Originally Posted by
JaguarBest
To achieve this do you have to go with ba.com or aa.com ?
How do you get to mix and match airlines to avoid the <expletive> TAX that ba charges?
1. For award travel, fly on actual AA aircraft to/from your destination, as far as possible. Problem is AA has relatively few European destinations and zero African destinations.
This avoids BA and their nasty YQs for the TATL bit.
2. Since AA can only take you so far, look for a non BA partner that doesn't charge YQ to get you the rest of the way.
Even consider paying for the onward ticket. I've used paid BA flights (such as LHR to PRG), or flown on other carriers such as LH (paid) or Easy Jet or Ryan Air. It depends on what works out cheaper and is best use of miles.
If you are connecting at LHR you should be exempt from APD. If you make a stopover, you're stuck with APD.