Questions and Answers

British Airways has a direct flight from Phoenix to Heathrow, I have 109,000 American Airline points which I understand I can use on BA. How do I book this flight?
Thanks .. Paul

Read this article by Tiffany and see if that answer your questions.

[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/04/12/how-to-redeem-american-aadvantage-miles/[/URL]

[USER=130]@Paul H[/USER] – one thing to keep in mind: if you do fly on BA metal, you will pay fuel surcharges. And for premium cabin flights those can be as much as an economy ticket.

For example, I looked at the BA flight for a Wed-Wed trip in early December. The fuel surcharge (also known as the YQ charge) is $904 if you fly business class or first class. Even in economy the YQ is $458!

Plus, the UK has airport fees/taxes that are based on where your plane lands next. So if you leave LHR and fly to somewhere else in Europe, that tax/fee will be less than if your next stop is the US.

For the business class flight mentioned above, the UK Air Passengers Duty is $220.50 and the UK Passenger Service Charge is $65.30. So there’s an additional $285.80 giving you a total of $1189.80 for your “free” premium ticket or $743.80 for your “free” economy ticket. Yikes!

So while a non-stop flight is great, if you can find a seat on AA metal you’ll come out far ahead money-wise. Also, be sure to check Iberia via Madrid. You can’t see availability on AA.com but you can on BA.com. Just search segment-by-segment as BA will try to route you via LHR every time.

If you need some help/clarification, just let us know and we’ll be happy to help.