Posted inDomestic Flights

Best ways to get to cities in the US and Canada using miles (2025)

Posted inDomestic Flights
Best ways to get to cities in the US and Canada using miles (2025)

If you want to travel within the US and Canada using airline miles, your first impulse might be to use miles from one of the major North American airlines like American, Delta or United. In some cases, that will indeed be your best bet.

However, it’s sometimes possible to leverage foreign airline frequent flyer programs to book awards within the US and Canada for far fewer miles. Below, we’ll outline the best options available to get there using the array of programs that are available to the major US transferable currencies, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou points, Marriott Bonvoy and Wells Fargo Rewards.

This guide has been completely updated for 2025 with award chart and policy changes. For our purposes here, “North America” either refers to domestic flights within the US or those between the US and Canada. Since the US carriers don’t release much premium cabin space domestically, this post will generally focus on economy class travel and indicate when business class pricing is also noteworthy.

Transferable Currencies

If you want to use airline miles, it’s great to have transferable points.  Transferable point programs let you transfer your points to any of a number of airline programs. This is appealing because it gives you the freedom to book many different flights through many different methods, some of which are strikingly cheaper than others.  If you’re not familiar with transferable points programs, please check out our guides:

Best ways to North American destinations using miles

The deals below are sorted alphabetically by carrier. Remember that the lowest price isn’t the entire picture: be sure to consider which airlines levy surcharges, change or cancellation fees, and the ease of amassing the miles for your chosen award, including through point transfer bonuses.

See each description for where to search, how to book, and which partners you can use to transfer. It is always best to confirm availability before transferring miles to be sure that the award you seek can be booked with the miles you want to use.

Alaska Airlines Flights

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

  • The short story: Alaska offers variable award pricing both for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines flights, which can sometimes make Alaska the best deal for booking these awards, especially for flights under 1,400 miles.

  • Miles required: For Alaska flights, the shortest-distance awards cost 5K each way in economy or 15K each way in business class. For American Airlines flights, the shortest-distance awards start at 4.5K in economy or 9K in business. See full award charts here.

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at AlaskaAir.com.

  • How to book awards: Book online at AlaskaAir.com.

  • Key warnings: Keep in mind that transfers from Marriott can take 7 days or more.

  • Change and cancellation fees: None for award tickets. There is a non-refundable $12.50 partner booking fee.

  • Transfer from: Bilt, Marriott

Finnair Avios

  • The short story: Finnair offers fixed award pricing for Alaska Airlines flights. This makes it the best Avios program to book economy with Alaska and the best value among all programs for flights that 1,401 miles or longer in distance (in economy). Business is another matter.

  • Miles required: Varies based on distance. From 11-13.5K one-way in economy class / 40-50K in business class.

  • How to find awards: Search for available Alaska space at britishairways.com or Qantas.com.

  • How to book awards: Book via chat at finnair.com or over the phone at 929-474-6049 or 323-694-7646 (Mon–Fri 8 a.m.–8 p.m., Sat–Sun 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Eastern Time)

  • Change and cancellation fees: €50

  • Key warnings: The British Airways site sometimes shows phantom award space for Alaska (see: Phantom menace: an award search time suck). You may want to double-check Qantas.com for availability before transferring points.

  • Transfer from: Capital One. Also transfer to BA and then to Finnair with Amex, Bilt, Chase, Wells Fargo or to Qatar and then to Finnair with Citi.

Qatar Airways Avios

  • The short story: Qatar Airways Privilege Club offers distance-based award pricing on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, which can be a decent value for economy class or a standout value for first class in some instances.

  • Miles required: From 9.5K Avios each way in economy class / 20K Avios each way in business class on the shortest nonstop routes in the US (under 651 miles) or 13K Avios in economy class / 27K Avios in business class for routes of 651-1151 miles flown.

