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ARCHIVE: 2017 HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance

Old Jan 6, 2019, 2:14 pm
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Last edit by: JDiver
ARCHIVE: 2017 HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver Award Availability - Help, Assistance & Discussion

The current thread can be read here.


Some of you might have found your thread merged into this "consolidated" thread. If your desire is to become thoroughly familiar with the knowledge that has been accumulated about the process for acquiring MileSAAver awards feel free to read this entire thread. If you only want the assistance from those who have the knowledge your request has been merged at the end. Feel free to wait for a forthcoming answer.

If you have reached this thread by using the search process you have the same choices as above. Read the thread and become knowledgeable or post at the end and wait for a forthcoming answer.

thanks
~magic111


NOTE: for more detailed fare rules, see AA oneworld & Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (master thd)

Awards can generally be held for five days; five day extensions require continued availability of your flights and generating a new award booking and five day hold.

Though AA can start releasing awards 331 days from the desired flight date (even though some other airlines might make award seats available to their members 355 days out), its very likely award seats may be released a few days after that. If seats arent sold and Revenue Management algorithms signify slow sales, more seats might be released going forward.


Airlines that can be booked for award travel on aa.com

oneworld alliance airline partners
  • AA - American Airlines
  • BA - British Airways (awards incur significant YQ surcharge)
  • AY - Finnair
  • IB - Iberia
  • QF - Qantas
  • QR - Qatar Airways
  • RJ - Royal Jordanian Airlines
  • S7 - S7 Airlines
  • UL - Sri Lankan Airlines
other airline partners
  • 9K - Cape Air (but only certain cities)
  • TN - Air Tahiti Nui
  • AS - Alaska Airlines
  • EY - Etihad
  • HA - Hawaiian Airlines


All others must be requested by telephone; see Note below.

NOTE: To search for partner awards, go to advanced search from the awards search or home page and select all airlines.


Full list of oneworld airline partners (and their affiliates)
  • AA - American Airlines
  • BA - British Airways (Cityflyer, Comair, OpenSkies, Sun-Air of Scandinavia)
  • CX - Cathay Pacific (Dragonair)
  • AY -Finnair (Flybe)
  • IB - Iberia (Air Nostrum, Iberia Express)
  • JL - Japan Airlines (JAL Express, J-Air, Japan Transocean Air)
  • LA- LAN Airlines (LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador, LAN Express, LAN Colombia, LAN Peru only, merging with JJ to LATAM)
  • MH - Malaysia Airlines
  • QF - Qantas Airways (QantasLink, Jetconnect)
  • QR - Qatar Airways
  • RJ - Royal Jordanian Airlines
  • S7 - S7 Airlines (Globus) (excludes Siberia / far eastern Russia awards)
  • UL - SriLankan Airlines
  • JJ - TAM Airlines (merging with LA to LATAM)

When you do call, you might want to search for award space on the flights you want and tell the agent about those flights; sometimes AA agents won't find award seats unless they search by segment.

When using other airline web sites or tools to search for award availability, its best to do so by segment rather than by trip. E. g. BA May show availability SAN-LHR and LHR-AMS, but not SAN-AMS. And in some instances (EY, FJ, etc.) AA US may not see availability that AA Australia or New Zealand might see.

Full list of additional airline partners offering award redemptions
  • TN - Air Tahiti Nui
  • AS - Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air
  • 9K - Cape Air
  • EY - Etihad Airways
  • FJ - Fiji Airways
  • GF - Gulf Air
  • HA - Hawaiian Airlines


