The IdeaWorks/CarTrawler study used booking queries for a party of two at frequent-flyer program websites during March, looking at 280 specific travel dates from June through October. The average mile or point statistics refer to the lowest rate found.
The study did not include international travel, an area where mileage redemption bargains have become far more elusive, said Adam Morvitz, the founder and chief executive of Juicy Miles Travel Services Inc., a New York-based service that books airline award trips. Most foreign travel on U.S. carriers’ international partners remains subject to fixed mileage charts, and those itineraries have gotten more expensive, he said.
“The perception of falling award prices is due to the fact that carriers like Delta now have a sort of hybrid program,” Morvitz said. “Delta sets fixed mileage redemptions when flying with their partners, but awards on Delta’s own planes are all over the place.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.