bones718

Hello all,

I will not be renewing my AMEX PRG upon my anniversary.

I have around 75k MR points and plan to use these for 2 RT tickets to somewhere warm by the end of 2015. Realistically probably somewhere in the caribbean.


Can anyone advise which program I should transfer these points to?

I have no loyalty or preference to any air lines. I am ok with coach. I will be leaving from EWR/LGA/JFK.

Would love to hear your suggestions.

Thanks,

dukerau

BA would likely be the cheapest, but pending AA availability of course. There's no knowing which is best, as all 3 alliances could get you NYC-Caribbean at a good mileage price. It all comes down to which has availability you want. Look into opening an Everyday (free) / Everyday Preferred ($95 annual fee) card to keep your points alive.

guv1976

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How soon can you commit to a particular destination and particular dates? ANA's reward chart (which is currently very good for Coach travel on UA between NYC and the Caribbean) will be changing on April 12.

BA Avios are very good for nonstop travel on AA from JFK to the Caribbean, but AA only serves a small number of Caribbean destinations with nonstops from JFK.

bones718

I didn't know everyday cards had the same MR system as the charge cards.

Thanks for sharing. I will check it out.

bones718

So I see consensus is avios so far. No I do not have particular dates set in stone yet. I will be planning probably at least 2 months before intended flight date before end of 2015

Thanks

guv1976

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If you Google "JFK airport wiki", you can see a list of all Caribbean destinations which AA serves nonstop from JFK. If your trip requires connecting flights, you would have to pay additional Avios.

JDiver

Better yet, check the innosked interactive oneworld map and timetable. It will reveal American Airlines and U.S. Airways (still operating separately despite the merger, probably for the rest of 2015.

http://onw.innosked.com/

bones718

thank you all

Yoshi212

The Amex Everyday Credit card (no annual fee) is currently offering a 10,000 MR bonus and 1 year free Amazon Prime. I have it and an Amex charge card and the points go into 1 linked account.

You say you plan on flying 2 months after planning using an award ticket? Well, I too like to live dangerously

Wellington

I am New York based as well.

I think the best recommendation is to open up an AMEX Everyday card as has already been said. From the moment you get charged the AF you have 30 days to cancel the card to get the refund, so you should have time to receive the card and link it to your account.

I am actually really down on Avios. I have been looking for AA out of JFK to the Caribbean (same as you) and the availability is pretty crappy for what AA offers. Puerto Rico, Saint Thomas, and Bermuda have not so good availability. Antigua is wide open if you want to go there, but from things I have read it's not as attractive as the other islands.

Would you consider transferring to JetBlue? They pretty much specialize on the Caribbean market and you never have to worry about availability. You won't get the same bang for your points though.

One major caveat for Caribbean travel is that almost all of those countries gouge you in taxes on the way back. The above mentioned JFK-ANU will cost like $98 per person in taxes. IIRC it's even more from the Dominican Republic.

If you are dead set on Avios, I think a smart option would be to look into departing from PHL via US Airways. They have more flights available there and more availability. I got a good PHL-MBJ flight last year for fourth of July .

GUWonder

BA Avios were/are great except when the AA/US multi-tier pricing hits and blocks BA redemption opportunities on AA metal -- and this is becoming a growing problem.

guv1976

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Multi-tier pricing only applies to AA's AAnytime award seats, which have never been available for Avios redemptions. Avios can be redeemed for any available MileSAAver seat to the Caribbean, regardless of whether travel occurs during AA's "peak" or "off-peak" season.

Whether one can find SAAver award seats to the desired destination on the desired date of travel is always an issue, of course.

GUWonder

The AA transition from two-tier award pricing to multi-tier award pricing (with even AAnytime awards now having tiered pricing) has wiped out a lot of the award space that was previously available to BA Avios users. That wiped-out space being MileSAAver space, the only kind of AA space available to the average BA Avios user.