Oct 28, 2012, 8:27 pm
Last edit by: Microwave
Moderator Wikipost
For AA's announcement of their new One-Way Flex Awards, see: http://www.aa.com/i18n/amrcorp/newsr...FlexAwards.jsp
For AA's FAQ on the new One-Way Flex Awards, including the new stopover rule, see: http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...award_faqs.jsp
Note that free stopovers have been eliminated as of 8 April 2014, so that portion of this discussion is no longer current.
/AA Moderator Team
For AA's announcement of their new One-Way Flex Awards, see: http://www.aa.com/i18n/amrcorp/newsr...FlexAwards.jsp
For AA's FAQ on the new One-Way Flex Awards, including the new stopover rule, see: http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...award_faqs.jsp
Q: Do one-way awards include any stopovers?
A: Awards between North America and Europe, India, Asia, and Central / South America allow a stopover at the North American gateway. However, other one-way awards do not allow stopovers.
A: Awards between North America and Europe, India, Asia, and Central / South America allow a stopover at the North American gateway. However, other one-way awards do not allow stopovers.
/AA Moderator Team
New One-Way Flex Award / Awards, <NO> Stopover Rule, and Booking Engine (May 9, 2009)
May 10, 2009, 7:13 pm
#121
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
Worth calling AA to find out. Though I would imagine they say, your award was booked under the old rule, there was no redeposit of miles since travel was started.
May 10, 2009, 7:19 pm
#122
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 11,377
Yes, rules would be nice!
It doesn't necessarily entail staying in the destination for one year.
It is also of utility if, for example, one drives/takes the train one-way and flies the other. I am really happy about the 12.5K one-way US48/Canada award for the ability to return from Amtrak trips. Another use case is for those times when one wants to do a circle trip (even beyond what was once permitted on the 25K award).
May 10, 2009, 7:39 pm
#123
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
The one-way to us would be for the Transatlantic cruises - we dont have to throw away half the ticket, or to fully utilize the award ticket, then do the Transatlantic on both directions in same year, like we did last year - Apr sailed FLL to BCN, and then Oct sailed VCE to FLL.
But I still would rather have the stopovers. It is more valuable in terms of $ saved, than the one-way feature.
Try this itinerary, FLL-DFW-ANC, YVR-DFW-JAC, JAC-DFW-FLL - a mere 25K under the old rule but would cost $900 if pay, thanks to the expensive JAC.
But I still would rather have the stopovers. It is more valuable in terms of $ saved, than the one-way feature.
Try this itinerary, FLL-DFW-ANC, YVR-DFW-JAC, JAC-DFW-FLL - a mere 25K under the old rule but would cost $900 if pay, thanks to the expensive JAC.
May 10, 2009, 10:48 pm
#125
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: NYC/PSP
Programs: AA EXP, A3 Gold
Posts: 4,103
I agree.
An agent told me today that they were doing a "soft rollout", but while that is OK for good changes (one-way fares), it would be remarkably discourteous of AA to implement a bad change (such as adding luggage check-in fees, or eliminating award stopovers) secretly and without advance notice.
An agent told me today that they were doing a "soft rollout", but while that is OK for good changes (one-way fares), it would be remarkably discourteous of AA to implement a bad change (such as adding luggage check-in fees, or eliminating award stopovers) secretly and without advance notice.
May 10, 2009, 11:03 pm
#126
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SF Bay Area
Programs: AA LT PLT 3 MM+, BA (very) Blue, CO nobody
Posts: 2,640
A little too late for me - maybe next time
As I am retired, I am fortunate to be able to travel for longer than 1 month.
2 years running now I had to book the outbound flight in J when first available and later when I wanted to change my "fake" return to the real one (and be able to keep my original outbound) I had to go through a supervisor who redeposited the miles and issued new tickets (Thank you). Each time it cost me $150/pp but I was happy as each time my outbound flight would not have been available if I had waited.
Now I can book the one way outbound and wait till the correct return date and book it - saves me $300. Too bad about the stopovers though.
2 years running now I had to book the outbound flight in J when first available and later when I wanted to change my "fake" return to the real one (and be able to keep my original outbound) I had to go through a supervisor who redeposited the miles and issued new tickets (Thank you). Each time it cost me $150/pp but I was happy as each time my outbound flight would not have been available if I had waited.
Now I can book the one way outbound and wait till the correct return date and book it - saves me $300. Too bad about the stopovers though.
