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One of the best uses of British Airways Avios is for award travel on partner airlines. And one of those partner airlines that routinely offers solid value for your Avios is none other than the world's largest air carrier: American Airlines.
With more than 350 destinations across more than 60 countries, American Airlines can take you to just about anywhere you need to go. Even better, most of AA's routes are bookable with British Airways Avios. In some cases, it makes more sense to book routes throughout American Airlines' network with Avios than AAdvantage miles.
Unfortunately, there have been some devaluations over the past few years that have reduced the usefulness of booking American Airlines flights with Avios. But there are plenty of cases where it is still advantageous.
Here's all you need to know about booking American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios.
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Booking American Airlines Flights With British Airways Avios
With a huge fleet and extensive network, American Airlines is one of British Airways' most important airline partners. And given that both are founding members of the Oneworld alliance, it's pretty simple to redeem British Airways Avios for flights operated by American Airlines.
Finding American Airlines' award availability through British Airways is generally an effortless experience, depending on the route you want to fly. Within the Americas, you can almost always find space on American Airlines flights.
With some luck, you can also find award space on American flights between the U.S. and Europe, South America, Asia, and more. Compared to many carriers, American isn't especially stingy with what award space it makes available to partners.
British Airways award chart for American Airlines flights
British Airways doesn't publish an official award chart for flights operated by a single partner airline. The rates you'll see when booking partner awards may vary slightly depending on the airline. But for British Airways' partners that don't include Aer Lingus and Iberia, the award chart looks roughly like this:
| Distance/Zone | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 650 miles (Zone 1) | 8,250 | 9,000 | 16,500 | 24,000 |
| 651 to 1,151 miles (Zone 2) | 11,000 | 12,500 | 20,500 | 33,000 |
| 1,152 to 2,000 miles (Zone 3) | 13,000 | 16,500 | 29,000 | 44,000 |
| 2,001 to 3,000 miles (Zone 4) | 16,000 | 25,250 | 42,000 | 51,500 |
| 3,001 to 4,000 miles (Zone 5) | 20,750 | 41,250 | 62,000 | 82,500 |
| 4,001 to 5,500 miles (Zone 6) | 25,750 | 51,500 | 77,250 | 103,000 |
| 5,501 to 6,500 miles (Zone 7) | 31,000 | 62,000 | 92,750 | 123,750 |
| 6,501 to 7,000 miles (Zone 8) | 36,250 | 72,250 | 108,250 | 144,250 |
| 7,001+ miles (Zone 9) | 51,500 | 103,000 | 154,500 | 206,000 |
However, for booking American Airlines (and Alaska Airlines) flights specifically, the following chart applies to flights within North America:
| Distance/Zone | Economy | Premium Economy (on select flights to Hawaii/Alaska) | Business (Domestic First) | First (On 3-Cabin Flights) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 650 miles (Zone 1) | 12,000 | N/A | 24,000 | N/A |
| Up to 1,151 miles (Zones 2) | 16,000 | N/A | 32,000 | N/A |
| 1,152 to 2,000 miles (Zone 3) | 18,000 | N/A | 40,000 | N/A |
| 2,001 to 3,000 miles (Zone 4) | 20,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 80,000 |
| 3,001 to 4,000 miles (Zone 5) | 20,750 | 41,250 | 62,000 | 82,500 |
Flights in what would be Zone 6 and above price according to the first-mentioned award chart. Confusing, right?
On top of that, British Airways will occasionally tinker with its unofficial partner award chart and not announce the changes. An alteration like this most recently happened in July 2024, when the airline hiked partner awards as much as 56% in select distance bands. Sadly, American Airlines was one of the partners most affected by the changes.
Which American Airlines Flights Are Worth Booking With Avios?
Let's take a look at some of the top ways to redeem British Airways Avios for American Airlines flights.
Short-haul flights
Zone 1 economy pricing — even though it recently went up — is still incredibly friendly given the places you can go for 12,000 British Airways Avios one-way. Here are some options for just 12,000 Avios:
- Charlotte (CLT) to Toronto (YYZ)
- Chicago (ORD) to Birmingham (BHM)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Santa Fe (SAF)
- Phoenix (PHX) to St. George (SGU)
Looking for sun and sand? Here are a handful of Caribbean destinations accessible for just 12,000 Avios from Miami:
- Miami (MIA) to North Eleuthera, Bahamas (ELH)
- Miami (MIA) to Grand Cayman (GCM)
- Miami (MIA) to Havana (HAV)
- Miami (MIA) to Cancun (CUN)
Expanding out to Zone 2, which costs 16,000 Avios in economy, here are some nonstop American Airlines flights you can book with British Airways Avios:
- Charlotte (CLT) to Bermuda (BDA)
- Phoenix (PHX) to Puerto Vallarta (PVR)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to San Jose del Cabo (SJD)
- Miami (MIA) to Curaçao (CUR)
The key to getting good value for your points is to use them for regional or international destinations where prices are consistently high.
