How do I take advantage of my miles? (MIA-ICN-NRT-MIA)
Dec 9, 2013, 4:37 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Programs: American Airlines, Delta
Posts: 6
How do I take advantage of my miles? (MIA-ICN-NRT-MIA)
Hello Flyertalk members,
I have a trip coming up in February with my wife and I would like some help on how I can use my mileage to get discounted flight or upgrade us to business class.
I only have about 24,000 mileage points at this time and awaiting 50,000 mileage points from using Citi AAdvantage Platinum Level MasterCard. I'm hoping this will upgrade me to AAdvantage gold.
Here are the planned itinerary
2/9/2014 MIA -> ICN
2/13/2014 ICN -> NRT
2/15/2014* NRT -> MIA
*(last leg of the trip can be plus/minus a day)
Could I get an advice on how I can either save $$ for this trip using the miles or if possible quality for an upgrade?
Thank you very much for your time.
I have a trip coming up in February with my wife and I would like some help on how I can use my mileage to get discounted flight or upgrade us to business class.
I only have about 24,000 mileage points at this time and awaiting 50,000 mileage points from using Citi AAdvantage Platinum Level MasterCard. I'm hoping this will upgrade me to AAdvantage gold.
Here are the planned itinerary
2/9/2014 MIA -> ICN
2/13/2014 ICN -> NRT
2/15/2014* NRT -> MIA
*(last leg of the trip can be plus/minus a day)
Could I get an advice on how I can either save $$ for this trip using the miles or if possible quality for an upgrade?
Thank you very much for your time.
Dec 9, 2013, 4:39 pm
#2
Moderator: New York City and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: AA PLT, Natl EC
Posts: 10,855
Welcome to FlyerTalk three_stones! As noted in the Sticky, this consolidated forum is being used for discussions regarding the combined airlines and programs. Since your question is specific to pre-merger AAdvantage, we'll move it to the pre-merger forum.
/Moderator
/Moderator
Dec 9, 2013, 8:48 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Programs: American Airlines, Delta
Posts: 6
oops, sorry about that!
Dec 10, 2013, 12:32 am
#4
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: los angeles, calif.
Programs: Alaska Airlines Gold MVP
Posts: 7,170
You will not be AA Gold unless you actually flew 25,000 miles between January 1st and December 31st 2013. Credit card miles don't count towards status.
74,000 miles isn't quite getting you to what you want.
To go coach, you need 100,000 miles for two tickets.
To go business, you need 200,000 miles for two tickets.
To upgrade to business from a paid coach ticket, you need 100,000 miles for two tickets (plus $1,300 in copay fees).
That also doesn't include ICN-NRT. That requires another ticket - 10,000 miles/person in coach.
It's not a difficult time to get award seats to Asia. The difficult part might actually be getting an award seat from Miami to North America-Asia gateway to connect to Asia.
74,000 miles isn't quite getting you to what you want.
To go coach, you need 100,000 miles for two tickets.
To go business, you need 200,000 miles for two tickets.
To upgrade to business from a paid coach ticket, you need 100,000 miles for two tickets (plus $1,300 in copay fees).
That also doesn't include ICN-NRT. That requires another ticket - 10,000 miles/person in coach.
It's not a difficult time to get award seats to Asia. The difficult part might actually be getting an award seat from Miami to North America-Asia gateway to connect to Asia.
Dec 10, 2013, 2:08 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2011
Programs: American Airlines, Delta
Posts: 6
Hi MAH4546,
Thank you very much for your response.
I guess it's a lot harder than I imagined to get an upgrade.
I think I'll just suck it up and buy the airfare at regular price and see if we can get lucky to get an upgrade at the gate.
Is it worth it to use AA miles to book hotels in Asia?
Thank you very much for your response.
I guess it's a lot harder than I imagined to get an upgrade.
I think I'll just suck it up and buy the airfare at regular price and see if we can get lucky to get an upgrade at the gate.
Is it worth it to use AA miles to book hotels in Asia?
Dec 10, 2013, 5:19 pm
#6
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: los angeles, calif.
Programs: Alaska Airlines Gold MVP
Posts: 7,170
I personally think that's a terrible waste of miles, but that all depends.
You have enough miles for a one-way First Class ticket to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, which is a $10,000 one-way ticket and 16 hours of pure bliss. Hoard the miles for experiences like that is what I and many others here do.
You have enough miles for a one-way First Class ticket to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, which is a $10,000 one-way ticket and 16 hours of pure bliss. Hoard the miles for experiences like that is what I and many others here do.
Dec 10, 2013, 7:38 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2004
Location: DFW/DAL
Programs: AA Lifetime PLT, AS MVPG, HH Diamond, NCL Platinum Plus, MSC Diamond
Posts: 21,422
Hi MAH4546,
Thank you very much for your response.
I guess it's a lot harder than I imagined to get an upgrade.
I think I'll just suck it up and buy the airfare at regular price and see if we can get lucky to get an upgrade at the gate.
Is it worth it to use AA miles to book hotels in Asia?
Thank you very much for your response.
I guess it's a lot harder than I imagined to get an upgrade.
I think I'll just suck it up and buy the airfare at regular price and see if we can get lucky to get an upgrade at the gate.
Is it worth it to use AA miles to book hotels in Asia?
I don't use air miles to book hotels.
Air miles are best used for air, especially since I can't transfer them to HH anymore
You are closed to gold, but you need flight to get there. Additionally, Gold is useful for getting preferred economy seats