With so many airlines merging and frequent flyer programs consistently changing, I thought I would provide my readers with my top 10 uses of American Air AAdvantage miles before the US/AA merger is completed. Little is still known about what changes will occur after the merger, but for now, here is my top 10 of best uses of AA miles pre-merger. In addition, if you have US Airways’ Dividend Miles, consider using some of them pre-merger to assure you get the biggest bang for your buck. I wrote a top 10 post for US Airways Dividend Miles a few months back before the merger was officially announced.
First, let’s go over a little housekeeping and basics about routing when traveling on AAdvantage Miles, this way simple questions can be answered from the get-go. If you have a question after I am done writing this post, please feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to answer it for you. Or if you have a better use of AA miles I would LOVE to hear what you consider the best use of miles.
Stopovers: A stopover is defined as a stop that is for more than 24 hours on an international ticket or 4 hours on a domestic ticket. American Airlines ONLY allows stopovers from International gateways within the United States. This means you could fly from Seattle to Dallas, stop over for more than 24 hours, and then continue to your international destination from Dallas. However, if you were routed SEA-DFW-MIA-International destination, your stop over would have to be in Miami, not Dallas.
Open-Jaw Tickets: American Air allows you to book one-way awards so there is no need for open jaw tickets. An open jaw ticket is where you fly home from a different location than where you arrived from or you return to a different city.
Award Charts: American Air offers three different award charts. The first is the American Air award chart which is for travel on AA metal only and the second one is for travel on their OneWorld and Other partner airlines. The Award charts do differ slightly, so it is always good to compare before trying to make an AA award reservation. The final option is a distance base award chart, known as OneWorld Explorer. This award routing allows multiple stopovers and calculates your costs based on total miles traveled. This is great for use when trying to make multiple stopovers on the same itinerary because instead of each segment being individually priced, the total miles traveled is grouped together and priced. A future post will cover OneWorld Explorer tickets.
Award Travel Zones: Traveling between and within zones cost are different. Be sure to understand the travel zones before booking your flights.
1) Travel to the South Pacific in Style: American Air has the LOWEST redemption options of the major carriers when it comes to getting you down under and they are the only carrier that will get you from the USA NONSTOP to Australia on the A380!
| (In Thousands) | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 37.5 | 40 | 50 | 40 |
| Business | 62.5 | 67.5 | 75 | 55 |
| First | 72.5 | 80 | N/A | 90 |
2) Travel to Japan or Korea: Traveling to Korea or Japan on AA metal costs less than any other airline (except for US Airways). Traveling to Japan and Korea on AA metal will only cost 32.5K/50K/62.5K each way.
| (In Thousands) | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 32.5 | 32.5 | 35 | 30 |
| Business | 50 | 60 | 60 | 45 |
| First | 62.5 | 70 | N/A | 60 |
3) Traveling from Hawaii to Europe or Latin America: American Airlines generously considers Hawaii as part of the North America Zone. This means travel to/from Hawaii to certain parts of the world on miles is considerably cheaper than when using Delta/United miles, which both consider Hawaii a separate zone. Just beware, flying from Hawaii to the South Pacific or Asia does not provide a discount like it would on DL or UA who both consider Hawaii a separate zone and have lower redemption rates to Asia and the South Pacific from Hawaii. Despite this, if you choose to travel to Europe or Latin America from Hawaii the ticket prices will be the same as if you are traveling from the continental United States or Canada!
4) Travel from the South Pacific to Europe and Vice Versa: One of the sweetest spots in the AAdvantage partner chart is how inexpensive travel is between Europe and the South Pacific. Members can redeem 45k/60k/80k. In the case of this routing, I would HIGHLY recommend taking full advantage of first class travel from Europe since it is only 5K miles more each way than UA or DL’s Business class redemption rates!
| (In Thousands) | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 45 | 55 | 50 | 50 |
| Business | 60 | 75 | 75 | 60 |
| First | 80 | 90 | N/A | 75 |
5) Fall, Winter, and Spring Travel to the Cherry Blossom Festival or to Japan, Korea and Mongolia: If you’re looking for a cheap ticket to Asia in economy, consider cashing in on American Airlines and their partners between October 1 – April 30 each year. For as little as 50K miles roundtrip, you can jet off to one of these three countries, making it the redemption option to Asia! Also this deal is good on partner airlines, meaning you could enjoy the luxury carriers of Asia including JAL, Cathay Pacific, or Malaysia Airlines!