NOTE: Ticketing charge


Code:
oneworld Partners Award Fare Codes First-Business-Economy
 --------------------------------------------------------
 AA - American Airlines Z U T
 --------------------------------------------------------
 AY  Finnair U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 BA  British Airways Z U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 CX  Cathay Pacific Z U T
 KA - DragonAir
 --------------------------------------------------------
 IB  Iberia U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 JL  Japan Airlines (Intl) Z U T
 JL  Japan Airlines (Dom) Z D S
 --------------------------------------------------------
 LATAM Group
 JJ - TAM Airlines O I X
 LA  LAN Chile Z U T
 XL - LAN Ecuador
 LP - LAN Peru
 4M - LAN Argentina
 --------------------------------------------------------
 MH - Malaysia Airlines P U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 QF - QANTAS Airways P U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 QR - Qatar Airways Z U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 RJ  Royal Jordanian U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 S7  S7 Airlines U E
 --------------------------------------------------------
 UL - SriLankan Airlines
 --------------------------------------------------------
 
 Other Partners First Business Economy
 --------------------------------------------------------
 FJ  Fiji Airways U X
 --------------------------------------------------------
 TN  Air Tahiti Nui F for Business U for Economy
 --------------------------------------------------------
 AS  Alaska Airlines A W
 --------------------------------------------------------
 LY  El Al Israel P X E
 --------------------------------------------------------
 EY - Etihad O I N
 --------------------------------------------------------
 HA  Hawaiian Airlines D T
 --------------------------------------------------------
Effective February 16, 2015, a Reservations Ticketing Service Charge of $30.00 for domestic itineraries and $40.00 for international itineraries will be applied by AA Reservations when ticketing award reservations that can be booked on aa.com. The charge is waived for award reservations that cannot be booked on aa.com including reduced mileage awards, and for Executive Platinums. N.B. Executive Platinums booking award for non-EP will pay the service charges.
NOTE: Rather than release SAAver Awards at 330 days out, AA generally delays 48 hours after the 330 day time period has begun, at or about midnight Central time.

Other rules that may affect your awards:

Award Rules

American Airlines Awards are valid for travel on flights that are marketed and operated by AA (no codeshares). These awards can be booked online at AA.com.

oneworld and Other Airline awards are valid for travel on AA and any of its partner airlines, and can include travel on multiple partners. Many of these awards must be booked over the phone, and will not incur a Ticketing Service Charge (waived for EXPs in any case) if they cannot be booked online.
Up to four one-way awards can be booked on a single PNR. Codeshares are not bookable as Awards.

MPM or Maximum Permitted Miles: A Fare or award may not exceed the most direct routing by more than 25% (unless the fare routing includes a ticketed point deduction (essentially a miles allowance that extends MPM). See MPM / Maximum Permitted Mileage & Ticketed Point Deductions (merged threads).

Stopovers and Connections

Stopovers are no longer allowed on AA awards. Stopovers will require multiple awards.

Connections are limited to two connections / three flight segments for domestic awards, and three connections / four flight segments for international awards as of Aug 2017. Link

Domestic Connections must be under 4 hours for domestic flights, with some exceptions: "LIFO" (Last In - First Out connections are generally allowed.

Hawaii itinerary: Effective on 14 Jul 2014 on an all-AA-metal award itinerary, you now have up to 18 hours to connect when traveling to/from Hawaii. NOTE: Hawaii interisland connections must be separate awards and can not be included as part of a mainland-island award.

International Connections must generally not exceed 23:59 hours. Some leeway has occasionally been granted when connecting flights are not daily. If the itinerary includes an international flight, the rules for international connections apply. Link to these courtesy of JonNYC.

If there is a non-stop flight that departs after the 4h / 23h59m windows and arrives at the destination earlier than a connecting flight within the 4h / 23h59m window, the passenger may be booked on the non-stop flight. It may be difficult getting some agents to book this.

"Most Significant Carrier" rule: To price as a single award, AAdvantage requires the most significant carrier to publish a cash fare (non-constructed) between the origin and destination. Airline MSC (e.g. DFW-SFO-HKG-BKK, CX SFO-HKG is the prevailing or most significant carrier) would have to have a published fare from XXX to YYY that allows travel on all included airlines, and routing that you want. If the MSC only offers constructed fares between your desired origin and destination, AA will price this as two awards.

