Book American Airlines Awards Like a Pro:
- Part 1 – Introduction
- Part 2 – Types of Awards & Charts
- Part 3 – How Much Will My Award Cost?
- Part 4 – One-way, Openjaws, Stopovers, & North American Gateway Cities
- Part 5 – American Airlines, Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian Airlines for North American awards
- Part 6 – International Award Routes
- Part 7 – Finding British Airways Award Availability
- Part 8 – Finding Cathay Pacific Award Availability using the British Airways website
- Part 8b – Finding Cathay Pacific Award Availability using Japan Airlines’ Website
- Part 9 – Finding Iberia (& European) Award Availability using the Qantas Website
- Part 10 – Finding LAN & South American Award Availability
- Part 11 – Finding Air Tahiti Nui Awards to France & French Polynesia with FlightStats
- Part 11b – Finding Air Tahiti Nui Awards to France & French Polynesia with ExpertFlyer
American Airlines through its oneworld and non-oneworld partner airlines offer a lot of choices when booking international awards.
However, none of these partner airlines (except Alaska Air) can currently be booked via AA.com. I get lots of emails from folks who can’t find award availability when they search online. That’s because only American Airlines and Alaska Airlines results show up online and you don’t see availability on the many other partner airlines.
However, American Airlines has pledged to include more partner airlines online and British Airways awards could soon be available online at AA.com
You’ve got to call AA reservations (800-433-7300) and pay a $25 fee to book via the telephone. But paying this fee is worth it, because it opens up so many possibilities when booking award tickets!
But instead of calling and relying on the agent to find you availability from, say, Kansas City to Rome, it is much better to know which partner airlines could get you to your destination. And even better if you have already found award availability on those partner airlines so that you can feed the flights to the agent to book. We’ll cover this in future posts.
American Airlines partner airlines have outstanding First Class availability as Gary has previously written about. I’ve almost always been able to find 2 or more awards on British Airways and Etihad flights.
Piecing awards together
Finding an award to a destination is not easy and you have to be flexible. The airlines don’t want to make it easy for you to redeem your miles. But with a little patience and planning you’ll be able to redeem your miles for First and Business class seats which costs thousands of dollars!
Step #1
The most important rule is to start piecing your award together segment by segment, starting with the international segments first.
For example, if you want to fly to Rome from the US, you should work on finding award flights from a US city to a city in Europe (say, Chicago to London on American Airlines or British Airways).
Step #2
Then find an award from London to Rome (on, say, British Airways) and from your home town to Chicago (on, say, American Airlines or Alaska Airlines).
Step #3
Once you’ve pieced together the itinerary, write down the segments and call American Airlines to book the trip. We’ll cover this in more detail in future posts.
Routes to Popular Destinations
In the next section, I’ve listed popular destinations and the different airline combinations which will get you there.
This is not a comprehensive list, but rather a list of potential routes and airlines to different destinations and will change. Please let me know in the comments of any changes and I will update the list.
Also keep in mind that as Lucky has pointed out, American Airlines “require the overwater carrier to publish a routing between the origin and destination.” This isn’t an issue for most awards, but keep it in mind if you’re unable to book an award via the telephone. I haven’t checked if all the routings below have a published route.
If you’re looking to see which partner airlines fly out of which North American airports, please see post 4 in the Book American Airlines Awards Like a Pro series.
AFRICA
1. American Airlines, British Airways & other partners to London and connect on British Airways to many different destinations in Africa.
Expect to pay fuel surcharges of ~$250 to $400 for each British Airways segment, so this does not make sense for many coach award redemptions.
2. American Airlines, British Airways, or Iberia to Spain and then Iberia to destinations in Africa.
3. American Airlines, Air Berlin, British Airways, or Iberia to Germany and then Air Berlin to destinations in Africa.
AUSTRALIA
Awards to Australia are usually hard to get.
1. Qantas to Sydney from Honolulu, & Los Angeles, to Brisbane and Melbourne from Los Angeles, and to Brisbane/Sydney from Dallas.
2. Hawaiian Air from Honolulu to Sydney.
3. Air Pacific from Los Angeles to Nadi connecting to Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne. Or connect to Auckland or Christchurch and then take Qantas to Australia.
