Get up to 115,000 bonus Avios or American Airlines miles for transatlantic travel

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

• rmb says:

  14 May14 May 06:23

  Hi Raffles,
  Thank you for running this site.
  It is a very good promotion, but the terms and conditions seem unclear to me.
  According to the terms and conditions, the AA promotion is valid for “nonstop flights for round-trip travel”. Does this mean you have to fly directly without any connecting flights on either side of the Atlantic? And do you have to fly the exact same route back, or could you fly let’s say AMS-LHR-JFK-ORD-DUS-AMS?

• Gabbai says:

  14 May14 May 06:59

  AVIOS are far more rewarding and flexible than AAdvantage miles even after the last BA devaluation. Find a friend with a USA address to use!

  • Stripy says:

    14 May14 May 07:29

    I’d love to know the basis for that assertion. For starters, the fuel surcharges you end up paying when using Avios makes them a lot less “rewarding”….. and then you have the considerably larger number of Avios needed for long haul travel. Given the choice of 100,000 Avios or 100,000 AAdvantage miles I’d take the later every-single-time.

  • polly says:

    14 May14 May 12:05

    Yes but we can’t earn them shopping apart from using our mana double card pack. Or an SP G card miles transfer CARD…took us an age to collect enough for hawaii last year. So its baec 241 F for the foreseeable future plus the odd q r sale ex eu.

• Bob says:

  14 May14 May 08:28

  I’d just wouldn’t trust BA to credit the Avios. BA holiday bonus Avios offers – did a Dublin to Las Vegas flight and hotel booking which clearly denoted the holiday bonus avios offer – even with an address in the UK – they told me my address is not in the UK and holidays booked on international sites (non US and UK option) aren’t included in the offer but gave me the bonus anyway as an ex-gratia good will payment – this despite their terms and conditions not stating anything about this location requirement and when on the BA IE option site clearly denoting Holiday bonus avios. I intend to reply with a strongly worded reply.

• Rob says:

  14 May14 May 09:58

  Except it’s not true.

  AA’s reward IS more flexible than BA for certain long-haul redemptions, that is true. You can use Etihad and you won’t pay fuel surcharges on some carriers (not BA). However:

  * there is a huge, huge devaluation coming to AA soon and everyone knows it
  * the routing rules, which don’t allow Middle East transfers, are a real issue if flying east
  * fees can be high for cancellations, changes or last minute bookings
  * pricing for European redemptions is very high and you pay full BA taxes rather than the £35 RFS
  * the BA Amex 241 voucher more than cancels out any benefit from AA redemptions being cheaper
  * whilst there is a UK AA credit card, the lack of direct transfer options from Amex and the lack of other partners including Tesco means that your opportunity to pick up miles by not flying is limited

  If I thought it was a sensible long-term alternative to BAEC then I would push it, but I don’t. IF – and only if – you earn all your Avios from flying and only redeem for long-haul then it may have value (but, again, any upcoming devaluation may still leave you stranded).

  • Jan says:

    14 May14 May 10:35

    Thx for you reply. I definately do not want to question your expertise in this matter, but perhaps some remarks:
    – while everyone expects a devaluation of AA (following United and Delta), it only became better a couple of weeks ago (doubling the earning rates of elite qualifying points). And the expert miles & points bloggers in the States don’t expect any devaluation in the near future.
    – I use AA redemptions all the time from Europe to Asia via the Middle East (with Etihad) without any problem (and they offer tons of award availability).
    – I am AA Executive Platinum member (highest tier) and I pay no fees for cancellations, changes or last minute bookings.
    – the 8 (!!!) free AA upgrades per year when you reach AA’s highest elite level (which is much more easier to reach than BA Gold) is a far better benefit than the 2-4-1 BA Amex voucher IMHO, at least when transatlantic routes are you preferred way of traveling (especially since the new AA business class is so much better than BA)

    Of course, BA has its advantages – as you mentioned – but I like the fact that I earn miles much faster (especially when flying the Oneworld partners), reach elite status much faster, need 50% less miles for business class redemptions when flying to the Maldives, that I earn tons of (elite qualifying) miles on the Kangaroo route with Emirates from Europe to Australia, and that AA has more partners (e.g. Etihad), opening up more destinations for redemptions (such as Tahiti and the Seychelles).

    • BlueHorizonUK says:

      14 May14 May 11:42

      Jan I would add the following:

      – A devaluation IS coming. Whether you choose to believe it or not is unto you but there is no way AA is giving all these bonus miles for free and not increasing redemption rates. Oversaturation comes to mind.

      – Not sure how you are managing to get a redemption from Europe to Far East via the Middle East as one redemption when it is specifically banned. If you mean it prices out as two awards i.e Europe to Mid East and then Mid East to Far East then thats something different.

      – If you don’t have status then the fees are eye-watering when compared to BAEC

      – Same as above if you don’t have their highest status then this is a moot point

      There are exactly ZERO transfer opportunities to AA if you live in the UK so if you only fly then maybe its a great programme (not withstanding the devaluation that is coming) but for collecting points on a day-to-day basis then it is not worth it.

