violet99

hello!

This may be a very naive question, but please bear with me. I live in LA and I probably only fly 10 times a year, mostly domestically on JetBlue and Virgin America to visit family. Those are the only FF programs I actively use at the moment.

I will be going on my honeymoon in the spring of 2013, and will be flying LAX-LHR round trip. I was wondering if it wouldn't be a total long shot to sign up for an airline credit card now, with the intent of racking up a lot of miles this year and then upgrading an economy ticket to business or first for our honeymoon trip.

Is this even doable? I know that upgrading with miles always comes with a lot of caveats, like having to figure out how to purchase a "full fare" economy ticket, and then sometimes getting thrown on an upgrade waiting list even if you have "upgraded" with the miles and paid the fees.

If there is any way to do this, please let me know if there are any particular airlines/cards that may make this a possibility.

Thanks!

Million Mile Secrets

Hi Violet99!

Actually, it isn't a long shot to sign up for a credit card now. That's because it takes time to complete the minimum spending required to get the bonus miles and to then book your ticket using miles.

In fact, you can sign up for 2 Citi American Airline cards (VISA and AMEX) for 50,000 miles each + 2 lounge passes + $150 in statement credit for eligible American Airlines purchases at the same time for a total of 100,000 miles.

It is 100,000 miles in business class per person from LAX to LHR, and even if you pay $700 in fuel surcharges for travel on British Airways to London and back, you still get to travel in business class (for less than the price of a coach ticket).

However, your fiance would need to sign up for 2 AA cards as well for his ticket.

It is 125,000 American Airline miles to travel to Europe in First Class, but there is a Citi AA business card available for another 50,000 miles which you can apply for at least 65+ days after your personal credit card application.

I wouldn't recommend any credit card application if you were going to get a mortgage or other large loan in the next 2 years.

Redhead

Welcome to FT.

You can upgrade a purchased ticket on AA for less miles than mentioned by Million Mile Secrets. AA does not require that you purchase a full fare ticket (they are much better in this than several other airlines). You will need to make sure that you purchase your ticket for a flight both marketed and operated by AA. This means that you must be on an AA plane, not a code share.

AA has lots of these flights LAX-LHR. To upgrade with miles, you'll need to pay $350 plus the miles. The co-pay is no refundable if your upgrade doesn't clear. Check out the wiki and AAs website for exact numbers on how many miles.

But the credit cards and bonuses are a great way to get the miles in time.

mia

The AA upgrade award chart is here:

http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/o...rade-chart.jsp

AA does not require purchase of a full fare ticket. AA does charge 25,000 miles plus $350 per person for a one-way upgrade from economy to business class. This means it would take 100,000 miles plus $1,400 to upgrade two people in both directions, plus the cost of the economy class ticket. To my knowledge AA does not collect the $350 fee unless the upgrade clears, but I would never book an AA international flight unless the upgrade could be confirmed at time of purchase.

Rather than upgrading, it may be better value to aim for two award tickets as explained in Million Mile Secrets's post.

A hidden drawback to the upgrade strategy is that you need to decide in advance which airline you intend to fly. AA miles can be used for award flights on British Airways and other OneWorld airlines, but using miles to upgrade on another airline is typically very poor value.

Another consideration is that AA has the poorest business class seats on the LAX-LHR route. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have true flat beds, but AA has angled seats which are not very good for sleeping. (AA's first class on 777 aircraft only has excellent flat beds). However, all three of these airlines offer one-way awards for half the miles of a round trip. This means you could fly one direction on one airline, and return on another. For example, you might fly on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic on the overnight flight from LAX to LHR to have a flat bed, and redeem on American Airlines for the daytime return flight from LHR to LAX.