4. Air Tahiti Nui to Papeete connecting to Auckland and then to Sydney (very hard to find seats).
If you really want to use American Airline miles to Australia and are willing to pay for 2 awards, you could route from the US to Japan or Hong Kong and from Japan or Hong Kong to Australia.
Gary Leff writes in the comments that using an American Airlines oneworld distance-based award could also help get to Australia.
Europe
1. American Airlines to select cities in Europe or American Airlines to London and then connect to British Airways, Iberia, or Air Berlin flights to many destinations in Europe.
2. British Airways has outstanding availability in First and Business class to London. British Airways has non-stop flights to London from more US cities than American Airlines or any other US airline!:
- Atlanta
- Baltimore
- Boston
- Chicago
- Denver
- Dallas
- Houston
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- Montreal
- New York (JFK & Newark)
- Orlando
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix
- San Diego
- San Fransisco
- Seattle
- Tampa
- Toronto
- Vancouver
- Washington
Expect to pay $200 to $400 in fuel surcharges each way (so it may not make sense to redeem miles for travel in British Airways economy class), but you will almost always find award seats available. And from London you can connect to British Airways, Iberia, or Air Berlin flights to the rest of Europe
3. Iberia from the US to Spain and then connect on Iberia, British Airways, or Air Berlin to the rest of Europe. Via New Girl in the Air, Iberia now charges a modest fuel surcharge. Key Iberia routes from the US are:
- Boston to Barcelona & Madrid
- Chicago to Barcelona & Madrid
- Miami to Barcelona & Madrid
- New York to Barcelona & Madrid
- Los Angeles to Madrid
4. Air Tahiti Nui from Los Angeles to Paris (Usually great availability).
5. Jet Airways from Newark & Toronto to Brussels.
6. Finnair from New York (JFK) to Helisinki.
7. Air Berlin from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Fort Myers, Miami, San Fransisco, & Vancouver to Duseldorf & Los Angeles & Miami to Berlin
INDIA
1. American Airlines or British Airways from the US to London and then either Jet Airways or British Airways from London to India non-stop. Jet Airways flies to Mumbai and Delhi from London, and British Airways flies from London to Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore & Chennai
2. Jet Airways from Newark & Toronto to Brussels and then onto India
3. Etihad from Chicago, New York (JFK) & Toronto to Abu Dhabi and then connecting to an Etihad, Gulf Air, or Jet Airways flight to India.
4. El Al from Los Angeles, New York (JFK & Newark) to Tel Aviv and then connect on El Al from Tel Aviv to India.
5. Gulf Air from Europe or the Middle East to India. Use American Airlines or partner airlines to get from the US to Europe or the Middle East.
6. Royal Jordanian from Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, New York to Amman and then connecting to Royal Jordanian, Ethiad, Gulf Air, & Jet Air flights to India. Or use American Air or partner airlines to select cities in Europe and then connect on Royal Jordanian to India.
ISRAEL
1. El Al from Los Angeles, New York (JFK & Newark), Toronto to Tel Aviv.
2. Royal Jordanian from Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, New York to Amman and then connecting to Royal Jordanian flights to Israel.
3. American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia to London (and select other European cities) and then British Airways or El Al to Israel.
4. Jet Airways from Newark & Toronto to Brussels and then connect on El Al to Israel.
JAPAN / SOUTHEAST Asia / CHINA
1. Cathay Pacific from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Fransisco, Toronto, Vancouver to Hong Kong and from Hong Kong connect on Cathay Pacific (link to Cathay Pacific route map) to China or Southeast Asia (not Japan).
2. Japan Airlines from Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Fransisco, Vancouver to Japan (link to Japan Air route map) and then connect on either Japan Airlines to other destinations in Asia, or Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong and onto other destinations in Asia.
3. American Airlines to few destinations in Japan, Southeast Asia, and China.
MALDIVES
American Airlines miles are the best poised to get you to the Maldives.
1. Etihad from Chicago, New York (JFK) & Toronto to Abu Dhabi and then connecting to an Etihad flight to the Maldives.
2. American Airlines, British Airways, Gulf Air, Royal Jordanian to Abu Dhabi and then Ethiad to Maldives.
3. American Airlines or partners to London or select cities in Europe and then from London or select cities to the Maldives via Abu Dhabi on Etihad or Berlin or Duseldorf on Air Berlin.
