hensh

nevermind, stupid question, answered myself

daffydevil

Not sure if this has been asked, but I'm looking to book an award ticket. Is it better to get a round trip ticket or two one way tickets? Or no difference??

Thanks!

guv1976

Using which program's miles?

dlombard

Hello,

I'm an AAdvantage member and, by extension, in the OneWorld Alliance, of which JAL is a member airline, which matters because as of 2024, I intend to permanently reside in Japan, at which point, I'll have no US bank accounts, credit cards, etc. I haven't flown since before March, 2020 for obvious reasons but have been able to maintain my miles because I've got my credit cards registered through what used to be called the iDine/iDining(?) program (now the AADvantage Dining Program), and since the resumption of the ability to dine in the county of Los Angeles, I've been able to maintain account activity, thereby preventing the miles I've accrued since 2002 from expiring. Once I'm living overseas, however, I'm not clear on a passive means of maintaining activity such that I could continue to accrue and use my miles with JAL (I opened a JAL account at the end of 2019 but have yet had the chance to use it).

Is there a way to transfer my miles between OneWorld Alliance members so I can take advantage of JAL's partners for this purpose? Or do I need to (at least once every 18 months or so) spend at least $76 (it looks like as of now) on a minimum of 2,000 miles to keep the AA miles I have now? I'd rather not just let them lapse or try to redeem them as cash (if that's even possible anymore, and even if it were, last I read--the rate is pretty bad). It would be a convenient way of being able to return to the United States from time to time without having to come up with more money than I'll be able to save on the salary I expect to make in my new field.

This is a rather complicated question so my apologies for that in advance. I've been reading about this for a while both on AA.com as well as running various searches here but I just can't quite piece together exactly how to go about preserving my mileage account and potentially continue accrual, either by maintaining what I already have or somehow migrating what I've earned to my JAL account.

Advice and insight into this matter is sincerely appreciate in advance.

Thank you very much.

Mwenenzi

You cannot move AA ff miles to JL. Just not possible
Moving ff miles/points/avios is uncommon. Can do with avios between BA-IB-IE (all owned by IAG) and QR. QR own a portion of IAG.SQ & VA had swap for a while, but at big discount.

No reason why cannot keep crediting flights, hotels, etc to AAdvantage.
But generally better to credit to the airline ffp you fly most and/or airline of your home country (due of ease of earning non flying ff miles)

AA forum-->Prevent AA miles / account from expiring / expiration & spend for other than flying

If you are a US citizen I would keep a bank account and no annual fee credit card alive.

guv1976

As noted, you cannot transfer AA miles to JL. But have you checked on aa.com all the ways that you can earn or redeem AA miles? Either one counts as activity that will keep your AA miles from expiring.

ernestnywang

Even if you are not a US citizen or PR (like me, and I no longer live in the US), I would say the same.

dlombard

I can try to see if CHIME will let me use an overseas address on my accounts, and keep my accounts open even though they will have a $0 (or near zero) balance for the remainder of their existence, and zero deposits going forward--as this is the second time I've received that advice, for some reason.
But on the original issue, given there is no way to transfer the miles, I went back and looked again to see how to avoid losing the miles I've accrued. Unless I missed something, it appears as though the only way I'll be able to maintain my miles other than buying them with cash is periodically donate to https://standuptocancer.org/american...onate-10-mile/ as there are absolutely no other non-travel related ways to maintain AAdvantage activity involves buying services or products that are not available in Japan.

Mwenenzi

Flying a JL flight, that is purchased or an AA award, will keep AAdvantage account alive.--->https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp
Check if the JL fare booking class is eligible.

You can also earn AA ff miles with hotels/car rentals---->https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-p...false&from=Nav

Only have do say once a year.
Will you going back to USA for visits?

anabolism

One option, if you don't mind paying a fee, would be to open an account at a private mail box, such as a UPS store. Open the account while you still have a physical address in the U.S. Then change your bank or credit card address to that address, and switch to online (paperless) rather than physical mail correspondence. Another option is if you have friends or relatives in the U.S., use their address.

There are other ways. The AAdvantageEshopping mall has stores with products or services available in Japan, such as Apple and various hotels (although I'm not sure how you could buy from Apple in Japan through the mall). The mall offers digital-only products, such as a magazine or Wall Street Journal subscription. It looks like you could subscribe to the Journal for $8/month and then cancel. The Motley Fool is an online stock/investment information site available through the AAdvantageEshopping mall and Rocket Miles. You could sign up for a subscription and then cancel. I also noticed an outfit called Millionacres that offers real-estate investment advice. Again, sign up, then cancel.

dlombard

Another bank I use (Ally) allows you to use an overseas address (I use a UPS Store address for my music business, but will be closing that account due to the need to limit my monthly expenses). I can see if there's a way to earn miles on Apple from the Apple Music store since, for digital sales, I don't think it matters where you are. Buying miles once every 18 months or, so wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It's just that the AAdvantage Dining system did make it very convenient to earn it passively. That said, as previously pointed out, I'm probably better served seeing if JAL has a similar way to accrue miles going forward.

dlombard

Yes (which is kind of the reason I am trying to preserve my miles as it may be necessary to do a split transaction where I pay for some of the ticket and use some miles to cover the rest of the trip depending on what my new career pays).
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...n-airlines.jsp is amazing information; thanks for that.

ruthlesz

I'm looking to go to Bali this summer on business class preferably in early June. I'll have around 200k chase and 200k capital one points to convert. Is there any suggestions on an efficient route? I'm willing to take a positioning flight, but I don't which resources to research this.

ruthlesz

What would be the best way to go to Bali using my 200k Chase UR or my 200k Capital One points flying Business class this June? I tried Krisflyer, but there is no availibility. Do I have to book like 355 days in advance? I'm new to booking business class.

I'm willing to book from the USA utilizing a positioning flight if needed. I'm trying to learn this system.

Mwenenzi

off topic
Way off topic for this thread. Look and ask in https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/asia-460/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngurah...tional_Airport
Do not like your chances of business class award USA to Bali in June.

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