Usually I book one-way award segments when going somewhere with my points and miles. Here are 3 reasons why this works best for me. If I have many miles with one carrier and that is who I want to fly with, then booking a round-trip flight works just fine.

 

Wanting to Use a Variety of Transferable Points

The main reason to look at one-way segments is that we often have points and miles with different carriers. That means I may book one way with United and the way back with Singapore Airlines. Take this example going to Athens, Greece from Chicago in economy on United Airlines:

 

 

I have a LOT of American Express Membership Rewards and Venture Miles, so I’d like to use them for my return flight with one of their transfer partners. You can request our transfer partner cheat sheet here. I use it repeatedly to find the right transfer partner with the currency I am trying to use. Let’s check out a few to see how it works:

Singapore Airlines

Every transferable point currency transfers to Singapore Airlines which makes it easy to rack up Singapore miles. Just be sure to change your search from Singapore Airlines to Star Alliance if you’re searching for flights on United metal.

 

Turkish Airlines

If I wanted to use my Venture Miles, I could fly back on Turkish Airlines (I love them)! Turkish Airlines is a great carrier with excellent service.

 

 

My number one reason for booking one-way award travel is that I can use different currencies. I like not taking everything from one group in case I find a reason for using a certain currency later. I also really enjoy trying out different airlines.

 

 

Flying From Different Cities

When you fly internationally, you may often want to fly into one city and out of another. We often do this by taking a train in between cities or a low-cost carrier. My sister and I did this on our trip to Italy and Greece last year. In this case, you definitely have to book one-way segments. Let’s say I am flying to Rome from JFK and then traveling around Italy with a return flight from Milan. I will look at Avianca Airlines (part of Star Alliance) this time. AMEX, Capital One, and Citi transfer to them. I am leaving on March 8th and returning on March 15th. There are lots of possibilities, and the price is so cheap!

 

 

 

Coming back, I will look at Air Canada Aeroplan—I like that non-stop flight ALOT! Everyone but Citi transfers to them, so I have many options!

 

 

 

Wanting to Fly Business Class

If I want to fly business class, booking one-way award segments will often yield better availability. Take an example of going to Athens, Greece from Chicago.

 

 

I find a ticket on United for 77K miles going there that will work for me. The long haul part from Chicago to Istanbul is in business. I get to spend 3 hours in my favorite (so far) airport lounge in Istanbul and then under 2 hours in economy class. I can do this! I have Chase Ultimate Rewards from my Chase Ink Business Cash card for this flight. Because I have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, I can combine these Ultimate Rewards. I don’t want to use all my Ultimate Rewards, though, because I love them for Hyatt stays and their outsized value. So going home, I’d like to use a different card and transfer partners. This is the reason I like booking one-way award segments!

 

Turkish Airlines

If I wanted to use my Venture Miles, I could fly on Turkish Airlines (I love them)! You can see the business class cost is 107.5K. I will have to take a cheap flight from Chicago to JFK for this flight.

 

 

Bottom Line

Booking one-way award segments works the best for me. If you have trouble finding round-trip award flights, look at one-way segments. I feel confident that they might work better for you, too!