Question on AA Award miles?

[Carrie Ellis]

Ok, Resort is booked....

Now we need to get a flight for my parents from DFW to MCO.

They have miles accumulated but my mom is right under 25K ( I believe she is at 23K) and my dad has about 11K. I went online and I read that you have to pay to transfer mile. Do you have to pay if it is between a husband and wife? If so, it will not be worth it. It was over $50 to transfer 1500 or less miles.

If they did use their miles for one ticket, can you get another ticket on that flight at a good price? Say they have fares running for $200, can my mom use her rewards and then buy my dads at that price? They will be flying the first week of December so I would think that that would not be a black out time.

any advice is appreciated!!

 

[Cmbar]

It will cost you to transfer miles between husband and wife. But I read it as $50.00 to transfer up to 5000k. So if she only needs another 2000 points then it would cost them 50.00 for her plane ticket. Then I guess you would have to pay for the other one. Now he has 11k so to get to 25 K he would need another 14K at 27.50 per 1000. That would equal 385.00 for his ticket. So for both of them to fly using points would be 435.00. Not sure what the flights out of DFW cost so don't know if that is a good deal or not. If you can get his flight for 200.00 and then use points for her flight that would only be 250.00 for both of them. And since she is on a reward ticket she should be able to be on any flight he is on as long as the flight is open. I am not sure about that, that is the way it is on Southwest, but I haven't used points with AAdvantage.

Here is the links to AAdvantage Sharing miles:
https://buyaamiles.points.com/SM_Account.jsp

Here is the link for Buying Miles:
https://buyaamiles.points.com/BM_Account.jsp


One thing to consider is that AAdvantage lets you use your points to pay off some of your room at AAvacations. My sister has about 176000 points and she was told that she could apply those points to her package at Disney. They told her to just price out the package at Disney and then subtract about 1352.00 from the package because that is what her points are worth. You can go online and look at the packages for Disney at AAvacations.com. but to get a dollar value for the points you would probably have to call them. If I figure the value by dividing the 1352.00 by 176000 points then I get a value of .0076818 for each point. This means you parents can have a credit of 176.00 off their room at Disney if they use the 23K points. You could use the other 85.00 off your room I guess or pay to combine the points ( but that looses the value I guess). Not sure when you are going, but they always have any discounts that Disney is offering at the time so you don't have to worry about losing out on any discounts. THey had the free dining when it was available. Just a thought.

I know, I know geeky stuff, but what can I say, I try everything to use up my points! Love AAdvantage because I can use the points against the Disney package.

Good Luck!

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Thank you so much for taking the time Cmbar! I am much like you and run my numbers on everything!!! I am going to send this to my mom and dad. As far as flights, she might get the most value by waiting until she get 25K. If ATA runs a special to Dec then she should be able to get a ticket for $180 plus tax. AA is showing a $220 fare up to Nov, I believe. We are booked for Dec2-10 so some flight deals are there yet. That is wonderful to know about Disney w/ AA Awards! Wow! I guess if you use your Disney Visa on top of that you could get a free vacation almost! ha!

Thanks!!

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Hey again!!

I just read the transfer mile article again and it is up to 5000 miles for $50. But!!!!!!!!! Did you read below?? They charge tax on that and a $30 transaction fee!! oh my!

Mileage Pricing


#of miles cost*
1,000-5,000 $50.00
6,000-10,000 $100.00
11,000-15,000 $150.00

* Prices listed above are in U.S. dollars and do not include applicable taxes or $30 per transaction processing fee.

 

[Cmbar]

Hey again!!

I just read the transfer mile article again and it is up to 5000 miles for $50. But!!!!!!!!! Did you read below?? They charge tax on that and a $30 transaction fee!! oh my!

Mileage Pricing


#of miles cost*
1,000-5,000 $50.00
6,000-10,000 $100.00
11,000-15,000 $150.00

* Prices listed above are in U.S. dollars and do not include applicable taxes or $30 per transaction processing fee.

Oh that stinks! That was sneaky, good thing you read all the fine print!

 

[NancyIL]

Before you transfer any miles, see if you can make a reservation using FF miles and put it on hold for 2 weeks. You don't need to have the miles in your account at the time you book - just when you get ticketed. Then see what the lowest fare is on American for the same flights for the paid ticket.

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Thank you NancyIL and CMbar. Now I know! NancyIL I will let my mom know, that is great to know!!! Right now AA flight are $232 before tax. I don't know if it is the best use of those miles to spend $90 on a $232 flight. I wish is was not so for them. If she flies AA she will be pretty darn close to a ticket next time!

Thanks for educating me!

 

[NancyIL]

Thank you NancyIL and CMbar. Now I know! NancyIL I will let my mom know, that is great to know!!! Right now AA flight are $232 before tax. I don't know if it is the best use of those miles to spend $90 on a $232 flight. I wish is was not so for them. If she flies AA she will be pretty darn close to a ticket next time!

Thanks for educating me!

I try to save miles for the more expensive trips. For a trip costing around $250 - I'd pay for the ticket (book online - she will get bonus FF miles) and then the miles she already has will not expire for another 3 years, plus as you said, that trip may put her over 25,000 miles on AA.

One secret to using FF miles - at least on American...you get a stopover in addition to your final destination. I used FF miles for a spring break trip in March. I flew from my hometown in IL to Orange County Airport (near Disneyland) via Chicago to spend a week with my daughter. Then I flew from Long Beach, CA to Orlando (via DFW) to spend a week at WDW with my son. Then flew home from Orlando - all on one 25,000 mile ticket!