Bits: cheapest ever American Airlines ‘buy miles’ deal, Melia sale – Manchester from £41

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• Tim Walters says:

  21 Dec21 December 05:03

  A few questions if I may.

  1) I don’t have an AA account, could I deposit into a family members to use for my travel?
  2) I have found reward on Etihad in First. I’m assuming the apartment is their standard First on the A380?
  3) How would I actually book these Etihad flights as they don’t show on the AA site?
  4) And finally, I’m assuming I just need to book before March rather than travel?

  Thank you so much! Tim

  • James67 says:

    21 Dec21 December 05:35

    Yes for 1, 2 and 4. Call AA aadvantage for 3. Note though you need an account to buy the miles so your family member would need to buy them not you. Note also that thus far EY have been moving a380 around but will be less of a problem in future as tgey receive more.

  • Rob says:

    21 Dec21 December 07:18

    If a reward shows as a STANDARD LEVEL award on the Etihad site then AA can book it by phone.

    Etihad premium level awards, the ones that need silly amounts of miles, cannot be booked by AA.

• Ronster says:

  21 Dec21 December 05:18

  Hi Rob

  Hope your well

  Don’t you have an additional £472.15 to add on, in charges per person when you actually come to exchange the miles for the actual ticket?

  I am looking at connecting here and heading to SYD using the same points. Coming up in J at 70,000 return + £79.00.

  AUH to AMM and then onto BKK all with RJ. Connecting on QF and onto SYD

  Ronster

  • Ronster says:

    21 Dec21 December 05:21

    That was supposed to be 90,000 and not 70,000 and £7970 not £79.00

    • Ronster says:

      21 Dec21 December 05:21

      I will eventually get this right! £79.70 not £79.00

  • James67 says:

    21 Dec21 December 05:42

    Correct this is just the cost of miles, you have to pay all relevant tax and fees in addition whichever trip you make. Low tax and fees on AAdvantage are with EY, CX, AB and MH, less so on QR and high on BA and AY IIRC, don’t know about RJ or QF. JAL were high but I believe they have fallen in past year.

  • Rob says:

    21 Dec21 December 07:16

    The Etihad number quoted, £1200, would include taxes (roughly) as these are fairly low using AA miles.

• James67 says:

  21 Dec21 December 05:28

  It is too simplistic to say it is cheapest ever Rob. I t depends how many miles you need relative to the cut off points for increasing bonus levels which can vary in AA buy miles promotions. Also depends on exchange rates at time of bonus. Based on what I’ve seen over the years it is good if you can get 60k miles for a return J to ME or India for about £800. Also, nobody should rush to buy huge amounts of miles in one transaction, better to play around with bonus increments to figure out cheapest way of reaching your goal because sometimes two work better than one. Also, sometimes bonus miles do not post until later which may be a factor with impending devaluation.

  • Rob says:

    21 Dec21 December 07:14

    Agreed, it is simplistic – but it is not the central thrust of the piece so keeping it simple was fine by me!

  • Jason says:

    21 Dec21 December 10:34

    AA had a 100% bonus for miles 2 years ago. Unfortunately I hadn’t quite worked out AA’s benefits to Etihad at that time 🙁

  • pgw says:

    21 Dec21 December 11:07

    And because the payment/charges are always in US$, the exchange rates plays a significant part with larger transactions.

• will says:

  21 Dec21 December 08:36

  having looked at the terms and conditions, seems buy miles limits are calendar year based. can you claim this twice, before 31st dec and after Jan 1st?

  • Rob says:

    21 Dec21 December 09:22

    That may well be the reason for the 4th January closing date, now you mention it.

• David says:

  21 Dec21 December 08:42

  The AA miles can presumably be used for hotel stays. Is this true and is this better value than cash?

  • Rob says:

    21 Dec21 December 09:21

    Yes, you can use them hotels or car hire. You only get about 0.5p per mile I think so no arbitrage here.

    • pgw says:

      21 Dec21 December 11:05

      AA hotel redemptions levels vary considerably dependent on the AAdvantage status of the account holder. No uncommon for the miles required to drop 50% when an Executive Platinum/Platinum member logs into their account.

• Egar says:

  21 Dec21 December 12:25

  Hi, the Melia sales website link doesn’t appear to work. Do you know if there is a discount code that can be used instead when booking? Many thanks.

• Dynamo says:

  21 Dec21 December 13:07

  Does your account have to be 14 days old to purchase AA miles?

  • idrive says:

    21 Dec21 December 14:21

    Dynamo, I think that’s Alaska

    • Blueskies says:

      21 Dec21 December 15:00

      10 days for Alaska

  • RJB says:

    21 Dec21 December 15:46

    The AAdvantage terms and conditions mention:
    “AAdvantage accounts less than 30 days old are not permitted to Buy or Gift Miles.”

    Looks like new members cannot participate in the offer.

    Also, you are required to pay ca. 8.5% in processing charges and excise taxes so the 160k miles required (as highlighted above) for two EY F tickets from London to Abu Dhabi would cost US$3,201.25 instead of US$2,950

    • Rob says:

      21 Dec21 December 15:59

      Forgot that, sorry. I’ve been caught out on that before on HFP.

    • Ronster says:

      21 Dec21 December 22:21

      I first looked early this morning LHR- AUH in F with Etihad

      To purchase enough miles to cover the 80,000 needed for a return ticket,you’d have to buy 55,000 and qualify for 33,000 for free

      Cost $1,622.50
      Federal excise tax $121.69

      Processing charge $30.00
      Total charges $1,774.19 USD

      Got an exchange rate from the UK post office of £1 to $1.444= £1228 +2.99% credit card charge(amex)= £1265.400+£472.15 (additional booking charges)=£1737.15 for a return Ticket.

      Ronster

      • Rob says:

        21 Dec21 December 22:24

        It isn’t £472 of tax (unless you called AA to get that number). Etihad adds a fuel surcharge which AA does not add IIRC.

        The spot rate is $1.48 to the $1 and most of us have a card which avoids the 3% surcharge so you are realstically looking at nearer £1,400.

        • Ronster says:

          22 Dec22 December 02:23

          Hi Rob

          Thats the amount of taxs/ fees that came up on AA.com

          I guess some might have a non fee paying card and plentydo not

          Ronster

        • Ronster says:

          22 Dec22 December 02:54

          I wish they would be clearer. First page where they list flight choices they mention “Taxes and carrier based fees”.When you on the final page to book the additional charges are described as “Baggage and Optional Charges”.

          Checked a mixture of months this evening. Could find no availability at all now.

          Ronster

  • Rob says:

    21 Dec21 December 16:04

    30 days it seems as per the other comment

• CC says:

  21 Dec21 December 15:56

  Do you the chauffeur service both sides of the flight if you only have a one way from AUH – LHR? Or just on the AUH side?

  Thanks

  • Rob says:

    21 Dec21 December 16:00

    You don’t get the chauffeur on AA-booked Etihad redemptions.

    You do if you book via Etihad Guest miles.

    • Craig says:

      21 Dec21 December 16:50

      Are you sure Rob? I had an AA booked redemption earlier this year and had the chauffeur (trip was LHR – AUH return)

      • PGW says:

        21 Dec21 December 18:24

        Likewise I had the chauffeur service in both BKK and MAN with a redemption earlier this year.

      • Rob says:

        21 Dec21 December 21:10

        When did you book it though? Need to look it up, in a cab now!

        • Louie says:

          21 Dec21 December 22:12

          Mum and Dad had a chauffeur in late October and I have that option when I look at my forthcoming booking which was ticketed a couple of weeks ago.

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