I have been trying to figure out the "value" to me of the BA 241 and here's where I come down.

I am currently looking at traveling biz from LAX-ATH round trip. If I use my 241, it will cost me 130,000 miles plus about $1300. Since most of my miles are with AA, I use that to compare. If I used AA miles for the same itinerary, it would cost me 200,000 miles and negligible cash. To me, the additional 70,000 miles on American has roughly the same value as the $1300 fees I would pay on BA. Putting aside all other factors (e.g. BA's superior product), I conclude that the two options are about equal and thus the 241 voucher does not have a lot of value in this case.

My reasoning leads me to conclude that the real value of the 241 will be in instances where there is a large difference between the BA miles and 2 x the AA miles, so that I am getting more miles for the cash I have to pay on BA, if I use the 241. For example, if I am flying from LAX to Zone 1, AA would be 200,000 miles while BA would cost only 100,000 plus $1200, in which case I would prefer to spend $1200 than an extra 100,000 AA miles.

I'd love to hear your take on this. Am I missing something? Is the logic flawed? If this makes sense, then I think US-Zone 1 is the best value for me for my 241. Is there any other routing where I can approach/exceed that value?

Thanks for your comments.

xlax