Domestic first-class in lay-flat seats
One of the best ways to fly domestically in the United States is in one of American Airlines' lay-flat business and first-class seats. Even better, you can book these flights for as few as 24,000 British Airways Avios for Zone 1 hops.
American Airlines operates wide-body aircraft on select frequencies on a handful of domestic routes, such as:
- New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Miami (MIA)
- Dallas (DFW) to Charlotte (CLT)
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Charlotte (CLT)
- Chicago (ORD) to Dallas (DFW)
- Charlotte (CLT) to Miami (MIA)
You can view the plane type by clicking on the line that says “American Airlines — AA(Flight Number)”
Flights in the Zone 3 and Zone 4 bands cost 40,000 and 50,000 British Airways Avios one-way, respectively. This is a steep price, but it could be worth using your points for the experience. You could also take advantage of an Avios transfer bonus to cut the cost further.
However, it's worth noting that American modifies the routes that get these internationally configured jets every month. See the full list of American Airlines domestic lay-flat business class seats for this month.
Last-minute trips
One of the best uses of British Airways Avios on American Airlines is for last-minute trips. Cash prices are usually high when booking a ticket only a handful of days out, so an award ticket can be the way to go.
Consider this route from Phoenix (PHX) to San Luis Obispo (SBP) on the California central coast. At time of writing, you can fly this one-way for less than $140 on fsome dates when booked roughly a month out. If you use 12,000 Avios, you'll be getting shy of 1.1 cents per Avios.
However, a last-minute flight costs over $400 one-way. This is a great time to check and see if award seats are still available.
Amazingly, American Airlines still has multiple seats available that can be booked with British Airways Avios. It even has domestic first class seats available if you want to fly up front! Economy will cost you just 12,000 Avios, which nets you over 3.4 cents per Avios.
If you have to travel on American last minute, make sure you consider British Airways Avios as an option.
How To Book American Airlines Flights Using British Airways Avios
The process of booking American Airlines flights using British Airways Avios starts on British Airways' website. After logging in, you'll want to navigate over to your account dashboard, scroll down, and click on “Book Reward Flights with Avios.”
Like any other award booking, you'll enter in the details of your trip: origin, destination, dates, and so on. The next step is clicking on “Get flights.”
Itineraries operated by British Airways will show up first, followed by partner-operated itineraries. If award space on American Airlines is available, you'll be able to select the itinerary and class you want to book, then complete your purchase without hassle.
If you're working with a transferable point balance that you want to move to British Airways Club, the best time to do so is after you've confirmed there's available seats to book. Once you see the American Airlines flight options on British Airways' website, you're good to kick off the transfer. Generally, transfers happen instantly, making the experience seamless from start to finish.
There's no availability — what should you do?
Sometimes, you'll come up empty-handed when running an award search, and there won't be a flight available you can book on your intended day of travel. From here, you have a few options to find availability.
You can first scroll to the left and right of British Airways' booking calendar and search +/- three days from the original date you tried to search. This is often the easiest way to find flights close to when you originally wanted to travel. In award travel, flexibility is key, after all. Unfortunately, British Airways does not have a week or month view that shows which dates have seats available.
But if you're still unable to find any flights, there are two places you can look for the nearest partner availability on American Airlines. The first is on the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan page on Seats.aero. American Airlines flights are bookable with Mileage Plan miles, so you'll see live partner award space on American Airlines in these results.
Filtering by airline and airport is the easiest way to see the other days where there's bookable space on American Airlines.
Once you find a day with a flight that works for you, the next step is going back to the British Airways website and plugging in the new dates.
If the availability isn't reflected on the British Airways website, you may need to call British Airways to make the booking. Make sure to mention that your desired flight was not listed on the British Airways website. When you bring this up, the customer service representative should waive the phone booking fee.
Alternatively, you can use a tool such as ExpertFlyer. This tool will allow you to comprehensively search for partner award space on your intended day of travel and a few days on either side. For help navigating this unintuitive tool, we've assembled a complete guide to ExpertFlyer.
