Using Positioning Flights to Optimize Your Frequent Flyer Miles

Frank McBride • May 23, 2023

Ms. Optimizer and I start our air travel at Raleigh-Durham International (RDU) airport. While RDU is conveniently located for us and is highly efficient to use, it is not as “international” as its name would suggest. When traveling abroad, we almost always leave the United States through a major hub airport like JFK or Boston.


 
We envy the choices that people living in areas like Washington, DC, New York, Miami, or Los Angeles have for international flights. But, in addition to more choices, travelers who start their international trips at major airports can fly abroad for far fewer miles than those of us starting at smaller, regional airports.

Some examples of current redemption costs for flights in March 2024:



  • A round trip, main cabin ticket on Delta from RDU to Budapest will require 104,000 Delta miles but only 73,000 miles from JFK.


  • A main cabin ticket on Delta from RDU to Rome goes for 130,000 miles but only 76,000 from JFK. If you want to fly Delta One class, the difference is 415,000 miles versus 290,000 miles.


  • A round trip, business class ticket from RDU to Prague on United will set you back 235,000 miles while the flight from Washington Dulles would cost 168,000 miles. But interestingly, for main cabin, you need 84,000 miles starting from either airport.



A solution to these discrepancies is to take advantage of positioning flights from your regional airport to the major hubs. For example:



  • You can get round trip tickets in Delta main cabin from RDU to JFK for 12,000 points so, in total, you would need 85,000 miles instead of 104,000 miles. Similarly, the cost of the trip to Rome would be reduced from 130,000 miles to 88,000 miles.


  • You can get round trip tickets in United main cabin from RDU to Washington Dulles for 25,000 miles. This would lower the cost of the business class trip from 235,000 miles to 193,000 miles.



Obviously, this approach is not as convenient and as seamless as having all your air travel on one reservation. You must fly to the gateway airport, retrieve any luggage, check in again, and clear security again. You should certainly allow for extra connection time in the gateway airport to minimize any risk of missing the international flight.


 
However, as the examples above illustrate, the savings can be considerable. For the Rome example, the savings for main cabin would be 42,000 miles per passenger. The savings for the business class trip to Prague would also be 42,000 miles. The savings for the Delta One  (business class) trip would be over 100,000 miles per passenger.



If there is any pattern as to when positioning flights are useful or not, I have not been able to detect it. Sometimes there are considerable savings and sometimes there are none or the savings are negligible. However, if you are not already flying out of a major international airport, there is value in testing your options when booking award travel. Who knows? You may save enough miles for an entirely new trip.   

Travel Rewards Optimizer Pre-Labor Day Wrap Up

By Frank McBride • September 4, 2026
In case you missed them, here is your "one-stop shopping" for posts from the past week. For some, recent changes with the Resy restaurant reservation platform might limit dining options when using the credit. Learn more here . Perhaps your next US domestic award flight should be booked through . . . Air France. Check out why . The Amex Platinum card might have the highest annual fee for mass marketed cards. Find out if the benefits are worth it for my household here . Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend!! We are ready to help you turn your routine credit card spending into the travel of your dreams.

Luxury Credit Card Case Study: Do the Benefits Justify the High Annual Cost?

By Frank McBride • September 3, 2026
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Flying “Air France” Domestically in the United States

By Frank McBride • August 28, 2026
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Double Check Restaurants If You Are Using American Express RESY Credits

By Frank McBride • August 27, 2026
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By Frank McBride • June 25, 2026
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Travel Rewards Optimizer April / May Wrap Up

By Frank McBride • June 5, 2026
Some good news in points and miles (and one warning)

Air France / KLM Flying Blue Program Liberalizes Expiration Policy for Miles

By Frank McBride • May 29, 2026
A change in favor of airline passengers (for a change)

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card Adds More Transfer Partners

By Frank McBride • May 19, 2026
The Autograph Journey's transfer partner list grows slowly but steadily

Points and Miles Case Study: Prague, Budapest, and Malta

By Frank McBride • April 29, 2026
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Just Say "No" to Dynamic Currency Conversion

By Frank McBride • April 23, 2026
As the summer travel season approaches, this is a friendly reminder to avoid "dynamic currency conversion" (DCC) when making credit card purchases outside of your home country. DCC gives you the option of selecting a payment amount in your home currency rather than in the local currency. Typically, when presented with a credit card reader at a shop or restaurant, the touch screen will show purchase amounts in the local currency and in US dollars (for those with American credit cards) and you have the opportunity to choose. I have been seeing these “offers” for several years now and have learned, after doing a little mental math, they are almost always a bad deal for the purchaser. When presented with a credit card reader, I always choose to pay the amount shown in local currency rather than the amount shown in US dollars. During a recent trip, I was making purchases in Euros, Hungarian Forints, and Czech Korunas. From what I could tell, the option of paying in dollars inflated the cost of the purchases around an average of five percent (5%). Once, a card reader screen acknowledged that making the purchase in dollars added an eight percent (8%) fee. Even a credit card with a foreign transaction fee (which you should avoid using when traveling abroad) would have added only three percent (3%) to the tab. Currency games aside, Visa and MasterCard offer reasonable exchange rates when you choose to pay in the local currency. Upon returning home, our credit card statements showed exchange rates that were quite close to market rates. It is reasonable and fair for the credit card issuers make a fraction of a percent here and there as they are performing a service and accepting currency risk (although very briefly). But, claiming to offer a “preferential” rate to pad their bottom line is disingenuous. Because exchange rates are reasonable, using credit cards while traveling abroad is still worthwhile for a points and miles program as long as you avoid cards with foreign transaction fees. Travel oriented cards can offer 2X and 3X spending bonuses for transportation and restaurants to give you a leg up on saving money and accumulating points or miles for your next vacation.