Are Positioning Flights Worth It?
Tl;dr: You don’t always need to fly directly from your home airport to your destination. Booking another flight to get “in position” can unlock cheaper fares or special opportunities. But the costs can often outweigh the benefits.
If the price of flights from your home to your target destination is eye-watering or the fancy flight of your dreams doesn’t have a route available from where you live, there’s a solution: positioning flights. The concept is simple: find a cheap or special flight, then book a cheap flight to the departure airport, from the arrival airport to the destination, or both.
It can save a lot of money or unlock routes and products that might not be available from your home airport. But is it worth the cost and hassle?
Positioning flights can be powerful
The main use case for positioning flights is to unlock special experiences like business- or first-class flights. For example, Japan Airlines’ newest first class is amazing, but only flies from New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas in the U.S. So if you want to experience it, you may need to make separate arrangements between one of those cities and your home if you live elsewhere.
And sometimes doing so can be an incredible deal, at least on paper. These have recently been available for as low as 80-100k American AAdvantage miles; for a $10,000+ ticket, that can be an incredible deal, and even a separate flight to JFK, LAX, or DFW would basically be a rounding error.
But positioning flights can still be useful for value-focused travelers. Often trips “to Asia” or “to Europe” can be quite affordable, but a specific destination there might be prohibitively expensive. But by routing to a cheaper, bigger airport like Tokyo or Paris, you can then take advantage of cheaper domestic or local fares (or even trains! 🚅💚) to get to your target destination. (Flight deal site Going calls this the “Greek Islands Trick.”)
But positioning flights are expensive and risky
As I said, if you’re prioritizing access to luxury travel and saving big on an expensive flight, adding in a positioning flight might not change the overall value too much. But if you are value-conscious, positioning flights can easily transform a trip from “bargain” to “splurge,” all while adding logistical issues and connection risks.
I am pretty frugal, so my target budget for leisure travel is about $500 or 40k points for Europe or South America, and about $900 or 75k points for Asia, Africa, or Oceania. While I find those prices consistently attainable with some flexibility on timing and routing, adding a positioning flight can quickly push total airfare above my target costs. Of course, if you are willing to spend more on your vacation, that will leave more room to come out ahead by combining bargains on a main cross-ocean flight and a positioning flight (or two).
But it’s not just airfare. Positioning flights will generally be on a different booking than your main flight, so the airlines generally have no responsibility to protect your connection or rebook you if the first flight is delayed. So you have to choose: leave yourself a long layover to minimize the risk of missing your flight—while burning time in an airport or a connecting city instead of your target destination—or cut it close and risk issues in the transfer.
Regardless of how long you have to connect, moving between different tickets can complicate your travel. The main issue is baggage. If you are checking baggage, it won’t be routed directly for you; you will have to collect it at the baggage claim and re-check it. Many people avoid checking baggage with positioning flights for that reason. But even if you travel with only carry-on luggage, be careful: some airlines have very different policies for carry-on luggage. For example, European low-cost airlines can offer cheap fares throughout the continent, but might charge you for certain hand luggage items that can fly for free on your main flight.
How I use positioning flights
Generally, I try to avoid positioning flights to minimize my costs and total time in transit. Thankfully, the points deals I often rely on like Alaska’s Global Getaways and Delta’s flash sales are often bookable from dozens of airports across the country, so there’s no need to reposition just to get abroad.
But I will occasionally book positioning flights, albeit only on the arrival side. Taking a day overseas to explore a connecting city can be fun, and hotels are often affordable if you want to give yourself plenty of time. But losing a day of my vacation and paying U.S. prices to make a connection in, say, Dallas is less appealing.
And I rely on positioning flights fairly heavily in Japan. Most international flights to Japan route into Tokyo. Although I have had decent luck using Alaska Atmos points to book flights routing directly into secondary cities like Sapporo, it is often necessary to book a separate flight or train to get out of Tokyo and into cheaper areas. Within Japan, domestic flights are often cheap and usually include baggage—and because I have alliance status with both major domestic airlines, I get extra baggage allowance on top of that. If you’ve picked up lazy elite status, it may add flexibility and options when it comes to booking positioning flights.
One of these days, I also plan to use a positioning flight to escape the UK’s massive exit taxes. Although points flights to the UK can be cheap, departing flight costs are too expensive to be worthwhile to me. One day I would like to use a positioning flight to fly home from someplace like Ireland, Spain, or Portugal, where the points rate can be compelling without huge added taxes and fees.
Lazy Take 🦥
Positioning flights can be a powerful tool and it’s always worth considering whether they could help to make a dream trip possible or cheaper. Personally, I find positioning within the U.S. before an international flight more costly and troublesome than it’s usually worth. But once I’m overseas, a cheap onward flight or train can be a great way to reach someplace that would otherwise be expensive or difficult to book.