PointsHoarder 15: Exploring oneworld Explorer awards

November 15, 2012

Welcome to episode 15 of the PointsHoarder podcast. This week we’re exploring an award type that none of us know anything about. OK, maybe that is a bit dramatic, but we’re talking about the oneworld distance-based award charts and how there are some very interesting options available, assuming you’re willing to put in a bit of time planning the trip. Distance-based award charts aren’t generally something I look at fondly but the oneworld version has the added bonus of not limiting ocean crossings meaning you can get a few return trips out of a single award with big savings to be had.

We also talk about a new airline starting up service and some fun routes flown by airlines in regions where you might not think they’d be operating. There is a lot of interest in the Air France Caribbean milk run routes, among others. And United announced that they’ll be making upgrade certs earned for elite status valid a bit longer starting this coming year.

Length: 32 minutes


Show Notes

  • Here’s a map of the award we spent the first half of the show discussing:

A world map showing various flight routes between major cities. The cities marked on the map include HNL (Honolulu), SFO (San Francisco), LAX (Los Angeles), ORD (Chicago), JFK (New York), FRA (Frankfurt), AMM (Amman), HKG (Hong Kong), NRT (Tokyo Narita), and KUL (Kuala Lumpur). Different colored lines represent the flight paths connecting these cities.

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7 comments on “PointsHoarder 15: Exploring oneworld Explorer awards

  1. David Nov 15, 2012

    Can I get a link to the award routing for the above map?

    • Clicking on the map should show a full map. The itinerary was:
      SFO-LAX-HNL
      HNL-LAX-ORD
      ORD-HKG-KUL
      KUL-HKG-ORD-BOS
      BOS-NRT-FRA-TXL
      TXL-JFK
      JFK-AMM

  2. In terms of changes, you can change dates but not the routing or airline. So you need to at least have the cities set.

  3. Jayce Nov 26, 2012

    Stephan, we can BARELY hear you on the podcast. Seth and Foz sound fine but it is extremely difficult to hear you. It makes it very difficult to understand the entire conversation unless you are wearing earphones, which is illegal where I am if you are driving.

    Could you please get closer to the mic or find a way to increase your levels? Thanks

    • We’ll work on the levels…thanks for the feedback (no pun intended).

  4. Julie Dec 13, 2012

    I second Jayce’s request about the levels. I listen via headphones and have to turn up the volume to hear the quiet speaker, and then I’m deafened while scrambling to turn the volume down when Seth speaks.