exact dates and cities you found from the AA website. If all is well, you should find your flights. Proceed through the booking process. I always select the top choice which represents points due + taxes only. Any of the choices further down are essentially giving you a choice to buy Avios for 1.3 cents. Some might see this as a good deal, others not. Personally, I skipped it because, with the promo going on, I can transfer AMEX points to BA Avios at a cheaper price than buying those same miles for 1.3 cents/Avios. For example, if you expect to earn 1.5 cents/points on your AMEX and you add in the 35% bonus, you’ll find that you can transfer AMEX miles to Avios at a cost of 1.11 cents/point vs buying them for 1.3 cents.
   …
4. All done! You can now head back to AA.com and add the new itinerary to your account by searching the flights and dates. This should load up your full reservation in the American Airlines system and allow you to review and pick your seats.

Full Flight Options

If you just want to go somewhere over specific dates, I recommend printing the chart below and methodically searching AA.com for award availability and making notes.

The post Cheap travel to Caribbean/Latin America with British Airways/AMEX points first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

At 80% off these are phenomenal deals as long as you can travel on short notice. 

Best WEEKEND BLITZ choices:

• Dept Newark (EWR) to Tampa, Florida (TPA) for $133.40
  • Dept: Saturday Feb 2nd and Return:Wednesday Feb 6th

• Dept New York (JFK) to Seattle, Washington (SEA) for $98.60!
  • Dept: Friday Feb 8th and Return: Sunday Feb 10th
  • Tip: Grab the red-eye home to give yourself an extra full day in Seattle

• Dept New York (JFK) to LaRomana, Dominican Republic (AZS) for $211.50
  • Dept: Wednesday Feb 6th and Return: Saturday Feb 9th
  • Tip: Airport is just 60 mins from Punta Cana

How to book

• Go to JetBlue’s NYC Flight Week site
• –OR–
• Go to JetBlue.com/promo
  • Enter code: JFKTPA80 for Tampa
  • Enter code: JFKLRM80 for LaRomana, DR
  • Enter code: JFKSEA80 for Seattle

Good luck! Don’t waste anytime on this one!

The post Blitz Alert: JetBlue 80% Off Flight Week to Dominican Republic, Seattle, Tampa first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

JetBlue is at it again with their “NYC Flight Week” Deal of the Day.

At 80% off these are phenomenal deals as long as you can travel on short notice. The good news is that there are finally some good “long-weekend” choices out there.

Best WEEKEND BLITZ choices:

• Dept New York (JFK) to Nassau, Bahamas (NAS) for $164
  • Dept: Saturday Feb 2nd and Return:Wednesday Feb 6th
  • Tip: Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort & Casino has “Cash + Points” availability for these dates: 4,000 pts + $60

• Dept New York (JFK) to Oakland, California (OAK) for $203
  • Dept: Friday Feb 1st and Return: Sunday Feb 3rd or Monday Feb 4th

• Dept New York (JFK) to Samana, Dominican Republic (AZS) for $218
  • Dept: Saturday Feb 2nd and Return:Wednesday Feb 6th
  • Tip: There are no international chains near Samana, so no luck on booking with points. Rooms will run you $175+/night.

How to book

• Go to JetBlue’s NYC Flight Week site
• –OR–
• Go to JetBlue.com/promo
  • Enter code: JFKNAS80 for Nassau
  • Enter code: JFKOAK80 for Oakland
  • Enter code: JFKAZS80 for Dominican Republic

Good luck! Don’t waste anytime on this one!

The post Deal Blitz: New York to Bahamas ($164), Oakland ($203) or Dominican Republic ($218) first appeared on Weekend Blitz.