4. Air Berlin from Fort Myers, Los Angeles, Miami, San Fransisco & Vancouver to Berlin-Tegel or Duseldorf and then connecting to an Air Berlin flight to the Maldives.
5. American Airlines or British Airways to London Heathrow and then a British Airways flight to the Maldives from London Gatwick.
Gary Leff writes in the comments that you could fly to Columbo (Sri Lanka) and then buy a cheap ticket to the Maldives.
MIDDLE EAST
1. American Airlines or partners to London and then connect via British Airways, Royal Jordanian, & Gulf Air to the Middle East.
2. Etihad from Chicago, New York (JFK) & Toronto to Abu Dhabi and then connecting to an Etihad, Gulf Air, or Royal Jordanian.
3. Gulf Air from Europe. Use American Airlines or partner airlines to get from the US to Europe.
4. Royal Jordanian from Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, New York to Amman and then connecting to Royal Jordanian, Ethiad &Gulf Air, & Jet Air flights to the Middle East.
5. Air Berlin or Finnair from Berlin/Duseldorf or Helsinki to the Middle East.
SOUTH AMERICA
American Airlines and partners have great availability to South America
1. American Airlines to many destinations in South America.
2. LAN from Los Angeles, Miami, New York to Lima and Santiago, and from San Fransisco to Lima. Link to LAN route map.
Bottom Line: Using partner airlines opens up a lot more ways to get to your destination, but you’ve got to do the research before and call to book these awards.
Next in the series will be: Finding British Airways award availability
I have earned and redeemed millions of airline miles and hotel points to travel the world for free. Now I'm blogging to help more people do the same! 
Air Tahiti Nui doesn’t fly to Sydney. They do, however, fly to Auckland twice weekly (and can connect onward using Qantas to Australia).
Air Pacific flies to more destinations in Australia than just Sydney.
For Australia I find that oneworld distance-based awards via Asia are often quite a reasonable alternative miles-wise, and of course they allow stopovers and you can include intra-Australia flights as well without spending additional miles as long as you don’t push yourself up to the next mileage band.
You cannot fly Cathay Pacific to Japan, because American does not permit transiting “Asia 2″ enroute to “Asia 1″ without spending additional miles for a separate Asia2-Asia1 award. (Connecting in Asia 1 enroute to Asia 2 is not a problem, however.)
For Maldives, Colombo is a reasonable alternative to Male and then purchasing a cheap CMB-MLE segment.
Very informative. Glad you redeemed yourself from the “4 card max from Chase” post.
“You’ve got to call AA reservations (800-433-7300) and pay a $25 fee to book via the telephone.”
Is this a fee per ticket? If I am booking for a family of 4, will I pay $25 for the booking, or $100? Thanks.
Thanks for this comprehensive guide. One thing I noticed: I don’t think Jet flies from Amman, so the only way you’d be able to get from Amman over to India would be via a third city and a third carrier.
I saved alot of AA points hoping for an EL AL flight to Israel-
The avialability was very slim.
However a great option to use the points is JFK to Vancouver on Cathay Pacific!
If you are planning to go to Vancouver it is a no brainer-
The cost of an economy ticket on CP is $630 while AAis only 25,000 points roundtrip economy, 50,000 points roundtrip business class., & 62,500 roundtrip first class.
For a flight which costs$630 and only 62,500 for business class I jumped at the chance to fly it & experienceit!
Plenty of availibility too.
Great summary of some of the routes USA – Worldwide. It’s always handy to have a reference when checking options! On a sidenote, I snatched a BOS-LHR award flight for “only” a $219 fuel surcharge one-way, significantly less than the $400 rule of thumb, so someone who can route wisely may find a cheaper option. Additionally, AA is charging for fuel surcharges on Iberia flights now (I think it’s max 30 euro per segment) but it’s worth noting
How is Air Berlin F product?.
“Air Tahiti Nui from Los Angeles to Paris (Usually great availability).”
What is the best way to search for Air Tahiti Nui award availability (preferably for free)?
@Gary Leff - Thanks for the tips and helping keep this accurate! I’ve updated the post with the changes.
@ace – I stand by what I wrote earlier – that most folks are limited to the number of Chase cards they can be approved for. Sure, very lucky folks could get 12 Chase cards a year, but that isn’t the case for most folks. But I’m glad you like this post!