  • How to find awards: It is easiest to search via Qantas to see a calendar of availability. See more detail in this post: Regional first class starting at 12,500 points (Sweet Spot Spotlight)

  • How to book awards: Book online at QatarAirways.com

  • Change and cancellation fees: $25 more than 24 hours in advance / $100 Between 3-24 hours in advance / Nonrefundable within 3 hours or after departure

  • Key warnings: Awards become expensive or nonrefundable to cancel close to departure, so this is not a good option for booking backup flights.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Citi. Also transfer to BA and then to Qatar with: Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Wells Fargo

Singapore KrisFlyer

  • The short story: Singapore KrisFlyer has a zone-based chart with some great values for economy travel on Alaska Airlines, particularly within the Western US and to/from Canada.

  • Miles required: Varies form 7.5K-12.5K each way based on zone combination. See the zone-based chart and region definitions here. Note that Zone 2 includes all of Alaska’s Canadian destinations (noted just as “Canada”), which means that itineraries between western states and Canada cost just 7.5K miles each way in economy class when awards are available.

  • How to find awards: Search for available Alaska Airlines award space at AA.com (note that Singapore can not book any legs on AA, but AA will show Alaska flights available to partners).

  • How to book awards: Alaska Awards can either be booked via phone or chat at the Singapore Airlines website. Note that booking via phone may be very difficult. Instead, see this post from Mainly Miles that explains in detail how to successfully book via chat.

  • Change and cancellation fees: $50 change fee, $75 redeposit fee for saver awards.

  • Key warnings: Singapore KrisFlyer can only book nonstop Alaska Airlines awards. Note that transfers to Singapore KrisFlyer are not instant. Transfers typically take 12-24 hours and Singapore does not hold award tickets.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Chase, Capital One, Marriott

American Airlines Flights

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

  • The short story: Alaska offers variable award pricing both for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines flights, which can sometimes make Alaska the best deal for booking these awards, especially for flights under 1,400 miles.

  • Miles required: For Alaska flights, the shortest-distance awards cost 5K each way in economy or 15K each way in business class. For American Airlines flights, the shortest-distance awards start at 4.5K in economy or 9K in business. See full award charts here.

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at AlaskaAir.com.

  • How to book awards: Book online at AlaskaAir.com.

  • Key warnings: Keep in mind that transfers from Marriott can take 7 days or more.

  • Change and cancellation fees: None for award tickets. There is a non-refundable $12.50 partner booking fee.

  • Transfer from: Bilt, Marriott

American Airlines AAdvantage

  • The short story: American now has variable award pricing but sometimes runs web specials, both advertised and unadvertised, which can sometimes present solid value on its own flights.

  • Miles required: Varies from as low as 5K miles one way for economy web specials. Business class web specials start at 15K miles one way. Awards on Alaska Airlines within the contiguous US & Canada cost 12.5K each way in economy or 25K in Business/First. Awards on Alaska to the Caribbean / Mexico / Central America cost 17.5K each way in economy or 27.5K each way in business class.

  • How to find awards: Search AA.com

  • How to book awards: Book at AA.com

  • Change and cancellation fees: None for award tickets. Note that Web Specials can not be changed, but can be cancelled and redeposited without a fee.

  • Key warnings: Note that “web specials” can not be changed, but can be cancelled and redeposited for free. If transferring from Marriott, note that transfers may take 7 days or more in some instances. American offers award holds for 5 days.

  • Transfer from: Marriott

Qantas Frequent Flyer

  • The short story: Qantas offers better pricing than traditional American Airlines award prices on itineraries with a distance of 1200 miles or fewer each way and has no close-in booking fee. This could be especially good for those who need to connect on short itineraries as Qantas measures cumulative distance rather than pricing segments separately.

  • Miles required: 8,000 miles for itineraries covering a distance up to 600 miles or 12,000 miles for itineraries covering a distance up to 1200 miles. On 8/5/25, this will increase to to 9,200/13,800. (See: Strengths of Qantas for AA redemptions). No fuel surcharges on American or Alaska.

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at Qantas.com (you’ll need to create a free Qantas Frequent Flyer account). Note that for Alaska space you’ll need to search AA.com.