Related: How To Find Airline Partner Award Flight Availability
Earning British Airways Avios
There are many ways to earn Avios — even without traveling on British Airways or another Oneworld airline.
Co-branded credit cards
Swiping the British Airways Visa Signature® Card (Rates & Fees) is an easy way to earn Avios on everyday spending.
If you're a new applicant, you'll earn 75,000 bonus Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. In recent redemptions, AwardWallet users have redeemed Avios at an average of 2.56¢ apiece, which makes the bonus worth as much as $1,920.
The British Airways Visa Card carries a $95 annual fee and earns 3X Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL, 2X Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations, plus 1 Avios per $1 spent on all other purchases. As it's issued by Chase, the card is subject to the 5/24 rule.
- Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
- Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL.
- Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel.
- 10% off British Airways flights starting in the US when you book through the website provided in your welcome materials.
- Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you'll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
- Pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad.
- Simply tap to pay with your contactless British Airways Visa Signature Card. Just look for the contactless symbol at checkout. It's fast, easy and secure!
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 3X Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL
- 2X Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations
- 1X Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases
Related: Best Credit Cards to Earn Avios
British Airways transfer partners
British Airways is also accessible from a slew of transfer programs. Earning transferable points and moving them to British Airways Club when you find an eye-catching redemption is one of the best ways to manage your points and miles.
Related: Do British Airways Avios Expire?
Combine Avios between accounts
One nice feature of multiple airlines using the Avios currency is that it's possible to move Avios between your account with one airline to another Avios-program airline freely and instantly. You can transfer Avios between your Aer Lingus, Iberia, British Airways, Finnair, and Qatar Airways accounts online for free. With British Airways, you can pool Avios among up to seven individuals at an address by setting up a household account.
Bottom Line
One of the best ways to get the most out of your British Airways Avios is to redeem with a partner airline. And one of British Airways' partners that routinely offers outsized value on Avios redemptions is none other than American Airlines. With a little effort, you can find and book American Airlines flights to many destinations using your Avios for excellent value.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: British Airways Visa Signature® Card (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Great article. You use “one way” tickets as your example for booking with Avios. Is there some advantage to booking one way to get a better Avios redemption deal, vs booking round trip? If you’re going round trip, it would be a risk to book two one-way tickets, in the event you nab the first one way and then there are none (or big surprises) when you go for your second “return” one way. Thanks for your advice!
One weird footnote I’d like to add is that I used BA Avios to book a very close-in (ca. 24 hours) domestic first class flight and it errored out, took my Avios, and never ticketed the itinerary. Literally had to spend 3 months with the BA team to diagnose what happened before I got my Avios back. The final conclusion was that I booked my First seat right as the American status holders were getting their complimentary upgrades and my seat vanished during checkout.
As a hobby, I book travel for about 30 friends and family members. Avios are often a great option, as long as you are not flying BA. The FU fees are simply not worth it. Avios can be great to book flights on partner airlines. However, while I have often booked Economy or Business Class flights through BA, EVERY attempt to book Premium Economy seats leads to an error message. This has been going on for several years. Sadly, this is not surprising for an airline. Despite being among the largest companies on the planet, nearly all airlines have the crappiest websites imaginable.
American, Delta, and United actually have very good fast full featured websites – but better than just about all other airlines in the world tho. But not necessarily the best redemption rates.
For many years, I have tried this function on the BA site, and it has never worked. I have tried clearing my browsing history, different browsers, my home PC, my work mac, my wife’s computer … IT. NEVER. WORKS.
Always an error message.
I’m BA silver.
In Method 2, about checking Alaska Airlines website, you say “But what if the flights still don’t show up on British Airways’ website? You’ll need to call a customer service rep.” Do you mean to say, what if the flights still don’t show up on ALASKA? Then which customer service rep do you call – British or Alaska or American?
Good question. I clarified in the post that you’ll need to contact British Airways (if you’re using BA Avios to book the flight).
You left out AwardWallet partner Point.me shows award availability on American Airlines flights – through not only American Airlines and British Airways, but also through Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific), Qantas, Alaska, Qatar, and Enrich (Malaysia).
On a flight I checked just now (Houston to Jackson, earliest flight out) British and Qatar had the highest point requirement (15,000) while Asia Miles had the lowest (10,000). American, Alaska, and Qantas were all between those amounts. On other dates I have gotten as low as 7,500 points from both American and British for that route.
