Best Ways to Book American Airlines Flights with Membership Rewards

Note: All information about the American Express® Green Card, Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card and The Amex EveryDay® Card has been collected independently by MileValue. American Airlines currently isn’t a transfer partner with any of the major flexible currency programs, so unless you collect AAdvantage miles or transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to American Airlines at a 3:1 ratio, you need to use other programs to book American Airlines flights with points. If you have Membership Rewards points—the flexible currency earned through the American Express Membership Rewards program—or other flexible currency, it’s possible to use these points to book The post Best Ways to Book American Airlines Flights with Membership Rewards appeared first on MileValue.

Jan 14, 2025 - 15:40

Best Ways to Book American Airlines Flights with Membership Rewards

Note: All information about the American Express® Green Card, Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card and The Amex EveryDay® Card has been collected independently by MileValue.

American Airlines currently isn’t a transfer partner with any of the major flexible currency programs, so unless you collect AAdvantage miles or transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to American Airlines at a 3:1 ratio, you need to use other programs to book American Airlines flights with points.

If you have Membership Rewards points—the flexible currency earned through the American Express Membership Rewards program—or other flexible currency, it’s possible to use these points to book American Airlines flights.

There are two basic ways you can book American Airlines flights using Membership Rewards points:

Through American Express Travel (amextravel.com), which functions like a third-party online travel agency similar to Expedia.
Through partner airline programs, utilizing general principles discussed below and in best practices for searching Oneworld airlines.

While the latter option usually provides better value, there are situations where booking through Amex Travel makes sense.

How to Earn and Redeem Membership Rewards Points

Before getting into the redemption possibilities, let’s discuss how to obtain American Express Membership Rewards points. The most popular method is through welcome bonuses and spending on multiple American Express cards.

The following personal cards earn Membership Rewards points:

American Express® Gold Card (see rates and fees)
American Express® Green Card
Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card (not available to new applicants)
The Amex EveryDay® Card (not available to new applicants)
The Platinum Card® from American Express (see rates and fees)

American Express® Gold Card

Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

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The Platinum Card® from American Express

Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.

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The following business cards earn Membership Rewards points:

American Express® Business Gold Card (see rates and fees)
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (see rates and fees)
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express (see rates and fees)

American Express® Business Gold Card

Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases with the Business Gold Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership.

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The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases with your Card within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Terms Apply.

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The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership.

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The best options for earning points vary, depending on each person’s eligibility for welcome offers on new cards, ability to obtain business cards and individual spending patterns. For ongoing spending, some good options include:

American Express® Gold Card: Earn 4X points at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 per year, then 1X) and U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year, then 1X), and 3X points on flights booked with airlines or on amextravel.com.
American Express® Green Card: Earn 3X points on travel including airfare, hotels, cruises, tours, car rentals, campgrounds and vacation rentals; transit purchases including trains, taxicabs, rideshare services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses and subways; and eligible purchases at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery in the U.S.
Blue Business® Plus Card: Earn 2X points on spending that doesn’t qualify for higher earnings on other cards. This card earns 2X points on all spending, up to $50,000 per year, then 1X.
The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 5X Membership Rewards® Points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 per year, then 1X) and on prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com.

Membership Rewards points can be used in several ways. Some methods—such as redeeming for statement credits or shopping with points at selected merchants—typically provide poor redemption value and aren’t recommended. Buying gift cards or booking travel through American Express Travel usually results in 1 cent per point in value, while transferring points to partners provides the potential for greater value.

Booking Flights through American Express Travel

The regular redemption rate for booking through Amex Travel is 1 cent per point, which means that booking a $300 flight would require 30,000 Membership Rewards points.

The Amex Business Platinum cardholders can do better by redeeming Membership Rewards points for flights through amextravel.com using Pay with Points. The program provides a 35% rebate for business- or first-class flights on any airline, or for flights in any class of service booked through the cardholder’s selected qualifying airline.

The math for a Business Platinum cardholder booking an eligible $1,000 flight by redeeming 100,000 Membership Rewards points is that the rebate would be 35,000 points, resulting in a net redemption of 65,000 points and yielding a value of 1.54 cents per point.

Amex Travel also offers insider fares for card members who book selected routes through amextravel.com and pay fully with Membership Rewards points. When available, the insider fares offer a variable discount percentage and are displayed automatically in search results.

