AMEX MR for Domestic US Economy?

[CBartowski]

Hey All - been a while, hope everyone is well!

I've been doing a bunch of research on best way to redeem UR and MR points for domestic US travel using travel partners, etc. 

Curious if anyone knows of a sweet spot to hit economy flights with MR. Best I can find so far is MR -> BA - and book on BA for an AA flight. 

Open to other ideas as well.

Before anyone says anything...yes I'm aware there is outsized value to have with biz class intl, but looking at domestic economy flights atm.

Thanks all!

[wasCB14]

I still have a bunch of miles with BA for AA flights, and Virgin Atlantic for Delta flights. But with other people being ambiguous about their schedules, my travel has been opportunistic and often on short notice, so partner award space is hard to find.

I like the simplicity of the 35% of points back with Business Platinum for my chosen airline (Delta). ~1.5 cpp on any Delta flight.

[Anonymous]

When I want to use my points  and I don't want to work that hard at it, I use my plat. card book through Amex travel and when the fee post I use the points to pay for the flight then I get 35% of point back... rinse and repeat. 

[CBartowski]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

I still have a bunch of miles with BA for AA flights, and Virgin Atlantic for Delta flights. But with other people being ambiguous about their schedules, my travel has been opportunistic and often on short notice, so partner award space is hard to find.

I like the simplicity of the 35% of points back with Business Platinum for my chosen airline (Delta). ~1.5 cpp on any Delta flight.

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Award availability is a good point, I've definitely noticed AA flights be slim pickens on the routes Ive been looking at on BA. 

Thank you!

[notmyrealname23]

I've been booking Delta flights with as few as 3500 SkyMiles one way. Even with a transfer fee of a few bucks that's a pretty good deal for a $60-70 cash fare.

I'm actually coming home from Puerto Vallarta next winter on a AA/DL combo that ran me about 13,000 Avios and SkyMiles combined, plus $80 in inescapable taxes, complete with a dinner at the PHX T3 SkyClub or Centurion Studio, whichever is better.

[Citylights18]

You might want to look at fare sales and see if they apply to any AMEX travel partners. 

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/sweet-spots-delta-skymiles/

This one has the Delta sweet spots listed.

[K-in-Boston]

Since award fares are earning elite qualifying miles (MQMs) at Delta again this year, I've been using SkyMiles for 1.5 to 2.1 cents per mile.  The floor for Main Cabin is 1.2 cents, but if you buy at the right time and on the right routes it's pretty easy to do better, and often much better with sales.  For Delta, FlyingBlue (KLM/Air France) and Virgin Atlantic often have transfer bonuses and can have great values for domestic flights.

[EAJuggalo]

I got 2.5cpp on a trip to MCO in October with Delta.  Of course the cash price was completely obscene but I was flying from a small outstation so some graft is to be expected.

[jcooks]

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@Anonymous wrote:

When I want to use my points  and I don't want to work that hard at it, I use my plat. card book through Amex travel and when the fee post I use the points to pay for the flight then I get 35% of point back... rinse and repeat. 

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You get the 35% back if you use points to pay for charges from the travel portal?  I thought it was only points back if you use points to book all or part of the fare through the portal. 

Regardless wouldnt it be a better redemption if you just use points to book the flight directly from the travel portal and get 1c per point?  Using points for charges is much less than 1c per point.  All that is before the 35% bonus back.

[CBartowski]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

Since award fares are earning elite qualifying miles (MQMs) at Delta again this year, I've been using SkyMiles for 1.5 to 2.1 cents per mile.  The floor for Main Cabin is 1.2 cents, but if you buy at the right time and on the right routes it's pretty easy to do better, and often much better with sales.  For Delta, FlyingBlue (KLM/Air France) and Virgin Atlantic often have transfer bonuses and can have great values for domestic flights.

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Thanks @K-in-Boston !