. I just got back from Italy we did. JFK to MXP. At 4.5 cents per mile on Emirates. Then, on the way back, we did FCO to BOS on ITA 60,000 points each but we had a 30% transfer bonus at the time I think we were at like $.08 per mile
Awesome video. This is why you’re my fav UA-camr. Earning points is the easy part. Using them and finding availability is the hard part and most UA-camrs skip through that
Finally got the hang of Asia redemptions, but Europe is a whole new area, so really useful video Max! Couple questions.. 1) How many seats are usually available for these flights? 2) For Europe in general, are these the best types of redemptions, or are there other sweet spots? Also which hard products would you say are best for Europe? (all from the West coast if that matters) Thanks again Max!
1. It depends but Flying Blue tends to have a decent amount of seats available. Usually its 1-3 seats but sometimes you see up to 8 seats. Which is something you don't see with a lot of other airlines for business class. 2. There are always going to be better sweet spot redemptions. It's just a matter of award availability. Iberia charges 42.5k from LAX/DFW to MAD or 34k from ORD, BOS, JFK to MAD during off peak seasons. Aer Lingus has good redemption rates from BOS to DUB in the 30ks in business class off peak. Delta One booked via Virgin Atlantic are 50k one way with very low taxes and fees but award availability is tough to find. It really depepends but if you're redeeming anything under 60k one way in business class to Europe with low to mid range taxes and fees you're doing pretty well. 3. Hard products to Europe will also depend on what route and airline. Singapore airlines from JFK to FRA is really nice Emirates from JFK to MXP is another good product Swiss, British Airways (Club world suites) is really not bad at all Lufthansa business if I really really have to then Then I'd go with a U.S. carrier, generally the U.S. carriers rank low on my list Iberia business class would the bottom of my list as bare bones business class
Hi Max! I’ve followed some of your Italy “tutorial” videos and happy to say I was able to score 3 business tickets to Italy next Spring with Air France. These videos are super helpful!! Question please - if you have to choose, would you fly from Rome back to Toronto on a connecting flight (3-4hr transit) or go to Amsterdam for a few days and fly directly back to Toronto? Given similar redemption rate for both options on biz class, potentially flying KLM. Thank you so much!!
Glad to hear you find the content helpful! I’d go to Amsterdam for a few days then fly back. Amsterdam is great and flying KLM business class you’ll get the little Dutch house has a souvenir!
Would you recommend booking the itinerary first, then calling Flying Blue to add stopover? Or is it better to have your points ready and call to book and place stopover from the start? Any experiences from anyone that’s done this?
Call flying blue make sure you’re able to book the flights you want and while you’re on the phone you can transfer your points and then have them complete the booking over the phone
Hey Max....Is your online course still available? When I clicked on the link on your website, it reads please contact the owner of the site....Thank you and keep up the great work!
Check your credit card account, log in, go to your points and go to the points transfer option and it'll list a bunch of airlines. If there are transfer bonuses it'll let you know about the promo. I'll offer several courses soon so stay tuned!
@@MaxMilesPointsusing the same scenario assuming there is award availability ORD->CDG 5 day stop over CDG-> MXP should still cost 50K pts plus taxes in fees ? Thanks for the info btw !
If I want to book a stopover with Air France. Can I book the one from Chicago to Paris first (360 days) and then call to add the Paris to Milan in a week? I am afraid the award ticket will be gone if I wait for a week to book the whole thing
Question for you.... I plan to take my family to Italy next summer. If you were in my position, would you transfer over the points now to AF and then wait to find a flight or find the flight and then wait for the 25% incentive to come back? My fear is that if I find a better flight deal with another carrier, my points are stuck with AF.
