Want better mileage from your frequent-flier program? Look to foreign airlines

U.S. airlines’ frequent-flier programs have undergone big changes in recent years. Delta, United and American, for instance, now award miles based on how much you spend, not how far you’ve flown.

These legacy carriers also have revamped their award charts. Now many awards, especially those in premium cabins, require several thousand more miles than before.

Given these changes, this could be the right time to consider switching your loyalty to the frequent-flier program of a foreign carrier. Here’s why:

Earning miles may be easier. Because each of these three U.S. legacy carriers is in an airline alliance — American is in Oneworld, Delta is in SkyTeam and United is in Star Alliance — you can credit miles flown on them to any number of partner programs.

Many foreign frequent-flier programs base mileage earnings on the distance flown and the fare class of the ticket. Fliers might earn anywhere from 25% to 150% of the miles they fly when crediting a foreign program. You can find this information on the section of a carrier’s website about earning rates on partner flights.

More transfer partners. All four major transferable (also called convertible) points programs in the U.S. — American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and Citi ThankYou Rewards — partner with several foreign frequent-flier programs. That means you can convert points into miles in your accounts with those airlines.

For example, Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer and Air France/KLM’s Flying Blue mileage programs are partners with all four. British Airways accepts transfers from all but Citi.

Short-haul redemptions. Although the major U.S. legacy carriers do offer some bargain short-haul redemptions, including American’s new 7,500-mile level for flights of less than 500 miles, several foreign programs offer great values on short-distance awards as well.

British Airways is the notable program in this group. Some awards start as low as 4,500 miles each way on its own flights, and 7,500 miles on American Airlines flights.

Discounted awards. Some foreign programs also offer off-peak or discounted awards. Flying Blue offers monthly “Promo Awards” in which fliers can score rebates of up to 50% on awards in economy, premium economy and business class on Air France and KLM flights. That means a round-trip business-class award from the U.S. to Europe could be redeemed for as few as 62,500 miles total, and economy awards for just 25,000 miles round trip.

By comparison, Delta, Air France/KLM’s U.S. partner, would charge 125,000 miles for business class and 60,000 miles for economy awards.

Better award charts. Although many foreign frequent-flier programs have raised their award redemption levels recently, some have not done so as drastically as domestic carriers.

Air Canada’s Aeroplan program charges 70,000 miles each way to fly first class on its partner Lufthansa from North America to Western Europe, compared with the 110,000 miles United now requires.

All Nippon Airways (an American Express transfer partner) requires 104,000 miles for business class or 195,000 miles for first class on its partner Etihad to fly round trip from the U.S. to the Middle East.

By comparison, American Airlines (another partner of Etihad) would charge 140,000 miles for business class or 230,000 for first class.

More non-alliance partners. Like U.S. carriers, foreign airlines often have non-alliance partnerships with other airlines. That means more opportunities to redeem those miles.

For example, besides Star Alliance partners, All Nippon is also partners with Etihad, Garuda Indonesia, Hawaiian Airlines, Philippine Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Thus its miles can be even more versatile for redemptions.

More premium awards. Certain airlines, including Singapore, Air France and Swiss, block first-class awards from partner mileage redemptions. For instance, if you want to fly those famous Singapore first-class suites without shelling out tens of thousands of dollars, you will need to use Singapore’s own KrisFlyer miles to book an award.

Likewise, though Korean Air and Delta are both in SkyTeam, Delta will not allow you to redeem its SkyMiles for first-class partner awards, so if you want to fly Korean’s first-class seats, you will need to redeem the Korean’s own miles to do so.

Beware fuel surcharges and taxes. One major caveat. Though foreign frequent-flier programs might have more favorable award redemption rates and availability, some do charge taxes and fees on award tickets that can be hundreds of dollars more than their U.S. counterparts.

Look at sample awards for routes you are likely to fly before committing to a program.

More credit cards, more bonuses. Several U.S. credit-card issuers offer products that are co-branded with foreign frequent-flier programs. Chase fields a British Airways Visa that offers a sign-up bonus of up to 50,000 Avios (British Airways’ mileage points) as well as benefits such as a 10% discount on British Airways tickets.

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