@jac – It is $25 per person per award, so you’re looking at $100 each way.
@NB – You’re right that Jet doesn’t fly from Amman, but you could fly to say Abu Dhabi and then connect to Jet to India.
@Israel Husarsky - The El Al flights from NYC are hard to get, but you could have better luck if you fly out of Toronto or find awards with a connection. Enjoy your Cathay Flight!
@New Girl in the Air – Thanks for the tips. I updated the post to reflect that fuel surcharges could be as low as $200 on certain routes in coach and the Iberia fuel surcharge.
@Jason – I don’t believe Air Berlin has a First Class – just a Business Class. They are a low cost carrier, so I wouldn’t expect something spectacular.
@M – Use ExpertFlyer (they have a free trial) or call AA and ask the agent to specifically look for awards only on that route. I prefer ExpertFlyer! You can’t book First Class on Air Tahiti Nui using AA miles – only business or coach.
And for Jet Airways, same ExpertFlyer? No other ways to check award availability for free?
Does delta.com show award availability for either Air Tahiti Nui or Jet Airways?
Hey D!
Awesome, awesome, awesome! Great to know that there is great availability on BA from Newark in First and Business class to London. Newark-Liberty is our airport hub living in New Jersey. Granted, the fuel surcharges are a bit much to swallow, especially after booking an award ticket, but I am dying to experience BA’s flagship lounge at Heathrow! Also, great to know about Jet Airways flying from Newark-Brussels. Ever since reading the post you and Emily wrote, about the amazing service on Jet Airways First class from India, I have been itching to fly with the airline. Great info…great post!
@M – For Jet Airways, the best way is to call American Airlines and ask them to specifically search for Jet. It is hard to find awards on Jet, though. Delta doesn’t show Air Tahiti Nui availability to the best of my knowledge. Also, it is very buggy. If you do use ExperFlyer for LAX to CDG make sure to check availability for flight # TN8. TN 1008 is a codeshare with Air France and can’t be booked using AA miles.
@Corinne - BA usually has pretty good availability from New York and I quite liked the Concorde lounge in London. Yes, paying the fuel surcharges are not idea, but you’re still traveling in business or first for less than the price of coach. Jet Airways doesn’t have first class on their Newark to Brussels flight and their award availability is hard to find.
“You cannot fly Cathay Pacific to Japan, because American does not permit transiting “Asia 2″ enroute to “Asia 1″ without spending additional miles for a separate Asia2-Asia1 award. (Connecting in Asia 1 enroute to Asia 2 is not a problem, however.)”
How many additional miles for, say JFK -HGK-NRT in F?
Could that be done?
MNY, for JFK-HGK-NRT, you could also try an one world award with JFK-HGK on Cathay Pacific and HGK-TYO on JAL. You would then get to stop over in HGK, if you wished. I am not sure if JAL has first class on HGK-TYO though.
South America availability will decrease come August as their codeshare with GOL ends.
Excellent post and series thus far! For those willing to fly coach, I was able to score 4 tickets on Air Tahiti Nui from LAX -PPT round trip. There were only two seats available from LAX to home so each couple is taking a different flight to and from LAX. I did book this award after midnight 331 days out but I did calls each night prior to the night I wanted and was able to hold 4 tickets those nights as well. All this research dates back about 6 months ago so I am not sure how it is now. If one was interested, you could call in the morning when you wake up and see what availability they have 331 days out. Just ask the agent to check the farthest date out.
One side note, is to make sure your layover coming back into the mainland is over two hours on an international award. The agent let me book a layover of 1 hour and 50 minutes. The next morning I got an email saying there was a problem with my reservation. When I called, they couldn’t even tell me what the problem was. I then called back again and spoke to a different agent and they were able to fix it for me. I would have been quite mad if the next available flight was already gone as this would have made my layover even longer.
Thanks for the great posts, and keep them coming!
@MNY - You’d have to look at the award chart (listed under the “mile & point” resources tab) and add together the price of the 2 awards – 1 from the US to Hong Kong and then from Hong Kong to Japan.
@M – Thanks for helping out!
@Brian – Thanks for sharing! But AA will still be pretty strong in South America, but sad to see GOL go.
@Jay – Thanks for sharing and glad it worked out! You’re taking some pretty neat trips.
Any word if Cathay is bookable with AA miles yet?
