Do EVA Air Miles expire?

EVA Air’s mileage program is known as Infinity MileageLands. These miles aren’t known to be of particularly high value, but they can present decent redemption avenues for niche travelers. While EVA Air isn’t always one of the recommended ways to use your points and miles, it’s still possible to get some good value from these miles.

The Taiwanese airline is known for offering amazing business class flights — EVA Air actually holds the second-best business class product in the world — according to our ranking of the best international business class airlines and cabins.

Its headquarters in Taipei — specifically Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) — makes EVA Air a springboard of activity to Asia, Europe, the U.S., and even the South Pacific. The airline’s wholly-owned subsidiary, UNI Air, operates regional flights as well.

EVA Air is a Star Alliance member, which is the largest alliance globally. Though EVA Air’s redemption rates are quite expensive, they are useful if you have a large balance of miles you need to burn.

Here are EVA Air’s best mileage redemptions to gain maximum value.

The Pros and Cons of EVA Air Miles (Quick Overview)

To start with the pros and cons of EVA Air miles, as mentioned above, there aren’t a lot of situations in which EVA Air is a superior transfer partner. In fact, having a balance of Capital One miles or Citi ThankYou Points is a much better situation than having EVA Air miles.

That’s because there simply isn’t much flexibility with EVA Air miles, and you’ll be stuck paying high prices for awards you could get cheaper with, say, Air Canada Aeroplan points. But if you are already accruing EVA Air miles, it’ll be worth it to find a great mileage redemption opportunity.

When discussing the pros and cons, the main advantage of EVA Air miles is that Infinity MileageLands offers generous routing rules for round-trip travel. You are allowed open jaws and 2 free stopovers on round-trip award bookings. If you can’t commit to a round-trip award itinerary, EVA Air offers one-way awards, though you won’t enjoy the stopover and open-jaw allowance to the same extent.

Additionally, there are no additional fees for flight date changes, which can be very useful in many cases.

There are other aspects travelers may find favorable, but here are some of the main selling points of EVA Air miles:

1. Great redemption value for flights solely within North Asia
2. Both one-way and round-trip awards are bookable
3. Low- to no-change fees on awards
4. Transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards and Capital One Miles

And here are the reasons why you wouldn’t want to use EVA Air miles:

1. Expensive mileage awards for most routes
2. Fuel surcharges are passed on (similar to Aeroplan)
3. Stopovers are not allowed on one-way awards

Using Your EVA Air Infinity MileageLand Miles

Though it’s not the most straightforward frequent flyer program to understand, EVA Air’s program is among many that can be used to book Star Alliance flights.

Hot Tip: EVA Air is a member of the Star Alliance, and flights on EVA Air can be booked completely online. However, if you want to book partner flights (which will be the case for most travelers), you’ll need to call to book. Here’s a great guide on how to best search for Star Alliance award availability.

Star Alliance EVA Air Airline Partners

Here are the Star Alliance partners that EVA Air is affiliated with:

Generally speaking, you can book awards on all these airlines, though award availability is subject to the inventory provided to EVA Air.

EVA Air/UNI Air and Star Alliance Award Charts

EVA Air charges awards by the origin and destination regions. There are no Africa and Middle East prices because EVA Air does not operate its own product to these regions.

Requirements for Redeeming EVA Air/UNI Air International Round-Trip Award Tickets

SCROLL FOR MORE

DestinationEconomy ClassPremium Economy ClassBusiness Class/Premium Laurel Class/Royal Laurel ClassTaiwan – Hong Kong / Macau20,000 milesN/A50,000 milesWithin Asia (Includes Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia) (Excludes Taiwan – Hong Kong / Macau)35,000 miles40,000 miles50,000 milesBetween Asia and Oceania100,000 milesN/A150,000 milesBetween Asia and America (Excludes Chicago, New York, Houston, and Toronto)100,000 miles110,000 miles150,000 milesBetween Asia and America (Includes Chicago, New York, Houston, and Toronto)110,000 miles120,000 miles160,000 milesBetween Asia and Europe100,000 miles110,000 miles150,000 miles

Requirements for Redeeming EVA Air/UNI Air International One-Way Award Tickets

SCROLL FOR MORE

DestinationEconomy ClassPremium Economy ClassBusiness Class/Premium Laurel Class/Royal Laurel ClassTaiwan – Hong Kong / Macau10,000 milesN/A25,000 milesWithin Asia (Includes Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia) (Excludes Taiwan – Hong Kong / Macau)17,500 miles20,000 miles25,000 milesBetween Asia and Oceania50,000 milesN/A75,000 milesBetween Asia and America (Excludes Chicago, New York, Houston, and Toronto)50,000 miles55,000 miles75,000 milesBetween Asia and America (Includes Chicago, New York, Houston, and Toronto)55,000 miles60,000 miles80,000 milesBetween Asia and Europe50,000 miles55,000 miles75,000 miles

The airline uses a more granular region definition for Star Alliance partner awards than flights operated by EVA Air, which makes sense given EVA Air’s smaller route network. Here’s the chart of how countries are sorted into regions:

SCROLL FOR MORE

ZonesOrigin / DestinationHONG KONG, MACAUHong Kong, MacauCHINAChinaNORTH ASIA

Guam, Japan, Micronesia, Palau, Russian Far East, South Korea, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Saipan