Constructed fares: Another rule disallows awards where the fare must be constructed (also referred to as "YY"): Using a partner, the trip will require two awards if the governing carrier (e,g. airline operating on the major route, such as transpacific carrier) doesn't publish a through fare that includes the award's proposed origin and destination that allows the carriers proposed.

See this thread about examples using TN.

Married Segment Logic - a prospective trip may be available when searching segment by segment, yet not be bookable through from origin to destination. When selling seats for through flights and the desired inventory is not available, you cannot opt to sell the flight point-to-point. If sold point-to-point, the error response MULTIPLE SEGMENTS FOR SAME FLIGHT - SELL AS ONE SEGMENT will be received, indicating this booking is not allowed. Overriding the error check by ending the PNR twice is not acceptable.

See Award with available segments not bookable? (Married Segment issues)
Resources

NOTE: New award charts are posted on AA.com from time to time. See the American Airlines charts here and the oneworld and partner award charts here.
Some airlines or areas have different, extra or special characteristics for securing awards. See

aa.com Basic (front page) vs Advanced Award Search Results (abbreviated results for front page search vs. Advanced award search)

AAdvantage awards to / from Australia, New Zealand link

AAdvantage awards to the Galpagos Islands, Ecuador link

AAdvantage awards on Air Tahiti Nui link

AAdvantage awards using British Airways incurring (avoiding) high fees link

AAdvantage award on Cathay Pacific (and Cathay Dragon) link

AAdvantage awards using Etihad Airways link

AAdvantage awards using Fiji Airways link

AAdvantage awards using Japan Airlines link

AAdvantage awards using Qantas Airways link

AAdvantage awards on S7 (Siberian) Airlines link
Awards assistance tools: Use at your own risk; may not be up to date. These are not recommendations.
  • Check this oneworld interactive map and timetable by Innosked to see potential routes.

  • British Airways Executive Club: You can sign up for British Airways Executive Club, Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank or Qantas Frequent Flyer to use their sites to find awards (look for the lowest level awards) you can't see on aa.com. BA in particular is prone to show "phantom" availability.

  • Award booking services - list and reviews (FT thread)

  • Award Nexus: It's easy to do your experiments for some free browsing (click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up with your FlyerTalk login info). You might want to run each segment rather than origin to destination.


    Originally Posted by sdsearch
    ...Award Nexus is free (up to a point) for FlyerTalk users. Click "more signup options" under the green Purchase button to sign up for free as a FlyerTalk member.


    What I like about Award Nexus is it has a much nicer user interface than BA and lets you choose whether to search through BA and/or QF, and as you can see each of those may give somewhat different results.


    The "cost" to do all these searches once was a total of 12 points, and you get 200 points free when you signup, and then every 90 days you can reload 100 more points for free (once you're below 10 points). So that gives an idea of how many searches could do free...


  • AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds

  • AwardHacker: "a tool we build to tell you how to travel with the least miles"

  • Award Nexus: which can search availability but can't determine cost, with FT member free limited use

  • Economical Excursionist's Tools: compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions

  • ExpertFlyer is a common tool used on FT. There is a $99.99 annual fee, monthly fee and five day trial

  • Great Circle Mapper is useful for calculating distance and MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage)

  • You can try PEX+ (currently in beta), which will even tell you how many miles you'll need, though it draws data from aa.com and S7 so it can't reveal awards that can not be seen on those sites.

  • Travel Codex Award Maximiser commercial blog


Also see:

aa.com Basic (front page) vs Advanced Award Search Results

Phantom / false AA award availability with AA partners (consolidated)

oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on

Help with British Airways / BA surcharge / YQ (AA award on BA, consolidated) (Awards using BA incur significant "YQ" surcharges.)

UK APD / Air Passenger Duty charged for UK departures[/quote] (Flights originating in the UK other than INV or BFS - or connections 24:00 or over - incur UK Air Passenger Duty excise taxes.)

