A rant on AA award options
Aug 30, 18, 12:18 pm
#31
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,531
Of course, if you have a time machine, you can go back to the original AAdvantage program. Guaranteed availability, and car/hotel coupons too. Only problem, no partners, no way to get to Venice---and no seatback video.
Aug 30, 18, 12:21 pm
#32
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: WAS
Programs: Free Agent
Posts: 1,717
Agreed. I love my AA miles, but wouldn't dream of wasting them to fly TATL with AA (much less BA). But I've had wonderful J/F trips on JL, QR and EY, and hope to add CX to the list.
Aug 30, 18, 12:22 pm
#33
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: The FT AA forum, until it no longer wants me.
Programs: CK or bust
Posts: 1,890
Aug 30, 18, 12:30 pm
#34
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,531
(Sorry, my deep insight has probably been posted in this forum before, probably ad nauseum.)
Last edited by SeeBuyFly; Aug 30, 18 at 12:40 pm
Aug 30, 18, 12:47 pm
#35
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Stilllwater OK (SWO)
Programs: AAdvantage ExecPlat, World of Hyatt Globalist, plain "member" of Marriott, IHG, enterprise, etc.
Posts: 1,749
Most of us on FT know the rules of the game and how to make it work (barely) for us. However, there are always new entrants who are shocked---shocked---to find that miles are not cash equivalents, since AA advertising tells us that once you have miles, oh the places you will go.
And for the record, I am about to fly on a sAAVer award ticket, I found one that actually works for me, but , the routing/timing of the flight is less than ideal and the cash value for the points at time of booking was still a measly 1.2 cents/pt. I haven't found a better way yet to get my miles to get me anything better.
Last edited by MarkOK; Aug 30, 18 at 12:53 pm
Aug 30, 18, 1:03 pm
#36
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: ORD
Programs: Once a somebody now a nobody
Posts: 498
As an ORD based flyer who's gone to Europe in J every year for the last 10 years you will have far better luck on Star Alliance. Austrian, LOT, Turkish, and even United to a degree offer a decent amount of saver J ahead of time. LH and Swiss also offer a decent amount of saver J closer in.
I've had decent luck as well with Skyteam on their ORD-CDG/AMS routes. I just redeemed for mid-April ORD-AMS-DUB o/w for 53k Flying Blue miles which I transferred from ThankYou points w/ a 30% transfer bonus. The tax/surcharge was $250. 41k TYP + $250 is a fairly good value in my book for the current state of saver J in my opinion.
OneWorld is the worst in my opinion. BA has the most availability but the surcharges just suck. IB ORD-MAD is a good option that i've taken but with the ability to book them online last year they tend to go fast. AA metal is the hardest and will only get harder with AA's 787's losing 8 J seats come 2019. My only real success in the last few years with AA has been their occasional award seat dumps or schedule change Sundays.
I think for saver J to Europe the grass is greener somewhere else.
I've had decent luck as well with Skyteam on their ORD-CDG/AMS routes. I just redeemed for mid-April ORD-AMS-DUB o/w for 53k Flying Blue miles which I transferred from ThankYou points w/ a 30% transfer bonus. The tax/surcharge was $250. 41k TYP + $250 is a fairly good value in my book for the current state of saver J in my opinion.
OneWorld is the worst in my opinion. BA has the most availability but the surcharges just suck. IB ORD-MAD is a good option that i've taken but with the ability to book them online last year they tend to go fast. AA metal is the hardest and will only get harder with AA's 787's losing 8 J seats come 2019. My only real success in the last few years with AA has been their occasional award seat dumps or schedule change Sundays.
I think for saver J to Europe the grass is greener somewhere else.
Aug 30, 18, 1:05 pm
#37
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 7,380
Key is being a little flexible - be willing to book an award to a different city then book a separate cheap ticket to VCE (either train or air).
That is how I have made award bookings work when saver space isn’t available within +\- 2 days for my destination.
I agree with you and many others about BA’s stupid YQ surcharge.
That is how I have made award bookings work when saver space isn’t available within +\- 2 days for my destination.
I agree with you and many others about BA’s stupid YQ surcharge.