If you have flexible currency in multiple programs and are interested in booking an American Airlines flight through a bank portal, it’s worth comparing which options provide the best value. Considerations include differences in flight availability, cash prices and redemption rates.

Capital One Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards travel portals have a base redemption rate of 1 cent per point.
Bilt Rewards points can be redeemed through its portal for 1.25 cents each.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed through Chase Travel for 1 to 1.5 cents each, depending on which credit cards you hold.

The situations in which it may make sense to book American Airlines flights through Amex Travel include:

Ticket cash prices are low.
Award rates are high, relative to cash rates.
Award seats for a preferred flight aren’t available through American Airlines partners’ programs, and you don’t have AAdvantage miles.
You want to earn airline loyalty program points or elite qualifying credit for the flight but don’t want to spend cash on tickets.

Booking Flights through Membership Rewards Transfer Partners

At the time of writing, 18 airline programs and three hotel programs are Membership Rewards transfer partners. The following airline programs are useful for booking American Airlines flights:

British Airways Executive Club
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Etihad Guest
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
Iberia Plus
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qatar Airways Privilege Club

All airline programs listed above normally have a 1:1 transfer ratio, where 1 Membership Rewards point becomes 1 airline program point, with a minimum transfer of 1,000 points.

American Express and specific airline programs sometimes have limited-time transfer bonuses where point transfers occur at a more favorable ratio. For example, a 30% transfer bonus to British Airways and Iberia is not uncommon. With this bonus, transferring 1,000 Membership Rewards points would result in 1,300 Avios being added to the loyalty program account.

All airlines above, except Etihad and Hawaiian Airlines, are members of Oneworld, the airline alliance that includes American Airlines. Etihad is a non-alliance partner of American Airlines.

Hawaiian Airlines is relevant for booking American Airlines flights because Alaska Airlines completed its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines in September 2024 and implemented functionality to transfer miles between the two airlines’ loyalty programs. More details about integration of the two loyalty programs are expected to be revealed in 2025.

When attempting to book American Airlines flights through partner programs, it’s important to understand that award space is more limited compared to booking through the American AAdvantage program. Our article about booking American Airlines flights with Citi ThankYou Points provides details about methods to identify American Airlines flights that can be booked through partner programs using a combination of American Airlines fare codes and ExpertFlyer.

Third-party award search tools also can be useful as a starting point for finding partner award availability, but it’s important to understand that the tools don’t cover all programs.

Let’s look at the award programs that can be used to book American Airlines flights. Individual programs have different award pricing structures and rates, change and cancellation policies, fees and other features that make certain programs better choices for different scenarios.

Avios Programs including British Airways, Iberia and Qatar Airways

Several airline programs use a rewards currency called Avios and provide the ability to transfer Avios among programs. Membership Rewards transfer partners that use Avios include Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Qatar Airways. Aer Lingus isn’t a Oneworld member airline, and AerClub Avios can’t be used to book American Airlines flights.

Finnair Plus is another program that uses Avios. While Membership Rewards points can’t be transferred directly to Finnair Plus, this transfer can be accomplished in two steps by transferring Membership Rewards points to British Airways Executive Club and then transferring British Airways Avios to Finnair Plus.

There are differences in award rates, fees and policies that make some Avios programs better options for specific redemptions.

Award pricing

British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Qatar Airways Privilege Club use distance-based award rates, but the programs no longer publish award charts displaying the distance bands and Avios required. British Airways and Iberia charge by segment, so award rates tend to be higher on flights with connections. All three programs have made a series of unannounced award rate increases in 2023 and 2024, making it difficult to know what rates to expect.

Observed and reported award rates for American Airlines flights booked through British Airways and Iberia programs as of September 2024 are displayed below.

Distance range (in miles)	Avios required per segment
Distance range (in miles)	Economy	Business
Up to 650	12,000	24,000
651 – 1,150	16,000	32,000
1,151 – 2,000	18,000	40,000
2,001 – 3,000	20,000	50,000
3,001 – 4,000	20,750	62,000
4,001 – 5,500	25,750	77,250
5,501 – 6,500	31,000	92,750
6,501 – 7,000	36,250	108,250
7,001 and above	51,000	154,500

Observed and reported award rates for American Airlines flights booked through Qatar Airways Privilege Club as of September 2024 are displayed below.