SOUTH EAST ASIA

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam

CENTRAL, SOUTH ASIA

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

SOUTH WEST PACIFIC

Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, Vanuatu

NORTH AMERICA

Canada, USA (excluding Hawaii)

HAWAII, CENTRAL AMERICA

Bermuda, Caribbean, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hawaii, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Belize, Haiti

SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

EUROPE

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Iceland, Turkey

MIDDLE EAST

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

NORTH AFRICA

Algeria, Canary Islands, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia

CENTRAL, SOUTH AFRICA

Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

And here is the partner award chart, which is denoted in round-trip pricing (one-way tickets are simply half-price):

EVA Air Partner Award chart. Image Credit: EVA AirEVA Air Partner Award chart, continued. Image Credit: EVA Air

Hot Tip: Note that the only awards that are bookable online are for EVA Air or UNI Air flights. Otherwise, you’ll need to call EVA Air to book partner travel at 310-362-6600. If you want to reach the Taiwanese headquarters, you can do so at +886-2-25017899.

Award Redemption Rules

EVA Air has a bunch of rules indicated for Star Alliance award redemptions; here are the main ones to keep track of:

1. If you have an award ticket that has been partially used already, the return flight date or flight number can be changed up to 3 days before departure. You can’t change the carrier or route.
2. If you double book, you risk cancellation of the award reservation.
3. A round-trip ticket allows 2 stopovers, one in the outbound segment and one in the inbound segment. The turnaround point and stopovers can’t be the same as the origin or destination’s nation. A maximum of 6 sectors are allowed for each round-trip award ticket.
4. Stopovers aren’t allowed on one-way tickets. You can have a maximum of 3 sectors on a one-way award ticket.
5. Only 1 open-jaw is allowed for the entire itinerary. The open-jaw must be in the same area as your turnaround point (i.e. TPE-SFO and then SFO-LAX).
6. You can change flight dates and numbers for free. For any other changes (including route or carrier), there’s a change fee of $50. This fee is waived for Infinity MileageLands members who are Silver, Gold, or Diamond.
7. Your award ticket is valid for a year after issuance with no extensions permitted.
8. The redemption cost for a child’s ticket is the same as an adult’s. Infants are 10% of an adult fare.

There are a few other conditions, which you can find out about on the EVA Air website.

In addition, there are guidelines for Around the World Travel on Star Alliance. These are:

1. You’re allowed a maximum of 10 flight sectors for the whole ticket.
2. Tickets are valid 1 year after issuance with no permitted extensions.
3. You must travel in 1 direction and cross both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans back to the original location.
   • For example: Taipei (TPE) – Tokyo (TYO) – Los Angeles (LAX) – New York (NYC) – London (LON) – Frankfurt (FRA) – Singapore (SIN) – Bangkok (BKK) – Taipei (TPE)
4. You can backtrack only within the same category area; you cannot backtrack otherwise. In addition, you can only backtrack within these regions:
   • U.S.
   • Europe/Africa
   • Asia/Oceania
5. The period of travel must be longer than 10 days
6. You’re allowed a maximum of 7 stopovers
7. Each city is allowed for only 1 departure. Also, only 1 departure and 1 arrival of international flights is allowed for each country.

How To Boost Your EVA Air Miles

Although EVA Air miles aren’t as easy to earn when compared to other airline miles such as United MileagePlus, there’s still an opportunity to build up a healthy transferable balance from Citi ThankYou Rewards or Capital One Miles.

Check out our guides on how to earn Citi ThankYou Rewards Points, earn Capital One miles, and earn EVA Air miles.

The 27 Best Ways To Use Your EVA Air Miles

There are several ways to put EVA Air miles to use, especially within the North Asia region, utilizing routing rules and round-the-world trips. Unfortunately, you’ll have to call to book if your itinerary involves travel on partners.

However, if you’re only booking EVA Air travel, you can do this easily online. Let’s talk about some of the best ways to redeem your EVA Air miles.

1. Leverage Generous Routing Rules on Round-trip Itineraries

Our first and foremost method of redeeming EVA Air miles is with round-trip itineraries. This is because of the routing rules described above, which are advantageous for intra-region travel. For the purposes of clarity, here are the rules that matter most for this method:

1. Round-trip ticket allows 2 stopovers: 1 in the outbound segment and 1 in the inbound segment.
2. The turnaround point and stopovers can’t be in the origin or destination country.
3. A maximum of 6 sectors are allowed for each round-trip award ticket.
4. One open-jaw is allowed for the entire itinerary, and the open-jaw must be in the same area as your turnaround point (i.e. TPE-SFO and then SFO-LAX).

The main constraint of a round-trip award ticket is that the stopovers can’t be in the same countries as the origin or destination. To find loads of hidden value, you’ll want to look at region definitions carefully and see how you can bounce around the region while still changing countries.

