Stop chasing partner awards.
I know — ten years ago, that sentence would’ve sounded like I’d lost the plot.
Because in the “old days” of points and miles, booking through partners wasn’t just a clever trick. It was the whole strategy.
You didn’t use Airline A’s miles to fly Airline A. You used Airline B’s miles to fly Airline A. Pricing was often better, rules were usually friendlier, and the value could be ridiculous.
If you were around for it, you probably remember how normal it felt to do things like using British Airways miles for short American Airlines domestic flights, or leaning on US Airways miles to build partner itineraries that would cost a small fortune (or a small mountain of miles) today.
But in my recent award searches and bookings, I keep running into the same reality:
The partner “cheat code” isn’t dead — it’s just no longer the default.
More and more often, the seats you actually want don’t show up to partners at all. Or they show up at a worse price, sometimes with extra fees. Even when they’re available, the process can be finicky. Whatever “value” you’re getting gets paid for in time and aggravation.
This post is a look at how we got from then—when partner awards were the obvious move—to now—where booking through the operating airline is frequently the simplest (and sometimes the only) realistic option. And then what’s next: a future where partner awards still matter, but mostly in specific, targeted situations… instead of being the thing most people should worry about first.
The Old Cheat Code: When Partner Awards Were the Default
To understand why “stop chasing partner awards” even feels like a reasonable idea today, it helps to remember what the landscape used to look like.
For a long time, award travel was built around published award charts and relatively consistent rules. If you learned how an alliance worked and which programs had the best pricing, you could often book the same flight for fewer miles by using a partner program instead of the airline operating the flight.
That was the core advantage: you didn’t need miles in the program of the airline you were flying.
Instead, you could use a partner’s award chart — one that often had little connection to the cash price — and get excellent value, especially compared to what the operating airline might charge in its own program.
Some of the most popular examples were:
- British Airways Avios for short American Airlines flights. Because Avios pricing was distance-based, many short domestic routes priced well, sometimes dramatically better than using AAdvantage miles.
- US Airways miles for international partner itineraries. Their award chart and routing rules were famous for allowing routings that felt surprisingly generous — as long as you could get an agent on the phone who knew how (or was willing) to ticket it.
- Partner charts that consistently beat “home program” pricing. Even when the operating airline had availability, booking through a partner could be a better deal.
And that US Airways point also highlights something people often forget: many partner bookings weren’t bookable online back then. If you wanted certain partner flights, complicated routings, or anything that didn’t fit neatly into the airline website’s search tool, you called.
That sounds inconvenient now, but at the time, it was just part of the process. If the value was there, making a phone call (and possibly hanging up and trying again) was an accepted tradeoff. The payoff could be worth it, because the pricing was based on the chart and the rules—not on whatever the cash fare happened to be that day.
How Things Have Changed (and Where We Are Today)
Fast forward to today, and the “book through a partner” approach still exists — but it no longer behaves like the default strategy.
The most significant change is that availability and pricing are no longer as predictable across programs. In many cases, the operating airline is holding back the most useful award space for its own members, while partners either don’t see it at all or only see a smaller slice of what’s available.
That shows up in a few ways:
- More “book it with the airline that flies the plane” situations. If you want specific seats, cabins, or routes, the practical option is often the airline’s own program. Your Southeast Asia searches are a good example — premium cabin space can be far easier to book through Singapore KrisFlyer than by piecing it together through partners.
- Cabins and fare types that don’t consistently flow to partners. You’ve seen this with United Premium Plus, where MileagePlus can show award options that simply aren’t available through partner programs (or aren’t available in the same way). Even when a partner can book the flight, it may only be showing economy or a different pricing level.
- Same routes, different realities. Virgin Atlantic is another example. There can be plenty of award space on Virgin’s own flights through Virgin’s program, while partner access through Delta for similar routes is much harder to come by, or priced in a way that makes it less attractive.
At the same time, the pricing side has shifted. A lot of programs have moved away from simple, published award charts to dynamic pricing or hybrid models. That means two things:
- Partner sweet spots are harder to rely on. Some still exist, but they’re less consistent, and the gap between “great deal” and “not worth it” can change quickly.
