Best Ways To Fly To The Bahamas With Miles And Points

If you’re looking for a getaway to white sand beaches and clear blue water, look no further than the Bahamas. And if you are a geography buff, then you’ll be pleased to know that the Bahamas are located just 50 miles off of the east coast of Florida, making them super easy and close.

With flights from Florida taking as little as 20 minutes of flight time, the Bahamas certainly makes for a great weekend getaway or a week of fun in the sun. And further, there are a number of different award options available, providing a wide range of flexibility in booking award redemptions.

In this article, we’re going to highlight how to travel to a few of the larger islands in the Bahamas using points and miles from 6 different airline programs. With this knowledge, you’ll be well on your way to finding the award availability you need and redeeming those award flights to find yourself on the beach in no time at all!

American Airlines AAdvantage

American AAdvantage miles can be used to book flights on American Airlines to get to the Bahamas. However, if you can find MileSAAver space on some of the non-stop routes below, you’ll be much better off using British Airways Avios to book these exact same flights at a lower points cost thanks to British Airways’ distance-based award chart. If not, then you have a few different routing options that you can use.

Here’s how much flights to the Bahamas cost in all classes:

Economy: 30,000 AAdvantage Miles round-trip
First class: 50,000 AAdvantage Miles round-trip

How to Book with American Airlines AAdvantage

To book award flights to the Bahamas using American Airlines AAdvantage, head to the American Airlines website.

How to earn American Airlines AAdvantage Miles

American Airlines also has a pretty in-depth shopping portal called AAdvantage Shopping where you earn a specific number of AAdvantage miles per dollar spent at various online retailers.

The AAdvantage Dining Program allows you to earn extra miles for eating out at restaurants that participate in the program once you register.

There are a number of other ways to earn AAdvantage miles, including many hotels and rental car partnerships, making earning AAdvantage miles relatively easy.

Cards to Help You Earn More American Airlines AAdvantage Miles

American Airlines partners with both Citi and Barclays to offer both personal and business cards at both banks and each card offers different signup bonuses after meeting their respective minimum spend. Because of the number of card offerings, both personal and business, from both banks, utilizing some of their following cards are the best way to earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

Additionally, you can also transfer points from the newly combined SPG and Marriott Rewards program into American Airlines AAdvantage miles at a rate of 60,000 Marriott Rewards: 25,000 AAdvantage miles. This option can be great in a pinch to top off accounts for a specific redemption as needed, but often aren’t a great primary source of AAdvantage miles.

British Airways Avios

British Airways Avios are the best way to get to the Bahamas using miles due to the variety of non-stop options on OneWorld partner American Airlines. British Airways uses a distance based award chart, so at a cost of only 7,500 Avios one-way, short routes like non-stop flights from Miami, Charlotte, and Washington, DC really shine if you’re able to find award space on the dates and routes that you’re after.

How to Book with British Airways Avios

To search for space, you can use aa.com and search for Economy or Business/First MileSAAver space, or search BritishAirways.com. Once space has been found, you can book on BritishAirways.com.

How to earn British Airways Avios

British Airways is a transfer partner of both American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, allowing you to transfer Membership Rewards and Ultimate Rewards (respectively) to your British Airways Avios account to book rewards flights.

Additionally, Aer Lingus Avios and Iberia Avios can be combined into your British Airways Executive Club account, allowing you to merge Avios across the 3 programs.

Finally, British Airways offers a Shopping Portal with an extensive list of online vendors that allows you to earn Avios for items you’re planning to buy online anyways.

Cards to Help You Earn More British Airways Avios

Since British Airways is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, if you’re under 5/24 (What is 5/24), your best way of earning British Airways Avios is via a Chase Ultimate Rewards earning card, such as some of the following cards.

Chase issues the British Airways Visa Signature® Card, as well as the Aer Lingus Visa Signature Credit Card and the Iberia Visa Signature Credit Card. Because you can combine the points from these three programs, signing up for one card from any or all of these three airlines are your best way to earn British Airways Avios if you are over 5/24.

