Most cost effective way to obtain 140k AA points

[WeeWillyWonka]

I have found 2 x business (or first) domestic award seats within the US on American Airlines for March 2023, and need 140k AA points to book them. The same award seats aren't available through Qantas, so I assume that I can't use QF points to book them.

How can I obtain the AA points required in the most cost effective manner? Purchasing points isn't viable as the cost is far greater than a cash booking.

 

[NM]

There are very few cheap, quick, easy ways to gain a large quantity of AAdvantage miles from Australia. The only real possibility is if you are somehow eligible to obtain a USA-based credit card that provides sign-up bonus miles, but even then it will normally take 2-3 months before the miles land into your account.

Or, if you have a very large balance of Amex Membership rewards points, you can transfer them to Marriott Bonvoy (using current promotion they transfer at an effective rate of 1:1 to Bonvoy until end of September), then tyransfer from Bonvoy to AAdvantage at the rate of 3 Bonvoy = 1 AA mile, plus you get a bonus 5000 miles for each 20K miles transfered. So for 140K AA miles you will need to start with 345,000 Amex MR points.

 

[WeeWillyWonka]

thanks, NM, you confirmed what I feared: the points are hard to come by.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just out of interest what’s the revenue fare for the flights you found? 70K AA is a relatively expensive award!

You might be able to find the seats via Alaska Airlines, they have frequent miles sales.

 

[cove]

Without a US social security number and a US address you will struggle to get an AA miles earning credit card from Citi or someone else.

 

[WeeWillyWonka]

Just out of interest what’s the revenue fare for the flights you found? 70K AA is a relatively expensive award!

You might be able to find the seats via Alaska Airlines, they have frequent miles sales.

Business class flights from HNL to LAX - found prices starting at $1k

Without a US social security number and a US address you will struggle to get an AA miles earning credit card from Citi or someone else.

yeah, I'll receive a US SS number in Jan 2023, but it will take time to receive it and then apply for credit cards

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Apologies if this is a dumb question but is there a specific reason why you want to fly American specifically? Would you mind flying United or Delta for instance? The reason I ask is there may be other award options available at potentially a better value and which can be redeemed using your Qantas or Virgin points.

-RooFlyer88

 

[WeeWillyWonka]

Not a dumb question, RF88. The AA flight is at the perfect time of day, but yes, I would certainly consider United/Delta (but would ideally want a direct flight).

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Do you have a specific date in mind? Let me work my magic and see what I can find!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Okay, I've had a chance to talk with OP off thread about the dates and basically running my award search engine the best I could find on the date of travel and the surrounding days of travel was an Alaskan Award for 60K miles per person one-way. To me that seems a bit steep for what is in effect a $600 USD ticket. One option the OP may want to consider is booking an economy reward ticket from HNL to LAX with Virgin. There was some availability on the dates they wanted to travel with the pricing being around 20,000 Virgin miles one-way. The flights themselves would be operated by United which yours truly has flown before so you know it can't be that bad!

Aside from using points, this may very well be one of those cases where you bite the bullet and pay cash for the fare, especially given how relatively inexpensive the fares are (I'm seeing HNL > LAX on United for $300 AUD one-way in economy or around $1000 AUD one-way in business with American). The benefit I see here is that you will get a better selection of flights to choose from and if you are interested in accruing status this may very well be a great way to earn some status credits on the way. For instance, flying HNL to LAX on United in economy attracts about 20 status credits on a discount economy ticket with Virgin. Provided OP and their partner use family pooling they would collectively earn 40 status credits towards the 500 status credits needed to earn Virgin Gold which would give them a number of benefits on United including extra luggage and lounge access. Similarly, if they were to credit the American business flight to Qantas they would stand to earn 100 status credits each.

One thing I will point out though, is that if they are really adamant about wanting to make that award booking and provided they are an existing AmEx customer in Australia, they may want to contact the global transfers team to open a US credit card right now. I've used that team in the past to open up a UK Gold card when I was studying there for a year and found great value in that no annual fee card. Another option some have explored is to apply for an ITIN (equivalent of a SIN for those who live outside the US) as some US credit card companies may accept that in lieu of a social security number. I'm not an expert in the whole ITIN loophole, although I suspect some on this very forum or on FlyerTalk would now more about this trick.

-RooFlyer88

 

[levelnine]

One thing I will point out though, is that if they are really adamant about wanting to make that award booking and provided they are an existing AmEx customer in Australia, they may want to contact the global transfers team to open a US credit card right now.

That won't help the OP get AA miles. AA is not a transfer partner of Amex. In any event, there's a whole thread dedicated to the topic on this forum that has plenty of details: Strategy to obtain US Amex

 

[WeeWillyWonka]

I've seen that thread, levelnine, but thanks for pointing me toward it. Like I said, I'll receive a SS number come Jan 2023, but that means by the time I apply for cards with AA miles it will be too late.

RooFlyer, I agree that it's looking more and more like I'll buy a ticket.