<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Jumpgate:
I have a ton of miles on AA, but I would like to purchase a US ticket. A few years ago they allowed that, but when rumors of the UA-US merger started, AA dropped that program.
Is there any way I can do this? I've heard of maybe converting to another airline (or amtrak) first. Any ideas are much appreciated.</font>
Well, if you really have a TON of miles (as in at least twice as many you think you need for this ticket) and if you don't need to do this superquick:
If you get a Diners Club card ($95 annual fee), you can transfer 50000 AA miles a year into it. That'll turn into 50000 Club Rewards points, which you can then transfer into 25000 US Airways Dividend Miles (you have to pay something like $24.75 transfer fee for the DC->US transfer, not sure if there are any transfer fees for AA->DC). Hopefully 25000 US miles is just enough for that ticket and that that ticket is available for when you need it.
FYI: This works from AA or UA only, but Diners Club points (which you earn 2 of for every $1 spent, plus lots of signup and other bonuses) can be turned into miles at LOTS of different airlines (typically in increments of 2000 points = 1000 miles). The fact that you want US miles isn't therefore what makes this conversion work, but rather that it's AA miles you have to start with.
But of course, if you don't think you can make other use of a Diners Club card later (if you make one purchase a month, you'll have 24000 bonus points equivalent to at least 12000 miles at the end of your first year), you have to think about whether $95 + $24.95 + losing half the value of your miles is still worth more than what it would cost you to simply buy a ticket with $$$ on US Air.