Let me start by saying this is partly my fault and I accept that. I should have researched what options one has for using these AA miles before I got the US Airways card. The following is merely a personal experience of mine, not meant to discourage anyone else from getting a card for these miles but simply to share and possibly help someone else. If the miles are working out great for any of you then thats awesome. Not so much for me. Here goes 
Made a purchase and paid the $89 AF for US Airways card, got the 50k miles about 4-5 weeks later, went to book an international flight for my birthday trip in October on June 7th. Not the most pleasant experience. Searched from SFO to Costa Rica, St Lucia, Montego Bay, Cancun, Grand Cayman, Dominican Republic and Hawaii.
Took me 3 hours to find something suitable, keep in mind I was searching through seven different destinations and flexible with the dates. Here were some issues:
1.) Flights for miles redemption all seemed to have 2+ stops vs priced flights with only 1 stop.
2.) I found flights for less than 25k each way bc I checked during low season for my destinations. Closer to Spring a lot more miles were required.
3.) Total travel time each way was between 20-30 hours on average compared to 9-15 hours on average with price flights. Crazy long layovers.
4.) Your seating options are severely limited when booking this way. Even if you can clearly see the flight is completely empty when you book with miles you get a select number of seats and thats it. For my flights it was either sit in the back after Row 20 or pick Row 13 which has no recline option. 
Awesome
5.) There are zero upgrade options without using more miles. What you pick is what you get. Even in economy if you would like to pay for main cabin extra seats thats not allowed. I was told the only thing I could do was wait until the day of departure and talk to an agent to see if an upgrade was available.
6.) Using more miles for an upgrade is an option yes but its a bit of a mess. I could have chosen business class for 30k miles each way, however, that only covered business for one leg of each trip bc one flight was listed as a business upgrade and the second was listed as first class. 
So after using 30k total for round trip economy I was told to use an additional 60k for business and 100k for first class so an extra 160k miles to upgrade all four legs. Pass.
All things considered I suppose I should count myself lucky bc for 30k miles I finally managed to find flights with only 1 stop and total travel time of 11 hours each way. But they must have caught on to that quick because the very next day that flight option was no longer available under award travel and the lowest travel time each way for the same dates shot up to 22 and 24 hours. Not sure if this was such a frustrating ordeal bc I was looking at international flights, because of my departure location or what but I have 23k miles left and I would gladly put them in someone elses account if I knew anyone that wanted them. Will not be using these again, glad I didnt have to spend 3k to get the miles thats for sure. Regularly this flight would be roughly $900 and I paid $81.52 in taxes and fees so I guess the value works out well but AA flights in general seemed overpriced by about $200 - $300 compared to other carriers. Definitely looking forward to my trip but geez!
@lukepwnsall wrote:Im sorry about your poor experience with AA miles. I love AA. my general understand is, its all about where you live. I live in the Chicagoland area. So United and AA have Hubs ther, this way most flights are nonstop or at the very max 1 stop. With my Delta card, since ORD is not a delta Hub all the trips are 1+ stops. Just because of that I will be canceling my Delta card. There is no use in a card if the airport isnt suitable. Nothing against Delta at all. just isnt a product for Chicago people IMO. Now if you live in Dallas. It should be given to fly AA, AA basically monopolized that airport. when it comes to upgprade options, most carrieres dont let you upgrade award tickets. (I think united is an exception if you have a chase cobranded card). Really the value of AA miles comes from the fact they are worth more than 1ccp. you just have to give up some flexabilty for the greater value of the points.
No need to be sorry Lesson learned. If it depends on where you live I totally get it. Think from this point on using miles isnt really my cup of tea due to the restrictions. If the same flights and seating options were available that would be great, not so though. But thats on me for lack of research. Probably could have figured this out on my own by checking around online. Noticed a lot of complaints on their FB page about the miles options or lack thereof but too late.
@Anonymous wrote:Let me start by saying this is partly my fault and I accept that. I should have researched what options one has for using these AA miles before I got the US Airways card. The following is merely a personal experience of mine, not meant to discourage anyone else from getting a card for these miles but simply to share and possibly help someone else. If the miles are working out great for any of you then thats awesome. Not so much for me. Here goes
Made a purchase and paid the $89 AF for US Airways card, got the 50k miles about 4-5 weeks later, went to book an international flight for my birthday trip in October on June 7th. Not the most pleasant experience. Searched from SFO to Costa Rica, St Lucia, Montego Bay, Cancun, Grand Cayman, Dominican Republic and Hawaii.
Took me 3 hours to find something suitable, keep in mind I was searching through seven different destinations and flexible with the dates. Here were some issues:
1.) Flights for miles redemption all seemed to have 2+ stops vs priced flights with only 1 stop.
2.) I found flights for less than 25k each way bc I checked during low season for my destinations. Closer to Spring a lot more miles were required.
3.) Total travel time each way was between 20-30 hours on average compared to 9-15 hours on average with price flights. Crazy long layovers.
4.) Your seating options are severely limited when booking this way. Even if you can clearly see the flight is completely empty when you book with miles you get a select number of seats and thats it. For my flights it was either sit in the back after Row 20 or pick Row 13 which has no recline option.
5.) There are zero upgrade options without using more miles. What you pick is what you get. Even in economy if you would like to pay for main cabin extra seats thats not allowed. I was told the only thing I could do was wait until the day of departure and talk to an agent to see if an upgrade was available.
6.) Using more miles for an upgrade is an option yes but its a bit of a mess. I could have chosen business class for 30k miles each way, however, that only covered business for one leg of each trip bc one flight was listed as a business upgrade and the second was listed as first class.
All things considered I suppose I should count myself lucky bc for 30k miles I finally managed to find flights with only 1 stop and total travel time of 11 hours each way. But they must have caught on to that quick because the very next day that flight option was no longer available under award travel and the lowest travel time each way for the same dates shot up to 22 and 24 hours. Not sure if this was such a frustrating ordeal bc I was looking at international flights, because of my departure location or what but I have 23k miles left and I would gladly put them in someone elses account if I knew anyone that wanted them. Will not be using these again, glad I didnt have to spend 3k to get the miles thats for sure. Regularly this flight would be roughly $900 and I paid $81.52 in taxes and fees so I guess the value works out well but AA flights in general seemed overpriced by about $200 - $300 compared to other carriers. Definitely looking forward to my trip but geez!
I'll gladly take those miles! 
@I am sorry that you had a little bit of an ordeal to book your tickets. I myself have been looking at international flights, but I am pretty set on LAN/DTW to LHR. Both LAN and DTW have a layover @ JFK, and I think that's almost to be expected. AA also does off and on peak awards which is what I believe you're talking about. It's amazing that I can book a 1,200 dollar ticket for 40k miles off-peak, but if I was stuck paying onpeak when I just saw the difference in miles I would be a little annoyed, too! :s
@fedxboy wrote:https://buymiles.aa.com/en/share
The best adventures are meant to be shared.
Now through June 30, 2015, share miles with a friend or loved one and you’ll save up to 30%.
THANKS
Op, I'll pay the $235 fee for the miles 
lol... that's a good deal for AA miles 
@fedxboy wrote:https://buymiles.aa.com/en/share
The best adventures are meant to be shared.
Now through June 30, 2015, share miles with a friend or loved one and you’ll save up to 30%.
THANKS
Uh wait a minute. So I have to PAY just to put miles in someone elses account? What part of the game is this? 
I'd gladly take those miles.
it would cost $215.62 to transfer them (as opposed to 678$ to buy 23000 miles)
Delta was just running a sale on fares to CUN from the west coast. $262 r/t for trips in september.