Tag Archives: American AAdvantage

AA/US Mileage Accounts Merger Sometime In 2015

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I have news from email and social media with more news about the AA/US merger.

FROM AMERICAN:  Timeline confirmed for 2015.  No details about how the miles will be moved from US to AA or if it will be like the UA/CO merger where miles could be moved back and forth for a few months so you could choose which airline’s chart to use.  Full details as posted on Facebook.

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FROM US AIRWAYS:  Increased miles to redeem US/Canada premium cabin awards (which is probably not the priority for an eco-travel blog).  There is also some news for elites, please see details on US website.  US does have very attractive off-peak awards between the US and South America so if you have an award in mind it’s worth redeeming before 2015.

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1000 ~ Free AAdvantage Miles – Facebook Game

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Free miles are free miles and they all add up!  This game has been out a few weeks but I forgot to post about it.  There are still 3 weeks to go and you can knock over all the non-flying activities in around 15 minutes.  I managed to get 1175 miles!

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You just need to go to the Facebook app, log in, link your AAdvantage account and start doing the mini-quizzes.

How to play

From March 21, 2014 to May 23, 2014 American Airlines is making it even more fun to earn American Airlines AAdvantage® miles! The AAdvantage Passport Challenge has something for everyone – earn bonus miles for completing social activities and playing games, plus earn even more bonus miles when you earn AAdvantage miles while flying select routes or for beating a personal goal set just for you.

Learn & earn

Earn up to 600 bonus miles for successfully completing all games! Simply click to launch each game and follow the instructions. Bonus miles awarded depend on how well you play. A portion of these bonus miles will be credited to you when you share with your friends on Facebook or when you ‘Like’ some of our AAdvantage partners. Plus, complete all games and earn an additional 100 bonus miles.

Be social & earn

Earn 200 bonus miles for completing all social actions! Simply click to launch each social action and follow the instructions. Plus, complete all social actions and earn an additional 50 bonus miles.

Fly & earn

Earn 250 bonus miles for successfully completing the trivia questions for all five Fly & Earn stamps.

Earn an additional 450 bonus miles per stamp when you fly and earn AAdvantage miles on the types of flights required for each stamp. These bonus miles are in addition to miles you earn for flying on American Airlines, US Airways, oneworld® airlines, and other participating airlines. Beat your personal Elite Qualifying Points (EQP) goal and earn 2,500 bonus miles, in addition to any you normally earn for flying. Your personal goal will be displayed in your passport within a few days of providing your AAdvantage account number. During the promotional period, we’ll update your passport regularly to show you how many miles you’ve earned for each stamp. Plus, we’ll track your progress toward your EQP goal.

Plus, completing 3 flight activities (trivia + flying) earns 500 bonus miles, completing 4 activities earns 1,000 bonus miles, and completing 5 activities earns 4,500 bonus miles!

Click here for more information about Fly & Earn

Click here for complete Promotion Rules

 

Stealth Devaluation – Both US Airways & American Airlines

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It’s not so much the devaluations themselves that bother me.  The other major airlines United & Delta did their devaluations last year and United actually gave several months advance notice.  It’s the fact that this time there was NO ADVANCE NOTICE!

The travel blogosphere is up in arms starting with Dan’s Deals reporting that stopovers (at North American international gateway cities) would be eliminated.  Then Lucky posted on One Mile At A Time the further bad news that AAnytime AAwards were increasing with detailed charts.  Travel Summary chimed in with the US Airways increase to the popular North America – North Asia award which went from 90k in business class to 110k.

Now those 3 changes had very little effect on most birders and eco-tourists.  We tend to plan in advance and use Saver Awards (capacity controlled and best booked way in advance), not the more expensive AAnytime awards.  The North America – North Asia route wouldn’t be on a typical eco-travel itinerary.  The loss of the North American gateway stopover could affect Americans who want to visit Grandma in LAX enroute to Australia or Brazil.

But all of the above pales in contrast to the loss of the OneWorld Explorer award.

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This gem of an award was perfect for anyone wanting to avoid American’s strict routing rules and hop around various destinations as they wished.  As long as you used at least 2 OneWorld carriers, you were fine.