May 11, 2009, 12:14 am
#127
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SoCal; DO-RAGS: Old Gold tagged, PIP, LatPass 1/2, AA 4MM, HH LT Diamond, Marriott Titanium/LT Plat, Omni
Posts: 9,180
This change seems to undermine the way I mostly travel. For example, my mid-May LAX – CDG then AMS – LAX with a three day stopover in LHR looks to be dearer, miles-wise, if I understand correctly what has been taken away. However, one benefit is that when only coach is available one way you can cash miles for that portion, and redeem more miles for the available upgraded portion, so there’s less wastage.
That said, I think that I liked things how they were....with the exception of the ability to make multi-city awards on-line to avoid the telephone fees. That change is way overdue, and does sweeten this a tad.
That said, I think that I liked things how they were....with the exception of the ability to make multi-city awards on-line to avoid the telephone fees. That change is way overdue, and does sweeten this a tad.
May 11, 2009, 12:18 am
#128
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Slightly to the left of center
Posts: 3,475
May 11, 2009, 12:23 am
#129
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SoCal; DO-RAGS: Old Gold tagged, PIP, LatPass 1/2, AA 4MM, HH LT Diamond, Marriott Titanium/LT Plat, Omni
Posts: 9,180
Wow, hard hitting investigative reporting from USA Today…so it’s all good. Or, did they just have AA’s PR department write the piece to save money?
May 11, 2009, 12:44 am
#130
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Slightly to the left of center
Posts: 3,475
LOL, exactly. Withou the P.R, not sure there would even be a story. That said, they have that Ben Mutzabaugh guy over there (Today in the Sky blog-USA Today), and maybe when he gets in the office Monday morning he'll pick up where the article left off - in particular, the concerns brought up in this thread about open-jaws going bye-bye.
May 11, 2009, 2:22 am
#132
formerly known as Frugal Travel Guy
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Greenville, SC
Programs: UA Gold, HH Gold, SPG Gold, Marriott Silver, Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 1,925
LOL, exactly. Withou the P.R, not sure there would even be a story. That said, they have that Ben Mutzabaugh guy over there (Today in the Sky blog-USA Today), and maybe when he gets in the office Monday morning he'll pick up where the article left off - in particular, the concerns brought up in this thread about open-jaws going bye-bye.
And how does this change effect open jaws?
one way award LAX-MAD
one way award LHR-LAX?
If no increase over 1/2 of rt, what is the loss?
May 11, 2009, 5:37 am
#133
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: All over
Programs: Most
Posts: 10,839
May 11, 2009, 6:03 am
#134
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: PHX and LIH
Programs: AA: 2 MM
Posts: 85,518
http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,4213971.story
May 11, 2009, 6:10 am
#135
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,
Posts: 14,517
Here's what we get:
- Book one-way awards
- Combine saver & anytime levels in one ticket
- Combine coach & premium levels in one ticket
- Combine peak & off-peak levels in one ticket
- Book outbound & return at different times, avoiding hassles over Holds, when booking a long trip 330 out
- Book multi-destination awards online (avoiding phone fee)
- Stop over at US gateway city on both outbound & return
What we lose:
- Stopovers except for US gateway
I'm sure AA has all kinds of stats that most awards for travel (not counting upgrade awards which are unchanged) are for A-B-A rondtrips. There's no doubt that the Flyertalker is more likely than the general member to use stopovers on awards, so we may be more affected by this than most.
With any program change, if there is even the smallest change for the worse included, then there will be some pax for whom the change is overall negative. But this one, on balance, for most passengers, seems to be an overall improvement.
The change isn't perfect, but overall, I have to give AA a thumbs-up on this one.
- Book one-way awards
- Combine saver & anytime levels in one ticket
- Combine coach & premium levels in one ticket
- Combine peak & off-peak levels in one ticket
- Book outbound & return at different times, avoiding hassles over Holds, when booking a long trip 330 out
- Book multi-destination awards online (avoiding phone fee)
- Stop over at US gateway city on both outbound & return
What we lose:
- Stopovers except for US gateway
I'm sure AA has all kinds of stats that most awards for travel (not counting upgrade awards which are unchanged) are for A-B-A rondtrips. There's no doubt that the Flyertalker is more likely than the general member to use stopovers on awards, so we may be more affected by this than most.
With any program change, if there is even the smallest change for the worse included, then there will be some pax for whom the change is overall negative. But this one, on balance, for most passengers, seems to be an overall improvement.
The change isn't perfect, but overall, I have to give AA a thumbs-up on this one.