Please help maximize AA FF miles
 

Hello, I tried to search the forum on this topic, but couldn't find what I was looking for. I have been reading this message board for a while & know there are many experts out there!

Here is what I'm trying to figure out. I plan to fly from STL-FCO on Nov 10 or 11 and return VCE-STL on Nov 24. I have about 95k FF miles to use, so I could either book a business ticket for 90k or off peak economy for 40k.

First I'm trying to decide if I want to use all my miles to go business. This will only be my second time to Europe so it might be worth it. But a factor in my decision is earning more FF miles. An AA agent told me you don't earn any FF miles on tickets booked using FF miles - is that true? I didn't think that was true & I can't find it on the AA website.

Experts, please help! I'd love to use my miles wisely & I know with a little help I can. Thanks!

You will not earn any miles when traveling on a FF award ticket.

Thank you for your help! That is strange because I could have sworn I earned miles on my last trip to Europe - which was on FF miles. Maybe I just got lucky & they made a mistake. That was also 3 years ago, so I guess things could have changed too.

One NEVER earns FF miles on an award ticket. Not on any airline, never. If you get it, than it's a mistake.

Again, an award ticket does not earn any FF miles.

Whether it's worth 90k for a Business class ticket to Rome or not is a decision only you can make. If you go for the 40k economy, you will have enough leftover miles for 2 free r/t domestic tickets. Or fly to Rome again (or elsewhere in Europe) in economy.

yk, or AAFF if he reads this:

Does AA allow a split economy/business award ticket? CO does, and personally I feel like a business-class seat would be nice for the US->Europe red-eye, as one can actually catch some sleep. [That's unless one's taking the day flight.]

Thanks for the responses. I thought I had previously earned FF miles on a FF ticket - but maybe that was just wishful thinking!

rkkwan, that would be a great idea if I could do a split ticket. I'd love to fly over business class, but don't really care if I come back economy. If that could save miles, that would be great.

Also when I come back from Venice, I have the option of connecting through LHR or Madrid. Any preferences? I was actually considering doing a stopover for a night to check out a city, but am not sure if that is more trouble than it's worth.

No one-way award ticketing allowed, so no split ticketing with AA.

Thanks AAFrequentFlyer. It was a nice idea. I'll have to think about using miles for business vs economy. It's hard to give up miles because it took me years to build them up!

Also, I wouldn't plan on it and the above replies are totally correct, but it does happen.

Award tickets are assigned a certain fare code, depending on the destination and class of service.

If you experienced some irregular-ops or were bumped, or something like that, it's very possible that the gate agent assigned a revenue fare code for your new boarding pass. It has happened to me couple of times, both awards and cheap fares, when instead of the BP reflecting the upgraded fare code, it reflected the class of service fare code. Instead of earning nothing on award tickets or only 1 mile per on cheap fares, I ended up with 1.5 miles per because I was already upgraded and or my award ticket was in F.

Once again, NEVER count on it and it happens very rarely, but it does happen. And again, all the above replies are totally correct, no miles on award tickets and miles for the class of service booked ONLY, if you happened to be upgraded.

Lolly-

Again, whether it's worth splurging 90K on a business tix, it's a personal choice. The Q is, if you choose economy instead, what plans do you have to use the remaining 50k?

Anyway, AA miles aren't really that hard to come by. Do you fly AA primarily? You can sign up for the AA/Citi credit card, which gives you 20k miles just for signing up. If you charge $1k/month, that'll give you additional 12k miles/year excluding bonus miles. With AA, you can also do online shopping via their Aadvantage eshopping mall (lots of vendors including Target, Home Depot, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic etc) which gives bonus miles for purchases.

At least at one time, AA awarded 1,000 miles for booking a FF ticket online rather than calling their agent.

Keith

Thank you so much for all the replies.

After AAFrequentFlyer's response - I think that is exactly how I earned FF miles on my last FF ticket. There was lots of drama flying to Europe - I got stuck in a storm & couldn't connect so I missed my flight to London. I talked with the absolute NICEST AA ticketing agent who re-booked me to London for the next day. Believe it or not, I got SO lucky & he upgraded me from economy to first class! Apparently there was a seat open and he took pity on me. So I bet he changed the code & let me earn miles too. So that is a story that shows how kind the agents can be!

I think I've decided to go for business. YK is right - I'll just start earning miles again. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to stopover in either London or Madrid for 1 night on the way home, or if that's more trouble than it's worth.

Lolly, have you booked your FF ticket yet?

I have a business class ticket on "hold" right now with AA. I'm debating on whether or not to do a one night stopover in Madrid. Once I figure that out, I will go ahead and book. Thanks for asking! The nice part about going to Italy in off season is that flights were easy to book right now.

The reason I ask is because I belive you could probably get your tickets through the Oneworld alliance, which would mean only 80000 miles for business instead of 90000 miles. I did this for my upcoming trip to Switzerland/France - ORD/ZUR connecting in Madrid and then on the way home NCE/ORD connecting thru London. It was only 80000 miles instead of 90000 miles per person. And you could even do that stopover in Madrid if you like.

<i>The reason I ask is because I belive you could probably get your tickets through the Oneworld alliance, which would mean only 80000 miles for business instead of 90000 miles. I did this for my upcoming trip to Switzerland/France - ORD/ZUR connecting in Madrid and then on the way home NCE/ORD connecting thru London. It was only 80000 miles instead of 90000 miles per person. And you could even do that stopover in Madrid if you like.</i>

The AA Oneworld awards (as distinct from AA Partner awards) are mileage-based and allow fewer carriers than the All-Partners awards. 80K miles is good for total &quot;counted&quot; mileage of 4001 - 9000 mi; IIRC Lolly is going from STL to Italy, and both VCE and FCO are more than 4500 mi from STL, so that falls into the 90K mi award zone. STL-FCO//VCE-STL comes in at 9981 mi; 20 more miles and a OW award would require 115K miles. An 80K award to Italy would likely need an east coast origin, nothing farther west would come in under 9000 miles.

Oops- I'm sorry - I didn't check to see how many miles it was. It makes sense though because I think my flight *just* came in at under 9000 miles - like 8901 or something like that.

Thanks JenBlase &amp; Gardyloo for trying to save me some miles! I guess I'll just have to part with the 90k. My ticket is on hold for business class - I'm flying over on American &amp; back on Iberia. How are those business classes? Are they the best of the oneworld partners, or should I try to use someone else?

Your only other partner choice would be British Airways flying out of Canada - AA awards can't be used on BA flights from the US to Britain.

Presumably your AA flights will be STL-ORD-FCO. By next November you'll almost certainly get AA's new business class seats on the 763 that runs ORD-FCO, in which case you ought to be plenty comfortable. On AA's 767s to Europe there is no first class, just biz and coach, so the service in (usually) better than in comparable business class flights on 777s, which do have a first class cabin. So it ought to be a good experience.

Coming back, you'll change in Madrid and be on one of Iberia's flights with <i>their</i> new business class seats (which have been around for a year or two) which I find very comfortable. Service in Iberia business can be great or not so, but good more often than not.

I think avoiding LHR is always a good thing. Enjoy.