new AA buy miles promotion

[VAG newbie]

Value looks to be poor.

Redemptions to Asia are very difficult to get and redemptions from Asia almost impossible. Why is it so difficult for Oneworld airlines to show availability online?

I have the same concern as well. AUD kept on crashing and redemption is not easy to find.

EY is probably the easiest to find availability, but the need to use 2 redemption to Europe has lowered the value somehow. It's nice to fly on the apartment, but you would still be looking at ~ US$2083 one way, which at today's exchange rate, is $2751. (Need to add extra $300-400 in APD if departing LHR as this is the only A380 service to Europe at the moment). So a roundtrip in apartment is still edging almost $6000, which even though is still about 50% of a paid ticket, but $6000 to Europe is a bit rich.

Agree Asia has very little choice. CX, JL and QF availability ex-AUS is extremely poor unless book way in advance. MH is not worth the money....

You can view CX availability at ba.com or qantas.com, CX have seats available regularly

I looked at ba.com, and ex BNE/SYD in Feb 2016, only one J seat out of BNE on one Thurs for the whole month. Nothing from SYD. Any tips?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I looked at ba.com, and ex BNE/SYD in Feb 2016, only one J seat out of BNE on one Thurs for the whole month. Nothing from SYD. Any tips?

book close in. CX usually has excellent first and business class in the few days prior to departure.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

MH and BA are also options into Asia although BA will add YQ

 

[diningdecadence]

what's the EY AUH-JFK cost? presumably can do a connector SYD-AUH-JFK?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

what's the EY AUH-JFK cost? presumably can do a connector SYD-AUH-JFK?

you'd simply combine the AU-ME and ME-USA sectors to arrive at the price.

AA will sell you anything... even on the same ticket with connecting flights. But the pricing of the award is what matters. Whether you pay one, two or three awards to get to your final destination.

 

[VAG newbie]

what's the EY AUH-JFK cost? presumably can do a connector SYD-AUH-JFK?

90000 one way in F. You can't book it as one award, so 150,000 in total, which unfortunately is a bit expensive. IMO, for SYD-AUH-JFK, VA might be a better option as it is easier to earn VA points

 

[Princess Fiona]

Ok have now locked in two F awards:
JFK-LHR-GLA on BA and GLA-LHR-SYD on BA/QF. Now to juggle all the points and accounts around and figure out who's kitty is taking the hit and who needs a wee top up

 

[boomy]

I have the same concern as well. AUD kept on crashing and redemption is not easy to find.

EY is probably the easiest to find availability, but the need to use 2 redemption to Europe has lowered the value somehow. It's nice to fly on the apartment, but you would still be looking at ~ US$2083 one way, which at today's exchange rate, is $2751. (Need to add extra $300-400 in APD if departing LHR as this is the only A380 service to Europe at the moment). So a roundtrip in apartment is still edging almost $6000, which even though is still about 50% of a paid ticket, but $6000 to Europe is a bit rich.

Flying on the best F product in the world all the way SYD-LHR-SYD for 6K is still very good value.
If you want "normal" F you can go for QF and bring the cost down to 5K include taxes. Also good value for flying more then 40 hours in a decent F cabin.

 

[wandering_fred]

Being in my normal contrarian mood, I would argue that those of us who fly only enough to ensure re-qualification don't consider buying miles to fly to be a bargain. Since those butt-in-seat hours credit nothing to status. And family have used more of my miles than I have.

As well, US$4K is more than enough for a CX CMB-HKG-LAX round trip in J. Or roughly 42K EQP to AA and 59K RDM for an AA PLT. If you really want a more extreme return on investment start that trip from JNB and fly in PEY.

But each to their own form of wandering

Fred

 

[ChasingDaylight]

MH is not worth the money....

Care to go into a bit more detail/elaborate? I'm considering MH for possible future redemptions

 

[VAG newbie]

Care to go into a bit more detail/elaborate? I'm considering MH for possible future redemptions

MH's business product on their long haul is a bit substandard compare to the other OW offerings such as CX, QR and JL. Basically, if you are going to destinations other than LHR and CDG, you'll end up with angled lie flat in 2-3-2 configuration on their 777.

For LHR/CDG, where it's serviced by A380, it's still in 2-2-2 configuration and not exactly fully lie flat. Even though you can recline to 180 degrees, the leg rest slopes down a bit making it quite uncomfortable to sleep, especially on the side.

Of course it's still better than any Y. But given that you can bid for an upgrade with MH now, and with the current "popularity" with MH, I think you might be able to score a cheaper deal by buying economy and bid for business.

