Originally Posted by
moondog
LAX-HKG-CAN, March 2 (arriving March 4)
Since I wanted to take care of business tonight, and both US and UK call centers were closed, I transacted via the HK service center, which required me to switch to an Asian address. While this was no problem for me, any of you who haven't had your second 50k post should refrain from going this route (because you'll never see those miles).
I got the phone fee waived (with a bit of pushing) and I booked a separate ticket with AS miles from PDX to LAX.
Bottom line:
50k BA miles plus $500HK
12.5K AS miles plus $2.50
I redeemed one from TXL to MAD on IB. In C. 15k miles and $90 in taxes. Not a great theoretical use of miles but a. it's not actually on BA, which is very important for the accounting hit, and b. it totally solves my need to travel between open jaws of a FD Star itin at a high-demand time. Even the locos wanted $200 for the one-way on that particular day, so this was genuinely helpful.
I can restore the 15k through mild CC spend anyway, so no problem to get back to square one before I try for a big one.