A Master List for Spending Points and Miles

Below is a guide to using airline miles in various situations. It tells you the best miles to use for which kinds of flights, how much it will cost at minimum, and how to earn those miles. Before using your miles, check the actual fare of your trip if you were to pay cash. I recommend only using miles if you are getting at least 1 cent of value out of them, so make sure your points cost is less than 100x your airfare cost.

Where to find points flights

Airline Flown	Award Availability Search
American	aa.com
Delta	airfrance.us
US Airways	united.com
United	united.com
Southwest	southwest.com
AirTran	southwest.com
JetBlue	jetblue.com

Short-haul flights

Airline Flown	Program to Use	Cost Basis	Lowest Cost Roundtrip	Best Credit Card	Signup Bonus
American	British Airways Avios	One Flight	9,000	Chase British Airways	50,000
Delta	Delta SkyMiles	Roundtrip	25,000	American Express Delta Gold (link to CardMatch)	45,000
US Airways	ANA Mileage Club	Roundtrip	20,000	American Express Premier Gold	25,000
United	ANA Mileage Club	Roundtrip	20,000	American Express Premier Gold	25,000
Southwest	Southwest Rapid Rewards	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	Chase Southwest	50,000
AirTran	Southwest Rapid Rewards	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	Chase Southwest	50,000
JetBlue	JetBlue	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	American Express Premier Gold	20,000

Long-haul flights

Airline Flown	Program to Use	Cost Basis	Lowest Cost Roundtrip	Best Credit Card	Signup Bonus
American	American AAdvantage	One-Way	25,000	Citi AAdvantage	50,000
Delta	Delta SkyMiles	Roundtrip	25,000	American Express Delta Gold (link to CardMatch)	45,000
US Airways	United MileagePlus	One-Way	25,000	Chase United	55,000
United	United MileagePlus	One-Way	25,000	Chase United	55,000
Southwest	AirTran A+ Rewards	One-Way	16 credits	Chase AirTran	32 credits
AirTran	AirTran A+ Rewards	One-Way	16 credits	Chase AirTran	32 credits
JetBlue	JetBlue	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	American Express Premier Gold	20,000

One-way tickets

Airline Flown	Program to Use	Cost Basis	Lowest Cost One-Way	Best Credit Card	Signup Bonus
American	American AAdvantage	One-Way	12,500	Citi AAdvantage	50,000
Delta	Air France/KLM Flying Blue	One-Way	12,500	American Express Premier Gold	25,000
US Airways	United MileagePlus	One-Way	12,500	Chase United	55,000
United	United MileagePlus	One-Way	12,500	Chase United	55,000
Southwest	Southwest Rapid Rewards	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	Chase Southwest	50,000
AirTran	Southwest Rapid Rewards	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	Chase Southwest	50,000
JetBlue	JetBlue	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	American Express Premier Gold	20,000

Tentative plans

Airline Flown	Program to Use	Cost Basis	Lowest Cost Roundtrip	Cancellation Fee	Best Credit Card	Signup Bonus
American	British Airways Avios	One Flight	9,000	$0	Chase British Airways	50,000
Delta	Air France/KLM Flying Blue	One-Way	25,000	$60	American Express Premier Gold	25,000
US Airways	ANA Mileage Club	Roundtrip	22,000	3,000 miles	American Express Premier Gold	25,000
United	ANA Mileage Club	Roundtrip	22,000	3,000 miles	American Express Premier Gold	25,000
Southwest	Southwest Rapid Rewards	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	$0	Chase Southwest	50,000
AirTran	Southwest Rapid Rewards	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	$0	Chase Southwest	50,000
JetBlue	JetBlue	One-Way Fare	Based on Fare	$100	American Express Premier Gold	20,000

Credit cards

Program	Credit Card 1	Credit Card 2	Credit Card 3
British Airways Avios	Chase British Airways	Chase Sapphire Preferred	American Express Premier Gold
Delta SkyMiles	American Express Premier Gold	American Express Delta Gold (link to CardMatch)
ANA Mileage Club	American Express Premier Gold
Southwest Rapid Rewards	Chase Southwest	Chase Sapphire Preferred
JetBlue	American Express Premier Gold	American Express JetBlue
American AAdvantage	Citi AAdvantage
United MileagePlus	Chase United	Chase Sapphire Preferred
AirTran A+ Rewards	Chase AirTran
Air France/KLM Flying Blue	American Express Premier Gold