Originally Posted by
ponickka
Hi all,
After months of planning for the family vacation this Spring, I am super close to finalizing the Itinerary. I was debating between a return flight via Cathay (9AM)or AA (8PM) from HKG to LAX - Economy
To my luck last night, i was able to find another Cathay flight at a later time (6PM) and quickly called AA to put it on hold. My Wife prefers Cathay over AA
I have two options but need help on deciding:
A. Use AA points, roughly 150k and $304 taxes for family of 4
B. Use Chase (transfer to BA), roughly 130k and $179 taxes
C* (if possible) - book two on through AA and Chase respectively? Does this even make sense?
Which one is a better option for me? I value Chase more than AA but using less points and less money is always my goal. The difference if comparing pts to pts is 20k and $125 in taxes.
In reality, is it a wrong move to go with AA?
What would you do?
Thanks in advance.
Current points:
AA points - 210k
Chase - 200k
So just to be clear - you're comparing booking the same CX flight, but deciding between redeeming AA miles or BAEC Avios right?
I'm wondering about your figures for taxes & fees (and BAEC Avios). For one thing, those should be identical on an AA redemption in this scenario. Although one can't see CX on AA.com, a search on AA metal HKG-LAX in Y shows ~$53 in taxes and fees per person - same as with a BAEC redemption on CX metal (see below). Redeeming AA miles for the same routing on CX metal shouldn't change the taxes & fees in this situation.
Also BAEC is showing
35K Avios and ~$53 per person for one-way HKG-LAX in Y on CX which would be
140K and ~
$212 total.
So both options should be equal in cash and a BAEC redemption would save 10K total miles/points.