Get upto 15,000 bonus AAdvantage® miles January 2013

[Kangol]

Agreed. I was comparing to the AMEX ATO earn for QF.....$1,450 for 150,000 points. Nets similar value for pretty much the same cost. Excluding fees/charges - not sure if AA are as ruthless as QF.

$1,450 for 150k QFF points - is this a typo? Over 100 points per dollar?

 

[Bofter]

$1,450 for 150k QFF points - is this a typo? Over 100 points per dollar?

I think the $1,450 is the Amex surcharge for paying a $100,000 tax bill, which means that you need to first have a $100,000 tax bill to pay.

 

[Danger]

These promos are great, don't get me wrong, but when they happen as often as they seem to lately and as beneficial as they seem to, I start to wonder where the tipping point is.

I think the $1,450 is the Amex surcharge for paying a $100,000 tax bill, which means that you need to first have a $100,000 tax bill to pay.

Talk about glass half full. Haha.

 

[markis10]

No, you took AAdvantage of the offer

I've seen between 15 and 25%. I'm like you - don't need any points right now

Given 40k gets the 15k bonus this offer is 37.5% if you don't go the max.

 

[amaroo]

$1,450 for 150k QFF points - is this a typo? Over 100 points per dollar?

I think the $1,450 is the Amex surcharge for paying a $100,000 tax bill.

Bofter is correct.

Beats paying $31 for 1 point via EDR

 

[burmans]

I think the $1,450 is the Amex surcharge for paying a $100,000 tax bill, which means that you need to first have a $100,000 tax bill to pay.

Yes, I guess in my round about way is what I was trying to say in my last point. ATO payment is a great lurk but in general a limited one that doesn't give us all the points we need hence we look for other options to top up.

 

[anat0l]

Just out of interest: what kinds of AA awards are people generally targeting when they buy points? (This might spur a new thread...)

For US DM, most of us had an easy "sweet spot" for awards: 150k for a AUS/EUR award in F, or 140k for a AUS/USA award in F, or 120k and 110k respectively for the J equivalents.

Are people similarly targeting similar amounts for AA awards? So in the case of AUS/EUR (e.g. to LHR) award in F, that would be 160k AAdvantage miles, which, for those who have gone from a standing start, this promo and the last one would be insufficient to cover. Also, rationalising, it costs AUD 3600 for 90k + 75k = 165k points and not hit the goal yet. AUD 4000 is still cheaper than any advertised F return fare, but suffice to say it relies on one actually wanting to spend that much for a ticket in the first place.

For AUS/USA (which is quite difficult to get), it would be 145k return in F. If you can't get a direct across the Pacific, you may have to go via Asia. I'm not sure of the mechanics of redeeming with AA, but at worst you'd be paying for two awards (AUS/Asia and Asia/USA) which would cost a total over 200k wholly in F.

In J all those totals drop to quite more modest values which is very much achievable with these two recent promos.

The other alternative is to do one-ways rather than return journeys, finding an economical way to get back (e.g. cheaper return fares outside Australia back to Australia, or LifeMiles redemption).

It should be noted carefully that in general (at least from what I can read from the AA forum on FlyerTalk) stopovers are not allowed at all on any given itinerary (unlike US DM, which allows one hub stop), and routing must be generally as direct as possible.

In the older days, there were really, really good value (cheap!) "RTW" style AA awards available. The "RTW" awards with AA are still good value for the mileage paid, but they are usually well beyond the scope of the two recent promos (and start to push on the boundaries of whether it's actually better just to purchase the cash RTW fare instead, which has far less restrictions).

My idea of redeeming with AA was mostly to do some one-way journeys on routes which are on my "list", e.g. CX F, BA F ex-LHR, BA CW LCY ex-JFK.

 

[arraitch]

As a quick response to anat0l ... Tahiti beckoned for us.