MileSAAver / SAAver award reduction / scarcity >= Aug 2011 onward (consolidated)

Older posts from 2017 have been archived to: this archive thread

Older posts from 2016 have been archived to: this archive thread

Older posts through 2015 have been archived to: this archive thread
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ARCHIVE: 2017 HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance

Old Jan 22, 2017, 8:39 pm
  #121  
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: New York, NY USA
Programs: AA 8MM Exec,Life Plat, Marriott Amb,Life Titanium, ,Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist.
Posts: 495
Thank you!

It is often so difficult to "know for sure" as I get many 1800 agents who ask where in California Brussels is or Where in China Bangkok is? So I am never sure if it is me? The reservations systems? or the 800# brilliance. Don't get me wrong.....I have had MANY fabulous res agents but lately.....I am getting ones who seem to be sleeping or at home with dogs barking kids crying etc.....Very strange.

Thanks for the feedback. Cheers! NYC
NYCtraveler is offline  
Old Jan 22, 2017, 10:33 pm
  #122  
 
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 19
AAARRRGGHHH!! I was thrilled to find 2 business seats flying from LAX to Madrid on Iberia. I patched together segments to get me from PDX to LAX and from MAD to FCO. When I called the AA agent, I was told that the LAX to MAD seats weren't available. NOTHING was available as far as she could see from any of several US cities to several Europe destinations! I explained that the IB flight showed up on AwardNexus AND expertflyer, but she said they must be wrong. I hung up and checked the British Airways site- seats show as available. I called back AA and again, this time a supervisor happened to be who answered the call, but as before, the flights don't show up on their end. I even asked about several other trans-atlantic flights I had seen on AwardNexus, but according to the agent, none were available. Is this an AA agent issue or are the seats really not available? And if that is the case, What is the benfit of using, let alone paying for ExpertFlyer or AwardNexus if the information isn't accurate?
Linda Marshall is offline  
Old Jan 22, 2017, 11:11 pm
  #123  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 17
Originally Posted by Linda Marshall
AAARRRGGHHH!! I was thrilled to find 2 business seats flying from LAX to Madrid on Iberia. I patched together segments to get me from PDX to LAX and from MAD to FCO. When I called the AA agent, I was told that the LAX to MAD seats weren't available. NOTHING was available as far as she could see from any of several US cities to several Europe destinations! I explained that the IB flight showed up on AwardNexus AND expertflyer, but she said they must be wrong. I hung up and checked the British Airways site- seats show as available. I called back AA and again, this time a supervisor happened to be who answered the call, but as before, the flights don't show up on their end. I even asked about several other trans-atlantic flights I had seen on AwardNexus, but according to the agent, none were available. Is this an AA agent issue or are the seats really not available? And if that is the case, What is the benfit of using, let alone paying for ExpertFlyer or AwardNexus if the information isn't accurate?
That stinks. I've had issues before with Qantas and ExpertFlyer (which sources its Iberia info from Qantas) showing phantom availability on Iberia, but ba.com is usually much more accurate. I'm not sure what's going on there. Stick with it. It's so much harder to piece together 2 summer TATL business class tickets using AAdvantage miles and OneWorld than it is using Star Alliance carriers or even SkyTeam at this point, but it's possible if you're flexible and patient.
mipaho is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2017, 10:54 am
  #124  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 161
Hi Guys,

I'm trying to help a buddy of mine get to Kiev (KBP) originating from Chicago O'Hare (ORD) using my awards to book him an award ticket in business class the whole way. He is natively from Ukraine, and his grandmother is not doing well, so I'm trying to help him out as he doesn't have a lot of money, and I have a ton of points.

He's trying to depart Apr 28th 2017 or after, and be back in Chicago NLT than May 21st.

Unfortunately, when I try to do this on American's web-site, I seem to be getting hit up with $650 worth of airline fees in addition to 100k+ points i'm using. Everything I seem to find passes through LHR and connects via British Airways.

