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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is one of the world’s most interesting places. And while there are a few countries ridden with internal strife there, this area is truly one of the most culturally significant and historic in the world.
Known for expansive deserts and ancient Arabian history, the Middle East and North Africa comprise of unique countries that should definitely be on your radar.
What’s more, plane tickets from the U.S. to the Middle East or North Africa are often incredibly expensive.
So that’s why we’ll be showing you the best ways to use your points and miles to fly to the Middle East and North Africa! We’ll highlight the best ways to fly here with all 3 alliances, as well as some of the best non-alliance options.
Let’s get started!
Numerous airlines offer nonstop flights to the Middle East and North Africa. We’ve broken them down by airline; in total, 12 airlines offer nonstop flights to MENA.
Here are the foreign airlines operating nonstop flights to the Middle East:
Here are the U.S. airlines operating nonstop flights to the Middle East:
Here are the airlines operating nonstop flights to North Africa:
As you can see, there are plenty of options you can book. The general rule of thumb should be to fly on the most direct route to the final destination. So for example, if you want to fly to Morocco, it’s probably a good idea to figure out the best ways to redeem points on Royal Air Maroc.
If there are no nonstop flights to your final destination from the U.S., there are plenty of connecting flight options, including on airlines like Air France, KLM, British Airways, Turkish Airlines, and much more.
There are many nonstop routes you can book from the U.S. to the Middle East or North Africa, but the number of 1-stop connecting flights is almost uncountable.
Let’s go through all of our favorite ways to use points and miles for flights to the Middle East and North Africa, starting with Aeroplan!
Aeroplan is a great option for those looking to fly to the Middle East or North Africa. As a Star Alliance partner, you’ll be flying with the likes of United, Turkish, EGYPTAIR, Lufthansa, and Swiss.
Air Canada operates on a distance-based award chart, which means you’ll pay a fixed price based on how far you’re flying. If your routing is under 4,000 miles in distance, here’s how much it’ll cost you in points to fly to either the Middle East or Africa:
| Cabin Class | Aeroplan Points Cost (One-way) |
| Economy | 40,000 |
| Premium Economy (Air Canada flights only) | 60,000 |
| Business | 70,000 |
| First | 100,000 |
Here are a few example redemptions you can make:
Here are the steps to book:
Aeroplan points are some of the easiest to earn thanks to the program’s strong partnerships with card issuers. You can transfer over from Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, and Chase Ultimate Rewards at a 1:1 ratio. Marriott Bonvoy points also transfer over, but at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points you transfer.
ANA Mileage Club is an incredible frequent flyer program that offers amazing round-trip pricing on Star Alliance flights, particularly in business class.
This means that you’ll probably redeem the fewest points to fly to MENA with ANA Mileage Club, though there are 2 caveats:
You should avoid all of the European airline partners, including Lufthansa, SWISS, and Austrian Airlines — otherwise, you’ll need to spend an additional $800+ each way out-of-pocket!
Not to worry, as both Turkish Airlines and LOT Polish boast lower fuel surcharges than their partners. Follow this award chart to book your round-trip flights from North America:
| Cabin Class | ANA Miles Cost (Round-trip) | Turkish Airlines Taxes and Fees | LOT Polish Taxes and Fees | EGYPTAIR Taxes and Fees |
| Economy | 65,000 | ~$571 | ~$488 | ~$563 |
| Business | 104,000 | ~$747 | ~$713 | ~$581 |
ANA also categorizes Morocco as part of Europe and Russia 2 (Zone 7), which means you can follow this award chart:
| Cabin Class | ANA Miles Cost (Round-trip) | Turkish Airlines Taxes and Fees | LOT Polish Taxes and Fees | EGYPTAIR Taxes and Fees |
| Economy | 55,000 | ~$571 | ~$488 | ~$563 |
| Business | 88,000 | ~$747 | ~$713 | ~$581 |
As you can tell, it’s pretty difficult to avoid fuel surcharges entirely — and even the taxes and fees in economy are egregious, which is why you’d want to leverage ANA Mileage Club for business class only.
