Codeshare with Cathay pacific to Asia is a great use of aa miles. Also as another poster suggested, Hawaii or South America are good choices too.

AA miles are meant for flights to Latin America and the Caribbean. And domestic. BA is a common codeshare which is why so many flights go through LHR. The flights are better if you book well in advance. I'm considering a trip to Brazil because I have 140k left. I'm using miles for a trip to New Orleans and just flew to the Caribbean on miles last month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you trying to fly to IAD? If so, then yes, you need to fly through LHR because American doesn't fly to Europe from here. Here are their partners. The only one that has a direct flight to Europe from IAD is BA. So, no, their program isn't crap, but you're trying to fly to the wrong place on American. Choose another partner and go somewhere else.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/partners/partner-airlines.jsp

NP. I'd say BA is crap. No other airline charges such exhorbant fees on miles tickets.

A FF ticket to London on BA will literally cost hundreds of dollars more than if the flight were on AA. And AA has reduced their flights to Europe over the years so options are more limited than they used to be.

Is this true just for BA? We used miles on UA a few years ago to go to and from LHR and the taxes were high there, too.

Also, OP, if you want to fly to and from Europe direct on out of IAD, you need to start collecting UA miles. It's not the greatest airline, but since it has a hub at IAD, it has the most Europe flights.

Anonymous wrote:US airlines are shockingly bad in comparison to most foreign airlines. I avoid them at all costs. I'm always surprised that Americans are willing to put up with such crap.

That maybe used to be true but I don't find that to be the case at all anymore, and hasn't been true for at least 5 years. Many of the leading European carriers have extreme budget models now - extra charges for everything, weak customer service.

There are exceptions of course, like Emirates, but the US airlines have accused them of unfair practices because of government subsidies. Doesn't stop me from flying them because the service and comfort is definitely the best for long haul flights.

10:46 again. OP you may have already looked into this but are you willing to drive to Philly? May be more options from there.

Anonymous wrote:Are you trying to fly to IAD? If so, then yes, you need to fly through LHR because American doesn't fly to Europe from here. Here are their partners. The only one that has a direct flight to Europe from IAD is BA. So, no, their program isn't crap, but you're trying to fly to the wrong place on American. Choose another partner and go somewhere else.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/partners/partner-airlines.jsp

NP. I'd say BA is crap. No other airline charges such exhorbant fees on miles tickets. A FF ticket to London on BA will literally cost hundreds of dollars more than if the flight were on AA. And AA has reduced their flights to Europe over the years so options are more limited than they used to be.

United miles expire after 18 months - you can keep them active by buying something thru them

US airlines are shockingly bad in comparison to most foreign airlines. I avoid them at all costs. I'm always surprised that Americans are willing to put up with such crap.

I've been able to use American miles for international travel twice in the last year but neither was direct to Dulles. One was to JFK and the other to IAD via Philly.

Are you trying to fly to IAD? If so, then yes, you need to fly through LHR because American doesn't fly to Europe from here. Here are their partners. The only one that has a direct flight to Europe from IAD is BA. So, no, their program isn't crap, but you're trying to fly to the wrong place on American. Choose another partner and go somewhere else.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/aadvantage-program/miles/partners/partner-airlines.jsp

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The AA program is indeed crap. Miles expire after 18 months if you haven't added miles. United and Delta, miles last forever.

Wait, is this correct? United used to expire. Is that not the case anymore?

United expires. Mine just did without me noticing. Now I have to buy them back for $200. Argh.

Oh, ok, my bad. I was wrong, you are right. I'm still pretty sure Detla souesn' though

I know the secret but I can't tell you or else I'll never get flights to Europe without high taxes. Sorry. Just wanted you to know there is a way though, just don't go through London.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The AA program is indeed crap. Miles expire after 18 months if you haven't added miles. United and Delta, miles last forever.

Wait, is this correct? United used to expire. Is that not the case anymore?

United expires. Mine just did without me noticing. Now I have to buy them back for $200. Argh.