Is there anything I can do to get him a Business Ticket the whole way, on points only (minus minimum taxes)? Seems completely pointless if I have to fork over $650k on top of 100k miles.
usafltg is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2017, 10:57 am
  #125  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: FNT, but DTW if I can't help it
Programs: AAdvantage Former EXP/Current PLT / Total Rewards - Diamond / Hilton HHonors - Gold
Posts: 757
Originally Posted by usafltg
Hi Guys,

I'm trying to help a buddy of mine get to Kiev (KBP) originating from Chicago O'Hare (ORD) using my awards to book him an award ticket in business class the whole way. He is natively from Ukraine, and his grandmother is not doing well, so I'm trying to help him out as he doesn't have a lot of money, and I have a ton of points.

He's trying to depart Apr 28th 2017 or after, and be back in Chicago NLT than May 21st.

Unfortunately, when I try to do this on American's web-site, I seem to be getting hit up with $650 worth of airline fees in addition to 100k+ points i'm using. Everything I seem to find passes through LHR and connects via British Airways.

Is there anything I can do to get him a Business Ticket the whole way, on points only (minus minimum taxes)? Seems completely pointless if I have to fork over $650k on top of 100k miles.
The availability of sAAver awards, particularly the business ones, is very hard to come by. You could either use an AAnytime award (and spend substantially more miles) or diligently look for routings that don't include BA.

ExpertFlyer subscriptions come in handy for searching entire weeks at a time for availability.
josmul123 is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2017, 11:05 am
  #126  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 161
Originally Posted by josmul123
The availability of sAAver awards, particularly the business ones, is very hard to come by. You could either use an AAnytime award (and spend substantially more miles) or diligently look for routings that don't include BA.

ExpertFlyer subscriptions come in handy for searching entire weeks at a time for availability.
So when I was trying to look for anything, it didn't give me AAnytime award as an option for any of it. I don't believe I saw ANY other routings besides using BA.

Unless I'm doing something wrong?
usafltg is offline  
Old Jan 23, 2017, 12:35 pm
  #127  
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: DCA/IAD/WAS
Programs: MAR AMB, WOH Explorist, AA EXP, UA 2P
Posts: 2,133
Originally Posted by usafltg
So when I was trying to look for anything, it didn't give me AAnytime award as an option for any of it. I don't believe I saw ANY other routings besides using BA.

Unless I'm doing something wrong?
You won't see anytime awards to Kiev as AA doesn't fly there and anytime awards are for AA metal only. If you wanted to use that route you'd have to fly him to an AA served airport and then buy another ticket on another airline.
iadisgreat is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2017, 5:42 am
  #128  
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Posts: 11,408
Originally Posted by usafltg
Hi Guys,

He's trying to depart Apr 28th 2017 or after, and be back in Chicago NLT than May 21st.

Unfortunately, when I try to do this on American's web-site, I seem to be getting hit up with $650 worth of airline fees in addition to 100k+ points i'm using. Everything I seem to find passes through LHR and connects via British Airways.

Is there anything I can do to get him a Business Ticket the whole way, on points only (minus minimum taxes)? Seems completely pointless if I have to fork over $650k on top of 100k miles.
Being flexible is your friend, like other have stated you will have to fly into a AA city in Europe then onto Kiev on a separate ticket. Use this forum as a guide to help you understand how to use your miles.
FlightNurse is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2017, 7:05 am
  #129  
 
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,354
Originally Posted by FlightNurse
Being flexible is your friend, like other have stated you will have to fly into a AA city in Europe then onto Kiev on a separate ticket. Use this forum as a guide to help you understand how to use your miles.
Or if you're as crazy as I am, consider flying into a European city that AA serves, and then double-connect through LHR on BA at no extra mileage cost. You will need to pay around $100-200 in fees (fuel surcharges and UK passenger service fee) for the BA flights, which may actually outweigh the cost of a separate, paid ticket to KBP. That said, one has the peace of mind knowing that all flights are on the same ticket (and in J too if that matters). You won't need to pay the outrageous $500+ fuel surcharges for a long-haul BA flight.
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Old Jan 24, 2017, 8:11 am
  #130  
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Originally Posted by usafltg
So when I was trying to look for anything, it didn't give me AAnytime award as an option for any of it. I don't believe I saw ANY other routings besides using BA.