	Number of Avios required
Flight distance (in miles)	Economy	Business
1 – 650	9,500	20,000
651 – 1,151	13,000	27,000
1,152 – 2,000	14,500	34,000
2,001 – 3,000	16,000	43,000
3,001 – 4,000	20,750	62,000
4,001 – 5,500	25,750	77,250
5,501 – 6,500	31,000	92,750
6,501 – 7,000	36,250	108,250
7,001 and above	51,000	154,500

In recent years, Iberia and Qatar Airways programs have been moving toward aligning their award rates with British Airways Executive Club, although there sometimes are differences.

Finnair has a zone-based award chart for American Airlines flights. In late October 2024, Finnair dramatically increased award prices for flights within the continental U.S. and Canada. Economy award rates increased 50% from 11,000 Avios to 16,500 Avios, and first-class rates increased by 10,000 Avios.

Route (one way)	Economy	Business	First
Flights within North America (continental U.S. and Canada)	16,500	N/A	40,000
North America – Caribbean and Mexico	15,000	25,000	40,000
Flights within South America	15,000	25,000	40,000
North America – Hawaii and Central America	15,000	38,000	47,500
Europe – North America	23,000	65,000	85,000
North America – South America	23,000	55,000	75,000
North America – the Far East (over the Pacific)	34,000	90,000	118,000
Europe – the Caribbean and Mexico (via USA)	34,000	85,000	115,000
Europe – Hawaii and Central America (via USA)	55,000	140,000	190,000
Europe – South America (via USA)	55,000	140,000	190,000

Fees and policies

British Airways provides options of paying a $55 fee or the tax amount to cancel or change an award booking up to 24 hours before travel. Since many U.S. domestic routes charge one-way taxes of only $5.60, forfeiting the taxes often is less expensive.

The worst Avios program in terms of cancellation and change policy is Iberia Plus, since award flights on certain partners—including American Airlines—can’t be changed and are completely nonrefundable.

Qatar Airways charges $25 for award cancellations and changes made at least 24 hours in advance and $100 for cancellations and changes three to 24 hours in advance.

Finnair service fees are $50 for award cancellations and changes.

Taxes and fees on award tickets also can be different among these programs. On U.S. domestic routes where American Airlines charges $5.60 in taxes and fees, British Airways charges the same amount, but other programs sometimes charge higher fees.

Other considerations

It can be challenging to find American Airlines award availability through Finnair Plus and Qatar Airways Privilege Club. Finnair doesn’t support online searches for American Airlines and some other partner airlines, so you need to contact Finnair via online chat or call customer service to book award flights with these airlines. Qatar’s online searches don’t consistently produce results for certain U.S. airports and routes that may be bookable through agents.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Cathay Pacific’s award rates are distance-based and are calculated using total distance for the entire route rather than pricing each segment separately. The airline publishes an award chart for its own flights, but it doesn’t publish an award chart for partners.

Awards for partner-operated flights typically are higher compared to Cathay Pacific flights. Two examples from our searches are:

Flights under 750 miles: For Cathay Pacific flights, award rates are 7,500 miles for economy and 16,000 miles for business. Washington (DCA) to Chicago (ORD) nonstop flights on American Airlines fall into this distance band, but American Airlines flight awards are 10,000 miles for economy and 20,000 miles for business.
Flights between 751 and 2,750 miles: Award rates on Cathay Pacific flights are 10,000 miles for economy and 28,000 miles for business. A nonstop American Airlines flight from Miami to Lima, Peru, falls into this distance range and has award rates of 15,000 miles for economy and 33,000 miles for business.

During 2024, Cathay Pacific added the ability to book American Airlines award flights online, but we experienced frequent issues with search functionality during September 2024.

Cathay Pacific fees are $50 or 7,500 miles for award changes and $120 or 17,000 miles for cancellations.

Etihad Guest

Etihad’s award chart for American Airlines flights is recreated below. Award rates are priced based on the distance of each segment, making Etihad Guest award rates higher on connecting routes.

Distance range (in miles)	Economy	Premium economy	Business	First
0 – 500	6,000	7,500	20,000	35,000
501 – 1,000	12,000	13,000	25,000	40,000
1,001 – 1,500	15,000	19,000	30,000	45,000
1,501 – 2,000	23,000	25,000	40,000	54,000
2,000 – 2,500	28,000	31,000	50,000	67,000
2,501 – 3,000	34,000	37,000	60,000	80,000
3,001 – 4,000	45,000	49,000	80,000	107,000
4,001 – 5,000	60,000	62,000	100,000	134,000
5,001 – 6,000	67,000	74,000	120,000	160,000
6,001+	75,000	90,000	140,000	200,000

Etihad Guest awards on American Airlines flights have higher taxes and fees compared to other programs, and Etihad has complicated and often excessive fees when plans change. Date changes can be made until seven days before departure, and current fees are 100 United Arab Emirates dirham (about $27).

