5 Tips for Finding Award Flights to the U.S. When You Live Abroad

We talk a lot about finding flight deals from North America. After all, that’s where most of you lovely readers are based, and for most of us on the Daily Drop team… same. But there are some of you who have left these shores for a life elsewhere, and you’ve been wondering how to find points deals originating outside of the U.S. and Canada.

So here I am, armed and ready to answer that question. Because that used to be me.

I lived in Madrid, Spain, for three glorious years, and was fully nomadic for several years after that. I’ve flown myself back to the States (and elsewhere) on points and miles countless times.

At face value, searching for points deals from another country to the U.S. really isn’t all that different from looking for deals from the U.S. And if you’ve been playing the points and miles game, you’ve already been doing this – just in reverse.

Someone living in Madrid and traveling to New York to visit family is doing the same route as someone living in New York and visiting Madrid as a tourist. The starting point is just different.  

So when I first thought about writing this article, I didn’t think there’d be much to say.

Then my American friend living in Málaga (who I met in Mexico, because that’s what happens in the travel world) mentioned she couldn’t find any award flights to visit her family in Florida.

When someone tells me, “Points just don’t work for me,” I immediately go into Barney Stinson mode.

And so I used her trip as the example for this article. Let’s get into it.  

1. Be as Flexible as Possible with Dates

When my friend first brought her problem to me, I told her to send me the dates for which she was struggling to find award availability.

So she sent them. And they were Thanksgiving week and Christmas.

The busiest travel times of the year. 💀 

I immediately had flashbacks to our recent “Get Me To” series, where we were challenged to create four 7-day trips over Thanksgiving week with 200,000 points and $2,000.

One of the biggest takeaways from that exercise? Don’t fly when everyone else is. And if you must travel on certain dates, accept that there will be tradeoffs and compromises.

If you can shift your dates by even a day or two, you might find massive points savings. Or (unfortunately), the harsh reality might be that it’s not possible to find a decent award flight. You might even be better off paying cash.

So, if you want to visit family over the holidays, book those flights as soon as award availability opens. We have seat opening dates on our transfer partner cheat sheet, but it’s generally around a year in advance. (It’s the “Award Seats Open” column; that’s how many days in advance seats open up.)

If you’re concerned about booking that far out, remember that generally award flights are more generous with their cancellation policies than cash flights. If you need to change your plans, you can usually cancel your flights and get your points back.

Airlines do have different policies on this (some charge a nominal fee to get your points redeposited to your account), so always check with the airline you’re booking first. Also, keep in mind that if when you get those points back, they will then live in that airline, not the bank you originally transferred them from.  

2. Look for Positioning Flights on Both Sides  

We talk a lot about using positioning flights to get yourself to a bigger U.S. (or Canadian) airport to avail yourself of the deals that hubs usually have. And that’s definitely something you should try here too. Looking to visit family in Raleigh, N.C.? Consider flying in and out of Charlotte, N.C. Yes, it’s a 2.5-hour drive away, but you’ll likely find much better options.

But consider positioning flights within Europe, too. There are more European budget airlines to choose from (EasyJet, Ryanair, WizzAir, Vueling, etc.), giving you plenty of options.

I suggested to my friend that she could take the high-speed train (or short flight) from Málaga to Madrid or Barcelona and book the long-haul leg from there. Looking at FlightConnections.com (which shows all the direct flights from a place), she had plenty of options for hub airports to fly to within Europe:

(Note that there are only two direct routes from Málaga to North America, and the Newark route is seasonal, operating only from May to September.)

This is also something you might experience, depending on where you live. Maybe where you live gets a fair amount of visitors in the spring and summer, but not so much in fall and winter. The airline may very well decide to run that route seasonally. And that means a thorn in your side for trying to find award availability.

Again, positioning is your friend.

You could fly to a bigger city and build in a couple of days exploring a new place. Then have a chill night at an airport hotel before taking your international flight the next day.

You could also build in as long of a layover as you’re comfortable with between your shorter European hop and your international leg. Just be very careful to give yourself ample time and understand the risks of doing this! You wouldn’t want to miss your international deal because your budget airline was delayed.

As you can start to see, there are many options that could work here. And yes, it does take time to look into them all. You didn’t think cheap award flights at peak times were just handed out on a silver platter, did ya? 😉 

3. Remember: It Takes Work & Strategy

After I’d sent my friend various dates and routes to check out, she sent me back a very thankful voice message that also made me burst out laughing. “What you sent me…wow, just wow. This is why I felt like it was complicated. Because you sent me what looks like a war strategy plan in document form.” 💀😂

So if you’ve been struggling, thinking that it’s hard to find flights back home… you’re not wrong.

It is hard to find award flights at the times when everyone else is traveling (which is what I suspect most people having a tough time are dealing with). Deals don’t happen at the times when airlines know that they’ve got an army of people begrudgingly willing to pay higher prices.

Which brings me to my next point.

4. Sometimes Cash is Best

If finding award flights has you feelin’ like one of my fav memes…

It’s okay to throw in the towel and just pay cash. Sometimes that truly is the best value option. There might truly be no decent award availability on your dates. You might not be willing or able to position. And there’s also the time cost to weigh. If you just want to get on with your life, there’s no shame in booking with cash.

Capital One miles are great for this, because you can reimburse yourself for travel purchases with miles for up to 90 days after your purchase. Using a Capital One card is a great idea anyway, as you’ll earn 2x miles on all purchases.

5.  Zig While Everyone Else Zags

A lot of this article has centered around the pitfalls of finding award flights at the times when everyone else is trying to do the same. Again, I suspect that’s why many of you are on the struggle bus. 🚍

If you’re set on going home for the holidays, you might have to accept that you’ll pay more (in miles or cash) for doing so. But if you’re open to going back to the U.S. at other times, suddenly you can let the deals tell you when to go for a visit.

Because… letting the deals dictate your travel is the best way to travel more for less.

There are a lot of options once you start thinking outside of the box. With more flexibility, the world becomes your oyster.

• Have a friend or two meet you in a lesser-traveled place for the holidays.

• Or stay in your adopted country and create a new holiday tradition there. I always stayed in Spain for Thanksgiving, and my Spanish friends loved sharing new-to-them traditions…even if it meant me trekking across the entire city to the American shop for canned pumpkin and maple syrup.

• Or treat yourself to a solo sojourn while everyone else is dealing with holiday drama… and enjoy a visit home at a later date.

The easiest way to let the deals guide you is through an alert service like Daily Drop Pro. So you don’t even have to monitor the deals. They just pop into your inbox, ready and waiting for you to jump on them.

TL; DR

If you’re trying to visit friends and family in the U.S. but stumped as to why you’re not finding good deals, I hope this helps illuminates some of the reasons why.

• Remember to book in advance. Like, FAR in advance. Like, as far as possible in advance.

• Be flexible and try lots of positioning flight combos.

• Accept that sometimes you’ve just gotta pay cash.

• And above all, remember that it’s a learning process, and using points and miles – even at a “not as good value” – is still a win.

Happy travels! ✈️