@Mike – I haven’t tried recently.
@Mike – I thought you could always travel on Cathay using AA Oneworld Award
@Darius – I don’t leave my comment often, but I sign up for email feeds. As always, thanks for all details and deals, specially this AA series.
–> Say, I wanna go to Phuket via Cathay to Hong Kong then Phuket. From HKG to Phuket, the flight is operated by Dragon Air. By using Oneworld, I thought I have to use 2 different airlines – meaning i cannot go on Cathay and DA. What would the best solution be? I’m planning to go with 4 passengers. Thanks in advance!
@Mike – Yes, if you were asking about the issue with Cathay’s reservation system, it has been fixed and you can book your flight on CX using AA miles now.
@Paul E – I believe that you need 2 Oneworld carriers which are NOT AA, and Cathay and Dragon Air are considered the same for oneworld distance based awards. If you’re using the regular all partner award, it doesn’t matter about the carriers.
@Paul E - Thanks for helping out and good to know that Cathay awards are bookable again!
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In traveling to the Maldives, it’s worth noting that transferring/connecting in Europe off-peak will save each passenger 20k on the round-trip if traveling in economy.
@Chris S. – Shhh… I was going to write on that in a separate post on how to pay less miles AND get a stopover!
@D – All i can say is “Yay…, looking forward to reading it.”
Oh, btw, I don’t have to fly BA to Paris, do I? I can just Air Tahati Nui to Paris and then BA to CDG, right?
@Paul E – You don’t have to fly BA to Paris, you could fly on Air Tahiti Nui, Iberia, Finnair and other partners to Paris.
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Hey! I am confused about international award flights somewhat. So I have read many times on FlyerTalk and other forums that I can book an Award ticket and change the date as many times and as far as I’d like (360 I think days in advance from the date of changing). However I booked a ticket last September 2011, for this June 2012. And I was just on the phone with AAdvantage to change my ticket date for December 2012 and they are saying I can’t change it past September 2012 since that is 1 year from the original booking. Is there anyway around this? They said I have to reinstate the miles for $150 and then re-book this award for December 2012. I’d REALLY appreciate your help. Thank you!
@Swizard210 – Unfortunately, the agent is correct. You can change the date as many times as your like, but the ticket is valid only for 1 year from the date it is issued. In your case, you have to fly/use the old ticket by Sept 2012 (1 year from when it is issued). Do you won’t be able to change the date to December 2012, unless you re-ticket the flight.
@Darius – Oh no! That’s terrible…=( I was not aware of this… Okay well thank you very much for confirming that information for me!
Swizard210 – You’re welcome!
Hi Daraius,
Lan Visa CC gives you a 20% discount on the first ticket you purchase each year. You do not have to purchase the ticket using their credit card and you can purchase as many tickets as you want together (I purchased 4 round trip tickets to fly from Lima to Cuzco). Also, their miles can be used for internal flights in South America, that are usually relatively expensive.
They are now giving you 20k miles bonus that does not sound great but it is enough for some 2 internal tickets awards.
Maria
@Maria – Good to know and thanks for sharing. I’ll dig into the benefits of the card.
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Do you know about 20K availability for US – South America flights (specifically, Argentina and Brazil)? Currently, they are not available for any date from any US city to any South America city.
@Svetlana Khitrik – See my post today on finding LAN award availability. You can book these at the low level. Or fly on AA to Santiago and then connect on LAN to Argentina or Brazil.
Thank you very much. Actually, my question was whether you know when possibly the AA will release its 20K award (for low season dates) from US cities to Argentina. It seems like currently specifically Brazil and Argentina are blocked completely for all 331 days of sale (unlike the rest of countries).
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Would anyone comment on the relative comfort of the One World member airlines in the transatlantic market? Where would you rank the newest member Air Berlin compared to the others – AA, BA, IB – in the economy, business, and first class? Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!
@SVK – I don’t know when AA will release seats, so it is best to check every day or to set up an ExpertFlyer alert. In the meantime, you could book travel to Argentina or Brazil at the 20K rate if there are seats on partner airlines.
@Max – BA is hands down the best First and business experience. I’d then put AA, Air Berlin and Iberia.
HI,
WHAT IS THE BEST WAT TO USE MILES TO GET FROM NYC/Phila to Lima?
