Point valuation help
 

Hi all,

After months of planning for the family vacation this Spring, I am super close to finalizing the Itinerary. I was debating between a return flight via Cathay (9AM)or AA (8PM) from HKG to LAX - Economy

To my luck last night, i was able to find another Cathay flight at a later time (4PM) and quickly called AA to put it on hold. My Wife prefers Cathay over AA :)

I have two options but need help on deciding:

A. Use AA points, roughly 150k and $304 taxes for family of 4

B. Use Chase (transfer to BA), roughly 130k and $179 taxes

C* (if possible) - book two on through AA and Chase respectively? Does this even make sense?

Which one is a better option for me? I value Chase more than AA but using less points and less money is always my goal. The difference if comparing pts to pts is 20k and $125 in taxes.

In reality, is it a wrong move to go with AA?

What would you do?

Thanks in advance.

Current points:
AA points - 210k
Chase - 200k

Which do you have earning power on? Do you use your Chase cards so you can earn back points via spending? Do you use the AA credit cards to earn?

In general the lower miles & taxes looks good but if you use the 150k onAA that leaves you with 60k remaining which can be two domestic RT tickets or used towards a international ticket. UR has more redemption possibilities so they're more valuable.

Your wife is wise. AA is 10 abreast and CX is 9 in Y. Along with better service.

So just to be clear - you're comparing booking the same CX flight, but deciding between redeeming AA miles or BAEC Avios right?

I'm wondering about your figures for taxes & fees (and BAEC Avios). For one thing, those should be identical on an AA redemption in this scenario. Although one can't see CX on AA.com, a search on AA metal HKG-LAX in Y shows ~$53 in taxes and fees per person - same as with a BAEC redemption on CX metal (see below). Redeeming AA miles for the same routing on CX metal shouldn't change the taxes & fees in this situation.

Also BAEC is showing 35K Avios and ~$53 per person for one-way HKG-LAX in Y on CX which would be 140K and ~$212 total.

So both options should be equal in cash and a BAEC redemption would save 10K total miles/points.

I have more earning power on Chase since I use them regularly and have active cards. No current card directly with AA. I am leaning with AA even with higher cost in miles and $$$ but figure Chase UR can fetch me more in the future with redemption and transfer possibilities.

.

I must be doing something wrong with the math.

Will it matter if fare are for 2 children and 2 adult? I noticed in BA taxes are less compared to AA.com.

Can I call AA to get adjustment for taxes?

I don't know if BAEC charges fewer Avios for young children or if the passed-through taxes/fees would be less for children - could be, I've never booked for a kid.

Where are you seeing the amount you noted for taxes with AA? Was that on the phone from the AA agent? Hold itinerary confirmation email? If the latter, is there a breakout of the charges? It doesn't really make sense as far as I can tell.

Through the phone agent, no itinerary since its only a hold. Called AA again and got confirmation that taxes per award is the same amount per person ($73 and 37.5K), doesn't matter if its a child or adult tix.

The AA metal rate you were referring to was directly from their site and not a CX flight since my flight is at 4PM (I made an error on the 1st post regarding the departing time). Very surprised to see the taxes are applied equally in AA since BA and even Chase UR has different rate for child and adults.

Yes I know I was referencing an AA flight from AA.com but it doesn't matter...the point is that the government-imposed taxes/fees - which is what you're paying - are the same for the same routing, regardless of carrier. (BAEC in other instances collects fuel surcharges on award redemptions, and some programs charge award booking fees, but things like that aren't at issue here.)

Keep in mind these are government fees and taxes and would only differ for children if the government imposes lesser fees for kids (which happens sometimes). The airline has no control over that. This is the breakout from BA.com and AA.com:


AIR PASSENGER DEPARTURE TAX (HONG KONG) $15.50 USD

US APHIS USER FEE (UNITED STATES) $3.96 USD

US FEDERAL INSPECTION FEE (UNITED STATES) $7.00 USD

US CUSTOMS USER FEE (UNITED STATES) $5.50 USD

G3RE $20.60 USD

If it were me I'd ask the AA agent to list the breakout of their $73 pp quote and compare. It's not unheard of for there to be errors in what phone agents are shown for taxes/fees (or even mileage amounts). There shouldn't be any phone booking fee with AA since CX awards can't be booked online - though the numbers don't add up for a phone booking fee X4 people, it does work out to two $40 fees (maybe for two adults? don't know - just guessing). But again agents have sometimes erroneously attempted to charge the fee despite current policy for awards not bookable on AA.com.

Thanks for the feedback. I will connect with AA again for clarification. The breakdown you provided was for an actual flight from AA flight not CX correct? I called AA since i can't book the CX flight from their site. Just want to make sure we are comparing apples to apples.

Is it possible to book the flight via BA.COM but asked the rep to use my AA miles?

No. Bookings done on the BA site use Avios or you pay cash to BA.

No way, Jose.

So I called AA again to get the taxes breakdown for the CX flight, still got the same result of about $77 per person (no adjustment rate for child) :(

You could do half and half, and leave miles in both of your programs.

There was a thread a while back indicating that AAdvantage award tickets ex-HKG treat the HKG departure fee as "fare," not "tax." If that is the case, then a HKG-LAX award would no longer be considered a "free" ticket; that, in turn, would trigger some U.S. taxes/fees that do not apply to "free" tickets.

If BAEC classifies the HKG departure fee as a "tax," then that could explain the discrepancy in the total amount of taxes/fees on the two different redemptions.