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This would have allowed me to go from Brisbane to South America via the USA and have a few stop-overs and I was eyeing one for 2016.  Ironically, I have the miles but not the cash to pay for the lodges and birding guides which is why I have to allow a couple years to save for it.

The obvious lesson here is don’t hoard your miles – spend them!  Devaluations can come at any time, though ideally we would at least get some advance notice.   I wish I could be redeeming my miles more often but as a birder, I can’t use miles to pay for the vast majority of my ground expenses so I am pretty well stuck.  Cash is a lot harder for me to get than miles!

TAM & US Airways Join OneWorld Alliance

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Although I am not sure what time in which time zone, sometime within the next couple of hours, TAM and US Airways will have officially left Star Alliance and joined OneWorld.  If you are a member of American AAdvantage or British Airways Avios, this means you now have 2 new airlines to book awards on!  If you are a member of US Airways Dividend Miles, this means you will now be booking your awards using the OneWorld alliance partners. You will find US Airways listed as an American Airlines affiliate since they are in the process of merging.

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US Airways also plans to continue partnerships with some Star Alliance airlines on an individual basis –  Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAM, TAP and Turkish Airways.  We still don’t know if you will be able to mix awards using OneWorld airlines and these individual partners.  Some of the partners such as Air New Zealand & Singapore Airlines will end this agreement in June.

HEADS UP TO ECO-TOURISTS

With TAM in OneWorld, this creates a nice opportunity for cheap award flights around Brazil using Avios!  I’ve highlighted a few destinations in yellow in the route map below that are of greatest interest to birders.  Brazil is a very easy country to get around and it is very simple to book most of the best eco-lodges online so this will make it easy to create your own individualized birding itinerary!

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US Airways has added more routes within the USA and to Europe and a few routes to the Caribbean which may be helpful.

In just one more month, Sri Lankan Airlines also joins OneWorld and opens up more possibilities to this gorgeous country with amazing birds that I was blogging about for a couple months!

Flying Domestically Within Australia

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Given that Australia is so large and that bird species are spread out over the entire country, most people will need to use domestic flights at some point.  These can sometimes be purchased at a good rate if you keep an eye on the sales on Qantas, Jetstar & Virgin’s websites.  You can get a pretty good snapshot of what’s available on Webjet.  Take for example our first flight from Brisbane to Perth.  Bear in mind that some fares do not allow a checked bag, you have to pay extra for this and that carry-on bags are limited to 7kg and by size.

If you need to get from a foreign country to Australia, please see my guide on redeeming awards to Australia.  I also have a guide to Perth as a gateway city.

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Neither Star Alliance nor Skyteam have a partner in Australia, but luckily anyone who is in a program from the One World Alliance has some good options.  Most people will use either American Airlines or British Airways Avios or Qantas points.

AMERICAN AADVANTAGE

Using AAdvantage is very easy as flights can be booked online and only cost 10,000 miles for a one way award that allows a checked bag.

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This search has produced 3 non-stop flights followed by several connections for 10,000 miles.  As you can see, the blue tab for business/first class awards is lit up so you could also chose a premium cabin for 17.5k miles.  Personally, for a 5.5 hour daytime flight, I would save my miles for something else but the option is available for those who wish it.

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Once you choose a flight, log in with your account, you will see that there are taxes of $14.60 in addition to the miles.  If you have been taking advantage of the Citibank American AAdvantage credit card bonuses which range from 40,000 – 100,000 miles, you can see that adds up to lots of free flights within Australia!

BRITISH AIRWAYS AVIOS

Since Avios redemptions are distance based, they may or may not be the better option. If the distance is more than 2000 miles, then AAdvantage would be cheaper as you can see by the chart below.

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First you need to know the distance between origin and destination for each leg.  I use the Great Circle Mapper.  The non-stop flight is 2246 miles which means it costs 12,500 Avios.  Since each segment of an Avios award is charged separately, if you connect in Sydney, you would be charged 4500 Avios for the first segment and 12,500 for the 2nd segment which isn’t a great deal.  If you were going simply from Brisbane to Sydney, 4500 Avios is a much better deal than paying 10,000 AAdvantage miles!

