Here’s something that I bet most readers don’t know. It’s possible to book domestic award flights for as little as just 3,500 points one-way – and domestic first class for just 7,000 points.

One of the topics of this week’s Frequent Miler podcast was saving money and miles on domestic tickets.

They suggest Points Path, which is a browser extension that integrates with Google Flights and shows you the award price of flights next to the cash price that Google shows you (and flags whether a flight is a better deal in cash or points). It’s free and absolutely worth installing. They also have a pro version, which lets you track award prices (say you book an award and the price drops, so you can get a refund). I’ve written about Points Path before.

And of course some of the best deals on domestic travel will come from booking flights through partner mileage programs. Some of the partner opportunities they mention:

• Using Alaska Airlines miles to book American Airlines flights, starting at 4,500 miles in economy and 9,000 in business for the shortest flights.

• Virgin miles for short Delta flights run 7,500 points in coach but a much pricier 21,000 in domsic first.

• Air Canada Aeroplan charges 10,000 for short United flights – while Turkish Miles & Smiles charges 10,000 for United domestic including Hawaii.

• Delta itself sometimes prices cheap domestic coach at 6,000 miles. You may see American price their flights that low, too.

United Economy

It occurs to me there’s one program that charges even fewer miles, but never gets mentioned. The option is little-known, probably because the points are tough for most Americans to earn.

The absolute best deal for U.S. domestic flight redemptions (when saver awards are available) is using Air India Maharaja Club points for United Airlines flights. You can look up pricing with their points calculator, but:

• Stay under 600 miles and you’re looking at coach redemptions at just 3,500 points apiece. Premium cabin is twice the price of economy, so 7,000 points for United’s domestic first class.

• The next tier is 5,500 points for economy and 11,000 for domestic first.

• Longer flights get pricier but are still a good value compared to U.S. programs. For instance, Los Angeles – Honolulu prices out at 13,500 points one-way in economy and 27,000 in domestic first or business class.

United Airlines in Houston

A few things to know:

• Not all short distance flights are this cheap! A Lufthansa trip from Frankfurt to Munich is just 186 miles, but that award is still 7,500 points.

• No connecting itineraries. Some programs price each flight segment separately. Air India won’t even put more than one partner award segment on a ticket (“In the case of multi-sector journeys, presently, separate tickets need to be issued for every sector”).

• But they do offer online booking for United awards, along with Lufthansa, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Austrian Airlines.

United 777 Economy

The problem for U.S. frequent flyers, of course, is that none of the major transfer currencies partners with Air India. None of the major hotel programs transfer to Air India, either. Such a linkup would be surprisingly valuable for members, though (and I’ve heard from at least one program that’s working on it and hopes to have an announcement soon).