Well I ended up forking over the 15,000 miles and $100.

To schriste, you are right that my goal is to get my mom and I to Europe in first or business when I graduate. But I got a job about a month ago (income, yay!) and decided to stick with AA. I expect to re-qualify for PLT this year and at least PLT next year, which by doing so (taking into account the bonus miles) will give me plenty of miles to get 2 award tickets to Europe in 3 years. And as I said before, I will make up just about the 15,000 miles in this MR alone.

In the end, the cash was more important a consideration than the miles; and I considered the 6-hour flight worthy of $100.

Now the question is, where to sit? I have reserved 4A.