QANTAS

Qantas points are zone based and you can get the mileage required from their calculator.

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VIRGIN VELOCITY

If you are from Australia, you probably have points in Virgin’s Velocity program which are very easy to redeem online.  You can choose to use your points to cover the taxes or pay the taxes in cash and spend fewer points.

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US Airways Emails An Update On Alliances & Codeshares

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This is great news as it means you will still be able to book certain Star Alliance airlines after the merger with AA takes place.  It’s also good news for people who have already made a booking for travel that will take place after the merger as US will still have access to award seats and a relationship with these airlines in case of irrops.  Here is the full email.  I bolded the most important facts you will want to remember.

American Airlines | US Airways
An update on our alliances and codeshares
We’re excited to be a part of the new American and look forward to bringing you a stronger airline. In early 2014, we’ll be entering into a codeshare agreement with American, which means that you’ll be able to seamlessly book travel throughout the US Airways and American network.
On March 31, 2014, we plan to join the oneworld® alliance, so you can look forward to mileage earning and redemption opportunities, reciprocal elite benefits and lounge access on oneworld carriers. Some of these benefits will be phased in as we work toward full integration.
There are a few important changes to keep in mind for future travel:
We’ll be exiting Star Alliance on March 30, 2014. You’ll be able to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on Star Alliance carriers until that date. Any existing reservations for travel on a codeshare flight with a Star Alliance partner after March 30, 2014 are safe, however, you’ll be rebooked with a new flight number from the carrier operating the flight and you’ll no longer earn Dividend Miles or receive Star Alliance Gold or Silver benefits.
Since the legal close of our merger with American on December 9, 2013, we no longer offer codeshare flights for sale with United Airlines. When we exit Star Alliance on March 30, 2014, we will no longer offer codeshare flights for sale with Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa or SWISS. Any existing reservations are safe, but you will not earn Dividend Miles for flights on these carriers after March 30, 2014.
We plan to continue relationships with the following airlines, so you can continue to earn and redeem Dividend Miles on these select partners even after we’ve exited Star Alliance: Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Ethiopian Airlines, Eva, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAM, TAP and Turkish Airways.
US Airways customers with Star Alliance Gold status will no longer have access to Star Alliance lounges after March 30, 2014.
You can learn more and stay up-to-date by visiting usairways.com/arriving.

Industry News About US-AA Merger

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While I was away, more details have been released about the timeline of the merger.  The most important thing for eco-tourists to note is the date US leaves Star Alliance, especially if you have plans to visit Central America, South America or Australia/New Zealand.  Currently these zones are better served using a US Airways Dividend Miles award so you will want to book your trip by 30 March, 2014 so travel ends by 22 Feb, 2015.  You would still be able to use your US miles on One World airlines but these areas have better options with Star Alliance.

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US Airways to join oneworld on 31 March 2014

US Airways will join oneworld® with effect from 31 March 2014, following completion today of its merger with alliance founding member American Airlines.  All its regional affiliates, operating under the US Airways Express brand, will also transition to oneworld at the same time.
Their entry into oneworld with effect from the first flights on 31 March 2014 will follow immediately upon their exit from the Star Alliance with the final flights on 30 March 2014.  All parties are taking every effort to ensure that the alliance transition is as seamless as possible for customers.

US Airways to Leave Star Alliance March 30, Join Oneworld March 31, Begins Integration of Frequent Flyer Accounts

In a letter to employees, Parker said that customers will soon be able to earn and redeem rewards miles on both program.  The US Airways program, Dividend Miles, will eventually be merged into American’s AAdvantage program.  In addition, in early January, the AA code will be placed on all US Airways flights and vice versa, as the combined airline aligns its schedule.

Another significant change for customers will be the co-location of American and US Airways in airports, starting with its hubs.

In addition, US Airways said that it will continue numerous relationships with airlines in Star Alliance after it leaves at the end of March.  Flyers will be able to continue earn miles on the following airlines: Aegean, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Ethiopian Airlines, Eva, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, TAM, TAP, and Turkish Airways.