If that does not get the result I need, then I look at another way to access Expert Flyer, but on an “a la carte” basis: Award Nexus.
I am trying to book flight from Dallas to Hawaii using Avios transferred from Amex.
I see SAVER level availability on AA @ 22,500 miles for the following
3/8/24 DAL >SEA > KOA on Alaskan
3/18/24 OGG > DFW on AA
Both these are also visible on Qantas. But not on BA. Called BA bit no help.
Can you recommend some other options?
Hi Kashif, unfortunately, each airline has its own awards to work with. Have you checked other partners for redemptions, like Qatar, Alaska, Cathay, or Iberia?
I had done this in the past several times with great success. The last time was back in 2017. Since then, no flights I’ve searched for following the precise steps above show any flights available. I’ve played around with different departing and arriving cities and searched both domestic and international options. BA searches always come up blank. Any insights?
It’s still possible. The big choke point now is AA award availability. American Airlines isn’t releasing much availability to partners right now.
You mentioned a couple of times that this method of using Avios points for an American Airlines flight is for DOMESTIC flights only. Can this be done with international destinations. Like the others I have tried several times to use Avios points and the system always tells me there in no availability. I pretty much believe Avios points are of no real value.
It can be done internationally! And indeed, there is often no award availability. Unfortunately, AA heavily restricts award space from partner bookings. But it’s worth digging if you’re on a route that’s cheap using Avios!
If I use Avios points to book an American Airlines flight, will I receive segment flight credit on American?
Unfortunately no. Only AA awards booked with AA miles count as eligible segments. And remember that flight segments only matter for Loyalty Choice Rewards — and that’s only through the end of February 2023.
I have tried to book flights for the last 4 months using Avios on American Airlines. I am starting to believe that it is a scam. I have called both Airlines and agents always claim I need to call the other agent.
There should be a separate office that handles requests to using Avios points for flights…otherwise why bother using the British Airlines credit cards?
SCAM????
To use British Airways Avios on American, you’ll need to book through British Airways. You may have the best luck booking online. We recently updated our guide showing readers how to do this: https://awardwallet.com/blog/how-to-search-book-british-airways-avios-flights/
I am currently trying to do what your article states because we are trying to use some of our 800,000 avios points. But the Ba website never brings up a single American airlines flight, no matter what city or what date I put in. And so we have called American and they don’t find any flights available either, and we checked 8 different airports. I feel scammed by BA and American as these points are barely ever redeemable.
But how can one use Avios for international flights eg An American NYC-South America? They are in the alliance yet I can not see how even with 250,000 Avios.
Unfortunately, British Airways relies on American Airlines releasing award space on a route for BA to sell that award to you as an award.
I made the terrible mistake of transferring Amex points to Avios in order to buy Alaska flights and learned that BA has such restricted availability that I may just as well have thrown my points down a well. Even checking way out nine months has ZERO availability on Avios. Ugh. Calling any of the various British Airways numbers yielded nothing but understanding apologies. But there is no sending those miles back up to Amex.
What if there are award flights listed on AA.com, but when I go to British Airways it just tells me “sorry, we don’t fly that route”?
Ooh interesting. I haven’t run across that yet. What’s the route?
I tried to reply, but maybe that’s not allowed ha ha. AA has JAX to MHK (via DFW) that I can book with miles, but “we don’t fly here” on BA…
Kelsey: Sorry about that. We still manually approve comments since we get so many promotional ones. I just checked that route JAX-DFW-MHK on British Airways’ website and it’s pricing it out! It’s running 16.5k Avios though. So, you might be better served by another mileage program (check Qantas!)
JT, I honestly don’t know how you’re finding flights. Like Kelsey, and others who’ve left comments, BA shows no routes. I’ve played around with dates, departure and arrival airports and the search always comes up with nothing.
AA has really shutdown a lot of partner award availability over the past few months. I too am having a lot of trouble finding any booking options through BA (or other Oneworld partners)
Until recently, I booked flights on the BA website for Hawaii and Liberia, Costa Rica. I would see several options for almost any day I chose and was able to select flights that worked for my purposes. Lately, I search the BA website for flights to Hawaii and Liberia CR and I find ZERO flights for ANY dates I use. Something has changed. A call to the BA Executive Club was useless… they tell me the award seats have not been released, or they are all booked. I would accept that answer for SOME dates… but note ALL dates. I literally can not find a single award flight to either destination.
So… I’ll ask you… what has changed? I have over 900K AVIOS and I can’t find a single flight to spend them on.
