At the time I was recently booking flights through London to JNB, AA did not have any award seats. That left only Aer Lingus. Thus I went with Aer Lingus. As it turned out, AA finally loaded some award seats on the flight I originally wanted. So, I agree taking AA when using AA aawards makes sense if possible. Now, from what the above posters say, it seems I would still be able to use my awards on Aer Lingus. As far as the five or six other carriers available for crossing the pond, they don't fly from Boston and/or they don't go to LHR. Am I right about THIS?