AA BUY miles promo

[Princess Fiona]

Couple of Noob questions regarding this. Is it possible to redeem an Award ticket in another passengers name? Can you transfer all of the miles (up to 100K annually) from one persons account to another?
Hypothetically could I with my family's 5 accounts, use the curent promo and purchase 40K miles in each, transfer the miles plus bonus (55K) from 3 of the accounts into 2 accounts? Doing the maths this would give 2 accounts with enough miles (125K +) to each redeem a J Award SYD-JFK.
I would be most grateful if anyone can see any holes in this plan before I part with the cash. The most obvious hole being that it might be tough to get 2x J Awards from SYD-JFK.

 

[kempvet]

I think that you can only transfer 15000 miles a year to someone else, and it costs you $150, so if you are going to transer 3 times, there goes $450 dollars already, from my memory, but I could be wrong. Yes, you can book family members with your points, well, as far as their booking engine is concerned. I am doing a SC run in the US at the moment, sat next to a top tier AA (from BWI-MIA) frequent flyer who reckons all the good seats go to the top tier members first and what is left over they release to the rest later.

By the way, this guy wanted to go from BWI to STL through ORD, but with the snow he went from BWI-MIA-STL, the flight was then oversold likely because AA accommodate people like him, and they simply sent 2 Y passengers home with vouchers.

Additional information - the exec platinum I sat next to BWI-MIA seemed to indicate that SYD-USA points tickets go quickly, very popular with other exec plat AA's, I guess that there is no real way to know if you can buy your way into the AA system and readily use the points. I am buying into them because I am here in the US a lot of the time, also want to start travel from the US so have a few options to use the points. I think that starting from AUS may limit the usefulness of AA points and you may need to be very flexible with the time you want to go.

I would be nice if more experienced people could add to the thread. Perhaps the answer only be found by joing a US ff discussion group.

 

[dfcatch]

You can transfer between accounts - however there is an annual limit (25K maybe...Off top of my head), and you pay a fee for the transfer too.

You can redeem the ticket in any person's name - however the required points must come from a single account (you can't use 40,000 from Account 1 and 22,500 from account 2). And the CC used to pay the taxes/fees must be in the name of the account holder if the account holder is not the person flying.

You would be best to get the 55K miles into each account. Then either:

1/ Earn the extra 7.5k miles via SPG or Hilton stays or similar (must match account holder name)

2/ Transfer the 7.5K from one account to another or two

3/ Wait until the promotion at the end of the year where the annual purchase limit is raised to 60K to purchase some more miles (with additional bonus)


Then I would use each account to purchase a single one-way redemtion at 62.5K each.

You can put all the seats on hold as soon as you find them - and then you can ticket individually.

Nice thing with AA redemptions is that Aus-NA is anywhere in the continent to anywhere in the continent -so it's the same miles to LAX or JFK for example.

Select far enough out and you should be fine with redemtions but you will need to be flexible on dates and not travel in holidays (but you already know that).

EF is your friend.

 

[Princess Fiona]

You can transfer between accounts - however there is an annual limit (25K maybe...Off top of my head), and you pay a fee for the transfer too.

You can redeem the ticket in any person's name - however the required points must come from a single account (you can't use 40,000 from Account 1 and 22,500 from account 2). And the CC used to pay the taxes/fees must be in the name of the account holder if the account holder is not the person flying.

You would be best to get the 55K miles into each account. Then either:

1/ Earn the extra 7.5k miles via SPG or Hilton stays or similar (must match account holder name)

2/ Transfer the 7.5K from one account to another or two

3/ Wait until the promotion at the end of the year where the annual purchase limit is raised to 60K to purchase some more miles (with additional bonus)


Then I would use each account to purchase a single one-way redemtion at 62.5K each.

You can put all the seats on hold as soon as you find them - and then you can ticket individually.

Nice thing with AA redemptions is that Aus-NA is anywhere in the continent to anywhere in the continent -so it's the same miles to LAX or JFK for example.