- Even when partners have space, it may cost more (or come with more fees). You’ll sometimes see partner options that are technically available, but require more points than booking through the operating airline — or add cash costs that blunt the value.
And then there’s the search experience. Tools like point.me and PointsYeah make this trend harder to ignore, because you can run a search expecting multiple partner pathways and end up with one clear result: the only workable option is the operating airline’s own program.
To be clear, this isn’t because partner awards have disappeared entirely. It’s because the balance has shifted. The “partner first” approach used to be a reliable shortcut to better pricing. Today, it often feels like an extra step that only pays off in specific cases — and more often than not, the simplest answer is also the most realistic one.
Why This Is the New Normal
At this point, I don’t think this is a temporary phase. It feels like the new normal.
Part of it is supply and demand. There are better award search engines, more guides, more newsletters, more YouTube channels, and a much larger group of travelers who know how to book partner awards and build complex itineraries. The information that used to be “insider knowledge” is widely available.
When more people are looking for the same limited pool of premium award seats, the easiest wins don’t last long. If there’s an obvious sweet spot on a popular route, it gets booked quickly. And if it gets talked about publicly, it gets booked even faster, or eventually removed.
None of that means partner awards are gone. If you’re a power user (and I know many of you are), you can still put together great trips using less obvious angles—finding the odd routing that prices well, using a program with a unique chart, or catching availability when it drops at the right time.
But that’s also the point: it’s become a skill-based game with a higher time commitment.
For most travelers, the tradeoff just isn’t there anymore. They want to take a trip, not spend days comparing five programs, watching calendars, and doing transfers at the exact right moment. And if the end result is “same seat, similar price, and more hassle,” the partner option stops being the smart default.
So the practical advice has shifted. Instead of starting with “which partner chart is best,” it often makes more sense to start with the operating airline’s own program, confirm what’s actually available, and then only chase partner options when there’s a clear reason to do it.
So Where Do We Go From Here?
If this really is the new normal, I think we’re headed toward a world where partner awards still exist—but they’re no longer the “default” strategy most people should start with.
Airlines have also gotten much more deliberate about incentivizing the behavior they want. If they want you booking directly, earning more with their program, or carrying their credit card, they can reward that in very direct ways—like offering better pricing, more award inventory, or additional access to seats for people with status or who hold a co-branded card. United is one of the clearest examples of this approach, with expanded award access for its co-brand cardholders.
At the same time, customers have more flexibility than ever on the earning side. Bank points have become more powerful, and it’s easier to have access to multiple airline programs because the major credit card currencies partner with airlines all over the world. That means you’re not locked into one program the way many travelers used to be.
Put those two trends together, and the future of award travel starts to look like this:
- More bookings through the operating airline’s program. Not because it’s always the cheapest in points, but because it’s often where the most complete inventory lives—more cabins, more routing options, and sometimes simply more seats.
- More targeted incentives. Expect airlines to continue reserving certain pricing and inventory advantages for the customers they value most—elites, big spenders, and co-branded cardholders—because it’s an easy way to drive loyalty and revenue.
- Partner awards becoming more situational. They’ll still matter when there’s a clear, repeatable advantage: a true sweet spot, a route where a partner consistently has access, or a program that prices in a way that meaningfully beats the airline’s own pricing.
- More emphasis on flexibility over “the perfect chart.” The best redemptions will go to people who can grab space when it appears, adjust dates, or consider alternate routings—because the “easy” availability won’t sit around waiting.
- Smarter use of transferable points. The decision will increasingly be “Which program can get me the seat I want?” not “Which partner chart is best in theory?” Having access to more programs gives you options, but it also means the simplest path is often the one that works.
That doesn’t mean the hobby is over. If you enjoy the puzzle, there will always be exceptions that make partner awards worth the effort.
But for most travelers, I think the practical playbook is simpler: start with the airline that flies the plane, treat partner awards as a bonus when they’re clearly better, and don’t feel like you’re doing it “wrong” if you book directly through the operating carrier.
Because the real goal isn’t to win an award chart, it’s to take the trip.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
