sciconf

I booked for myself in early Jan for a return trip from SFO. Now tried to add my junior to the same itn but CBR to SFO is unavailable.

AMEX MR does not book that far ahead. Chase UR wants 87k pts for that one way trip. This is for end of Aug. AA's lowest award is 40k pts for one way.

Is there a way to get a seat at lower award? Any workarounds?

Update:
- " lower award" - I meant 40k for CBR to SFO oneway.
- "the same itn but CBR to SFO is unavailable": say I have it on flight 123 and 245 from CBR to SFO - another seat is unavailable at the same award rate.
- MR and UR: I tried to buy one way using MR or UR on their travel web site using their points directly - I have enough AA miles so didn't have a need to transfer

arlflyer

You are looking for something lower than the 40k AA one-way award? What do you have in mind? When you say the itinerary is "unavailable", what do you mean? And what's this about MR and UR - why wouldn't you transfer those to an airline to redeem?

Whatever you're asking is pretty deeply buried here, probably too far for anyone to reasonably help you without some clarification...

sciconf

- " lower award" - I meant 40k for CBR to SFO one way.
- "the same itn but CBR to SFO is unavailable": say I have it on flight 123 and 245 from CBR/SYD to SFO - another seat is unavailable at the same award rate.
- MR and UR: I tried to buy one way using MR or UR on their travel web site using their points directly - I have enough AA miles so didn't have a need to transfer

Dave Noble

I am confused - where are you flying between? Canberra to San Francisco is 40k at lowest price.

If there is no X class, then you will need to purchase a ticket with cash or use a higher award level - but on AA flights only

sciconf

Yeah - one way on Priceline on the same flight cost over $1k

Dave Noble

$1k seems quite reasonable for that journey. If wanting to use miles at a higher rate, check how many miles it would cost just to book the SYD-LAX-SFO on AA and then purchase a ticket/see if there is a regular award on CBR-SYD

arlflyer

Agreed, especially if you're earning any reasonable amount of mileage on it.

Don't think it would help here but just throwing it out - as a last resort one could consider a routing through HKG (2 separate AA redemptions or a combination of paid and redemption).

sciconf

I am wondering maybe Qantas will have the tickets available for miles (I booked through AA on Qantas metal) - if so, which points are easier to move to Qantas - I have zero on Qantas?

One way Qantas points is 167,800 for Saver award for that day!
Economy Classic Reward 45k for a different day

Economy Classic Reward does not even show up for the preferred day of my travel (the one I already booked via AA) - for other days it shows as no seats available or 45k

Dave Noble

If Qantas is asking for 165k points, then there are no seats available in booking class X

If you want to use AA miles, then you would need to book on another day where award bookings are available

Alternatively pay the $1000 for a ticket, which seems fairly reasonable a price

platbrownguy

For some reason you are surprised that an award seat is not available for a specific routing, at the lowest rate, on a specific date of travel. It is common for a specific routing to be unavailable for months on end at the lowest rate, so perhaps your expectations are far afield from the current reality of redemption programs.

JClasstraveller

Early January is peak summer school holiday season ex Australia.

$1000 one way is cheap. And that's why there's no availability on awards.

deeruck

I think the OP is trying to purchase a trip for August.

IME you have to be flexible about which route you take across the Pacific. You might get lucky between now and August, but I'd be taking Dave Noble's advice and using cash for the ticket at that price.