Originally Posted by
livencali
Hello,
I am not sure if this is the place for a broad discussion about this, but it seems to be so. If not Moderators, please re-locate. Thank you.
I am trying to get from LAX (Los Angeles) to LHR (London) and back on June 2st through 7th this year (2017) on 150,000 AAdvantage miles. I searched the AA website, and to redeem these miles I would have to cough up 60,000 AA Miles plus $755.00 USD, which would leave me with 60,000 miles, ouch!!!
Is there a more valuable way?
Thank you for your help in advance.
You must be selecting flights operated by BA, which charges a "fuel surcharge" on redemptions in addition to taxes. You should uncheck "British Airways" to see options on AA only.
On June 2, I do not see any LAX-LHR availability without using BA. However, on June 7, you could choose to stay on AA metal and connect in MIA rather than taking the BA nonstop, which would reduce the cost to 60,000 + $475.
As an alternative you can choose an AAnytime award to get on AA metal for the outbound, which would bring you to a total of 95,000 + $171. Whether this is a better or worse deal than 60,000 + $475 is just a question of which you value more, 35,000 miles or $304.
Unfortunately, if you don't have any flexibility on dates, this is probably the best you are going to do. Personally, I would do the 60,000 + $475 if my dates were fixed.
Edited to add: you could buy the roundtrip outright for $922, so none of the options is a particularly attractive redemption, but AA miles are getting more difficult to redeem these days.