I would not mind at all the option to go through Rio, and then returning to US via London. I am planning it for August, but really flexibl, and I have plenty of AA. Avios and United miles.
Please advice.
@NICOLE – You could use BA miles to fly on AA or LAN from NYC to LIMA and back for 25K each. If you want to go to Rio or London, you can fly from New York to Lima, Lima to Rio, Rio to London and London to the US, but you don’t need to do that to avoid fuel surcharges and fees because BA doesn’t currently charge them on flights from the US to South America.
Thanks you very much for you help! I found the tickets NYC-Lima-NYC for 20000United miles each way. Should I save United and use Avios? Also, the Br. Air website does not show any availability. IS there a way to find the availability through AA site or other, and then book the tickets with BA over the phone? Thanks
@NICOLE – It depends on which points you value more. If you have no other use for Avios, you may as well use them for this trip. See this post for how to search for LAN flights –> http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/04/09/lan-awards/
You can search for AA flights on AA.com, but can book only MILESAAVER flights using Avios points. You can then find the same flights on ba.com or call to book them.
Your advises are very helpful!
If there is no reward travel availability now for the days I want, should I keep checking every day, or once it is not there, it is not going to appear? (avios and United)
@NICOLE – Award availability keeps on changing so it doesn’t hurt to keep checking. You can always put an award flight on hold for free if you see something that works for you.
Thanks. I can not belive you spend your time helping people you do not even know! Thank you!!!
Can I use both avios and AA points at the same time when booking with an AA agent or am I restricted to use AA points only ?
@NICOLE – You’re welcome!
@Michael - If you call AA and book with an agent you have to use only AA miles. The AA agent doesn’t have access to your British Airways Avios account.
Thank you Darius. Your site is my favorite!
I am new to this and have question on how to find 2 AA award tickets from LAX to CDG preferly non-stop flight. We would like to leave on 9/1 and return 0n 09/15 but we are also flexible with our date +-3. I am thinking to search the awards on Air Tahiti Nui but not sure how to do it. Do I need to sign up for the frequent flyer account to do the search? Any insights on this are greatly appreciated. Thank you!
@ Joan For AA award flights with their partner airlines you can use the BA tool or you could use the award nexus tool or you can pay for the expert flyer tool.If you want to fly on AA metal then you can search on the AA website.
You have to be a member for all sites to search.
Thank you, Michael!
@Michael – Thanks for helping out!
@Joan – ExpertFlyer shows Air Tahiti Nui award availability or you can call AA and ask the agent to specifically search for Air Tahiti Nui awards on that route. Expertflyer is another good option. I searched on ExpertFlyer and there is 1 coach seat on Sept 2, 1 biz & 1 coach on the 3rd, & 1 coach on the 4th. For the return there is 1 coach on the 15th, 3 coach on the 16th, & 7 business class seats on the 13th. Award availability changes very quickly so these may not be available. If you like any of the options you can always place them on a 5 day hold for free before you ticket them, so you don’t lose the seats.
Thank you so much for the information, D!! I was able to hold the tickets based on the information you provided. I truly appreciate your help!!
@Joan – Glad it worked out!
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Hi Dariaus!
Would you mind doing a segment called “Part 10 – Finding Etihad Airways Award Availability using XXXs’ Website”
I can never get the hang of this one as the only way is to piece segments on etihadairways.com and then call the AA agent only to be told they don’t see that availability, especially in First.
Many Thanks!!!
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Hello all.
I am trying to use some AA miles in business class from the US west coast to ARN. Closest hub as I see it for me is LAS, LAX or SFO. Would most connect thru LHR or would you have suggestions on how to avoid London for an easier connection in Europe.That is not one of my favorite airports. Thanks, Leif
@Leif – It will be tough to avoid transiting LHR, but you could try Finnair, Iberia, or Air Berlin, but I didn’t check to see if they fly to ARN.
Hello,
I try looking at flight from paris to sfo on aa site and they only show BA. This would cost about 400 in fuel charge. Is there another way of going from paris to sfo on business class and avoid fuel charge. Thanks
@leslie - Air Tahiti Nui has a non-stop from Paris to LA and you can connect to SFO. Or you can try flying BA to London and then AA flights back to the US. Or Paris to Madrid and then Iberia back to the US.