I won't pretend that South Pacific awards in J for 30,000 miles each way is the sweet spot on the AA redemption chart, but we're getting somewhere that we want to go at a reasonably affordable price. Inventory on NZ seems almost unobtainable for US DM these days and we're not about to stump up for J $ fares from PER, so that's one more DOM-TOM to tick off the bucket list!

 

[Kangol]

Bofter is correct.

Beats paying $31 for 1 point via EDR

Oh. But then it's more like $101,450 for 150k points!

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...

 

[Bofter]

I used 90,000 miles to book Australia - Japan return in J. The advantage of AA (pardon the pun) over USDM for this was the availability of the more direct routing on both QF and JL. It may have cost a little more than USDM (which would have probably been on TG) - I don't actually know, but it got me the flights that I wanted to get to a conference and back.

 

[diningdecadence]

Interesting!

The cost is cheap @ $1,650US however, paying the ATO on the amex you can get 150,000 QF points for $1,450.

is that using a NAB direct earn AMEX? would be interested to find out what card you're using if it is something different.

As an aside - it would be interesting to find out whether those paying the ATO in the 6/7 figure range are using Visa/MC or AMEX and reasonings. as Gold Member's post a while ago noted, even at 1.45c/ point there's still alot of upside to be recognised!

Just out of interest: what kinds of AA awards are people generally targeting when they buy points? (This might spur a new thread...)

having a quick play - SYD-SIN one way BA F for 45k points using AA vs 90k classic award through QF (same flight) is a nice one to have, although it appears NF on this flight is a coin toss at present.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Given 40k gets the 15k bonus this offer is 37.5% if you don't go the max.

Exactly my thinking

 

[amaroo]

is that using a NAB direct earn AMEX? would be interested to find out what card you're using if it is something different.

Qantas AMEX Ultimate

As an aside - it would be interesting to find out whether those paying the ATO in the 6/7 figure range are using Visa/MC or AMEX and reasonings. as Gold Member's post a while ago noted, even at 1.45c/ point there's still alot of upside to be recognised!

You can find more here http://www.australianfrequentflyer....fice-payments-credit-17109-36.html#post738151 CITI Select seems to be the preferred card.

having a quick play - SYD-SIN one way BA F for 45k points using AA vs 90k classic award through QF (same flight) is a nice one to have, although it appears NF on this flight is a coin toss at present.

If you can wait until end March....then it will be NF everyday on a BA 777.

 

[fersea]

I bought 90K points (60+30 bonus) just before the end of last year.

I am looking at going CBR-SYD-LAX; LAX-MCO; MCO-ORD-JFK; JFK-LHR; LHR-DXB(stopover)-SYD-CBR.

Total cost is 102500 ponts or about $2000 in purchasing them plus about $400 in taxes - that is using economy.

I do have the option of coming back first class from London which would cost me 137500 points (either way I am going to have to buy more) which is roughly around $700 extra plus for some reason the taxes are about $150 higher.

My question is, is it worth $850 extra to pay for a one way LHR-SYD trip in first class? (the SYD-CBR would still be in economy on a dash 8).

I have never flown first class before.

 

[fersea]

I should add the Aus - USA and London - Aus flights are Qantas. Internal US and US-UK flight is American Airlines.

 

[markis10]

My question is, is it worth $850 extra to pay for a one way LHR-SYD trip in first class? (the SYD-CBR would still be in economy on a dash 8).

I have never flown first class before.

Is that a trick question ?

 

[fersea]

Is that a trick question ?

No it is not.

 

[asg29e]

Oh. But then it's more like $101,450 for 150k points!

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...

Depends how you look at it.
The first $100K wasn't his. It belonged the taxman! He could have given it to them by BPay and got zero points.
But for $1450 of his own money...

 

[markis10]

No it is not.

Put it this way, what airline offers an ODU LHR to SYD in F from Y for that money??? Worth doing it once at least IMHO.

 

[asg29e]

My question is, is it worth $850 extra to pay for a one way LHR-SYD trip in first class? (the SYD-CBR would still be in economy on a dash 8).

I have never flown first class before.

Er... yes it is worth it