Spending AAdvantage Miles Before The 22 March Devaluation

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If you have any kind of meaningful balance of American Airlines AAdvantage miles then you almost certainly know that 22 March 2016 is not a day to look forward to. On that day, what was once the best airline loyalty program around (and by a considerable margin), will join the race to the bottom and become a shadow of its former self. 21 March 2016 will be the last day to book award travel with AAdvantage Miles before the cost of those awards increases…in some cases by over 40%.

I’ve already gone over the major devaluations that will happen, I’ve discussed the award chart changes, I’ve shown how the new earning rates will affect top-tier AAdvantage members quite badly and I’ve called out American Airlines for announcing things without thinking things through or without having all the answers to inevitable questions…but that’s really just me letting off steam and, hopefully, providing readers with a few facts here and there as well. It doesn’t really get me anywhere 🙂

One of my favorite uses of AAdvantage Miles has been for travel on Etihad’s A380s. That’s about to get a whole lot more expensive.

What does get me somewhere is putting my AAdvantage miles to good use while they’re still worth more than they will be in a few weeks time…and that’s what I’ve been doing.

I’ve never been a big fan of spending miles on First Class travel because I’ve always preferred to put the difference between a First Class redemption and a Business Class redemption towards a future flight – Business Class is, generally, more than enough for my needs.

However, the recent changes to the AAdvantage program have made me see things a little differently.

In the past I knew I had enough miles to purchase First Class awards but I simply chose not to. Now, with the new award charts and the heavily reduced earning rates, I’m no longer sure that I’ll have too many opportunities to try out some of the more coveted award redemptions…and that makes me a little sad.

It’s not just First Class awards that I’ve been busy booking, I’ve booked a few Business Class awards too and below is a breakdown of where I’ve been spending my American Airlines AAdvantage miles in advance of Devaluation Day (D-Day).

Etihad Awards

I’ve booked more Etihad awards with my AAdvantage miles than any other award, primarily because they’re the awards seeing some of the biggest increases but also because Joanna and B haven’t ever tried one of Etihad’s premium cabins….and that needed to be put right 🙂

Etihad Awards Booked:

2 x roundtrip Europe – Middle East Business Class awards for Joanna & B:

• Cost now: 60,000 miles per person
• Cost after D-Day: 85,000 miles per person
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 42%

Both flights are booked in Etihad’s excellent A380 Business Class cabin featuring their Business Studio seat which I tried out back in December:

Etihad A380 Business Class Seat

1 x one-way Europe – Middle East Business Class award:

• Cost now: 30,000 miles
• Cost after D-Day: 42,500 miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 42%

This award is booked for one of Etihad’s A380 aircraft.

1 x one-way Middle East – Europe First Class award:

• Cost now: 40,000 miles
• Cost after D-Day: 62,500 miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 56%

This will be my first ever taste of Etihad’s First Class cabin on their A380 aircraft and, having seen how good the Business Class offering is on the A380, I’m really looking forward to this 🙂

Etihad A380 First Class Suite – Image courtesy of Etihad

I’ve deliberately only booked the First Class award in one direction because, as I said, Business Class is more than good enough for me – this is just an opportunity to try the First Class product out. I’ve also deliberately booked the First Class award departing Abu Dhabi to make sure I get to try out the new Etihad First Class lounge which is slated to open at some point in 2016.

• Total cost of Etihad Awards Booked: 190,000 AAdvantage Miles
• Cost of the same awards after D-Day: 275,000 AAdvantage Miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 45%

Coincidentally the number of miles saved by booking before D-Day (85,000) is exactly enough to book another Business Class roundtrip ticket between Europe and the Middle East post devaluation.

Cathay Pacific Awards

For someone who, up until now, has done most of his flying on OneWorld airlines I’ve done very little of it on Cathay Pacific…and I’ve never tried out their First Class cabin. That’s going to change this year.

Cathay Pacific Awards Booked

1 x one-way Zürich – Hong Kong First Class award

• Cost now: 70,000 miles
• Cost after D-Day: 90,000 miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 29%

This award is for a First Class seat on one of Cathay Pacific’s numerous 777-300 aircraft:

Cathay Pacific First Class Cabin

I’m probably the only points and miles blogger who has yet to try out the Cathay Pacific First Class experience so I figured I’d better try it before it was too late.

