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(Duplicate post.)

Here are the basics.

Whatever miles you use, (the currency), it is that program rules you have to go by.

So if you use AA miles, it is AA's AAdvantage program rules that govern the awards.

Your Air China miles can ONLY be used with Air China program - however the program rules govern the partner award (if there is such a thing in that program), that is what you go by.

Each airline's program is unique. No generalization should ever be made.

My suggestion to you from the beginning, is to spend some time to read the loyalty program rules so you know what you can do with your "currency" of that program. Otherwise you are like a blind walking in the dark, have no idea what your "currency" can buy.

Didn't everybody on your "how to get rid of AA miles" thread told you about the best usage of AA miles is for the awards booked to fly in CX premium cabins?

No, you do NOT and can NOT transfer your AA miles to CX Asia Miles. CX is OneWorld Member Airline therefore AA miles can be used to book OneWorld partner flights - the award would fall into AA All Airlines award chart.

CX does not have relationship with Star Alliance.

AA website currently does not have ability to search / book partner award but other OneWorld Members sites have ability to search partner award seats - BA, QF, CX, JL all have ability to search partner award seats with BA and JL closely match what AA would see, CX can be hit or miss because Asia Miles would show all award seats including those only open to Asia Miles members. Do your homework first to find award seats before calling AA would make your life much easier. I hope you realize that award seats are capacity control and 3 Fs on the same flight would be near impossible. For Js if you book really early it can be done. However when getting closer to departure, F become more available than J, though finding 3 Fs you would need some alignment of the sun, moon and the stars.

To further guv1976's point on AA vs BA

The very same trip I have coming, using AA miles, costed me 55K + 67.5K for J outbound and F inbound, MIA-ORD AA F, (2 class plane), ORD-HKG CX J. HKG-YYZ CX F, YYZ-MIA AA F (2 class plane). Taxes is $80.50 per ticket, Phone booking fee is $25.00 per ticket.

Same trip if booked with BA miles - it can only be ORD-HKG-YYZ because if I add AA in the mix, it would become a 2 partners award that is based on distance traveled making it much more costly in miles. Using SINGLE partner, it is 50K outbound in J, but 75K inbound in F.

The taxes due to BA charges CX's YQ, would be around $400 each ticket. Telephone booking fee is $30 per ticket.

However, I also need to pay, either by cash, or by miles, for the segment - MIA-ORD, and again YYZ-MIA, on separate ticket(s).

Therefore, think twice before you convert your MR to BA miles which can be rather costly to use in majority of routes traveled.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention - changes on AA are free as long as the O/D remain the same. However changes on BA is $70 a pop, AND no change is allowed after T-24 of the FIRST leg of travel, even with medical emergency with doctor's note. Keep that in mind.

Again, you would be far better off to spend your time to learn about loyalty programs where you have the currency, or where you intend to transfer your currency to.

It is 67.5K for F, not 62.5K. therefore 3 x AA = 202.5K total in F one way.

There is a huge qualifier - the unlimited stopovers MUST be on the most direct route at NATURAL CONNECTION Points.

BA used to not enforce this but after all those Chase bonuses, now BA starts to enforce this - that means the stopovers must likely can occur at the hubs.

You also failed to mention the BA YQ - which would cost about $200 one-way versus AA only $40 to 50.

On top of that, OP can only use KA/CX when using BA miles - because once he adds AA in the mix, his BA award is no longer the single partner award but 2+ partners award which is no longer the mileage cost you quoted but a distance-based OneWorld type award that is very costly to travel from Asia to NA due to a very long distance traveled.

OP's NA destination needs to be limited to any of CX gateways, or at most, YVR and JFK which CX flies between the 2.

Wow, my head is spinning from reading those last two posts. Yes, I understand there is much to learn and I can only take in so much at a time.

Thanks and I already have more information than I can handle now.

