Now get two Business Class tickets within North America for less than one—or one for less than the cost of coach.
This special report at a glance:
- How to get Business Class for short-haul domestic, Central America, Mexico, and Caribbean flights for 22,000 points on American—3,000 fewer miles than AA charges for coach
- Domestic mid-haul flights are only 4,000 miles more than coach
- Hawaii flights are only 9,000 more miles than coach
- Get connecting flights for only 8,000 more miles than coach
This deal is a dynamic double pairing.
It takes advantage of a strategy using award chart discrepancies plus a sizzling credit card bonus-transfer deal.
FIRST SERVE: AWARD CHART DISCREPANCIES
Award charts come in two versions: “zone” and “flight-distance.” The former divides the world into regions, such as the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada, for example. In this case, every destination within the zone costs the same number of miles. A flight-distance chart, on the other hand, charges miles based on the distance flown.
Opportunity knocks when one airline’s alliance partner uses a zone chart (American) and a partner (British Airways and/or Iberia) uses the flight-distance method. Happily for you, they can be played against each other. Whack! Ace!
SECOND SERVE: CREDIT CARD TRANSFER DEAL
British Airways and Iberia and their point-transfer partner, American Express Rewards, are once again offering a 40% points-transfer bonus deal, valid through November 15 (details here).
How good is the deal combo?
22,000-Point Flights on American
Get Business Class on American Airlines for a 22,000-point transfer to British Airways for travel within North America, to Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean on many non-stop flights (see below). That’s 3,000 fewer miles than American charges for coach.
Another way to look at this opportunity is that it amounts to getting two Business Class tickets (44,000 miles) for less than the cost of one ticket with AA miles (50,000). Game. Set. Match.
One Example: Los Angeles-San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, in Business Class on American costs 50,000 AAdvantage miles round-trip. But using British Airways miles, that flight costs as few as 30,000 miles round-trip; and with the transfer bonus through November 15, it requires only 22,000 points.
“You cannot be serious!”
—John McEnroe
Example of Free Upgrades Using British Airways Points Instead of American Miles to Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean
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Example of Free Upgrades Using British Airways Points Instead of American Miles for Domestic Short-haul Flights
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Low-Cost Upgrades Using British Airways Points Instead of American Miles for Domestic Mid-haul Flights
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Lob Into Honolulu for Only 9,000 More Miles Than Economy
Los Angeles-Honolulu on American costs 80,000 AAdvantage miles round-trip. But using British Airways miles that flight costs 75,000 miles round-trip, and with the transfer bonus, is only 54,000 transferred points.
In other words, you get an upgrade to Business Class for only 9,000 miles more than economy. That’s a smash.
HOW ANYONE CAN PLAY THIS GAME
Don’t have any (or enough) Amex Reward points? No problem. Just buy them for 2.5¢ per point, but you must buy them in increments of 1,000 points ($25). Also, you can only buy points when you are going to transfer them immediately to a Membership Rewards partner airline. In doing so, you can get a Business Class ticket from Los Angeles to San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, for example, for $550 (cost to buy 22,000 points and $98 for award taxes) compared to buying the ticket directly with American for $1,080, a savings of $432 (40%). Go here for details on how you buy up to 500,000 Amex Reward points.
HOW TO TRANSFER AMEX REWARD POINTS TO MILES
Step 1: Log into your Amex Reward account.
Step 2: Select the airline partner and input the number of points you want to transfer.
Step 3: Make sure you add the airline mileage account number you are transferring to (if not a British Airways or Iberia member, then you have to create a mileage account first, before doing the transfer).
Step 4: Make sure to review all information (double check mileage account number and points transferring) as transfers are final.
How to book American on British Airways
Step 1: You can book space online by logging into your British Airways account here, or you can also call, (800) 452-1201.
Step 2: Next, click on “Spending Avios” and then on “Book a reward flight.”
Step 3: On the “Book with Avios” page, fill in your “From”, “To”, “Depart”, and “Return” dates, “Class” of service, and number of passengers, then click on “Get flights.”
Half Volley: What About Connecting Flights?
For connections, the best value lies in transferring from Amex Rewards to Iberia, not British Airways. (British Airways is best for nonstop flights.)
For example: Denver to Atlanta via Dallas on American is 50,000 AA miles.
With Iberia it is 46,000, but factor in the 40 percent transfer bonus and it comes down to 33,000 miles—only 8,000 miles more than what you pay for economy for itineraries with connecting flights.
Or consider Atlanta to Cancun connecting via Miami: With American Airlines it’s 50,000 miles, while with Iberia it’s 46,000. Work in the bonus to make it 33,000. Again, only 8,000 more miles than economy with American Airlines. Think really cheap upgrading.
Third example: Chicago to Nassau connecting via Charlotte. On American it costs 50,000 miles, while with Iberia it’s 46,000; and with the transfer bonus, 33,000. That number again is just 8,000 more than economy.
“I play each point like my life depends on it.”
—Rafael Nadal
How to Book American on Iberia
Step 1: You can book space online by logging into your Iberia account here, or you can also call (800) 772-4642.
Step 2: Next click on “Using my Avios”, then click on “Go to Book flights with Avios” and choose “Booking with Avios.”
Step 3: Here, under the header of “Where can we take you?”, fill in your “From” and “To” travel dates, and number of passengers, then click on “Flight Search.”