No More Swapping In & Out of United & US Airways On Points.com

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Even though the swapping rate is terrible, it at least provides something to do with orphaned points.  I’d rather have 153 AA or UA miles than 1001 useless Frontier miles when I don’t collect in that program.  So I went onto Points.com and saw that the trade and exchange sections have been greyed out on both United Airlines and US Airways.  It should look like the American Airlines account with trade & exchange in blue with a hyperlink.  Not wanting to get stuck with orphaned miles, I requested the exchange of 300 Best Buy & 1001 Frontier miles to AA before that program also drops out of the swapping options.  If you have any points or miles accounts with small balances you can’t use, you might as well swap them into an account you plan to use!

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Using Miles – Not Always The Best Option

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I was looking at potential miles opportunities for people in the UK who may wish to use Avios to visit Australia for birding. The high taxes from the UK make an Avios redemption in economy a bad choice.

Since I strongly recommend arriving a couple days in advance to get over the jet lag, I looked at a departure on Sunday, 9 Feb to Perth, returning on 28 Feb as an example.

With Avios, it costs at least 100,000 Avios plus $757 in taxes with options to spend more money and less Avios.

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If you have American Airlines miles, this itinerary would cost 90,000 miles and the taxes would probably be closer to the Cathay Pacific taxes from their website.  I can’t look at it online since AA doesn’t support online partner redemptions with CX.   If you use AA miles to redeem on BA, they do pass along the fuel surcharges so not a great idea!

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To simply buy the ticket from Cathay Pacific, it costs (in GBP) the equivalent of $1275 and you will earn miles for your choice of One-World programs.

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I would definitely NOT use Avios for this itinerary.  I wouldn’t use AA to travel on BA/QF because I think 90,000 AAdvantage miles are worth more than $550;  but I would call AA to find out how much they would charge for the CX itinerary.

Traveling in business or first class is a better use of Avios/AAdvantage miles but when I checked, it wasn’t available.

I do think that this itinerary is one you are better off paying for with money unless you are swimming in miles.

 

 

Sizing Up The AA – US Merger

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AA US Merger

It’s all over the main news channels and the travel blogosphere,  AA and US have announced their imminent merger on Valentine’s Day no less!  FlyerTalk and other travel blogs are buzzing madly with speculation on what this all means for them.  Both airlines are on my list of top 8 airlines for eco-travelers.  So far, all we know officially from AA in regards to the frequent flyer programs:

Enjoy a more rewarding travel experience with American Airlines AAdvantage® and US Airways Dividend Miles.

At this time, American and US Airways will remain separate companies and each company will maintain its current loyalty program. Your AAdvantage miles are secure and existing miles will continue to be honored. Likewise, your elite qualifying miles and your elite status, including lifetime status granted under the Million MilerSM are secure and remain intact. In addition, you will continue to earn miles through existing AAdvantage participating companies, including the Citi®/ AAdvantage credit cards and will be able to redeem those miles for the same great awards – flights, upgrades, car rentals and hotels, just to name a few.

You will continue to have options for travel and benefits both domestically and internationally through our continued membership in the oneworld® Alliance. As they do today, our oneworld® partners will offer you access to a range of destinations, airline choices, and mileage earning and redemption opportunities.

You can continue to book, track and manage flights and your AAdvantage account on AA.com.

Ultimately, the combined company is expected to offer members more opportunities to earn and burn miles from an expanded global network of routes and partnerships, unmatched redemption options — including flights, hotels, car rentals, vacation packages, one-way awards and lounge memberships – and much more.

And from the US Airways site:

Enjoy a more rewarding travel experience with US Airways Dividend Miles® and American Airlines AAdvantage®. Both programs are among the most popular loyalty programs in the world and will continue to offer best-in-class elite programs, unmatched redemption options and more ways to earn miles from an expanded global network of routes and partnerships.

Until the merger is complete, US Airways and American Airlines will remain separate companies and each company will maintain its current loyalty programs (US Airways – Dividend Miles and American Airlines – AAdvantage). Existing miles will be honored, and there will be no impact to your US Airways MasterCard® or US Airways Visa® card. You can continue to earn and redeem mileage for travel awards with us and our Star Alliance partners. You can also continue to book, track and manage flights on usairways.com.

