I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place, I have been through the stickies, but this doesn't seem to quite fit. (I think probably my questions are too basic.)

I have almost 65,000 AAdvantage Miles. I can't remember for the life of me how I got them, other than a few hundred I had put on through a BA flight last year to stop them expiring. As far as I can remember I have never flown with AA, so I must have got them in an offer or something.

Anyway, they expire this year, and I could do with using them up. I was hoping I could use them to get from UK to Ecuador (having failed to find a suitable ticket with BAEC). I'm quite happy to buy some extra miles to pad it out if needed.

Ideally I would like to fly between MAN and GYE. But a LON start or UIO finish would be fine as well. I am after 2 (me and OH) one way tickets, in business or first, and in either direction.

I can do this route with AA, but if I am reading the award chart right, I would have to do it as 2 stages, Europe - USA, USA - South America, there doesn't seem to be an option for Europe - South America. So it would be 80k for 2 o/w milesaaver peak awards in biz/1st (on a 2 class plane). Is that correct?

If so, I'd be better trying to book a partner award with Iberia, because that is 55k in biz or 70k in 1st (I think? ).

So my first question is, will AA let me book a partner flight with Iberia, on a route they have themselves? If so, have I got my figures right, and I am looking at 55k or 70k for the 2 tickets? (I think Iberia only have 2 classes, so although they call it 1st, I am guessing it's 55k, but again I'm not sure).

Will they allow me to book from MAN, or does it have to be from LON? Would it help if we skipped the UK segment and went from either MAD or BCN? Is there anyway of checking availability with Iberia?

I'm sorry if these are stupid questions, but I am totally out of my depth with this.

TIA