International Airline Programs You Can Use to Book Domestic Flights

Many travelers stick to the airline loyalty programs they know — and for good reason. Navigating even one or two programs can feel overwhelming. But learning how to book flights through lesser-known partner programs can save you thousands of miles.

These hidden sweet spots from non-major airline programs can unlock major savings on domestic flights, and you can use points from your favorite credit cards to book them.

Here's a collection of often-overlooked ways to book domestic flights with points that you might not know about, including which points you can transfer to these secondary mileage programs to book these deals.

» Learn more: The best airline credit cards right now

For United Airlines flights

United MileagePlus awards start at just 5,000 miles each. Plus, you can get extra award availability by being a United cardholder. However, MileagePlus isn't the cheapest option for every United flight. Here are some other options to consider.

Air Canada Aeroplan

Aeroplan theoretically offers United awards from just 6,000 points each way. However, in practice, 10,000 points is a much more common starting rate — even for short hops.

Short flights might not be as good of a value as they once were, but you can still get a lot of value booking United awards through Aeroplan. For example, you can book United award flights between the continental U.S. and Hawaii starting at 15,000 points.

Plus, Aeroplan points are incredibly easy to obtain through transfer partners. You can transfer points to Aeroplan from American Express Membership Rewards (1:1), Capital One miles (1:1), Chase Ultimate Rewards (1:1), Bilt Rewards (1:1).

Avianca LifeMiles

United’s Star Alliance partner Avianca no longer publishes a partner award chart, but still offers some excellent redemptions on partners such as United Airlines. After a few price tweaks, LifeMiles now prices domestic United redemption options as cheap as 7,500 miles each way.

Strangely, the only similarity to these awards is that you'll need to make a connection to get these rock-bottom rates. Nonstop awards are at least 10,000 LifeMiles — even on short routes, such as Los Angeles (LAX) to San Francisco (SFO).

That makes this redemption ideal if you need to fly a route that requires a connection. So, it’s worth doing a quick check of the LifeMiles price before booking an award flight through United.

Avianca LifeMiles is known for its frequent promotions for buying miles, when you can find deals to buy miles for as little as 1.1 cents each. LifeMiles is also a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards (1:1), Capital One miles (1:1), Citi ThankYou points (1:1) and Bilt Rewards (1:1).

Based on our most recent analysis, NerdWallet values Avianca LifeMiles at 1.6 cents each.

Turkish Miles&Smiles

Unlike most award programs, Turkish Miles&Smiles prices all domestic U.S. flights at just one rate: 10,000 miles in economy or 15,000 miles in business class. That's an excellent rate even for short flights, but it's even better when you realize that it even includes flights between the mainland U.S. and Hawaii.

The problem with this sweet spot is that it's hard to find United award availability via the Turkish Miles&Smiles website. Even when you find availability, the process to book awards online can be buggy, so you may need to call a Turkish Airlines ticketing office to book certain awards.

You can only transfer points from Capital One miles (1:1), Citi ThankYou Points (1:1) and Bilt Rewards (1:1) to Turkish Miles&Smiles.

Based on our most recent analysis, NerdWallet values Turkish Airlines miles at 0.7 cent each.

For Delta flights

Domestic Delta SkyMiles awards start at just 5,000 miles each way. Plus, you can save 15% on Delta-operated award flights by holding a Delta credit card. Still, sometimes it's even cheaper to book through partner programs. Here are two excellent options to check.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Flying Blue — the joint loyalty program for Air France and KLM — offers solid award pricing on domestic Delta flights. On certain short-haul routes, award pricing starts at just 5,000 miles each way — such as Detroit (DTW) to Chicago (ORD):

Flying Blue doesn't publish an award chart for Delta awards. Instead, award rates generally increase based on the distance of the flight. For instance, Los Angeles (LAX) to San Francisco (SFO) is a bit longer than Detroit-Chicago and prices just 6,000 miles each way:

Once you find the award pricing for your particular route, you have no shortage of transfer options with points transferring to Flying Blue from American Express Membership Rewards (1:1), Capital One (1:1), Chase Ultimate Rewards (1:1), Citi ThankYou Points (1:1) and Bilt Rewards (1:1).

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club prices Delta award flights based on the distance of the flight, with rates starting at just 7,500 Flying Club points for flights up to 500 miles in distance.

For reference, Delta can charge more than double the amount of miles for this exact flight:

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club award pricing increases sharply from this base price:

• 11,000 points for flights between 501-1,000 miles.

• 16,500 points for flights between 1,001-1,500 miles.

• 18,500 points for flights between 1,501-2,000 miles.

• 22,000 points for flights between 2,001-3,000 miles.

Unfortunately, Flying Club prices each flight you take separately. So, you'll only want to book nonstop award flights through Flying Club.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a transfer partner of the following transferable point programs:

• American Express Membership Rewards (1:1).

• Bilt Rewards (1:1).

• Capital One miles (1:1) — via Virgin Red.

• Chase Ultimate Rewards® (1:1).

• Citi ThankYou Points (1:1).

For American Airlines flights

For many years, British Airways Avios was the go-to currency for booking domestic American Airlines miles. However, after several British Airways devaluations, it's no longer in the running. Here are the programs still offering deals on domestic American Airlines flights.

Alaska Mileage Plan

The new best way of booking domestic American Airlines flights is actually a domestic partner: Alaska Mileage Plan. Alaska recently adopted new award charts that offer partner award flights within North America for just 4,500 miles. This incredible rate is available for flights up to 700 miles in distance.

If you need to fly further, trips covering between 701 and 1,400 miles still cost a reasonable 7,500 Mileage Plan miles. That's long enough to cover routes like Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Orange County, CA (SNA).

The catch is Alaska miles aren't the easiest miles to earn. You can either earn points on an Atmos Rewards credit card or transfer points to Alaska from Bilt Rewards (1:1) and Marriott Bonvoy (3:1).

Qantas Frequent Flyer

If you can't mint enough Alaska miles, Qantas Frequent Flyer is worth a look. Qantas prices awards on American Airlines starting at just 8,000 points each way for flights up to 600 miles in distance. And flights between 601 and 1,200 miles in distance cost a reasonable 12,000 points each way.

You don't have to fly Down Under to earn Qantas points. Transfer points to Qantas from AmEx Membership Rewards (1:1), Capital One (1:1) and Citi ThankYou Points (1:1).

The bottom line

There are several options to book domestic award flights for fewer miles than United, Delta or American might charge through their own mileage programs.

Best of all, every program here partners with at least one transferrable point programs, so you don’t need to earn these miles the hard way (by flying). Keep in mind, Marriott Bonvoy points also transfer to many of these airlines, but at a transfer ratio of 3:1, meaning you’ll have to transfer more Marriott points than you would from a credit card rewards program.