yes i had booked it very recently. The best way to research it is to go to AA.com see that MilesAAver space is available then go to ba.com and book it. it's simple dimple.

Since we're talking Avios-on-other-carriers, I'll throw in the TATL EI awards.

(1) Lower mileage requirements than any U.S. carrier for a summertime award. 12,500 Avios from the east, 20,000 Avios from Chicago (to DUB).
(2) Bookable as one-ways.
(3) Minimal YQ. It's not zero, but it's nominal.
(4) No phone fees or seat assignment fees.
(5) The best part: wide open availability for peak summer travel dates. ^ We just decided upon this trip for summer 2013 in November - long after UA, US, and AA award inventory was gone. I could find a few single seats here and there but no pairs or 3's. On EI, I still had my pick of pretty much any dates in the summer for 5 seats together out of ORD.

We're taking kids, so we didn't look at J availability. And I know EI Y isn't exactly the greatest Y product in the world. But it gets us over to Europe for peak summer weeks in July/August, avoids the taxes and fees associated with BA/LHR, and leaves us with enough miles to do it again in 2014...assuming the program doesn't change by then. (*crosses fingers*)

I'd add one more benefit: no connection through London. I flew IAD-LHR-DUB on BA in late November, and a little over 2 hours was just sufficient to change terminals from T5 to T1, clear security (again), and get to our gate in time for the flight to Dublin. You'll easily get to Dublin 4-5 hours earlier than needing to fly through LHR with a similar time savings at the end of the trip--in other words, close to eight hours extra time at your destination.

And, Y is Y, but I've found the crews on EI to be excellent. For me, other than an exit row, Y is generally differentiated by my seatmates (you're stuck with your family!) and the crew.

I'll just say intra-Oceania award using either UA or US miles. ;)

My favorite, on UA: 70K for a roundtrip ticket from the U.S. to Palau by way of Japan. Continental used to have this for 60K, but you had to fly through HNL and Guam, making it very difficult to get the award travel.

My favorites are still those that game the geography (lack of) knowledge of US Airways agents. Or even getting someone to route me through the wrong zone, including a stopover, and pricing it incorrectly to boot.

My best is United Japan - Oceania one way; 12.5k coach, 20k business, 35k F. The wife and I booked 2x:
KIX - HKG (23 hour layover) NH C
HKG - BKK - SYD TG F
SYD - AKL (18 hour layover) NZ C
AKL - NOU NZ Y

all for 35k points each!

The wife and I did this in October for 68,000 ANA:

CLT - PHL - MAN - BRU (Stopover / Open Jaw) US C
took the train from BRU - CDG , from CDG - GVA, and from GVA - ZRH
ZRH - MUC (Stopover) LH C
MUC - MAN - PHL - CLT SQ Y, US C

Okay... how?! Is that intra-Oceania? :eek:

Japan is a separate region from Oceania. In past years I would have been curious about MPM, however I don't think they follow or have MPM anymore on awards.

Funny, I just did a dummy booking NRT-SYD and they were looking at double those prices...

Were you seeing base award availability to begin with? On some airlines, you'll always see the "rulebuster" type award for 2x miles, even if no award seats are available.

Australia and New Zealand are not Oceania region in UA award chart. They are separated by another zone. Put another pacific island like PPT in destination then you can check it out.

Please explain...I'd be willing to use a few UA miles to do a Y trip between a couple of random Pacific islands (transiting in NZ is no problem). Which routes have you flown before?

SYD-SIN-ICN-SPN-ICN-SIN-SYD 30K miles in J :p

Oooh that's interesting, I always assumed they were. I shall check it out now.