How Best To Go Around The World on Air Miles?

March 25, 2018 10:10 PM

I have over 300,000 air miles on three different airlines (Delta, United, Alaska) and realized that I could use those air miles to go around the world! Suggestions? (and trip limitations inside)

I would be flying from Montana. 16 days would be my maximum time I could take.

Because of my work I would need to fly in in early June to mid-July 2019 as that is my slow season.

I don't care about Europe as a place to visit.

I like to do outdoor adventures and wouldn't want to do more than a day in a big city.

I'm not thrilled about staying in a hostel but an OK with cheap lodgings or AirBnB.

I am an experienced traveler in the US/Canada/Mexico. I've spent six years of my life living in hotels.

I am accustomed to having a carry-on suitcase plus a messsenger bag.

I speak English and a small bit of Spanish

posted by ITravelMontana to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

Go west. Most get less jet lag flying west then when flying east. RTW (round the world) is a common abbreviation useful when searching. I'd offer destination suggestions, but I don't know where those airlines fly outside the US besides the obvious far east and Europe cities.
posted by Homer42 at 10:41 PM on March 25, 2018

How many stops do you want to make? I assume you have an American passport and no obvious barriers to getting visas in other countries? What's your budget?

Practical questions aside, this site is a decent way to plan an itinerary: https://bookandfly.staralliance.com/en/bookandfly/rtw. I'm not sure if you can book with points through that site, but United is a member of that alliance so you may be able to book individual flights you pick out, and check out Alaska and Delta partners to see who else you can book on for out of the way flights.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 11:32 PM on March 25, 2018 [1 favorite]

16 Days is pretty tight to see the world. I'd pick like 3 destinations to really hone in on and explore or else you're gonna be doing a non stop Airport Run.

Argentina > New Zealand > Baltic States is my vote right now, but that's also the kind of suggestion that would change completely in a few months given this kind of carte blanche situation. Have fun!
posted by mannequito at 12:01 AM on March 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

You might be better off looking for deals on paid RTWs in other markets and use miles to upgrade buy the round trip from Cairo or wherever. I can't remember any off hand, but there are several web sites that catalog such deals.

You can get a lot for your money/miles if you're shrewd about it. Definitely more than a single 16 day three city trip.
posted by wierdo at 12:48 AM on March 26, 2018

If you head west, grab a Virgin (Delta partner) flight to Cairns International, Australia. June/July (winter) is the perfect time of year for tropical adventures on the Great Barrier Reef and in the adjacent World Heritage Rainforests. Hire a car, stay in hostels (many are awesome!) and spend a jam packed five days seeing these two wonders of the world. Then fly west again over the huge deserts of the world's largest island, then some ocean before landing somewhere in South America.

Don't try to pack as many countries as possible into your trip, instead pack two or three great adventures in far away places into an amazing sixteen days. What do you want to remember most - a few amazing places and adventures or a dozen airports?
posted by Thella at 2:09 AM on March 26, 2018

Argentina > New Zealand
Just a reminder that June/July is mid-winter in both these countries and depending on which part of those countries you go to it might be quite noticeably cold.

Just a thought.
posted by southof40 at 2:22 AM on March 26, 2018

Because of your preferences (no large cities, no Europe) I’m not sure doing a rtw ticket is your best option as that would almost guarantee flying through Europe and fare rules for RTW tix greatly favor the hub cities as you can’t backtrack.

Also what is the mileage split between alliances.? If you have lots of Delta miles Seoul is a famously available redemption on KAL, but otherwise it’s a bit weak. United has lots of its own metal + Singapore and ANA. Alaska has a bit of an odd plan I don’t know much about. Once you get to Asia your best bet might be to use discount airlines to get off piste.

Getting from South America to Asia is speedy/high mileage. Your only option I think is Air New Zealand/star alliance (LATAM and Quantas are OneWorld)
posted by JPD at 3:59 AM on March 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Alaska shares with both IcelandAir and Virgin, so that might help you launch yourself off N. America. Other than dedicated flights to Mexico, they don't do much outside the US.
posted by fiercekitten at 10:04 AM on March 26, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks all.
posted by ITravelMontana at 7:02 PM on March 26, 2018