  • How to book awards: Book online at Qantas.com for American Airlines. Call for Alaska.

  • Change and cancellation fees: 5,000 miles per passenger to change / 6,000 miles per passenger to cancel.

  • Key warnings: Alaska Mileage Plan will often be a better value if you have direct flights.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Capital One, Marriott

Qatar Airways Avios

  • The short story: Qatar Airways Privilege Club offers distance-based award pricing on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, which can be a decent value for economy class or a standout value for first class in some instances.

  • Miles required: From 9.5K Avios each way in economy class / 20K Avios each way in business class on the shortest nonstop routes in the US (under 651 miles) or 13K Avios in economy class / 27K Avios in business class for routes of 651-1151 miles flown.

  • How to find awards: It is easiest to search via Qantas to see a calendar of availability. See more detail in this post: Regional first class starting at 12,500 points (Sweet Spot Spotlight)

  • How to book awards: Book online at QatarAirways.com

  • Change and cancellation fees: $25 more than 24 hours in advance / $100 Between 3-24 hours in advance / Nonrefundable within 3 hours or after departure

  • Key warnings: Awards become expensive or nonrefundable to cancel close to departure, so this is not a good option for booking backup flights.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Citi. Also transfer to BA and then to Qatar with: Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Wells Fargo

Delta Air Lines Flights

Aeromexico

Air France / KLM Flying Blue

  • The short story: Air France sometimes charges far fewer miles for Delta flights than Delta charges its own members.

  • Miles required: Variable, but starting around 10K one-way in economy, or 28K one-way in business class.

  • How to find awards: Use the Virgin Atlantic 5 week award search to find availability (see this post for details). Next, confirm your findings at AirFrance.us (you’ll need to create a free Flying Blue frequent flyer account to search)

  • How to book awards: Book online at AirFrance.com. Can also book via phone or app when the website returns errors.

  • Change and cancellation fees: €70

  • Key warnings: Air France’s website is buggy and will often return errors when trying to complete a booking. If that happens, try calling. Note also that for very short-distance flights, you may be able to save some miles by booking via Virgin Atlantic.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi Thank You Marriott Bonvoy, Wells Fargo.

Delta SkyMiles

  • The short story: Delta has frequent flash sales where it is sometimes possible to get solid value. Sometimes, though not always, Delta offers better award pricing on round trip itineraries. This can make for a great deal in some circumstances.

  • Miles required: Varies.

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at Delta.com.

  • How to book awards: Book online at Delta.com.

  • Change and cancellation fees: None for award tickets originating in North America in Main Cabin or above. Note that fees are not waived for Basic Economy.

  • Key warnings: Delta pricing can be very unpredictable and vary wildly. Transfers from Membership Rewards incur a small excise tax that is not charged when transferring to foreign partners.

  • Transfer from: Amex

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

  • The short story: In some instances, Virgin Atlantic offers Delta flights for fewer miles than Delta would charge for the same itineraries.

  • Miles required: Virgin has a distance-based award chart for domestic US travel on Delta that ranges from 7,500 points (for flights up to 500 miles in distance flown) to 27,500 points (up to 5,000 miles flown, which would cover New York to Honolulu). Business class awards start at 21,000 points Taxes & fees are just $5.60 on domestic flights. See the full award chart here.

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at VirginAtlantic.com

  • How to book awards: Book online at VirginAtlantic.com.  See: How to book Delta flights with Virgin Atlantic miles.

  • Change/Cancellation fees: If your original taxes were less than $100, Virgin Atlantic will allow you to simply forfeit the taxes. This is especially useful for Delta flights originating in the US as the taxes are generally only $5.60.

  • Key warnings: Virgin Atlantic charges each segment separately, so they are not a good choice for connecting itineraries.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Capital One, Citi, Chase, Marriott, Bilt, Wells Fargo

JetBlue Airways flights

JetBlue TrueBlue

  • The short story: JetBlue TrueBlue points are typically only worth about 1.33c towards the cost of a flight (See: What are JetBlue TrueBlue points worth?), but in some instances it may be possible to do a bit better.

