Questins about AA Miles and Upgrading to Japan
 

My DH and I are planning to use miles to go to Japan next fall. It is my understanding from aa.com that we can travel to Japan on 50,000 miles each in November (off peak). DH might be a bit short on miles, but we are hoping to purchase the remaining few miles he'll need at that time (if possible).

My first question is...we are flying from the Caribbean. Can we do a stopover in Houston (a few days both before and after the trip to Japan)? It looks to me that we can with the air miles, but I figured I would ask the experts.

Next question, can we upgrade to either business or first class with cash/credit card and what kind of cost are we looking at? DH refuses to make that long of a flight in coach. I've honestly tried to find this info on aa.com, but it's not real clear. I would prefer to call AA, but can't never get thru to them from here on the island.

Any help from the experts in both these areas would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately it's no to both questions.

I'm not really sure how the Caribbean-Asia1 award would work but since AA is charging you the NA-Asia1 miles I assume it works the same. You can have a stopover in a gateway city on both ends but that means you can't stop in Houston because it's not a gateway city.
I would call AA to verify this... (call 2 or 3 times just to make sure :-) )

Once an international award ticket is issued then you are stuck in that class. No upgrades in any form or shape.

Me thinks it's best to buy coach and use the miles to upgrade to business if you are going on a very long haul.

keep trying.

Where from?

I may be able to construct a OW ticket that may work for you but I need the exact itn - from/stopover/destination/stopover/home...

It may be the better option or it may not....

no upgrades in any form or shape.....

unless you get the coveted op-up! :-D

Thanks for the info. We really want to do Japan for our 15th wedding anniversary trip next year, and as I said, we've been saving up the miles for this for quite awhile.

Our origin gateway is St. Maarten (SXM). We plan to travel the middle two weeks of November 2008 (give or take). We would like to go SXM to IAH (or HOU) and see the family for a few days, then go on to Tokyo. We would also like to stop back in Houston on our return in order to see the family for the last time for another year and have a bit of a wind down before making the haul back to the islands.

So, you think it might be better (maybe even cheaper?) to purchase our tix in coach and use our miles to upgrade? Poor DH doesn't realize just how long I would suffer in coach in my effort to see the world. Unfortunately, he doesn't feel quite the same. :)

Like I said before, I would call AA's 800 number from here, but for some reason that is one of the ONLY 800 numbers I can never seem to get thru on from here on my little island (EUX).

AAFF - I was afraid of the "no upgrade" issue with a FF ticket. Thanks for the info.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. You have already given me some great info. (or would that be let the wind out of my sails? LOL ). I just really wanna figure out how to make this work at a decent price because the fare from SXM to Tokyo is astounding.

How many miles do you have?

A coach ticket with 2 stops in Houston this year (way too early for Nov. 2008) would be over $2500; upgrading from Houston to Japan and back (there are limits on how many flight segments can be upgraded at one time and your routing might be too many) would cost $300 each way plus 25K miles, or $600/50K RT (or $1200/100K for two.) That makes for a pretty expensive trip if you value your miles at something like 2c each.

A Oneworld business class award going SXM-IAH-NRT-(AUS)-SXM (can't stop over in the same place twice, so substitute Austin instead) in business class would cost 130K miles each. You'd need to use American and two other Oneworld partner airlines, so your actual flying route might be more complicated, but you'd only be charged the mileage between stopovers, not the intermediate points. This is different from AA "partner" awards or "all-AA" awards, which have slightly lower mileage requirements but much less flexible routing.

A coach award (not upgradeable) for the same routing would be 100K miles each, so not a good deal.

There really is no better way of doing your trip with the limited miles you have.

Book your trip to Japan as planned but try to book through Dallas. Have a stopover in Dallas either on the outbound or inbound and then purchase a cheap R/T ticket from Dallas to Houston. AA is showing $118 R/T or $135 all in. Other airlines may have lower fares.

That's the only way I believe this will work and you will only see your family once either before or after your trip.

There is no way of including Houston on the All Partner award ticket. And OneWorld option would be way too (mileage)expensive in this case.

Thanks for the further info. Gosh, this all gets so confusing. I saw on aa.com that I could fly between North America (which the Caribbean falls under) to Japan roundtrip for 50k miles in the off peak season. So, I figured it would be a relatively easy feat. Guess not with throwing the stopover to see the family and DH wanting to upgrade into the mix. We honestly only have the 50k miles to spare.

