So, what are you burning your AA miles on?

[Nizar]

So for spending 220k miles you to fly up to 50k miles in J. That in theory let's you fly CBR-SYD-LHR-MEL-LHR-SYD-DXB or 2 Europe returns + halfway back again

Hmmm never heard of them but going off what you are saying here it seems to compare more than favourably to the 280k award which allows only 35k miles of travel in J.
Can you book an Explorer with 220k QFF points ?

 

[Joshua]

Hmmm never heard of them but going off what you are saying here it seems to compare more than favourably to the 280k award which allows only 35k miles of travel in J.
Can you book an Explorer with 220k QFF points ?

Like AAll things, they are better value than QF, let's not mention taxes to avoiding a jinxing.

If you figure it out, it works to be a nice discount on the regular AA awards. So if you have a lot of flying in mind then these definitely work out better. If you want to throw in a few F segments then maybe nest them in.

The explorer award values are here:
oneworld Airlines Award Chart

The FT thread covers the basic rules:
NEW oneworld / AA Explorer awards using AA Miles (NOT for Partner Awards) - FlyerTalk Forums

Similar to QF but each has their little intricacies. Have yet to book one on AA but the no changes to anything but dates would be ok - can set the route in advance then get EF to fish for availability.

 

[Nizar]

Like AAll things, they are better value than QF, let's not mention taxes to avoiding a jinxing.

If you figure it out, it works to be a nice discount on the regular AA awards. So if you have a lot of flying in mind then these definitely work out better. If you want to throw in a few F segments then maybe nest them in.

The explorer award values are here:
oneworld Airlines Award Chart

The FT thread covers the basic rules:
NEW oneworld / AA Explorer awards using AA Miles (NOT for Partner Awards) - FlyerTalk Forums

Similar to QF but each has their little intricacies. Have yet to book one on AA but the no changes to anything but dates would be ok - can set the route in advance then get EF to fish for availability.

Ah nice.
So you can throw a few F segments into the mix for an additional fee ?
On QF I don't think you can.

Cheers for the links I will bookmark them for later review. Now, to figure out how I'm going to get 220k AA miles lol I think I will eventually move to crediting all travel to AA but just so hard to move from QF as the easier earn rate almost makes up for the poor burn rate, especially once you have status.

 

[Joshua]

Ah nice.
So you can throw a few F segments into the mix for an additional fee ?
On QF I don't think you can.

Cheers for the links I will bookmark them for later review. Now, to figure out how I'm going to get 220k AA miles lol I think I will eventually move to crediting all travel to AA but just so hard to move from QF as the easier earn rate almost makes up for the poor burn rate, especially once you have status.

You can't add F segments, but given how many routes no longer have F I was hinting you could book the F segments flights (assuming they're major intercontinental flights) separately. So if you're flying enough just nest bookings as best as possible. I haven't read up on AA stuff enough yet either

 

[ChasingDaylight]

Have an a DOM QF flight sitting at 'on request' for the past four days :/. When I check the booking under MMB on QF website, it says confirmed, however still shows as 'on request' with AA - plus when checking it on RJ (to try and switch in my QFF #) it shows as yet to be confirmed.

>_<

Edit: Credit Card was declined (interesting enough, QF shows the booking as 'confirmed' however!) due to incorrect Post Code. The AA website doesn't like Post Codes starting with '0' it seems so I put in a US one, resulting in my card being declined.

 

[Nizar]

Edit: Credit Card was declined (interesting enough, QF shows the booking as 'confirmed' however!) due to incorrect Post Code. The AA website doesn't like Post Codes starting with '0' it seems so I put in a US one, resulting in my card being declined.

Hmmm wonder if its better to put a actual existing US post code or just leave it blank ?
I've been getting conflicting reports of which one is a goer after reading on here and on FT

 

[ChasingDaylight]

I rang AA's Australian number this afternoon to ask what had happened, and she advised the card (GE 28 Degrees Mastercard) had been declined and stated it would seem to be due to the card having an Australian address and me using a postcode for a small town in Oregon on the website.

I explained that it doesn't like the 0 so had to use something. She changed it, coverted the ticketing cost to AUD and sent the payment through to the ticketing people for processing. If you live in Melbourne it may work, but being from Darwin all my postcodes start with a 0

 

[anat0l]

So can someone explain the general lack of interest in the Explorer Awards - the oneworld, milage awards?

They are the best value you can get from your AA miles for sure. That said, that's a lot of saving up (or a few years of purchasing) required if AA is not your primary account, unlike QF for most here (with credit cards, regular flying etc. racking up 280k or so for the equivalent award, even with YQ, is rather quick).

I was having a goal in mind to save for one of these (or an F award, either at the 35,000 mile or 50,000 mile award level), but it's been set back by my latest redemption: JFK-TPA-DFW (stop) - BNE. J award, 62.5k points. Of course, AA are smart enough to realise that domestic First on AA is allowed on Business Class awards (without needing to bump it up to a First Class award).

Taxes were less than half the cost of a nice meal on a Friday night; only thing that was high on cost was the expedited ticketing fee, but that's not such a big deal. The most painful part of the process was probably eventually getting the whole thing paid for, given the Australian credit card. According to the final agent who helped me, it should not matter where your credit card comes from, as there are processes to handle non-US credit cards. How you prompt a clueless agent to follow this process is beyond me, but glad it all worked out in the end.

 

[Joshua]

interesting enough, QF shows the booking as 'confirmed' however!

QF website just about says everything is "confirmed". Reservations has made an itinerary with a flight simple held for inventory issues. There is not actually a fare available yet - they're hoping the fare desk will fix it. So I haven't paid, it isn't ticketed, yet the QF site says "confirmed"!

Waitlisting is probably the only exception I can think of.

They are the best value you can get from your AA miles for sure.

Thanks, sometimes I wondered if I was alone on it. Indeed it's a nice number of points but with too many QFF points I've refocussing on Amex MR points so looking at my options for maximising them in the long run. Other RTW awards, such as in USDM are mostly cough compared with the top AA award which is basically double RTW. I'll probably grab a couple 280k Z10 J awards through QF first, so there's some time to save!