Originally Posted by
FlyerTalkUserName
Yeah the fact that they won't release space close-in is really frustrating. YMMV, but 6 months out I find UA and AA to be essentially the same on saver award availability. A week from departure though UA wins all day long.
I wish I had the same observation as you.
I am checking international. Perhaps your experience is for domestic?
I have checked for business class or first saver awards close-in and for months up until AA chart stops next year, without success.
AA displays an entire month, month by month, if you select that choice. You will see that there are usually no business or first class saver awards available.
Occasionally, but rarely, I found that AA has one saver award sprinkled between blocked off saver awards.
When you click on the supposed premium saver award, you will see that the business or first award that is offered is either at a remote airport or that the domestic portion is in coach while the international portion is in business or first. This was never the case until the past several months since AA decided to devalue its loyalty program and also decided that AA's customer base should be treated with disdain.
Let me take this opportunity to remind AA (I assume that AA reads these posts) that by blocking business and saver awards, AA is not only hurting AA customers, AA is shooting itself in the foot with respect to what AA is doing to Citibank and Barclay Bank.
Those two AA sponsor banks paid AA millions of dollars for purchasing miles from AA to give to bank credit card customers. As the first quarter SEC report confirms, the effect of AA blocking saver awards has caused AA customers to markedly stop using the AA sponsored credit cards, and/or canceling the AA sponsored credit cards and/or not signing up for new credit cards because the miles earned from credit cards has become unrealistic to exchange for an "any time" award.
The bank credit cards offer 30 or 40 thousand miles for new credit card customers while the miles required for a business or first ticket is no less than
110,000 for a one-way ticket in business to 195,000 miles (one-way) in business, depending on the whim of AA when the mileage requirement for the so-called award is determined.
Using AA's current mileage requirement (with AA blocking meaningful saver awards), a bank credit card customer will have to spend on the credit card about one quarter of one million dollars (or more) to obtain a round-trip business class award ticket because of the devaluation AA did to AAdvantage.
It is no wonder the two AA sponsor banks are unhappy with AA.
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