Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
When I started seeing J/D redemptions in the hundreds of thousands of miles on AA, then I knew that it was time to move back to QRPC, where I was once PLT and will be again after this trip.
.........
I don't think that the same itinerary on AA would even get me to EXP, never mind the absurd prices on mileage redemptions.
Yes, I don't redeem on AA, just partners so that's advantageous as they do have a good award chart and low fees on everyone except BA. But I also don't live in North America nor redeem to / from North America, so actually partner availability is very good. Having said that I also keep a stash of Avios because there are great use cases for them in some markets that are a lot better than redeeming AAdvantage, plus QR has Rwandair which is a REALLY good redemption considering the cost of business class intra-Africa.
Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
Thank you much for your thoughtful responses. Any suggestions for increasing my mileage?
I think crediting to QRPC you have a pretty solid itinerary, you might squeeze in a few hundred more miles but not a ton. For example if you change Spain to Morocco, CMN is ~250 miles further from DOH than MAD. Changing LHR to DUB or EDI gives you ~200-250 miles more. I think on an ex-Japan itinerary that's about it without adding continents, naturally going down to AKL or SCL would add a lot of miles but on ex-Japan it also adds a fair bit of cost.
Ex-CAI the base cost differential between DONE3, 4, 5 (even 6 really) is absolutely minimal... a lot less than ex-Japan BUT there are a lot more YQ / YR variables. Ex-Japan doesn't have YQ (if I understand my last 2 e-tickets correctly), just some YR which is a lot lower and offsets the higher base price. As long as you're not worried about which partner code is used, you can definitely lower the ex-CAI YQ / YR significantly by using certain codeshares. (Like AA codes instead of BA for example, AA instead of QF if going from OZ or NZ).
I would encourage you to price out an ex-CAI and sub in something like SCL and AKL as side trips from North America and Asia and see how it prices for you. AA is pretty much your only choice for South America, but for New Zealand or Australia, you have a lot of options. I'd prioritize CX myself with QF and MH slightly behind them, I guess if you have an ex-CAI ticket then JL is also an an option to Australia for you, but I still like CX better than JL as long as you don't get stuck on their craptastic regional 777-300 or A330.