I don't have any info on that. I recommend using the AF mobile app. Input your dates and you can quickly scrub through the dates at the top bar quickly
I was the BENEFICIARIES (TWICE) of Max’ videos to Japan (TWICE via ANA & JAL) and HKG>DBX> DOH> MLE round-trip! 😊 I was lucky to earn Transfer-bonus on BOTH Virgin Atlantic and British Avios that made my Redeemption much cheaper! I learned Max’ AeroPlan deals but not action yet. I should also learn this Flying Blue! Thank you Max! 👍😊🙏🏻
@@MaxMilesPoints Well, my 1st trip LAX to Tokyo in 11-2022 was via ANA thru Virgin round-trip but had learned this from Ricky Zhang first! Later in 04-2023 to Tokyo was via ANA & JAL that you also had videos. The DXB thru DOH to MLE round-trip via Qatar was learned from you. We actually will have QSuite LAX to Dubai round-trip in 11-2024 for 75K each ticket. I don't think you made video in Dubai yet but feel you should add Dubai to your to-go list! I feel you are ONE of the BEST so THANK YOU AGAIN! 👍🙏🏻😄
Flying to Athens from IAD then Milan,Lake Como,Milan,Venice ,turkey then back to IAD can you please guide and make video how to this trip please. Love your videos thx so much for wonderful videos.
Can we see Blue availability without having points banked already so we know how many we need? Really helpful. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for as we’ll be back and forth to Italy soon. Just subscribed. Thanks so much!
Max - Where are we going to talk about your planned trip to a Kenyan safari? I do them all the time and I'll be on another one in June. How about we collab and compare notes??
Did this same redemption last month when Chase was offering FlyingBlue transfer bonus. Got Houston to Venice and Athens back to Houston in business on the A350-900 for August got 50k pts (before transfer bonus) per leg. Looking forward to it. Great video!!
Italy is overrated, I guess if you've never been there it's good to go once. Get it over with and off to SE Asia lol. SE Asia is a place you can go every year like I have for the pass 4 years.
Option-1:: Transfer points to Flying blue and pay taxes. Option -2: Use points and pay whole trip through CHASE UR Portal. Which one have more points value?
If money is not a problem then go with flying blue if you wanna save as much points for your next trip but if money is an issue then use all your points.
It depends. Compare your options. The travel portal your points are worth 1.25-1.5 cents per points. If you compare your transfer options including the taxes and fees and you’re getting a higher cent per point then transferring points might be the better option.
. I just got back from Italy we did. JFK to MXP. At 4.5 cents per mile on Emirates.
Then, on the way back, we did FCO to BOS on ITA 60,000 points each but we had a 30% transfer bonus at the time I think we were at like $.08 per mile
I love Flying Blue for trips to Europe. The taxes and fees are annoying, but the points cost is usually pretty low to balance it out
And the award availability is not bad too if you book far in advance! It’s awesome to see 3,4 or sometimes 6 seats available
Awesome video. This is why you’re my fav UA-camr. Earning points is the easy part. Using them and finding availability is the hard part and most UA-camrs skip through that
can you do similar videos for Maldives and Japan as well?
I already have more than a few videos on that on my channel but I'll make updated videos soon!
@@MaxMilesPoints we”d like to watch more 😆
@@MaxMilesPoints For Japan finding ana on United is proving super impossible. Please help 😅
Finally got the hang of Asia redemptions, but Europe is a whole new area, so really useful video Max! Couple questions.. 1) How many seats are usually available for these flights? 2) For Europe in general, are these the best types of redemptions, or are there other sweet spots? Also which hard products would you say are best for Europe? (all from the West coast if that matters) Thanks again Max!
1. It depends but Flying Blue tends to have a decent amount of seats available. Usually its 1-3 seats but sometimes you see up to 8 seats. Which is something you don't see with a lot of other airlines for business class.
2. There are always going to be better sweet spot redemptions. It's just a matter of award availability. Iberia charges 42.5k from LAX/DFW to MAD or 34k from ORD, BOS, JFK to MAD during off peak seasons. Aer Lingus has good redemption rates from BOS to DUB in the 30ks in business class off peak. Delta One booked via Virgin Atlantic are 50k one way with very low taxes and fees but award availability is tough to find. It really depepends but if you're redeeming anything under 60k one way in business class to Europe with low to mid range taxes and fees you're doing pretty well.