In other words, the more countries there are in a region (especially if they’re geographically far apart), the more value you can get. Here are some of the regions worth dabbling with:

1. North Asia
2. South West Pacific
3. Hawaii, Central America

Let’s take the example of North Asia. If you’re booking round-trip economy tickets, you’re allowed up to 2 stopovers and 1 open-jaw at the turnaround point. Here’s a great example route you can take:

• Chuuk (TKK) – Guam (GUM) – Tokyo (NRT), Seoul (ICN) – Palau (ROR) – Chuuk (TKK) via Guam (GUM) for 30,000 miles in economy

You can get tons of added value by adding stopovers and open-jaws to your EVA Air award booking. Image Credit: Great Circle Mapper

Now let’s look at a possible South West Pacific redemption:

• Apia (APW) – Auckland (AKL) – Melbourne (MEL), Sydney (SYD) – Nadi (NAN) – Apia (APW)

You can access 14 hours of travel in the South West Pacific and visit 4 cities for cheap with EVA Air miles! Image Credit: Great Circle Mapper

This entire itinerary would cost 35,000 miles in economy or 55,000 miles in business, which can be a steal.

There are plenty of other example routes we could create, but we just wanted to touch on these to give you some inspiration. Remember, the amount of success you have with this method is dependent only on the region definitions and your own creativity.

2. Round-the-World Awards

A round-the-world ticket allows you to circle the globe all on 1 plane ticket. Image Credit: Star Alliance

Round-the-world (RTW) awards can be had on any Star Alliance airline when booking with EVA Air. There’s a lot to digest in the rules (see above), but if you’re willing to carefully read through and plan an itinerary, you can unlock lots of value.

RTW awards when using EVA Air miles will cost 180,000 miles in economy, 325,000 miles in business, and 480,000 miles in first. For most of us, business class will be the most applicable.

Hot Tip: There’s a degree of difficulty associated with booking a first class RTW trip since first class is less prevalent than business class internationally. Stick with business to help ensure availability.

Here is an example of an epic business class RTW trip you can take inspiration from:

• New York (JFK) – Tokyo (TYO) on ANA
• Tokyo (TYO) – Taipei (TPE) EVA Air
• Taipei (TPE) – Bangkok (BKK) on THAI Air
• Istanbul (IST) – Johannesburg (JNB) on Turkish Airlines
• Johannesburg (JNB) – Frankfurt (FRA) on Lufthansa
• Frankfurt (FRA) – Zurich (ZRH) on Lufthansa intra-Europe
• Zurich (ZRH) – New York (JFK) on SWISS International Air Lines

This entire itinerary would cost 325,000 miles plus any applicable surcharges. That’s a pretty incredible usage of EVA Air miles, and it’s worth doing some research and finding award availability to get some phenomenal value.

If you pair this with the ability to change flight dates for free and pay $50 for any other changes, you could plan something initially and pay $50 to change each segment, truly optimizing any potential value you get.

A Note on First Class RTW Bookings

The main airlines that have first class offerings on long-haul international airlines are ANA, Lufthansa, THAI Airways, Singapore Airlines, and SWISS International Air Lines.

Unfortunately, booking SWISS first class is not doable unless you’ve got top-tier elite status. You also can’t book Singapore Airlines premium cabin flights unless you use KrisFlyer miles, leaving just 3 options. We’d recommend focusing your efforts on ANA, Lufthansa, and THAI Airways if you’re looking for a first class RTW trip.

3. Fly Turkish Airlines Business Class From the U.S. to Europe (65,000 Miles)

Turkish Airlines 777-300ER business class. Image Credit: Turkish Airlines

Since EVA Air passes on all fuel surcharges on its partners and has high redemption costs on most flights, the general advice is to limit your expenditures as much as possible, whether it’s in the form of points or cash.

For this reason, Turkish Airlines comes to mind, since it limits fuel surcharges levied in Europe. The fuel surcharge on Turkish Airlines routes from the U.S. to Europe is $310 in business class, which is modest compared to virtually every other carrier.

Here are the cities you can fly from in North America to Istanbul (IST):

• Atlanta (ATL)
• Boston (BOS)
• Chicago (ORD)
• Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW)
• Havana (HAV)
• Houston (IAH)
• Los Angeles (LAX)
• Mexico City (MEX)
• Miami (MIA)
• Montréal (YUL)
• Newark (EWR)
• New York (JFK)
• San Francisco (SFO)
• Seattle (SEA)
• Toronto (YYZ)
• Vancouver (YVR)
• Washington, D.C. (IAD)

Considering one-way tickets cost around $3,300+, you’ll receive a value of nearly 5 cents per mile, which is a solid redemption.

Turkish Airlines’ hard product is not industry-leading. But its seats are actually extremely comfortable and easy to sleep on, unlike many reverse herringbone seats. In addition, its catering is top-notch, and service tends to be excellent.

4. Fly LOT Polish Business Class From the U.S. to Europe (65,000 Miles)

Image Credit: LOT

Another airline that remains relatively unknown is LOT Polish. The Warsaw-headquartered airline doesn’t pass on crazy fuel surcharges either. Specifically, the surcharge is around ~$285, which is only slightly more expensive than Turkish Airlines.

Its base is in Warsaw (WAW), and all U.S.-bound flights leave from there. Here are the cities offering nonstop LOT Polish flights to/from Warsaw (WAW):

• Chicago (ORD)
• Los Angeles (LAX)
• New York (JFK)
• Toronto (YYZ)

Also, you will find 2 routes to/from Krakow (KRK):

• Chicago (ORD)
• New York (JFK)

You can see its route network is somewhat smaller than Turkish Airlines, but LOT Polish has a reputation for its decent food and beverage program, good service, and low fuel surcharges.

