Finding 4 award seats on one flight is much more difficult but not impossible. Splitting yourselves and finding 4 award seats on different flights (2 on one, 2 on another) will give more options.

Adding a connection will cost more avios, but may reduce fees. LHR departure tax 'Air Passenger Duty' is high. Canada-France return via LHR may reduce the cash component and can be booked with a 241.

There is no need to call AA to find availability, you can search on AA.com for MileSAAver seats which can be booked with avios, and was a response to another thread you've posted in.

That looks like it's in the right bracket, although I think that it may depend on where the ticket's issued.

This is one of the reasons why many of us think hard before using Avios on pure redemptions, and choose carefully before doing so.

I saw 912 miles post today which was a week after my first AS flight so will consider myself lucky.

For awhile, I knew about the YQ fees to LHR.. I just never knew why, until now.. because of the Avios redemptions, and companion ticket redemptions on BA metal. The companion ticket must have been a new recent feature on the RBC Avios visa. It is indeed a bottleneck.

I think the sweet spot from YYC is Marco Polo Gold, collecting Avios points, and flying American Airlines.

So I'm still trying to figure out if its worth collecting Avios points for American Airline flights, and what the availability of American Airline Flights from Calgary actually is.

I assume I can't check availability of American, unless I'm signed up on their loyalty program?

I suggest you go to www.aa.com (which, for the avoidance of doubt, is American Airlines' website) and try it yourself to find out one way or the other.

I also suggest you read some of the threads you've already been directed to several times to find out which of the AA (that's American Airlines, by the way) award types are bookable with Avios if that's what you choose to do.

Ok.. with some help from AA forum, I got the SAAVERS to pop up.. I don't necessarily see Alaska Airline availability, but at least some number of miles required popped up.. i.e. 45K. I assume that this the required mileage for a return flight, which is the same for Aeroplan. The routing is YYC-LIH.

More than half an hour navigating the aa.com website.

Back to Avios, based on comments I've been reading, redeeming Avios on these routings are going to be different. Looks like on the return leg there are two stopovers, and that means a larger amount of points required to select those routings, as opposed to direct flights which is going to be a bit cheaper than to fly the extra miles and segments.

I see sparce availability for business based on 4 passengers, but the availability on economy is pretty good. I'm used to Aeroplan, so sparce availability and flexibility is key.

Just to be sure.. availability SAAVERS will be available in the same quantities as booking with Avios points. I read through a few threads that this isn't the case, but its more the norm than the exception?

Edit: Guv1976 pointed out that the 45K is per direction, so a one way ticket. Sadly no availability on AA or any partners on Savers from what I can see. Alaska Air didn't pop up at all, but I checked my search parameters and included all airline participants, so if there was supposedly availability it would show up. So looks like no availability for YYC-LIH on savers for the months of July returning August.

The search is about 300 days out, so there should be wide availability I imagine on savers redemption. But that means that the Avios program doesn't really work for our travel needs, at least for HI destinations.

No, 45k is the number of AAdvantage Miles you need.
MileSAAver availability tells you you can book the flight through the BAEC program, under the BAEC program conditions.
Again, it is all here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...vios-beta.html

I've established checking on availability on AA.com is an indication of general availability on Avios.

Its interesting to compare two different programs to the same route redemption.

After sleeping on it, I do think I will be flying AA, even though I don't see much availability on bookings ten months ahead. I'm thinking maybe shorthaul, Avios booking SAAVERS will be a benefit.. especially with the 50% point bonus that I'll receive from Amex doing the promotional transfer from MR to vios. I've got 200K of Amex MR and transferring will make it about 300K. That's a lot of points. Based on the way Avios is structured, if I can just get one flight out of YYC and no connections, then I'll be in business. We don't need to necessarily fly to HI, but with about 400K in Aeroplan points, I've got those routes covered. With Aeroplan I can do one stopover and one open jaw, which adds value to the 45K redemption I would make to fly to an HI destination. So I get some juice out of Aeroplan that way. Plus, I'm going to be signing up for Amex Platinum which shall afford me CX gold status. Shorthaul with status is becoming not bad in my mind.

The companion ticket, the more I think about it, the more I think its not worthwhile to pursue. So I'm not sure if I'll sign up for RBC Avios.. If there is a no fee with bonus maybe, but I'm not in the mood to plug in $3K per month for 3 months to get a 45K bonus after paying $165 annual fee right now. Does Avion have a signup bonus right now? I had the Avion 17 years ago before switching over to CIBC Aerogold for Business. I like Tcook052 and how he collects Avion points and transfers on the 50% bonus. If not going after the companion ticket.. this is the way to go. I'm currently in the market for a Visa.. all I've got right now are 2 Amexes (third one coming) in my pocket

My kids will be attending the same school next year and they've got 3 10 day breaks during the year besides the normal Christmas and Summer Break. I think I can get some use out of those points as a couple of those breaks are low season.

The research continues..

Looks like there may well be a transfer bonus for US Amex Holders (coming tomorrow)

Reports are claiming a 20% bonus for BA Avios conversions and a 30% bonus for Virgin conversions.

Source: http://thepointsguy.com/2013/10/amex...unch-tomorrow/

Hi all. I will be making Bronze on my next trip with BA. In total I'll be credited with 90 tier points. I require 40 for Bronze. Could anyone advise if the rest of the tier points will be credited with the Bronze bonus when I fly back?

The Tier Point bonus is for avios, and only applies for flights after you have reached bronze.

At Madrid Airport two days ago, I checked in for my IB flight from MAD to ORY at the desk: no online check-in, no kiosk check-in. The agent offered me an upgrade to Iberia Business for 60 Euro, an excellent deal I thought. But do I get business Tier Points for this flight, or only the original economy ones? My boarding class showed booking class U, which looks doubtful.

Later that day, at Paris ORY, I was offered an upgrade to Prem Plus on the OpenSkies flight to JFK (which was excellent, by the way). How about Tier Points for that flight? The boarding pass in this case showed code W. The upgrade cost a paltry 149 Euro, which I thought was a good deal.

Very useful.Tks.

Excellent! Were you able to get an upgrade too, for that or a similar price?

I am still not sure about whether upgrades actually make one eligible for TPs and extra Avios. I just bought an upgrade for 45 dollars from New York to Boston, and the original economy points and miles posted.

On the other hand, I took an Iberia flight from MAD to GVA with an airberlin flight number (issued on AA ticket stock just to complicate things), and nothing posted. The flight did actually post, with 0 Tps and 0 Avios. Mistake maybe?

Paid upgrades are supposed to give full TPs and Avios but often need a phone call to get right.