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Redeeming miles for international business and first class travel is one of my core travel goals. Paying $200 out of pocket for a round-trip flight from Savannah to New York is no big deal, but ponying up $15,000 to fly round-trip in first class to Asia simply isn’t possible — we haven’t won the lottery yet. That is one of my goals and if yours align with mine, you should redeem your miles just like I do. But we’re not all the same, are we?

Maybe your goals are focused on seeing the 50 states, and for those longer flights, you want to do it in comfort. Figure out your threshold of where you want to be in the front of the bus and where you’re ok in coach. Living on the east coast, I’d prefer first class for the transcontinental flights, but unless I’m headed to Hawaii or Alaska on a seven-hour flight coach is just fine. Here are some of the best redemption options out there for redeeming miles in domestic first class:

Use Korean SKYPASS miles instead of Delta SkyMiles

If you want to fly with Delta, look to Korean Airlines and their SKYPASS program. Delta will charge you 45,000 miles for their least expensive first-class round-trip redemption within the lower 48 states and Alaska. If you want to head to Hawaii, you’ll have to pony up at least 80,000 miles. Routes that include a Delta One cabin come at a premium.

With Korean, you’ll pay 45,000 SKYPASS miles for any travel within the 50 states for first-class round-trip travel. That could be from Boston to New York or Boston to Honolulu —it’s the same price as long as you stay in the states.

If you need to change or cancel a ticket Delta will whack you for $150 but Korean won’t charge you a dime. You can transfer SPG Points or Chase Ultimate Rewards to Korean’s program.

Use Singapore KrisFlyer miles instead of United MileagePlus miles

United will charge you 50,000 miles for first class round-trip seat on a 2-cabin aircraft within the lower 48 and 70,000 for first class on a 3-cabin aircraft. When going to Hawaii, the price jumps to 80,000 or 100,000 for the round-trip first class seats. Additionally, if you book any of these awards last minute (within 21 days of departure) you’ll also pay a $75 close-in booking fee.

Alternatively, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program will charge you 40,000 (2-cabin) or 60,000 (3-cabin) first class round-trip experience within the lower 48 and 60,000 or 80,000 for the same cabin configuration to Hawaii.

Changing a Singapore award will cost you $20 but canceling it will cost you $30. Depending on what you’re looking to do with the ticket, United will charge you up to $200. If you need to build up a balance of points with Singapore Airlines you can transfer points from SPG, American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi ThankYou Points at a ratio of 1:1.

	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Add to Favorites	$0 intro first year $95 annual fee	Earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards® Read Review »
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	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
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Sign Up Bonus $0 intro first year $95 annual fee Earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards® Annual Fee Already have this card? Maximize your rewards.
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Use Etihad Guest or Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan instead of American AAdvantage

With American’s award chart devaluation in March 2016, the price of a round-trip domestic first class award remained the same in some aspects and went up in. A one-way award with a 2-cabin aircraft stayed at 25,000 miles, but if you’re in a 3-cabin aircraft your price went from 32,500 to 50,000 miles one-way. These three cabin aircraft are ones you’ll fly if you travel non-stop from Los Angeles or San Francisco to New York/JFK. First class on these planes is very similar to international business class on American’s newest aircraft. It’s a fantastic experience that demands a premium but you’ll pay handsomely with American.

For these specific domestic flights, if you redeem with Etihad Guest or Alaska’s Mileage Plan you’ll only pay 32,500 miles one-way for that same first class seat. The caveat with Etihad is that you must book at least 14 days in advance, however, the cancellation and change fees are reasonable. To cancel the award and redeposit the miles you’d pay a 10 percent mileage penalty (3,250 miles) or to change to another date it’d cost you 100 AED (or about $27 as of this post).

If you make a change or cancellation to an award booked with Alaska, you’ll pay nothing if the scheduled flight is more than 60 days away but within that window, you’ll pay $125. Neither Alaska nor Etihad charge a $75 close-in booking fee for flights within 21 days, so you’ll save some cake whenever you book with them as well.

I love U.S.-based frequent flyer programs, but I hate using the miles for domestic flights on their own airlines — I’d much prefer to use them internationally, hopefully with their partners!

What’s your strategy for domestic first-class redemptions?

[Image via Getty]