Aegean Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance and as such, there are a lot of great ways to use their miles to fly throughout the world. There is a lot of value to gain with this Greek airline program and with the current sale, I have received many questions about what could be done with Aegean miles. Here are 5 sweet spots with the Aegean Miles+Bonus program that you could take advantage of.

Read More: 4 Reasons to Consider Aegean for Premium Awards

7 Sweet Spots with Aegean Miles+Bonus

Link: Great 50% Bonus for Aegean Miles

Some of the beauty with Aegean’s award chart has to do with their classification of which countries lie in which regions. This opens up a lot of value for premium cabins in these regions.

Some Things to Know:

• Fuel surcharges are passed on to the customer (this means that the fees could be high when flying from the US to Europe – non-fee/low-fee airlines would be SAS, LOT, United, and Turkish)
• You are allowed one connection (it can last up to 24 hours)
• While awards can be booked online, you may need to call in for some (their award engine is not good, it is easier to search on United and then come back to book on Aegean)

Business Class Between North America and Europe – 45,000 Miles

While United Airlines will charge you 70,000 miles to fly Turkish Airlines business class between the US and Europe, Aegean will charge you just 45,000 miles and about $200 in taxes and fees (maybe a little more if you start in the US).

This gets even better when you consider which countries Aegean puts in the North America region. In addition to the US, Canada, and Mexico, they have put every country in the Caribbean in the region as well. This opens up some great islands that you can fly from/to and Europe. This would include a stop in the US before connecting to Europe.

Business Class Between the US and Israel – 45,000 Miles

This one is so good that it deserves a mention of its own, even though it could have been included in the sweet spot above. This is because Aegean puts Europe and North Africa together and North Africa happens to include Israel! 🙂

United would charge 85,000 miles for their own non-stop business class between the US and Israel (hard to find but it is possible from time-to-time). Aegean will charge you just 45,000 miles! If you cannot find availability on the United non-stop, definitely consider connecting with Turkish Airlines (availability with them can be pretty good). If you connect with a Lufthansa group airline, you will be paying fuel surcharges.

First Class Between North America and Europe – 60,000 Miles

This one is just so good, it deserves its own sweet spot! This is because you get to redeem for something like Lufthansa First Class for just 60,000 miles one way! This same award would require almost double the amount of miles with United Airlines miles! Just remember, you are going to have to pay surcharges which can be very expensive. To minimize that, fly from Europe to the US (see why this is a great idea anyway).

Business Class (or First Class) in Asia – 21,000 Miles

I wrote about this the other day so check out that post for more details, but this sweet spot really opens up the best Asian airlines and their business class cabins for just 21,000 miles! This is an awesome deal as it can give you routes that would total over 7 hours in some really sweet business class cabins. Also, there are no fuel surcharges for these flights so the taxes are around/under $30.

Economy Class Around North America – 12,500 Miles | Business Class Around North America – 21,000 Miles

This is a great one if you want to use United to bounce around the US and not pay the annoying $75 close-in booking fee that United would charge if you are under 21 days before the flight. It is also great to take advantage of things like flights between Alaska and the Caribbean (if you wanted the enjoy the extreme of temperatures!).

If you wanted to fly transcontinental business class on United, United would charge you 35,000 for their premium cabins. You could save 14,000 miles by using Aegean miles instead.

Business Class from North America to Central and South Africa – 55,000 Miles

Here is one that can be really great! While United charges 80,000 miles, Aegean will get you to South Africa and the whole central/south African region for just 55,000 miles. This is like the old US Airways award program!

For some reason, Star Alliance carriers like to charge a hefty amount for travel to Africa but you can really get a great value out of your Aegean miles with this kind of redemption.

Economy and Business Class in Oceania – 12,500 Miles in Economy | 21,000 Miles in Business

While the Oceanic region does not have a lot of Star Alliance presence, Air New Zealand is based there and that can be helpful. The beauty of this sweet spot is the amount of territory that Aegean’s regional classification gives you. Here are the countries they list as being in Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Micronesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Wake Island, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Easter Island, French Polynesia, Niue, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna.

Some of these places can be expensive to fly to but with economy flights at just 12,500 miles and business class being at 21,000 miles, there are some great deals to be had!

My big request is for a Star Alliance carrier to fly to Easter Island! Aegean has Easter Island in Oceania and that would be an awesome redemption for sure!

Getting Aegean Miles

While you can credit all of your Star Alliance flights to Aegean (and some credit at nice percentages), there are some other great ways to accrue Aegean miles as well. Aegean will give you 1,000 miles just for signing up. You can transfer miles to other people for just 15€. If you are a Silver or Gold member, you can create a Together Account and pool all the miles from up to 5 other people.

Also, Marriott points transfer at a rate of 3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred (which means that 60,000 Marriott points equal 25,000 Aegean miles). Finally, you can buy them when they have bonus promos like this 50% bonus one.