BA and AA advice
Jun 25, 2011, 3:35 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,171
BA and AA advice
I have both BA and AA and am trying to determine which program to build my miles. I travel out of SFO to asia most often and on CX usually.
What are your experience in redeeming a business or first class ticket out of sfo for cx to asia using either BA or AA alliance? Is there normally availability?
AA costs less to redeem a FC ticket 135k or 14k vs 150k on BA, which seems a better value. But is it harder to redeem on partners?
And, how do you feel about the ease of redeeming on CX using partner miles? Do you have to book way out and normally there's plenty of availability or difficult?
What are your experience in redeeming a business or first class ticket out of sfo for cx to asia using either BA or AA alliance? Is there normally availability?
AA costs less to redeem a FC ticket 135k or 14k vs 150k on BA, which seems a better value. But is it harder to redeem on partners?
And, how do you feel about the ease of redeeming on CX using partner miles? Do you have to book way out and normally there's plenty of availability or difficult?
Jun 25, 2011, 7:15 am
#2
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CX award-seat availability should be the same, whether you are redeeming AA or BA miles. With BA, you can have free, en-route stopovers, but cannot add a second partner carrier without it costing many more miles; with AA, you only get a free stopover at the North American gateway, but you can use other carriers (including AA) if necessary, for no additional mileage. That can be very important if, for example, there is CX availability out of LAX, but not out of SFO.
CX award-seat availability should be the same, whether you are redeeming AA or BA miles. With BA, you can have free, en-route stopovers, but cannot add a second partner carrier without it costing many more miles; with AA, you only get a free stopover at the North American gateway, but you can use other carriers (including AA) if necessary, for no additional mileage. That can be very important if, for example, there is CX availability out of LAX, but not out of SFO.
Jun 25, 2011, 7:47 am
#3
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Programs: CO, AA, BA
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This is a great question, I'm in a similar situation but live in Houston. I love the BA product (first First in about a week). I recently got the Chase BA card and have started using that for the 2-4-1, but the miles required on BA to get from U.S. to Asia in a premium cabin seem excessive, especially without a 2-4-1. Trying to decide if I should build my miles up using AA card and just use those miles to fly BA, or use my BA card, get the 2-4-1, and fly BA metal.
I also think (not sure, please correct me if I'm wrong) that AA prevents customers from using AA miles with a partner if AA has availability on that same route. But I would much rather fly BA than AA. And I've noticed that the availability of partner flights on AA seems low. I'm not sure if they artificially limit the number, like United used to do, but it always seemed hard to use AA miles on partner airlines.
I also think (not sure, please correct me if I'm wrong) that AA prevents customers from using AA miles with a partner if AA has availability on that same route. But I would much rather fly BA than AA. And I've noticed that the availability of partner flights on AA seems low. I'm not sure if they artificially limit the number, like United used to do, but it always seemed hard to use AA miles on partner airlines.
Jun 25, 2011, 8:40 am
#4
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The BA miles to get from the U.S. to Asia are only excessive if you want to fly on BA or on more than one partner carrier; if you limit yourself to one partner carrier, the redemption rates are reasonable, but you cannot use the 2-4-1 certificate on a partner. From IAH, you can get to China or Japan on AA metal.
Of course, redeeming BA miles for travel to Asia will incur fuel surcharges, even on partner carriers. No fuel surcharges are (currently) assessed when redeeming AA miles.
The BA miles to get from the U.S. to Asia are only excessive if you want to fly on BA or on more than one partner carrier; if you limit yourself to one partner carrier, the redemption rates are reasonable, but you cannot use the 2-4-1 certificate on a partner. From IAH, you can get to China or Japan on AA metal.
Of course, redeeming BA miles for travel to Asia will incur fuel surcharges, even on partner carriers. No fuel surcharges are (currently) assessed when redeeming AA miles.
Jun 25, 2011, 9:00 am
#5
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If status is an issue (and it should be if you're looking to accumulate miles for redemptions) then you need to look at how one obtains status on the BA v. the AA schemes, and in particular at the requirement for 4 BA-metal segments at each elite tier for BAEC, something that AA seldom enforces for its own elite tiers. For non-residents of the UK/Europe, that can sometimes be a high bar to clear.
Also look at AA's "Oneworld" award details and compare it to the BA multi-partner counterpart product.
Jun 25, 2011, 10:07 am
#6
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Consider yourself corrected. Quite the opposite in my experience.
I've found the opposite to be the case but YMMV. It all depends on how you're looking.
If status is an issue (and it should be if you're looking to accumulate miles for redemptions) then you need to look at how one obtains status on the BA v. the AA schemes, and in particular at the requirement for 4 BA-metal segments at each elite tier for BAEC, something that AA seldom enforces for its own elite tiers. For non-residents of the UK/Europe, that can sometimes be a high bar to clear.
