Travel in times of COVID-19 – How valuable miles can be

At the moment there are still many Germans, Austrians and Swiss around the world trying to get home somehow. I would like to share my own experience today because I was in the Seychelles until 17 March. There we had these tortoises in our garden every day. Incredible.

There were some learning effects

In an emergency, quick action pays off

Actually, my stay should have lasted until 19 March, but when it became known that travel from Europe to the Seychelles was completely blocked, we acted quickly and rebooked our Etihad flight two days earlier. Being fast is important these days. Because there are new restrictions on traveling every day.

UK hotlines with Business Class bookings worked best

I have been on the phone a lot with the hotlines of various airlines over the past 10 days. Whether Etihad, American Airlines, Emirates … In general, the waiting times were not that bad. It was important that you always choose Business or First Class tickets, which has become no longer so important 😉 You should always give your contact number directly to the call center agent in case the connection breaks down from abroad. Then he or she can call you back. While I couldn’t get through the UAE numbers from Emirates and Etihad via Skype with VPN, the UK number had proven to be a very suitable one. At American Airlines I called the US number during the day (i.e. at night in the USA).

In any case, we were able to rebook our flight from the Seychelles to Abu Dhabi for 4 people for a total of about EUR 450. Interestingly, the price for one-way had dropped sharply.

Then the challenge was to come back from Dubai to Düsseldorf with 5 people (3 adults, 2 children). While Etihad still had award flights availability for 5 people everywhere on 16 March, they were all gone on 17 March. Not because the seats no longer existed, but because Etihad probably preferred to cash in, which is understandable from an airline perspective in the current phase.

But the regular prices were crazy:

One-way in Economy Class to Munich is EUR 900, to Düsseldorf EUR 2,300, and with Emirates more than EUR 1,200.

Let’s say you wanted to travel on 21 March, see the Economy Class prices here. Düsseldorf it is now for more than EUR 3,000.

But now came the moment – and this is one of the main reasons why I am writing this post – where you could see how much miles are useful and why I always do my own thing so that I have miles on stock from all the important mileage programs . Because there were also places in Business and in First Class with miles. We regularly give our customers access to larger mileage allocations through special promotions and exclusive partnerships.

We even had 5 places with miles at a price of 85,000 miles each and AED 1,690. If you calculate a price of EUR 15 per 1,000 miles, then we are at EUR 1,700 per person. That is half the price of an Economy Class ticket to Düsseldorf and the whole thing in First Class. Emirates now charges significantly more for a miles one-way than for a return flight. So we could have booked a return flight to Dubai for November 2020 for 50,000 miles more. So in the end there is an additional charge of approx. EUR 1,140 including taxes.

One of the most important points when it comes to corona virus is keeping your distance. Of course, this is a lot better in a lockable suite than in the narrow Economy Class. The bathrooms in the A380 from Emirates are approximately 4-5 square meters in First Class and are cleaned briefly after each visit. There is hardly a better setup in times like these and the whole thing at a really attractive price.

There is also a really excellent lounge product in Dubai. The First Class Lounge practically extends along the entire A380 terminal and you can board directly from the lounge. There is a huge buffet / a la carte restaurant where I really ate one of the best fillet steaks in recent months.

A top product is then waiting for you on the plane:

In the end we arrived back in Germany relatively relaxed. The kids also had their fun. Of course, the total costs were high. But you would have been in Economy Class too. And what is now even more attractive: If you book with miles for the coming months, you will find very good availability and can usually rebook at any time without any problems. From this perspective, the time is now for miles. Even in the Maldives we could find award flights for 4 people with Lufthansa. Something that would be unthinkable under normal circumstances.