Airline Alliance References – One World

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ONE WORLD

Air Berlin (AB)

American Airlines  (AA)

British Airways  (BA)

Cathay Pacific  (CX)

Finnair (AY)

Iberia  (IB)

Japan Airlines (JL)

LAN  (LA)

Malaysia Airlines (MH)

Qantas  (QF)

Qatar Airways (QR)

Royal Jordanian  (RJ)

S7 (S7)

SriLankan Airlines (UL) – 1 May 2014

TAM (JJ)

US Airways (US)

 

If you are new to miles and points, the best thing is to figure out which one of these programs will offer the best redemptions at the lowest cost in both miles and taxes.  Some airlines have fuel surcharges which can add a substantial cost to your award ticket.  From the One World airlines, I use  American Airlines,  Qantas, British Airways and Iberia.  No matter where you live in the world, it will probably work out best for you to use American’s AAdvantage program to accumulate your miles unless you are seeking status with an airline you frequently fly on.  I am expecting that people attracted to this blog will be the sort who travel for leisure and are saving up for an aspirational trip to one of the great ecotourism spots in the world.   If you are based in the USA (or even an expat American like me)  it’s pretty easy to get huge credit card sign up bonuses and if you are based elsewhere, you can use American Express Membership Rewards to transfer to AA via Starwood’s SPG program.

Since I live in Australia, I also have Qantas because I get points simply for shopping at Woolworths and linking my phone and internet with Optus to them.  Gotta love free points that just come from day to day living!

British Airways and Iberia both use Avios which can be excellent value for short hop awards such as domestic awards in the USA on American and Alaska Airways,  Australia on Qantas and South America on LAN.

These links are also good if you want to check out an airline’s route map to see where they fly, join their frequent flyer program and see what you can do to earn miles by flying on partners, staying in hotel partners and patronizing their other partners such as credit cards, shopping malls, phone companies and survey companies.

This is a just a very brief overview of the One World alliance and there is so much more to learn.  The best source of information is on FlyerTalk where each airline has its own forum, most forums have wikis or “read this first” posts to get you started.  I will be going into some programs more in depth as the subject relates to building your ecotourism dream trip.

Guidebooks Can Help You Plan

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The first thing you need to start your eco-adventure is the right destination.  Since I especially want to see parrots in the wild, I need to know where they naturally occur.  Most wild parrots will be in South America, Central America, Australia, Africa and Asia.  They like warmer climates.  You do see wild parrots in North America and Europe but these are generally escaped pet birds who somehow found each other and formed a flock.

So let’s say you have a Scarlet Macaw at home and you want to see his wild cousins.  You have a lot of options, they can be seen in Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica and other countries in this area.  I use a variety of resources to locate a parrot species.  There is an excellent guide book called “Parrots of the World” by Joseph M. Forshaw which has maps and names localities you can use to plan a trip.   Amazon.com has a Kindle version, but in the field where electricity may be limited or non-existant, you really need the actual book.  Take a look at the sample pages and get familiar with the layout.  Use the “search inside this book” function and type in “Scarlet Macaw”.  It will show you a preview of page 178 which has the map of where this species is found.  You will also find in the text the names of some of the places you can specifically visit in the localities section.

Does anyone have any specific birds they either have at home or would just like to see in the wild?  Tell me in the comments!

Hello World!

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Welcome to Miles to the Wild!  This is my new blog that will focus on how to use your airline miles and hotel points to facilitate unforgettable ecotourism adventures.  Birding is my passion so in the beginning, I will be mainly focused on destinations that are rich in birdlife but the nice thing is that these destinations will have all kinds of wildlife.  Ecotourism has something for everyone!  While there are several excellent tour operators who can bring you to these destinations, they may not be within everyone’s budgets.  Fortunately, through use of airline miles and hotel points, you can travel to these destinations, have a free night or two in the gateway city and then head off into the bush. Many times, miles and points can be acquired for free via credit card signups if you have a good credit rating.  I’m not going to flood you with credit card links n the posts, but I will have a reference page of which cards are available.

Rescued Scarlet Macaw who is now a wild bird

Rescued Scarlet Macaw who is now a wild bird

The best way to get the most out of ecotourism and help support the environment is to spend as much of your cash locally as possible.  Even better if the lodge is supporting a research project and I will be showing you how to find these.  Many species of birds are highly endangered due to trapping by poachers and deforestation.  Ecotourism offers a valuable source of income to local people who might otherwise be tempted to trap wildlife and sell these animals and birds on the black market.  Ecotourism should be sustainable and not adversely affect the environment by flooding hundreds of people in all at once.  The lodges I will be talking about are small, sustainable and some of them employ former poachers as guides.  It’s important to have a good guide who knows the local flora and fauna and is used to spotting them as it may be difficult to spot smaller birds high up in trees.  Good guides will be familiar with bird calls and the feeding and roosting habits of the local birds.  Local people also benefit from ecotourism by providing restaurants, bars, transportation, handicrafts and other souvenirs.

Miles to the Wild will be a partner of my other sites Feathered and Free, Feathered and Free Facebook Page and I do have lots more photos on the Facebook page as I want to keep this blog easily loadable.  Before I moved to Facebook, I had a VBulletin based forum which is now being used to archive information and collect my Facebook posts in a more easily searchable media.  So even though this blog is a new venture for me, there is already a lot of information out there.  Please be patient as I grow this blog and will hopefully become a valuable resource for anyone who wants to see birds and other animals in the wild.