While the hard product is not the best (a 2-2-2 configuration with a lack of privacy), nonstop flights to Poland are a niche redemption that can be worth utilizing to save time.

5. Fly United Airlines Transcontinental Polaris Class Within the U.S (29,000 Miles)

All United Polaris seats are fully lie-flat. Image Credit: Victoria M. Walker

United Airlines’ newest Polaris class is available on transcontinental routes between Los Angeles (LAX)/San Francisco (SFO) and Newark (EWR). Flights offering the improved Polaris class transcontinentally are operated with lie-flat seats.

We won’t go into massive detail here about the Polaris experience, because we have a comprehensive post on United Polaris if you’re interested. We also have a Polaris review from a short-haul domestic route that featured its newest hard product.

You can book United Polaris on transcontinental routes for 29,000 miles each way, plus minuscule taxes and fees. Some things you can expect are Saks Fifth Avenue bedding, a technologically advanced hard product, good food, and a somewhat tight seat.

6. Fly United Airlines Polaris Class to the Middle East (67,500 Miles)

United Polaris class on the Boeing 787-10. Image Credit: Stephen Au

If flying transcontinental on Polaris doesn’t tickle your fancy, you’ll be happy to know that flights to Israel are possible in United’s flagship product. Remember that United Airlines calls all of its long-haul routes Polaris class, so you need to confirm that you’re indeed flying on the newest variation of this product.

You can fly on these routes in the new Polaris class:

1. Newark (EWR) – Tel Aviv (TLV)
2. San Francisco (SFO) – Tel Aviv (TLV)

These flights are typically operated using the 777-300ER. It’ll cost you 67,500 miles each way to fly nonstop on either of these routes in Polaris class. All in all, it’s not a bad deal for up to 14 hours in lie-flat business class.

7. Fly SWISS Air Business Class From the U.S. to Europe (65,000 Miles)

Image Credit: SWISS Air

Another European option is to fly in SWISS International Air Lines business class. There’s a dichotomy of business class seats on its aircraft, which can be summed up as “throne” or “non-throne” seats.

Hot Tip: We go into detail about the best seats to pick, cabin configurations, and nonstop routes in our definitive guide to SWISS Air Lines U.S. routes.

Generally speaking, SWISS offers a variable business class product, which fluctuates depending on the type of seat you get. If you can secure a throne seat, it’s reputed to be one of the best ways to fly to Europe in business class. Otherwise, it can be an average experience.

Here are some example routes you can take:

• Chicago (ORD) – Zurich (ZRH)
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Zurich (ZRH)
• Miami (MIA) – Zurich (ZRH)

These flights will cost you 65,000 EVA Air miles plus around $900 in fuel surcharges one-way. The fuel surcharges are high, but for a potentially awesome business class experience flying to Switzerland, it may be worth it.

8. Fly United Airlines Polaris Class to Europe (65,000 Miles)

Flying on United Polaris is a great way to try a new product en route to Europe. Image Credit: Stephen Au

Let’s say you want to fly on United Airlines Polaris class, but not on a transcontinental or Middle Eastern route. United’s Polaris class is also offered on European routes, which cost 65,000 miles one-way. All seats are lie-flat, and you’ll encounter good service with lots of privacy and comfortable bedding.

As you likely expected, the regular frequencies are from the San Francisco (SFO) hub airports. Here are the main routes:

• San Francisco (SFO) – Frankfurt (FRA)
• San Francisco (SFO) – London (LHR)

The biggest challenge lies in finding Star Alliance award availability — but if you’re flexible, you can find yourself on a Polaris flight bound for Europe in no time.

Hot Tip: Flights between mega hubs like Newark (EWR) and London (LHR) tend to have the best award availability, while point-to-point flights between smaller cities like Washington, D.C. (IAD) and Edinburgh (EDI) tend to lack award availability.

9. Fly Brussels Airlines Business Class to Europe (65,000 Miles)

Brussels Airlines business class offers nonstop routes to Belgium in comfort. Image Credit: Brussels Airlines

The flag carrier of Belgium, Brussels Airlines is yet another airline that offers potentially great value for niche redemptions. Most believe that Brussels Airlines offers an inconsistent business class product, but one can never underestimate nonstop route offerings as a selling point.

Here are the routes offering nonstop business class service to/from Belgium:

• New York (JFK)
• Toronto (YYZ)
• Washington, D.C. (IAD)

Fuel surcharges will be just as heavy as on SWISS International Air Lines, so prepare yourself for that. And Brussels Airlines also offers a throne seat configuration, so be sure to select those for maximum enjoyment.

Bottom Line: If you’re originating from one of the 3 airports above and want to head to Belgium, using EVA Air miles to book Brussels Airlines business class is a solid redemption strategy.

10. Fly to the South Pacific in Economy (60,000 Miles)

Air New Zealand economy class. Image Credit: Air New Zealand

Let’s talk about a decent economy redemption. If you wanted to fly to the South Pacific area (see region definitions near the beginning of this guide), you can get there for 60,000 miles.

It’s not the greatest bang for your buck considering you can fly to Europe for 65,000 miles in business class, but it can be a good idea if you’re planning a trip there and have a decent balance of EVA Air miles.