Unless I'm doing something wrong?
The only AAdvantage partner that flies to KBP is BA, so unless you have miles in some other program (or points that can be converted to miles in some other program), routing via LON is required.

If you can find SAAver space on AA metal between the U.S. and LHR, fees will be substantially less. Remember that connections of up to 24 hours are permitted on international awards.
guv1976 is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2017, 1:11 pm
  #131  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 161
Or if you're as crazy as I am, consider flying into a European city that AA serves, and then double-connect through LHR on BA at no extra mileage cost. You will need to pay around $100-200 in fees (fuel surcharges and UK passenger service fee) for the BA flights, which may actually outweigh the cost of a separate, paid ticket to KBP. That said, one has the peace of mind knowing that all flights are on the same ticket (and in J too if that matters). You won't need to pay the outrageous $500+ fuel surcharges for a long-haul BA flight.
Hmmm I guess i'm confused as to what this "double connection is all about". I pretty much "never" use miles to go anywhere, because in order to to requal for EXP every year, I pretty much have to be on all paid tickets. I'm sure I can get him on one AWARD from ORD-LHR direct on AA Metal. But the only OneWorld Carrier that serves KBP is BA. So how do I get him out of LHR to KBP without having to pay ridiculous fees and costs?

The only AAdvantage partner that flies to KBP is BA, so unless you have miles in some other program (or points that can be converted to miles in some other program), routing via LON is required.

If you can find SAAver space on AA metal between the U.S. and LHR, fees will be substantially less. Remember that connections of up to 24 hours are permitted on international awards.
I'm not really sure what "remembering that connections of up to 24 hours are permitted" really means.

Would it be possible to provide me a couple of examples of how I might go about this? Again... I'm trying to help a friend out here as best as I can.
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Old Jan 24, 2017, 1:18 pm
  #132  
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Originally Posted by usafltg
Hmmm I guess i'm confused as to what this "double connection is all about". I pretty much "never" use miles to go anywhere, because in order to to requal for EXP every year, I pretty much have to be on all paid tickets. I'm sure I can get him on one AWARD from ORD-LHR direct on AA Metal. But the only OneWorld Carrier that serves KBP is BA. So how do I get him out of LHR to KBP without having to pay ridiculous fees and costs?



I'm not really sure what "remembering that connections of up to 24 hours are permitted" really means.

Would it be possible to provide me a couple of examples of how I might go about this? Again... I'm trying to help a friend out here as best as I can.
For example, if you can find SAAver space on AA metal into LHR (either on a nonstop flight or connecting flights) getting in at, say, 10:00 am, and there is award space from LHR to KBP the following morning at, say, 9:45 am on BA, that should be bookable as a single award at the SAAver level. Your friend would be responsible for the cost of overnight accommodations in London.

I suspect that the tough part will be finding AA metal into LHR at the SAAver level, however.
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Old Jan 24, 2017, 1:40 pm
  #133  
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Southern California
Programs: American Airlines
Posts: 88
Smile LAX to LHR

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.
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Old Jan 24, 2017, 1:49 pm
  #134  
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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Posts: 29,371
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.
If you have 150,000 miles and you redeem 60,000 miles, wouldn't that leave you with 90,000 miles?

To avoid high fees on AAdvantage trans-Atlantic travel, you must avoid BA metal for the TATL segment.

Try calling AA and ask about award availability in the TN LAX-CDG nonstop, connecting to BA CDG-LON.
guv1976 is offline  
Old Jan 24, 2017, 1:52 pm
  #135  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: USA
Programs: Chase Sapphire Reserve, WFBF
Posts: 1,573
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.
wetrat0 is offline  

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