Anywhere American Airline Flies

August 18, 2008 10:41 AM

Where to travel with the follow criteria: expensive flight, strong dollar, late fall or winter trip, and under a week to visit.

I have gobs of American Airlines miles that I need to burn by February. Where can we go to maximize the value of our flight?

About Us: Mr. 26.2 and I are both seasoned travelers and have been to most of the typical spots in Europe and Mexico, but I'd love suggestions for places there if the dollar is strong. We like art museums, libraries, theater and hiking. We can enjoy touristy stuff, but prefer to have a more authentic experience. We like to relax with locals - a picnic in the park is fine by us. I'd love a place where we would not have to rent a car.

We're late thirties, no kids. He's fluent in Spanish. I can understand basic French and Italian, but have trouble responding quickly.

This should be a relaxing trip, because we've had a stressful couple of months. I'd like to skip the more stressful/sketchy destinations this trip, but I also don't want to safely tucked away into a Club Med resort either.

posted by 26.2 to travel & transportation (20 comments total)

Lake Como was nice. And the dollar should be stronger by fall. It's got everything you mentioned. But I have no idea about the resorts there since we stayed at someone's house.
posted by Zambrano at 10:44 AM on August 18, 2008

Belize?
Costa Rica?
posted by caddis at 10:50 AM on August 18, 2008

Argentina? Buenos Aires meets all your criteria (AA flies there as well) and is generally awesome to boot. As an aside if your miles work on LAN you can fly internally to Argentina as well and see loads more places. I could recommend it all day but feel free to ask if you have any specific questions.
posted by true at 10:54 AM on August 18, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Buenos Aires, Argentina. Expensive flight. "Opposite" weather during fall and winter. Lots of culture, lots of walking everywhere, lots of locals. Knowing Spanish is a huge help.

I think there's been some inflation recently but the dollar should still be quite strong. I don't know how relaxing it will be, but it will surely be interesting. I'm sure someone else can chime in with more.
posted by Theloupgarou at 10:54 AM on August 18, 2008

@true: jinx
posted by Theloupgarou at 10:55 AM on August 18, 2008

If you fly using AA miles to South America, try to fly on LAN, the sister airline. I recently flew to Chile and on one leg flew AA and the other leg flew LAN Chile internationally, and the difference in the level of service in economy is remarkable.

On AA's international leg, you might as well have been on a domestic flight, never mind the 10 hour flight. No video monitor in front of you, pathetic food / drinks, sour flight attendents who hid behind curtains. LAN Chile was wonderful - in seat entertainment center, much better meals.

If you really have a ton of miles, use them to fly business class, but note they now charge a significant fee on top of using the miles for international business class (I think $300). Gone are those days you'd just use 25K to upgrade from South America.
posted by HeyAllie at 11:03 AM on August 18, 2008

I vote Argentina I am heading there next spring for my honeymoon.
posted by hexxed at 11:14 AM on August 18, 2008

Someplace in SE Asia? Thailand is known for beaches, but there's a lot of great cultural stuff as well - Chiang Mai is perfect for the mix of culture and hiking. And it's seriously one of the easiest places in the world to travel. Cambodia, of course, has Angkor Wat. Vietnam and Bali are also good options. And forget picnics in the park - nothing compares to a bustling SE Asian night market for amazing local food experiences.

The major downside is that the flights are long and there's a huge time difference, which could be annoying with such a short trip. But you are in California, so you may be able to get a direct flight.
posted by lunasol at 11:16 AM on August 18, 2008

Came in to suggest Buenos Aires.

Can you use your miles to book on another OneWorld airline/partner of AA by using the advanced search function on the AA website, or just by calling the reservations office? If the flights had AA flight numbers/operated as a codeshare, you could fly LAN (wiki page of destinations), you might have a better choice of flights. LAN flies to Lima from LAX, not nonstop to Buenos Aires, so northwest South America is open to you as well: Ecuador's close and pretty compact.

Closer nonstop-from-LA options include San Jose, Costa Rica, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Also: could you book the trip by February for use later, or do you have to travel by then as well?
posted by mdonley at 11:29 AM on August 18, 2008

New Zealand. It's so far away that if you don't go now via the air miles, you'll probably never go. The US dollar is strong there, and from the sound of the things you're looking for, you'd enjoy it.
You wouldn't need to rent a car, but I think it would be worthwhile to do so.
posted by -harlequin- at 11:37 AM on August 18, 2008

(Also, New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere, so it's summer there when it's winter here)
posted by -harlequin- at 11:41 AM on August 18, 2008

AA flies to a number of South American destinations. I'd agree with the posters who are suggesting Buenos Aires, mostly because I've always wanted to go there. I have several friends who have been there and loved it.

If you have enough miles, you should book an award ticket in business class. HeyAllie incorrectly states that they charge a hefty copay for using the miles in business class. That is only true if you are using miles to upgrade a paid coach ticket - if you are booking a business class award ticket, there is no fee.

