When headed on an international award trip, most of us book the over-water segments segments first. This often leaves booking intra-destination flights at the bottom of our to-do list, and can result in making poor choices in using miles for flights within a foreign continent.With the ongoing trend of airlines eliminating stopovers and open jaws from award tickets, booking cheap intracontinental award tickets is a great way to get more value out of your international itineraries. By visiting more than one destination after your long-haul flight from the states, you’ll hopefully lessen the sting of no longer having stopover and open jaw capabilities. Today, I’ll cover cheap award flights you can book when looking to fly within each continent — excluding, understandably, Antarctica.Distance/Revenue-Based Award Programs Are Always ApplicableBefore we review each continent, an important strategy to remember is to check the programs that charge for award flights based on the distance of the flight or the revenue cost of the ticket. As long as one of these distance- or revenue-based airlines (or one of their partners) fly in the continent you visit, it very well may offer the cheapest award flight regardless of which continent you’re researching. Typically, if you find that a revenue-based program is offering the cheapest award flights, that means the revenue fare is low. In that case, it’s probably worth saving your points or miles and paying cash for the ticket.Here are a few such programs to keep in mind:ProgramNotesBritish Airways Executive Club4,500 Avios for flights between 1-650 miles in length on all Oneworld partners (North America Excluded)Iberia PlusDistance-based, with some routes offering lower fuel surcharges than BAVirgin Australia VelocityDistance-based award chartVirgin America ElevateRevenue-based for its own flightsSouthwest Rapid RewardsRevenue-basedJetBlue TrueBlueRevenue-basedKeep Region Definitions in MindNot all airlines define regions the same, or for that matter even have the same number of regions. This means that depending on your specific destination, one program typically accepted as offering the cheapest award flights for the continent in question may not be the right pick in your case.For example, some programs consider the Caribbean as a single region (United); others count some of the Caribbean with Hawaii (Flying Blue); and some may count it as part of North America (Aegean). In the same manner, many programs disagree on whether Egypt is in Africa or the Middle East. If you’re flying to what could be considered a border country, study the region definitions closely.With those guidelines in mind, let’s look at each continent and see which programs offer the cheapest award flights. All costs are for one-way, economy flights.Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.North America (Including Caribbean/Hawaii)ProgramCostBritish Airways Executive Club7,500 Avios for flights between 1-1,151 miles in length on American Airlines 12,500 Avios for West Coast to Hawaii on American/AlaskaAmerican Airlines AAdvantage7,500 miles for US flights less than 500 miles in lengthDelta SkyMilesAs low as 5,000 miles (typically on cheap revenue, short-haul flights)Flying Blue12,500 miles to certain Caribbean destinations and 15,000 miles to HawaiiVirgin America ElevateRevenue-based for its own flightsSouthwest Rapid RewardsRevenue-basedJetBlue TrueBlueRevenue-basedSouth AmericaProgramCostAvianca LifeMiles5,000 miles intra-BrazilDelta SkyMiles12,500 miles on GOL/Aerolineas ArgentinaBritish Airways Executive ClubVaries by distance - great availability on LATAMEuropeProgramCostBritish Airways Executive Club4,500 Avios for flights 1-650 miles in length (often high surcharges)Flying Blue8,500 miles for short-haulThe cheap rates of low-cost carriers in Europe often make it difficult to justify redeeming miles for award flights.AfricaProgramCostFlying Blue17,500 miles intra northern or southern Africa (lower rates may be available on some routes)United MileagePlus17,500 miles intra northern or southern AfricaSingapore KrisFlyer15,000 miles intra Central/South AfricaAmerican AAdvantage10,000 miles (check routing rules for partner/region combination restrictions)Middle EastProgramCostAmerican AAdvantage17,500 miles (Oneworld members Qatar Airways & Royal Jordanian)British Airways Executive Club4,500-7,500 Avios for flights 1-1,151 miles in lengthFlying Blue15,000 miles short haulNot a continent, but its unique geography and multiple definitions according to different award programs make it a region worth breaking out separately.AsiaProgramCostFlying Blue10,000-20,000 miles depending on routeDelta SkyMiles12,500-22,500 miles depending on routeUnited MileagePlus5,000 miles intra-Japan (routes up to 800 miles)British Airways Executive Club4,500 Avios intra-mainland Japan routesAlaska Mileage Plan12,500 miles on Cathay PacificSingapore KrisFlyer7,500-25,000 miles depending on origin/destination regionsAir Canada Aeroplan20,000 miles for any intra-AsiaAustralia/OceaniaProgramCostFlying Blue15,000 miles on Aircalin/China AirlinesAegean/United/Asiana12,500 milesAlaska Mileage Plan17,500 miles on Fiji Airways with one stopover allowedVirgin America Elevate3,500-9,500 points intra-AustraliaBritish Airways Executive Club4,500 Avios flights 1-650 miles in lengthBottom LineA common theme for most continents is the use of British Airways Avios for short- to medium-haul flights. Fuel surcharges on these routes when using Avios are also usually minimal (Europe excluded). Regardless of which continent you’re visiting, pull the award charts (if available) for any program that catches your eye as a good deal, and make sure the region definitions line up with your expectations.Another tip: You’ll often find great deals when searching intra-region awards. When completing these searches, programs typically first route you out of your originating region to a hub, then back into the originating region to the destination you searched. This has the effect of allowing you a cheaper award ticket than if you only searched to the airline’s hub. Here’s the cost of an intra-Africa business-class award from Johannesburg (JNB) to Abijan, Côte d’Ivoire (ABJ) with a transfer in Paris (CDG):Here’s the cost if you just wanted to book just the JNB-CDG leg:By adding a flight, you’ve effectively lowered the cost of the JNB-CDG leg by 25,000 miles.What programs do you use for intracontinental flights?
