JP partner awards - workarounds and hacks
In the last of the 4 part review of JP's partner awards, we look at generating the best value for the miles you're redeeming for award tickets on Jet Airways' partner airlines.
This is a series in 4 parts, indexed as follows:
Why did I write as extensively as I've done on this particular topic of Jet Airways' partner award tickets, especially considering it certainly wasn't the most popular method of spending JP miles? To be honest, the answer is that both Vinay and I were have been able to generate some great value out of our JP miles, with some fantastic redemption opportunities. So it is rather hard on us, and others like us, to see these melt away.
For instance, in late 2015, I booked award tickets on MAA-HKG and SGN-MAA. On Jet Airways' own metal, these came up to 37,500 miles each way per person, in economy class, with the added pain of having to transit via Mumbai in both directions of travel. However, I was able to use partner airline awards and book MAA-HKG on Cathay Pacific for 25,000 miles one way, and SGN-MAA via AUH on an Etihad A330, which gave me an entire day in SGN at no extra cost, plus a longer flight to catch some rest (and drinks!) on...all for just 22,000 JP miles, which is actually a cool 15,500 miles less than Jet Airways' own flight redemption which stood at 37,500 miles. Business class was 2x of the above requirements.
I saved 55,000 miles on the above routing with partner airlines, vs awards on 9W metal
In effect, for what would've cost 75,000 miles in Jet Airways economy class, I managed to snag on CX (direct to HKG so no stops) and EY (longer and more convenient flight) for a total of 95,000 miles in business class! The were of course the cash components, but even with those thrown in, the SGN-AUH-MAA leg alone had a cash value of $2,100, and so the benefit from this was outstanding!
But it isn't all bad news. Let's take a look at a few approaches to maximising the value of your JP miles on partner redemptions.
Some sectors require fewer miles than before
As I mentioned in my previous post, there are some great sectors that you can book partner awards on, for fewer miles than before. These sectors, and the number of miles they are cheaper by, are:
While these are by no means inexpensive routes, they still provide some cheer in an otherwise grim situation.
Maximising on what constitutes a Zone
The previous partner award requirements were comprised of 23 zones. There were also some routes which were available at dirt cheap rates, mainly due to the way Jet had created the zones. Again, all of those are gone now.
However, the previous zoning system was also a bit flawed when it came to hacking and finding sweet spots. Zones included groupings such as Eastern Europe, Western Europe and European hubs, which are now combined into one single zone (Zone 8) called Europe. Therefore, all travel within these zones are now priced identically. Earlier, you needed between 10,000 and 25,000 miles for travel between some of these zones, which will now cost a uniform 15,000 miles.
All of Europe is now a single zone, which is great for routes like IST-LHR - only 15,000 miles
Similar changes to zone components have been made to North Africa, South Africa, North East US, South East US and South West US.
I'd pointed this out in my previous post on this series as well.
Maximising the 24-hour layover window
The previous partner awards rules did not explicitly talk about stopovers. The new rules, however, clarify that a layover between two cities, which exceeds 24 hours, will be priced as though you were flying two separate zone combinations. But usually, Jet allows you some latitude to choose what flights you want to take. And so you could use this to your advantage, particularly if you want a short stay at a layover point.
There are many cities that can be easily toured in 12-18 hours, which will cover off the basics of that city. Travel agencies and also the city's/country's tourism departments often offer such tours, beginning and ending at the airport. Think Hong Kong, Singapore and the like.
Just be careful to ensure that you've got time to address things like delayed flights, bad weather, etc, and ensure that your connecting flight is within 24 hours of the landing time of the previous flight.
Reverse-hacking the 24 hour layover window
Can you actually use the 24-hour window to your advantage, where you stay longer than 24 hours at a transit point? The rules allow you to do so, but will charge you for two separate zone combinations. Can that be a good thing?
Typically not, since for most travel, it is cheaper to fly from Zone A to Zone B, rather than as Zone A to C and then Zone C to B, even if C is on the way logically. However, there are some situations in the new requirements that may work to your advantage.
For instance, Zone 4 to Zone 11 (India to southwest US) is priced at 100,000 miles one way. However, you could split this up as Zone 4 to Zone 1 (India to Australia/NZ) and Zone 1 to Zone 11 (Australia/NZ to southwest US). This will price at 93,000 miles, thereby saving you 7,000 miles. In addition, it gets you a free stopover in Australia/New Zealand (of course, you'll need to take care of visas and accommodation separately).
You could also take this a step further by arriving in and departing from different cities in the transit zone. Eg, you could do BOM-MEL and SYD-LAX, as long as you can make sure you get from MEL to SYD (outside of the award ticket, and which could be on transport other than airlines). And this also means you could plan a variety of side-trips in the transit zone.
Transiting Australia en route to LAX can save you 7,000 miles
Naturally, you will need to have the time and inclination hack this, but it can be quite a saver! I've been able to spot a total of 28 such route combinations, that save between 3,000 and 23,000 miles when deliberately routing via a third zone, versus traveling direct.
Conclusion
Airlines globally keep adjusting their mileage requirements for awards, based on market conditions, demand, costs, commercials, and a variety of other factors. You may recall Air India's recent devaluation with respect to awards on Star Alliance partner airlines. Jet's current revamp of award charts is in line with those global trends. And many of those trends will never reverse. We just need to accept these as the new status quo, and move along, while trying to be creative and finding the right spots for good value redemptions.
Readers: Have you booked partner awards before? Which routing would you miss the most? Alternatively, what in the new charts are ones you might consider good value, now? Leave your comments below.
Very Good Post. Rally entertaining to read. one good routing is MAA-SIN in Jet redemption and SIN-LAX in Jet partner redemption which will result in 30K saving on the published mile requirement between Z04 to Z11.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work.