Originally Posted by
fayraree
Good call, thanks for your response. I am doing my homework to compare the mileage required on each airline...I know AA is 135k miles round trip on biz class and MR conversion rate is 200k points to 50k miles so I'd be looking at using around 600k points which really sucks because I would have loved to save those points for some great value at luxury hotels in Europe but I also want to take care of my mom, who's traveling with me on this trip!
Unlike many one-way paid tickets, one-way award tickets on AA/UA and their partners cost half the amount in miles that a RT award ticket costs. (AA actually considers all award tickets one-way, though both flights can be booked together.) That means, among other things, that you can use AA miles in one direction and UA in the other. I don't know if that's of any help in your situation, but sometimes it opens up additional possibilities. This summer I'm using UA miles to fly IAD-VIE-INN on OS, and AA miles to return MUC-PHL-DCA on US.