True I should have said to/from the US

also Canada, Mex and so on are ways getting around using AA miles to in fact fly on BA.

Since I dont believe theres a single AA flight from anywhere other then the US to Europe, then 1 couldnt use BA miles to get around it and fly AA in the same way.

Also in Canada's case it will probably mean flying an RJ to/from Canada not something Id want to subject myself to afterflying in from LHR and then theers the longwait between connections, at least the few times I tried to see if I could work it out. It also adds some extra $$ for Taxes to the bottom line but depending where a person is starting from or heading it might be worth it

If you have spare time, I'd appreciate a CX example. (This same request goes for anyone else with the power to explore as well.)

I was looking at CX as well:

HKG-JFK is 25K miles + $77 ($45 YQ)

Interesting that the YQ is cheaper on the CX HKG-JFK than the JL NRT-LAX!

Many thanks. To the best of my knowledge, data of this sort doesn't exist anywhere on the internet (naturally, I checked FT first).

Like the vast majority of FTers, I couldn't have cared less about BA fuel surcharges until ~40 days back.

But, now that a substantial number of us have mucho BA points on the way, I'm confident that the aforementioned problem will cease to exist within the next month+.

Personally, I'm not too bothered by the JL or CX numbers, but I fear that the C/F prices could be higher.

Snap analysis:
-using BA miles on AA flights makes sense for those looking to minimize cash expenses
-for origins east of ~SLC and destinations limited to NRT or PVG, you're also looking good
-I'm still planning making a CX/JL redemption myself because I think the posted fuel surcharges are worth while (in C or F, even if a bit higher)

Fuel charge is not a concern if not flying BA metal. The difficulty might resides with finding availability of JL or CX flights to redeem on the BA website -- I tried a number of times online with different dates/months for JFK-HKG for example, but found on rare occasions that only one of the direction is available on CX.

I'd appreciate people sharing tips on how they are able to find a RT (say depart and return within a couple weeks) on CX or JL.

YQ is a concern on partner metal if the partner charges it.

To find CX and JL availability more easily, sign up for accounts with Asia Miles and JAL Mileage Bank to search inventory by calendar.

JL is decent from the west coast (LAX, SFO, YVR). CX seems to be tougher than JL, for the most part, but LAX isn't impossible. I would advise against searching for round trips because doing so limits your options (i.e. CX and JL can't be mixed on the same award, but 2 one ways are fine).

I'd also be interested in the best value redemption using BA miles.

There are two options for the forthcoming BA miles bonanza.

One, maximize redemption costing (to BA). As many know, I haven't set foot on BA in years. Their organizational ideology and CS is too unspeakable to tolerate. But I'm going to have 100k of their miles, like everyone else.

In this case, I don't want to actually use them on BA not only because they're intolerable but also because the notional accounting value of the redemption is too low. CX F might be a better idea, if that can be done.

Or, two, to try out an interesting AA routing and see what the service is like.

Hey Redtail, how about Qantas? Do U fancy a trip to Australia??

If you can swing a CX route that works for you, I would advise you to do so.

What's more, you could always do something like NYC-HKG-stop-NRT in F and then sweat it out in AA Y on the return (for 100k miles).

Since I happen to enjoy the flying aspect of travel, however irrational to some, I have no problem paying a bit of YQ in order to maximize the experiential value of these free miles. That having been said, I have no interest paying the equivalent of a Y fare for the privilege of redeeming on BA metal.

moondog, that sounds pleasing. I don't care AAbout Y on the return, or vice versa... CX F, yes, that sure would be a nice redemption. Need to receive and redeem my miles before BA goes into administration!

As for BA's hideous YQ on awards, the heck with that. Deny them revenue.

you could also redeem for JL Y instead of AA (pay the extra $72 YQ). But given your take, maybe AA would work better for you

not completely true. An example of a search i did(though ex Australia). Brisbane(BNE)-Singapore taxes and fees are $315 USD Roundtrip on Qantas!! However, I'm not sure where BA is coming up with this amount because when doing a search on the QA website for the same flights the taxes comes up to be only ~203USD. A difference of $100USD.

Since he lives in Tucson, I was thinking AA would be cool on the return because they could get him all the way home (assuming NRT-DFW-TUS isn't considered backtracking), meaning he'd only need to purchase/redeem a oneway ticket to a CX gateway. That having been said, since both CX and JL fly out of LAX (and LAX is the easiest redemption according to my research), a TUC-LAX RT for positioning purposes might not be a bad way to go.

I agree that JL Y probably justifies a $72 premium over AA Y, but both are ambien material for persons recently spoiled by CX F. At last NRT-LAX is a relatively short flight.