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No int'l. AA saaver or SWU availability 11+ days out – Being resolved? (Nov 2014)

No int'l. AA saaver or SWU availability 11+ days out – Being resolved? (Nov 2014)

Old Nov 25, 2014, 12:46 pm
  #16  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Kansas City, MO
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 3,643
Is there anyone here on FT with inside info on AA? Anyone who really knows what is going on? JonNYC, you seem to intimate that you have some insider connections. Can you ask your sources what is really going on?

If AA has truly changed their award program then I will go ahead and use up all mine and my husband's 600K+ points on F award tix on one of the partners that one can actually get an award seat on. Any suggestions where we should go???
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 12:50 pm
  #17  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: SAN
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Posts: 1,260
I have been checking for 5 months now for availability from GRU-SAN the week of Jan 28 and returning March 1 and nothing available until approx 7 days out.
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 12:54 pm
  #18  
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: wurtulla,queensland,australia
Programs: hh diamond,Qantas club life,AA EX-explat.SPG plat.
Posts: 1,431
This lack of sAAver awards has been present for quite some time.Around the end of July I began looking for F sAAvers NRT-USA.I am yet to see one for 2015.I ended up deciding this trip was to be our paid DONE 4 for the year.
Have another trip in Sept/OCT.No AA sAAver awards have appeared from Asia and none GYE-MIA.No agent has known about any change in policy even when told that this situation has been going on for months.
So my CC and SPG points are now going to SQ and lifemiles.
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:02 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by Laura782
Just adding two more points in time for reference: Looked up various options NYC-Europe (am very flexible) for the last week of April and first week of May 2015 on Thursday, November 20th. Tons of AA metal options available. So many, that I decided to hold off on a decision until the weekend.

Went back over the weekend and my options were gone.
Excellent example!

Originally Posted by tys90
David Koenig (AP airline reporter) has said this on twitter:



Not sure if he's a user here or what his reputation is but I'd like to at least trust him somewhat on that statement.
That sounds like potentially great news-- will wait for conformation, but, thanks for reporting it!

<redacted>

Last edited by Microwave; Nov 26, 2014 at 4:17 am Reason: Removed quote of and reply to deleted post
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:09 pm
  #20  
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 136
What happens if an initial booking made several months out is on a partner that levies fuel surcharges on awards (e.g., BA) yet as the travel date approaches, we are able to switch at T-11 to an AA metal flight? Would we get a refund of the fuel surcharges? (Something tells me the answer is "no.") But if the YQ is refunded, this could be an effective strategy (especially for Y tickets) if the current situation becomes the "new normal."
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:16 pm
  #21  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 158
Originally Posted by drron
This lack of sAAver awards has been present for quite some time.Around the end of July I began looking for F sAAvers NRT-USA.I am yet to see one for 2015.I ended up deciding this trip was to be our paid DONE 4 for the year.
Have another trip in Sept/OCT.No AA sAAver awards have appeared from Asia and none GYE-MIA.No agent has known about any change in policy even when told that this situation has been going on for months.
So my CC and SPG points are now going to SQ and lifemiles.
That's not exactly the same thing. I've had plenty of trouble finding MIA-SCL business space, for example, over the last year or so.

What's different about this situation is that something changed on Friday. e.g. MIA - MGA was available all throughout February as of Thursday, but suddenly NOTHING by Friday night.

Our further confirmations that this applies to ALL international routes on AA metal 11+ days out most likely have nothing to do with your route-specific and class-specific concerns. AA is just sometimes stingy with award space. We're seeing more than just stinginess (sp?) here. Did availability change for you on Friday? Like, space was there, and then suddenly nothing? That's what we're talking about.
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:37 pm
  #22  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: New York
Programs: AA EXP 1.0mm, not sure where I am with hotels these days
Posts: 2,795
Originally Posted by JonNYC
To amplify-- members on travelingbetter and my AA Facebook group have also, similarly, reported a sudden, unmistakable and kind of shocking withdrawal of milesAAver inventory during/after the past weekend schedule change load.

They've both posted and PMd-- dozens and dozens of credible (to me) reports that there has been a dramatic and unprecedented elimination of milesAAver award space-- no one can (or should) be confusing this with the standard ebb and flow and mysterious workings of revenue management, etc.

As well, major bloggers have all noticed, covered and received reports from readers all reporting same.

