Europe
How to Use American Airline Miles on British Airways
When the US government approved the partnership between American and British Airways, it made the carriers agree that American’s airline miles would not be valid for transatlantic travel on British Airways, and that travel on British Airways would not earn American’s AAdvantage airline miles.
This is too bad, because British Airways has much better Business and First Class seats than American.
The way around this disAAdvantage is to use American’s airline miles to fly British Airways from Canada or the Caribbean, as the ban only applies to flights originating in the US.
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British Airways flies to London from Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal; several Caribbean cities too (you’ll get the American Airlines connecting ticket free).
We checked numerous dates from British Airways’ Canadian gateways and found very good availability.
Ask for a stopover and you can have a nice side-trip at one of the Canadian gateways. Unfortunately, Caribbean stopovers not allowed.
Route through Canada or the Caribbean and the cost is the same -- Business Class costs 90,000 airline miles, and First Class costs 125,000 airline miles.
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