AA All Airline Award Planning & AA OneWorld Award Planning

[Paddy55]

Well, hoping to go to several destinations using AA miles late next year. In fact planning to depart 12 Dec and return 9 Jan... with a little flexibility here and there. Sending Mrs Paddy and Paddy Jnr, hopefully in F or J, and I'll travel on an appropriate DONE 4

I've read a fair amount here and on FT... so much so my brain has just about fried :shock:

Most desired routing is:

1. SYD-LAX (stopover) - MIA - AA All Airline Award
2. MIA-YYZ - AA One Way Award
3. YYZ-JFK (stopover) - SYD - All Airline Award

I'd just like to ask for a little sanity check on my conclusions, and some advice please:

1. I realise I'm more likely to get to/from US via MEL or BNE, and possibly enter/exit the US via DFW... and am quite prepared for that.
2. I'd really like to know whether others have succeeded in getting award seats this close to Xmas and in Jan given AA don't get to access them for about a month after QF FF'ers do. Am aware there's a risk in getting to the US in Dec and not being able to get an award to return
3. Am a subscriber to EF, however have read of the virtues of KVS and Award Nexus - what do they offer that EF doesn't?
4. Quite open to an AA OneWorld, say SYD-HKG-JFK-YYZ-MIA-LAX-SYD (or return via Asia) as I understand CX availability may be better, but am concerned that expecting booking such an award at (9 Jan 2013-330 days) might be wishful thinking.

Paddy

 

[skywalkerLAX]

Careful with the routings (especially incl those with different regions/backtracking)... AA recently became a PITA regarding routing rules and the desk often declined my tickets after the initial agent ok'd them. :evil:

Stopovers only at the first point of entry in the U.S. (YVR worked too for me thankfully).

Availability on short notice shouldnt be much of an issue at least if you only need 1 seat.

Good luck!

Cheers
S