Both British Airways and American Airlines are members of the Oneworld alliance. Much like we previously discussed redeeming Turkish miles for United flights, there is a cheap way to book American Airlines flights using British Airways Avios.

Flying to Florida for $5

Today I’m flying non-stop from Dallas, Texas (DFW) to Fort Myers, Florida (RSW) on American Airlines for only $5.60 in fees after redeeming 7,500 British Airways Avios.

When I first started researching, I needed a one way flight and the revenue price was $422 to fly non-stop.

Not interested in paying that, I quickly checked how many American Airlines miles I could use. AA wanted 12,500 miles which is the minimum cost for a standard one-way domestic SAAver award. Although if you are an AAdvantage credit card holder then you get access to Reduced Mileage Awards. Those routes are typically to smaller, regional airports and certainly not available around Labor Day Weekend or between two major cities.

Once I saw the SAAver award availability, I knew that British Airways would have access to the same award space–but cheaper. So I quickly logged into my British Airways Executive Club account to book a ticket.

There I found the exact same flight listed for 30% less miles. The British Airways award chart for flights within North America is distance based which makes centrally located DFW such a great airport to use this strategy. As long as the distance is 1,151 miles or less, then the flight will cost 7,500 Avios. This isn’t a rare or exceptional redemption, but it’s incredibly convenient. Especially considering there are easy ways to collect British Airways Avios.

How do you earn Avios without actually flying on British Airways?

• Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards points at 1:1
  • Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card here
• Earn through the British Airways online shopping portal
  • I once earned 7,686 Avios by purchasing drapes from Pottery Barn online
• Credit miles from Oneworld flights to your British Airways Executive Club Account
  • Create an account. It’s free!
• Open a British Airways credit card

Example Itineraries

Here are a few short-haul routes that you can redeem for 7,500 Avios one way or 15,000 roundtrip:

• Chicago to Atlanta, Newark, or Orlando
• Dallas to Cabo, Chicago, Las Vegas, or Phoenix
• Los Angeles to Portland, Salt Lake City, or San Francisco
• New York to Montreal, Nashville, or Savannah

Interested in another route? Use the British Airways Reward Flight Calculator.

Final Thoughts on British Airways Avios

Aside from the reduced cost, I love redeeming Avios because of the flexibility to cancel. I can book a speculative flight and if I change my mind then I only lose $5.60, but get all the Avios credited back to my account. This is a great program to use for short-haul flights, but not necessarily for long distance international travel. So save American Airlines miles for long distance international flights on Oneworld carriers and use British Airways Avios for US domestic flights. It may seem backwards, but it’s the best way to maximize your miles!

Featured Image courtesy of British Airways Media Centre

The post Redeem British Airways Avios for American Airlines Award Flights appeared first on Seize the Globe.

This past March I took my husband on a trip to Dubai for his spring break/our anniversary. I had close to 300K American Airlines AAdvantage miles and there was a looming devaluation on the horizon thanks to the finalization of their merger with US Airways. Since we are currently paying for his MIT graduate school tuition, we really didn’t have the money to even go on spring break. He even chose to forego joining his classmates on a week long trek through Brazil due to low funds. That’s when we decided that it was time to see if we could put some points/miles to work with an award redemption.

Sean said to me, “Find the craziest destination you can and let me know how we can swing it.” So I started brainstorming and one of the first destinations that popped into my head was Dubai. Could I possibly manage to fly two people on a poor student budget in first class to Dubai and back and use points to pay for the whole thing? My first step in searching for award availability was to go to use AA.com and see what my options were.

American Airlines is a member of the oneworld alliance which includes other airlines such as:

• Air Berlin
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Finnair
• Iberia
• Japan Airlines
• LAN
• TAM
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Jordanian
• S7 Airlines
• SriLankan Airlines

For example, this means if you are based in the United States and an AAdvantage member that you can fly with any of these airlines and still earn miles that credit to your frequent flier account. You can also redeem your miles for award travel on either of those airlines. If you hold elite status with any, then you get reciprocal benefits when flying on oneworld carriers.

I found British Airways flights that connected in London Heathrow, but I wanted to avoid that because even flying on an award ticket with British Airways/through LHR racks up RIDICULOUS fees (fuel surcharges). I’m talking $1,600+…so much for a “free” flight, right?

I definitely did not want to book those because it defeated the whole purpose of my mission. Now here is what you do if you want to find other oneworld alliance award flights that may not display on AA.com. Their website only displays award flights for Air Berlin, British Airways, Qantas, Finnair, and Royal Jordanian. If you want to research other airlines then head over to the British Airways website.

Now I know I just told you to avoid British Airways for award flights due to astronomical fees, but bear with me. Their website displays other oneworld partner award availability like Qatar Airways, JAL, and Cathay Pacific. All you do is register for a free Executive Club frequent flyer account in order to access this part of the site.

Here, I found Qatar Airways flights in business class that matched our desired dates. So I called American Airlines and spoke with one of their award redemption representatives to ask how many AA miles it would cost me for two round trip first class flights. She informed me that the aircraft flying this route was the BRAND NEW A350 and that it only had two classes onboard: economy and business which still had lie-flat seats. Perfect! It would cost 67,500 miles one way per person. So 270,000 miles total plus $94.60 in taxes/fees for Boston to Dubai roundtrip with a connection in Doha. I had enough thanks to plenty of American flights, credit card sign-up bonuses, and my Citi AAdvantage Executive MasterCard!