Other booking programs like Avianca LifeMiles and United MileagePlus charge just 40,000 miles each way, so only use EVA Air miles if you already have them.

Here are some example routes you can take:

• Chicago (ORD) – Auckland (AKL) on Air New Zealand
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Auckland (AKL) on Air New Zealand
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Sydney (SYD) on United Airlines
• San Francisco (SFO) – Melbourne (MEL) on United Airlines

As you can see, we’re sticking strongly to the theme of EVA Air being good for niche redemptions.

11. Fly SAS Business Class to Scandinavia (65,000 Miles)

SAS business class. Image Credit: SAS

SAS, also known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the flag carrier of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. It has a good business class product with nice Thompson Vantage XL staggered seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The food tends to be delicious, but the service tends to be a major let-down.

Nonetheless, it’s a great option to fly a full-service airline to Scandinavia. You’ll definitely be hit with taxes and fees, but that’s simply the nature of the beast when it comes to European flights, for the most part.

Here are some example routes you can take:

• Boston (BOS) – Copenhagen (CPH)
• Chicago (ORD) – Copenhagen (CPH) and Stockholm (ARN)
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Copenhagen (CPH)
• Miami (MIA) – Oslo (OSL), Copenhagen (CPH), and Stockholm (ARN)
• New York (JFK) – Oslo (OSL), Copenhagen (CPH)
• Newark (EWR) – Copenhagen (CPH) and Stockholm (ARN)
• San Francisco (SFO) – Copenhagen (CPH)
• Toronto (YYZ) – Stockholm (ARN)
• Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Copenhagen (CPH)

Overall, a decent number of cities enjoy a variety of nonstop options on SAS, which is helpful. To maximize time spent in business class, you’ll want to depart from Los Angeles or San Francisco. As far as costs go, it’ll run 65,000 miles in business class plus ~$600 in taxes and fees.

12. Fly Egyptair Business Class to North Africa (80,000 Miles)

Egyptair business class aboard the 787-9. Image Credit: Egyptair

This next redemption is not showcasing a great product. Rather, it’s demonstrating a nonstop option for those who don’t care that much about an industry-leading experience.

Egyptair offers a pretty lackluster business class product overall, but the newer 787-9 Dreamliners with lie-flat seats in a 1-2-1 reversed herringbone configuration still represent a huge improvement over the old angled-flat seats in a 2-3-2 configuration.

However, award availability is excellent, and you can fly nonstop to Cairo seamlessly.

Here’s where you can book Egyptair business class to/from Cairo (CAI):

• New York (JFK)
• Toronto (YYZ)
• Washington, D.C. (IAD)

All things considered, you’ll shell out 80,000 miles for this particular redemption.

13. Fly Ethiopian Airlines Business Class to Ethiopia (92,500 Miles)

It’s going to be easy to wake up from a good night’s sleep after flying Ethiopian’s business class to Africa! Image Credit: Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines offers an opportunity to fly on some interesting routes. For whatever reason, it chooses to operate connecting flights on many of its routes, as opposed to nonstop.

These are:

• Addis Ababa (ADD) – Dublin (DUB) – Chicago (ORD) – Addis Ababa (ADD)
• New York (JFK) – Abidjan (ABJ) – Addis Ababa (ADD)
• Newark (EWR) – Lome (LFW) – Addis Ababa (ADD)
• Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Lome (LFW) – Addis Ababa (ADD)

The nonstop routes currently being offered from the U.S. are:

• Chicago (ORD) – Addis Ababa (ADD)
• Washington, D.C. (IAD) – Addis Ababa (ADD)

If flying to Ethiopia is at the top of your priority list, you can do so for 92,500 miles one-way. Ethiopian Airlines offers an overall upbeat experience for the most part, and it’s a way to avoid some connections if you want.

14. Fly South African Airways Business Class Within South Africa (59,000 Miles)

South African Airways A320-200 business class. Image Credit: Keri Stooksbury

If you want to fly on a lie-flat seat within South Africa, it’ll cost 59,000 miles one-way, and there’s only 1 route:

• Cape Town (CPT) – Johannesburg (JNB)

You’ll be flying on South African Airways, which generally offers a hip, energetic experience.

15. Fly to Deep South America in Economy (30,000 Miles)

United Airlines economy. Image Credit: Ryan Smith

Luckily for travelers, EVA Air groups all of South America into 1 region, which is different from many booking programs. This means you’ll get better value the deeper south you go into South America. Airports that come to mind are Buenos Aires (EZE), Santiago (SCL), Montevideo (MVD), São Paulo (GRU), and Asunción (ASU).

If you’re looking for nonstop routes, your only choices are Buenos Aires (EZE), Santiago (SCL), and São Paulo (GRU).

Your best luck will be routing through Houston (IAH), but here are some example routes you can take:

• Chicago (ORD) – São Paulo (GRU) on United Airlines
• Houston (IAH) – Buenos Aires (EZE) on United Airlines
• Houston (IAH) – Santiago (SCL) on United Airlines
• Houston (IAH) – São Paulo (GRU) on United Airlines
• Newark (EWR) – São Paulo (GRU) on United Airlines
• Toronto (YYZ) – São Paulo (GRU) on Air Canada
• Toronto (YYZ) – Santiago (SCL) on Air Canada
• Washington, D.C. (IAD) – São Paulo (GRU) on United Airlines

All of these flights cost only 30,000 miles one-way, which is impressive — especially if you’re taking a connecting flight to a smaller city in South America as your final destination.