Here are a few example redemptions you can make:
You can book all of these flights directly online; while we wouldn’t recommend searching for availability on ANA’s website, you can perform the search on a partner site like united.com and then navigate to ANA’s website when you’ve located availability.
Here are the steps:
ANA Mileage Club is transfer partners with 2 transferrable rewards programs: Amex Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.
Amex transfers at a 1:1 ratio and takes around 3 business days, while Marriott transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus when you transfer 60,000 points and takes around 7 business days.
Hot Tip: Your mileage may vary, but you may be able to hold an award reservation while your points are being transferred by calling 800-235-9262.
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Qatar Airways switched its Privilege Club currency over to the Avios program in 2022, making a huge splash as its award seats became suddenly much more available. This was amazing news for travelers, as its Qsuites business class product is one of the best around. Even better, it’ll cost you just 70,000 Avios one-way to fly from the U.S. to Doha (DOH), its hub.
Booking Qatar Airways business class is super easy; follow these steps to get this dream ticket reserved!
Avios are some of the easiest currencies to earn since the currency is interchangeable between British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and Qatar Airways. This means you’ll find transfers from all the main transferable currencies, including Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy!
Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, and Citi all transfer almost instantaneously at a 1:1 ratio.
Lastly, Marriott transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for transferring 60,000 points. Transfers from Marriott usually take around 3 business days.
Hot Tip: British Airways has also dropped its pricing to match Qatar Airways’ flights, which means these can be booked via the British Airways site just as easily!
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If you’re a business owner, see our list of the best Chase business credit cards.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention American Airlines AAdvantage for 1 reason — those aforementioned Qatar Airways Qsuites. Before Qatar switched over to Avios, American Airlines was the absolute best way to book these flights. If you’re looking for an alternative to booking with Avios, American Airlines miles are still an excellent way to book these fabulous business class seats.
Here’s how much it’ll cost for one-way flights between the U.S. and the Middle East:
| Cabin Class | AAdvantage Miles Cost (One-Way) | Qatar Airways Taxes and Fees |
| Economy | 40,000 | ~$8 |
| Business | 70,000 | ~$8 |
And here’s how much it’ll cost for one-way flights between the U.S. and Africa:
| Cabin Class | AAdvantage Miles Cost (One-Way) | Qatar Airways Taxes and Fees |
| Economy | 40,000 | ~$8 |
| Business | 75,000 | ~$8 |
Here are the countries that fall into each region:
| Middle East | Africa |
| Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates | Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Melilla, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
Given all of this information, here are a few fantastic redemptions you can make:
And if you are considering different partner airlines like Royal Jordanian or Iberia, here are a few options you can book:
These bookings can be made directly on American Airlines’s website:
American Airlines AAdvantage miles can be earned from credit cards in 3 main ways:
Bilt Rewards transfer to American Airlines at a 1:1 ratio. American Airlines also transfers from Marriott Bonvoy, which transfers at a 3:1 ratio with an additional 5,000-mile bonus after transferring 60,000 points.
Transfers from Marriott to American Airlines take around 2 business days to complete.
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One of the sweet spots of North African travel is aboard Royal Air Maroc, which is the flag carrier of Morocco.
Specifically, Etihad Guest offers some astonishing award redemption prices for nonstop flights between the U.S. and Morocco!
On any nonstop flight aboard Royal Air Maroc that’s longer than 2,000 miles in distance, you’ll redeem just 44,000 Etihad Guest miles in business and 22,000 miles in economy!
These are for one-way flights, and Etihad Guest prices these flights on a per-segment basis. Here are a couple of fantastic example routes you can book:
To book these tickets, you’ll want to find award space on American Airlines’s website, then call Etihad Guest to confirm the ticket.
Etihad Guest miles are surprisingly easy to earn — this frequent flyer program is transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Capital One Miles, and Marriott Bonvoy.
Amex and Citi transfer at a 1:1 ratio almost instantly. Capital One transfers at a 1:1 ratio but may take up to 36 hours to process.
Lastly, Marriott transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus when you transfer 60,000 points. Additionally, Marriott takes around 3 business days to transfer to Etihad Guest.