Now, here’s what they cost for the cash buyer:

Qatar Airways Boston to Dubai

I asked her to place it on a five day complimentary hold so I could confirm the dates and times with my husband. That’s yet another thing that I love about American Airlines. Giving a complimentary five day hold is so convenient and makes the planning way less stressful (unlike Delta). Plus, if necessary, it gives you additional time to earn, transfer, or purchase any additional miles you may need for the redemption.

When it was time to book she waived the phone booking fee because the flights were not visible on AA.com. Anytime a flight is available for online booking and you reserve a flight over the phone with a booking agent they charge you an additional booking fee. Make sure you remind them of this if you find a flight through the British Airways website!

Lastly, it was time to take care of the lodging. We needed five nights in Dubai and we decided to first look into using Hilton Hhonors points for the Conrad, but we decided that we didn’t like the location of the Conrad and wanted to stay near the Dubai Marina area. That’s when I found the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort and like our Le Meridien stay in Thailand we took advantage of the buy four nights and get the fifth night free promotion. For the dates we needed it was 56,000 SPG points for five nights (including the free night). It was a no brainer. Luxury resort in the perfect location right at the base of the Palm right in the Dubai Marina? Done.

So there you have it. A newlywed couple paying for MIT graduate school managed to pull off a luxury vacation on one of the top airlines in the world on a brand new A350 and enjoyed five free nights in a gorgeous Starwood resort in Dubai. That’s why I love taking advantage of points and miles!

The other special thing we loved about this trip was the fact that it was Qatar Airways’ brand new launch of the Boston to Doha route. The inaugural flight was the night before ours and despite how fresh it was the Qatar Airways employees did a fantastic job from check-in to landing. The flight blew away all expectations with multiple course mouth-watering meals, complimentary pajamas, slippers, gifts, incredible wine, and of course…the glorious full night’s rest on the lie-flat beds. Our experience was so phenomenal that we’ve already booked another business class award ticket with them for next year: Johannesburg to Boston!

Doha to Dubai in First Class

The post How I got $25,000 worth of airfare and 5 Nights in Dubai for Only $94.60 appeared first on Seize the Globe.

The AAdvantage Gold packet that I recently found in my mailbox

First let me tell you a quick story of what happened to me last weekend while I was traveling to a three-day music festival in Las Vegas. Then I will explain the three different elite status levels, how to obtain them, and subsequently their benefits.   So there I am, sitting at the gate, awaiting to board an American Airlines flight headed to Las Vegas. My two friends and I planned this trip 6 months in advance and were feverishly chatting to one another via Facebook about our excitement. Then one friend notified us that her flight had been CANCELLED and rebooked on a new flight that would land well over 24 hours after her anticipated arrival. She already spent over 40 minutes on hold waiting to see if there were any earlier flights and she was beginning to panic. I decided to try my luck at resolving the issue. My flight was scheduled to board in the next 15 minutes, so I had to act quickly. So my friend sent me her record locator number and I dialed the AAdvantage Gold Service Desk. This is how it went:

Agent: Hi, Ms. Keltner. Thank you for calling the AAdvantage Gold Service Desk. How may I help you today? Me: Hi, there. I am currently traveling on an itinerary to Las Vegas, NV this evening and about to board my flight. However, the friend who I am supposed to meet there for our vacation just had her flight cancelled. Her record locator is #XXX1234. Can you please help find her a flight that departs first thing tomorrow morning? I need her to land in Las Vegas as soon as possible. Agent: I can certainly check on this for you. Please hold.

< Brief hold >

Agent: Ms. Keltner, I was able to change Ms. Knapp’s departing flights to the first flight tomorrow at noon. She will be in seat 2A and then 2B for her connecting flight. I apologize for the inconvenience any of this has caused you. Is there anything else I can help you with today? Me: 2A and 2B? Are these really small planes or something? Agent: Her first flight is on a smaller aircraft, but for her flight from DFW to LAS she will be in First Class.

This all happened in under 8 minutes. Needless to say, that agent saved the weekend and no one in our party was going to miss any of the music festival! Not only that, it was resolved quickly and efficiently and she was even upgraded to First Class without me requesting it. Mind you, I did not even pay for her flight. It was a completely separate itinerary, but they still honored my request as a Gold member. Pretty sweet! Once again, proving that it never hurts to ask!   Now for the information regarding the American Airlines AAdvantage elite status levels. There are three different levels that members of the AAdvantage frequent flier program can qualify for: Gold, Platinum, and Executive Platinum. You have one full year from January 1st to December 31st to qualify for an elite status that lasts you the entire following year. Then the membership period lasts from March until February of the following year. Therefore, the earlier you qualify, the longer you have those benefits without having to re-qualify because you begin receiving elite benefits immediately after qualifying. For example, if you qualified for AAdvantage Gold in May 2014, then you would reap the benefits of that elite status until February 2016. The easiest way to initially describe this is through visuals. I pulled these from my own AAdvantage account to show as examples.

AA Gold Qualification Requirements

AA Platinum Qualification Requirements

AA Executive Platinum Qualification Requirements

Courtesy of AA.com: AA Qualifying Points Chart

The post Why I Love American Airlines and the AAdvantage Program appeared first on Seize the Globe.