16. Fly to Central and South Asia in Economy (60,000 Miles)

Central and South Asia contain a bunch of countries with tickets that are basically price-gouging consumers at costs of $2,000+. As such, using EVA Air miles might be a great way to minimize your out-of-pocket costs if you want to visit.

17. Fly ANA Business Class From Tokyo to Australia (77,500 Miles)

ANA business class cabin. Image Credit: Stephen Au

ANA business class gets great marks all around — I flew it myself from Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo (NRT) aboard the 777-300ER. At the moment, ANA flies this sole nonstop route:

• Tokyo (HND) – Sydney (SYD)

You can fly on this route for 77,500 miles one-way, which isn’t a bad deal considering the flight is ~9.5 hours long. If you find yourself in need of a nonstop flight featuring excellent food, comfortable seats, and awesome service, you can count on ANA to deliver that (and much more).

18. Fly THAI Airways Business Class From Southeast Asia to North Asia (40,000 Miles)

Image Credit: Thai Airways

EVA Air’s Southeast Asia region chart contains locations such as Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, and Malaysia, which can be used for considerable value to get to North Asia (places like Seoul or Tokyo).

Each business class flight will cost 40,000 miles, so let’s talk about some example routes:

• Bali-Denpasar (DPS) – Bangkok (BKK) – Tokyo (NRT)
• Jakarta (CGK) – Bangkok (BKK) – Sapporo (CTS)
• Singapore (SIN) – Bangkok (BKK) – Tokyo (HND) 

Considering that many of these flights add up to ~10 hours of total flying time, paying 40,000 miles can be a steal!

19. Fly THAI Airways First Class From Southeast Asia to North Asia (62,500 Miles)

Thai Airways Boeing 747 first class. Image Credit: Cherag Dubash

At the moment, you can fly on THAI Airways first class from its hub in Bangkok (BKK) to North Asia, which includes cities like Osaka (KIX) and Tokyo (TYO).

It’s difficult to find routes that operate a first class cabin, but if you do it can result in 5 to 6 hours of first class flying time. These flights will run you 62,500 EVA Air miles per person one-way.

Here are a few example routes:

• Bangkok (BKK) – Osaka (KIX)
• Bangkok (BKK) – Tokyo (TYO)

20. Fly Asiana Airlines Business Class Wholly Within North Asia (27,500 Miles)

Enjoy Asiana Airlines business class. Image Credit: Stephen Au

Asiana Airlines operates flights from its Seoul (ICN) hub to international destinations all over Asia. However, for this particular redemption, you can spend 27,500 miles to fly business class between destinations in North Asia.

One of the more high-value redemptions is the following route:

• Seoul (ICN) – Saipan (SPN) 

Paying with miles can be a good deal since cash tickets can get expensive on this 4.5-hour flight.

Hot Tip: If North Asia is your destination of choice, don’t miss our dedicated article on the best ways to fly to North Asia with points and miles. 

21. Fly EVA Air Business Class Wholly Within Asia, Excluding Hong Kong and Macau Routes (25,000 Miles)

EVA Air business class on the A330. Image Credit: EVA Air

EVA Air’s long-haul business class is simply exceptional. For those who want to try its regional business class, an excellent option is using EVA Air miles for flights wholly within Asia. Note that this excludes Hong Kong and Macau — the Hong Kong/Macau routes are actually shorter and cheaper!

If you want to fly on the A330 in business class, you’ll enjoy a 2-2-2 configuration with the newest cabins featuring fully lie-flat seats.

A few great routes you can try this on are Taipei (TPE) – Jakarta (CGK), Taipei (TPE) – Bali-Denpasar (DPS), and Taipei (TPE) – Singapore (SIN). This route is approximately 4 to 5 hours in duration and costs anywhere from $500 to $1,000 if paid in cash.

If you wanted to connect through Taiwan to another destination, you could pay the same price and fly even longer in business class. Check out a couple of value-added routes:

• Bali-Denpasar (DPS) – Sapporo (CTS) via Taipei (TPE) 
• Kuala Lumpur (KUL) – Tokyo (TYO) via Taipei (TPE)

Both of these routes have long layovers, so you could take the MRT to a night market and grab some amazing Taiwanese street food en route to your final destination.

22. Fly on ANA Business Class Between Hong Kong and Tokyo (30,000 Miles)

If your flights are picked correctly between Hong Kong and Tokyo, you can try ANA business class on this 4-hour flight for a fraction of the long-haul price! Image Credit: Stephen Au

ANA’s lie-flat business class is offered on all major long-haul routes, as well as on regional routes to major hubs such as Hong Kong. This 4-hour flight retails for ~$1,000 to $1,500 per person, so it’s a huge way to extract lots of value from your miles.

You’ll want to reserve the flight operated by ANA, not Air Japan, on the 787 (as opposed to the 767) for the experience closest to long-haul business class.

This will cost you 30,000 miles each way, which is a good deal.