Select far enough out and you should be fine with redemtions but you will need to be flexible on dates and not travel in holidays (but you already know that).

EF is your friend.

Brilliant
That sounds like a plan

 

[QF WP]

Princess Fiona, thus is the system I use to garner all the AA points I need for our trips. My 2011 trip ( 4 x J BNE/LHR...CDG/BNE) meant 517.5K AA miles (saved over 7 years) and I forgot to use the transfer from SPG.

I'm doing the same this year and been getting great bonuses from AA - it's such a good system

 

[cove]

It sounds like the Wilsons will be flying again. Taking the whole family in J on points takes a heap of background work so we are always pleased to hear about a different way of doing it.
My friend the postal worker says some businesses still pay the ATO at his place with a cheque that almost has 2 commas in it.
i think they do it on a Friday to get the money credited to their account and don't really pay out for 3 days while the cheque goes off to be banked.
So many points are going to waste......

 

[Paddy55]

I'm doing the same this year and been getting great bonuses from AA - it's such a good system

I discovered it through AFF a year or so ago, and I absolutely agree with Lindsay it is great!
Promotions are so regular I've never had to buy points with bonuses so 40K + 15K for $US12xx is pretty dependable... and nearly a one way J award to Europe!

Just taken advantage of the current promotion too!

Add the odd "Special" Promotion and it is a great deal :mrgreen:

 

[QF WP]

Hi cove, well yes here's hoping, I'll be in contact with you (but after 28th Feb) as I may need your assistance - better get to Bunnings first

looks like I'll have need for a mixed seating arrangement: 2 x AA points + 1 x QF points plus another either paid or ZASA - mine of course is the last seat

It sounds like the Wilsons will be flying again. Taking the whole family in J on points takes a heap of background work so we are always pleased to hear about a different way of doing it.
My friend the postal worker says some businesses still pay the ATO at his place with a cheque that almost has 2 commas in it.
i think they do it on a Friday to get the money credited to their account and don't really pay out for 3 days while the cheque goes off to be banked.
So many points are going to waste......

I just wish I could push our BAS payments through my CC, alas I am one of 3 partners and we have a "work" CC - as my wife did the BAS last night I was sadly musing about the loss

 

[cove]

The good news is the whole family are young enough to travel with you.
I remember sitting in a business class lounge getting told by a CSM to avoid having the children flying in business class and there I was holding 4 J tickets....the work to get those is worth it.

 

[Princess Fiona]

We are going to try for a similar thing to you Lindsay. 2 x AAawards, 2 x QF Classic/Partner awards and keeping our fingers crossed for a 2 for 1 J sale. This trip is just under 18 months away but with the complexity of getting 6 seats, and possibly/likely having to split-up en-route I thought to start planning now.

 

[QF WP]

Mine was easy when I had 3 award seats - my son (an infant) just sat on my lap on all our flights. Now that he is over 2, the logistics get more difficult with 4. Getting on one plane - much harder again.

Yours is 6 pax - wow, you take the prize . Although having 2 paid is fine, but getting the 2 for 1 sale to be in your time window for the already booked award seats, now that's hoping...

Then again, you know (and have met) some of the top people in QFF

Still, getting the AA points in the right accounts and trying to do as little gifting .. another challenge.

 

[skywalkerLAX]

A word of caution: There are problems with the booking system of Cathay Pacific and AA as well as a few other airlines are having trouble booking rewards on CX. Recent word at AA was that until further notice AA won't be able to process redemptions on CX.

I hope this issue will disappear soon, for further info you might want to refer to the relevant thread on FT!

Cheers
S

 

[Princess Fiona]

A word of caution: There are problems with the booking system of Cathay Pacific and AA as well as a few other airlines are having trouble booking rewards on CX. Recent word at AA was that until further notice AA won't be able to process redemptions on CX.

I hope this issue will disappear soon, for further info you might want to refer to the relevant thread on FT!

