A while ago, I booked a flight from Toronto – Chicago – Hong Kong – Denpasar on American and Cathay respectively, using AAdvantage miles. Everything was booked in Business. A couple months later, the Toronto – Chicago flight was downgraded to Economy, as there was an aircraft swap to an airplane without Business. American could not put me in Business that day.
I’ve written extensively on how you can convert Aeroplan points to US Airways Dividend Miles (USDM) at a 1:0.84 ratio. USDM miles offered excellent value, with interesting routing options, no fuel surcharges, and the option of waiting to convert them to AAdvantage miles with the US/AA merger. Unfortunately, the option to convert Aeroplan to USDM has disappeared from Points.com. This isn’t too surprising as the merger is coming soon, however, it would have been nice to have some notice. This was the only valuable option that Points.com offered, which I would now consider as a very poor tool in terms of value.
Going back home after a long trip, flying Cathay Pacific First Class from Johannesburg to Hong Kong, then to Chicago. Final flight on AA business class to Toronto.
Thanks for reading this trip report! Because I am posting the numerous parts of this report while I'm travelling, they will be published over the course of the next couple weeks. Enjoy!
A pretty good deal between YYZ-SFO/SAN/SEA, for $363CAD (round-trip, taxes included) on AA, wide availability until May 2015. You can search dates on ITA Matrix, book on AA.com (or Kayak.com).
