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Caracas- NYC OW. Use AA miles, US Airways miles or Avios?

Caracas- NYC OW. Use AA miles, US Airways miles or Avios?

Old Oct 27, 2014, 10:44 pm
  #1  
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Caracas- NYC OW. Use AA miles, US Airways miles or Avios?

Hi.

I need to book a one way flight from Caracas- New York (CCS-NYC).

I have about 122K AA miles, about 68K US Airways miles and about 59K BA (Avios) miles.

I fly economy class RT (NYC-CCS) once per year and to Europe from northeast US RT once per year. I often use United miles or converted Chase Rewards for the European flights and I typically use AA miles for the CCS flights.

AA charges 15K miles + $107 for the flight (CCS_NYC)
BA charges 17.5K Avios points * $177 for the flight.

On the surface it seems like AA offers the better deal. However, I am thinking AA miles are likely more valuable in the long run, since BA's fees are so high.

Any ideas as to whether to spend AA miles, US Airways miles or BA Avios for the ticket?

Thanks.
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Old Oct 28, 2014, 5:13 pm
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I would use the AA miles.

US charges the same number of miles for a one-way as for a roundtrip. US miles will be converted to AA miles sometime next year.

You can redeem BA Avios for travel on AB from JFK to DUS/TXL and beyond with no surcharges.
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Old Oct 29, 2014, 12:30 pm
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Thanks a million, guv.

That was great advice. I didn't know about Air Berlin.
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Old Oct 29, 2014, 7:13 pm
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Originally Posted by protagonist
Thanks a million, guv.

That was great advice. I didn't know about Air Berlin.
Glad to help.

There's another work-around for using Avios for TATL travel without crushing surcharges. If you redeem Iberia Plus Avios for travel on IB metal, surcharges are capped at ~ $50/segment. If you open and fund an Iberia Plus account (by earning even one Avios in that program), then 90 days later you can transfer BAEC Avios to the Iberia Plus program.

So redeem BA Avios on AB if you can; if you can't, and can find award space on IB metal, convert BAEC Avios to Iberia Plus Avios, and redeem Iberia Plus Avios on IB metal with modest surcharges.
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