How Valuable are 95,000 AA Miles
 

Setting aside, "Depends on the person." The current low price for purchasing AAMiles on AA.com is about 1.7 cents. And buying 95,000 is 2.4 cents.

So, 95k AAward Miles would cost between US$ 1,615 to 2,280.

Assuming you're using AA.com purchased AAMiles...

AAward ticket flying three segments on JAL economy, ORD-CGK, CGK-NRT, NRT-ORD is 95,000 AAMiles. You might find the same itinerary priced around US$ 1,000. +, with some segments on AA.

I'm mentioning the carrier because often JAL flights price out higher than AA.

So, let's just say, it's easy to figure, buying the above ticket with cash is a better deal than purchasing AAMiles, eventhough some legs are on AA, and there might an additional connection. Nothing new here really.

NOTE, that was not always the case when using purchased AAward Miles for business class.

But, what if you already have the 95k AAMiles in your AAccount?

95k @ 1,000 dollars = 1 cent an AAMile.

Seems like my 95k AAMiles are worth more than 1 cent an AAMile.

In any case, I can't get my head around the math. Would anyone simplify this for me? Pay cash, or use the AAMiles.

Of course, you have to consider what other options 95,000 AAMiles could "buy". And with the new Business AAWard Chart, I'd say, not much.

Thanks.

Think the consensus these days is AAdvantage miles are worth about $0.015 per mile. I use miles for two things these days: flying my mom across country to watch the kids when I have long trips and F class flights. When she comes out from SAN, air fare is usually in the $400 range. So, I find value in spending 22,500 or 25,000 miles in flying her back and forth.

A bigger value is in F class tickets. F class to CA from here is about $1100 round trip. In award miles, thats $750, so a real savings.

Bear in mind, if you have a ton of miles, you've got miles to burn you've got a lot of free dollars on hand.

Thanks. That helped. Appreciated.

I tend to use them on last minute trips, particularly NYC-LAX, where I can often find sAAver availaiblity booking 1-3 days out (also lots of AS awards). I love using them for this, because my schedule is somewhat flexible and I'm often unsure when I want to return to LAX until the last minute. Since these tickets can often run over $300 and sometimes $400 o/w, I think it's a great way to burn miles.

Just for comparison, I have used miles for one way transatlantic Business class travel (positioning for or from a transatlantic cruise) where a one way ticket can cost much more than a round trip ticket. (One way SMF-DFW-KEF late summer AA wanted ~$10,000 per person - we used miles, given FI J is not remotely comparable and they cancelled the BOS-KEF and JFK-KEF daylight flights; we used Hilton Honors points for a four night stay at the Reykjavík Konsulat, going for ~$600 nightly for a standard room.)

I’ve also used them for award Business travel to or from Australia for the two of us or a couple of friends (we’ve exchanged visits with), and travel to French Polynesia (where we used Hilton Honors points for a ten day stay in Moorea).

In the end, it’s always about how the miles or points are used and the value one can wring out of them.

It doesn't depend on the person; it depends on how the miles are used, and also whether the person holds a qualifying AA credit card which: provides a 10% rebate on redemptions; and also gives the card holder access to AA's reduced-mileage-award destinations for domestic travel.

For international Economy Class travel that one can book weeks or months in advance, AA miles will often provide poor value relative to the cost of a cash ticket.

Tokyo to Doha, in Qatar QSuites, for only 40k? I'll take that!

Interesting, AA's current model of releasing seats close to the departure date seems to be adding value to the award miles. If you are Jim Bob Kettle, and want to fly from SDF to SNA to see Mr. Commercialized Expensive Mouse, finding seats to SNA six or eight months out isn't so easy. But, if you're Mr. Jim Bob Business Man who wants to pitch your bourbon products to a client in Los Angeles, and the opportunity came up in about 10 days, there is often some low mileage availability that pops up with AA's current mileage protocols on SDF to SNA (or LAX). If you had to buy that ticket, you might be paying $550 round trip. A 25,000 mile expenditure is well worth it then. Obviously, trying to fly to LAX the week of Thanksgiving or Memorial Day, won't be so easy.....but, on other weeks, last minute travel is possible.

The general rule that I found with airlines is your miles get their best value typically when booking international travel. That JAL economy award is an example of that. You can fly J on partners like Qatar for 70k miles each way too. For me, this is where I see most value.

As others have pointed out, some domestic routes can easily save you money using miles versus booking cash, but typically these are first class bookings rather than economy.

When they're in my account, I consider the points worth about 1.75 cents each based on domestic F fares and a few last minute economy tickets I've used them on. But saver business class fares, if successfully found like I did for Asia in April, boosted that value considerably. I spent 130k miles (+$40 in r/t taxes and fees) for what would have been $4500 in flights, or 3.45 cents each.

Take a look at AA's PHL-MEM nonstops on January 16: One way in Economy Class is $641, or 12,500 miles. If you have a qualifying AA credit card, the mileage requirement drops to 8,750 miles, since MEM is a reduced-mileage-award destination in January!

Shouldn't we also factor in the added value of purchased tickets, i.e., EQDs, EQMs to move up to the next status?

Yes, but only for those who are chasing status.

I'm EXP and when I use miles for hotel bookings I get a 50% discount. 6 nights in a Zurich, Switzerland hotel cost me 61,000 miles; the hotel books at $125/night [for cash customers], so 61,000 miles got me $125 x 6 = $750 (value).