Questions and Answers

I have 43,000 AAdvantage miles that will expire next year. I live in England and if I redeem them here I am subject to huge taxes. Hundreds of pounds. I have a US address and have in the past used them for travel around the US. I like to travel and want to visit Korea and Taiwan next year and wonder if I can use these miles in some way. Any other suggestions for using them up would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome [USER=5087]@Biwa[/USER] – you could use them on Cathay Pacific and you shouldn’t have the huge fees involved like you would using them on BA. But keep in mind that any flight leaving the UK imposes a fee based on the distance to your next stop and airlines usually pass that along. AA charges 35K miles one way for flights between Europe and Asia. You could price it out and see if it’s cheaper to get yourself to, say, Paris or Madrid, and catch a Cathay flight from there or just fly from LHR to Asia directly.

If you have some kind of activity, you can extend the life of the miles. US shopping portals, buying miles, donating miles, etc.

You’d only be subject to huge taxes with booking BA, though regardless of carrier, you have the UK APD taxes. That’s not really avoidable unless you begin your flight from outside of the UK.

You can try to use the miles to fly Cathay or JAL from Europe to Korea & Taiwan, both of which should not have much fees, aside from the UK APD.