Chas
Dallas, Texas.
Chas – from my own experience and hearing from you/other people, it seems like AA is releasing its award seats as “web special” not as standard awards. Thus, it shows up on the AA site as a sale but isn’t available to other partners. They must release the seats as ‘saver awards’ for partners to have access. It seems suspicious, and unfortunately AA doesn’t provide answers. It’s also not fair to partners, who are giving access to Iberia/BA/Cathay/etc seats for AA redemptions, yet AA isn’t giving its seats to members of those programs.
Is there a way to book specific AA flights or are you limited to the flights displayed?
I wouldn’t put this in the “fun-activities bucket”, but you can generally book AA flights that aren’t displayed in the Avios search results by calling Executive Club. To save time, I’d recommend checking the Qantas award search or Expert Flyer to make sure there is really “saver availability” before calling. If Qantas or Expert Flyer shows the flight you want, it should be bookable by phone. However, that doesn’t apply to flights you find on AA’s website. They offer more space to their own members using AA miles than you can book with Avios or other partner miles.
You seem to fail to mention that BA executive club does NOT allow you to book a flight from the US to UK on American Airlines using BA Avios…
They do allow that. Can you provide more details? Note that BA doesn’t always show all booking options online. If you know AA has saver space, I suggest calling exec club to book the seats.
What’s the trick to be able to see the AAsaver awards on AA.com or its gone already for a while,? doesn’t show anymore the AA saver awards. hence don’t know if in fact its not avlb for purchase from ba.com or just not showing?
Wonder if there’s any tricks on pulling up the awards aasaver chart after they scrapped that?
But very informative post! Well written, thanks guys!
Any tips on finding MileSAAver flights? I’ve been having a difficult time figuring out which flights are in which categories. Also do you know the criteria for an Alaska flight to be eligible for booking through Avios since it’s not visible on the BA website? Thanks!
Unfortunately, this is a constantly moving target. AA fully ditched its old award search tool which helped you see exactly which flights were MileSAAver. Now, you have to search BA’s website for AA flights to know for sure.
For Alaska awards, I’d recommend using AA’s site. If AS awards show up at 12,500 (for a domestic flight over 500 miles in distance) then you can be sure that flight has award space. Then you can call BA to book.
What is the cheapest way to extend the expiration date of my Avios? I have transferred 1000 Chase UR points to BA to reset the expiration date. That cost me 10 -15 USD depending upon the value of the UR points. Could I have done it cheaper?
That’s probably the best way to go. Even if you value UR at 2 cents and BA at 1 cent, you’re only giving up $10. Other methods are a bit more hassle. Shopping Portals, Car Rental or Hotels give you a way to earn Avios, but may not be convenient. Here’s our post on the options: https://awardwallet.com/blog/british-airways-avios-expire/
Buy anything at walmart, home depot for a few bucks. easiest way.
So many stores listed.
I love all the “Intro the Travel” type blog posts I’m finding. As someone who is new to the game, these types of tutorials are SUPER helpful in learning the in’s and out’s of making the airlines work for me. Thank you, and keep the tutorials coming!
I have found Avios miles to be pretty terrible. I had 90,000 miles with them that expired. My fault to let them expire, i know but frustrating nonetheless. It certainly doesnt help that the exorbitant costs of taxes out of London make using miles much more expensive…
Several flights on the AA site show as MileSAAver but are not showing on the BA Avios site. Maybe because I need the late departures that arrive the next day? I called the BA executive club line and was told that they could not be booked using Avios. They only offered the same early flight I could see available on the BA site. She told me that availability was different between AA and BA, and there was nothing they could do. Any other suggestions?
Hey Brandi, I’ve run into this before as well. There does occasionally seem to be a discrepancy. If you also see the space on Qantas’ website, it should be bookable by BA. It can be quite frustrating. You might try calling again, or calling an international call center using Skype (like BA Hong Kong +352 30021208 or BA UK +44 1914907901
From British Airways it is not possible to book American Airlines flights to Cuba using avios.
We have a bunch of Avios in a Household account that we’ve been unable to use on AA for domestic flights since the BA site seems to never show inventory. Hopefully this will allow us to get award seats by calling BA.
Especially thrilled to learn that no close in booking fees will be charged!
Now to figure out how to use the Korean Family Plan miles 🙂
Often tricky to find good deals with Avios given all the fees, thanks for the tips.
Very useful !! Pity why AA.com cant show those
Does anybodyy know from past experience??
