My AAdvantage love affair continues

More than a year ago I published “Why AAdvantage is my new favorite mileage program.” It was not, and is still not, my favorite points program. That honor goes to transferable points programs: Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, etc. Additionally, AA is not my favorite airline to fly. In fact, it’s very, very far down my list. For one extreme example of why AA isn’t my favorite airline, see: “My AAdventures AAttempting to fly AA to London.” But American Airlines AAdvantage miles remain my favorite airline miles. That will change if/when they devalue their partner award chart, but for now I love ’em.

Reasons for loving AA miles

Please see my previous post, “Why AAdvantage is my new favorite mileage program,” for full details, but for now here’s a summary of things I love:

• Free cancellations on all awards
• Free changes to partner awards
• AA Roulette: AA often randomly offers excellent award pricing on AA-flown awards.  Keep checking!
• Partner award pricing: Great award pricing on partner awards, especially for flying business class
• Great partners to fly: AA miles can be used to fly awesome airlines including Cathay Pacific, Etihad, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Qatar, and more.
• Most partner awards are bookable online
• Low fuel surcharges with most partners: AA usually doesn’t impose fuel surcharges on award flights (with the notable exception of awards flown by British Airways).
• Domestic partners: When flying within the U.S., it’s possible to use miles to fly not just AA itself, but also Alaska Airlines, and Hawaiian airlines on certain routes.
• Loyalty Points: When earning AAdvantage miles, you usually earn Loyalty Points as well.  This means that if you earn enough AAdvantage miles (even through shopping or credit card spend), you can earn elite status.
• Award Hold: AA lets you put awards on hold for up to 5 days.

My recent experience flying around the world

Last Week, as part of the Million Mile Madness challenge, I flew around the world in order to fly all 15 airlines needed to earn 1 Million SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) miles. Several times, I booked non-qualifying award flights as a way of connecting between qualifying flights and to get home at the end. It just happened that I booked all three of these award flights with AA miles. And all three flights were awesome! 

Here’s an overview of the flights I booked with AA miles:

• I paid 62,500 AA miles + $142.93 to fly:
  • Paris to Abu Dhabi on Etihad First Apartments
  • + Abu Dhabi to Jeddah on Etihad business class
• I paid 40,000 AA miles + $75  to fly:
  • Riyad to Doha to Jakarta on Qatar business class
• I paid 80,000 AA miles + $43 to fly:
  • Tokyo to Chicago on Japan Airlines first class

In total, I flew nearly all the way around the world, mostly in international first class, for a total of 182,500 miles. That’s a steal. Here are some pics and details from my flights…

Paris to Abu Dhabi on Etihad First Apartments

This flight was incredible. It was a daytime flight and so even though it clocked in at under 7 hours, I was able to fully take advantage of everything offered: champagne; wine; meal service with caviar, lobster tail, and fillet; comfortable bed for napping; in-flight shower; etc.

Abu Dhabi to Jeddah on Etihad business class

While this Etihad flight wasn’t nearly as fancy as the previous one I flew, it was still very nice. I enjoyed an excellent meal.

Riyad to Doha on Qatar business class

Even though this flight was only an hour and 20 minutes long, they managed to provide a full breakfast meal service.

Doha to Jakarta on Qatar business class

This was technically a daytime flight, but since I had just come from an earlier time zone, it felt like the middle of the night to me. I enjoyed yet another terrific meal, laid down and slept like a baby for four or five hours, then woke to enjoy breakfast.

Tokyo to Chicago on Japan Airlines first class

JAL (Japan Airlines) does first class right. It was an incredible experience from the get-go…

At the airport I was ushered through a special entrance with its own private security reserved only for JAL first class passengers at Tokyo Haneda airport.

Next, I went to JAL’s first class lounge and sampled a treat from each of the lounge’s unique areas:

In the Salon, I enjoyed hand drip coffee:

In the Sushi area, you can probably guess what I tried there:

In the RED SUITE, I taste tested a couple glasses of Saki:

And in JAL’s Table, I tried the chili-steamed bun. It was amazing.

On board the flight, I found myself in a huge, comfortable seat:

The amenity kit was probably the most elaborate I’ve ever seen:

The flight attendant poured me a glass of Salon champagne 2013. I’m not usually into champagne, but this was stellar. If all champagne was like this I would very much be into it. But a quick Google search suggests that these go for about $1500 per bottle, so I’ll stick with regular wine when not flying JAL.

The Japanese meal I ordered was excellent.

I asked to have the empty seat across the aisle made into a bed for me. While I didn’t find this bed to be as comfortable as the Etihad Apartments bed, I still slept soundly for many hours.

Near the end of the flight, I purchased a special edition 100th anniversary Hibiki whiskey that is only available to JAL and ANA first class passengers. It cost 60,000 yen (about $390 USD), but people have been reselling it for much, much more.

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