Newbie just getting my head around things.....please be gentle.....

[65ravenblack]

Hi,

I'm very new to all this so please forgive me if my questions seem very basic.

My wife and I are planning to travel to Europe late next year and would like to travel business class. Our son paid for us to go over last year in business class with Qantas and Air France and we don't think we can go back to the back of the bus so to speak.

We are both QFF, however don't have any status.

Anyway, from my reading many posts here I would like to get some confirmation of whether I understand correctly using AA miles.

1. My wife and I both open AA accounts and purchase 40/60K miles (+ any bonus miles if available).
2. Once our accounts are at 120K we are then able to book business class awards seats/flights on flights from Aus -> Europe.
3. These flights do not have to go through the US.
4. The flights are booked through the AA reservations system (either online or through the call centre)
5. The flights can be on any one world carrier that has seats available.

any confirmation/clarification is much appreciated.

Cheers,
Aaron

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

Others can correct / add my thoughts:

1. My wife and I both open AA accounts and purchase 40/60K miles (+ any bonus miles if available).

I'd hold off buying them until you see one of the promotions where they offer bonus miles or a discount. You can buy up to 40,000 per year, so if you don't plan to travel using miles until next year, you could buy 40,000 for each of you this year, and 40,000 next year (plus any bonuses you may get from the purchases). If you're really into buying miles, SPG are running a promotion to the end of August to buy 20,000 Starpoints at a 20% discount (i.e. total cost of USD $520) which you can convert to AA at a 1:1.25 ratio i.e 25,000 miles

2. Once our accounts are at 120K we are then able to book business class awards seats/flights on flights from Aus -> Europe.

Yes

3. These flights do not have to go through the US.

Correct

4. The flights are booked through the AA reservations system (either online or through the call centre)

I think Qantas and BA flights are now bookable online but you may need to call for Cathay, JAL or Malaysian (not too sure)

5. The flights can be on any one world carrier that has seats available.

Yes, your options would be on Qantas, BA, Cathay, JAL and by some time early next year Malaysian. For 160K each, you could do it in First Class e.g. get to experience First Class on Cathay. For 190K each you get to do a round the world in business class up to 35,000 miles in length.

Bear in mind that it can be tough to score two award seats in Business or First on the same flight. You and your wife may need to be flexible and consider flying on different flights / days if availability isn't there.

 

[casanovawa]

Hi 65ravenblack, we all started out as newbies so no worries...

Just for your 1st point

Yes you need to purchase the miles, but only purchase during bonus offers as that is where the real savings are made, so sign up to AA and wait for bonus offers to arrive or they are often publicised on here... With AA the bonus offers are often buy up to 40,000 and at the top tier you can get an extra 15,000 bonus miles, but yes that will usually be the maximum for the year (have heard of one or two bigger offers but never seen them myself), much more feasible to get up to something like 120,000 if you buy near the end of one calendar year and again on the first bonus offer of the following year but still won't get you to 120,000 miles unless you find another way to get miles into your account...

Alternatively you may want to look at US Air's DM mile program which there is a thread on here... You only need 110,000 miles for return business class to US and 120,000 return to Europe flying Star Alliance airlines, there are often several 100% bonus offers (buy 50,000/get 50,000) a year and there is no limit how many miles you buy a year, just how many you buy in any particular offer (usually limited to 100,000 miles including the bonus...) i think the prices often come out to within a few hundred dollars of each other on either program but are MUCH, MUCH cheaper than buying with dollars... Using Aviance Life Miles is another program that has just been added to Star Alliance and there is a thread on here for that as well and it may be cheaper than either AA or US Air for simple direct routes...

 

[grussellt]

You have made a good start on understanding AAdvantage. However I would do some homework on:
1, The many routes on offer and which airlines are available.
2. To ensure a wider choice be prepared to accept a stopover (less than 24hr) e.g SYD-HKG (Day1), HKG-CDG (Day 2)
3. If you want to keep the taxes/charges down try and avoid BA (unless you like the airline).

You may want to hop over to Flyertalk and read up on the programme and the very useful stickies.