23. Fly on TAP Portugal Business Class to Portugal (65,000 Miles)

TAP A330-900neo business class. Image Credit: Daniel Ross

If flying to Portugal is high on your priority list, you’ll find that TAP Portugal flies to many U.S. airports — though not as many as you’d expect. You can book these routes for 65,000 miles each way, though taxes and fees add up to an absurd ~$650 each way.

Look out for flights on the A330-900neo specifically, since its business class is significantly better!

• Boston (BOS) – Lisbon (LIS)
• Miami (MIA) – Lisbon (LIS)
• New York (JFK) – Lisbon (LIS)
• Newark (EWR) – Lisbon (LIS)
• San Francisco (SFO) – Lisbon (LIS)
• Toronto (YYZ) – Lisbon (LIS)

24. Fly on THAI Airways Business Class to Australia (77,500 Miles)

Thai Airways’ 787-8 business class features seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. Image Credit: Thai Airways

Flying on THAI Airways’ new 787-9 features reverse herringbone business class seats, which makes this product THAI Airways’ best business class product.

You can have these seats for 11 hours in business class on the route from Bangkok (BKK) – Melbourne (MEL), which you can book for 77,500 miles one-way.

25. Fly on Air New Zealand Business Class From Auckland to Tokyo (77,500 Miles)

If you have a chance, you can also try the Air New Zealand 787 Dreamliner business class product. Regardless of what plane you fly, Air New Zealand business class is a great experience. Image Credit: Daniel Ross

Air New Zealand operates its long-haul business class product from its home airport in Auckland (AKL) to Tokyo. This 11-hour flight will cost 77,500 miles each way.

26. Fly Lufthansa First Class to Europe (85,000 Miles)

Lufthansa’s epic first class seat. Image Credit: Greg Stone

We’d be doing a disservice if we didn’t discuss Lufthansa first class in this guide, though it ranks near the bottom of good options due to the fuel surcharges.

Though the award redemption rate is not horrible, the $1,000+ in taxes and fees really bring this redemption down.

Hot Tip: Lufthansa flies to tons of cities in the U.S. Check out our definitive guide to Lufthansa U.S. routes.

Final Thoughts

Overall, EVA Air isn’t the most stellar award-booking program out there. There are a bunch of other options that could work better, including ANA Mileage Club, Avianca LifeMiles, and Air Canada Aeroplan.

Still, if you find yourself with a large balance of EVA Air miles, it’s worth considering these best ways to redeem your miles to extract maximum value from them. We hope these ideas inspired you to think about your next redemption.

There aren’t many truly phenomenal uses of these points and miles, but there are plenty of unique ways to use EVA’s round-trip routing rules — or even book a round-the-world award trip!

The information regarding the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information for the Citi Prestige® Card has been collected independently by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

At the moment, saver level award availability across the Pacific is more limited than ever before, with one exception. Specifically, EVA Air has good business class award availability, but only if you book through the carrier’s own Infinity MileageLands program.

The good news is that these miles are potentially easy to come by. The bad news is that the process of booking through Infinity MileageLands sometimes leaves a bit to be desired. While I wrote about the program several months ago, I wanted to take an updated look at it, given that I recently booked my first EVA Air award through it. Let’s go over everything you need to know.

Earning miles with EVA Air is easy

If you don’t fly with EVA Air often and/or don’t live in Taiwan, how can you earn EVA Air Infinity MileageLands miles? The program partners with two US transferable points currencies:

As you can tell, using Citi ThankYou points is better than using Capital One miles, given the more favorable transfer ratio.

EVA Air partners with Citi & Capital One

Redeeming miles with EVA Air Infinity MileageLands

Some airlines release more award availability to members of their own frequent flyer program than to members of partner frequent flyer programs, and EVA Air is among those. While EVA Air has very little long haul business class award space through Star Alliance partners, availability through the Infinity MileageLands program is very good.

Do be aware that booking through the EVA Air Infinity MileageLands program can be a pain, especially if you’re trying to redeem for tickets for multiple people, or if you need phone support. So expect there to be a bit of a hassle factor, but there’s still a lot of value to be had.

EVA Air award pricing & availability

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands has competitive award pricing, and you can find the award chart below (note that this applies exclusively for travel on EVA Air metal).

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands award pricing

I’ll specifically call out that a one-way business class award between North America and Asia costs 75,000-80,000 miles, depending on where you’re originating. This allows travel beyond Taipei if you’d like, so you could fly from Los Angeles to Taipei to Singapore for 75,000 miles, or from Chicago to Taipei to Bangkok for 80,000 miles.

EVA Air does pass on carrier imposed surcharges on awards, though they’re quite low, typically around $100-150 one-way for business class. So the fees shouldn’t be a reason to avoid this program. You’ll find that EVA Air often has two business class award seats available per flight.

When booking way in advance, I’m seeing award availability on almost every date, while when booking within a few months, I’m seeing award availability on maybe half of flights. That’s a generalization, of course, since there are lots of factors, but the point is that EVA Air has so much more transpacific saver level award availability than any other airline.

Redemption rates on EVA Air are great

EVA Air’s award booking process is tedious

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I’m convinced that EVA Air’s online award booking process is intentionally awful. There’s just no other explanation I can come up with.

To search award availability through EVA Air, you first need to create an Infinity MileageLands account, which is free and instant. Make sure you note what your account number is, because it may not be emailed to you, and trying to recover it is a test in patience (and that’s being charitable).

