My family flies in Economy class most of the time. We’ve splurged on business class lie-flat seats for some trips to Europe before. But, for the most part, we utilize the fewest miles or cash possible for our domestic trips.
However, while I was planning a special trip for next year, a deal for first class award flights came along that I just couldn’t ignore.
Anniversary Trip
Next year, my husband and I will celebrate our 20th anniversary. We haven’t had many chances to travel alone together as a couple since having kids. We’ve debated whether or not we could travel solo next year and leave our kids alone. Our kids will be 20 (and home from college for the summer), 16 and 13. It’s a complicated decision, as I’ve said before (see my post from a few years ago). For now, we’ve determined that we feel comfortable leaving them for a few days if we travel somewhere domestically.
With that in mind, we decided to book a short getaway to New Mexico and spend most of our time in Santa Fe. My husband and I have driven through New Mexico before, but we’ve never spent time in Santa Fe.
Using Miles for Flights
Sure, we could drive to New Mexico. But, Santa Fe is a 10-hour drive, and that would eat into our short trip. Plus, my husband and I are not big fans of road trips. No, thanks.
Even though it’s early, I decided to look into award flights on American Airlines. I found award space on AA for the date we needed starting at 7500 miles each way. What a deal! Award space was also available for the same flights using British Airways Avios for 7500 miles. See my previous post How and Why to book American Airlines award flights using British Airways Avios.
Then, I remembered that Chase currently has a 30% transfer bonus to Avios through September 22, 2023. And, I saw that first-class award seats were also available on British Airways.
The price of a first-class award seat on AA.com: 26k miles each
However, the price on BA.com is just 15k Avios for the same flight in first-class:
With the Chase 30% transfer bonus to Avios, a first-class seat only costs 12,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (since you have to transfer points in increments of 1000). I know it’s a short 2-hour flight, but our 20th anniversary is a special occasion worth a splurge in points. I transferred some Chase points and booked the first-class seats. I haven’t yet decided if we will do this for the flight home as well.
Final Thoughts
I’ve always had good luck booking American Airlines flights with British Airways Avios since we are close to an AA hub. The current transfer bonus makes booking these flights even more attractive. My family will continue to mostly fly in Economy, and I have no issues flying on cheap flights with Spirit and Frontier Airlines. But, for this special occasion, spending 12k points for a short first-class flight is an easy way to pamper ourselves.
Who else is taking advantage of this Chase transfer bonus to Avios?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
I have never transferred miles before but have some Chase miles. A few questions…Do I simply transfer my miles to British Airways and then book my flight in BA? It doesn’t matter whether if the flight is operated by AA or other partner? Will it have all flights, for example, to San Juan, PR? Are all flights available for award booking of is it only a select few? I’m nervous about transferring the miles and then getting it stuck.
@Liz Those are great questions! I should have included a link to my previous post in this post, which I will now add: https://milesforfamily.com/2023/07/21/how-and-why-to-book-american-airlines-award-flights-using-british-airways-avios/
British Airways uses a distance-based award chart, so flights between shorter distances will cost fewer points. BA also charges for each flight segment, so usually only non-stop AA flights will be cheaper on BA. Also, only flights that AA releases as bookable award partner flights will be available on BA, so I ALWAYS check on BA.com before transferring any points.
If I can add another little nugget, make sure you have plans to take the flight because unwinding a flight with BA can sometimes be a pain. That’s not to say that it can’t be done, it’s just not always easy.
One of the reasons I will book with AA miles vs Avios is flexibility. With AA, I cancel and award flight and the miles are back in my account within minutes and the refund of whatever little fee is charged is automatically refunded.
BA you have hoops to jump through and often accompanied with extremely long hold times or inadequate Twitter reps.
@2808 Interesting, I’ve only canceled BA flights a handful of times but I didn’t have any issues. I’m sure AA is easier to deal with on the phone and Twitter.
I just did the recent AMEX 30% transfer for BA and Qatar.
DFW to SAF is 550 miles. Qatar charges 12,500 avios for AA Business class flights less than 650 miles. With the current transfer bonus that would be 9615 Chase URs points.
Sometime ago I created my Qatar account and then tested the transfer of BA Avios to Qatar Avios (like 200 miles). Easy peasy.
If under 500 miles, I use Etihad miles; 10,000 miles for AA business class. AMEX occasionally has transfer bonuses to Etihad so I loaded a stash.
We just got over the hump of grown up kids a few years ago. Two weeks ago my wife and I flew Japan Airlines First class nonstop DFW to Tokyo (80k AA miles) and later ANA first class back to SFO (55k Virgin miles plus $600?). Unreal. I actually slept on plane (but didn’t want to; First class problem).
@Peter Thanks for the tip about Qatar and Etihad. I’ve never transferred to them but it sounds like I need to consider it for the future. I would have saved 2000 miles per ticket. I’m glad you got great seats for your trip to Japan! We plan to go there in a few years. I’m ready to start exploring Asia.
@Nancy I don’t know what has changed with them (BA). They were one of the easiest to work with during the thick of the pandemic. It used to be, cancel, get your miles back, and lose the $5.60 fee.
The last few times I’ve had to make a change (because AA had better availability open up), I’m told that I’ll have to get a flight credit (which isn’t even a thing when booking award flights) or they have to fill out a form and I’ll hear back in a few weeks, or some other nonsense.
Usually, a HUCA or two will resolve the issue, but the hold times are long and can wear you down.
I will book with BA via AA but I make sure that I’m okay with the flight and even if something better comes along, I ignore it because unwinding has become so unpleasant.
@2808 That’s a shame that it’s become more difficult. The last flight I canceled with BA was during the pandemic and it was easy, but I haven’t cancelled one since then.