Cancellation fees for award flights more than 24 hours after booking are a percentage of the mileage cost and vary based on how long before travel cancellation occurs. Fees are:

100% of miles within 24 hours of the flight
75% of miles between one to seven days of the flight
50% of miles between eight and 21 days of the flight
25% of miles more than 21 days before the flight

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles / Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

In late September 2024, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines implemented functionality to transfer miles to the other program at a 1:1 ratio. This enables people with Membership Rewards points to use a three-step process to book American Airlines flights:

Transfer Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines.
Transfer miles from HawaiianMiles to Alaska Mileage Plan.
Use miles in Alaska Mileage Plan to book American Airlines flights.

I successfully transferred Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines and then transferred miles from Hawaiian Airlines to Alaska Airlines in early October. Both transfers were processed quickly without any problems, but some people experienced issues with transfers.

Most points and miles enthusiasts consider Alaska Mileage Plan miles to be more valuable than HawaiianMiles, and Alaska Airlines didn’t partner with flexible currency programs until they began a partnership with Bilt Rewards in March 2024. Some people speculate that Alaska Airlines might not want the large influx of miles possible with Membership Rewards transfers, which leads to questions about how long Hawaiian Airlines will remain a Membership Rewards transfer partner.

Our article about booking cheap domestic awards on Oneworld Airlines provides more details about booking American Airlines flights through Alaska Mileage Plan.

Distance-based award rates apply to booking flights on partner airlines. The following table reflects partner award rates for flights within the Americas.

Distance (in miles)	Economy starting at	Premium economy starting at	Business starting at	First starting at
Less than 700	4,500	6,000	9,000	13,500
701 – 1,400	7,500	10,000	15,000	25,000
1,401 – 2,100	12,500	17,500	25,000	40,000
2,101 – 4,000	17,500	22,500	35,000	52,500
4,001 – 6,000	25,000	32,500	50,000	75,000
6,001 and above	30,000	40,000	60,000	90,000

The table below reflects pricing for partner flights between the Americas and Europe, including travel between the U.S. and Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and within EMEA.

Distance (in miles)	Economy starting at	Premium economy starting at	Business starting at	First starting at
Less than 1,500	7,500	10,000	15,000	22,500
1,501 – 3,500	22,500	30,000	45,000	67,500
3,501 – 5,000	27,500	35,000	55,000	82,500
5,001 – 7,000	35,000	45,000	70,000	105,000
7,001 – 10,000	42,500	55,000	85,000	130,000
10,000 and above	55,000	72,500	110,000	165,000

The table below reflects pricing for partner flights between the Americas and Asia, including travel between the U.S. and Asia Pacific, within Asia Pacific and between Asia Pacific and EMEA.

Distance (in miles)	Economy starting at	Premium economy starting at	Business starting at	First starting at
Less than 1,500	7,500	10,000	15,000	22,500
1,501 – 3,000	25,000	32,500	50,000	75,000
3,001 – 5,000	30,000	40,000	60,000	90,000
5,001 – 7,000	37,500	50,000	75,000	110,000
7,001 – 10,000	42,500	55,000	85,000	130,000
10,000 and above	65,000	85,000	130,000	195,000

Alaska Airlines allows free award cancellations and changes, but there’s a $12.50 nonrefundable partner booking fee per passenger per direction for award flights operated by American Airlines and other partner airlines.

Qantas Frequent Flyer

Qantas Frequent Flyer has a series of distance-based award charts, and the Qantas Classic Flight Reward table recreated below applies to one-way awards on flights operated by Qantas, American Airlines and other selected airlines.

Zone	One-way miles	Qantas Points required (excluding taxes, fees and carrier charges)
Zone	One-way miles	Economy	Premium economy	Business	First
1	0 – 600	10,000	15,800	20,000	29,000
2	601 – 1,200	14,000	23,700	30,000	43,500
3	1,201 – 2,400	20,000	34,500	43,800	64,500
4	2,401 – 3,600	24,500	48,500	61,200	89,800
5	3,601 – 4,800	30,200	59,000	75,000	107,700
6	4,801 – 5,800	37,800	70,800	90,000	129,300
7	5,801 – 7,000	45,000	81,800	104,500	149,800
8	7,001 – 8,400	50,300	93,500	119,200	170,800
9	8,401 – 9,600	61,500	109,000	139,200	199,300
10	9,601 – 15,000	66,200	124,800	159,000	227,500

Qantas cancellation and change fees are assessed in miles. Fees are 6,000 miles for cancellation and 5,000 miles for changes.