3. Hard products to Europe will also depend on what route and airline.
Singapore airlines from JFK to FRA is really nice
Emirates from JFK to MXP is another good product
Swiss, British Airways (Club world suites) is really not bad at all
Lufthansa business if I really really have to then
Then I'd go with a U.S. carrier, generally the U.S. carriers rank low on my list
Iberia business class would the bottom of my list as bare bones business class
@@MaxMilesPoints Thanks for all the details Max!
Just used your link for the Chase saphired prefered and was approved. Thank you!
Tracy Luong
Awesome! Thank you for using my link!
Would have liked to have had this video a month ago when booking our trip to Italy. Good information as I'm sure we'll be going back there.
I notice whenever I look for flights back they’re always so much higher! I’m trying to get the best economy deal for our honeymoon 😅😅
So helpful bro thank you
Great walk-thru, Max. I like to max-out on Earning and Maximizing for my redemptions
Hi Max! I’ve followed some of your Italy “tutorial” videos and happy to say I was able to score 3 business tickets to Italy next Spring with Air France. These videos are super helpful!! Question please - if you have to choose, would you fly from Rome back to Toronto on a connecting flight (3-4hr transit) or go to Amsterdam for a few days and fly directly back to Toronto? Given similar redemption rate for both options on biz class, potentially flying KLM. Thank you so much!!
Glad to hear you find the content helpful! I’d go to Amsterdam for a few days then fly back. Amsterdam is great and flying KLM business class you’ll get the little Dutch house has a souvenir!
Max is the man🙌🏽
Please do flights to the Philippines 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
thank you! would you ever do one for redeeming points on flights to India? I am planning a trip for 2025
Can you do a video for flights from the US to South America ? Brazil / Argentina etc.
Would you recommend booking the itinerary first, then calling Flying Blue to add stopover?
Or is it better to have your points ready and call to book and place stopover from the start?
Any experiences from anyone that’s done this?
Call flying blue make sure you’re able to book the flights you want and while you’re on the phone you can transfer your points and then have them complete the booking over the phone
Hey Max....Is your online course still available? When I clicked on the link on your website, it reads please contact the owner of the site....Thank you and keep up the great work!
Do you need to have award miles in your AirFrance or KLM account to search flights? I tried searching but I get a blank calendar.
How/where do you spot the offer of transfer bonuses? Applicable w sapphire preferred? Really like ur videos btw, do you offer courses?
Check your credit card account, log in, go to your points and go to the points transfer option and it'll list a bunch of airlines. If there are transfer bonuses it'll let you know about the promo. I'll offer several courses soon so stay tuned!
This is great! How to keep up to date with the transfer bonus schedule though?
There really is no schedule it’s sporadic throughout the year. I keep this page updated with transfer bonuses www.maxmilespoints.com/transfer-bonuses
@@MaxMilesPointsthat’s very helpful. Thank you!
Can i get a link to your cpp calculator spreadsheet?
Great video! Where can we find your redemption dashboard spreadsheet?
You can buy it from him. He has a video about that
When you book a stopover, do you first look for a flight
to the final destination and then call FB?
I'd look for ORD-CDG make sure theres award space for that, then search CDG-MXP . once you find award space for both call FB to book
@@MaxMilesPointsusing the same scenario assuming there is award availability ORD->CDG 5 day stop over CDG-> MXP should still cost 50K pts plus taxes in fees ? Thanks for the info btw !
If I want to book a stopover with Air France. Can I book the one from Chicago to Paris first (360 days) and then call to add the Paris to Milan in a week? I am afraid the award ticket will be gone if I wait for a week to book the whole thing
I recommend you book the whole thing all at one time
Question for you.... I plan to take my family to Italy next summer. If you were in my position, would you transfer over the points now to AF and then wait to find a flight or find the flight and then wait for the 25% incentive to come back? My fear is that if I find a better flight deal with another carrier, my points are stuck with AF.
I would only transfer points after you find award availability, I wouldn’t risk having your points orphaned with AF
@@MaxMilesPoints Thanks! Love your content!
Hi Max, I'm based out of Manila right now. Would you still consider flying J or F interAsia or no point since most of the flights are just 3-5 hours?
