Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - AA.com.au Booking Help

Hi everyone,
I originally posted this in the AA forum but haven't received any help. I'm hoping the Aus AA members that lurk here may know more. @:-)

On the AA.com.au site, I'm fiddling with the SYD-NYC itins that route via NRT.

I can get them to come up with no problem, but I want to take advantage of the one free stopover that is permitted in NRT. When I use multi-city to book SYD-NRT, NRT-NYC, NYC-SYD the price jumps a few hundred dollars.

Fare rules for stopovers are listed as:
1 - psgr p1 web rules display
fare component 1 adt sydnyc aa o7pafs pu 1 s
fcl: o7pafs trf: 3 rule: pa50 bk: o
ptc: adt-adult ftc: xab-super/special adv purchase
so.stopovers
from/to australia for o7pafs type fares note - general
rule does not apply

1 free stopover permitted in nrt airport.

1 - psgr p1 web rules display
fare component 2 adt nycsyd aa nkrtitj pu 1 s
fcl: nkrtitj trf: 3 rule: usit bk: n
ptc: adt-adult ftc: xap-advance purchase excursion
so.stopovers
from/to australia for nkrtitj type fares note - general
rule does not apply

1 free stopover permitted in tyo/nyc/chi/dfw/lax.


Any idea how to get the stop over work?

Also, the outbound fare basis is listed as O7PAFS and inbound is NKRTITJ. That means the fare class (which, unlike the AA US site, is not directly listed) are O and N?

Cheers! :)

Any idea how to get the stop over work?

Call AA or a TA?

On the AA.com.au site, I'm fiddling with the SYD-NYC itins that route via NRT.

I can get them to come up with no problem, but I want to take advantage of the one free stopover that is permitted in NRT. When I use multi-city to book SYD-NRT, NRT-NYC, NYC-SYD the price jumps a few hundred dollars.

Also, the outbound fare basis is listed as O7PAFS and inbound is NKRTITJ. That means the fare class (which, unlike the AA US site, is not directly listed) are O and N?Correct (on the fare classes). When you do the multi-step SYD-NRT-JFK, what fare class does it give you from NRT-JFK?

(1) It may be there is no 'O' inventory on that leg on the day you're looking at (what days are you looking at?).
(2) It may also be a 'married pair' issue (meaning the fare / inventory class is only available as a through fare), though arguably it should be available if a stopover is permitted.
(3) Note also that O7PAFS is not a published AA fare (at least EF doesn't think so) so I suspect that if you try to book NRT-JFK you will never be able to get that fare (or any 'O' fare) because AA does not publish an "O" fare NRT-JFK - you can only buy it as the thorough fare from SYD. As soon as you split it into 2 flights (on the website), you can't buy that fare class ex-NRT. "O" inventory is available on AA flights ex-NRT, you just can't book that inventory if you're originating in NRT.

To solve the problem, you'd have to call AA.

Correct (on the fare classes). When you do the multi-step SYD-NRT-JFK, what fare class does it give you from NRT-JFK?

Each flights shows up as "O" class.

I wouldn't be concerned except that I would like this to qualify for the AA NRT promo (15K bonus miles for biz and first, 10K for economy), and the T&C stipulate the flights must be in the same fare class.

In case anyone else has this problem, AAgents told me the AA Aus website is just a few months old and very, very buggy. (Plus it's on a more simple and less helpful user interface compared to the US site.)

The AAgents at the Aus booking number are helpful, but definitely do research into knowing what dates, flights, and fare classes work.

Best pricing options in Aus are out of MEL, SYD and PER (maybe BNE too--didn't do much research). NYC is the best-priced destination on the East Coast, so if you need to fly out of another Aus city or to another US city you will likely save quite a bit (possibly thousands ;)) if you book the domestic segment separate from the international.

The AA Aus website (in my limited experience) does give better fare options and also better fare classes (i.e. classes that earn 50% or 100% of miles on AA, compared to 0% or 50%). Best to place an itin on hold with the AAgents and check the website over a few days in case things change.