Another factor to consider is that Qantas limits award bookings to the Frequent Flyer account owner and family members.

Search Results

It’s highly situational which booking options are best. Factors to consider include your specific route, travel dates and other aspects of the trip.

Awards within the U.S.

Articles about using Citi ThankYou Points to book American Airlines flights and booking cheap domestic Oneworld flights provide multiple examples for booking American Airlines domestic flights. Given common transfer partners, many of these examples also are relevant when using Membership Rewards points.

Summarizing findings from previous searches, we found good value using:

Alaska Mileage Plan to book short (under 700 miles) American Airlines flights within the U.S. for 4,500 miles in economy or 9,000 miles in first.
Various programs—with the lowest award rates dependent on the route and distance—to book intermediate distance flights within the U.S.
Finnair Plus to book long nonstop flights and connecting routes within the continental U.S. and Canada for 11,000 Avios (economy cabin) and routes between the continental U.S. and Hawaii for 15,000 Avios (economy cabin). Given Finnair’s October 2024 devaluation, economy awards within the continental U.S. and Canada now require 16,500 Avios.

Awards between the U.S. and South America

We’re going to look at American Airlines nonstop flights with an estimated distance of 2,608 miles from Miami to Lima for booking through American Express Travel and booking through partner airline programs. For both scenarios, we searched during September 2024 for May 2025 flights.

As background, American Airlines has dynamic award rates for booking American Airlines flights through the AAdvantage program. Even when using Membership Rewards points through a partner airline program or Amex Travel, AAdvantage award pricing is relevant, because American Airlines often doesn’t release award space to partners on dates when award rates are high.

If your travel dates are flexible, it’s useful to look at the monthly award calendar in American Airlines’ search tool even if you don’t plan to use American AAdvantage miles. Although it’s not a perfect indicator of old SAAver award space that can be booked by partners, there’s a better chance of finding partner award availability on dates when American Airlines has lower award rates for its own flights.

To see the monthly calendar, start an award search for any date in the month and then choose the “Calendar” option.

Once you get to the calendar, you can refine results to display award rates based on number of stops and class of service. The example below shows award prices for nonstop flights from Miami to Lima in economy.

Miami to Lima 14k miles - Best Ways to Book American Airlines Flights with Membership Rewards

Here is the calendar view for business class.

Miami to Lima 25k miles - Best Ways to Book American Airlines Flights with Membership Rewards

May 22 Miami to Lima flights

Let’s look at an example for American Airlines nonstop flights from Miami (MIA) to Lima (LIM) on May 22, just before Memorial Day weekend. As displayed above, American AAdvantage award rates are high. Partner airlines searches didn’t show any award availability. So, if you want to fly American Airlines on this route and date, the only booking options are to use AAdvantage miles, book with points through a bank travel portal or pay with cash.

American AAdvantage one-way awards for flights on May 22 start at 45,500 miles in main cabin and 88,500 miles in business class, while the least expensive comparable cash rates are $386 and $1,118 respectively. American sells three different main cabin fares: Basic Economy, Main and Main Plus. In general, the “Main” fare is most similar to award tickets.

The process to search for and book flights on amextravel.com is pretty straightforward. To begin, log into your American Express account and select a card that earns Membership Rewards points. After selecting “Rewards & Benefits,” choose the “Book travel” travel option selected below.

On the next screen, click on “Explore Amex Travel” to reach the main search page, select the “Flights” tab and enter your search parameters. In the example below, we’re searching for Miami to Lima flights on May 22 in economy class.

For the flight shown above and others that day, American Airlines and American Express Travel have nearly identical cash prices. American Airlines prices are rounded up to the whole dollar amount in the initial display, while amextravel.com shows the actual prices in dollars and cents and also shows the rate for using Membership Rewards points at 1 cent each. Later in the booking process, you can choose to use a combination of points and cash.