 

[seritonin]

Care to go into a bit more detail/elaborate? I'm considering MH for possible future redemptions

Also, MH has significantly reduced award seat release now. You can only get one seat in most medium/long haul routes instead of previous 3 or 4 seats.

 

[seritonin]

Need to factor in the cost of the taxes when redeeming the miles.
I've got two seats LHR-SYD on QF F on hold and its $300 US per seat in taxes. Presumably cheaper in the opposite direction as no APD.

I would personally not flying out of LHR because of APD. You can avoid it by flying out of any BA destination in the EU and only transiting through LHR.

 

[RooFlyer]

Being in my normal contrarian mood, I would argue that those of us who fly only enough to ensure re-qualification don't consider buying miles to fly to be a bargain. Since those butt-in-seat hours credit nothing to status. And family have used more of my miles than I have.

As well, US$4K is more than enough for a CX CMB-HKG-LAX round trip in J. Or roughly 42K EQP to AA and 59K RDM for an AA PLT. If you really want a more extreme return on investment start that trip from JNB and fly in PEY.

But each to their own form of wandering

Fred

That used to be my attitude - I have a bank of points (with accompanying status) on both oneWorld (QF) and StarAlliance (AC). But buying points on AA and AS for instance, as well as being excellent value (at the moment, only good value) gives you many more options if you are looking for a premium cabin flight either paid not-much-cash or paid by points. For instance, AS for instance allows redemptions on SkyTeam airlines (if you really must ...) such as Korean Air, AeroMexico and KLM.

 

[boomy]

That used to be my attitude - I have a bank of points (with accompanying status) on both oneWorld (QF) and StarAlliance (AC). But buying points on AA and AS for instance, as well as being excellent value (at the moment, only good value) gives you many more options if you are looking for a premium cabin flight either paid not-much-cash or paid by points. For instance, AS for instance allows redemptions on SkyTeam airlines (if you really must ...) such as Korean Air, AeroMexico and KLM.

Exactly!
The more options you have the less chance you will ever need to buy tickets at retail price. Some airlines have better availability 10-12 months in advance while others 7-14 days out. And then you have alliances.
If I would only use the QFFP I earn "free" from work travel and other expenses I would be very restricted on routes and award seats availability.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I would personally not flying out of LHR because of APD. You can avoid it by flying out of any BA destination in the EU and only transiting through LHR.

Thanks, I am aware of that. Tickets are for two family members who are happy to wear the APD so they can fly from GLA.

 

[VAG newbie]

That used to be my attitude - I have a bank of points (with accompanying status) on both oneWorld (QF) and StarAlliance (AC). But buying points on AA and AS for instance, as well as being excellent value (at the moment, only good value) gives you many more options if you are looking for a premium cabin flight either paid not-much-cash or paid by points. For instance, AS for instance allows redemptions on SkyTeam airlines (if you really must ...) such as Korean Air, AeroMexico and KLM.

I would say AS value would be on emirate flights, especially now that you can book first class again. Downside is it doesn't cover redemption to/from Aus. But if you can somehow make it to SIN (which can easily be achieved cheaply with revenue ticket) ,100k to the US on Emirate first class is real good value.

 

[Rugby]

Mrs Rugby and I first joined American two years ago, but today was my first outing with AA miles and it went quite smoothly with only a couple of quirks. I called a local Sydney number, no need for Skype etc, which diverted to their call centre who quickly checked availability for SYD-NRT J, they had JAL and I reserved a return booking. I then purchased the miles, but had to use both our AA memberships as we needed more than 160000 miles, so purchased 90,000 each. I then called back to pay and had to split the original booking due to using two accounts, and I had to pay taxes using credits card in our separate names, which seemed odd that I couldn't pay for my wife's, but no big deal. All in all easier than expected, so assuming the tickets issue with no problems - happy days and one of the best tips I learned from AFF when I first joined. Glad I got to finally use it. Thanks to the forum.

 

[Pele]

Gday

Rugby out of interest what date are you doing the NRT- SYD leg? I have a USDM booking in the system which i would like to change the date of but cannot find any availability for the NRT- SYD leg at all for two people in October this year. 1st October has one J ticket available and that is it for the whole month. It is a little strange as there is quite a lot available on the SYD- NRT leg.

Pele.

 

[baggyred]

100K + $83 taxes SYD-LHR, best value!

Excuse my ignorance - I thought you weren't allowed to transit the middle east from Australia to Europe as part of AA??