Hot Tip: While we do not profile Etihad first or business class or Emirates first or business class in-depth here, check out our detailed guides for the best ways to book these classes with points and miles!
One of our favorite airline loyalty programs of all time is Avianca LifeMiles.
Sure, its online award booking capabilities are incredibly inconsistent, but it is actually one of the most underrated programs and serves a critical purpose: booking Star Alliance premium cabin flights without fuel surcharges.
Avianca LifeMiles has a few things going for it:
If we put all of these factors together, LifeMiles is one of the best ways you can book Lufthansa first class, SWISS business class, and other premium cabin products on European airlines.
Hot Tip: Keep in mind that Lufthansa first class is usually only bookable up to 15 days before departure, so you’ll likely need to be a last-minute traveler to book this coveted first class product.
| Cabin Class | Avianca LifeMiles Cost (One-Way) | Taxes and Fees (One-Way) |
| Economy | 42,500 | ~$38 |
| Business | 78,000 | ~$38 |
| First | 105,000 | ~$38 |
If you happen to be booking a mixed-cabin itinerary, your mileage price will actually be a bit cheaper, due to the fact that the pricing is based on the percentage of the whole itinerary you’re flying in each cabin.
As you can also tell, there are no fuel surcharges passed on — there’s usually a small award booking fee, but this is included in the $38 amount above.
Here are a few example bookings you can make:
Hot Tip: One of the biggest complaints about LifeMiles is that the search engine doesn’t always display all the bookable options that another website like united.com might. Unfortunately, the customer service hotline isn’t very helpful, either.
Here’s how you can book your ticket on LifeMiles:
Avianca LifeMiles, as we mentioned earlier, are very easy to earn.
Currently, LifeMiles has transfer partnerships with Amex Membership Rewards, Brex Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.
Amex, Brex, Capital One, and Citi transfer at a 1:1 ratio almost instantly. Marriott Bonvoy transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred and takes around 1 business day to complete.
You can also often purchase LifeMiles with huge bonuses, making your cost per purchased mile around 1.0 to 1.4 cents each!
United Airlines’s MileagePlus program has been devalued many times over the years. However, in spite of all these devaluations, it’s still an attractive program to keep in the back of your pocket.
That’s because United Airlines offers an easy booking process, no fuel surcharges on almost all flights, ease of accruing points, and access to Star Alliance’s vast route network.
Although we touched on a few ways to redeem points for Star Alliance flights above (i.e. ANA Mileage Club and Avianca LifeMiles), there are quirks with these programs, namely the passage of fuel surcharges and absence of all possible flights during the search process.
So if you’re willing to spend more points and are looking for a seamless, headache-free frequent flyer program, United MileagePlus will be your best bet. This is particularly true for Chase credit cardholders.
United uses a dynamic award pricing scheme, which means that your plane ticket will be priced according to a range of numbers, not a set value.
Specifically, United’s lowest-priced awards are called Saver awards, and they’re priced as follows on flights between the U.S. and the Middle East:
| Cabin Class | United Miles Cost for United Flights | United Miles Cost for Partner Flights |
| Economy | 42,500 to 100,000 | 46,750 |
| Business | 75,000 to 180,000 | 93,500 |
| First | N/A | N/A |
Here’s what MileagePlus award tickets look like on flights between the U.S. and North Africa:
| Cabin Class | United Miles Cost for United Flights | United Miles Cost for Partner Flights |
| Economy | 40,000 to 100,000 | 40,000 |
| Business | 80,000 to 200,000 | 80,000 |
| First | N/A | 143,000 |
Here are some great example redemptions you can make:
To book your flight using United MileagePlus miles, simply follow these steps:
United miles are some of the most popular in the U.S. and Chase and United’s co-branded credit card offerings allow you to earn United miles directly.
However, perhaps a better way to earn United miles is through Chase credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards, which you can transfer at a 1:1 ratio to United.
Simply put, Chase Ultimate Rewards credit cards offer better bonus categories like dining and travel, which you can maximize and then transfer to United MileagePlus.
United is one of Chase’s airline transfer partners, which transfers instantaneously at a 1:1 ratio. Another transfer partner is Marriott Bonvoy, which transfers at a 3:1.1 ratio with a 5,500-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred.