Aug 30, 18, 1:09 pm
#38
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: SAN
Programs: AA CK, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 839
I believe most of AA’s advertising is aimed at the economy customer. There iare usually plenty of saver awards in Economy. I remember a time when I would have been thrilled to get a saver award flight to Europe for 40,000 miles. Today, however, me and everyone else expects to find saver awards in J and whine when they’re not available. Too many miles chasing too little J capacity.
Aug 30, 18, 1:11 pm
#39
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: ORF
Programs: Amex Plat, AA, BA Silver, Marriott Plat, Choice Gold, HHonors Gold, IHG Diamond
Posts: 3,701
Just wanted to share my frustration with AA. I was an occasional flyer (usually FC ) with a couple hundred k miles between my wife and I. Also have a bunch of 500 mile upgrades but know these are not applicable to overseas. I had been looking to use these miles for a trip to Venice from ORD in late Sept. and started looking at award options a year ago. There were absolutely no BC (saver points) options available at any point in my search (pretty much checked daily). Some crazy BA BC offers showed up (transfer to a different airport, stay overnight, and pay many hundreds of dollars in 'fees') that were really laughable. I even checked days before and after ie was flexible. Bottom line was the only thing I could book was an outbound coach with saver points and return coach with anytime points. AA was kind enough to let me pay extra to have a few back of the plane 2 in a row seats on their 787. I know this is perhaps a 'limited' travel overview but my colleagues who are AA high status level tell me a similar sad story. So my plan is to burn any AA miles I have left (as I stew in the back of the plane) and move on to other carriers where the miles have a bit more value. Thanks for letting me vent!
I would offer one option if you've got approximately 200K AA miles to get to VCE--route to Rome on your flight over and use the excellent Italian train service. I just checked and two can fly coach on the nonstop flights RT between ORD to FCO, leaving 9/19 and returning 10/1 for 190K miles and about $300 in taxes and fees. Trains run from FCO to Venice in about four hours. Your observation about business class to Venice holds true for Rome too, though; the least expensive business class ticket I saw for the period of September and October ran 110K for each seat one way and was as much as 180K on some dates. AA's "award chart" is, as some advertisements for gambling sites say, "for entertainment purposes" only.
Aug 30, 18, 2:00 pm
#40
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 590
I redeemed 115k AA miles for EY First Apartment from Maldives all the way to JFK. Amazing experience with delicious food. I slept like a baby for at least half the flight. So if you don't want your AA miles, please send them to me and I'll put them to good use.
Aug 30, 18, 2:42 pm
#42
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 43,983
Doesn't that depend on where in the USA you start and where in Europe you end
Aug 30, 18, 2:45 pm
#43
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,267
One may compare cash ticket prices because a dollar is a dollar. But, comparing the cost of award tickets by looking to the number of miles or points a ticket costs across carriers does not work.
It takes x minutes for a given person to earn $1. But, how one earns miles differs across carriers and so do the uses. WN may be great if one flies to WN destinations. But, OP wants to go to Europe and to VCE in particular. That isn't going to happen on WN.
It takes x minutes for a given person to earn $1. But, how one earns miles differs across carriers and so do the uses. WN may be great if one flies to WN destinations. But, OP wants to go to Europe and to VCE in particular. That isn't going to happen on WN.
Aug 30, 18, 2:46 pm
#44
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 590
One may compare cash ticket prices because a dollar is a dollar. But, comparing the cost of award tickets by looking to the number of miles or points a ticket costs across carriers does not work.
It takes x minutes for a given person to earn $1. But, how one earns miles differs across carriers and so do the uses. WN may be great if one flies to WN destinations. But, OP wants to go to Europe and to VCE in particular. That isn't going to happen on WN.
It takes x minutes for a given person to earn $1. But, how one earns miles differs across carriers and so do the uses. WN may be great if one flies to WN destinations. But, OP wants to go to Europe and to VCE in particular. That isn't going to happen on WN.
Aug 30, 18, 2:46 pm
#45
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,531
OK, what you were probably referring to is the "twice as far" bit. Yes, the exact ratio varies, and the stated ratio was rounded to integer accuracy (zero decimal places) to indicate that it is approximate.
