Originally Posted by Hi5z

This might be considered a double post but it was buried inactive in the bottom of the forum. So i thought this might be a good idea to bring up my concern on purchasing mileage topic.

Here's my understanding of the buyAAmiles program. After getting a price quota from aa.com for flight JFK-ORD-PVG round trip, the ticket face value for Economy Super Saver is $848, Business Special is $5410 and First Class is $16364. Aside from the promotion, it costs $1105 for 40,000 miles in buyAAmiles program. $1105/40,000=$0.027625 (Cash Value per Mile).

Redeem MileSAAver Peak for One-Way

Enonomy Super Saver - 35,000 miles
Business Special - 55,000 miles
First Class - 67,000 miles

Redeem AAnytime for One-Way

Enonomy Super Saver - 70,000
Business Special - 110,000
First Class - 135,000

Economy Super Saver = 35,000 x $0.027625 x 2 Round Trip = ($1934 Mileage Value) vs. ($848 Ticket Face Value)
Business Special = 55,000 x $0.027625 x 2 Round Trip = ($3040 Mileage Value) vs. ($5410 Ticket Face Value)
First Class = 67,000 x $0.027625 x 2 Round Trip = ($3700 Mileage Value) vs. ($16364 Ticket Face Value)

So we can see here that buyAAmiles is never smart for redeeming Economy but definitely save money for redeeming Business or First Class, espcially First Class

Redeem Miles for Upgrade

From Most Discount Economy - 25,000 + $350 (Mile & Co-Pay)
From Business Special - 25,000 + $550 (Mile& Co-Pay)

Business Special = $848 Economy Round-Trip Ticket + 25,000 x $0.027625 x 2 Round Trip + $350 x 2 Round Trip = ($2929 Mileage Value) vs. ($5410 Ticket Face Value)
First Class = $5410 Business Round-Trip Ticket + 25,000 x $0.027625 x 2 Round Trip + $550 x 2 Round Trip = ($9892 Mileage Value) vs. ($16364 Ticket Face Value)

So we can see here that it is definitely worth it to use buyAAmiles program as an alternative method to purchase either Business or First Class ticket.