Finally, British Airways is also a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, so utilizing Membership Rewards earning cards and transferring them 1:1 to British Airways is another way to earn British Airways Avios.

Delta SkyMiles

Since Delta no longer has a published award chart, you’ll find that the number of SkyMiles required to book some of the following routes completely varies. This means that it is not a reliable best option for round-trip award flights to the Bahamas due to the fluctuation in pricing.

In quick searches, we found main cabin flights ranging from 22,000 SkyMiles to 44,000 SkyMiles to 76,000 SkyMiles, and everything in between. Delta is known to run SkyMiles sales to the Caribbean for as low as 10,000-12,000 SkyMiles, so if you were able to snag some of those fares, that would be a great redemption.

Additionally, you should look to book with Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles if you can find availability as that may be a cheaper option.

How to Book with Delta Skymiles

To search for space on Delta flights, you can use delta.com and search for space. Once you find award space has been found, you can continue your booking on Delta.com.

How to earn Delta SkyMiles

Delta is also a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, and Membership Rewards transfer 1:1 to Delta SkyMiles.

Delta has a shopping portal called SkyMiles Shopping Portal where you earn a specific number of SkyMiles miles per dollar spent at various online retailers.

The Delta SkyMiles Dining Program allows you to earn extra miles for eating out at restaurants that participate in the program once you register.

Cards to Help You Earn More Delta SkyMiles

Delta partners with American Express to offer both personal and business cards and each card offers different signup bonuses after meeting the respective minimum spend.

Delta is also a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards. The best way to earn Delta SkyMiles is to transfer them from Membership Rewards, which is great because American Express offers a number of cards earning Membership Rewards points, such as some of the following.

Additionally, opening any of the Delta co-branded cards from American Express is also a way to earn SkyMiles.

JetBlue TrueBlue

JetBlue offers a few regularly scheduled flights to Nassau from the East Coast, along with a few additional seasonal routes. They price their awards mostly based on the revenue cost of the flight, so the amount of JetBlue TrueBlue points needed for each ticket directly correlates to the cash fare of tickets available.

How to Book with JetBlue TrueBlue

To search for space on JetBlue flights, you can use jetblue.com and search for space. Once you find award space has been found, you can continue your booking on jetblue.com.

How to earn JetBlue TrueBlue Points

JetBlue is also a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points. Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points both transfer 250:200 to JetBlue TrueBlue, whereas Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer 1:1 to JetBlue TrueBlue.

JetBlue has a shopping portal called ShopTrue Shopping Portal where you earn a specific number of TrueBlue points per dollar spent at various online retailers.

The TrueBlue Dining Program allows you to earn extra TrueBlue points for eating out at restaurants that participate in the program once you register.

Cards to Help You Earn More TrueBlue Points

JetBlue currently partners with Barclays to offer both personal and business cards. Each card offers different signup bonuses after meeting the respective minimum spend.

However, since you can transfer Membership Rewards points, Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Citi ThankYou Points from a variety of the following cards, those programs should be your primary source of earning JetBlue TrueBlue points. Only after then should you look to utilizing the co-branded Barclay cards to earn any remaining TrueBlue points needed.

Southwest Rapid Rewards

Southwest only offers one nonstop flight to the Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Nassau. Southwest prices their awards mostly based on the revenue cost of the flight, so the amount of Rapid Rewards points needed for each ticket directly correlates to the cash fare of tickets available.

There are approximately 45 nonstop routes to FLL from various airports across the country on Southwest, so most travelers will be able to get from almost anywhere in the US to Nassau on Southwest with at most two stops.

If you are a holder of the Southwest Companion Pass, flying Southwest to the Bahamas could be a great way to save some money, as you’ll get your second ticket for only the cost of taxes & fees.

It is worth noting that the taxes and fees on each ticket on Southwest can run as high as $170 – approximately $64 of that is US-based taxes on the outbound leg, and $106 of that is Bahamas enforced taxes on the inbound leg. Even with this, you can easily save a few hundred dollars or more if you have the Companion Pass.