I’d say save the points for long haul flights . But that’s just my opinion!
yo i just got a round trip to milan from newyork for less then 500$ this aint that helpfull
Yo your economy flight is different from business class
Airalo code is not working
Airalo code can only used on first esim
I just tested it and it worked, let me know if you’re still having issues
😊✈️✨️💳
Love Max Miles being in Coronado San Diego most of his recommendations make it so easy for me to book.
Dude this is the exact video I needed right now, thank you!
Glad I could help!
Have you heard any info on why the Air France calendar isn’t showing rates anymore?
I don't have any info on that. I recommend using the AF mobile app. Input your dates and you can quickly scrub through the dates at the top bar quickly
Love these videos so much lol
how do you know what city to fly in?! I keep looking at major major cities like rome.
I was the BENEFICIARIES (TWICE) of Max’ videos to Japan (TWICE via ANA & JAL) and HKG>DBX> DOH> MLE round-trip! 😊
I was lucky to earn Transfer-bonus on BOTH Virgin Atlantic and British Avios that made my Redeemption much cheaper!
I learned Max’ AeroPlan deals but not action yet.
I should also learn this Flying Blue!
Thank you Max! 👍😊🙏🏻
Glad you find my content helpful! Twice to Japan?! Nice job on the redemptions!
@@MaxMilesPoints
Well, my 1st trip LAX to Tokyo in 11-2022 was via ANA thru Virgin round-trip but had learned this from Ricky Zhang first!
Later in 04-2023 to Tokyo was via ANA & JAL that you also had videos.
The DXB thru DOH to MLE round-trip via Qatar was learned from you.
We actually will have QSuite LAX to Dubai round-trip in 11-2024 for 75K each ticket. I don't think you made video in Dubai yet but feel you should add Dubai to your to-go list!
I feel you are ONE of the BEST so THANK YOU AGAIN! 👍🙏🏻😄
Flying to Athens from IAD then Milan,Lake Como,Milan,Venice ,turkey then back to IAD can you please guide and make video how to this trip please. Love your videos thx so much for wonderful videos.
Can we see Blue availability without having points banked already so we know how many we need? Really helpful. This is exactly what I’ve been looking for as we’ll be back and forth to Italy soon. Just subscribed. Thanks so much!
Yes you can , just create a free account, log in and run a search and it’ll show you how many points/miles
Max - Where are we going to talk about your planned trip to a Kenyan safari? I do them all the time and I'll be on another one in June. How about we collab and compare notes??
Did this same redemption last month when Chase was offering FlyingBlue transfer bonus. Got Houston to Venice and Athens back to Houston in business on the A350-900 for August got 50k pts (before transfer bonus) per leg. Looking forward to it. Great video!!
Thanks!
Thank you 🙏🙏🙏
Wow I had no idea of the stop over. I have a 7 hour layover in Paris from NY to Lisbon. I would love to make it more than 24 hours. I'm on it MAX!!!
Dang I was hoping you were going to use your spreadsheet
Appreciate all that you do
Is there a good method to fly to Japan in business class using American Express points since Aeroplan can no longer redeem ANA tickets?
Book ANA via Virgin Atlantic by finding the award availability and calling them , or book JAL via AA or BA or Cathay
Amazing! Great info, thanks Max!
Italy is overrated, I guess if you've never been there it's good to go once. Get it over with and off to SE Asia lol. SE Asia is a place you can go every year like I have for the pass 4 years.
😂😂
What’s the best way to fly from the US to Vietnam ?
I used AA/AS miles to redeem JAL to Vietnam. 70k AA miles for biz class with layover in Japan.
Option-1:: Transfer points to Flying blue and pay taxes.
Option -2: Use points and pay whole trip through CHASE UR Portal.
Which one have more points value?
If money is not a problem then go with flying blue if you wanna save as much points for your next trip but if money is an issue then use all your points.
It depends. Compare your options. The travel portal your points are worth 1.25-1.5 cents per points. If you compare your transfer options including the taxes and fees and you’re getting a higher cent per point then transferring points might be the better option.
You should do a live and take questions from people a lot of other Points people do it, and they are typically very good