Also look at AA's "Oneworld" award details and compare it to the BA multi-partner counterpart product.
I've found the opposite to be the case but YMMV. It all depends on how you're looking.
If status is an issue (and it should be if you're looking to accumulate miles for redemptions) then you need to look at how one obtains status on the BA v. the AA schemes, and in particular at the requirement for 4 BA-metal segments at each elite tier for BAEC, something that AA seldom enforces for its own elite tiers. For non-residents of the UK/Europe, that can sometimes be a high bar to clear.
Also look at AA's "Oneworld" award details and compare it to the BA multi-partner counterpart product.
Also, CX has, in my experience, always provided recognition for AA Platinum (OW Sapphire) with Op-Up's and greetings from the pursuer in Y with any requests like champagne being given, etc.
If you were based in the U.S and flying AA domestically it also would make sense depending on your travel patterns to consider gaining AA status.
Unless you had reason to fly AA internationally (Ex: corporate discount) I would always choose BA.
Jun 25, 2011, 2:30 pm
#7
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I have both BA and AA and am trying to determine which program to build my miles. I travel out of SFO to asia most often and on CX usually.
What are your experience in redeeming a business or first class ticket out of sfo for cx to asia using either BA or AA alliance? Is there normally availability?
AA costs less to redeem a FC ticket 135k or 14k vs 150k on BA, which seems a better value. But is it harder to redeem on partners?
And, how do you feel about the ease of redeeming on CX using partner miles? Do you have to book way out and normally there's plenty of availability or difficult?
What are your experience in redeeming a business or first class ticket out of sfo for cx to asia using either BA or AA alliance? Is there normally availability?
AA costs less to redeem a FC ticket 135k or 14k vs 150k on BA, which seems a better value. But is it harder to redeem on partners?
And, how do you feel about the ease of redeeming on CX using partner miles? Do you have to book way out and normally there's plenty of availability or difficult?
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
The BA miles to get from the U.S. to Asia are only excessive if you want to fly on BA or on more than one partner carrier; if you limit yourself to one partner carrier, the redemption rates are reasonable, but you cannot use the 2-4-1 certificate on a partner. From IAH, you can get to China or Japan on AA metal.
Of course, redeeming BA miles for travel to Asia will incur fuel surcharges, even on partner carriers. No fuel surcharges are (currently) assessed when redeeming AA miles.
The BA miles to get from the U.S. to Asia are only excessive if you want to fly on BA or on more than one partner carrier; if you limit yourself to one partner carrier, the redemption rates are reasonable, but you cannot use the 2-4-1 certificate on a partner. From IAH, you can get to China or Japan on AA metal.
Of course, redeeming BA miles for travel to Asia will incur fuel surcharges, even on partner carriers. No fuel surcharges are (currently) assessed when redeeming AA miles.
Hadn't realized that BA imposes fuel surcharges even on non-UK partner flights; thanks for that info, guv1976. That would certainly seem to weigh in favor of AA.
With AA, you can book one-way award tickets at the 330-day window for half of the RT mileage cost, which means you can try to grab both the outbound and return flights on the days that each open up. (In fact, AFAIK, there's not really any advantage for booking RT awards on AA anymore--the exception being if you cancel your trip or change your itineraries both ways, you get dinged twice for penalties if you're not AA EXP.) Not sure that BA has that option.
One more thing the OP might want to look into is the accrual rules of AA and BA on partner flights, especially CX. If you fly CX J or F as paid tickets, you accumulate as many redeemable miles and elite qualifying points on AA as if they were AA flights. OTOH, for discounted economy fares, you might get 50% or fewer RDMs and EQPs per mile flown, though perhaps the same number of elite qualifying miles. (You can get elite status via either EQPs or EQMs on AA. If flying premium cabins, you accrue bonus EQPs and if flying discount economy, sometimes you accrue fewer EQPs than the miles flown. EQMs accrue at a constant 1 mile flown=1 mile accrued, regardless.) Again, not sure how this plays out for BA.
On balance, if AA ends up costing you fewer miles than BA to redeem and if BA imposes a surcharge, it would seem to me to make sense to go with AA.
Last edited by Thunderroad; Jun 26, 2011 at 10:41 am
Jun 25, 2011, 3:12 pm
#8
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I have both BA and AA and am trying to determine which program to build my miles. I travel out of SFO to asia most often and on CX usually.
What are your experience in redeeming a business or first class ticket out of sfo for cx to asia using either BA or AA alliance? Is there normally availability?
AA costs less to redeem a FC ticket 135k or 14k vs 150k on BA, which seems a better value. But is it harder to redeem on partners?