1 x one-way Hong Kong – Düsseldorf Business Class award

• Cost now: 52,500 miles
• Cost after D-Day: 75,000 miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 43%

This award sees one of the biggest cost increases of any Business Class award and, at 75,000 miles, is a lot of miles to have to spend when Business Class fares between Europe and Asia can regularly be found for under $2,000 (although not on Cathay Pacific).

However that’s not why I booked this particular award. I booked it because it allows me to try out Cathay Pacific’s brand new Airbus A350. This trip will be taking place within a month of Cathay Pacific commencing long-haul fights with the A350 so the aircraft should still be pretty new.

Cathay Pacific A350

• Total cost of Cathay Pacific Awards Booked: 122,500 AAdvantage Miles
• Cost of the same awards after D-Day: 165,000 AAdvantage Miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 35%

The number of miles saved by booking before D-Day (42,500) is exactly enough to book a one-way Business Class ticket between Europe and the Middle East post devaluation.

Japan Airlines (JAL) Awards

Here’s another OneWorld airline whose First Class cabin I haven’t tried out and, once again, I’ve done something about it. I’ve also made sure I booked another relatively new product that I’ve been hearing good things about.

Japan Airlines Awards Booked

1 x one-way Frankfurt – Tokyo Narita Business Class award

• Cost now: 52,500 miles
• Cost after D-Day: 75,000 miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 43%

Once again this award is seeing a huge increase in cost following the AAdvantage award chart devaluation and, once again, although you can get round trip Business Class fares between Europe and Asia for under $2,000 it;s not that often you see such fares on JAL….that’s a big part of why I chose to book this flight.

Another reason for selecting the routing that I did is because JAL operates the Frankfurt – Tokyo flights with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that’s fitted with JAL’s new “Sky Suites”:

JAL Sky Suites

Not only have I not yet flown the bigger of the Dreamliners but I’m also yet to try out the Sky Suites so this will kill two birds with one stone.

1 x one-way Tokyo Haneda – London First Class award

• Cost now: 70,000 miles
• Cost after D-Day: 90,000 miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 29%

JAL significantly upgraded their First Class cabin in 2014/2015 when they introduced the “JAL Suite“….

JAL First Class Suite

…and this is the product I expect to be trying out when I fly back to Europe one of their 777-300 aircraft.

I’ve spoken to a couple of people who have tried this product out and, while both really liked it, it was the onboard service that got the highest praise. It will be interesting to see how the service compares to my experiences on airlines like Etihad where I felt the crew actually cared about how enjoyable the flight was.

• Total cost of Japan Airlines Awards Booked: 122,500 AAdvantage Miles
• Cost of the same awards after D-Day: 165,000 AAdvantage Miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 35%

Once again, the number of miles saved by booking before D-Day (42,500) is exactly enough to book a one-way Business Class ticket between Europe and the Middle East post devaluation.

Qatar Airways

My awards on Qatar Airways are still a work in progress as I’ve got so much travel booked for the next 12 months I’m finding it hard to fit them in!

My aim is to book a Qatar Airways Business Class award, on their A380 aircraft, between Europe and the Middle East and then to return back to Europe in First Class (again on an Airbus A380).

• Cost for both flights now: 70,000 miles
• Cost for both flights after D-Day: 105,000 miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 50%

Qatar Airways A380 First Class Cabin

I’m choosing to book the First Class award from the Middle East (Doha) specifically so that I can try out the recently opened (and apparently very nice) First Class Al Safwa lounge.

Bottom Line

As I’m not actually being compelled to take any of these flights the savings (in terms of AAdvantage Miles) don’t mean that much in reality – I’d save even more miles by not taking any flights at all! But I still think they good a good insight into just how much more expensive premium cabin award travel will be after 22 March 2016.

• Total cost of Awards Booked and Planned: 505,000 AAdvantage Miles
• Total cost of same awards booked after D-Day: 710,000 AAdvantage Miles
• Increase in cost post 21 March 2016: 41%

That’s a technical saving of 205,000 AAdvantage Miles….and that’s a lot!

Hopefully this has given you some idea of (a) how much award travel will be going up in cost if you want to use your AAdvantage miles after 22 March 2016 and (b) a few ideas of the kind of awards you can book (none of these where that heard to find).

Here’s a link to the current AAdvantage Award charts

Here’s a link to the post 21 March AAdvantage Award Charts

Whatever you take away from this just post, be sure you’re fully aware of what your AAdvantage miles can buy you for now….and what they’ll be able to buy you in a few weeks time. The difference is significant.