airberlin topbonus - Is it just me, or the the AB redemption chart pretty unattractive?

I was just having a look at the AB redemption chart now that AB is aN OW member. Is it just me or are the redemption rates very unattractive, even worse than let´s say BA and LH?

Also, routing rules seem pretty restrictive and AB seems to collect fuel surcharges, so no competitive advantage in this regard.

The shorthaul last-minute promo awards (or whatever they´re called) may be of interest for some, but otherwise I can´t seem to find any "sweet spots" in the program.

Am I missing anything?

It is a pity they apparently got rid of the option to use miles to pay for taxes and surcharges except for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In the spring I redeemed the last of my topbonus miles for a one-way J ticket SFO-DUS that, thanks to this feature, was completely free.

I priced out, for example, a one-way ticket DUS-RSW in October and the fuel surcharge, in particular, is very high:

Adults: 1 × $ 0.00
$ 0.00
Adults: 1 × miles 25,000
miles 25,000
Other taxes and charges
$ 103.98
Fuel surcharge
$ 210.54
Payment Charge
$ 0.00

Total price
$ 314.52

Total price
miles 25,000

I was just having a look at the AB redemption chart now that AB is aN OW member. Is it just me or are the redemption rates very unattractive, even worse than let´s say BA and LH?

Also, routing rules seem pretty restrictive and AB seems to collect fuel surcharges, so no competitive advantage in this regard.

The shorthaul last-minute promo awards (or whatever they´re called) may be of interest for some, but otherwise I can´t seem to find any "sweet spots" in the program.

Am I missing anything?

Collecting AA miles for redemption on AB flights tends to be more attractive to me than collecting AB miles for AB redemptions.

Collecting AA miles for redemption on AB flights tends to be more attractive to me than collecting AB miles for AB redemptions.

I would love to hear some of your experiences with this.

I am currently trying to burn around 36k miles.
But they are not offering me ANY deals where I can use my miles to pay for the whole thing.
I only get the 10k per way European flights, where I end up having to pay MORE than if I'd chose to fly with AF/KL or LH and just pay their discounted fares... :mad:

This is really pretty frustrating.

I am totally new to AB. But having a look at the chart, South-America to Australia for 100.000 in business class "IF" it can be routed through europe and "IF" allows a stoppover (in europe) would be just great. Does anyone can clarify this "IF" for me?
Thank you

I am totally new to AB. But having a look at the chart, South-America to Australia for 100.000 in business class "IF" it can be routed through europe and "IF" allows a stoppover (in europe) would be just great. Does anyone can clarify this "IF" for me?
Thank you

I very much doubt you can route South America - Europe (- Asia) - Australia. I´d even be surprised if you could book a connection via North America. My best guess is that the award only works for the LAN flight between SCL-SYD/AKL and SCL-PPT. IIRC QF discontinued their SYD-EZE flights, so presumably LAN is the only option.

I was just having a look at the AB redemption chart now that AB is aN OW member. Is it just me or are the redemption rates very unattractive, even worse than let´s say BA and LH?

Also, routing rules seem pretty restrictive and AB seems to collect fuel surcharges, so no competitive advantage in this regard.

The shorthaul last-minute promo awards (or whatever they´re called) may be of interest for some, but otherwise I can´t seem to find any "sweet spots" in the program.

Am I missing anything?

I do not belong to the AB award program, but I recently booked award travel using AA miles for winter travel between Washington and Germany (to STR, from MUC). Apart from the flights between the Washington area and JFK, all of the travel is on AB. I paid 40k miles and moderate fees, and am quite satisfied with the results. I do have to return a day later than I wish, but that's because an AA flight from JFK to BWI or DCA is not available for award travel; the AB award MUC-JFK (via DUS or TXL) is available.

I very much doubt you can route South America - Europe (- Asia) - Australia. I´d even be surprised if you could book a connection via North America. My best guess is that the award only works for the LAN flight between SCL-SYD/AKL and SCL-PPT. IIRC QF discontinued their SYD-EZE flights, so presumably LAN is the only option.

That's what i supposed.

I'm owning 14500 Miles...Will get another 400 this Month via Holiday-Check and another 1000 via Shell..So around 17000 Miles..Is there anything to do with these? To me there is no good value...Help would be...helpful!

Check the "Schäppchentickets", or 'top deal awards' promotions they're having in irregular intervals:
http://www.airberlin.com/en-DE/site/tb/redeem/bargainredemption.php.

These do offer exceptional value - intra-European flights can very well be had for less than 10.000 miles (return) in most cases. Subscribe to be alerted for these by email.

Next Question with AB....Going FRA-JFK will give around 5000 Miles on AB-TopBonus..But i would like to collect on British Airways (or Iberia and transfer)...( It's called "FlyClassicEco")..So the Question is: How many Miles will I get with British Airways or Iberia? And..In what Program will i get the most Miles?


Thanks for the Help in advance!

Next Question with AB....Going FRA-JFK will give around 5000 Miles on AB-TopBonus..But i would like to collect on British Airways (or Iberia and transfer)...( It's called "FlyClassicEco")..So the Question is: How many Miles will I get with British Airways or Iberia? And..In what Program will i get the most Miles?


Thanks for the Help in advance!

FlyClassicEco probably books in a low booking class and will probably net you only 25% miles in BAEC. You have to check your specific booking class against the table here (http://www.britishairways.com/travel/collect-avios-oneworld/public/en_us) to determine earning.
I'm not at all familiar with IB, but the situation is probably similar.

IB won't give anything for lowest classes, about third part of all classes in Eco...