I would book your ticket soon, because there are changes to the number of miles required to book a ticket that go into effect Oct. 1. However, you can book the ticket at the current award levels before Sept. 30 for travel up to a year from then.

You might also consider Russia, as AA now has nonstop flights to Moscow. From what I've heard on the FlyerTalk forums the flights aren't very full in business, so you should be able to get a business class award ticket fairly easily. I don't think the dollar is all that strong against the ruble right now, though.
posted by bedhead at 11:44 AM on August 18, 2008

We went to Argentina in October for our honeymoon. Great weather that time of year, very cheap, fantastic food, friendly locals. We particularly enjoyed this place. I think it ran $100 USD per night, which included a lot of really cool activities, including Argentine cooking lessons, wine tasting, horseback tours, etc.

If you can make it by the first week of October, definitely, definitely go to Oktoberfest.
posted by electroboy at 11:45 AM on August 18, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I was going to say what bedhead did about AA jacking up requirements starting in October.

But I'd worry about going to Moscow unless the dollar strengthens against the euro. I found the city quite expensive when I was there last year. Many of the ATMs gave you a choice between USD, euro, and ruble. Then again, given the sabre rattling between the US/EU and Russia these days, that might not be the best place to go (or the strife could give the tourist's buying power).

Be flexible with your schedule. When I had to go to Costa Rica to meet friends on specific days, I had to fly business class (70K miles each) and rather than go through Dallas, awards tickets were only on the flights through Miami which wouldn't be so back except living in Austin, I have to go through DFW to go anywhere, and with layover in DFW and a weather delay in Miami it was a long day. I went back a few months later on a flight from DFW flying economy with short layovers at DFW each time. [the flight suggester computer actually suggested a flight from AUS-LAX-MIA-SJC which included an overnight stay in LA. Gee, thanks AA.com... having said that, the newish web pages to find the lowest miles required for travel is great most of the time].

I'm in a similar position with AA miles and am probably going to S.America. Just trying to narrow down whether it is BA or somewhere else, and when I can go.
posted by birdherder at 1:12 PM on August 18, 2008

Costa Rica for sure ... I was there earlier this year, and it's great. But when you've settled on a specific time for your trip, be sure to check the weather. We were there in March, which is the (relatively) dry season,
posted by jc1745 at 2:26 PM on August 18, 2008

Oh, these are all great ideas. Thanks so much!

It seems that we have something of a consensus about Buenos Aires. It's someplace I wouldn't have thought of myself, but it sounds good. Neither one of us has traveled at all in South America. I could also see Belize, Costa Rica or somewhere on the Pacific rim as the destination(s). I'd love Lake Como, but I think that will be saved for a longer tour of Italy. (I get 6 weeks of vacation, but he only gets 2. Longer trips are really tough for us to plan.)

I'll go over the list with Mr 26.2 tonight; then we'll split up our top 5 or 6 choices and research them.

Thanks to everyone that pointed out the AA was changing their policy. I didn't realize that AA was going to change the ticketing requirements. AA and I had a falling out last year on my return trip for Ireland.
mdonley - I'm burning these miles while I still have Elite status which will end in February.
posted by 26.2 at 3:17 PM on August 18, 2008

I nth Argentina -- when I went there, I had a wonderful time. Things are cheaper than in the US, but it felt like a very nice and respectable (not shady) place, and the food was really amazing. If you're traveling for a while (2 weeks is a decent time, if that's what you're planning to take), check out other destinations in the surrounding areas -- Iguazu falls is a good place to visit for a bit.

When I flew there, it was on a AA flight which somewhat sucked and was delayed. But if you have lots of AA miles, you already know how they are.
posted by bsdfish at 3:34 PM on August 18, 2008

If you're elite on AA and you are traveling in international business class, you will have lounge access on the dates of travel. Make sure you take advantage of that and make sure they give you your drink coupons when you check in to the club. If you are going LAX-DFW-EZE, you can get lounge access in both LAX and DFW on the outbound in the Admiral's Club, and DFW is greatly improved for connections - they have a newish monorail that gets you between terminals quickly.

I am Executive Platinum on AA and have a million and a half lifetime miles with them, so I am ridiculously well-versed with their lounge access policies and all manner of other AA policy esoterica, so please feel free to MefiMail me if you want some help planning your trip! One of my favorite pastimes is gaming their system. :-)
posted by bedhead at 5:35 PM on August 18, 2008

If you do end up heading to Argentina, you must read the seminal Argentina on Two Steaks a Day.
posted by mdonley at 11:38 AM on August 19, 2008

Thailand is so much fun in December-January (when it is snowing in the US). The country and the food are exotic, the people are very friendly, and traveling around is (relatively) safe. You could take a non-flight tour when you are there, with Explore - my favorite off-the-beaten-track tour company.
posted by Susurration at 6:30 PM on August 21, 2008