Let’s look at the economy class pricing for the flight departing at 10:35 p.m. on May 22. The results below are filtered to show nonstop American Airlines flights. The Main fare, but not the basic economy fare, is displayed, and there are some upgrade options.

Similarly, business-class cash pricing for the same flight is nearly identical on American Airlines website and Amex Travel.

While many points and miles enthusiasts would pay cash or modify travel plans rather than use Membership Rewards points at a relatively low value of 1 cent each, people who don’t have flexibility with their plans and don’t want to spend cash for the flight might choose to book through American Express Travel.

In addition, some individuals who have American AAdvantage miles might prefer booking the economy flight using 38,530 Membership Rewards points instead of using 45,500 AAdvantage miles + $20.60. There are two benefits to booking this flight with points through Amex Travel compared to using AAdvantage miles:

The amextravel.com booking requires fewer points and miles and no cash.
Bookings through amextravel.com earn airline program miles and elite qualifying credits, while AAdvantage award flights don’t.

Business Platinum cardholders might be able to get better value redeeming points through Amex Travel with the 35% points rebate. If a cardholder has selected American Airlines as their preferred airline, the net cost after rebate for the main cabin booking would be 25,045 Membership Rewards points. The net cost for the business-cabin booking would be 72,625 points.

May 5 Miami to Lima flights

Timing is everything, and award availability is completely different for someone who is able to travel on May 5, the date in May with the lowest award rates in economy and business. Flight AA385 departing at 10:35 p.m. has award availability for 14,000 miles in economy and 25,000 miles in business class.

Miami to Lima flights - Best Ways to Book American Airlines Flights with Membership Rewards

If using Membership Rewards points, the next step is to search for award availability in partner programs that can be used to book American Airlines flights. We confirmed that all partner programs had award availability for this flight, but the award rates and taxes varied, as summarized below for direct and indirect (indirect partners are identified with an asterisk) Membership Rewards transfer partners.

Program	Economy award		Business / first award
Program	Miles	Tax & fees	Miles	Tax & fees
American AAdvantage	14,000	$20.60	25,000	$20.60
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan*	17,500	$34	35,000	$34
British Airways Executive Club	20,000	$20.60	50,000	$20.60
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	15,000	$47.36	33,000	$47.36
Etihad Guest	34,000	$47	60,000	$7
Finnair Plus*	23,000	$20.60	55,000	$20.60
Iberia Plus	20,000	$42.80	50,000	$42.80
Qantas Frequent Flyer	20,300	$45	57,000	$45
Qatar Airways Privilege Club	16,000	$47.30	43,000	$47.30

Some observations about these results are:

American AAdvantage rates were lowest for both economy and business awards.
Top partner programs based on the lowest award rates for economy awards were Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways and Alaska Airlines.
Top partner programs based on the lowest award rates for business awards were Cathay Pacific, Alaska Airlines and Qatar Airways.
Etihad Guest had the worst rates for both economy and business awards.
Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways award searches were glitchy, and searching sometimes worked in one web browser or through a mobile app and failed in other channels. Initial website searches for both programs produced errors and failed to return results, but award availability was displayed when searching via mobile apps. A few days later, Qatar’s website showed award availability.
Finnair Plus availability was provided via online chat because Finnair’s award search tool doesn’t show American Airlines flights.

Unless you’re writing a blog post, it’s not always necessary to search every program. For personal planning on this route, I wouldn’t have checked:

Certain partner programs that have published award charts if it was clear that the programs wouldn’t have the best rates for this route. In particular, I wouldn’t have checked Etihad, Finnair or Qantas programs.
Iberia Plus, because Iberia’s award rates usually are aligned with British Airways’ rates, but Iberia has a much worse cancellation and change policy for American Airlines flights. In this case, Iberia taxes and fees also were higher.

Connecting flights from the U.S. to Lima

Let’s take a look at how award rates change when originating somewhere else in the U.S. and connecting in Miami enroute to Lima. We sought award options from Washington (DCA) that connected to the same American Airlines flight on May 5. Estimated flight distance per Great Circle Mapper is shown below.

The lowest economy award rates for one-stop American Airlines awards start at 15,000 miles, but the second option for 16,000 miles has much shorter connection times.

DCA to Lima - Best Ways to Book American Airlines Flights with Membership Rewards

The award rate difference between these flights and the 14,000-mile rate for economy flights from Miami to Lima are small, but there’s a much bigger difference in premium cabin award rates, suggesting that business class on the Washington to Miami flight wouldn’t be available for partner bookings. Partner program searches confirmed this by showing no options that day with business-class availability for the full route. Some programs allow mixed-class awards, so you could book one segment in economy and the other in business. Other programs don’t allow mixed-class awards.

