RIP AA Award Program

[mrtupperware]

I was fortunate enough to book some great award fares using AA including:

JAL F SFO - TYO
CX P HKG - NYC
EK F MEL - AUH
QF F AUH - MEL

What was your favourite redemption?

 

[SponsorSFC]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

MLE-AUH-LHR EY J/F for $1,000 worth of bought points per person is probably the best value I have gotten out of it so far.

PER-SYD return QFJ for about $800 wasn't too bad either.

 

[Mattg]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

AKL-BNE-PER-BME in J for under $500.

Sadly, I never had a chance to try out EY F on the A380 but that would have almost certainly been the next redemption I'd have been targeting.

 

[leemin]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Have I missed something? Are you tongue-in-cheek referring to the redemption rate changes coming into effect, or has there been some other change impacting Australians' ability to redeem AA awards?

 

[Mattg]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Have I missed something? Are you tongue-in-cheek referring to the redemption rate changes coming into effect, or has there been some other change impacting Australians' ability to redeem AA awards?

Don't worry, you haven't missed anything. We're referring to the fact that AA award redemption rates increase (on most routes) from tomorrow.

 

[drron]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

A few drama queens around.
I still think 80000 miles + a few dollars for JAL F NRT-USA is bloody good value.
And 60000 for the same to SYD isn't bad.
Beats QFF by a mile.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

A few drama queens around.
I still think 80000 miles + a few dollars for JAL F NRT-USA is bloody good value.
And 60000 for the same to SYD isn't bad.
Beats QFF by a mile.

I totally agree

 

[snabbu]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

A few drama queens around.
I still think 80000 miles + a few dollars for JAL F NRT-USA is bloody good value.
And 60000 for the same to SYD isn't bad.
Beats QFF by a mile.

Absolutely. I have exactly that coming up in a couple of months. ORD-NRT-SYD in JL F via AA miles.

Super excited.

 

[serfty]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

A few drama queens around.
I still think 80000 miles + a few dollars for JAL F NRT-USA is bloody good value.
And 60000 for the same to SYD isn't bad.
Beats QFF by a mile.

I totally agree

Absolutely. I have exactly that coming up in a couple of months. ORD-NRT-SYD in JL F via AA miles.

Super excited.

Me #4 - <filler>

 

[knasty]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

I agree that this is overly dramatized; Aus-Asia & Aus-Europe are still very competitive in J, and F redemptions still average only ~2x economy award spend. One of my favourites was introducing a family member to longhaul J to South America for only 50k; I think South America and Africa awards were some of the best value vs cash fares under the old structure. That said, for me the programs with family pooling become relatively more attractive going forwards and I'll be far more likely to consider Velocity as my primary program vs being staunchly AA/Oneworld.

What has been well and truly killed is the EY 2 award redemption to Europe. The previously marginal increase in points vs Oneworld carriers has blown out to a massive differential. It's now almost the same number of points on Velocity for J redemptions (albeit this will widen slightly with VA's recent 'enhancement' announcement). I'm sad that I missed my chance to do EY F but hopefully this current disenchantment with AA will mean more Oneworld availability after the current glut of award bookings ceases.

 

[kamchatsky]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

I haven't rushed in to make bookings due to devaluation, only because we don't have plans for next 12 months, after my upcoming trip starting this Friday.

Between my wife and I we have like almost 600K AA points purchased when AUD was like 1.1USD and under USDM program rate. I still think travelling to Asia is still good value. It would be even better if CX deploys F to SYD. That would make my day.

 

[JohnK]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

A few drama queens around.
I still think 80000 miles + a few dollars for JAL F NRT-USA is bloody good value.
And 60000 for the same to SYD isn't bad.
Beats QFF by a mile.

Doesn't that depend on how you earn your miles?

 

[serfty]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Doesn't that depend on how you earn your miles?

Not really.

There's only one significant advantage QFF has over AAdvantage when it comes to redemptions - that's being able to book from 353 days.

 

[QF WP]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

I haven't rushed in to make bookings due to devaluation, only because we don't have plans for next 12 months, after my upcoming trip starting this Friday.

Between my wife and I we have like almost 600K AA points purchased when AUD was like 1.1USD and under USDM program rate. I still think travelling to Asia is still good value. It would be even better if CX deploys F to SYD. That would make my day.

+1 on both paragraphs, although I have 493K across 6 accounts and the majority of mine were purchased at 1.05...still brilliant value for when we do use them next year

 

[QF WP]

What was your favourite redemption?

Family holiday (7 weeks) getting Mrs QF WP, me and both mini QF WP's BNE QF SYD QF HKG CX LHR BA PRG BA LHR QF HKG QF MEL QF BNE in 2011 via mix of J & F. 495K points. Master QF WP was a lap child back then (18 months old) so only 3 award seats needed to be found - so Mrs QF WP and Miss QF WP had to slum it in F on the LHR/HKG/MEL sectors.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

RIP is an exaggeration, AA is still much better than QF. However, my lifetime points on AA are just over 500k, and I doubt that in future I'd be able to use the same amount to get:

SYD-LHR-SYD in QF F there and BA F back
SYD-JFK in QF J
JFK-NRT-SIN return in AA F and JL J
SIN-HKG-LAX in CX J
JFK-LHR in BA J

By my reckoning I'd need at least one-third more miles to achieve the same outcome now.

 

[knasty]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Not really.

There's only one significant advantage QFF has over AAdvantage when it comes to redemptions - that's being able to book from 353 days.

I'd also give QFF points for family transfer as part of its consolation prize.

But the revival of AA's platinum challenge is one of the many reasons AA will remain my OW program of choice for earning. That didn't stop me from taking ANZ's offer of 75,000 QFF points for free though... It's like a buffet - more of everything!

 

[hummel]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

A few drama queens around.
I still think 80000 miles + a few dollars for JAL F NRT-USA is bloody good value.
And 60000 for the same to SYD isn't bad.
Beats QFF by a mile.

I think it's more the bloggers that are worried their CC referrals might take a hit.

 

[JohnK]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Not really.

There's only one significant advantage QFF has over AAdvantage when it comes to redemptions - that's being able to book from 353 days.

But you can't earn Aadvantage miles from Everyday rewards or credit card signon bonuses or Bankwest 1c payments.

Ability to earn miles is just as important as trying to work out how to spend them.

 

[Kaiser]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

60/80k for J/F Aus<>Europe was excellent value.
i've got a few CX/QR legs in J this year thanks to Aadvantage miles.