And, how do you feel about the ease of redeeming on CX using partner miles? Do you have to book way out and normally there's plenty of availability or difficult?
What are your experience in redeeming a business or first class ticket out of sfo for cx to asia using either BA or AA alliance? Is there normally availability?
AA costs less to redeem a FC ticket 135k or 14k vs 150k on BA, which seems a better value. But is it harder to redeem on partners?
And, how do you feel about the ease of redeeming on CX using partner miles? Do you have to book way out and normally there's plenty of availability or difficult?
Jun 25, 2011, 3:13 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,171
I agree with you guys assesment. For me, I go to asia a lot so CX is my main airline company. But their milage program stinks.. points expire and redemption on their own plan is much more expensive.
I guess it's nice to have some points in both BA and AA. I'll just use BA for one of those multiple stop trip and AA for direct flight on F.
The important thing is that it doens;t sound like CX is and stingy as Singpore of *A. Heard it's impossible to redeem premum cabin as *A holder. So I might stop flying singpore to hk for the miles since i won;t be able to redeem.
I guess it's nice to have some points in both BA and AA. I'll just use BA for one of those multiple stop trip and AA for direct flight on F.
The important thing is that it doens;t sound like CX is and stingy as Singpore of *A. Heard it's impossible to redeem premum cabin as *A holder. So I might stop flying singpore to hk for the miles since i won;t be able to redeem.
Jun 25, 2011, 3:18 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,171
on CX i fly economy and occaisionally business but i try not to pay too much for it. I have a FF account through them. Their redemption is higher than others in OW and their points expire either 2-3 years regardless of activity.
Jun 25, 2011, 5:33 pm
#11
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Snooky
Posts: 2,508
I got award F on CX in Nov using BA miles and again in Feb using AA. SFO-BKK. No prob with availability either time. 3 months out with BA and 5 weeks with AA. No fuel surcharges from BA. I like the multiple stop option and I was fixing to transfer a couple hundred thousand Amex miles to BA with the 50% bonus. With the new partner surcharge, they may be headed to CO now. wj
Jun 25, 2011, 5:59 pm
#12
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Jun 25, 2011, 6:02 pm
#13
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BA now assesses a fuel surcharge on award redemptions between the U.S. and Asia on AA, CX, and JL.
BA now assesses a fuel surcharge on award redemptions between the U.S. and Asia on AA, CX, and JL.
Jun 25, 2011, 7:22 pm
#14
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 475
When comparing BA and AA, the miles needed are only the part of the comparison picture.
It's the taxes, fees, surcharges and whatever price they are (sur)charging you for oil the day you book that empty your bank account.
See if you can do two phantom bookings--one for BA and one for AA-- using miles or cash+miles.
Compare the taxes/fees/surcharges between AA and BA.
Be sure you are sitting down, however, when you see BA's.
My ticket for next week was WT+, upgraded with miles to CW, for about $800...ish fare. The taxes/fees/surcharges have now reached $950...ish for that ticket. (Don't have it front of me so can't recall precise number.)
I can't speak for AA on fees, as I probably haven't flown an American carrier overseas since the Carter administration. But if it's far less in taxes and fees, then that may make up your mind, even if BA uses a few fewer miles for a redemption.
But do compare all the various and extortionate stealth charges that appear to be increasing daily with no end in sight, before deciding where to build your miles.
That's where the wallet killer is. And rising all the time. Every year since 2005, BA's taxes/fees/surcharges have gone up and up. In 2005 it was $150..ish for the same type of ticket I have for next week, now it's $950...ish.
It's the taxes, fees, surcharges and whatever price they are (sur)charging you for oil the day you book that empty your bank account.
See if you can do two phantom bookings--one for BA and one for AA-- using miles or cash+miles.
Compare the taxes/fees/surcharges between AA and BA.
Be sure you are sitting down, however, when you see BA's.
My ticket for next week was WT+, upgraded with miles to CW, for about $800...ish fare. The taxes/fees/surcharges have now reached $950...ish for that ticket. (Don't have it front of me so can't recall precise number.)
I can't speak for AA on fees, as I probably haven't flown an American carrier overseas since the Carter administration. But if it's far less in taxes and fees, then that may make up your mind, even if BA uses a few fewer miles for a redemption.
But do compare all the various and extortionate stealth charges that appear to be increasing daily with no end in sight, before deciding where to build your miles.
That's where the wallet killer is. And rising all the time. Every year since 2005, BA's taxes/fees/surcharges have gone up and up. In 2005 it was $150..ish for the same type of ticket I have for next week, now it's $950...ish.
Jun 25, 2011, 10:22 pm
#15
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,171
Still, going to asia with *A would be Singapore and it's supposedly impossible to get premium seat. Isn't CX still the better choice despite the surcharge?