I have united miles and aa miles. So if I use aa miles . Do you mean to book separate flight : one from paris to london then aa : London to us? If I fly from Paris to Madrid and then Iberia to US. Does this mean I would need two separate award. Or Paris to Madrid on my own by flight or train correct. Sorry if I don’t make sense am new to this hobby. I found u and was able to get a family of 7 to florida for free rt. Thanks.
@leslie - You usually will pay the flat rate of 30K in coach (1-way) from Europe to the US regardless of how you route the flight. So Paris to London on BA and London to US on American will cost the same flat rate of 30K for a non-stop flight. You could also have an award booking service make the reservations for you and you don’t pay until they book the seat and you are happy with what they find.
Hi,
I was trying to book business class which believe is 50000 one way. But my understanding is that if I book anything through BA going through LHR, I would end up paying fuel charge? Is that correct? Thanks
I’d like to book an award trip to Bangkok via American or US Air. They both list Japan, Korea and China but nothing for SE Asia. On American there is a MilesAASupersaver – off peak but I can’t find the dates. Any suggestions?
@leslie – Yes, that is correct. But you can always try to find an American Airlines flight to London and then connect on BA to Europe.
@Anthony Acosta – It should be fairly easy to book it on US Air since their Star Alliance partners are strong in Asia. With AA, you can fly on Cathay to Hong Kong and then to Bangkok. I believe AA’s off peak awards are only to Japan, Mongolia, and Korea –> http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/aadvantageAllPartnerChart.jsp#1
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I would like to know when you cancel your cards, when I can cancel my AA cards in order to apply for new ones? How often can I cancel a card so it won’t affect my credit score?
Any tricks on AA to find flights to Brazil? I am looking for December 2013 and coach is not available anymore, only with 60000 miles each way.
Thanks,
Great info – thank you. I am looking to travel to Europe this summer, probably Brussels then onto Germany, and the U.K using my miles as soon as they post (thank you 2 browser trick!) Looking on AA.com the awards availability in June is scarce besides the BA flights with charges. So it looks as tho Jet Airways would be a good bet? Would a business class ticket still cost 50,000 miles each way? I am flying from DFW so would have to connect to Newark then onto Jet Airways. Then fly home through Heathrow. Is this all possible?
@Beth Souza – See this post on when to cancel your cards. If coach is not available, you could check the business class low-level inventory for 50K before spending 60K on a coach flight.
@John – You can try to fly on American Airlines to London and then either connect on BA to Europe or take the train to Brussels to avoid the trans-atlantic fuel surcharges. Or try searching for Air Berlin flights to Germany which don’t have fuel surcharges. You could call for Jet Airways availability and it will still be 50K each way. Your routing seems possible as long as Jet Airways has a published ticket for that route.
We currently have enough miles for one award flight – NYC or PHL to Munich in July. I am finding the best value to be buying enough miles (with the current buy a lot and get some more free promo) to earn a second award and paying the low Air Berlin surcharges ($135). Better than paying full price for ticket #2. Anything I may be missing?
@Mike – That depends on how many miles you have to buy and the cost of the ticket. Assuming you buy the full 30K miles at 2 cents, you’re looking at a cost of $600. If the 2nd 1way ticket can be had for less, it may be better to just buy the ticket outright.
I have a first class ticket booked for Rome in July but would like to try to get a better flight the day of so I can still keep the first class milesaaver. Will I run into any problems trying to change my flight because it is an international flight?
So putting together a complicated award means finding segment by segment even flying on different “metal” for each segment as long as they’re part of Oneworld Alliance? If my understanding is correct, and I am looking to book ORD -> BKK I would do it this way:
1. Look up long haul first CX, JAL, etc. – ORD -> HKG (hold it)
2. Then look for HKG to BKK -> (hold it)
3. Then look for a free one way to add on to the front or back end of the trip say on JAL from HNL->ORD or the other way around
4. Add the short haul segment to get from BKK to HKG and then back to ORD
It doesn’t matter what “metal” each segment is on as long as it follows the rules? (not sure if above does but the concept is different “metal”)
Do I have this right?
@Blue – You don’t have to hold the segments individually, but can hold them on the same call and on the same reservation. If you want a free one-way, you’re better off booking your trip as a 2 1-way trips. There are some restrictions like not exceeded MPM and having a published fare. See Milevalue for more details.