I just booked a flight on AA using some expiring Asiamiles two days ago. Getting through to someone on the Asiamiles hotline is really tough. When I tried to call around 9:30 to 10:30 AM Eastern, I had to wait at least 45 minutes on hold before someone picked up.

When I again tried to call to confirm the booking starting around midnight of June 30 (My miles were expiring that day), I always kept getting the "all are busy" message until past 2 AM, when I was able to get through immediately without being put on hold.

BTW, on my first call, the agent quoted taxes/fuel surcharge of about ~550 HKD for an LGA-STL-LGA flight. I checked what AA would have charged for an AAdvantage award, and it would just have been $5 for the two segments. I asked the agent to verify this fee before I will confirm the reservation, and she said that they'll email me the information the next day. When the email came, it only quotes a fee of 40 HKD, which is roughly equivalent to $5.