  • Miles required: Varies by route but can be less than other options when cash prices are low.

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at JetBlue.com.

  • How to book awards: Book online at JetBlue.com.

  • Change and cancellation fees: None for award tickets except for Blue Basic. For those Blue Basic fares, changes are $100 on itineraries in the U.S., Caribbean, Mexico, Central America or $200 for other routes.

  • Key warnings: Note that transfers from Membership Rewards cost a small excise fee. Transfers are free from other transferable currencies.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Citi, Chase, Marriott

Qatar Airways Avios (for JetBlue economy class)

  • The short story: Qatar Airways Privilege Club offers distance-based award pricing on JetBlue, which can be a decent value for economy class in some instances.

  • Miles required: From 8.5K for the shortest domestic flights to 25K in economy class on transcontinental flights.

  • How to find awards: You search for space via QatarAirways.com, but to see a calendar of availability, you’ll need to find “P” class space for business class awards. You can find this via a paid tool like ExpertFlyer or with advanced routing codes via ITA Matrix.

  • How to book awards: Book online at QatarAirways.com.

  • Change and cancellation fees: $25 more than 24 hours in advance / $100 Between 3-24 hours in advance / Nonrefundable within 3 hours or after departure

  • Key warnings: The Qatar Airways website sometimes can not find major airports. We hope this is a temporary glitch.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Citi. Also transfer to BA and then to Qatar with: Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Wells Fargo

Qatar Airways Avios (for JetBlue business class)

  • The short story: Qatar Airways Privilege Club offers distance-based award pricing on JetBlue, which can be an OK value for Mint class in situations where cash prices are high.

  • Miles required: 74K for a transcontinental Mint class award.

  • How to find awards: You search for space via QatarAirways.com, but to see a calendar of availability, you’ll need to find “I” class space for business class awards. You can find this via a paid tool like ExpertFlyer or with advanced routing codes via ITA Matrix. See more detail in this post.

  • How to book awards: Book online at QatarAirways.com

  • Change and cancellation fees: $25 more than 24 hours in advance / $100 Between 3-24 hours in advance / Nonrefundable within 3 hours or after departure

  • Key warnings: The Qatar Airways website sometimes can not find major airports. We hope this is a temporary glitch.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Citi. Also transfer to BA and then to Qatar with: Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Wells Fargo

Southwest Airlines flights

Southwest Rapid Rewards

  • The short story: Southwest points are typically only worth about 1.4c towards the cost of a flight, but award bookings are totally flexible since they can be changed or canceled with no fee up until about 10 minutes before departure. Note that Southwest has said this it will soon begin pricing awards dynamically based on demand, so there may soon be much more variance in pricing.

  • Miles required: Varies by route but can be less than other options when cash prices are low and can be a standout value for Companion Pass holders.

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at Southwest.com

  • How to book awards: Book online at Southwest.com

  • Change and cancellation fees: None. Wanna Get Away Plus fares or higher are also eligible for a free same-day change.

  • Key warnings: Keep in mind that if you pay for Early Bird Check In and then later cancel or change your flight, you will lose the benefit without a refund.

  • Transfer from: Chase

United Airlines flights

Air Canada Aeroplan

  • The short story: Aeroplan offers decent pricing for very short awards within the US and between the US and Canada, though the new distance-based chart means that longer itineraries are less of a deal. Starting 3/25/25, United awards will be priced dynamically, with no maximum cap.

  • Miles required: Starting from 6K to 22.5K miles each way in economy class or 15K to 35K miles each way in business class based on distance (see more info here).

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at AirCanada.com (you’ll need to create a free Aeroplan frequent flyer account to search)

  • How to book awards: Book online at AirCanada.com. Can also book via phone. Lap infants must be added to your reservation over the phone.