One of the most valuable Oneworld frequent flyer programs is Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles. With decent award redemptions and clutch transfer partnerships, we’ll show you why you should never disregard Asia Miles.
Cathay Pacific is a Oneworld partner, which means your redemptions will be limited to Oneworld airlines for the most part, unless there’s a specific non-alliance partner airline that Asia Miles works with.
The main partner airlines that are relevant to the Middle East and North Africa are Qatar Airways, American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, and Royal Jordanian.
Asia Miles passes on fuel surcharges, which isn’t pleasant, particularly for British Airways and American Airlines flights.
Still, if you’re looking to book Qatar Airways Qsuites and don’t have hundreds of thousands of American Airlines miles, Avios, or Marriott Bonvoy points sitting around, Asia Miles will be your best bet.
Best of all, Asia Miles provides access to up to 360 days of advance award availability, compared to 330 and 331 days from some other airlines offering award seats to MENA. In other words, utilizing Asia Miles gives you up to 1 extra month to look for award availability.
Since Asia Miles uses a distance-based award chart and doesn’t readily publish it, your best bet to figure out how much your trip will cost in miles is to visit the Asia Miles flight awards site and price it out from there.
It can cost anywhere from 61,000 to 90,000 miles in business class, depending on what flight you book. Here are a few example redemptions you can make:
To book Asia Miles awards, you’ll want to first search for award space on a partner airline’s website, such as American Airlines or British Airways.
Earning Asia Miles is easy — this frequent flyer program has transfer partners in Amex Membership Rewards, Brex Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.
Amex, Brex, Capital One, and Citi all transfer to Asia Miles at a 1:1 ratio. Marriott Bonvoy transfers to Asia Miles at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus after transferring 60,000 points.
Amex is generally the fastest, with transfers processing within a few hours most of the time. Brex and Citi take around 1 business day, Capital Ones take around 36 hours, and Marriott Bonvoy takes the longest at 5 business days.
The very last loyalty program we’ll talk about is Air France/KLM Flying Blue.
As the sole SkyTeam program in this guide, we’ll be leaning on this program heavily to book business class awards to little-known cities and countries, particularly in Northern Africa.
Flying Blue generally follows a region-based award chart for partner flights, passes on all fuel surcharges, and has access to SkyTeam airline partners like Air France, KLM, Saudia, and more. For flights on Air France or KLM, you’ll notice a dynamic award pricing scheme.
You can price out an award ticket by scrolling down to the Miles Price Estimator, and filling out the calculator.
Here are a few example redemptions you can make:
Here are a few nonstop flight redemptions you can book aboard Saudia:
Once you’re ready to book your Flying Blue ticket, follow these instructions:
Flying Blue miles are among the easiest to accumulate.
This frequent flyer program is transfer partners with every major transferable currency, including Amex Membership Rewards, Brex Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.
Amex, Brex, Capital One, Chase, and Citi transfer almost instantly at a 1:1 ratio. Marriott Bonvoy transfers at a 3:1 ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus after transferring 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
Whew! There’s a lot to take away from this guide, but the biggest takeaway is that there’s no “one size fits all” frequent flyer program to help you fly to the Middle East or North Africa using points.
Ultimately, it’ll depend on which airline you prefer to fly, what route you’re taking, what type of flexible points you earn, and what level of luxury you’d prefer to take.
ANA Mileage Club has best-in-class business class tickets when booking round-trip, as long as you can avoid fuel surcharges.
We hope that you’ve found this complete guide useful in helping you plan your next trip to MENA!
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Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
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2 comments
Angelo
April 10, 2022
Hey there,
I can’t seem to get Qatar Airways via AAdvantage website… the itinerary only sends me through London to Cairo, all on British Airways managed flights. Any tips on how I can try and use AA points/site for the Qatar flight, NYC to Cairo?
Stephen Au
April 13, 2022
Hi Angelo,
Not all dates will have Qatar Airways availability since it’s a much more “in-demand” business class. The best thing to do is be flexible and search for as many dates as you can. Thanks for reading!
Any thoughts or questions? Comment below!
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