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[B]"Miss Tafflyer will now travel MUC-HEL-NRT on Finnair connecting to NRT-SYD on Qantas for 60,000 AA miles at a total price of around $1,400 (£850) including miles purchase and taxes."

Excellent result (and excellent value). Congrats!

The value of Avios varies widely from situation to situation. Here in the States, the ability to book a short-haul redemption on an AA nonstop for 4,500 Avios with no close-in booking fee and a cancellation fee of only $2.50 USD gives Avios real value. Across the pond, RFS and 2-4-1 redemptions are also very good. But for long-haul redemptions such as yours, AAdvantage miles provide better value, by far. No surcharges (except for travel on BA/IB), zone pricing with no extra charge for connections, and no extra charge for using multiple carriers. (But no free stopovers, either.)

It's wise to have miles/Avios in both programs if one intends to make different types of redemptions.