Does AA saver open up closer to the day of flight. I have been searching for the last few months for YYZ to LGA no availability.
I have many Avios points and I can’t redeem
Any suggestions….
Hey Isaac, they do a decent job of opening up additional seats closer to departure. You might consider subscribing to Expert Flyer to set up an alert for the AA flights you want so you can get an email notification if something opens up. Expert Flyer is $9.99 per month, but it could be worth it depending on how much time you spend checking flights.
Have had no luck getting AA flights to show up on BA. Will end up having to call in.
Can I do the opposite? Book BA with AA miles?
Yes you can. Just be aware that biz / first class awards will have high out-of-pocket costs from fuel surcharges. (Esp. transatlantic flights)
BA levies the charges, and AAdvantage program will pass the costs directly through to you.
Be careful doing that as there are flights that are straight up cheaper with cash than the fees and taxes alone on an award booking AND you’re burning miles (think $200 for a cash ticket or 30,000 miles plus $250 in fuel surcharges).
Avios great for short haul travel lousy for long haul travel
Things like this are gold and showcase just why MR and UR points are so much more valuable than any single airline card. Learning the alliances of airlines and at times even having different options within that alliance are priceless.
Howie, have you seen the new reward sale option on AAdvantage? Lots of 12k rt domestic flights!
Hey Ron, it does seem that AA has been experimenting more than before with reduced cost tickets to select destinations. Thanks for pointing it out. Any favorite routes?
This is a great guide for those learning to use points. Thanks!
I recently booked award seats on American Airlines RT Atl-Mia thru British Airways using CUR. Finding the seats was easy–transfer and booking the seats not so much. It took MANY phone calls to both British and Chase to do it because my name on my Chase accounts (first, middle initial, last) didn’t match my name on BA account (first, middle, last – just like passport). Eventually, Chase rep changed my name on my account to match BA, transferred points, and then changed it back to original. Any shortcuts to this? Most FF accounts ask for names to match passports or IDs (which for me includes full middle name) but CC don’t have fields to accommodate middle names. Thanks!
Hey Nan, I’ve dealt with the same situation. And it took several Chase agents before I found someone who could do the double name change.
My solution was to make my name on all my FF accounts match my credit cards exactly. Then, I added a traveler on my BA account that matched my passport.
In other words, you book an award ticket in your passport name (just like if you were booking a ticket for a friend or family member).
So if your Chase account says John Smith, and your passport says John Michael Smith, you have your BA account profile set to John Smith and you book tickets for a traveler who “isn’t” the account holder named John Michael Smith.
Thanks a lot for information. A good way to spend avios.
Each year I have to fly from an event in Philadelphia to Grand Rapids for another event.
Only American has a non stop which they charge a huge premium for over other flight options with a stopover.
I always set an Expert Flyer alert for the flight and for last three years have always been able to make this short American flight using Avios thanks to their distance based award chart
What a great work-around – I’ll try that myself!
Some people hate avios, i have learned to love them!
I loved them more before the devaluation a few weeks ago.
Thank you for the information! I’ve been holding off on redeeming my Chase Ultimate Rewards because I can’t transfer them to American. I didn’t realize I could transfer them to British Airways then use the the Avios points to book and American flight!
I used this method a couple of years ago and it worked out for me. It’s a little bit wonky and stressful as I was trying to book the same flights on separate sites using a combination of miles from different airlines.
In the end, it all worked out though and we were able to fly a family of 3 round-trip to Hawaii using only miles. This was done using AA miles, BA Avios, and Hawaiian Airlines miles. Can’t wait for the possibility to come up to do this again in the future!
Wow! That’s quite a feat and I’m glad it worked out for you. I don’t think I’d have enough faith to try doing that.
Years ago I got 100k Avios and my wife also got 100k from bonus offers. Used it for AA flights and then for hotels. Great deal!
A good guide. Avios are still a decent deal in the US, despite the recent devaluation.
This is THE best way to use RBC rewards points, especially with the biannual 30% transfer bonus!
I think this is a good way to use Avios. The taxes and fees are a lot lower than using Avios to book flights European flights, so you end up having to pay very little cash wise. Another good way is to use Avios for hotel bookings.
I’m finding it difficult to find direct routes on my preferred routes so it is hard to find a deal with Avios.
useful to compare! sometimes we just go with what is available but being flexible has perks
Avios is definitely turning out to be one of the better point currencies
No First availability ever on Transcon AA is sad. Not that it is good value anymore.