So, let me see if this is a scenario....and correct me if I'm wrong:

We could fly with our airmiles from SXM to DFW and have a few days stopover there (could manage to get to Houston and back from there). Then, go on from DFW to NRT with the same airmiles? Returning with the same airmiles we could fly NRT to DFW (or not possible?) to SXM with no stopovers?

And, we are really only interested in upgrading for the long leg of the trip (DFW to NRT and back). So, that would cost us $1200 plus 100k miles for both of us and that is ONLY if we purchase a coach ticket ourselves? If that's the case, it looks like the upgrade is out of the picture even if we purchased our tickets on our own.

We honestly could get to Houston or Dallas on our own and only use miles from DFW to NRT and back. Would that facilitate things any better? I'm not so sure DH is willing to make a 12+ hour flight in coach class either way (he's rather tall) and I really want to make this trip, so I'm trying to figure out a way.

Thanks again for all your help. At least I am getting a better idea of how to possibly work this before I call AA when I'm in the US next month.

<i>And, we are really only interested in upgrading for the long leg of the trip (DFW to NRT and back). So, that would cost us $1200 plus 100k miles for both of us and that is ONLY if we purchase a coach ticket ourselves? If that's the case, it looks like the upgrade is out of the picture even if we purchased our tickets on our own.</i>

That's right - $300 plus 25,000 miles per person each way, so everything x 4 for a round trip, on top of the coach fare.

The good news is that you have a year to prepare - start earning more miles (credit cards, etc.) or saving up for the upgrade or just plain old business class tickets. Stay alert for fare sales, and don't overlook the possibility of flying someplace where you can connect cheaply or easily to Japan - Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan - which often have fare sales even if Japan doesn't.

There is one more option and it may be cheaper.

You could &quot;gift&quot; each other 40K miles for $1000 per + tax and $30 fee.

That will give you 90K miles which would be enough for business class award and then do as I told you in my earlier post.

Fly to Dallas, stopover,.....fly to Tokyo.....

Good luck!

Hmmmm....that's an idea, AAFF. Then, the trip from SXM to NRT and back would only be costing $2k...give or take....and DH already said he'd be willing to pay that to upgrade.

Thanks for the further advice, both of you. :)

BTW - What is the reason for AA allowing a stopover on the outbound flight, but not on the return flight?

You could do it either way, but it probably be cheaper when you can get to Dallas. You know how awards are, sometimes you can only get certain routes, and since you can only have a stopover at a gateway city, meaning any city that has a non-stop flight to/from Japan then Dallas would be my choice if I needed to get to Houston on my own dime.

Or you could each apply for 2 Citi AA credit cards, charge $750 to each card and get 80K miles (assuming you don't already have these cards) http://tinyurl.com/2dk88f

Oops, on further inspection those offers may only be good for US residents. Don't know if you'd qualify.

Actually, Patty, I'm looking into that right now. :) We do have an address in the US so we might go that route, as well.

Another question. Say we go with the 90k award for biz class and fly SXM to DFW with stopover, then onto NRT, then NRT back to SXM. Would that biz class seat be on all flights, or just the DFW to NRT and return legs?

<i>Or you could each apply for 2 Citi AA credit cards, charge $750 to each card and get 80K miles (assuming you don't already have these cards) http://tinyurl.com/2dk88f</i>

The second 20K comes with $10K in purchases and 2 years' membership.

Plus it doesn't appear to be a valid offer for non-US residents.

But that's the idea - pump up the FF miles by whatever means works. I mean, heck, you can buy 40,000 miles for $1030, and buy or gift another 40,000 at the beginning of 2008 for another $1030. That's 80K miles for $2060 - while a 90K business award from the Caribbean to Asia has a &quot;street value&quot; of - what - $5000? $6000? Helluva deal.

Note that AA says 40K miles is the max you can buy or be gifted <i> per calendar year.</i> I believe they mean that, not &quot;per twelve month period,&quot; so if you start now you could finish early in 2008.

Unless I'm reading the offer wrong, you get 20K for spending $750 in the first 4 months. There are 3 cards available. OP and DH each apply for 2 cards and charges $750 x 4 cards = 80K, no?

I'm not sure how they define US resident, but I bet if you maintain a US address, SS number, credit history, financial records, etc. you could qualify.

Sorry I missed the idea of applying for 2 cards each; also was posting before the OP said they had a US address.

<b>Gardyloo</b>,

The husband can gift the OP 40K and the OP can gift the husband 40K. It seems like that's what both need and they have separate accounts so no problems with that option.