My fault, I saw 62.5k but this is for ASIA1 F


Yes but there is not a limit as long as you don exceeds MPM (25%)

Yes but OP DOES NOT have a lot a LOT of AA miles for 3xR/T in F. He was thinking to use cash+points (1,788.03 cash) just for a Hawaii trip

Did you read the first post?, OP ask for SFO-Hawaii and he lives in HKG... CX fly from/to HKG/SFO. Check my post, I said PEK-HKG-SFO(stopover)-JFK on CX with AA miles, then JFK-NRT(stopover)-PEK on JAL or JFK-YVR(stopover)-HKG-PEK on CX with BA miles.

another option

SFO-HNL(stopover)-NRT-PEK with AA miles (on AA/JAL)

PEK-HKG(stopover if you want)-SFO with BA miles (on CX)

Thanks for paying such close attention.

Does that "just" mean you think that is an excessive price?

[BTW, I live in PEK. ]

I wish is THAT simple. BA has started to crack down the usage of "unlimited stopovers" since the Chase bonuses causing a surge of redemption from US based members... The Brits dont use this feature to the extreme (or shall I say they dont abuse it) hence BA was very lax in the past not to enforce it. Now more and more posts surfaced that people are told the stopovers must be at Natural Connection Points which in general would be the hubs.

Yes I do. However I am with the opinion is, OP would NOT be able to use his miles the way you suggested unless he is a magician that can pull award seats from thin air.

In theory, yes. In reality, no chance to get award seat between Hawaii and Mainland at this late stage of the game.

The chance for him to be able to redeem his F tickets for this upcoming trip is near zero, especially with HNL in the mix. That is why I am giving the OP my suggestions which are more practical that can be implement given enough time and planning, for a FUTURE trip.

Of course OP can choose to work on the itineraries you suggested - they are ALL legal routing - except they are most likely have 0 availability in at least some segments of them so essentially they are of NO USE to OP's upcoming trip. That is the Rub.

OP before getting his hope high, he should spend some time reading AA forum, in particularly the several threads on the scarcity of AA award seats this year, and how the situation has gone progressively worse...

My suggestion is, he would be far better off to learn as much as he can now, save his miles and use them wisely for his NEXT trip between Asia and North America.

Go check the Hawaii availability on AA website and see for yourself, OP, how the availability looks like. You would become depressed in no time.

You can also check AS website to see AS availability between Hawaii and West Coast, it does not help much either.

The chance OP has would be the CX flights between HKG and US - if he can be very very flexible on the travel dates and gateway cities. Unfortunately I dont see this is the case of his upcoming trip.

All the talks are good, in theory. But they are impossible to implement because no award seat availability and time is running out for the intended trip.

However, the talk should have given OP a good starting point for what to do on his next trip. Though I got the feeling is, OP does not really want to learn, he just wants others to give him a solution or 2, and then Bingo, everything would fall into places...

I appreciate the advise and it sounds reasonable.

I'm disheartened to hear this. Happy, you have provided some great guidance and I appreciate the feedback. Please keep in mind you have 9,421+ posts over the past 8+ years to my 64 posts in less than 1 year. Consider me a baby, I don't really understand or grasp what everyone is saying to me, I will ask basic questions and ask them over and over until it makes sense to me and I will fall down and make mistakes.

Having a 2 year old son, it is really amazing to me how patient I and others are with him as he is trying to learn things. Then when I see how I and others act towards adult learners, patience often goes out the window.

Great analogy. Reminds me of the first time you're in a new city: you may understand the subway stops, but get above ground and you're totally disoriented. Having somebody to help you navigate the white spaces between the stops and gain context--that's key.

Reversing the analogy: don't you simply ignore him when your two year old is in the midst of a tantrum? Sometimes that works on FT as well

There are a number of great points in this tread and I just want to echo them.

-It does depend on your idea of travel. MY idea of travel is enjoying the destination. I recommend toughing out economy and using your cash in Hawaii, which is a pretty expensive place to be. Find the deal that keeps more cash in your pocket.

- American domestic carriers don't provide a great First Class product. It won't be the memorable experience that you are hoping for. If you want a memorable First Class experience, try flying Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Qatar, and Singapore. THOSE airlines will knock you out. If you fly CO, chances are you will get a 757 with business-class seats (nothing like lay-flat seats) with some extra leg-room.

So, save as many points as you can for your next trip and save your cash to enjoy this one.

sthubbar, just alighting here for a few minutes, I suggest that you have gotten a wealth of expert and most thoughtful information, and that you reflect and let it sink in for a while. It really is all here. And I'm grateful to those who have contributed, as well. Bravo, FlyerTalk. ^