Thanks for this, very informative.
gonna use it soon!
I know a lot of this information specifically regarding BA and AA (since I am a member of the Chase ecosystem) but please post more articles like this. Earning miles is becoming common knowledge and is easy to do but using them most wisely is complicated. Thanks for this.
Can BA see same pool of award tix for AA flights ?
I thought there are some difference.
There shouldn’t be a difference. When there is one, it’s a website error on the BA side. If you can see it as a SAAver Award on AA.com, you can book by calling BA (even if you can’t find the flight on the BA website)
Thanks for the information, I will use my avios.
Often very frustrating trying to find AA Flights with BA.
This is great, I know most people think this is easy, but it felt overwhelming to me for some reason. You broke it own into edible bites, thanks!
Using AA miles to book BA flights from the US to anywhere in EU is a joke! The fuel and tax surcharges are more than the total cost of a RT trip on a low budget carrier. Is there any work around this?
Yes! Book flights operated by American. The taxes and fees are typically under $100 round trip. You can use BA miles to book AA flights and avoid the surcharges.
It’s a tricky system, but the fuel surcharges in this case actually depend on the airline operating your flight (the paint on the plane). It doesn’t matter if you use BA miles, Alaska Miles or American Miles; if BA is operating the flight, the taxes & surcharges are going to be huge.
Unfortunately, the routes I need to fly from PDX to CDG, AMS, or FCO are only flown by BA. I guess a positioning flight to SEA, SFO, or LAX would be my only option but at a cost of more miles or cash out of pocket.
Do you have transferrable points like Amex / Chase? If you’re already sitting on a stash of Avios, a positioning flight might be the only option.
I find FlightsFrom.com to be a great tool for looking at options to/from specific cities.
Yeah, don’t fly on BA. Use AA and BA miles to actually fly on AA.
Thanks, I didn’t know about the avoidance of close-in booking fees, which is an even bigger benefit than the mileage savings.
Great to know you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to British Avios!! Going to look into these for future flights.
I do this at least once a year for domestic nonstop flights to Florida. The best part is no close in booking fee!
Thank you. I am looking forward to more of the “Award Travel 101 Beginner Series.”
Same. Earning points is very straightforward but using them is where the value is at and requires the work and research to achieve good value. I also appreciate articles like this greatly.
Glad the partner devaluation wasn’t that dire.
Unfortunately, the worst devaluation is on short distance flights.
AA domestics are a great use of avios compared to long haul due to the crazy charges BA levy expecially ex-US
This is very useful advice given the taxes and charges on transatlantic flights.
What you said isn’t wrong but I feel for most people, this is about redeeming miles on AA within the credit card world. Ie with CSR, I can’t transfer points to AA but I can transfer them to BA to still have access to AA flights.
“If a flight has MileSAAver availability as shown by the American Airlines award-search engine, it is available for booking with British Airways Avios and should (but doesn’t always) display on the British Airways website. ”
This is a big understatement. I am banging my head against the wall this week trying to book NYC-RDU in November. Absolutely WIDE open availability on AA and nothing showing on BA.
Definitely right about finding seats being the trickiest part! ?
Maybe you should include the timing involved in getting Avios miles via partner travels. This would help those with close in flight requirements while avoiding the AA $75 fee.
Avios is where its at
British Airways Avios are devaluing after June 1.
It is after June 1st though. And if I’m not mistaken, that was only for redeeming BA miles on BA and by airline standards, it was a fairly insignificant change.
Needed a flight from LAX to Lihue for my son this August and managed to find one of the unicorns. Great points bargain booking it through BA. Thanks for the tips.
AA flights booked using BA of <650 miles each still cost only 7500, not 9000.
We got great value using British Airways Avios to book American Airline flights in the Caribbean islands!
I agree, that’s easily one of the best values.
SO EASY!!!! Thanks for the tutorial! The benefits to cancel an AVIOS flight are awesome! $5.60! can’t beat that.
Great post for the “Beginner Series.” And, it’s on a truly valuable subject, as this method can lead to truly meaningful savings. If AA miles are worth 1.4 cents, when you save 9,500 miles, you’re saving $133.
these got devalued recently I believe
Nice article. If you have a short flight this is a great way to save on miles.
Really enjoy these “101” type posts. Even for those of us who travel often, many of us still don’t know it all. So any additional basic info is always beneficial. Thank you.
Ditto. Maximizing points and miles is now common knowledge but using them most effectively is where the actual value becomes known.