Searches through partner programs also reflected more differences in availability for connecting routes. Results for each program are summarized below.

Alaska Airlines: Award rates didn’t change from the nonstop Miami to Lima flight rates, because the combined distance for Washington to Miami to Lima falls into the same distance band of 2,001 to 4,000 miles as Miami to Lima. Mixed-class awards through Alaska Mileage Plan require the same number of miles as 100% business-class awards. Alaska Airlines has the lowest redemption rate among partner airline programs for this connecting route.

British Airways and Iberia: Both programs’ award rates for Washington to Miami to Lima routings increased compared to Miami to Lima nonstop flights. For the connecting option, economy awards increased to 36,000 Avios, and business-class awards increased to 82,000 Avios.

British Airways doesn’t allow mixed-class awards on a single ticket, but Iberia does. An Iberia award with Washington to Miami in economy and Miami to Lima in business requires 66,000 Avios.

Cathay Pacific: Searches didn’t provide any award options when searching for the connecting route from Washington to Miami to Lima.

Etihad: Etihad’s search tool limitations and American Airlines availability made it impossible to check the May 5 flights. Etihad Guest won’t search for a “one-way” award from two airports that don’t have nonstop service on a partner airline, so you have to search as “multi-city” with Washington to Miami and Miami to Lima. No results were provided when searching for both flights on the same date.

When searching for separate flight segments on different dates, award rates were 46,000 miles in economy and should be 85,000 miles in business. Mixed-class awards are possible, and rates would be the sum of the economy rate on one flight and the business rate on the other flight.

Finnair: Finnair’s award rates are region-based, so the award rates from Washington to Miami to Lima are the same as flying from Miami to Lima nonstop: 23,000 Avios for economy and 55,000 Avios for business. The online chat agent found an economy option for Washington to Miami to Lima on May 5, but some specific Washington to Miami flights available through other programs weren’t available through Finnair Plus.

Qantas: Award rates for booking through Qantas Frequent Flyer partner didn’t change from the nonstop Miami to Lima flight, since the combined distance for Washington to Miami to Lima falls into the same distance band of 2,401 to 3,600 miles as Miami to Lima. Awards were available for 20,300 miles in economy on May 5 and 57,000 miles in business class on May 6.

Qatar Airways: Consistent with previous search experiences for American Airlines flights with connections, online searches didn’t work or show any award availability. Via online chat, a Qatar Airways agent found economy availability for one flight combination on May 5 and indicated that the award rate would be 19,000 Avios.

The quoted award rate is surprising, because it doesn’t correspond exactly to the unofficial Qatar Airways distance-based pricing. Qatar’s Miami to Lima award rate of 16,000 miles in economy is consistent with the unofficial rate for distances of 2,001 to 3,000 miles. The unofficial award rate for distances of 3,001 to 4,000 miles is 20,750 Avios in economy. Even if the Washington to Lima route is 20,750 Avios, that rate is lower than other partner programs, except Alaska Airlines.

Final Thoughts

It’s possible to book flights on American Airlines using Membership Rewards points. The two basic ways to do this are through American Express Travel or by transferring Membership Rewards points to applicable airline programs and booking American Airlines flights through these partner programs.

The best airline program to use for booking American Airlines flights varies depending on the specific flights, so it’s a good idea to check multiple programs. Some tips from our research that you can apply to your searches are:

Leverage differences in award rates and distance bands: For programs with distance-based pricing, opportunities for better award rates exist because of differences in award rates and distance bands among programs. For example, a nonstop flight in the U.S. that’s almost 700 miles long will fall into the shortest distance band with Alaska Airlines, but the same flight will fall into the second distance band with other programs whose shortest distance bands end at 500 to 650 miles.
Focus on programs with award rates based on total distance or region-based rates for itineraries with connections: Award rates almost always are higher for distance-based programs that price awards based on the sum of award rates for each flight’s distance compared to total distance for all connecting flights. A program with pure region-based pricing, like Finnair Plus, may provide good value for longer flights and connecting routes.
Consider trade-offs between lower award rates and other factors: In some cases, it may be worth using more miles to book through a program that is easy to use, provides full online search and booking capabilities and has good change and cancellation policies with low fees.

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