Help Me Decide How to Use My Miles
 

I'm in a unique situation that allows me to travel from November to January, even into February if I want to. As of now I've been hoarding my miles for no reason but with the 10% miles back from American (thanks to the platinum credit card) ending in May, I'd like to use some of my miles now to take advantage of the discount. Here's where it gets fun. I don't really care where I go as long as its in comfort! There are a few things I would really enjoy however, call them my aviation bucket list:

• Fly in the nose of a 747
• Fly on the upper deck of a 747
• Eat caviar on a plane
• Have an enclosed suite
• Would love to either start my trip or have a layover that allows me access to an amazing first class lounge
• Chauffeured to the airplane

Now that all those crazy desires have been stated I think its also fair to say that I would love this flight to be as long as possible, even if that means an eight hour flight, a 5 hour layover and another five hour flight, the longer the better! In fact I would LOVE it if my trip also had a stopover/layover in another country that allowed me to go out and explore a little. My starting location and ending location don't matter as I will be creating my yearly trip around this flight. I should also note that in case you're not familiar with the 10% miles back, that it is limited at 10,000 miles, so I'd like to keep the amount of miles I use right around the 100,000 area.

How would you use the miles if they were yours and you wanted the same experience as me?

Thanks!

With AA ff miles

• BA & QF still fly the B747. Maybe others. B747 are being retired by most airlines
• EY maybe for enclosed suite & caviar. But no chauffeur drive on EY awards

100,000 AA ff miles in business/first will not go far to your desires

Consider these Award booking services - a list and some reviews

Thanks

Good advice here. I wouldn't be too fixated on a 747, as some of the better first class options are on airlines that no longer fly them. Also, be aware that 100,000 miles will only get you one way in first class (and isn't enough for round trip in business class).

Off the top of my head, the best first class option using AA miles would be Etihad on its Airbus 380 from JFK, with its roomy, enclosed "apartments," followed by Cathay Pacific to/from a number of US cities, as its first class isn't enclosed but is very private. Service is generally great on both, though perhaps a bit more reliably so on Cathay. And if you want to take advantage of either airline's very nice first class lounge (since you'd only be flying F one way with 100,000 of so miles), you'd want the flight to originate in Abu Dhabi or Hong Kong rather than in the USA.

Both airlines would offer caviar, but not limos to the airport.

Qantas is another good possibility, but I believe snagging award F on it is even tougher than the other two, and perhaps to/from Australia might cost more AA miles.

British Airways might have decent availability and cost fewer miles than the others, but I'd still suggest steering clear of it. Not nearly as good as the other three and big co-payment charges for their award flights.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Thanks for the input. I rather prefer it be a one way as opposed to round trip so that's not an issue. I'll take a look at Cathay and Ethiad's flight maps to see if there's a way to turn the one way into two long flights.