THE EFFECT ON ECO-TRAVELERS

It’s going to be tough to assess the effect on eco-travelers because both alliances have their strengths.  Right away, I can see that people traveling between North America and the South Pacific are going to have to fork out more miles in the AA program.  These awards currently cost 75k in Y and 125k in J using AAdvantage vs 80k in Y and 110k in J on US Airways.   If a trip to Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands and other Pacific Islands is on your wish list and you want to travel in business class, you might want to consider bringing it forward to take advantage of the bargains on US Airways.  Economy travelers will find AA’s award cheaper.

Once US Airways leaves Star Alliance for One World, you won’t be able to access some airports like Rarotonga.  If you have a trip planned and had earmarked US miles to pay for it, check to see if it will be accessible using One World carriers.  Star Alliance/US Airways also had an edge on awards from North America to Africa, North-east Asia and Central Asia.

WHICH STAR ALLIANCE CARRIER TO USE?

Americans will probably be better off with United since there are several credit cards that can be used to either direct sweep to UA or transfer via Ultimate Rewards.  If you are not an American and can’t get the Chase credit cards, first check what kind of credit cards you CAN get.  Chances are, you may be able to transfer them to another Star Alliance partner such as Thai, Singapore, Lufthansa, ANA, Asiana or Avianca-Taca.

If you can’t get any credit cards,  Avianca-Taca LifeMiles will be the main source of buying miles cheaply to redeem on Star Alliance carriers.  They currently have a share miles 100% bonus promo until the end of Feb but you must have been a member prior to the promo being released.  People who want premium cabin awards may be frustrated if they can’t find the same cabin class all the way through.  You can’t mix classes such as Y from MCI-LAX and J from LAX-BKK for example.  If you only want an economy award, you’d be fine with LifeMiles.

ONE-WORLD IS GOOD FOR ECO-TRAVELERS

Assuming you don’t have other issues such as elite benefits, hub airports and upgrade certificates, the change can be positive for most eco-travelers.  One World does cover most of the places we want to go.  LAN and new partner TAM (soon to be One-World) have South America pretty well covered and can even get you directly from Australia to South America without having to transit the USA.   Qantas can get you to anywhere in Australia, several places in New Zealand and many Pacific Islands.  New partner Malaysian and original One-World member Cathay Pacific can get you between Europe and Asia/Pacific.  Qatar and Sri Lankan are joining soon.  AA also has non-alliance partners of interest such as Air Tahiti Nui, Air Pacific and Etihad.   PLUS, once the miles are merged, you will be able to use your hard-earned US miles for one-way awards!

THE BAD NEWS

The merger puts the last nail in the coffin of the US Grand Slam promo that netted some of us huge amounts of miles at a very low cost between 2008-2011.  They didn’t have it last year but we could only hope for 2013 – well hope no more!

US has traditionally had 100% bonus miles on buying miles several times a year.  AA has been more conservative with only 30-50% bonus on buying miles and they have it tiered so if you only need a few to top up to an award level, it could be as low as 10% bonus.  If you want to top up your US account now, there is a targeted promo to US Mastercard holders for 100% bonus and 50% bonus to everyone else.

If you want the US Mastercard, better get it now.  The current best offer is this one.  The Chairman’s offer which had the 10,000 anniversary bonus miles was pulled today.  We don’t know if this card will be churnable going forward so will have to monitor the FlyerTalk thread for new data.

If you have upcoming hotel bookings and/or car rentals you plan on crediting to an airline, check the offers on both AA and US for the best deal.

Sharebuilder is currently offering 2500 US miles for new accounts.  Most of us already did this one for the last Grand Slam in 2011 but if you haven’t done it yet, might as well grab some cheap miles.  Use the portal from the US page.

TIME TO ASSESS YOUR TRAVEL PLANS

The likely timeline for full integration has been posted by several people, this one on FlyerTalk sounds pretty logical to me.  Star Alliance awards will be more expensive on United Mileage Plus or Avianca-Taca LifeMiles than they are in US Dividend Miles.  Size up your travel plans and see if it’s worth doing  them sooner rather than later or if it would work better in your favour to wait until the phase where they let you move miles back and forth between the two programs for a few months.  Miles To The Wild will be keeping you updated with any new developments as they are released.