United drastically devalued its business and first class award levels a few years back, then Delta followed suit and recently American. As of now, all U.S. and many foreign frequent flyer programs charge a lot of miles for the privilege of flying in the front of the plane, and the trend is likely to continue. But there are still bargains out there. You just need to know where to look.
American Airlines business class level between the U.S. and the Middle East/India has only increased by 2,500 miles, but the first class rate, which wasn’t cheap to begin with, is now a whopping 25,000 miles more. It’s hard to recommend spending 230,000 miles just to get pampered, especially since all airlines flying to India and the Middle East offer lie-flat seats in a business class cabin.
As we discussed earlier, not all business or first class seats are worth spending miles and efforts. In the last few years, airlines have done a great job designing new aircraft and retrofitting the old ones with swankier-than-ever premium class seats. Of course, the mile price of these seats is also higher than ever, but it’s still be a great deal, especially if you are embarking on a major trip and eager to arrive rested and ready to enjoy your destination right away.
The Delta SkyMiles credit card is an entry-level card that allows you to earn SkyMiles without flying. Although it doesn’t have a large sign-up bonus, or as many of the bells and whistles of its more celebrated cousins—the Gold Delta SkyMiles, Platinum Delta SkyMiles and Delta Reserve cards—it does have the lowest annual fee.
Once a small, nondescript village on the Tiber River, Rome grew into an astonishing world power, ruling a vast empire for almost 3,000 years, and changing, reinventing and transforming the world, arts, politics, culture and itself as it went along.