Cheers
S

Noted and read, thanks. Hopefully sorted out by the time I'm booking.

Promo ends today folks (29th Feb)
I spent up big yesterday. Topped up 5 accounts.
Best case scenario I'll get 2 x J returns to JFK for around $6000 outlay.
I love a gamble

 

[QF WP]

But don't forget that as we are ahead in time (and so many other ways), the 29th Feb in USA extends until tomorrow morning here.

I haven't added points to my kids accounts yet, they are coming from a small base so wouldn't be able to collect enough for it to be useful for our purposes this year. Who knows what the next months' offer will be..

 

[skywalkerLAX]

Noted and read, thanks. Hopefully sorted out by the time I'm booking.

Promo ends today folks (29th Feb)
I spent up big yesterday. Topped up 5 accounts.
Best case scenario I'll get 2 x J returns to JFK for around $6000 outlay.
I love a gamble

Hope you get what you want... AA's routing rules are starting to p*** me off by now. They even declined SYD-NRT-PEK, has to go via HKG. Bleh!

 

[tinkybelle]

Couple of Noob questions regarding this. Is it possible to redeem an Award ticket in another passengers name? Can you transfer all of the miles (up to 100K annually) from one persons account to another?
Hypothetically could I with my family's 5 accounts, use the curent promo and purchase 40K miles in each, transfer the miles plus bonus (55K) from 3 of the accounts into 2 accounts? Doing the maths this would give 2 accounts with enough miles (125K +) to each redeem a J Award SYD-JFK.
I would be most grateful if anyone can see any holes in this plan before I part with the cash. The most obvious hole being that it might be tough to get 2x J Awards from SYD-JFK.

2 things I see
firstly you dont get the bonus for a while and they usually do take at least 8 weeks

second you can do one ways at 67500( only extra cost is $25 ticketing fee and the huge cancellation fee of $150 per ticket.
so really not a lot of need to move a lot of pts about.
or just transfer some spg if you have them.
so you should have bought 5 lots of pts and then just used the one to transfer if needed or wait till the next buy.

 

[skywalkerLAX]

2 things I see
firstly you dont get the bonus for a while and they usually do take at least 8 weeks

second you can do one ways at 67500( only extra cost is $25 ticketing fee and the huge cancellation fee of $150 per ticket.
so really not a lot of need to move a lot of pts about.
or just transfer some spg if you have them.
so you should have bought 5 lots of pts and then just used the one to transfer if needed or wait till the next buy.

I agree. It's a bit of a pain comparing to US Air where Bonus posts immediately.

The only thing with SPG: The accounts need to be somewhat active otherwise SPG reverses the transaction happened to me & friends of mine last year. Also, SPG now checks the name against the account holder of AA which they did not do ~ 2 years ago.

 

[Princess Fiona]

2 things I see
firstly you dont get the bonus for a while and they usually do take at least 8 weeks

so you should have bought 5 lots of pts and then just used the one to transfer if needed or wait till the next buy.

That's exactly what I've done
Trip won't be until Nov/Dec 2013 so plenty of time to top up those accounts for four o/w J awards +/- a little transfer from the 5th account if needed.

 

[drron]

Buy before April 5th and save 15% but also get 30% bonus miles-I am in this time.
[TABLE="align: center"]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]Buy Miles and Enjoy 30% Bonus Miles[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]With American Airlines AAdvantage[SUP]®[/SUP] miles, you can take a summer vacation and build memories that will
last a lifetime. Simply purchase the miles you may need to reach your flight award and start planning the
trip of your dreams. Purchase miles today through May 31, 2012, and you'll earn 30% bonus miles on purchases of 20,000 miles or more!

SPECIAL: Until April 5th Also Get a 15% Discount!​

When you purchase 20,000 miles or more before 12:00pm (noon CDT) April 5, 2012, you will save 15% off the price in addition to earning 30% bonus miles.

The More You Buy, The More You Earn!

For Example:

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[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[futaris]

52,000 Miles for 1035 USD isn't bad.