6) Intra Europe Travel: Although traveling within Europe can be cheap thanks to discount carriers, sometimes ticket prices are unreasonably high, which then calls for the use of miles. For short haul trip BA Avios miles may still be a better use, however for longer intra-Europe trips or those that do not offer nonstop travel, i.e. Reykjavik to Athens, AA advantage miles offer the best deal!
| (In Thousands) | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 10 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 |
| Business | 20 | 20 | 22.5 | 22.5 |
| First | 30 | N/A | N/a |
7) Travel from the USA to Northern South America in Business or First: American Air considers Northern South America the same zone for award pricing. This means travel to Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela is priced cheaper than their competitors. Travel to Northern South America from North America costs 17.5k/30k/40K. Notice that US Airways prices are extremely higher than the competition, however US Airways does not break South America into two separate zones.
| (In Thousands) | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 17.5 | 20 | 22.5 | 30 |
| Business | 30 | 35 | 45 | 50 |
| First | 40 | 45 | N/A | 75 |
8) Travel to Asia from Europe: AA awards from Europe to North Asia or South East Asia can be redeemed for 35k/52.5/70k roundtrip, making them very competitive. If traveling from Europe, Asia zone 1 and zone 2 are priced the same. Meanwhile, United charges almost 30% more for North Asia and even more for South East Asia! US Airways also divides the two regions. Delta, like AA charges the same for all locations in Southeast Asia and North Asia.
| (In Thousands) | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 35 | 45/50 | 40 | 30/35 |
| Business | 52.5 | 62.5/65 | 60 | 40/45 |
| First | 70 | 80 | N/A | 50/55 |
9) Travel to Europe: American still offers cheaper travel to Europe than most airlines. Off-season economy travel starts at only 20K each way and stretches from Oct. 15 – May 15. This means Christmas and spring break can happen in Europe for less than any other airline! Peak season travel is also an economical option. Notice that US Airways and AA have the SAME travel costs to Europe, although, US Airways off-peak awards are 5K less and the travel window is much more restrictive. But, the best perk is, travel to london on select routes and enjoy the newest plane flying over the Atlantic! AA is the ONLY US airline to offer flights on the B777-300! (pictured below!)
| (In Thousands) | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Business | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| First | 62.5 | 72.5 | N/A | 62.5 |
10) Travel from Central America to Southern South America: AA has some of the best award travel rates when traveling between Central America or Northern South America to the Southern part of the continent. With air travel prices being sky high in this region on certain route, miles can easily save you hundreds! Also ONLY AA considers Central America and Northern South America the same region!
AA Region includes central American & Northern South America
| From Central American | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 15 | 20 | 22.5 | 30 |
| Business | 32.5 | 40 | 32.5 | 50 |
| First | 40 | 50 | N/A | 75 |
| From Northern South America | American | United | Delta | US Air |
| Economy | 15 | 20 | 22.5 | 12.5 |
| Business | 32.5 | 40k | 32.5 | 15 |
| First | 40 | 45k | N/A | 20 |
As you can see, there are infinite ways to use AAdvantage miles effectively and to your AAdvantage! The sky is literally the limit when it comes to using your miles. If one-way routing does not work for you and you need multiple stopovers, I would highly consider using a OneWorld Explorer ticket which can have be a highly effective use of miles. These tickets are based on miles traveled, not stops. This means you can fly all over the world, stopping multiple times, and pay less than you would if you paid per segment, more on this time come later! But for now, Happy Flying and enjoy burning your AAdvantage Miles
