Avoiding the 75K Mileage Cap
Dec 28, 2018, 4:07 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Boston, MA,
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, Delta PM, *wood Ambassador Plat, Marriott Self-Imposed Exile
Posts: 679
Avoiding the 75K Mileage Cap
Planning BOS:LHR in Early Feb and the Biz Class tickets are about $9000 on either AA or BA. how do I get around the 75K mileage cap? I looked at booking one way tickets but the one ticket looks to be the same price as round trip?
Dec 28, 2018, 4:35 am
#2
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: RDU
Posts: 2,264
There's no way around. Sometimes purchasing one-way tickets isn't much more than the r/t, but since you already looked at that option, you'll be stuck with the 75k cap.
Dec 28, 2018, 5:38 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2016
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 214
Unfortunately you can't get around it to the best of my knowledge. Unlike domestically where 2 one-ways is the same price as a RT, one-ways to/from LHR tend to be the same price as RT. It's crazy that EPs are essentially restricted to spending $6800 on a ticket to hit the mileage cap, but general AAdvantage members can spend $15k.
Dec 28, 2018, 6:52 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: AA EXP & Life Plat; AA 4MM; TWA Life Plat; HH Diamond
Posts: 1,109
Should you happen to want to change your return flight after your outbound flight to a later or earlier flight or different routing (assuming the fare code allows free changes), often times an exchange will be performed resulting in a new ticket number...ymmv.
Dec 28, 2018, 7:12 am
#5
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Forget about booking one-ways, if it were me I'd book 2 separate roundtrip PNRs with the dates nested as such to work.
PNR 1: BOS-LHR on your desired outbound date, LHR-BOS at a date months out in the future when you might want to go back to London (or whereever in Europe). Book the LHR-BOS segment in economy or PE if necessary.
PNR 2: LHR-BOS on your desired return date, BOS-LHR on a date to coincide with the LHR-BOS segment above.
Playing around with a few random dates in February I easily found ~$4500 for BOS-LHR-BOS (BOS-LHR in business, LHR-BOS in PE on a random date in April), plus ~$2800 for LHR-BOS-LHR (all in business with the dates lined up to match).
PNR 1: BOS-LHR on your desired outbound date, LHR-BOS at a date months out in the future when you might want to go back to London (or whereever in Europe). Book the LHR-BOS segment in economy or PE if necessary.
PNR 2: LHR-BOS on your desired return date, BOS-LHR on a date to coincide with the LHR-BOS segment above.
Playing around with a few random dates in February I easily found ~$4500 for BOS-LHR-BOS (BOS-LHR in business, LHR-BOS in PE on a random date in April), plus ~$2800 for LHR-BOS-LHR (all in business with the dates lined up to match).
Dec 28, 2018, 8:07 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,057
Unfortunately you can't get around it to the best of my knowledge. Unlike domestically where 2 one-ways is the same price as a RT, one-ways to/from LHR tend to be the same price as RT. It's crazy that EPs are essentially restricted to spending $6800 on a ticket to hit the mileage cap, but general AAdvantage members can spend $15k.
Dec 28, 2018, 9:31 am
#7
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Austin
Programs: AA EXP +2MM- LT PLT! HH Diamond
Posts: 6,087
I would fly PE, take the savings, and buy the miles, especially with the bonus program going on.. $4425 gets you 270,000 miles (promo ends Jan 6). After all this, you would still pocket around $3000.
Dec 28, 2018, 10:08 am
#8
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
I might do as you say, and fly the daytime BA flight outbound in World Traveller Plus.
Dec 28, 2018, 10:16 am
#9
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: RDU
Posts: 2,264
If OP is traveling for work, all of these workarounds may not work. A corp. travel agency may not book 2 nested tickets (for any reason, including that perhaps the OP isn't 'authorized' for 2 trips). And then, at most companies, the traveler can't pocket the savings if they book in a lower cabin. And, OP may not want to downgrade to fly PE in any case...
Dec 28, 2018, 11:27 am
#10
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: DCA/IAD/SFO/SJC/JFK/NRT/LHR/BOS/etc
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Posts: 365
Forget about booking one-ways, if it were me I'd book 2 separate roundtrip PNRs with the dates nested as such to work.
PNR 1: BOS-LHR on your desired outbound date, LHR-BOS at a date months out in the future when you might want to go back to London (or whereever in Europe). Book the LHR-BOS segment in economy or PE if necessary.
PNR 2: LHR-BOS on your desired return date, BOS-LHR on a date to coincide with the LHR-BOS segment above.
PNR 1: BOS-LHR on your desired outbound date, LHR-BOS at a date months out in the future when you might want to go back to London (or whereever in Europe). Book the LHR-BOS segment in economy or PE if necessary.
PNR 2: LHR-BOS on your desired return date, BOS-LHR on a date to coincide with the LHR-BOS segment above.
Dec 28, 2018, 11:27 am
#11
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: DFW - DL MM/SM, AA 5MM/CK, MR LT Titanium
Posts: 827
Why AA has this rule (other than mindlessly copying Delta) is beyond me. Switching to a spend-based program is supposed to reward high spenders; the 75,000 cap discourages them.
Dec 28, 2018, 12:47 pm
#12
Original Poster
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Location: Boston, MA,
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Dec 28, 2018, 12:56 pm
#14
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Austin
Programs: AA EXP +2MM- LT PLT! HH Diamond
Posts: 6,087
Dec 28, 2018, 12:57 pm
#15
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44,600
Non stop is nice, but I would take the $6000 saving - would take that over premium economy