Originally Posted by mich183902

i was told " the fine print doesnt include us air" and "when the award was created years ago it didn't include us air" Basically i was told a load of bull. I did mention that they are now an affiliate.

They also still refusing to extend the hold so i can adjust.

Originally Posted by jwbcwhit87

Thanks everyone for the awesome responses, after reading 3-4 responses, I learned more about my particular routing then I had previously understood after a few hours/days of research And yes, I am still figuring out how to post cool responses (tagging, bolded name responses, etc) like the pro's above me, but I digress.

1. @Guv1976, yes my home airport is served by AA, so that makes it much simpler to just start my trip from my home city, vs positioning to ORD. Thanks for clearing that up! I will remember to include all segments for my total trip. After some of the other responses, and realities of the places I want to visit, it looks like I will be going up to the high threshold (150k AA miles for 25k miles flown in biz class). As for the "open jaw" note, still not sure if I will be using one on this trip, I will know more once I get a better grasp on what open jaws really are

2. @BOSman, thanks so much for the tips! Your routing actually looks better then mine ( ORD-PEK-HKG-AKL-SYD-LAX). I am open to flying CX from ORD-HKG-PEK, just for the sole purpose of getting on my first ever biz class seat in my life! I am able to flip all of the countries into any order that creates the best routing, so very flexible there. Also, thanks for the tips on getting back to the US from Australia.

3. @PandaPerth, thanks for the detailed explanation, it is much appreciated. I agree with your statement up bumping up to the next threshold for an additional 5k miles flown, for a small 20k AA miles. This now seems like a complete no-brainer considering I can start/end in my home city, without positioning to larger cities. You mentioned looking for 1 seat and being flexible "shouldnt" be to difficult, does upping that to two people making it out of this world more difficult, or should I just start looking now for a trip 1 year from now?

Thanks everyone for your awesome help!

Originally Posted by sk3x

To a constructive question: anyone have any indication (or experience) on whether we should still be able to change dates on existing awards? That's one of the reasons I booked one, and would very much not like to be locked into the dates I have right now.

Originally Posted by sk3x

Terrible news indeed, though I won't jump to the conclusion that these would last forever sans merger. Maybe they can get rid of the "no third region" routing restriction...

To a constructive question: anyone have any indication (or experience) on whether we should still be able to change dates on existing awards? That's one of the reasons I booked one, and would very much not like to be locked into the dates I have right now.

Originally Posted by njvandy

I don't see how they could possibly prohibit date changes to existing award tickets that have already been purchased and ticketed. There are others here far more qualified than me to answer this, but wouldn't it be a DOT issue if they changed the terms or a ticketed sale after the fact?

Originally Posted by jmw

Almost none of us would ever pay those exorbitant amounts for those tickets. So 17.5 cents is just tooth fairy pixie dust material. If we quoted valuations like that, I can book a boring economy class ticket from SFO to JFK months in advance for 12.5k and $2.50 in taxes and then look up the price 60 minutes before the flight to get an inflated number that will make me feel like I saved a million bucks. Even 4.4 cents sounds way inflated.
When you've (not your employer) paid $25k cash for a trip like that, then you can use those valuations.