Since AA miles are getting to be useless maybe AVIOS will do the trick
For some smaller airports, BA’s website doesn’t always show AA routes. For example, Last year I wanted to use Avios to book DCA-ACK. AA’s website showed availability, but BA’s website didn’t show Nantucket as an airport BA’s partners flew to. However, when I called a BA agent, she confirmed that the route existed and had award space, and said that some smaller airports don’t always show properly on the Avios website, so I booked the ticket over the phone.
Alice Springs is in this bucket and can’t be searched on BA for paid fares but if you search for award fares, it allows ASP as a freetext entry instead of requiring selection of a prepopulated airport.
Just remember that Avios bookings cannot be changed within 24 hours, you will forfeit your miles and taxes paid.
Great information; thanks!
Thank you, pretty useful information. I like BA because of their Household account – it makes things simpler to collect enough miles for award
Yes, there are great possibilities of redemption with BA avios (especiall with American as said in the article).
Moreover, you can move BA avios them to Iberia avios if there is a more favourable redemption with Iberia.
As well as the obvious mileage savings, I think the cancellation fee here is one of the real benefits. You forfeit your taxes, and that’s it. Bargain
I think that I would have to be more committed to my date of travel to book AA through Avios. I see why a person would do it but if I’d have to travel and know that I would have to change it, then it’s not a guarantee that I’d be able to when booking through Avios. At least with AA I could use more miles, if I had to, and book another flight.
I see the big benefit to use Avios close in. I never knew that and that would be a great benefit to it.
Maybe a bit off topic, but I may be redeeming miles in the opposite way – redeeming AA miles for a British Airways flight. I’m concerned about possible fuel surcharges with BA. How do I know if that will happen?
You can absolutely redeem AA miles for BA flights. That’s often a better value on biz class tickets or itineraries with multiple connections. However, you can’t avoid the fuel surcharges. If the flight is operated by BA, you’ll pay the fuel surcharges when using AA (or any other) miles. The ideal option is to book an AA operated flight across the Atlantic. If you do book with a BA operated flight, you can watch for an AA flight to open up later and make the change for free as long as your origin and destination don’t change. If you do change the itinerary from BA-operated to AA-operated flights, you’ll get a refund on the fuel surcharges.
Agree, redeeming AA points with BA especially to the UK is going to cost more in fees. On the AA web site do a dummy booking using points as though you are flying with BA or AA into London and see if there is any difference in cost. Unless it is a BA A380, I much prefer the AA 777W fly to Lhr but that is route dependant.
It is a great benefit for those that live in DFW, ORD and MIA.
Only if AA is not the worst of the big 3 legacy….
They do have good international partners though, don’t neglect that. You never need to actually fly AA!
BA Avios have lots of good quirks like this and are generally good for domestic flights in countries where the taxes and fees are low. Very handy to have some in your FF mile collection.
For single segments, at least, Avios is clearly better…
You also can take advantage of the 30% extra Avios promo when transferring Chase UR until June 16 (5 days left).
I am definitely interested in using Avios to get to Hawaii from the west coast – thanks for the warning regarding limited flights/availability! I will have to be careful when transferring points to make this booking.
Definitely make sure the flights are there first!
I thought there was a 7,500 Avios reward for flights less than 650 miles distance…
If you book via Avios. Would the fuel surcharge be higher ?
BA tends to charge slightly more in taxes and fees than AA on award tickets, but the difference is usually quite small. The fuel surcharge (hundreds of dollars) depends on the airline operating your flight. If it’s an AA flight, costs will be far lower with either Avios or AAdvantage miles than if it’s a BA flight.
There are no fuel surcharges if you are using AA airplanes even if you book with BA avios. However, if you use avios to book a flight on BA metal then the fuel surcharges are enormous and makes the booking almost prohibitive. I did not know that using avios, you do not need to pay the 21 day AA surcharge.
Yeah, I’ve seen tickets where the cash price was straight up lower than just the fuel charges on an award booking. So instead of getting about 1.4 cents/mile, you were paying BA about 0.4 cents/mile to redeem your miles. Asinine.
Thank you for the heads up about saver flights appearing on the AA website but not on the BA website. I feel foolish having started out on the BA website in the past. Thanks again!
If only AA released more saver-level award seats…sigh…
Love this option to book AA flights. The no close in fee is amazing! I miss the 4500 avios award band though – crazy good value back in the day for expensive short hops.
used it several times, easy.