<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by DallasCowboy:
Whats the best way to use AA miles for travel to India? I also have 2 EXP certificates gifted by a friend - can I use them for these flights? This is my first post here so please excuse me if I am asking an oft-asked question? Any suggestions will be very appreciated.
Thanks.</font>
More info would be helpful to answer this question. First of all, you cannot use a VIPOW (upgrade) if you are redeeming miles. They can only be used on a paid ticket. How many miles do you have to redeem? It takes 75,000 miles to redeem a combo American Airlines/ British Airways coach award to India. However, if you want to fly business, then you could purchase a super discount DFW-LGW American ticket and upgrade using your friend's VIPOW. Then you can redeem 75,000 miles for a business class ticket from London to India on British Airways. Of course this would require a bit of flexibility to make sure all your dates are available.
If you have plenty of miles, then many people on this board would suggest trying to redeem a Cathay Pacific 1st class award for 140,000 miles. This would route you 1st class on AA to a CX gateway, then Cathay's excellent 1st class via Hong Kong.
good luck