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Anshul first brought this to my attention in early July: AAdvantage redemptions on Japan Airlines appear to have increased in price. At the time, I did some sample searches, and it looked like only redemptions that included a connecting flight on American Airlines metal (such as a positioning flight on American Airlines) had gone up in price.
However, I missed the part that any connecting flight, including a domestic flight on Japan Airlines, also increases the price. The TL;DR is that business class redemptions from North America to Japan have jumped from 60,000 miles to 80,000 miles one-way (the old first-class price), and first class redemptions now run 100,000 miles one-way when not nonstop.
It’s a Devaluation, Certainly
There’s really no sugarcoating this is a full-on devaluation. American has not updated its partner award chart, but the search results speak for themselves. Having any kind of positioning flight or connecting now increases the price by a fixed 20,000 miles in each direction.
Adding a connecting flight to your Japan Airlines trip increases the cost by 20,000 AAdvantage miles
Therefore, the best way to still maximize redemptions is to book a nonstop, direct flight. Those still run 60,000 miles in business class and 80,000 in first. But you do have to consider the price of booking a separate positioning flight and whether any savings are worth it.
A positioning flight from San Diego to New York is almost certainly worth 20,000 AAdvantage miles, while a Toronto to New York flight probably isn’t. There’s some value to be had in booking your entire itinerary on one ticket, like through-checking your luggage and protection against irregular operations (IROPS), so you can consider that as well.
I Love AAdvantage, But…
Of the US Big 3, American has by far the best award chart (the only one to publish one) and does not pass on fuel surcharges. Oneworld airlines are my favourite among the major alliances, so that gives points in American’s favour. Redemptions on partner airlines have maintained phenomenal rates:
- Nonstop North America to Tokyo for 60,000 miles one-way in business class and 80,000 in first class
- Cathay Pacific from North America to Hong Kong for 70,000 miles one-way in business class and 110,000 in first class
- Qatar Airways from North America to South Africa for 75,000 miles one-way in business class
- Iberia/Finnair business class from North America to Europe for 55,000 miles one-way
- Etihad A380 apartments first class from Abu Dhabi to Singapore for 50,000 miles one-way, Abu Dhabi to Europe for 62,500 miles one-way, Abu Dhabi to Toronto for 115,000 miles one-way
The major issue (and not necessarily American’s fault) is award space. Cathay Pacific award space to partners has basically vanished off the face of the earth and Qatar reserves the vast majority of award space to its own Privilege Club and members of the greater Avios ecosystem. The truth is, airlines are locking up the best seats for their own loyalty program.
Iberia and Finnair offer decent award availability, but you can just as easily book with Avios, which are much easier to acquire.
The Reality of Booking Partners with AAdvantage
The reality is that the Japan Airlines devaluation won’t affect most people, because you probably can’t find award space anyway. For the past few months, there’s been significant issues with phantom Japan Airlines availability on AA. But I’d say it’s not as hopeless as Qatar and Cathay Pacific, because confirmed bookings are still possible, and one of my friends managed to book three different Japan Airlines business class flights with AAdvantage in the past month.
Etihad is a better story because while they only open award space close to departure, a first class redemption is very much within the realm of possibility.
Etihad A380 first class redemptions are still very much possible
If you read through our post on The Best American AAdvantage Sweet Spots That You Can Actually Book, you’ll notice much of it centres on flights not touching North America:
- Middle East to Asia in business class for 40,000 miles
- Intra-Asia Japan Airlines business class for 30,000 miles or first class for 40,000 miles
- Japan to Australia/South Pacific in business class for 40,000 miles
- Etihad A380 first class apartments is much cheaper when not flying to North America, and you can book the entire Singapore–Abu Dhabi–London/Paris routing for 90,000 miles
And for myself or anyone else chasing aspirational sweet spots, that’s still excellent, but for more “practical” redemptions to/from North America, it’s sadly true American Airlines AAdvantage is losing its edge. Truth be told, the majority of my redemptions on AAdvantage are on American Airlines economy flights within North America, where AA still maintains attractive pricing despite going dynamic.
Takeaway
This is a frustrating devaluation, particularly because adding a positioning or connecting flight used to be one of the strengths of booking Japan Airlines through AAdvantage. At least nonstop awards remain unchanged at 60,000 miles in business class and 80,000 miles in first class.
AAdvantage still has some phenomenal sweet spots, but the lack of award space looms like a dark cloud over the program. Personally, I still get plenty of value from cheap American Airlines economy awards within North America, with the occasional aspirational redemption on Japan Airlines or Etihad Apartments. I book intra-Asia awards fairly often as well. But for someone simply trying to use AAdvantage miles to get from North America to their destination in business class, the program is becoming a tougher sell.
