Originally Posted by
TheBlueMarble
Hello everyone! I'm new to the frequent flyer game, so please excuse my questions if they seem obvious.
I frequently fly from Boston Logan (BOS) to Hyderabad, India (HYD) round-trip. There are two major airlines that serve this route, BA and Emirates. I'd much rather fly on BA because it's part of oneworld.
I currently have 8000 BA Avios points (from one previous flight) and 70 tier points. I've heard a lot of talk about fuel surcharges on BA and how it's not the best frequent flyer program to be on within oneworld. Since I live in the US, I think it might be a better option to become an American Airlines member and book all my future flights through them.
Is there a way to book on BA, use my current BA miles for a discount, but gain new points on my American Airlines frequent flyer number? Or should I continue being a BA member? Also, can anyone please explain why exactly BA's program is bad / what are fuel surcharges?
Thanks ahead!
TheBlueMarble
A very warm welcome to the BA Board. Your questions are good and are complicated to answer fully so I shall explain as easily as possible.
Firstly, know that BA Avios can be GREAT value for loads of things, mostly, in your case for redeeming on AA. AA will charge you 25,000 miles to redeem a award within the US, regardless of distance (if within the 48 states). Yet, BA allows you to redeem on AA, based on their award system (which is significantly cheaper for some journeys. For instance, you can get BOS-ORD for 90000 avios return and $5 in fees.
Redeeming on BA is more expensive and I would not advise against spending 40,000 Avios and $650 (fuel surcharges) in BA taxes and fees for BOS-LHR in Y.
These surcharges are somewhat BA imposed to subsidies the fuel BA use and the rest are government taxes and fees. (I should state you would be charged the same amount even if using non-BA avios (i.e. AAdvantage miles)).
However, the value with redeeming these in CW (80,000 avios for BOS-LHR) + about $800USD in taxes, consdiering a normal fare would on average cost about $4000USD. It is also of GREAT use if you use avios to upgrade from World Traveller Plus (WT+, BA's premium economy cabin) to CW. It is simply 10,000 avios each way for BOS-LHR to get a bed and lounge access if you don't have status. That is the best use of your miles.
Also if you become Silver/Gold with BA, and fly AA domestically, you get access to their lounges for free (something even their own elites cannot do). However, if you are chasing after status, it makes earning status with BA considerably easier if you do not fly Y. If you are on Y only travel, then I do recommend the advantage programme if you are chasing status. However, if you are just doing it for the miles (or Avios in BA speak), stick with BA as redeeming them on AA is great value for money and is 80% of the time cheaper than what AA would charge you for the same award.
The only "bad" thing about BAEC is the fact that it is VERY hard to get status solely on Y travel (18 discount economy flights to become Silver). However, if you travel above Y, I honestly think BA is the best programme out there. I think it is great for spending avios if you use them wisely (CW/F BA awards, redeeming on AA or UUA (upgrading using avios)).
Also, considering BA's 4 flights a day from BOS, AA's rather large presence in BOS, and BA's India network, you are going to be hard to find a better programme regardless of airline. Also remember that one cannot redeem EK miles on any US airlines (IIRC), so your redemptions on EK would have to be solely on them (for the most part).
Also, to answer your question, unfortunately it is not an option to use Avios to subsidies LH flights.
Hope that was helpful.
BA0197