This is NOT your standard Tuesday afternoon "the AAdvantage sky is falling" thread-- not in any way. This would represent the biggest change to AAdvantage's competitive position since I first attained AA elite status in 2001.

Hopefully AA will answer very shortly, and maybe this thread will help.
What I just noticed today however is that a route that I'm particularly interested in (JFK-GRU) has quite a bit of near term inventory of 20k/30k economy including the direct flight. When you hit the 17th, you have some drips and drabs of availability including J and Y for saver with the lower miles - however to VCP, not GRU. On the return after say the 30th, the saver is available, but at the elevated "we don't have blackout periods" de-facto blackout period - 75k one way economy.

So perhaps on some routes they are easing into higher award requirements.
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:46 pm
  #23  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 158
Originally Posted by george 3
What I just noticed today however is that a route that I'm particularly interested in (JFK-GRU) has quite a bit of near term inventory of 20k/30k economy including the direct flight. When you hit the 17th, you have some drips and drabs of availability including J and Y for saver with the lower miles - however to VCP, not GRU. On the return after say the 30th, the saver is available, but at the elevated "we don't have blackout periods" de-facto blackout period - 75k one way economy.

So perhaps on some routes they are easing into higher award requirements.
Did you check whether those are on AA or partner metal?
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:53 pm
  #24  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
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I can attest that there are zero MileSaAver awards more than 7 days out from GRU - SAN for months in advance. In fact - there's none at all.
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:54 pm
  #25  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 158
I tweeted to Mr. Koenig thanking him for reaching out to ask about this, and he tweeted back!

@davidsokol @jamesb2147 That's what we're here for. @AmericanAir's chief spokesman assured us today it'll be fixed.

Thanks to Mr. Koenig for the update. Thanks again to cys for pointing me in the direction of Mr. Koenig and bringing his original tweet to the attention of this thread.
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:54 pm
  #26  
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Originally Posted by drron
This lack of sAAver awards has been present for quite some time.Around the end of July I began looking for F sAAvers NRT-USA.I am yet to see one for 2015.I ended up deciding this trip was to be our paid DONE 4 for the year.
Have another trip in Sept/OCT.No AA sAAver awards have appeared from Asia and none GYE-MIA.No agent has known about any change in policy even when told that this situation has been going on for months.
....
As pointed out, that's distinctly different than the temporary. from-this-weekend glitch that's being discussed in this thread.
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 1:56 pm
  #27  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
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It will be interesting to see what happens on Wednesday. In my opinion you can no longer compare the AAdvantage program with other FF programs using SAAver awards as the basis. I now consider the Anytime award level as the defacto currency of AAdvantage.

Unfortunately, this does not compare well with other programs. If the lack of SAAver holds up I am definitely better moving to another program. Since I make 5 trips to Europe and 5 trips to deep South America (SCL, EZE, GRU) in business class I can easily make top status on any airline and the revenue system works in my favor given the new reality of no/little SAAver availability.

I already have tickets for my trip to Zurich next week and to SCL in January but if things do not change I will be flying a different airline to Europe in February.

Last edited by DevilDawg1960; Nov 25, 2014 at 2:59 pm
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 2:20 pm
  #28  
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: London UK
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Mile SAAver inventory has returned - panic over!

I've been checking LHR-DFW for March. Last week there was lots of saver inventory then it all disappeared. Just checked again now and it has re-appeared - U1 C2 T7 on AA81 LHR-DFW for the date I'm looking at in March
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 2:43 pm
  #29  
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
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Originally Posted by jamesb2147
I tweeted to Mr. Koenig thanking him for reaching out to ask about this, and he tweeted back!

@davidsokol @jamesb2147 That's what we're here for. @AmericanAir's chief spokesman assured us today it'll be fixed.

Thanks to Mr. Koenig for the update. Thanks again to cys for pointing me in the direction of Mr. Koenig and bringing his original tweet to the attention of this thread.
One of the good things about social media is that even when customers attempt and fail to get the attention of the company-operated social channels, the news media is more easily accessible. Industry beat reporters usually have the contacts and clout to get to the bottom of the issue quickly (even if the news is bad). This is a good example. Now we can all go back to panicking about the storm in the Eastern US tomorrow.
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Old Nov 25, 2014, 3:24 pm
  #30  
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: St. Louis, MO
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It's not international premium class, but I am pleased to report that STX-MIA Y award availability that I was looking at and that mysteriously vanished over the weekend has returned.
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