How to get more from AA miles on British Airways and Qantas

Overview

American Airlines flies to more than 350 airports around the world. But you can use AA miles on its oneworld partners, as well, which serve more than 900 destinations. This makes the AAdvantage program exceptionally valuable, as you can use them to get just about anywhere.

Some of the most prolific AA partners include Qantas and British Airways. Let's take a look at how to best use AA miles to fly on these airlines.

If you are an AAdvantage elite looking to upgrade rather than redeem miles, read about using American Airlines SWUs on British Airways.

New York to Auckland in business class

One of the longest routes in existence is the nonstop Qantas flight between New York (JFK) and Auckland, New Zealand (AKL). It's a punishing 17.5 hours, every minute of which is being enthusiastically counted down by coach passengers. But if you're in business class, it turns into one of the best opportunities to experience Qantas' fancy 787 lie-flat seats.

These seats cost just 80,000 American Airlines miles and $40 in taxes and fees. Considering this journey is nearly 9,000 miles, this is a dirt cheap award price.

It's virtually impossible to find this seat for under $5,000. For this specific seat, the cash price is $5,190, giving you a value of 6.4 cents per mile.

For comparison, explore our Qantas Points international business class guide to see how Qantas's own distance chart prices these same long-haul sectors.

Sydney to South Africa in first class

If you've got the chance to fly Qantas first class, you take it. You'll find it aboard Qantas' A380 flights. For example, you can fly between Sydney (SYD) and Johannesburg (JNB) for a reasonable 110,000 AAdvantage miles and $80 in taxes and fees.

Paying for this fare out of pocket will cost nearly $6,800. That means a value of 6.1 cents per mile. If you've not flown first class before, it's an otherworldly experience, and a notable step up from business class.

Tokyo to Sydney in business class

Arguably the crown jewel of this list is a business class flight on Qantas between Tokyo (HND) and Sydney (SYD) for 40,000 AA miles and $69 in taxes and fees, not just in terms of your value per mile, but because of the amount of luxury travel you'll receive for the price tag.

Because this is a 10-hour flight, you're effectively paying just 4,000 miles for every hour spent in business class. If you've got enough rewards, it's a no-brainer redemption.

This flight otherwise costs north of $3,300. So booking this award flight gives you an excellent return of more than 8.1 cents per mile.

Compare these oneworld Asia-Pacific redemptions with the best sweet spots for Alaska Airlines points, which also partner with Qantas.

Any British Airways flight with exorbitant cash prices

The truth is that British Airways sweet spots are comparatively few and far between when it comes to booking with AAdvantage miles. That's because flights on British Airways metal notoriously incur eye-watering fuel surcharges. The more taxes and fees that you're required to pay, the less your miles are worth toward the flight.

For this reason, you'll get the most from your AA miles on British Airways when the cash prices are astronomical. Intercontinental flights in a premium cabin are your best bet.

Case in point: You can book a first-class flight between London (LHR) and Atlanta (ATL) for 85,000 American Airlines miles and a whopping $1,135 in taxes and fees. That's a ludicrous co-pay for an award flight, until you take a look at the ticket's cash price.

This exact seat costs more than $14,750 one-way, resulting in a value of more than 16 cents per mile. That's incredible. But because you (probably) aren't in a position to pony up that kind of money, remember to categorize this difference in price as "value" instead of "savings." You're still paying well over $1,000 for a flight that, were it on another airline, would be nearly free.

Booking BA flights with AA miles bypasses high cash fares; compare this against British Airways Avios sweet spots for short hops.

Singapore to Sydney in coach

British Airways flies a handful of fifth-freedom routes that can potentially be a good deal using travel rewards, think Buenos Aires (EZE) to Rio de Janeiro (GIG), Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Phnom Penh (KTI), and Nassau (NAS) to Grand Cayman (GCM).

Here's an example of a solid use of AA miles: A nearly eight-hour flight between Singapore (SIN) and Sydney (SYD) in British Airways coach costs 30,000 miles plus $193 in taxes and fees.

This exact seat costs $865 in cash, giving you a value of more than 2.2 cents per mile. That's a remarkably high value for AA miles when booking a coach seat, despite the still-annoying amount of taxes and fees.

Use ExpertFlyer to track availability aboard British Airways and Qantas

ExpertFlyer monitors award inventory aboard both British Airways and Qantas. This means that if seats aren't available for your desired travel dates, you can set up alerts to be notified as soon as more award space is released.

Here's how it works: Go to the "Awards & Upgrades" tab from your dashboard and enter your travel details (travel date, origin and destination airports, etc.). When you reach the "Airline" box, remember to choose the airline you're flying, either British Airways or Qantas, not American Airlines.

Searching for that aforementioned business class flight between Tokyo (HND) and Sydney (SYD), you'll enter Qantas as the operating carrier and check the "Business - Award & Upgrade (U)" box in the fare class section. Premium members can also select "+/- 3 days" to search in one-week increments.

You'll be taken to search results that show how many award seats you can book (this usually aligns with the availability you'll find on the AA website, but you may occasionally find fewer seats available than booking directly with the operating carrier's rewards currency).

When you find the seat you want, simply head to aa.com to book it.

If there are no or not enough seats available, click the bell icon on the results page to set up an alert. When more seats are released, you'll be the first to know.

Our comprehensive guide on how to find American Airlines award space details calendar search tricks and partner availability quirks.

Bottom line

When using American Airlines miles to book travel aboard Qantas and British Airways, you'll get the most from your rewards by focusing on long-haul business- and first-class seats.

Finding a good deal for travel on British Airways is tricky, as it charges steep taxes and fees, which effectively lowers the value of your miles. Qantas doesn't typically do this, so you should have an easier time scoring an excellent deal. You can monitor seat availability on ExpertFlyer, so you'll be the first to know when highly contested award inventory is released.