In the last six months, I have tried to book three award tickets from Miami to Madrid (one AA flight, several Iberia flights) on three separate dates. Each time I have had to make a minimum of 5 calls [seeking to find a professional agent that would not say "sorry, there is nothing" after searching for 30 seconds, "but you can use twice as many miles" or "let me give you the price of a paying ticket"]. Each time, I would give them a choice of dates, at least seven days for each inbound/outbound. My dates were not that "hot" (middle of March, middle of April, late June).
Once, I was able to fly through San Juan, Puerto Rico, a city apparently not known to the first three agents I talked to. On another occassion, after being told the direct flight was not available, I asked her to check through San Juan, then JFK, then ORD, then DFW. Finally, she understood the meaning of the words "other optional routes" and I did not need to mention any more cities. She was able to come up with a MIA-DFW-FRA-MAD that required 26 hours for what could be a 7.5 hr. flight. I forgot if there were other strings attached, as I said "No, thank you" after an exhausting 1.5 hours.
The experience has been utterly frustrating, to the point of having determined that either the airline has reduced award inventory drastically, that given the cuts in the last few years, or the free ticket promotions, or both, the inventory of miles way exceeds seat inventory, or that they are seeking to increase revenue/reduce their free mile liability by making us use twice as many miles. In any case, the value of the AAdvantage program is deteriorating rapidly.
The logical consequence is that loyalty is suffering. Those of us that were
loyal to a program [I am a Platinum member, on my way to Exec. Platinum with 60,000 miles flown or booked YTD] feel that there is an implied promise that you can use the miles accumulated, perhaps not on the specific date requested, but within a few days, as long as no other restriction exists, such as approaching holiday times. Award availability is the key reason for loyalty to a program, above upgrades, priority check-in, quality of airline food, courtesy of the ground/flight staff, etc. It is number one, period. You do not need to have a MBA in Airline Service to understand that, yet AA does nothing about it.
Mind you, I had to fly to Europe on flights 75% full this past winter for business reasons, after I had tried to book an award ticket without success [thus deciding to delay my vacation] and could not help but wonder why AA chose to not release more FF inventory. Now, I understand they have computerized controls and loads of data on booking patterns, but I wonder how useful they will be if a competitor steals customers with a better FF program.
I think of it in terms of market positioning. If at the left-hand side of your target market you have the discount airlines, without a comparable FF program, hurting you with their strength (low costs, limited routes) and you have the right-hand side all to yourself (FF program with loyal customers), why are you fighting with your weak attributes and at the same time neglecting your strengths? You cannot be a low-cost airline (I do not think you want to be one) because it is a war you are going to lose, and nothing differentiates you from any of the other majors. I know, you do temporary things like Fly Three, Fly Free (that nobody can use later on because you do not adjust your availability for it), which everyone else copies anyway, yet neglect an opportunity to do something of substance that makes you stand out.
I have cancelled my plans for two business-class trips to Europe and to Brazil with AA. If I cannot use my miles, al least I will fly the most convenient route with the best service carrier.