AAdvantage points...

[Anonymous]

I've always used Rapid Rewards for most plane tickets.  Recently jumped on the AA card with Citi to get some AA points and they do not go nearly as far as Rapid Rewards.  Anyone else experienced this before?  Is there a way to maximize my points better?  Basically it seems like my 60,000 miles will equal about 1 round-trip domextic ticket.  Does that sounds right? 

[Anonymous]

I'm not an AA fanboy at all. However, there is always value in every program. I've burned all my AA points in the past year on premium cabin redemptions. Keep an eye out on boardingarea.com or flyertalk. AA has a reputation for "dumping" award inventory very randomly (e.g., opening up every date for biz saver level between certain city pairs). I would save your points for the low level "saver" redemptions. Don't expect to us points for domestic flights during peak times. You'll get no where fast.

Run down of my recent AA redeptions: (2) DCA - NRT biz 787 (Jul 2016); (2) PEK - DCA biz 787 (Aug 2016); TXL - DCA biz 767 (Aug 2017); and LHR - DCA (Jul 2017). All of these were booked @ the lowest level. All in 267.5K AA miles. I also got back 20k of those miles for having the AA card. So, 247.5k miles for 5 transocean biz flights and 1 transocean economy flight. There is also great value on domestic routes too.

Hold onto the points until you cna get value of them OR use them as an "insurance" policy. I've redeemed at higher levels for last minute trips (e.g., funeral) and used the points as insurance against these events.

Good luck!

[wasCB14]

sAAver award availability can be hard to get at times, but when it's available it can be attractive. Not a fan of the close-in award booking fee, though.

[happypill]

I believe AA Saver fares are 25k for roundtrip flights in the lower 48 states.  Business class is 50k for roundtrip in the lower 48.  The trick is that there are a limited number of such seats available, so you need to book well in advance to get them.  If you want to book anytime tickets, the point cost would be about double.

I think the AAdvantage and Rapid Reward Points are considered about equal according to most frequent flyer blogs (The Points Guy currently rates them both at 1.5 cents per point).  I used to prefer flying Southwest, but I don't like it as much because it's basically impossible to get into the first boarding group with a standard fare ticket these days.  It's nice that Southwest doesn't charge for baggage, but I try to avoid checking bags if at all possible anyways.

The value of points in legacy programs are greatly diminished if you need to book anytime travel (that's the case with all of them).  OTOH, some people are able to extract huge values out of their points with certain routes & types of tickets; but it does require more planning and effort.