Originally Posted by
Pseudo Nim
Purchases on AA.com are handled by points.com (I believe) and so will probably not count for the 2x bonus.
Have you checked business class oneway fares? Don't mean to call you a snob, but there's a very big difference between F on different airlines, and in some cases, J is so good that it's almost worth it over certain other carriers' F.
For instance, I would NEVER spend $20K again on SQ Suites. On the other hand, I will (and have) spend $5K for TK J roundtrip Asia - Europe tickets. TK is simply amazing. I'm never spending $9K again on SQ J, either. And so on.
I'm just saying that if you go all the way to buying $5K worth of tickets, I'm pretty positive you might be able to find an excellent J carrier for that price which will earn you miles and status.
AA.com mile is handled by itself, so 2x applies.
I've checked one way fares YYZ-DXB, DXB-SYD, SYD-HKG and they start at $1000 in Y and $2500 in J, for each segment at the most restrictive fare. I don't see how the marginal benefits on status/mileage accumulation is better for a travel in Sep 2016. Earn rate may even change by then.
I am also considering booking RT tickets and just use the one way first, but that's kind of not maximizing the value if I can't fly the return.
I mean with a $5500 spend on 200k AA miles, I can cover 2 segments (for 2 people) above in F/J with flexible change/cancel condition should the need arise, then when/if I find a good one way fare or LCC sale I can then cancel and rebook, tho the AA miles afterwards March will be a lot less useful but I'm hoping my plans will be firm by then.
Anyways I think I will end up buying with the Marriott card, the 11k points have at least $100 value.