Once you have an Infinity MileageLands account, you can search award availability at this link. If it’s just one person traveling, it’s fairly straightforward, so let’s start with that. You just enter your origin, destination, dates, and preferred class.

EVA Air award booking process

You’ll see availability for five days at a time. You’ll either see a particular date as “available” or “waiting.” The latter means that you would need to waitlist, and that there’s not award space available.

Even if you select a flight that shows as available, you’ll still see that it says “unconfirmed.” That can cause some confusion… is it available or unconfirmed? In my experience, this simply means that it’s unconfirmed until you ticket, but you should expect that it’s available.

EVA Air award booking process

As you can see, this doesn’t show a price. However, if you select a specific flight, you’ll see the number of miles required listed (though it won’t display the taxes and fees unless you have enough miles in your account for a redemption).

EVA Air award booking process

This is straightforward enough, unless you want to redeem for someone else, or want to redeem for a companion. Then it gets more complicated. First of all, to look up award availability for multiple people, during the search process you’ll have to enter their membership number and password.

EVA Air award booking process for travel companion

Then to actually book an award ticket that includes travel for someone else, you’ll need to go to EVA Air’s online service forms webpage.

You’ll need to complete the online service form, which you can then email to [email protected] (or you can fax if you prefer, which is actually what’s recommended by the airline, lol). This essentially authorizes you to use all your account functions online.

This also prevents you from having to complete a nominee registration form, which is even more complicated. As you can tell, the whole process of booking an award for anyone other than the account holder can be a pain.

If at all possible, I’d recommend just booking awards out of separate accounts. In other words, if you’re traveling with your spouse and you each have a balance of Citi ThankYou points, ideally just transfer points to your individual Infinity MileageLands accounts, and book that way. It will save you a lot of hassle.

EVA Air partner awards are worth avoiding

In theory, EVA Air has attractive redemption rates on Star Alliance partners as well. You can find the Star Alliance award chart below, with roundtrip pricing shown (one-ways are available for half the price of a roundtrip).

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands Star Alliance award chart EVA Air Infinity MileageLands Star Alliance award chart

For example, a transatlantic one-way first class award will cost you 85,000 miles, or a round the world business class award will cost you 325,000 miles.

However, do yourself a favor, and avoid these redemptions. The frustration factor is just way too high, there are carrier imposed surcharges, and there’s a lot that can go wrong. That’s why I’m focusing specifically on redemptions on EVA Air metal in this post, since that’s the greatest competitive advantage of the program. For partner redemptions, EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLands is arguably even more complicated than All Nippon Airways’ Mileage Club, and that’s saying something.

Avoid partner redemptions through EVA Air’s program

EVA Air mileage expiration policy

If you are going to earn miles in the EVA Air Infinity MileageLands program, be aware of EVA Air’s strict mileage expiration policy. Miles expire 36 months after they’re earned, regardless of any account activity. So they have a hard expiration, which is more limiting than with most programs.

EVA Air award stopover policy

What’s the EVA Air Infinity MileageLands policy for stopovers on award tickets? You’re not allowed a stopover on a one-way award, but you are allowed a stopover on a roundtrip award, should you want to visit Taipei plus another destination. Stopovers require booking by phone, which adds another layer of adventure to the booking process.

You can have a stopover on a roundtrip award

EVA Air award ticket change & cancelation fees

If you book an award through Infinity MileageLands and need to make a change or cancel, what should you expect to pay? The program charges $50 for changes or cancelations to award tickets. That’s not half bad, though not as good as the programs no longer have fees for changing or canceling award tickets.

EVA Air business class is exceptional

Not only is the opportunity to redeem for EVA Air business class valuable because so many airlines don’t have much award availability across the Pacific, but it’s also great because EVA Air offers one of the world’s best business class products, whether you’re flying the carrier’s 777 business class or 787 business class.

The carrier has a solid (but not exceptional) hard product, while the soft product is spectacular. You can expect everything from delicious food, to great designer amenities, to some of the friendliest service in the sky.

EVA Air has excellent business class catering EVA Air has really cool business class pajamas

And if you really want an adventure, fly the Chicago to Taipei route, where you can enjoy EVA Air’s epic Hello Kitty service.

EVA Air has Hello Kitty jets

Bottom line

EVA Air’s Infinity MileageLands program is underrated for the simple ability to get access to more EVA Air business class award space. While other Asian carriers have very little award space, EVA Air has plenty of availability, assuming you book through the carrier’s own program.

The good news is that redemption costs are attractive, at just 75,000-80,000 miles from the United States to Asia. Taxes and fees are also negligible. Furthermore, you can transfer points from Citi and Capital One (with Citi having a better transfer ratio).

The bad news is that that booking through EVA Air’s program can be a pain, especially if you’re traveling with a companion. With other programs, you can transfer points from another currency, and five minutes later you have your ticket. With EVA Air’s program, expect the process to take days, and get ready for some potential frustration. Also keep in mind EVA Air’s strict mileage expiration policy, assuming you’re moving over miles.

Even with this annoying process, I’d say this is still a great opportunity, given the value of a transpacific business class award.

What’s your take on redeeming miles through EVA Air’s program?