Earning and using AAdvantage miles in Europe

Through the one world alliance Aadvantage members can both earn and use miles on other airlines. For example I live in Europe and can use the following airlines with pretty much the same benefits as if I was flying on American:

• British Airways
• Iberia
• FinnAir
• AerLingus

This means that I can earn and use miles on these airlines. I just have to remember to give them my AAdvantage number when I buy or check in.

I do have to say of these Iberia is the worst for earning miles as they only give 30% of the miles flown for economy class flights. Their service is notoriously offensive as well. That said they are as good as anyone else for using miles, so it would not be a bad idea to use them for a trip to the Canaries which costs only 20,000 miles from a European location.

If you are Platinum you have all the benefits of priority check in and lounge access with the above airlines. The only problem is the lack of any real upgrade scheme. However I have heard of people being able to sweet talk their way to one.

To use the miles go to this relatively new award chart on the AA web site.