Originally Posted by
JDiver
You may have missed the initial release of award seats - if there was one. Or no seats may be released for Awards until two or more days after the flight opens for bookings. Or if historically that day has had heavy bookings, RM may trickle or not even release seats if bookings follow through.
If you can get AA transatlantic with BA short haul, go for that. The high YA carrier imposed fees come with BA transatlantic (not transiting LHR, etc.)
Also, read
HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance, particularly the Wikipost at the top of the page, for many tips. E.g. aa.com does not show some partners. There are partners people don’t know about (like the Air Tahiti Nui LAX-CDG possibility for those aspiring Awards to Paris).
Unfortunately I have found many AA TATL summer routes for J either never have award availability, or it goes so fast even Expert Flyer doesn't catch it. Could be same for Y.
With the loss of Airberlin, a lot of good options for Europe using AA miles have dried up, but Iberia seems to also have availability those dates, and has lower fees than BA. (In addition to some availability on ORD and RDU to LHR on AA metal). If you see any flight combo with 4 seats available, I'd book now. Chances of 4 more seats being released on any given flight at this point is low.