American Airlines is Slowly Solving One of Its Biggest Weaknesses by Putting in Fully Flat Beds in Business

American Airlines has a far better award chart than rivals United and Delta, especially in premium cabins.

Unfortunately on many of its own internationally configured planes, American Airlines has angled lie flat seats in business class instead of fully flat beds.

Three Reasons Los Angeles to London is the Best Value Transatlantic Flight

Yesterday I wrote that The Best Value Flight Across the Atlantic Has Almost No Premium Award Space.

The Best Value Flight Across the Atlantic Has Almost No Premium Award Space

The best value flight between the United States and Europe is American Airlines' daily 777-300ER flight from Los Angeles to London.

The 10hr40min flight east features fully flat beds in Business Class for 50k American Airlines miles each way, and American's newest First Class product for 62,500 miles each way.

Considering that Delta now charges 125k miles for roundtrip business class awards to Europe and United charges 115-140k for a roundtrip business class award and 160k-220k for a roundtrip first class award to Europe, American's prices are a steal!

For a great hard product, and west-coast-to-Europe flights, you can't

Why Is My American Airlines Award Pricing 25k Miles Higher Than It Should?

We just got an interesting comment on Bill's great recent post about Booking Etihad Business Class Using American Miles.

MojoMama is trying to go from Los Angeles (LAX) to the Maldives (MLE) in First Class.

The United States to the Maldives should be 90k miles each way in First Class according to American Airlines' chart. But she's getting charged 115k miles:

Trying to book LAX-JFK(stopover)-AUH-MLE in first for August, but it’s pricing at 115,000 miles. Being told AUH-MLE is separate award because it’s not in the same region, which I know is false.

Combining Alaska and Hawaii onto One Trip This Summer for Only 40k Points

Alaska Airlines flies a direct flight between Anchorage and Honolulu.

I love interesting routes from Hawaii--like the Island Hopper across the Pacific--since moving to Oahu, but I think this route has some cool possibilities for everyone, like one vacation that combines Alaska and Hawaii this summer.

Anchorage and Honolulu are 2,777 miles apart. This is a sweet spot on British Airways' distance-based award chart.

Comparison of United, Delta, US Airways, and American Airlines Latest Award Charts

Update 4/14/14: US Airways has increased the price of its awards to North Asia in business class to 110k miles roundtrip.

In December, I compiled Comparison Tables of United, Delta, US Airways, and American Airlines Award Charts to show which program had the cheapest awards in each cabin to every country you want to visit.

With Delta announcing a new award chart that takes effect for awards booked January 1, 2015, I have updated the tables for economy and business class.

There are a few ways to use these charts.

Figure out which miles to earn for your next big

Free Giveaway Friday: Five American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades

A very generous reader who came to the MileValue Happy Hour in New York City this week is donating five (5) American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades that expire Friday February 28, 2014 to MileValue readers.

Follow generous Tom on twitter to show your appreciation.

An American Airlines Systemwide Upgrade entitles you to an upgrade of one class of service on all flights on a one way itinerary that are operated by American Airlines or American Eagle if upgrade space is available.

This giveaway has tremendous value to you if you have a trip booked that meets the following conditions:

paid itinerary

The Miles You Want to Go to Australia

Australia is one of the hardest awards with frequent flyer miles.

Anatomy of an Award: Booking Etihad Business Class Using American Miles

Last month I booked myself an awesome award to the Maldives using AAdvantage miles and flying Etihad Airways Business Class.

Two Stackable Promotions Mean American Airlines Miles for 1.98 Cents

American Airlines is offering two stackable promotions for buying AAdvantage miles that allow miles to be purchased for as little as 1.98 cents:

Get up to a 30% bonus on the miles you purchase until February 28, 2014.
Get a 10% discount on the price of miles until tomorrow February 6, 2014.

How do these promotions stack? How do these promotions compare to previous Buy Miles sales? Is this a price at which you should speculatively buy American Airlines miles?

The miles bonus is tiered.