jameswes

Sure, but that doesn't work in your favor for International J/F.

Picking a random week ORD - LHR in J (June 15-22). Nonstop flights are $5,000-$9,000. So even if Southwest/JetBlue had the international business class, at 1.5 cents/point, it would be 330K-600K points.

And here everyone's complaining that AA might charge 180K round trip! Which is still only half of what SW/JetBlue would charge for a "well-regarded fare-based redemption".

3Cforme

No, it doesn't work for intl J/F, but look at the small fraction of redemptions those represent. The current AA, DL, UA scheme leaves a bad taste in the mouth for maybe 90% of people redeeming miles. Check the redemption stats in the annual reports. Look at surveys of FF plan satisfaction year after year. I have stopped playing. Fifteen years ago I redeemed 200k UA miles for a standard ---not saver - award in F to Sydneyz and was dismayed I couldn't find saver at 120k after six weeks of daily searching over a broad date range. I see Delta asking 800k and up today for business today and ask ....

shoelessj

Appreciate the comments in support (and thoughtful exceptions expressed). Again just expressing my opinion and frustration and why I will give up on AA . I understand that basing this on one redemption is a limited data point but searching for a year and being open to reasonable connections still left me in the lurch. My whole point of using them (again occasional domestic FC) was to bankroll some miles for a Europe BC and I was dismayed at how horrible the redemption opportunities were.

At the end of the day I will suck it up in Coach for 7 hours on a non stop with my wife rather than trying to work out some convoluted schedule with long stopovers, or travel to different origination/destination points. BC can be nice but not worth that misery. I understand that the redemption for BC looks great when one ties it into a 5000-9000 BC ticket but really who would pay this out of their pocket for an 7-9 hour flight and does it really reflect that $$ value? Mostly when I travel on business to Europe any more i opt for LOT Polish through WAW for a reasonable 3-4k BC roundtrip.

Anyway I continue voting with my feet to what are my best earning/ redemption ops. I dumped Plat and Gold Amex for Chase Reserve, Hilton Diamond for Marriott Plat,and will focus on UA and Star Alliance for overseas and limited domestic. WN remains the gold standard for me. It is like my family airline and I can supply trips for everyone and still build miles, and of course their international footprint keeps expanding.

kapooncha

Why would one want to fly Delta to Sydney when you can redeem on their partner, Virgin Australia, for a better product and at a fraction of the miles needed for Delta metal?

rsercely

I agree with a lot of the posters. AA BC is easier and a better deal to Asia than it is to Europe.

But - if you are going to do Europe, make sure to NOT connect through Heathrow. The fees are about $1000 per "free" ticket! The fees are about $100 through any other city. Consider Madrid for example

jensha

I fly DFWSLC (and back) regularly on different times of the year and different days of the week. Almost never see a saver unless I choose a connection through Seattle or something equally unattractive that takes all day. But I did actually score a saver on a Saturday afternoon LASDFW and felt like that was good luck charm for that trip!

beachfan

That's not LHR, that's BA carrier imposed surcharge. There is no APD on transfers (i.e., less that 24 hours). Easiest on the same ticket (not charged) but I heard there was a process for getting it back if it's on 2 tickets. Also, arrivals don't pay it.

JJeffrey

This is not true at all , there are no extortionate fees to connect through LHR.

It's been discussed ad nauseam here, the high fees come when you use BA for the longhaul segment of the award, not when you just connect through LHR. Fly AA to LHR then connect to BA shorthaul within Europe and your total taxes and fees typically vary between $25-$100 depending on class of service and route. Lets keep the facts straight.

beltway

Um, how exactly is this relevant? We're talking about TATL travel.

On a recent trip, I had connections through FRA and VIE, as well as one intra-Europe connection through OSL. In exactly zero cases did I have to be re-screened as one must at LHR. Passport control when entering/exiting Schengen, yes--but that's routine, and in any event distinct from security screening.

LHR as a connecting point for US travel to Europe remains a miserable experience for all the reasons I cited, even if you get to use the Singapore lounge. (I have. It's lovely, but not lovely enough to overcome all the other factors.)

LondonElite

You are confusing a lot of things, including carrier-imposed surcharges and APD, which all UK airports impose, not just LHR.

Croupier

kapooncha

Ah, sorry, no. That part was just first class. The F Apartment was on the AUH-JFK leg.

xliioper

Something like 90% of awards are for plain old domestic coach. FTer's can hardly be viewed as typical when it comes to award redemptions.

kapooncha

Good point. Most people are probably just hoping to use miles to go visit Grandma in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. They could give a damn about Barcelona or Tokyo or Maldives.

avatexrs