crazyh1

Hi folks,

I wondered if those more seasoned in the nuances of the BA/AA reward programmes might be able to suggest the best way of solving a little planning problem for me and my far better half?

In summary, the scenario is this;
1. I have enough AAdvantage miles (43k) for a return UK-US flight in economy
2. My wife has 28,800 AAdvantage miles
3. Our BA Household account has 61,800 now and has 25,000 due in with my Feb Amex statement.
4. My wife needs to do LHR to NYC (specific airport not important) in Feb for a week
5. Rather than her come home, we plan to meet at Denver, so me LHR-DEN and her NYC-DEN
6. Finally both DEN-LHR

My thinking is that she does LHR-NYC with AAdvantage miles (hers or mine) and does the same for NYC-DEN. I then do LHR-DEN using our Avios, probably via IAH and an internal IAH-DEN, as DEN usually has a lack of reward flight availability.

The bits I'm not sure of are;
1. under the US visa waiver programme you need evidence of a return ticket, I don't know if that needs to be part of a single booking. So if the outbound trip for my wife is done with AA and the return with BA, is that permitted by the TSA?
2. If can't do the above, then could we use my AA miles to buy a return multi-city ticket but on BA metal and still guarantee that we are seated together?
3. We would prefer to do part cash, part miles on the BA bits to travel in WT+ (I know that's not the most economical use of miles necessarily, but we only travel once or twice per year, so not an issue).

Hopefully that all makes sense - over to the experts

many thanks
Scott

BAHumbug

It does not need to be a single booking - I've travelled with 2 single tickets when redeeming. Just carry a copy of the return eTicket with you.


I don't see why not.


I would look at buying WT+ and upgrading to CW if you can stretch to it. I think you have enough miles to be able to do this.

BAH

crazyh1

Thanks BAH

Probably true.....more of a matter of if the wallet can stand the WT+ purchase.

Scott

crazyh1

A further thought occurs to me.

If you book a flight with AA using AAdvantage miles, but on BA metal, do you online check-in with AA or BA (not something I've ever done). The latter would certainly solve the seating together issue.

S.

BAHumbug

You can OLCI with BA I believe, but you need to get the BA locator code from AA (if you phone them they can tell you this).

BAH

crazyh1

excellent - thanks for the help.

S.

forextrader

Pay close attention to the fees BA will charge - when travelling economy quite often, it only costs a little bit more to actually buy the ticket outright than using miles.

Also there is a BA sale at the moment, so you may get a decent deal just buying the ticket.

Also note that if you use AA miles for a BA metal flight, AA will charge the very high BA fees.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Keep in mind that AA international awards permit a free stopover at the North American gateway. So, assuming that aa.com shows "MileSAAver" award availability on the desired dates of travel, LHR-NYC (stopover) - ORD/DFW (connection) - DEN will cost the same 20,000 AAdvantage miles as LHR-NYC alone. Note that to get the stopover at NYC, one must fly there on a direct flight from Europe; if you have to connect somewhere in the U.S. first, then NYC would not be your North American gateway, and you would not get a free stopover there. Also, for the NYC-DEN portion of the trip, you can depart from JFK or from any of its co-terminals, which include LGA, EWR, and HPN.

You can check award-seat availability for the whole trip on aa.com by clicking the "Redeem AAdvantage Miles" box, and selecting the Multi-City option. For the first leg, enter "LHR-JFK"; for the second leg, enter "NYC-DEN."

Good luck!

forextrader

I was also going to comment that you can get the stopover in New York for the same 20,000 AA miles. You will only pay an extra $2.50 fee.

I am also planning a trip to Denver - to buy outright a WT+ worked out at £895, taxes included.

To do Cash Outbound WT+ and Return Upgrade to Clubworld would be £945 + 12,500 Avios.

To do Economy Cash + Upgrade to WT+ with Avios would be £950 + 25,000 Avios. .

Here is something to consider - If you transfer 7,000 miles from the AA account with 28,000 (i think this would cost $100) to your 43,000 mile account you then have the following:

50,000 - good for One Way Business Class (which if your wife uses to go LHR-JFK, she will get the New York-Denver trip at no added cost in 1st class domestic).

21,800 - good for One Way Economy AA

Then perhaps use the Avios for the return - again with the sale fares and the high taxes/fuel surcharges you need to do this carefully, as otherwise you could waste your Avios.

Maybe consider buying the airfares and using avios for hotels in Denver - not the best way to use Avios, but a thought.

Good Luck