Questions and Answers

First of all thanks for your blog. I am brand new at this so let me apologize if I sound like an amateur. How do the points translate? 1 for 1, 3 -1?. I have about 85,000 american express miles and 30,000 American Airlines miles, I am trying to book a round trip to Paris for 60,000 miles on American Airlines. The seat is available. My husband has his seat held for now, he had enough American Airlines miles. Is this doable for me to travel with him?

I will greatly appreciate any help navigating this. Your blog came very highly recommended!

Thanks,
Amy

[USER=125]@Amy[/USER] — American Express has several great transfer partners, but American is sadly not one of them. If you want to be on those exact flights, I would book the outbound through American (30,000 miles for economy), and the return using miles transferred to British Airways.

You will pay higher fees when redeeming through British Airways in most cases, so that’s something to consider.

The other option would be to use your husband’s miles to book both tickets in one direction, and use your American Express points for both of you in the other direction. Air Canada Aeroplan could be a good option here, as you nearly have enough points for business class! [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/01/09/booking-aeroplan-awards-without-fuel-surcharges/[/URL]

Thank you Tiffany, will check options sooner next time. I did transfer my Amx points to British Airways and got my 50,000 mile ticket only to be charged an additional $600 & some odd dollars. Was so disappointed, but at this point I bit the bullet & did it. Next time I’ll check way in advance. Any tips for getting upgrades?

QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 3906, member: 7″][USER=125]@Amy[/USER] — American Express has several great transfer partners, but American is sadly not one of them. If you want to be on those exact flights, I would book the outbound through American (30,000 miles for economy), and the return using miles transferred to British Airways.

You will pay higher fees when redeeming through British Airways in most cases, so that’s something to consider.

The other option would be to use your husband’s miles to book both tickets in one direction, and use your American Express points for both of you in the other direction. Air Canada Aeroplan could be a good option here, as you nearly have enough points for business class! [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/01/09/booking-aeroplan-awards-without-fuel-surcharges/[/URL][/QUOT

Indeed Amy, unfortunately fuel surcharges are pretty hefty for travel on British Airways.

You can also outright redeem miles for first/business class awards. There’s no need to “upgrade,” per se. Next time I’d recommend looking at business class award availability instead, as it should show in the same search tools.