One concept that separates beginners from those more experienced in the miles and points game is understanding the value of different points currencies and how those can be leveraged for partner awards. A partner award is using the points of one airline to fly another – one of their partners within an airline alliance or a separate partnership. This can feel counterintuitive at first and may even appear complex or difficult but with the power of transferrable points it is actually very easy and can save you a significant number of points when booking award travel.
In this example, I am looking for a business class ticket from New York to London next April 7th. American Airlines and British Airways (BA) both fly this route and for booking with points we want to focus on the American flights to avoid the ridiculous surcharges on BA flights. The one-way cash price in business class for this flight is currently $1,958. How much value can we get out of our points?
In this specific example I’ll compare 4 different options, American miles and three which could all be transferred from Amex Membership Rewards points: Alaska*, Qantas, and British Airways). Note that Alaska is not a direct transfer partner of Amex, but currently you can transfer to Hawaiian Airlines then to Alaska. This option will likely go away very soon. Qantas points are also available via CapitalOne or Citi, and BA Avios can be converted from all of the major transferrable points currencies. Alaska and BA are also transfer partners of Bilt.
American
Booking direct with American miles is both possible and reasonable for 60.5k miles and only $5.60 in taxes, which works out to 3.2 cents per point (cpp) value.
British Airways
BA Avios come in at a similar points price, 62k, but at a completely uncompetitive $1,058 in taxes and fees. That works out to a weak 1.45cpp value on the points.
Qantas
Qantas comes in at a lower 57k in points but with moderate taxes and fees of $239. This comes in right at 3cpp value which is solid but not spectacular.
Alaska
Last up is Alaska with a fantastic rate of 45k miles and ~$19 in taxes and fees ($5.6 and their standard $12.50 partner booking fee). This option turns out to be the best overall value at 4.3cpp
Which would I choose?
The obvious answer would seem to be Alaska. As long as the Amex to Hawaiian to Alaska window remains open, or you have a large stash of Bilt points, this is a great option. Since American is not (yet) a transfer partner with any of the bank currencies (hopefully soon with Citi!) I would only consider booking that way if I had a large number of American miles in my account already and limited options to get the Alaska miles. Both of these options have the nice benefit of free changes or cancellation (minus the $12.50 partner booking fee if you cancel with Alaska).
While not this exact route, I just booked a slightly longer distance return flight from Europe for spring break next year also flying on American. I was excited to find 4 seats in business class on the same flight from Europe back to the US, including the domestic leg in American first class back home to St Louis, for only 55k Alaska miles per person. Thanks to a recent influx of Hawaiian miles and the ability to combine them into one account (that I wrote about here) and then convert to Alaska miles, I was well-stocked to be able to jump on this deal.
TL;DR: Understanding the value of different points currencies and leveraging partner awards can help you book flights for fewer points. Comparing four options for booking an American flight using American miles or Amex Membership Rewards points transferred to Alaska (via Hawaiian), British Airways, or Qantas highlights the importance of exploring partner awards for better value. The best choice here turned out to be Alaska miles at 4.3cpp value.
Hmmm-and what are the usual and real chances of finding an AA business flight from NY to London at saver on any of these airlines…pretty low in 2025 (but was great kn 2015!). Even booking when the schedule opens, it’s grim. Do you have a different experience?
I just looked at September of this year and found 16 and 18 days respectively with saver availability (45k on Alaska and 57.5k on American) on this route. Many dates required a connection domestically, i.e. New York to Boston or Miami (in domestic first) to London (in business) but it didn’t change the points price. BA has more space available, but the surcharges are horrible. One option to reduce them with Amex points is to use Cathay Pacific miles.