Try and accumulate points at least 330 days in advance of your trip to have more choice of flights. (You can use "family" miles transfer but it will increase the cost slightly i.e. Buy 40000 and transfer in 20,000 miles). You can always change flights later for free as long as start/end point and dates are the same. However if you miss out CX seem to offer more J seats in the 30 days or so prior to travel but if you change within 21 days you will have to pay a change fee.

The savings are well worthwhile and will repay the effort you may put in to understand the process!

 

[65ravenblack]

Thanks so much for all your feedback and help......I kept saying to myself that this just seems too good to be true......apparently it's not.

Definately will have a look at the US Air's DM program and Aviance Life Miles to see if they suit our situation better.

I will definately be looking at the Flyertalk forum as well to get some more insights.

If I have any more questions or need some clarification I will post them in this thread.

Cheers,
Aaron

 

[grussellt]

Thanks so much for all your feedback and help......I kept saying to myself that this just seems too good to be true......apparently it's not.

You're absolutely correct. It's not too good to be true. A year ago I knew less than you about buying AA miles. Next month I fly SYD-NRT-LHR-CDG in J, using AAdvantage purchased miles and the process could not have been easier. I used QFF/Awardnexus (for free) to find the flights I wanted and booked via the US AA number.

 

[65ravenblack]

I've been looking at the *A members and am not really thrilled by them. The only one that was really any good from our experience (economy) was Singapore Airlines. Air France business was just appauling. So not too sure if I want to go down the US DM path.....however the unlimited purchases is tempting.

I have a couple more questions.........

Is it possible to transfer miles from a FF program to SPG and then to another FF program.....eg from US DM -> SPG -> AA ? I suspect not.
Is it possible to transfer AA miles from a 3rd (or 4th) family member account. Are there any restrictions on the amount that can be transferred if you can?
I probably should be asking this one in the SPG form, but.....Iis there a limit on the number of points SPG points you can buy in a year.....and then is there a mximum number that you can then transfer to AA?

Cheers,
Aaron

 

[gizzard]

Is it possible to transfer miles from a FF program to SPG and then to another FF program.....eg from US DM -> SPG -> AA ? I suspect not.

I'm no expert but I use this site to check such things.
Mileage Converter - WebFlyer :: The Frequent Flyer Authority

It looks as though AA => SPG => USDM is possible but not the other way around.

 

[grussellt]

I have a couple more questions.........


Is it possible to transfer AA miles from a 3rd (or 4th) family member account. Are there any restrictions on the amount that can be transferred if you can?
Cheers,
Aaron

The limit on purchases is 40,000 miles per calendar year, but sometimes there will be a bonus on top of this or a higher amount allowed. The current discount offer ends August 31 (40000 miles for $US825 + taxes). You can share with "friends/family" 100,000 miles per account per year (give or receive) at a cost of about 1cent/mile. You can share purchased miles.

 

[65ravenblack]

Hmmmm......that doesn't look real promising........not a good use of points !!!

Best conversion would be:

AA -> Diners-> SPG -> USDM
20000 -> 10000 -> 6000 -> 6000

Ayway it was worth a thought

 

[casanovawa]

Yeah the conversion rates can be killers... Really need to check those...

In the DM thread i think there were musings about what was the best method to try and transfer points to the DM FF program from just credit card spend here in OZ...

 

[smit0847]

Thanks so much for all your feedback and help......I kept saying to myself that this just seems too good to be true......apparently it's not.

Definately will have a look at the US Air's DM program and Aviance Life Miles to see if they suit our situation better.

I will definately be looking at the Flyertalk forum as well to get some more insights.

If I have any more questions or need some clarification I will post them in this thread.

Cheers,
Aaron

Hi Aaron

Contact bcworld or myself if you have queries about Life Miles - we probably know as much about it as anyone on AFF.

Thanks

 

[65ravenblack]

Hi Aaron

Contact bcworld or myself if you have queries about Life Miles - we probably know as much about it as anyone on AFF.

Thanks

Hi, PM sent.

 

[65ravenblack]

Well, I took the plunge last month and bought my wife and myself 50,000 USDM miles......I know it's not AA but I think they will work out best for us given that we want to travel next Sep and need to get booking soon. We will be sharing with the current promo this month and will have enough for a return J trip to Europe......then to book them.

Thanks so much for everyone's help in getting my head around this.

Cheers,
Aaron