American Airlines Sale: New York – Vancouver for 15,000 Miles in Business Class!
American Airlines currently has a web special sale on fares between east and west coast cities. But this sale appears to work for Vancouver, Canada as well!
Price is 5,000 miles plus in taxes in economy class. But with domestic first / business class for only 10,000 more miles, should you stick with economy? I’ll break down the numbers below.
The Deal
Cost
In the NYC – YVR direction, price for the cheapest ticket (Web specials) are 15,000 miles plus taxes at $5.60 USD or $7.40 CAD.
While it also costs the same 15,000 miles departing from Vancouver, you will have to pay the Canadian departure taxes. This means the taxes will come out to $68.56 CAD or $51.92 USD.
Availability
January – August 2021. There are fewer dates available during holidays and summer.
Routing
Available for all 3 major New York airports: JFK, Newark (EWR), LaGuardia (LGA) plus Westchester County (HPN).
There are at least 1 connection points. And they usually connect via Dallas-Forth Worth (DFW) or Chicago O’Hare (ORD), both AA hubs. American’s premium trans-continental products in Flagship First and Flagship Business (i.e. NYC-LAX) are not available as connections. So travel will be in non-lie flat domestic first or business equipment combinations such as E175, A321, or 737 equipment.
Free 5 Day Reservation Holding
Don’t forget, award tickets are eligible for 5 day reservation holds. So you have 5 days to decide if you want to book this trip and consider all COVID-related travel restrictions and logistics. Lock in your price now!
Is a Good Deal?
Let’s do some math. The Points Guy values each American AAdvantage mile at 1.4 cents, equating 15,000 miles to $210 USD, or $277.28 CAD. A round trip ticket in business, including taxes, will cost an equivalent of $537.52 USD or $630.52 CAD. That is a great deal!
Let’s do the math for economy class as well. At 5,000 miles, that’s a base value of $70 USD or $92.43 CAD one way, putting the value at $192.52 USD or $260.82 CAD round trip.
Comparison with Cash Purchase
Let’s compare the web award special sale to cash purchase for a round trip ticket.
A quick Google Flights search shows $800 USD in business or $229 USD in economy,
So, using miles, you’d be saving an equivalent of $262.48 USD in business, but only $36.48 in economy. You should book business class using miles!