  • Change and cancellation fees: Changes cost “$100” for “Lowest” fare awards; there’s no fee to change Flex or Latitude awards. Cancellations cost $150 for most standard awards if done online at AirCanada.com (or $175 online for most awards via a call center). Other flex awards are free to change or cancel.

  • Key warnings: Cancellation fees can be high on “standard” awards. Hold times to speak with a phone agent can be very long.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, Marriott

Avianca LifeMiles

Singapore KrisFlyer

  • The short story: Singapore KrisFlyer charges the same 14K miles each way in economy class both within the US and between the US and Canada. While not the best deal in all situations, Singapore miles are easy to accumulate since they are partners with all of the major transferable points.

  • Miles required: 14K miles each way in economy class (business class is 26K each way)

  • How to find awards: Search for available United Airlines space at United.com (Note: Do not log in — logging in may show you expanded availability based on your credit card or elite status that is not available for partner bookings) or SingaporeAir.com (See: Book United flights online with Singapore miles).

  • How to book awards: Book online at SingaporeAir.com or over the phone with Singapore KrisFlyer.

  • Change and cancellation fees: $50 change fee, $75 redeposit fee for saver awards.

  • Key warnings: Singapore allows a maximum connection time of 4 hours on a domestic itinerary and will not allow a stopover on a one-way domestic award. Be aware that United.com will show availability for flights with longer/overnight connections that are not available with Singapore KrisFlyer miles, so be sure to double check availability at SingaporeAir.com or with a phone agent before booking. Also note that transfers to Singapore KrisFlyer are not instant. Transfers typically take 12-24 hours (from all major transferable currencies) and Singapore does not hold award tickets.

  • Transfer from: Amex, Capital One, Chase, Citi, Marriott

Turkish Miles & Smiles

  • The short story: Turkish still offers good value on domestic Star Alliance flights.This makes Turkish one of the cheaper ways to book flights within the US on United — including to Alaska and Hawaii.

  • Miles required: 10K miles each way in economy class or 15K miles each way in business class domestically on United within the US or domestically on Air Canada within Canada (can include connections for the same price). For North American international flights (e.g. US to Canada or Mexico), Turkish is no longer a good value at 30K each way in economy class.

  • How to find awards: Search United.com and look for “Saver Awards”. You can also try searching via the Turkish Airlines website, but it does not always show full availability.

  • How to book awards: Try booking at TurkishAirlines.com using the Star Alliance search tool (click “Award ticket” on the home page, then select the Star Alliance tool after logging in). If all else fails, try booking via email. See our guide for booking United flights with Turkish for more detail.

  • Change and cancellation fees: The fee to change or cancel is $70 per passenger, though I’ve been unsuccessful in finding agents who know how to change a partner award. Thus cancelling for $70 is your best bet.

  • Key warnings: Turkish phone agents often can’t see availability on United metal. You may just have to try again with a different agent or try emailing many different ticket offixes. Irregular operations can cause a huge headache in getting in touch with Turkish to get your flight fixed. Booking via Turkish is not for the faint of heart (or those who can not drop back 10 yards and punt when things go sideways).

  • Transfer from: Bilt, Citi Thank You, Capital One, Marriott Bonvoy

United MileagePlus

  • The short story: United now offers variable award pricing. That makes for some opportunities to pick up flights from as few as 5,000 miles one way in economy or 30,000 in business. This can be useful if looking to leverage the Excursionist Perk.

  • Miles required: Varies by route but some itineraries can be just 5,000 miles one way. See: Finding United MileagePlus 5K awards.

  • How to find awards: Search for available space at United.com

  • How to book awards: Book online at United.com.

  • Change and cancellation fees: There are no fees to change or cancel award tickets

  • Key warnings: When one-way prices are higher than 10,000 miles in economy class or 15,000 miles in business class, you may be better off booking with Turkish if you have Citi points and can stomach the challenges that Turkish presents.

  • Transfer from: Bilt, Chase, Marriott

How to get the miles

The following chart shows the available transferable points programs for each of the above airline frequent flyer programs:



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