How to Book with Southwest

To search for space on Southwest flights, you can use southwest.com and search for space. Once you find award space has been found, you can continue your booking on southwest.com.

When planning your trip, Southwest only offers one route to Nassau from Fort Lauderdale. However, Fort Lauderdale serves as a hub for Southwest, so you can fly just one-stop from a number of locations.

How to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points

Additionally, Southwest Rapid Rewards is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards Credit Cards, so Ultimate Rewards points earned on Chase cards can be transferred to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio.

The Chase Southwest Credit Cards do participate in a referral program, so you’re able to earn Rapid Rewards points by referring your friends and family to these cards.

Southwest also has the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal, which similar to other programs, allows you to earn additional miles on everyday purchases by shopping through their portal.

The Southwest Dining Program allows you to earn Rapid Rewards points when you eat out at participating restaurants all over the United States once you register for the program.

Cards to Help You Earn More Southwest Rapid Rewards points

Southwest currently partners with Chase to offer both personal and business cards. Each card offers different signup bonuses after meeting the respective minimum spend.

The information for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card has been collected independently by 10XTravel.com. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio. Additionally, Chase offers multiple co-branded cards that earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points.

These can be a great way to earn Rapid Rewards points, but the better plan is to strategically use these cards to earn the Companion Pass.

United Airlines MileagePlus

United offers service from a number of their hubs non-stop to Nassau. Of the airlines offering service to Nassau, United offers the most award space availability for non-revenue based award seats (like Southwest or JetBlue) based on our searches during peak and off-peak seasons. Further, United codeshares with Silver Airways, so you may be able to book a more complicated itinerary like IAH-NAS-ELH on one ticket using United miles, which would only require items like paying for checked baggage once. However, running searches for flights like these turned up inconsistent results, so if you’re flying to an island other than Nassau, you may have to book separate itineraries.

Another option is to use United miles to book flights on Air Canada. Air Canada offers flights to Nassau via Toronto and Montreal, so this could be an option depending on where you live.

How to Book With United Airlines MileagePlus

To book award flights to the Bahamas using United MileagePlus, head to the United website and run searches. You’ll also be able to find partner availability on the United website as well.

Here’s how much flights to the Bahamas cost in all classes:

Economy: 35,000 miles round-trip
First class: 60,000 miles round-trip

How to earn United Airlines MileagePlus Miles

United is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, so Ultimate Rewards points earned on Chase cards can be transferred to United at a 1:1 ratio.

The Chase United Credit Cards do participate in a referral program, so you’re able to earn United miles by referring your friends and family to these cards.

United has a shopping portal called MileagePlus Shopping Portal where you earn a specific number of United miles per dollar spent at various online retailers.

United also has the MileagePlus X App, which allows you to earn a specific number of United miles per dollar spent at a various online retailer via extra United earning opportunities.

The MileagePlus Dining Program allows you to earn extra miles for eating out at restaurants that participate in the program once you register.

Cards to Help You Earn More United Airlines MileagePlus Miles

United Airlines partners with Chase to offer both personal and business cards and each card offers different signup bonuses after meeting the respective minimum spend.

Additionally, since United is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, any of the Ultimate Rewards earning cards provide additional options for earning lots of United miles.

The best strategy for earning United MileagePlus miles is to earn utilize Ultimate Rewards earning cards as your primary source of MileagePlus Miles. Then, you should look to utilize the Chase co-branded cards as a supplementary role to any additional MileagePlus miles that you need.

Final Thoughts

With all of the different options outlined above, you can be sitting on white sand beaches (or find a pink sand beach on Eleuthera or Harbor Island) with clear blue waters enjoying a relaxing cocktail in no time. Whether a quick weekend getaway or a week-long adventure exploring the islands, the Bahamas provide some great points and miles redemption opportunities thanks to their close proximity and a number of different ways to book awards!