Step-by-Step Guide: See Which Miles to Collect Based on Your Home Airport

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Understanding miles & points can be tricky at first.  But once you decide where you want to go and which type of miles or points you want to earn, it gets a little easier!

So I’ll show you how to determine which kind of miles or points you should collect based on your home airport.  And which airlines fly to the most destinations from your hometown.

Let’s take a look!

Which Miles & Points Should You Collect for Airline Tickets?

When you’re deciding which type of points or miles to collect for an award ticket, it’s helpful to start with your home airport’s Wikipedia page.  Because there, you’ll be able to find information like which airline flies to the most destinations, where each airline flies, the top destinations from your particular airport, and more!

Step 1.   Search for Your Airport Using Wikipedia

From the Wikipedia homepage, enter the name of your home airport to search for the airport’s details.

For this example I’m going to use my (and Emily’s!) home airport in Austin, the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Step 2.   Go to “Airlines and Destinations”

From there, go to the “Airlines and destinations” section of the airport’s Wiki page.

That’s where you’ll find the info you need!

This section of the page will show you all of the non-stop flights flown by each airline from that particular airport.

In this example, it shows Southwest flies non-stop to 30+ destinations out of Austin.  That’s much more than any other airline on the list.

So it’s easy to see why Emily and I especially love Southwest!  Because we can use our Companion Passes to get lots of Big Travel.

Step 3.   Go to “Statistics”

The “Statistics” section of the airport’s Wiki page will also show you information like the airport’s busiest routes, and which airline flies the most passengers each year.

All of this is useful in helping you decide which points and miles you’ll want to collect.

And while Wikipedia is a great resource, I’d also suggest checking the information you find there against the airlines’ websites to be safe. 😉

Step 4.   Find the Airline’s Alliances and Partnerships

Plus, if you want to go to a certain destination that is NOT listed in the “Airlines and destinations” section of your home airport’s Wiki page, you’ll need to check the airline alliances and partnerships for the airlines that DO fly out of your hometown airport.

An easy way to do that is to Google the airline’s name and the word “alliance” or “partners.”

From there, you’ll be able to find more information about that particular alliance and which airlines are a part of it.  Or, you can head to the airline’s website and search for alliance and partnership information from there.

And finally, don’t forget to check out my handy chart that shows you which points transfer to which airlines.  It’ll help you decide which type of flexible points would make the most sense for you!

At Million Mile Secrets, we usually focus on whichever airlines we can quickly earn miles with from credit card bonuses.  And we normally suggest paying cash for any inexpensive flights.

That way you can save the miles & points you earn for flight experiences you wouldn’t or couldn’t pay for otherwise.  Like an international First Class ticket that costs thousands of dollars!

Award Ticket Examples

Let’s take a look at 2 examples of flights out of Austin to Lisbon, Portugal, and Warsaw, Poland.

From the “Airlines and destinations” section of Austin’s airport page, you can see that there aren’t many airlines that fly non-stop to Europe (or anywhere abroad for that matter).  So you’ll likely have to make a connection.

When you’re headed across the pond, it’s not uncommon to stop through one of the larger airline hubs like New York (JFK), Newark, Chicago, or Washington, DC.  And lots of the major airlines that fly out of Austin, like American Airlines and United Airlines, have non-stop flights between Austin and these larger airports.

For these examples we’ll use United Airlines miles, because they’re a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, making them relatively easy to earn. 😉

1.   Austin to Lisbon on United Airlines

I found a decent number of award seats between Austin and Lisbon on United Airlines.

For example, here’s a flight from Austin to Lisbon with 1 stop in Washington, DC, for 60,000 United Airlines miles and ~$62 in taxes and fees.

Saver award seats aren’t available every day.  But if you’re flexible with your travel dates and you plan far enough in advance, you should be available to find an award that works for you.

2.   Austin to Warsaw on LOT Polish Airlines (United Airlines Partner)

Now let’s say you want to fly from Austin to Warsaw, Poland, on United Airlines.

Because United Airlines flies non-stop from Austin to Chicago, you can connect through there and then to Warsaw with LOT Polish Airlines.  They’re a United Airlines partner and member of the Star Alliance.

I found a saver award ticket leaving Austin and returning from Warsaw for only 60,000 United Airlines miles.

These are both relatively simple examples, and once you gain confidence searching for award tickets, take a look at our Award Booking Guides to learn how to get nearly anywhere in the world using miles and points!

Can’t Find an Award Flight?

1.   Fly on an Airline That Doesn’t Have Blackout Dates

Sometimes it’s difficult to find award seats if your travel dates aren’t very flexible.  But you still have options based on the airlines that fly out of your home airport!

For example, there are NO blackout dates on Southwest and JetBlue award flights.  So if either of these airlines fly from your home airport and there’s a seat for sale, you can use points or miles to buy it!

You can earn Southwest points with their credit cards, like the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card.  Or earn JetBlue points with their cards, like the JetBlue Plus card.

2.   Use Flexible Points

Citi ThankYou Points

If you can’t find an award ticket, consider using Citi ThankYou points earned from a card like the Citi Prestige Card or Citi Premier Card to pay for your flights.  Because if you have either of those cards, you can use Citi ThankYou points to purchase airfare at a rate of 1.25 cents per point through the Citi ThankYou Portal.

The information for the Citi Prestige, Citi Premier has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

And when you pay for flights with points you’ll still earn frequent flyer miles!

AMEX Pay With Points

Or use AMEX Membership Rewards points to Pay With Points for flights through the AMEX Membership Rewards portal without having to worry about blackout dates.

This is an especially good deal with the Business Platinum® Card from American Express.  Because you’ll get 35% of your points back on coach tickets with your selected airline.  And on any airline if you book a Business or First Class flight.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

You could also use the Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earn with cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to book tickets without blackout dates through the Chase Travel Portal.

With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you’ll get 1.5 cents per Chase Ultimate Rewards point on bookings through Chase’s travel portal.  And you’ll get 1.25 cents per Chase Ultimate Rewards point through the Chase Travel Portal with cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Business Preferred, and Ink Plus and Ink Bold (no longer available).

Delta Pay With Miles

And if you have certain AMEX Delta cards, you can use Delta’s Pay With Miles and redeem Delta miles at a rate of 1 cent per mile to pay for (or discount) the cost of Delta flights.

Here’s my post about using flexible points for Big Travel!

Consider Transportation to a Nearby Airport

Depending on where you live, it might make sense to drive or take public transportation to a nearby airport that offers more flights.

Folks may sometimes prematurely write-off an airport because it’s “too far” away.  But it’s worth checking to see if you’ll save miles or points by going there.  Because in some spots using Uber can even be cheap enough to make it worth it!

For example, you can take a train from Oakland to the San Francisco International Airport for ~$10.  Or take Uber between San Jose and the San Francisco International Airport for ~$54.  And flying out of San Francisco’s airport might be cheaper than leaving from one of the smaller airports in Oakland or San Jose!

Bottom Line

Having a hard time deciding which miles and points to collect for your next award flight?  Knowing your travel goals is the first step.

It’s important to find out which airlines fly from your home airport.  And if you can take advantage of airline alliances to get you where you want to go.

For example, if you live in Austin like Emily and I do, Southwest is the airline with the most flights!  So collecting Southwest points or Chase Ultimate Rewards points is likely your best bet, because Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio.  Plus, they transfer to other larger airlines like United Airlines too!