      • idrive says:

        14 May14 May 12:51

        BlueHorizonUK:
        – If you don’t have status then the fees are eye-watering when compared to BAEC

        what do you mean? an example can be CDG-MIA oneway as low as 20k+£50.10 (economy) 50k+£79 (business), JFK-LHR 20,000+$3.60 (ECO) or 50,000+3.60$
        it doesn’t seem that bad??
        you have to avoid BA flights (taxes are BA high ones)

        • BlueHorizonUK says:

          14 May14 May 20:26

          As in fees to cancel a redemption. AA charge $150 to cancel a redemption (plus $25 for each additional passenger on the same PNR) whereas BA charge £35 to cancel.

      • Jan says:

        14 May14 May 13:49

        BlueHorizon UK:
        – Not sure how you are managing to get a redemption from Europe to Far East via the Middle East as one redemption when it is specifically banned. If you mean it prices out as two awards i.e Europe to Mid East and then Mid East to Far East then thats something different.

        Well, I just returned from an AA redemption on Etihad from Central Europe to Thailand, and in January, I used an AA redemption on Etihad from Central Europe to the Maldives. All booked through the AA call center, no problems whatsoever. I think – not sure though – that the getting from USA to Asia through the Middle East is not possible via AA.

        All I can say is that I was a loyal Executive Club member (Gold) for years, and after I informed myself a little better, I changed my business to AA’s AAdvantage 3 years ago (which is not a logic thing to do for a Europe based traveler). I am very happy I did this because the AA program is much better, at least for earning and burning miles. I am not UK based, so I cannot make use of miles you earn with credit cards, Tesco, etc … (which may be better for UK people indeed).

        And concerning the devaluation, these rumors have been going on for years. AA introduced its newest program – after the fusion with US Airways – a couple of months ago without devaluation (that would have been the perfect time for them to announce a devaluation, but they didn’t). And meanwhile, Lufthansa (Miles & More) and British Airways (Executive Club) did – unfortunately – introduce massive devaluations.

    • Rob says:

      14 May14 May 13:27

      * I would be shocked if you could find a US blog which doesn’t believe a massive AA devaluation is coming. AA charges 135,000 for a First Class return to Asia from the US! BA won’t even fly you from London to Asia for that. United and Delta would be 300,000+ I reckon.
      * As Exec Plat you won’t pay fees. Everyone else will. In any event, saying how great AA is if you are Exec Plat is like me saying BAEC is great but failing to mention I was Gold Guest List (which I’m not, for clarity) – it distorts your view of how the majority see the programme
      * Upgrades – only valid on AA (obviously) which if you live in the UK is pretty useless unless you are flying to the US a lot.
      * Routings via Middle East to somewhere – must be priced as two rewards

      • Michalis Anastasiou says:

        14 May14 May 18:47

        Since you are in the EU you don’t also factor in that US domestics get no lounge access even as an AA EXP which is why you see it from a much more positive light.

        I also debated switching but 3 things kept me.
        1. Status. It’s really easy to get silver with BA which gets me lounge access for economy flights in Europe.
        2. RFS mainly in Europe.
        3. Transfer partners. I can top up from multiple sources easier than AA as a UK resident.

        I switched a lot of my card spending to Virgin as it enables me to get cheaper redemptions going to the U.S. (at the moment) and I can also use multiple sources to top up.

        Going east there are decent sales that allow me to pay cash for Business.

        BA exec is good for the s/h flights.

      • pj says:

        14 May14 May 21:01

        The thing about lounge access is many of us can’t actually use it.

        I’ve got various free ways to use lounges (about 9 one-offs per annum) – but I rarely get the chance to slope away from the kids and grab a couple of drinks.

        The kids are not welcome in the lounges.

        I can’t leave the kids on their own.

        My wife doesn’t exactly like me grabbing a couple of drinks and leaving her to deal with the kids.

        She has no time for lounges herself!

        All rather pointless though when I was young free & single it made more sense.

        • Rob says:

          14 May14 May 23:29

          My kids love the lounges and the people love my kids. All you need is a computer. Sit child on chair, open up Cbeebies website, let child play itself video clips. My youngest was happy as larry doing this from about 30 months.

          My kids have been going in lounges since literally they were a few weeks old and never had any problems. I have only ever had one bad experience on a plane with my kids and that was a BA short-haul when they starting kicking the seatback. That was one flight out of about 50 my 7-year old will have and about 20 my (just) 4-year old has done.

• Paul says:

  14 May14 May 13:30

  Good to have this debate because idiots like me learn advantages/ disadvantages of the options available. Thanks

  • idrive says:

    14 May14 May 14:24

    ahah Paul, come on why idiot? I would say “ignorant” in the ancient Socrates’ way: the “I know not to know kind of attitude”:-) almost all of us if not all are ignorant, that is the difference with arrogants:-)

  • AndyGWP says:

    14 May14 May 19:06

    Likewise – regardless of rights and wrongs, thanks to all those comments above – some useful points to bear in mind.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.